The Rise of the European Emperor

Unlike the Spaniards, Portugal at this time is still racking its brains for a road to Timbuktu. Although Timbuktu, the capital of gold, is closer to Europe and the Portuguese seem to have taken advantage, in fact, it is much more difficult to obtain Timbuktu than Zimbabwe.

In this era, Zimbabwe's national strength was not strong, and it had little contact with the outside world. As long as the Spaniards passed through coastal Mozambique and went inland along the Save River, they could reach Zimbabwe. As for the capture of Zimbabwe, as long as the Spaniards open the road, it is not a problem. Because the military level in southern Africa at this time is very backward.

Marin read history books in his previous life, which introduced the rise of the Zulu Kingdom. It is introduced that the early combat weapons of blacks in southern Africa were mainly javelins. After a battle started, black fighters from both sides would throw javelins at each other. Whoever hits the most enemies wins. Moreover, if the defeated party drops its weapon when retreating, it means surrender, so the victorious party will not pursue it fiercely. Then, the tribe on the losing side will leave their original location and move to a farther place. Often, after a battle is fought, there are not many casualties at all, and the degree of tragedy cannot keep up with gangsters hacking each other.

Later, at the beginning of the 19th century, the Zulu leader Shaka reformed this very 2 tactics, allowing soldiers to use short spears and shields instead. The shield is a wooden frame covered with cowhide, and its defense is very weak, neither bows nor bullets can resist it. However, it is mainly used against wooden javelins of weaker opponents, and it is definitely enough.

When fighting, Chaka asked his men to use cowhide shields to resist the enemy's wooden javelin throwing, and then rushed to the opponent and stabbed the enemy with a short spear. As a result, the enemy's casualties increased sharply... With this trick, Chaka founded the Zulu Kingdom and became the king and hegemony in eastern South Africa.

Of course, the Zulu Kingdom was born at a bad time. Because, they encountered the British Empire, which had already adopted breech-loading rifles. In the face of modern rifles with extremely powerful firing rate and power, the Zulu people would kneel even in large numbers...

At this time, the Zimbabwe Empire, like the old black tribe before King Chaka, mainly used javelin throwing tactics. At most, because of the trade with Arab merchants, there are a little more metal gun heads. However, once there are more casualties, it is easy to collapse.

If you encounter the Spanish army, the defeat of the Zimbabwean army is almost a certainty. Therefore, Marin believes that as long as the Spanish army enters the Zimbabwe region, it can control it. Of course, the premise is that the Spaniard has energy. The Italian war is about to start, which will certainly affect the progress of the Spanish conquest of Zimbabwe...

...

On the Portuguese side, it is much more difficult to conquer Timbuktu. Because the Songhai Empire currently controlling Timbuktu is very powerful.

The Songhai Empire bought a lot of war horses from the Arabs in North Africa through the trade in Timbuktu. For this reason, the Songhai Empire has a cavalry force of thousands of people. In many cases, it exceeds the scale of ten thousand people. In addition, there are also infantry who use spears and joint construction, and their strength generally exceeds 10,000.

Moreover, the current emperor of the Songhai Empire is Mingjun Muhammad Toure, not some fatuous monarch. It is very difficult for the Portuguese to defeat such the Songhai Empire.

If it was Spain, maybe the elite Spanish infantry could be used to destroy Songhai. It can be replaced by the land scum of Portugal...

What's more, if Portugal wants to enter Timbuktu now, what it has to face first is not the Songhai Empire, but the Mali Empire that lost Timbuktu.

Although the Mali Empire was defeated by the Songhai Empire, it did not perish. Instead, it retreated to the southwestern region of Mali, and ruled the southwest of the Republic of Mali, most of Senegal, and Guinea and other vast areas. In the case of war, the already declining Mali Empire can also muster tens of thousands of troops.

The Portuguese currently occupy only the coastal areas of Guinea, although on the coastal plain the Portuguese repelled the forces of the Mali Empire. However, after going deep into the inland, the Portuguese were suddenly stunned...

The inland area of ​​Guinea is a vast tropical rainforest. In the tropical rainforest, the combat effectiveness of Portuguese soldiers is greatly reduced, and they are also plagued by poisonous insects and hot and humid climate. In contrast, soldiers of the Mali Empire adapted very well to such an environment.

Therefore, when the Spaniards successfully contacted the Zimbabwe Empire, the Portuguese were still playing hide and seek with the soldiers of the Mali Empire in the rainforest of Guinea. Let alone the Songhai Empire, the Mali Empire has not been dealt with yet...

In short, the Portuguese are infinitely sad. Although Timbuktu has more gold, Portugal, whose army is rubbish, needs to defeat the two West African empires of Songhai and Mali to seize it. Anyway, in Marin's view, this difficulty is a bit against the sky. Even when he proposed to return Timbuktu to Portugal, he had no good intentions. Because, he guessed that the Portuguese army was weak. If you want to capture Timbuktu, even if Portugal consumes the power of the whole country, it may not be able to do it. On the contrary, Spain, which has a much stronger army, is easier to do. For this reason, Marin deliberately gave Portugal the difficult task of conquering Timbuktu, and let Spain go to find the Zimbabwe Empire with much less gold.

...

Information about the contact between the Spaniards and the Zimbabwe Empire was quickly sent back to Aurich through the spies placed in Spain by the North Sea State. Marin was upset when he learned that the Spaniards had waded through the tropical rainforest of Mozambique with an elephant convoy.

Originally, Marin hoped that the very harsh environment of the African tropical rainforest could stop Spain for a longer time. Unexpectedly, the other party had an idea and came up with a way to transport elephants.

The benefits of elephant transportation are many, in addition to the large volume of cargo, there is also enough deterrence. Facing the elephant transport team, the old blacks in the jungle felt a little guilty.

Although it is not that those old blacks have never hunted and killed elephants. However, under normal circumstances, they dare not provoke groups of elephants. Moreover, the elephant's skin is very thick, and ordinary wooden-tipped javelins and stone javelins have no effect at all. Only iron javelins can hunt elephants. And with the Spanish colonists, the already difficult elephants were even more difficult to deal with. Therefore, the Spaniards deterred the local black people who made trouble in Mozambique, and successfully connected with the Zimbabweans.

Marin can already predict that once the Spaniards fully develop this route, it will be time for Spain to destroy the Zimbabwe Empire...

But unfortunately, the Spaniards probably don't have much energy now. Because, the French are already going to deal with them...

In order to make it easier for the French to conquer the Kingdom of Naples, Malinte sent someone to send a secret letter to the Pope's father-in-law. In the secret letter, Marin asked the Pope's father-in-law not to block the actions of the French, but to make it easier for the French, and let the French go south without blocking, so as not to delay the French fighters.

As for the Spaniards holding the Holy See accountable? nonexistent. After all, the Holy See is now the spiritual pillar of Europe, and no one dares to offend easily. What's more, in the face of 60,000 French troops, it is only natural that the Holy See dare not stop them...

The Papal State is now very strong, and has also acquired two wealthy republics, Florence and Siena. If the Papal State sends troops to stop the French army, although it cannot be stopped, it can stop the French army for a long time. Once the French army was held back by the Papal State army, the Spaniards would have enough time to prepare ammunition. In this way, the difficulty for the French to occupy the Kingdom of Naples has greatly increased...

After Marin's secret letter was sent to Rome, soon there was a reply from Rome. Pope Julius II used the urgent communication method of pigeons to ask why Marin was biased towards France. In Julius II's view, neither France nor Spain is a good thing, and it is the best choice to add obstacles to both sides.

Marin wrote back to explain-if the Spaniards are prepared, it will be difficult for the French to conquer Naples. Without Naples, the French will not be able to fall into the quagmire of war...

After receiving Marin's reply, Julius II hesitated for a long time, and finally agreed with Marin's opinion, and decided to declare neutrality at that time, release the French army without interference, and let them pass through the territory of the Papal State and attack Naples...

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