Chapter 131
When I first came, the Botswana tribe's village was like an African refugee camp.
There were mud houses where people could live, and the people walking around were emaciated to skin and bones.
There were so few livestock that I wondered if they were really nomads.
"It's completely different from when I came before."
Chloe answered my words.
"That's right, there are many livestock visible around too. The tribes people's expressions and complexions have clearly changed from before as well."
Livestock like cows, pigs, and sheep don't give birth to dozens of offspring a month like rabbits.
The numbers didn't increase several-fold in just a few months.
But it's visible to the eye that the numbers have increased quite a bit...
If this state can be maintained, they should be able to enjoy their previous prosperity again.
Before long, the chief of the Botswana tribe walked towards where I was almost as if running.
As soon as he saw me, he stretched out his hand.
"Glad you came, Baron Pierre!"
I'm called Pierre to hide that it was the Tuscan Empire that instigated the war between the Kingdom of Granada and the Governor of Nador, using a disguised identity.
Also, the traditional greeting here is to spit on the other person's feet.
Seeing him offer a handshake instead of such a unique greeting...
It seems Abdullah, the kind traitor I planted in Botswana, has done his job quite diligently.
And the guy is grinning as if to boast how hard he worked...
'I was planning to use him for 5 more years here, but I should reduce it to 4 years.'
Not even purging traitors if they're useful, at this point aren't I doing quite a good deed?
"Glad to meet you, Chief."
"Why so formal between us? Aren't you the chief of a tribe too? So just call me Malik comfortably."
Law nobility live on pensions given by the Emperor and gifts received as rewards for working hard in official positions, so they have no subjects to be responsible for.
But I, who clearly have territory as territorial nobility, am a lord and the one responsible for the subjects of my territory, so there's no problem calling me a chief.
"Yes, Chief Malik."
"So, how have you been, Pierre?"
"I'm planning to get married this year, I have a fiancée."
Hearing my words, Malik grinned.
"Congratulations, you're a real adult now too."
It seems universal across cultures that people think you have to get married to be considered an adult.
"You probably haven't held the wedding ceremony yet, but we don't know when you'll be able to come here again. I'll make you an amulet our Botswana tribe gives to those who get married."
If it's a free amulet they're giving, not asking me to buy, I should gladly accept it.
Later if others ask what it is, I can just say it's a traditional craft.
"Thank you, seeing Chief Malik's bright expression, it seems your situation has improved a lot."
You can tell the situation has improved just by looking around here.
It's improved so much that noticeable changes occurred in just a few months, so there's no way the situation hasn't improved.
Asking someone in mourning if something bad happened is rubbing salt in the wound, but asking an excited person "Did something good happen?" Once more is sharing joy.
'They say joy doubles when shared, right?'
So Chief Malik must be inwardly full of thoughts of wanting to boast...
As I expected, Malik poured out words as if a dam was bursting.
"I was trying to act dignified, but I really can't hide it from our Baron Pierre. Thanks to you, our tribe succeeded in surviving from the brink of death."
The Botswana tribe and other tribes were lacking just two things compared to those Nador guys.
The number of soldiers and matchlock guns and gunpowder.
They might have somehow overcome being outnumbered with the high combat power and morale unique to nomads, but they wouldn't have dared to overcome matchlock guns that can kill people with just one 'click'.
But since they were given the same matchlock guns too...
The absolute superiority the Nador guys held disappeared, so how did they overcome this?
"Could I perhaps hear the heroic tale of how you defeated them?"
This is clearly a military secret so there's nothing I can say even if he says he can't tell me...
But Malik smirked and told me everything one by one.
"There's nothing I can't tell a friend who has the same enemy."
"Thank you very much."
"It wasn't much, Nador soldiers are weaklings who can't even catch a buffalo, no, a rabbit. But they kept acting up believing in just one matchlock gun."
Nador's professional soldiers or properly trained noble warriors (heavy cavalry) could be worth 10 nomad warriors.
Knights on horses or camels can exert the combat power of over 20 conscripts, and professional soldier heavy infantry also exert the strength of 5 conscripts.
But such high-ranking people are few, and most are conscripts (meat shields) who have only farmed all their lives or gathered black slaves.
'Without matchlock guns, they can't be used for anything other than meat shields to block knights.'
"On the other hand, our warriors may be fewer in number, but they fight prepared to die to protect their homeland. So we attacked their army like hunting beasts."
I remember seeing these words while studying about the Mongol army majoring in Western history:
'For nomads, hunting is war, and war is hunting.'
Even when hunting in tribal units, each tribe member has their own role, and if they fail to perform it, they are punished as if they violated military law.
Sometimes people were even frequently executed for making small mistakes in hunting.
The Botswana tribespeople don't ride horses and shoot bows, so they seem a bit far from 'Mongols', but…
"We placed groups of about 20-40 warriors here and there, and threw spears and shot arrows from far away. Then quickly ran away. Even if we do this, not many die."
The Mongols used that tactic on horseback.
The Botswana guys are doing on foot what even the Mongol barbarians can't do without horses?
As expected, my decision not to directly rule these guys seems to have been right.
"If we repeat that three, four times, even a large army with many numbers can't endure. When we buzz around like flies, some guys break formation."
"It's virtually over at this point."
In the Tuscan Empire, no, throughout the Albania continent and Sultanate, the battle paradigm of this era is very simple.
'Who, who fights better in formation?'
The one who keeps this better always wins in battle.
Therefore, it's no exaggeration to say that all preparations including command, control, and training are only for how well allies stick together on the 'battlefield'.
But they engage in individual combat mobilizing only squad, platoon level numbers to scatter enemy groups?
No matter how much those Nador guys struggle and thrash about, it would be hard to win.
"When guys who break formation appear and their army scatters. Our warriors shoot enemy soldiers with matchlock guns. When we fire matchlock guns all at once, over hundreds of enemies fall at once. Then we pounce on them and massacre them."
This is really exactly the same as hunting beasts.
Attack beasts like lions, buffaloes, elephants from multiple directions to anger them.
After angering them, make them unable to come to their senses, and keep provoking and running away until they collapse exhausted on their own.
When they collapse exhausted, stab them with spears to kill them.
Malik shrugged his shoulders and smirked.
"This is only possible because of the matchlock guns you gave us. If we didn't have matchlock guns, we would have lost because we couldn't give a big shock after throwing them into confusion. Like we always did before."
"Thank you for highly evaluating the matchlock guns I brought."
"Thanks to that, we were able to reclaim much of the territory we lost before. But matchlock guns and gunpowder were too scarce."
The Governor of Nador is a great lord who can mobilize armies in units of hundreds of thousands if needed.
If he really did such a thing, it would be like pulling out pillars and beams to catch these guys...
'With those numbers, it would have been no match against someone who could do such a thing.'
"I brought about 8 times what I brought last time. Matchlock guns, gunpowder, and bullets too. I'll set the price the same as before."
There's a saying that small greed loses big. Being greedy for small profits makes you miss big ones.
Even the price we sell to the Botswana tribe and allied guys is several times more than the cost price.
We can't miss a big deal trying to eat a few more pennies.
"But that's that, can you gather the chiefs of the tribal alliance? Let's elect a grand chief with this opportunity."
You'll be the first grand chief, and I'll just take appropriate vested interests.
'More generously than the British Empire.'