British Somalia, also known as Somaliland, is located in northwestern Somalia and covers an area of approximately 137,600 square kilometers.

In what is now Somaliland, most of the area is under rebel control, and only a few large cities such as Hargeisa and Berbera are still under the control of the colonial government.

Garfield Pullman, the British government's high commissioner in Somaliland, greeted Roque at the port, along with Colonel George Jensen, the supreme commander of the Somaliland garrison.

Although Berbera is the largest port in Somaliland, but from Roque's point of view, Berbera does not have to compare with Port Edward and Walvis Bay, and there is a huge gap between Port Elizabeth, not only the terminal facilities are simple, the architecture of the port area is also lackluster, standing on the balcony of the third floor of the port area building, you can clearly see the shacks not far away, the shacks are the slums where the locals live.

"We originally had about 3,500 troops, the officers were our own men, the soldiers were young people recruited locally - after the rebellion, many soldiers absconded with weapons, our defensive line was forced to shrink, and now we have completely cut off land communication between us and Hargeisa, fortunately we can use telegraph communication, the only thing we can be sure of now is that Hargeisa is still under our control." Garfield Pullman didn't know anything about the rebels, how many they were, what equipment the rebels had, only that the leader of the rebels seemed to be a man named Mohammad Abdullah Hassan.

It seems like?

Roque is really ridiculous, shouldn't this kind of thing be understood!

However, Roque can't ask too much of Garfield Pullman, the British government's attention during the world war was on the Western Front, and Garfield Pullman didn't have enough strength in his hands, so it was understandable that he couldn't control the situation.

"How's it going on the Italian side?" Roque didn't have much hope for the Italians, he just hoped that when Roque made a move, the Italians wouldn't pull back.

Roque had managed to get in touch with the Kingdom of Italy before coming to Somaliland, but the Kingdom of Italy had not yet responded.

After the end of the World War, the Kingdom of Italy did not immediately extricate itself from the war, after the end of the Italo-Turkish War, although Tripoli and Cyrenaica became colonies of the Kingdom of Italy, the rebels of Tripoli and Cyrenaica have been resisting and have not stopped fighting with the Kingdom of Italy.

During the World War, in order to tempt the Kingdom of Italy to choose the Entente powers, the British Foreign Secretary at the time, Edward Gray, promised the Kingdom of Italy a part of the Balkans, a promise that has now been fulfilled.

However, the control of this part of the territory by the Kingdom of Italy was not smooth, especially after the declaration of independence of Kimar, a rebellion broke out in the occupied areas of the Kingdom of Italy, and now the troops of the Kingdom of Italy are also exhausted, and like the British, they have no time, no energy, and no strength to quell the rebellion in Italian Somalia.

"The situation on the side of the Kingdom of Italy is also very bad, now the Kingdom of Italy in Italian Somalia is estimated to have only two brigades left, their General Tony was seriously ill last year and could not handle military affairs, and has returned to Italy to recuperate, and now the person in charge is Colonel Gilardino, Colonel Gilardino is in a bad situation, the troops lack enough weapons and ammunition, and the supplies are not sufficient, Colonel Gilardino has applied for reinforcements many times, but has not been able to do so." Garfield Pullman's expression was calm, in fact, he had sent telegrams to London many times before, hoping that London would send reinforcements to British Somalia, but London also had no troops to send.

"Colonel Jensen—" Roque knew that the garrison was in a terrible situation, but he didn't expect it to be so bad.

"I'm here, Marshal Locke!" George Jensen's voice was so loud that it startled Roque.

"George, relax, don't be nervous—" Roque laughed, with the prestige accumulated during the World War, Roque's popularity in the British Army has risen steadily, and he has now become a "god of war" on a par with Kitchener.

After Kitchener was hospitalized due to illness, this situation became more and more apparent, and now among the British troops, the only one who could compete with Roque was probably John Fisher, and the former commander of the Home Fleet, John Jellico, who had just become Secretary of War, was a little worse.

After Kitchener was hospitalized, Winston was interested in appointing Roque as British Minister of War, but Roque declined this invitation.

"I'm sorry Lord, but I'm too nervous—" George Jensen blushed slightly, and then smiled helplessly, "—we now have less than two thousand troops combined, and the troops still use the Henry Martini rifle that was equipped ten years ago, many officers have been killed by the rebels, and in several cities, all the immigrants have been slaughtered—"

Roque's expression gradually became serious, although British Somalia and Southern Africa have nothing to do with each other, but Roque, as the marshal of the United Kingdom, has a reason to protect British citizens.

"The number of whites in Somalia is already very small, and our last census was in 1898, when the total number of whites in Somalia was less than 5,000." Garfield Pullman's expression was embarrassed, British immigrants are mainly from the United States and Canada, and there are very few people who choose Australia and New Zealand.

Garfield Pullman's "Somalia" refers specifically to British Somalia, and not all the whites who immigrated to British Somalia were British, but also French, Greeks and even Italians, and specifically the British, it is estimated that there are not even a thousand.

This was the norm in the British overseas colonies.

"It's okay, I've ordered the 2nd Cavalry Division to board the ship, and it's estimated that it will arrive in ten days." Roque is an ace as soon as he makes a move.

After the end of the World War, except for a few meritorious units that had repeatedly made meritorious contributions during the World War, the other Southern African Expeditionary Force units were disbanded on the spot and returned to Southern Africa in batches.

The 3rd Cavalry Division, another meritorious unit, was placed in the Bosphorus to assist British troops in controlling access to the Black Sea.

"That's great, we're going to kill those Somalis and kill them all!" Garfield Pullman was murderous, although the colonial government had to rely on the local natives to generate profits, but those natives who had white blood on their hands must be disposed of.

This is like a dog biting a person and killing it, some bottom lines cannot be broken.

Although George Jensen didn't speak, his expression was also very helpful.

That night, Garfield Pullman held a dinner party in his official residence, it seemed that as long as the British Empire still existed, the banquet could not disappear, almost all the British and French officials Roque knew were very keen on banquets, and at the height of the world war, they did not prevent the dignitaries in Paris from holding banquets.

To Roque's surprise, many of the things at the banquet were from southern Africa.

In Roque's concept, the reason why Somalia is called a "country of pirates" in the 21st century is that it must be a poor and poor people who have to become pirates.

In fact, when I came to Somaliland Roque, I knew that Somaliland is really not a desert, not barren, although there are mountains and Gobi mountains in Somaliland, but there are also fertile pastures and fertile oases, in Somaliland, the most famous animals include the Great Horn antelope, wild boar, African wild ass, warthog, antelope, Somali sheep, wild goats and camels, in addition to Somaliland also live many kinds of birds and fish, the product is rich, than to take off to other areas is not much better.

Think about the history of Somalia was once a famous spice producing area, Roque really can't figure it out, Somalia is not said to be a treasure of feng shui, but it is definitely not a lack of grass, in such an environment, Somalis actually go to be pirates, what do you think?

At the dinner, Roque tasted some local Somali food, and according to his custom, Roque ate the food on his plate cleanly.

"In Somaliland, if a guest eats all the food on the plate, it means that the guest is not full, which is rude, so leave a little food on the plate to show respect for the host." Garfield Pullman introduces Roque to Somaliland traditions.

Roque really can't accept this habit, the traditional education received by the Chinese is: who knows that the food on the plate is hard; What does it mean to have a little left over after eating?

If this is in a Chinese family, children will definitely be beaten if they don't finish their meals, and in the words of many Chinese parents, only beggars will have this habit.

At this time, Roque will definitely not comment on the traditions of Somaliland, and will follow the local customs, and then Roque will also keep a little when he eats.

"Somaliland is also rich in aquatic products, and there are a lot of livestock in the pastures, and we have invited Mr. Cecil Rhodes to invest in Somaliland many times, but unfortunately Mr. Cecil Rhodes does not look down on us in Somaliland-" Now it is Garfield Pullman's turn to smile bitterly, Somaliland is rich in beef and mutton and aquatic products, but because it does not meet the requirements of the United Kingdom, it cannot be sold to the United Kingdom, which makes Garfield Pullman very troubled.

"If you want Cecil to invest, at least you have to create a stable environment for Cecil, now Somaliland is full of rebels, the situation is precarious, I am Cecil, I will not come to Somaliland to invest." Roque can understand Xiao Si, maybe in Garfield Pullman's opinion, the pastures and aquatic products in Somaliland are not bad, but compared to southern Africa, the pastures in Somaliland are really not enough.

Don't look at Xiao Si talking well in front of Roque, if you change to someone else, Xiao Si is very difficult to serve.

(End of chapter)