Chapter 385: Stirring Things Up
Immediately, young Pretorius appointed Wiggins as the defender of Pretoria. But the new "commander" would have to gather recruits on his own, since few people responded to young Pretorius's call for resistance against East Africa, and he didn't have many men to spare.
Turning to Wiggins—who basically had no troops—young Pretorius said, "In this critical moment for our country, many of our citizens don't fully understand the ways of the German people. In fact, from the moment they marched into Transvaal territory, I knew they weren't here to be friendly. The Germans wouldn't come to Transvaal just to install some new government. They want land. But some of our citizens naively believe it's only a change of rulers, so they choose not to resist and let the Germans invade. One day, they'll regret that decision."
In reality, part of the Boer population isn't too bothered by this so-called "East African invasion." East Africans, that is, Germans—what's there to fear about that? Most Boers, being originally Dutch, German, and French, don't have any strong prejudice against German rule; there's even some sense of kinship.
Yet if the farm owners knew East Africa's policies, they'd undoubtedly echo young Pretorius's sentiment, cursing: "Damn these Prussian barbarians!" Right now, East Africa's aim is to control the entire Transvaal Republic. They haven't fully shown the Boers what kind of rule or tactics they'll use, so many clueless Boers have even welcomed the "royal army." Soon enough, though, they'll become the most determined anti-East Africa fighters.
Wiggins said, "Mr. President, since you're entrusting Pretoria to me, I'll hold it until the last moment. But in return, I need manpower. Even if it's not much, we need at least enough to complete some initial recruitment and mobilization. We'll rally all of Pretoria to stand against these East African bandits!"
Young Pretorius nodded. "Alright, but I can only leave you one company."
Wiggins: "That'll be enough!"
Like young Pretorius, Wiggins believed East Africa wasn't there to help the Boers—it had no need to launch a war just to 'govern' Transvaal if that were the case. They could have started with negotiations and used force as a last resort. If Ernst of East Africa heard such logic, he'd sneer. A "negotiations-first-and-then-fight" approach might sound good, but who's to say the Boers wouldn't just negotiate with Britain instead? East Africa's not so prestigious that the Boers would simply submit by talk alone. They could just keep balancing one side against the other, or remain autonomous. Ernst attacked the Transvaal Republic precisely to leave them no options. In war, the winner takes all.
After delegating authority over Pretoria, young Pretorius led his supporters south to the Orange Free State, while Wiggins, suddenly burdened with urgent responsibility, prepared to mobilize everyone in Pretoria for a final stand against the East African Army.
Granted full military and administrative power in Pretoria, Wiggins first had to tackle recruitment. He began by mounting a propaganda campaign among the citizens. At that moment, the people in Pretoria were on edge—war was something everyone knew about, but no one could predict the East African troops' discipline or how they'd treat civilians. So Wiggins spread rumors and stirred them up, hoping to make them see the East African Kingdom in a new light.
"Citizens of Pretoria! Some of you may not know much about the so-called East African Kingdom, but I'm sure many of you have heard about Prussia. And the East African Kingdom is an even more barbaric soldier-state than Prussia, practicing a reign of terror. As someone who served time in an East African jail, I can 'truthfully' share with you what that kingdom is like," he declared.
Sure enough, the crowd erupted in debate.
"Harred! Your ancestors were Prussian—surely you know what it's like?" asked Willett, a Dutch descendant, to his neighbor.
"Willett, you've come to the right person. My grandfather fled Prussia to Africa. He told me that under Prussian rule, they treated people like dirt, raising armies year after year, conscripting commoners. The officers among the nobility would constantly skim off rations and beat soldiers with sticks…"
Harred rattled off a whole list of Prussia's sins. And indeed, in his grandfather's time, Prussian rule was harsh, not like today's Germany or the reformed Prussia. Many German emigrants left in those days for various reasons. The old German states were indeed inhospitable—constant wars and taxes took their toll.
Willett exclaimed, "Oh God, that's terrifying! We definitely can't let the Transvaal become a place like that!"
At that moment, Wiggins, continuing his speech, said: "When those vicious East Africans captured me, I noticed their entire kingdom is one giant barracks. There's no such thing as free citizens—everyone is subject to harsh laws, herded like sheep under their monarchy. And their king is a member of that Prussian Hohenzollern family…"
Wiggins was all bluster. In reality, he never had contact with ordinary East African people. To prevent him from gathering intelligence, the East Africans had kept him locked in the Bulawayo palace, away from everyone, so he'd only come up with guesses and exaggerations to tarnish their reputation.
Still, the Boers below found his words convincing, especially since quite a few had ancestors from Prussia who could confirm that the picture matched what their grandfathers described.
Seeing the crowd's emotions flare, Wiggins shouted, "So can we allow the East African tyrant to force his outdated European monarchy upon us?"
"Absolutely not!" they roared back.
"And can we allow the East African Kingdom to turn our beautiful Pretoria into a grim military base?"
"No! Down with the East African invaders! Long live the Transvaal Republic!"
…
Riding that wave of sentiment, Wiggins managed to fulfill his recruitment drive. The citizens of Pretoria eagerly enlisted, letting him gather more than two thousand men into an army.
His next headache was how to defeat the East Africans. Pretoria itself was a defensive-oriented town, relatively easy to hold. Properly used, it might be possible to hold out until reinforcements arrived.
Recalling the East African Army's performance during the Ndebele uprising, Wiggins began training his men accordingly, deliberately downplaying East Africa's capabilities. "Though the East African Army imitates Prussia in every way, they haven't mastered what truly counts; it's only superficial. During the battles between the Ndebele and the Germans, the East Africans kept making mistakes—any European instructor would shake his head. They only succeeded thanks to advanced weaponry, combined with the Ndebele's lack of training. Many of them couldn't even properly fire a musket. The guns we gave them became nothing but sticks. That's why the Ndebele lost."
In Wiggins's telling, the East African Army is easily beaten, and it'll collapse the moment it meets any somewhat-experienced force. The Boers might not be a battle-hardened legion, but they're accustomed to clashing with the Zulus. So, he insisted they had the advantage: with Pretoria's terrain and buildings, they could give the East Africans a real blow.
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