A Shattered Balance of Mind

While Brunzino spoke with his comrades, the East African National Defense Army's border patrol was also conducting its routine patrol in the "wilderness."

"Squad Leader Hans, are those Portuguese soldiers over there?" As a newly enlisted soldier, Peter asked. It was his first time seeing Portuguese people.

"That's right. Look at how many black soldiers they have in their ranks. And those uniforms of theirs are even uglier than the simplified uniforms we wore over a decade ago—dusty gray all over and wrinkled besides. Only the three officers' uniforms look somewhat decent, though they're quite worn-out too," Hans commented freely on the Portuguese patrol across the border.

The Portuguese Angola Colony army's uniforms could only be described as hideously ugly. To put it more politely, they were "simple and crude," looking somewhat like the warlord forces of the Far East Empire's Republican era.

In fact, the Portuguese homeland's army uniforms were barely tolerable. They followed Europe's "flashy" style, with countless patterns and a certain air of elegance. But naturally, the colonies could not be compared with the homeland.

This was also connected to Portugal's financial difficulties. In truth, after East Africa's previous blow, Portugal's national fortunes had declined by another great stretch.

"I heard Portugal used to be a great power, holding vast colonies all over the world. Now it has fallen so low. It must be in severe financial straits. It really feels like the blue sea has turned to mulberry fields," Peter said with some emotion.

Peter had received East Africa's compulsory education, so he knew a little about history and understood Portugal's place in Europe. However, he did not know Portugal particularly well. After all, there were so many countries in the world that East Africa could not possibly devote its textbooks to describing Portugal in detail.