OR1-EP4: Prelude to the Millennium (8)

News of the impending arrival of the Scots in South Africa was so tightly sealed that no one, except for a few well-informed individuals within the army, realized that the Scots would be coming to assist Governor-general Herzog in maintaining order. To most of the inhabitants of South Africa, Scotland was just a distant geographical term, and they never thought they would one day have to deal with these Highlanders living on an island in the North Sea.

The Scottish soldiers who landed from near Mozambique arrived in South Africa in small groups and traveled to the north under the arrangement of Governor-general Herzog, quietly taking over what had been the responsibility of the Guardian Corp. Their arrival was also made possible thanks to the close attention paid by Paris to the situation in South Africa and the eventual decision to take the necessary measures to restore order. Whenever there was open incitement to disobey the laws and rule of the EU, these soldiers could use all means of force to suppress the unruly scum. They were just following the rules and had no special feelings for the land under their feet.

A little tired from attending several demonstrations in a row, Michael McNeil returned to his temporary home with his head hanging down and collapsed headfirst on his crude bed. Unlike what he had envisioned, most of the participants did not have a strong will or any long-term plans, and some simply took the opportunity to vent their frustrations, which explains why the violence has remained unchecked. However, the threat of such processions is precisely minimal, and a scattered band of bandits is ineffective against any ruling body.

No one expects a rallying leader to actually emerge from among these get-along guys. Assuming that these citizens wore uniforms, chanted uniform slogans, and strictly followed pre-established plans and disciplines under the organization of a core group, Governor-general Herzog feared that he would simply order illegal means to clean them up. As long as they remained as loose as they currently were, these pro-indigenous protesters were not a significant threat to South Africa.

McNeil sorted through the intelligence he had gathered from among the citizens, trying to analyze the movements of each of the two factions. After Governor-general Herzog's announcement of the new bill, the governor's concessions finally gained the trust of a significant portion of the population, even though there was still a widespread demand for an investigation into the massacres that had occurred in northern Rhodesia. Europeans who supported the defense of indigenous rights usually argued that the Governor-general should have enacted several additional laws to ensure the implementation of the bill, which would have actually made the natives full citizens of South Africa.

"Legally, the EU did not deliberately discriminate against anyone." McNeil came to this conclusion, "Discrimination is made real by means of seemingly equal competition. On equal terms, natives are at a disadvantage compared to other citizens."

McNeil thought of Emperor Charles' New Deal. Removing the privileges of the nobility and making the Britannian Empire an arena for those who could afford it seemed like a good idea. Assuming that Emperor Charles was indeed able to carry out this theory to the end, McNeil would have to admire him as a ruler with determination and perseverance. However, it was simply not possible for the offspring of nobles to be exactly on the same starting line as the offspring of commoners, and it was unlikely that Charles would allow his children to become miners or construction workers. Neither the equality of the EU nor the elite system that Britannia currently wishes to implement can truly protect those who are weak and at the bottom of the food chain of society as a whole.

In contrast, the activities of the African Britannians are much more violent. From the very beginning, these Britannians began their systematic expansion with an armed militia at their core, and with the power of their paramilitary armies, they tried to seize control of the northern towns. There is often a cohesion within a community that separates it from the outside world, and the Britons have always been a different group in South Africa from all other Europeans, with their own set of rules and outlooks, and a constant belief that the EU took South Africa away from them where it belonged.

At first, these Britannians only wanted to get away from the natives who did not deserve to live on the same land as them. They didn't care what rights Governor-general Herzog would grant the natives, if the African Britons were to be given autonomy, then let the natives run amok in the next colony over, these matters were no longer of concern to them, the noble Britons. However, the Governor-general himself was slow to respond and ordered the collection of weapons from the northern militia. From this point on, the African Britannians seemed to realize that they could not get what they wanted by peaceful means.

In the first half of the Prairial of the Republican Calendar (late May 1998 in the A.T.B. Calendar), the African Britannians made a bold move. They bribed a lobby at great expense, and sent these lobbyists with their silver tongues to Paris to persuade the senators. This was done openly, for EU politicians used it extensively to exert their influence on the Senate, and sometimes even sitting consuls had to use similar side-tracking tactics to accomplish their goals. However, Governor-general Herzog's counter-attack was so fierce and deadly that the head of the lobby was arrested by the Paris police in his hotel a few days later after being found guilty of evading 70 million euros in taxes. To make things even more ludicrous, the police also found a 12-year-old girl in the house, so it seems that the lobbyist has not been doing a lot of unscrupulous things. When this scandal came to light, the whole organization of African Britannians was disgraced and no longer dared to send men to Paris. They had no idea how much evidence sufficient to put a man to death was in the hands of Governor-general Herzog, and it was difficult for them to hold the Governor's evidence.

McNeil set aside the written report, stepped out of his room, locked it, and went out to get supper. Abandoned barricades were piled up in the street, where a few idle youths were guarding the road to prevent unwanted visitors from breaking through the barrier. This was the front line of the conflict between the two factions, and one of the weakest areas of Rhodesia under the control of the African Britannians. Yesterday morning, a group of heavily armed African Britannian militia, attempting to follow the example of their compatriots who have taken control of the city with their violent activities in the north, rallied and suddenly launched an attack on the city hall, which fell into Britannian hands when the mayor himself chose to flee without hesitation. Immediately afterward, the Britannians attempted to seize control of the city council, but the guards defending the council building resisted with such tenacity that the African Britannians were never able to storm the building. By midday, a member of the City Council was hit by a stray bullet near the building, killing him instantly, and the incident gave the Guardian Corp, which had not been ordered to intervene, an excuse to do so. The Guardian Corp ordered armored vehicles to storm the crowd, and the African Britannians, who had no effective weapons, scattered, with several being run over by the armored vehicles.

According to reason, if the Guardian Corp were determined to use force against the Britannians at this time, then even if these soldiers, who lacked training, suffered a little bit, the situation could be quickly brought under control. As a result, what the Guardian Corp waited for was an order for them to evacuate, and they had to obey all instructions from their superiors no matter what. Thus, the Guardian Corp left the city to other citizens who did not want the African Britannians to control it, and an armed conflict soon broke out between the two sides. The African Britannians had set up several strongholds near the plaza, the largest business district in the city center, and controlled the streets below with their high ground, but they had no spare troops to seize control of the rest of the city for the time being. At this point, the city itself was nearly paralyzed, and terrified citizens began rushing into the malls to grab all sorts of supplies and foodstuffs, while there were also ill-intentioned guys ready to specifically rob those who were full of money.

It was then that McNeil realized that the Guardian Corp was useless. There were so many of them, but they were unable to fulfill their basic duties; they were paid liars and thieves. According to some vocal critics, the Guardian Corp appeared to be outnumbered, but were spread too thin, and were not qualified to deal with the problems at hand, resulting in an increasingly understaffed force. Fortunately, these enthusiastic citizens worked hard to take up the duties that were abandoned by others, and they took control of the remaining urban areas and set up some temporary organizations in charge of the distribution of supplies, which sort of temporarily ensured a normal life for the rest of the law-abiding citizens.

"It's a hard work!" McNeil, who came out of the store holding a bag with bread, greeted the young men guarding the barricades.

"These guys don't know the rules, but it's not like we get a chance to teach them a good lesson." One of them said with slight frustration, "They seem determined to fight, but the Governor-general is unresponsive and we simply don't have what it takes to fight them ..."

Sometimes the gods are fair, and once the EU colonizers landed on the coastline of South Africa, the African Britannians who had been living here were pushed to the north, where they had to deal with the constant threat of the natives, and from this developed a martial tradition that bore a resemblance to those of their Britannian compatriots in the Americas. When some hindsight guys blame the Governor-general for allowing the Britannians to organize armed militias in the past, they selectively ignore the problems facing South Africa at the time. Now that there is no longer any independent force in the whole of Africa capable of launching organized attacks against the EU colonial establishment, it is natural that these armed militias should retire. Even the citizens of Paris did not have this privilege, while the African Britons were delusional enough to get the power of both Parisian citizens and Cossacks at the same time.

McNeil speculated that the ultimate goal of the African Britannians was to use the chaos of the situation to blackmail Governor-general Herzog into giving in to them. A major danger in office would have been fatal to any colonial official, and it would have completely cut off their hopes of taking their chances in Europe. Governor-general Herzog would have to compromise if he still wanted a chance to run for consul. If things got out of hand, perhaps Paris would choose to intervene, and then Herzog himself wouldn't be able to keep his governorship.

He still had a lot on his hands. McNeil hoped that the situation would be brought under control, and then he would have a chance to get in touch with the movers for old Jack and get the old man to Paris for his old age. In any case, Paris was far better than any other city in South Africa, the heart of the EU, and even if it harbored dirt, it couldn't possibly be as bad as this ungovernable hellhole. He called and asked for attitude one by one as per the advertisements published in the newspapers, and most of these movers were not satisfactory.

The cell phone was bought for him by Adalbert Herzog. McNeil himself did not bother to buy a cell phone.

"... Yeah, just go wait on the outskirts of the block when you get there." McNeil dialed another number, "We'll get the rest of the stuff there as soon as we can ..."

"Sir, you seem to have misunderstood the scope of our business." The staff on the other end of the phone stiffly replied, "We will not go to a place where we may encounter robbers at any time to perform services for you. Although it is necessary for us to fulfill all the demands of our customers, we are just ordinary company employees who don't have the guts to break through the blockade line against a hail of bullets."

The scale of the armed fights between citizens is gradually increasing, or maybe they are just scared. Ordinary people didn't have to keep company with guns and bullets, McNeil was convinced of that. If even citizens who just wanted to live their lives in peace had to face bullet-ridden streets, then something must be terribly wrong with the times.

"No, I didn't say you or your coworkers had to walk through anything that dangerous." McNeil defended himself to the other party in quick succession, "If you think it's necessary, then it's fine for us to move our stuff to the location you specified-"

The other party hung up.

McNeil sighed. In extraordinary times, the company would rather offend its customers than become a victim in a chaotic conflict. If situation was under control, but if there was the slightest opportunity to make money, they would always come rushing to earn this money.

McNeil worked until after one in the morning, when he went to bed, still painstakingly analyzing what the Britannians were up to. Early the next morning, when he went downstairs to buy a newspaper, he learned a shocking piece of news. The Scots, who had been brought in by Governor-general Herzog, had intervened in the Manicaland area in a clash between two factions of demonstrating crowds. These Scots, who were extremely rough in their methods, sent in tanks straight away, killing hundreds and injuring more than a thousand. In an interview on the scene afterward, the commander gleefully stated that Governor-general Herzog was too moderate and that their kind of approach was necessary to quell the protests.

"Bloody hell." McNeil cursed under his breath, "He's brought in a bunch of plagues ... yet these guys aren't going to be able to divert the hatred of those citizens away from him."

Michael McNeil felt his job was pointless. The Governor-general was letting both sides kill each other, and if this was the most effective means of control that Governor-general Herzog thought he had, then McNeil really had to question his abilities. After organizing the material at hand, McNeil planned to go and meet the Governor-general to hear what he really thought.

TBC

Chapter Notes:

Given that Napoleon Bonaparte was successfully guillotined by radical republicans who feared he would become a dictator, the level of civic activism at EU may be far more violent than we predicted.

Unfortunately, such resistant citizens did nothing after the invasion of the Britannian Empire. They seemed capable of resisting the democratic government of the EU rather than the state terrorism of the Empire.