Part 6: 940-959, Three Mansas.

Now in his fifties, Dongu decides to take life easy. He organises a feast.



The feast needs a Boar. Boars are hard to find in Sub-Saharan Africa, but the Marshal is sent out to try and catch one.



Everyone who is anyone is there, and the king spends lavishly on the food and hires a magician.



Some of the lords stayed suspiciously sober.



All agreed that the Mansa threw a great party.







It takes time, but this has a trickle down effect, and soon the lords back the extension of Crown Authority.



Always an angry man, Dongu's tastes take a turn for the worse in his old age.



He still has time to keep his children happy though.







This is his last act as Mansa, as the old man dies in his sleep.



Kabayo II Ogoona takes the throne of Ghana. Still a young man, he already has an heir, Dongu. This continues the Ogoona tradition of naming the first born son after the grandfather.
A Midas with money, the new Mansa is also a cynical, content chaste man, with a slight tendency to overeat at every opportunity.


In fact, while waiting for his own servants to suggest their preferred positions, we see this event twice. This is a king ready to party!



He is willing to listen to his new advisor however.



Something of a small civil war breaks out in western Ghana, but as it is no threat to the new Mansa, he ignores it.







The Civil war still rages, but Kabayo decides he needs to do his bit to expand his realm. Aoudaghost is the richest province in Sanhaja, and will break their back as a power in the region.



Gao has the audacity to join the war against Ghana!



Kabayo leads from the front, he decides to focus on mastering the desert.



I wonder why?



The Gaoan forces are quickly defeated, and the Chieftess captured,







The Sanhaja forces do not last long, and in less than a year they admit defeat.



A second son is soon born to Kabayo.







It seems that not all the Ogoona's believe that Kabayo is the rightful king. It seems that his cousin Umar thinks that his branch of the family should be in charge.



Kabayo thinks this over in his garden. “Sometimes, a tree needs a good prune.”



Its a shame that the Mansa's assassin bungles the job.



The man does not even have the dignity to die under interrogation!



Within a year, many factions were manoeuvring to get Kabayo off the throne!







Umar makes his move! He has raised over six thousand men to defeat his liege.



With his damaged relations with his vassals, Kabayo is forced to spend a large amount of gold to hire a thousand mercenaries to give him the advantage in numbers.



The two forces clash. Overall, the rebels have the better commanders, but the loyalists have a slight troop number advantage. The bets General on the loyalist side is the Mercenary commander.



The commander dies early on, but the defensive terrain allows the Loyalists to hold their position. The Rebel right collapses, but so does the Loyalist centre.



The battle is long and brutal, with both sides losing a full third of their numbers. But despite losing all three generals, the Loyalists are victorious!



Kabayo is forced to take command of his troops himself, and in the next battle he is wounded.



Before the end of the day the wound is infected, and the Mansa's life hangs in the balance.



The battle itself is another victory.



His infected wound does not stop the Mansa from trying to improve his fighting skills.







While his bravery is respected, it is not a wise choice, and Kabayo slumps to the floor dead one day while practising. This puts Dongu III, currently nine years old, in charge of the country.



While the Kabayo's seem destined to be great warriors, the Dongu's seem to be cowards! At least the young Mansa is gregarious.



His first task is to deal with a claim of an assassination attempt. Learning from his father's mistakes, young Dongu declares that the man may have is offenders lands.



Being thrust into a position of power so early has its affects.



A swift beating by his guardian cures him of this problem however.







The civil war finally ends. Dongu now hopes to live out the rest of his regency in peace.



The Muslims see more internal strife.



Although only Navarra and Aquitaine threaten their control of the Iberian Pennisular. Aquitaine is a behemoth however.







It has taken some time, but the population of Taghaza throw off their Islamic shackles and embrace the Serpent!



They are not the only people taken up by a new feeling of faith!



Although his control of language is not exceptional, let it never be said that being able to spell has ever precluded anyone from greatness.



Dongu's council are also doing great things.



Although some of those things were undoing the work of his father.







A regency can cause problems in a Kingdom however. This means that Dongu will only have six hundred men of his own to call upon, his grandfather could call on over two thousand!



As his Name-day approaches, Dongu has to come to terms with the fact that his cowardice is something more, even physical contact is a problem for the Mansa.
People will question if he is even an Ogoona – who ever heard of an Ogoona who was afraid of Physical contact rather than craving it?







The regency finally ends and Dongu III Ogoona is now in full command of his country.



Craven, Gregarious, Zealous Ambitious and Chaste, the new Mansa has a lot to prove, but is young, and has lots of time to prove himself.



He quickly betroths himself to a lustful looking girl of 12, and then set about cleaning up his country.



He also cannot forget that Bamako was once his families land, and should be once more. War is declared.



The large Jeno force hits once of the smaller Ghanan armies, but the others rush to support it.



They win the first fight, but after that there is only one outcome.



Dongu learns much on the field of battle, he manages to face his fear and lead his men well.



Soon the war is won, and Bamako is once more part of Ghana.



Ghana may not have grown much in the last twenty years, but she now has a strong ruler with eyes towards expansion. This could soon be the beginning of a Golden Age for the country.