Kingdom of East Africa, First Town, Qiuweit Palace.
"How is the reorganization of the new army coming along?" King Constantin asked the East African officials.
"Your Majesty, eighty percent of it has now been completed. We split up and reorganized the original units, promoting a number of outstanding performers from the previous campaign to serve as commanders in the new army based on their merits."
"Mm. Once the reorganization is complete, send the materials to my office," Constantin instructed.
"By the way, there is one more matter. What have the Portuguese been doing lately? Have they taken the southern shore of Lake Malawi?"
"We have heard nothing of the sort. Our troops along the South Salzburg Province border have yet to see any Portuguese forces. Our scouts have not ventured deep into southern Malawi, but within over two hundred li south of South Salzburg Province, not a single Portuguese has been seen," Merke said.
"Could it be that they have not even sent out their troops yet?" Von der Leyen guessed.
"That seems unlikely. Several months have already passed. We did not spend much time occupying such a large stretch of the southwestern region," Merke said.
"I do remember something along those lines. The Portuguese should have set out. Two months ago, our intelligence agents in Maputo reported that the Portuguese had organized a force and headed inland. There were not many of them, seemingly only a few hundred men. We did not take that intelligence seriously at the time, but judging by the timing, it was very likely the Mozambique colony's force sent to conquer the Kingdom of Malawi," Felix said.
"A few hundred men should be enough to fight a native Kingdom. But actually occupying it effectively would not be easy—unless the natives all turned into stupid pigs