Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

This was not the first time that Tip Stone came to negotiate with the Zulu Kingdom on behalf of his brother, Shep Stone, the British Governor of the Cape of Good Hope.

This time, in addition to the trustworthy people he brought, the remaining ones were from the Zulu Kingdom. The leader of the other party's contact was none other than their crown prince, Wayo Kampanda, who was a ruthless character.

The location chosen this time is no longer Durban, the capital of the Zulu Kingdom.

It was originally planned to be held in Natal, which the British Empire captured from the Boers in 1842, but the Zulu Kingdom did not agree and finally chose to hold it in East London in the southwest of the Indian Ocean, in the eastern part of the British Cape Colony close to the Zulu Kingdom. .

Moreover, it is hundreds of kilometers away from the Transvaal Empire where the Boers are located, which is a safe distance.

At the same time, this place has just been built, so there are no unnecessary people waiting around, and no one has too many worries.

After all, unlike Cape Town and other places, this place is not afraid of the presence of the Boers. No one can protect it. Someone will spread the news to the Boers.

Therefore, from the beginning, he made careful arrangements and was not afraid of the presence of Boers other than the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom.

However, why should we fear the existence of other people in the negotiations launched this time? After all, to put it harshly, this negotiation is to deal with the common enemy the Boers. Is there a problem with this?

Although the United Kingdom is only a latecomer, as the British rule over the Cape of Good Hope becomes larger and larger, especially after forcing the Netherlands to sell the Cape of Good Hope to the British for 6 million pounds at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the British are now dominant here. .

Among the Boer ethnic groups headed by the Netherlands, the Dutch account for 80% of the population, with a population of about 80,000.

The rest were all immigrants from other European countries such as Germans and French. They could not stand the British rule, so they left the Cape of Good Hope and went north to the interior, until they settled in Natal.

But later, as the British followed and occupied Natal, they finally knew what role the British regarded them as.

So this time after another arduous journey, they migrated to the northern part of the present-day Basutoland Kingdom and the western part of the Zulu Kingdom, and established the Transvaal Republic.

Thinking of this, Tip Stone couldn't help but sigh. The British senior officials, including his brother Shep Stone, never expected that the Boers originally wanted to let the Boers explore the road and take the lead in fighting the indigenous people to the death. The idea of ​​​​picking up bargains from behind, but unexpectedly, the Boers gained a firm foothold and established a country.

Naturally, the British were unwilling to do so, so they began to launch multiple rounds of attacks on the Transvaal Republic, which was only loyal to white people. However, in the end, they discovered that the British Empire's army here was not their opponent. The fighting strength of this white country with less than 100,000 people, after many battles with the Basutoro Kingdom and the Zulu Kingdom, was so overwhelming that the British army was breathless.

The British were somewhat unwilling to go to war with the Boers, so after repeated requests for the surrender of the Transvaal Republic failed to respond, they also learned that the Transvaal Republic and the Zulu Kingdom were frequently occupying territories in the east.

Therefore, Shep Stone, who was so provocative, sent his brother Tepp Stone to have secret talks with the Zulu Kingdom, preparing to push them to fight with the Transvaal Republic in order to benefit the British behind the scenes.

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend!

Furthermore, now that our two countries are standing on the same starting line, I don’t think I can meet with His Excellency the Crown Prince. Who will I offend, and which rule prescribed by God will I violate?

As for the meeting with the Crown Prince, we all had conflicts with the Transvaal Republic. Now that the Transvaal Republic is strong, we are all weak, so we naturally need to cooperate.

As far as I know, the territory occupied by them in the Zulu Kingdom is twice the area controlled by the Zulu Kingdom today.

Oh my God!

It’s scary to think about it. You have to know that your territory before was almost the same as ours at the Cape of Good Hope, but now so much of it has been occupied by them.

This kind of hatred is absolutely indelible. Based on the principle of friendship between you and me, the British Empire specially sent me to support the Zulu Kingdom in resisting the atrocities of the Transvaal Republic. How about that? Is that sincere enough? "

Kai Chiwayo. Campanda was noncommittal.

In fact, he was the one who distrusted the British the most in the entire Zulu Kingdom.

Kaizhi Panda is the eldest son of Mpanda, the current King of the Zulu Kingdom. He grew up in an environment of internal and external troubles in his youth. His father once betrayed his uncle Ding Gang and surrendered to the Boer colonists. With the support of the colonial leader Antilles Pretorius, he sat on the throne of the Zulu King in 1838.

It was precisely because of such a high position that his father knelt down to the Boers, kept quiet, and ceded land to the Boer colonists and the British again and again.

In 1838, the Bloody River War between the Transvaal Republic and the Zulu Kingdom occurred. The Zulu Kingdom killed more than 3,000 people directly in the battle, but not a single person in the Transvaal Republic founded by the Boers died, which frightened the entire country. In the Zulu Kingdom, the upper echelons chose to tolerate the Transvaal Republic's increasing pressure.

The Boers continued to encroach on and occupy the land of the Zulu Kingdom, and this happened from time to time in the Zulu Kingdom. In order to compete for their land, the British and Boer colonial expansion intensified day by day. The Zulu country faced the threat of the kingdom. Kaizhiwayo was worried. He somewhat missed the majesty and dignity of the Zulu Kingdom during his uncle Dingang's time.

In the mid-1950s, the Zulu Kingdom launched a struggle over the right to inherit the throne. In the end, he won, and his father was denounced by his supporters and finally agreed to him regent of the Zulu Kingdom, and the people around him also united. Around him, it can be said that although his father is sitting in the position, he is in charge of the country and his father has become his puppet.

This time was the final result of the Zulu Congress that began in 1856, and Chiwayo took charge of the country.

In Chiwayo, we saw the continuous territorial expansion of the British and Boer colonists. Basutoland and Sgriqualand had been annexed successively, and the uprising led by Nantarlangali Bale was also annexed by the British. repression.

I feel deeply that my lips are dead and my teeth are cold, and I am in danger.

So the first thing he did after taking power was to rebuild the army. He used livestock to exchange large quantities of guns and large quantities of ammunition with people from the British and Burundi regions. He asked a large number of Zulu kings to work in both places, and all the money they earned bought guns and ammunition belts. Return to the Zulu Kingdom.

But everything changed soon after. It was 1858, and his country had a group of strange guests. This group of people claimed to be here to save the Zulu Kingdom, and they came from the Netherlands, one of the most developed countries in Europe.

Almost 80% of the Boers in the north are of the same race as them, and they claim that they can help the Zulu Kingdom develop into a powerful country.

The premise is that they must ease relations with the Boers and cooperate with the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

In the end, after seeing the temptation of the Dutch's sophisticated weapons and the benefits of reconciliation after secret negotiations with the Boers, Kachiwayo compromised.

The reason was that the Transvaal Republic established by the Boers was willing to give up part of its territory and return it to the Zulu Kingdom, but only if the two countries formed an alliance to fight against the British.

Even under such circumstances, how could he refuse.

He recovered a large area of ​​land in the northwest occupied by the Boers in order to defend the territorial integrity of the Zulu Kingdom. The Zulu Kingdom under his leadership gradually established a kingdom that has been able to use both spears and guns, as well as modern firearms, with a number of people reaching 30,000. powerful army.

I originally thought that it could continue like this. With the Zulu Kingdom's population of 500,000 Zulu and its army of 30,000, as long as it is given time, it will definitely develop more powerfully. However, recently, for some unknown reason, the British keep asking him to Secret talks against the Boers.

Originally with the idea of ​​being coy and coy, he just wanted to have a casual chat with him, but as he went deeper, he found that he was actually moved by the words, especially the British. The Republic of Vanuatu, where the entire country will be divided equally, with the east going to the Zulu Kingdom and the west going to the United Kingdom.

Fortunately, he suppressed his heartbeat in the end because he thought of a question: were there any Boer or Dutch spies around him? When he thought of the coldness and cunning of the Dutch over the years, he couldn't help but feel a cold wind blowing through him. .

So everything started to go according to the steps.

When the negotiations continued into the evening, both parties agreed to start talks the next day.

Just when he got up the next day, thinking that he was going to make a fool of himself again, a piece of news came that made him weak.

Because Tepp Stone, the younger brother of Shep Stone, the British Governor at the Cape of Good Hope, who he had been chatting with yesterday, died unexpectedly due to the spear-throwing technique specially used by the Zulu people.

What made him tremble the most was that in this British-occupied East London, there were more than 1,000 British soldiers and civilians, and they all died in the same way, with long hair piercing their hearts.

At this time, he knew that his position had been determined, and the position of the Zulu Kingdom he led was destined to be announced to the world just like the Boer alliance oath.

"Damn Boers, their methods are so despicable. This time, even if they really jump into the Indian Ocean, they won't be able to clean themselves up."

March 2, 1862.

Just when the whole world was shocked by the record-breaking results of the Netherlands and the Russian Empire, and when many high-level officials from various countries were predicting how the British would react to the Netherlands, a piece of news bombarded the minds of Europeans at an extremely fast speed. In the sky, the explosions made people from all over the world dizzy.

Newspaper reports and word of mouth spread quickly among Europeans and Americans.

Known as the most powerful country in the world, the British Empire has rarely suffered major casualties over the years. Even when it was helping the Ottoman Empire to fight against the Russian Empire, more than 1,000 people died in one fell swoop, not to mention that they were still looked down upon. This group of indigenous people from the Zulu Kingdom.

So the British lost all their shame into the Atlantic Ocean. If the shame in the Netherlands just now was a shame for peace, then this is a direct slap in the face. When the British see their partners in other European countries, they will feel that they are inwardly A sarcastic smile hidden deep inside.

At this time, the chivalrous British government and military members who have always refused to admit defeat will naturally not give up.

After accepting Shep Stone's detailed report, he naturally did not like the Zulu Kingdom because of his brother's death, so he introduced the original alliance partner, but did not expect that the Zulu Kingdom would actually do this, and was dissatisfied with the bias. Ci, etc., recounted what happened with hostility.

So, with the approval of Queen Victoria, the British war machine started.

This time the target is: the Zulu Kingdom composed of indigenous people in the southernmost part of Africa!

(PS: The war is about to break out. Have you all voted? If you didn’t remember to cast your admission ticket first, remember to add it to your favorites if you haven’t already!)