Chapter 523 An Empire is an Empire
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Before the huge river fleet approached England's 100-ton ships, it was completely wiped out by rounds of artillery, and the entire river area was stained red with blood.
In order to eliminate them more thoroughly, Elvis Knight directly ordered the ships to crush them all, using the huge size of the ships to crush them.
In this way, the river fleet of the entire Songhai Empire will become flowers in the water, scattered wooden boards, so that people can remember that this is a battlefield.
Gao City, once the capital of the Mali Empire, is now the capital of the Songhai Empire.
In the imperial palace, His Majesty the Emperor who lived on a high platform had a straight face, and his black and white eyes were full of anger.
The servants and nobles who served beside them stood tremblingly. Facing the emperor's anger, they couldn't bear it. There was a trace of sweat on their foreheads, and they lowered their heads and looked fiercely at river main.
"My lord, it's just a group of Caucasians, and I let you consume all the navy, what face do you have to come back to see me?" His Majesty's lips moved slightly, and Griot (poet, artist), leaned his body and listened for a while, then turned around again, facing the steward, repeating the emperor's words aloud.
"Your Majesty, this group of white people is different from the Berbers in North Africa. They have huge ships, and there are things that can spray iron balls, which caught us by surprise!"
The Chief Manager knelt on the ground, patted his chest, and explained loudly. The plump flesh on his face was also jumping and jumping. Obviously, he was extremely excited.
"If you give me another chance, I will definitely defeat them!"
"No need, the navy is no longer usable. For now, only our army should be the most powerful force in the empire."
Beside him, he was wearing armor, his muscles were bulging, and his black skin gave him a sturdy aura, as if he could tear you apart at any time.
"Then, general, please lead the army and wipe out those white people!"
The emperor narrowed his eyes, thought for a moment, and then sighed softly.
With the rejuvenation of the empire, Emperor Daud, who had been on the throne for nearly twenty years, now had some gray hair on his head. He felt a little tired in his heart and wanted to rest for a while, but at this moment, waves rose again in the empire. , which made him feel more and more tired.
"Yes, Your Majesty!" The bald general immediately walked out from the side, knelt on the ground, lowered his head, and agreed happily.
At this time, the war was over, but the Cavaliers Elvis and Wilson, who had gained very little, immediately sped up their speed and headed for Gao City not far away, preparing to attack the capital of the empire in one fell swoop.
It may be that they are too complacent. The rest of the army on the shore, who cannot board the ship to fight, can only watch the navy of a thousand people go upstream, each of them can only guard the seized property around them, in a daze.
As time passed, it took nearly half a day before the ship arrived at Gao City, found a remote pier and suddenly attacked and docked, and then sent some people to watch the ship.
Cavalier Elvis led a team of nearly 800 people, holding muskets, and slowly approached the city of Gao.
Who knows, less than a mile ahead, a group of troops stopped them.
This group of troops is composed of infantry and cavalry, a huge number, walking in the entire yellow sand world, bringing up waves of dust, as if a sandstorm is coming.
The Songhai Empire represents the advanced cultural system in Africa.
It has a sound political system, and the whole country is divided into ten provinces, which are in charge of the emperor's cronies.
Major cities set governors, wharfs and ports regents important financial staff taxation.
It can be said that the Songhai Empire, earlier than Europe, took the lead in implementing centralization.
Thus, after the centralization of power, the Songhai Empire had a reliable financial source, and a large number of administrative personnel were continuously recruited from various places to the central government.
The main sources of taxation are: collected for the emperor, as the emperor's private property tax; tithes collected for the poor; agricultural, animal husbandry, fishery taxes, commercial taxes and customs duties; special taxes collected from merchants in big cities.
After the taxation is complete, the empire will naturally have a standing army, instead of the so-called all people.
Thus, what appeared in front of Elvis Knight was a group of fierce troops.
In front, there were thousands of cavalrymen, all of them were noble sons of the empire. All of them wore luxurious tunics on the outside and iron armor and breastplate on the inside.
The weapons in their hands are also spears, sabers, bows and arrows, and they are all braving the cold, which shows that they are not pretending.
The steeds under the crotch are also fat and strong, a head taller than usual, and they are very majestic.
After the cavalry, there are only a larger number of infantry. They come from all social classes, including slaves, prisoners of war, free men, and low-level nobles. The main weapons are spears, bows and arrows, and leather or copper shields.
The gap with cavalry is huge.
In this situation, Elvis Knight felt as if he was facing the Frenchman, maybe worse.
However, at this time, he was unable to get off the tiger.
"What should I do? General!" The complacent expression on Wilson's face also disappeared, full of dignity.
No matter how stupid he is, he also knows that these people in front of him are not so easy to defeat.
"All ready—" the knight frowned, and issued an order loudly.
Clatter—
The soldiers made preparations according to the regulations.
The cavalry in front, with their mighty voices, shook the stones on the ground, and the overwhelming attack came, shocking.
Although the militiamen were afraid in their hearts, they still took action and raised their muskets.
"Put—" Cavalier Elvis shouted loudly after realizing that the cavalry was only a hundred yards away.
crackling—
crackling—
crackling—
After three bursts of gunshots, the British soldiers shrouded in thick smoke, the smoke had just drifted away, and their vision was still a little blurred, they saw black people with hideous faces riding horses and massacring them.
The astonishingly imposing black cavalry, although they lost hundreds of people, their morale has not yet collapsed.
Under the surprised eyes of the English, the black cavalry directly smashed into the phalanx, and the bodies of the English were scattered all over the ground.
Cavalier Elvis stood at the back, and when he spotted a round of guns, he immediately realized that something was wrong, and hurriedly ran behind, towards the ship a mile away.
Sure enough, after three rounds of gunfire, the black cavalry swept away the English phalanx like a whirlwind, leaving a mess on the ground.
Nearly 300 people were killed, only over 100 people escaped, and 300 people were captured. This was a crushing battle.
Just like the British army and the Songhai naval fleet on the river, the gap is huge.
However, the situation was reversed at this time, the British army was defeated and Songhai won.
Cavalier Elvis, who was still alive after death, looked at the black cavalry on the land, his throat was dry, and his eyes were bloodshot. This time, he was at a loss.
"You can't forget it like this, General!" Wilson, who also escaped, stared at the cavalrymen who kept wandering on the shore in fear, and said out of breath.
"Continue to let the ship move forward. The front is Timbuktu, which is the place with the most gold in West Africa. We can rob there and make up for our losses!"
Looking at the depressed Elvis knight, Wilson thought about it for a second, and understood the merit issue he was worried about, and said immediately.
"As long as enough gold is seized, His Majesty the King will not blame you too much. Besides, as long as you attack the cities along the Niger River and destroy the waterways, the Songhai Empire, which has no tax revenue, will agree to negotiate with us!"
Thinking about it carefully, the Elvis knight was relieved from the shadow of defeat, and was defeated by a man who was still a barbarian. This is definitely a great shame for the proud knight.
But for the present, we still have to achieve our own goal: to obtain money.
Save people, let's talk about it later!
(end of this chapter)