empress ch39

Meanwhile, the British forces were enraged by the fact that their attack had been futile.

“How could such a thing happen?!”

British Major General Arthur Aitken slammed his desk and demanded.

“But, sir… the Graf Spee is currently stationed in Dar es Salaam.”

Graf Spee. The fourth ship of the Burgund-class armored cruiser developed by the Empire. The Scharnhorst-class, the current main battlecruiser of the Imperial Navy, was an improved version of this Burgund-class armored cruiser.

In other words, it had ‘stable’ performance to the point where, with a simple increase in size and a few improvements, it could become a Scharnhorst, a fairly useful battlecruiser in this era.

“Frankly speaking… capturing Dar es Salaam is close to impossible unless the Graf Spee runs out of ammunition.”

“Damn it…”

They thought they could occupy Dar es Salaam within a week of the war starting. It was a sweet delusion.

“Isn’t this like having a dagger pointed at our back…”

“But they can’t achieve a decisive victory against us either.”

That was true.

The Imperial soldiers currently stationed in Dar es Salaam, even if they scraped together the sailors on the armored cruiser and the militia made up of African natives, numbered no more than 2,000.

The Imperial forces’ maximum firepower, the ‘armored cruiser,’ also couldn’t be used offensively. The moment it left the harbor, it would be attacked by the British fleet.

On the other hand, the British had deployed a total of eight battalions, over 8,000 soldiers, although somewhat depleted. Of course, the majority of those 8,000 were made up of Indians.

‘They were conscripted in the first place to be used in places like this.’

They were conscripted to be used as cannon fodder in useless and troublesome fronts, such as the African front.

Of course, there was also a sweet bait for them.

It was the independence of India. A word that all colonial people yearned for.

Needless to say, Britain had no intention of keeping that promise. It was just that the foolish and stupid Indians had swallowed the bait.

Well, what could they do? Betrayal and backstabbing were a British tradition.

Having been under the British for hundreds of years, it wasn’t entirely the fault of the Indians for not grasping the characteristics of the British.

…Maybe.

“Well, with almost ten times the numbers… we can just wear down the enemy to death…”

Still, the fact that they hadn’t captured Dar es Salaam was a little unsettling.

“Damn Indians…”

In times like these, it was always the fault of the conscripts made up of their colonial subjects.

Blaming oneself would lead to doubting one’s own abilities, which would lower self-esteem, and it was complicated.

On the other hand, blaming the conscripts made up of colonial subjects would minimize the possibility of losing self-esteem, increase self-esteem for being born white, and, above all, it was simple.

Today, the British colonial garrison was peaceful as ever.

That night.

A British army camp near Dar es Salaam.

Several figures moved quickly under the moonlight. Of course, it wasn’t that there were no Indian soldiers on guard duty, but…

“Cough…”

They were fast asleep, unaware that they were being attacked.

It was only natural. They had been forcibly conscripted, and they had no will or courage to fight for their white masters.

The possibility of such ‘screwed up’ soldiers properly standing guard was close to zero.

“Hmm…”

A black man checked the enemy’s camp with binoculars.

He was a native of the tribe that had been born and raised in this area. He was confident that he knew the geography of this place better than anyone else.

“Captain, look at the enemies over there.”

He handed his binoculars to his superior, Major Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck.

“My, my… they’re completely out of it…”

Lettow-Vorbeck clicked his tongue and muttered. He felt pathetic for the British commander who didn’t properly manage his subordinates, who were falling asleep while on guard duty.

‘Thanks to that, we can safely carry out our plan…’

Lettow-Vorbeck nodded slightly to his subordinates.

Seeing his gesture, his subordinates also nodded and took out large wooden boxes.

“They covered the inside with cloth and tried to block the gaps…”

“Yes… if the ‘contents’ leak out of there, we’ll inevitably suffer great damage and have to retreat…”

Soldiers covered from head to toe in thick cloth lifted the wooden boxes with a creak.

“Hoo…”

The soldiers wrapped in thick cloth were dying from the heat and humidity, but they didn’t complain. They also knew that this was to save their lives.

Creak. Creak. When they reached right near the British army camp’s fence, they began to unlock the boxes with a click. Click.

Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck looked down at the scene from afar and said to his adjutant.

“Have you ever heard the song ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’?”

“Yes. I happened to pass by a record store and heard it about three times.”

Buzzing… Even though they were at least 300 meters away, it felt like they could hear the sound of bees flapping their wings.

“I suddenly had this thought.”

Creeaaak. The doors of the boxes opened, revealing the yellow soldiers inside.

“I regret not being able to play ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’.”

Bwaaaaaaaaaang!!!

Thousands, tens of thousands of ‘bumblebees’ began their spectacular flight.

The Indian soldiers, who had been fast asleep, were thrown into chaos and began to flee from the loud noise, like a boat engine.

“Hehehe…”

“Major… you’re smiling too sinisterly…”

“Hey! It’s just a habit, a habit!”

Of course, in other words, he was feeling a thrill that made him burst into a sinister smile.

The so-called ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’ operation.

During the battle for Dar es Salaam, the bees, angered by the sound of the cannon fire, had swarmed and temporarily blocked the traffic routes.

Literally, the bees of nature itself.

He got the idea from this. He planned an operation using angry bees.

“The enemies are practically neutralized! Charge! Charge!”

They put on non-prescription glasses, covered their entire bodies with thick cloth, and charged towards the British army camp.

The cool breeze that had been blowing gently a moment ago was blocked, and it became filled with stuffy heat and humidity.

But they didn’t even think about taking off the cloth. Anyone would do the same if they witnessed the scene unfolding before their eyes.

Under the night sky, a black wave was flying through the air, attacking all living things.

“Aah! S, save me!?!?”

Indians, British, Nepalese, etc. People of various races were horrified and ran away as they saw the bees flying towards them equally.

But their escape was destined to fail.

And treating the enemies equally, regardless of race, was the same for the Imperial army.

“Open fire!”

Tududududang!

The Imperial army’s rifles spat fire.

“Aah!”

“Aaaaaaah!”

And the bees, hearing the gunshots, became even more excited and began to attack the British and Imperial armies.

But no matter how excited the bees were, the Imperial army was covered in thick cloth, so naturally, only the British were being attacked by the bees.

“There’s no time to be distracted in a place like this! Find the headquarters! Find the headquarters!”

They soon discovered a barracks with a huge Union Jack fluttering.

“Charge! Charge!”

Lettow-Vorbeck and his troops pushed through the crowd of Indians (this expression was not wrong at all. It was a luxury to call the Indians, who were being chased by bees and not properly armed, an army) blocking their way and charged towards it.

“U, ugh! Stop! Stop! I’ll shoot if you move!”

A British guard, riddled with bee stings, somehow saw the Imperial army approaching him and aimed his gun.

“The password is this.”

Taang!!!

Lettow-Vorbeck’s pistol spat fire at him.

“Aah!!”

Of course, there were also options such as persuading him or trying to win him over. But that would take a long time, the possibility of an argument was 100%, and the moment they lost the argument, all the time they had spent so far would be wasted.

On the other hand, killing him would be quick, simple, and the possibility of losing the argument was close to zero.

There was no reason for him not to choose the latter now.

“Now, let’s go in!”

They entered the barracks in perfect order. Inside, there was…

“U, ugh! Keuak! Aaaaaaah!”

The British commander was writhing in agony from the attacks of countless bees.

“Well, it’s all over now. Surrender now.”

“Surrender! I’ll surrender, so please do something about these bees!?!?”

A moment of silence. Then, Lettow-Vorbeck replied with a sorry expression.

“Um… I’m sorry, but we can’t do anything about that either…”

“Kuaaaaaaak!!! You devilish Imperial bastards!!!”

And so, screams echoed through the British army camp for a very, very long time.

When the British came to their senses, countless officers had already been captured by the Imperial army.

Of course, if these were British soldiers, they would have fought to the end against the enemies, but… these were just colonial soldiers conscripted from India.

They fled without hesitation towards the armored cruiser they had come on.

“Haha! A great victory! By the way, what should we do with the prisoners?”

“I don’t know…”

A very, very slightly troublesome thing had happened.