Chapter 401 Rejected
July 22, 1872.
London.
British Prime Minister Gladstone has been quite comfortable recently, and various affairs are progressing smoothly. Last year, he presided over the implementation of the British national education reform, established government-funded non-religious elementary schools, and supported industrialists in the international market. competition to improve the cultural level of workers.
In the same year, the reform of the civil service system was implemented to establish a low-cost government that could not only improve administrative efficiency but also save expenses, so that more funds could be used to develop the economy. This year, the reform of the British Army was completed to adapt to the short-term military service system.
Coupled with the improvement of the international situation, and the sworn enemy France being dragged into the water by Prussia, the British Empire is now not in a good situation, but in a great situation.
Just then the secretary came in and ruined Gladstone's good mood: "Mr. Prime Minister, this is an urgent letter from the Cape Town Colony!"
"Cape Town ! What emergency can they have?" Gladstone wondered.
"Well, Mr. Prime Minister, please take a look at the contents of the letter before making a conclusion." The secretary responded.
So, Gladstone read it with a skeptical attitude. Gladstone really couldn't imagine what emergencies Cape Town would encounter. Cape Town was an important part of the colonies of the British Empire. Partly, there should be no one who dares to offend Cape Town now. After all, France is no longer qualified to compete with Britain for hegemony. Although Germany has become the hegemon in Europe, the German navy is one of the great powers that makes people sad and shed tears. The bathtub navy posed no threat to Britain. Finally, there were two clay-footed giants, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Tsarist Russia, to name more than one.
After excluding the big powers, the only country that dares to challenge the British Empire is the rebellious United States. However, the British know that the United States only has a tough mouth and can only yell at Britain across the Atlantic.
"Where is the Kingdom of East Africa?" Gladstone asked in confusion after reading the letter.
The secretary responded: "Prime Minister, have you forgotten that Prince Constantine of Prussia went to Africa to become king in the middle of the year before last? It was a joke in the newspapers for a while at that time!"
Gladstone: "When you said that, I remembered that at that time I also teased the Hohenzollern family for being unmotivated and actually went to Africa to become kings and hegemons."
Although well Sturt bought headlines and made the East African kingdom famous at that time, but its reputation was indeed not very good. Everyone knew about Africa. If the Franco-Prussian War had not broken out, this kind of thing would have definitely become a laughing stock for most people for a period of time.
"Well, but is the East African Kingdom so domineering now? It can bully Cape Town! Fifty thousand troops is not that much? Why is Cape Town so nervous!" Gladstone asked doubtfully.
Here Gladstone does not think that the 50,000 troops in East Africa will have any impact on Cape Town, because according to his inertial thinking, he believes that East Africa consists of black people.
This kind of thing is too common in the colonies. If possible, the British could easily use local people to organize an army of millions in India. There are not many white people in Cape Town, but there are not many black people. There is no way we can raise an army of more than 100,000 people.
When he thought of this, Gladstone became angry: "It is too embarrassing to let Cape Town solve this matter by itself. If a small African country is afraid, wouldn't it be that so many black people in the United States have already turned over? God, are we supposed to tell Prussia that your colony is too powerful and threatens the security of Cape Town? If even black people don’t have the confidence to fight, this Are you still talking about it?" Gladstone continued: "Reply to Sir Henry Buckley and don't send this kind of thing to London in the future, unless the Germans personally attack Cape Town. I don't believe that they have degenerated to even Even the natives can be bullied. If this matter really makes me shameless and ask Bismarck, I don’t even think about it.”
It makes sense for Gladstone to say this. The German navy is probably on par with the Royal Navy stationed in the Cape Colony, not to mention that it is impossible for the Germans to cross the Atlantic to die in Africa.
Of course, the main reason why Gladstone was so angry was that the British Empire couldn't lose face, and he couldn't lose face as the Prime Minister of the Empire. For the benefit of Cape Town, he asked Bismarck, which was a loss. Can people in Cape Town imagine that a world hegemon would seek help from his former younger brother?
“Yes, Prime Minister!”
The secretary also thinks so. The East African Kingdom is just an indigenous country that was listed on the backdoor last year, while the British Cape Town Colony has experienced hundreds of years of The development of Africa (plus the Netherlands), the area with the largest white population in Africa (Europe), if a century-old colony is not as powerful as a newly born indigenous country, then it is nothing.
Gladstone dismissed the Cape Town Colony’s request for help. It was not that Gladstone thought Cape Town was unimportant, but that he did not think Cape Town would be in danger. He really had the strength to dare to attack the British eyelids. The Cape Town colony is being eaten up by several other powerful countries. The problem is that now the British Royal Navy is the only one, and no one dares to cause trouble to the British overseas.
…
South Africa.
Ernst: "Now that we have become neighbors with the Portuguese in the south, it would be outrageous not to visit them. Otherwise, it would be really bad to scare the Mozambique colony."
< br>Settled all the forces in South Africa, especially the Orange Free State, making the southern defense line of the East African Kingdom as stable as a mountain. Regardless of the small area of the Orange Free State, it now has nearly half of South Africa's white population (excluding East Africa) Army), especially a strengthened version of the Orange Free State, Ernst believed that it was possible to say no to East Africa and Cape Town.
The Cape Colony does not know what it is doing now and has no response at all, so Ernst plans to let Felix, who pacified the Zulu Kingdom, lead a team to Portugal for exchanges (demonstrations).
There is no way around this. Although Mozambique has more colonies and areas bordering northern East Africa, Mozambique’s center of gravity is in Maputo Bay, and the forces are mutual. Mozambique is worried about the East African Kingdom threatening its capital, and the East African Kingdom is also worried about Portuguese sneak attacks. Where is South Africa!
Ernst: "You don't need to bring too many people, a dozen will be enough. The Portuguese are frightened now. As long as we use a little force, they might explode."
Ernst is telling the truth, now In the land of South Africa, the arrival of the East African Kingdom has caused panic among the people. Especially the large-scale military mobilization and a series of dazzling wars by the East African Kingdom have made the local forces fearful that one day the East African Kingdom will suddenly attack them.
Furthermore, even if the East African kingdom has strong military strength, it still has no martial ethics. Looking at the several countries that have been wiped out in East Africa, they all fight without declaring war. This kind of neighbor will not be allowed anywhere. A reassuring presence.
Among them, Tsarist Russia is the representative, but Tsarist Russia also has to follow European rules when fighting with Europe. The East African Kingdom is a complete rogue. This is also related to the ecological environment of the colonies. In all the colonies in the world, especially in Africa , what they pay attention to is that they do not pay attention to martial ethics, deceive and kidnap, kill and set fires. All colonial groups can come up with stupid ideas, and they use all kinds of crooked tricks. Countries like the East African Kingdom that rely solely on force to solve problems are considered a breath of fresh air in Africa.
(End of this chapter)