The frontline advanced quickly, and the Kingdoms of Rwanda and Ijara were right ahead.
However, faced with the natural pressure from East African colonies, Rwanda and the Kingdom of Ijara, who had barely suppressed the Eastern Bantu people, now had new enemies to contend with.
Unlike the Kingdoms of Karavel and Burundi, Rwanda and Ijara did not previously border the East African colonies, so they knew little about East Africa.
But any enemy that could cause the whole of Burundi to flee was certainly formidable. The kingdoms of Rwanda and Ijara were also very troubled by the new invaders.
After all, compared to the Kingdoms of Burundi and Karavel, Rwanda and Ijara were not much better off; the impact of the Eastern Bantu people on the four southern nations was catastrophic.
Currently, the nobles and ministers of the two kingdoms were very indecisive—should they fight or flee? Fighting might not guarantee victory, but they were reluctant to abandon their possessions.
If it had been before the invasion of the Eastern Bantu people, the two kingdoms would certainly have had the confidence to fight East Africa. Now, looking at the state of the country, it was questionable if they could even form a decent army.
Soon, the two kingdoms didn’t have to struggle with the decision; refugees from Burundi and the Kingdom of Karavel helped make the choice for them.
Although this wave of refugees was insignificant compared to the invasion of the Eastern Bantu people, the two kingdoms were no longer at their previous strength.
Moreover, it wasn’t just the refugees from Burundi and Karavel coming in; they were spreading rumors along the way, painting the East African colonial army as demons who ate people without even salting them—a fighter stronger than a hundred Eastern Bantu (of course, most natives didn’t know how to count, but that’s the gist).
As for whether the people of Rwanda and Ijara believed it? If one person said so, it was certainly rumors, but so many people fleeing from the southeast direction couldn’t just be mistaken; everybody knew the Eastern Bantu people, even if they didn’t know about the East African colonies!
More terrifying than the Eastern Bantu! The war-weary people of the two kingdoms didn’t wait for news from the Central Government; they had already packed up all their possessions and fled northward with the refugees from Burundi and Karavel.
With the populace fleeing, there was nothing left to resist; the high officials of the kingdoms planned to flee too, gathering all available forces to retreat northward.
Compared to the East African colonies, the natives preferred dealing with other natives. If the Eastern Bantu could do it, so could they, as the two kingdoms planned to head north and start anew.
Of course, the upper echelons of the two kingdoms weren’t foolish. They didn’t intend to look for trouble with the northern nations; they just planned to find a passage to the northwest African region (Congo and the Central African direction) for development.
As for why they didn’t head directly west—mainly because the western mountains and forests were difficult to traverse, so borrowing a route from the northern nations was better (highland grasslands).
Choosing to re-establish a kingdom in the northwest was because these natives originally came from West Africa to East Africa (African Black people originated in West Africa). Although the natives didn’t have a script to record their origins, through oral traditions and myths, they roughly knew their ancestors came from the northwest direction.
And for a civilization at such an early stage of development, migration of the state was very normal (referencing the Shang Dynasty’s capital relocations). They were mainly at the level of slash-and-burn agriculture, so at most, they would find a new place to develop.
"Is everyone on board?" asked Werner Juri, captain of the East African Inland Lake Forces.
"Captain, everyone is accounted for. Besides our people, a total of one hundred twenty-seven immigrants boarded this time, and the supplies for the frontline are also nearly prepared," answered Hanks Fisher.
"Alright, let’s set off then!" said Werner Juri.
While the war was ongoing at the frontline, the East African colonies accelerated the pace of immigration.
The East African Inland Lake Forces joined the tasks of transporting immigrants and supplies. The Mwanza shipyard worked overtime to manufacture vessels and increase the load capacity of the inland forces.
Apart from water routes, East Africa also opened up inland immigration routes. The process overland was time-consuming and labor-intensive, so military supplies prioritized for the frontline were mainly transported by the inland lake forces.
The first batch of immigrants heading northwest departed with Arman’s troops, pushing grain on simple wheelbarrows and carrying tarps for rain protection as they set off with the army.
The entire walking journey took about a month to reach Burundi and Karavel, twenty-eight days at fastest, and a bit over thirty days at the slowest. With a water route from Mwanza, it could take as little as twenty-three days.
Of course, relying solely on walking was unfeasible. The East African colonies assembled a large number of livestock and vehicles for transferring immigrants and supplies.
Using villages and cities along the way as bases, they provided conveniences to immigrants and the army in stages, preparing provisions and drinking water, greatly saving time.
Especially the Central District and the Upper Marine District—where villages were dense and populated, with early-developed pastoral industries—could temporarily lend substantial transport capacity to serve the immigrants.
Currently, the immigrants arriving at the port daily were about three thousand (fluctuations existed, with some months having more immigrants, others less). This was the effect of recent German and Paraguayan immigrants combined.
About eighteen hundred of them were sent to newly occupied areas in the northwest, around nine hundred to western Kenya, and the remaining hundred-and-ten or so to Omolate (the Omo River Basin).
The first batch of immigrants arrived in the regions of Burundi and Karavel on May 3. It was now June (with war preparations starting in early April and the war beginning in May).
In nearly a month’s time, East African colonies settled more than fifty thousand people within Burundi and Karavel. Fortunately, East African colonies were grain-producing regions, and coupled with the backing of the Heixinggen consortium, they could supply so many immigrants in a short time.
After more than a month of war, the East African army was about to advance into Ijara and Rwanda (the military progressed faster than immigrants, so although they set out simultaneously, the army still moved faster later on).
Ample immigration ensured the development of new occupied zones. After all, the native states in the northwest had moved beyond a hunting lifestyle, subsisting on primitive agriculture, so new immigrants only needed to take over the natives’ land.
And the immigrants’ primary task was to redistribute and modernize the natives’ land, with development conditions far better than during the starting phase of the East African colonies.
Back then, only the Sultanate of Zanzibar had some plantations along the coast (East African colonies hadn’t merged Zanzibar’s coastal lands then), and all land had to be developed by themselves.
Immigrants heading northwest could be said to be going to directly claim ready land. Of course, new immigrants faced their challenges with a migration route over a thousand kilometers long, a significant challenge for those who crossed oceans from the Far East, Europe, and South America.
Thankfully, the East African colonial government arranged numerous service points along the route; otherwise, this journey would have been utterly tragic.