The East African Southern Road Army, their destination is to conquer this Matebele Plateau, and for the local indigenous people, the arrival of the Southern Road Army is undoubtedly a disaster.

To the east are the Portuguese, to the south the Boers, originally only the barren land to the west—the Kalahari Basin—and other black nations to the north remained, but with the East African expedition, they were completely surrounded by colonizers.

If it were like usual, merely hundreds, at most a thousand or so colonial troops, the Zimbabwean natives could still manage. However, the entire Southern Road Army has over twenty thousand people, which is too many for the natives to handle.

The Great Zimbabwe ruins.

A platoon of the Southern Road Army stationed here is responsible for setting up a supply transit point to ensure the smoothness of the logistics channel.

"This is an empty city, but entirely built from stone; its height is quite impressive, which is rare in Africa. But why would the local natives abandon it?" Platoon Leader Demier wondered aloud.

"Hmm, it's hard to say. It might not necessarily be independently constructed by the natives; it could also be an idea from the Arabs." The deputy platoon leader replied.

"I don't see it that way!" At this moment, a voice came from nearby. It was a middle-aged man with a backpack and a cane, followed by a black man carrying his luggage.

"Who are you? Why are you here? Why do you speak German?" Midel cautiously looked at this unexpected visitor while raising his gun.

"No need to be nervous, friend. I am a German geographer, Karl Mohr, here to study the culture of the natives, and this is my hired servant." Karl Mohr explained.

Hearing the self-introduction, Midel relaxed his guard slightly and said, "A German, that's wonderful! It's the first time I've seen a German in the African interior other than from the East African Kingdom. Where are you from in Germany?"

"Sir, I am a Saxon from Dresden. Have you heard of it?" Karl Mohr said.

Midel finally put down his gun and approached Karl Mohr to extend his hand. "Hello, Mr. Mohr, I am also from Germany, formerly from Württemberg."

"Looking at your attire?" Karl Mohr remarked upon seeing the East African Kingdom's military uniform, noting that although the style resembled the German region, there were some different elements.

"The East African Kingdom Army."

"East African Kingdom? I've never heard of this country," Mohr said curiously, noting that this was the name of an African country.

"Mr. Mohr, how long have you been in Africa?" Midel didn't immediately answer but asked in return.

"Not long, just two or three years."

"Then it's no wonder. Have you not returned to Europe during these years?"

Karl Mohr shook his head and said, "No, I haven't. I've been researching historical sites here, such as this Stone City where you are now, because gathering useful information is difficult, and given the age of this site, I've stayed here the entire time."

"I see!" Midel suddenly realized, "Actually, Mr. Mohr, your information here is somewhat isolated. The East African Kingdom is a kingdom established by us Germans in Africa and was founded just a few months ago."

"Uh, aren't overseas territories all colonies? I thought it was a colony of Prussia or the Austria-Hungary Empire!"

"The East African Kingdom was established by the Heixinggen royal family. Heixinggen is a principality in the Southern German region, you should know it!"

"I've only heard the name Heixinggen Principality; I'm not very familiar with the details."

"Our king's surname is Hohenzollern."

"I see, the Hohenzollern family makes sense, but it's indeed a bit extraordinary for Germans to establish a kingdom in Africa. I've been here for some time, and I haven't seen you before!"

"That's because this area has only recently been incorporated into the territory of the East African Kingdom, and currently, besides the military, there haven't been any settlers moving here yet," Midel explained.

With over twenty thousand East African troops, it seems intimidating, but spread over more than 500,000 square kilometers of land, it doesn't even cause a ripple, so it's normal for Karl Mohr not to have encountered other East African troops before.

"Then your East African region must be quite large! This is the African interior; to the east are the Portuguese, where I landed from the port, and to the south are the Boers. You could only have come from the north."

"It should be quite large. It takes more than ten days just to travel from the newly established Southern Border Province of East Africa to here."

In fact, most East Africans could hardly know exactly how large East Africa is, not even Ernst, because East African territory has been constantly changing.

Southern Border Province? Karl Mohr picked up on another piece of information, that the East African Kingdom had demarcated administrative regions.

"Do you have any unique insights into these ruins?" At this point, Midel asked, bringing the topic back to the scene when Karl Mohr appeared.

"Yes, I personally believe these large clusters of stone constructions have a European style, and they likely originated from Europe. You see, there's no roof here, all built with grey granite blocks with intricate techniques. Some blocks were even carved. The tall stone walls on the hill are clearly European-style architecture." Karl Mohr said in response to Midel's inquiry.

"This is indeed a novel perspective!" Midel commented, "But if you ask me, I think this was probably created by the African natives themselves, at most with some connection to the Arabs, and it's simply impossible to relate it to Europe."

Hearing Midel refute his viewpoint, Karl Mohr said, "What insights do you have?"

"Though this site is of considerable scale, it's too coarse, and the carving traces you mentioned, in my opinion, are skills even primitive savages are capable of. I've seen many natives, and some of their stone spears are quite good, purely handcrafted by stone striking, and this is just a big circle of stones, which might have once included houses. Building houses with stones isn't a difficult task, and European architecture wouldn't be this rudimentary."

"You make valid points, but I don't believe African natives have the capability to construct such massive works themselves. I've been to many places in Africa, and such large stone ruins are only present in North Africa. South of the Sahara, only here are these isolated stone cities dispersed. Also, I've investigated the surrounding natives, and they don't possess such a legacy of skills, so these buildings are definitely not completed by the natives."

...

The two were debating the stone ruins, which are actually the renowned Great Zimbabwe ruins in Africa from the previous world. In Zimbabwe, there are over two hundred sites with the same style, each referred to by the locals as "Zimbabwe," but the identity of the builders has remained controversial.

In the previous world, Karl Mohr was the first to bring this marvel to the public eye. Although hailed as a wonder and listed as a World Cultural Heritage site, if you ask Ernst, it's not worth the reputation at all. It's just that Africa (excluding North Africa) really doesn't have much historical cultural heritage to boast about, making the so-called Great Zimbabwe ruins a "big fish in a small pond."

Except for Australia, sub-Saharan Africa is the most culturally barren region in the world, and even when it comes to stonework, the Native Americans outshine sub-Saharan Africa by a dozen streets.