Chapter 857 Split in Two
Elele Port.
"Your Majesty the Governor, Rogge has sent someone to send a message. Are the Americans going to take action today? They must have already started taking action. Should we take action?" Lieutenant Granston asked.
John Crane nodded and said: "It is already seven o'clock now. I will let our people on the island prepare first. We will launch a coup at six o'clock in the evening."
Gladstone did not refute John Crane's words. This operation could not be carried out by all his own people, and other forces lurking on the island in East Africa would also need to be linked up.
Gladstone's two thousand men cannot be dispersed throughout the island, but must be used in key places. After all, Kauai Island is not small, and too dispersed troops will not be conducive to possible conflicts with the Americans in the future.
Gladstone said: "When the time comes, I will take the main force to Lihue. How many people are suitable to stay in Lihue?"
John Crane thought for a while and said: " Three hundred men in Elelei should be enough. If you have too few, you risk being defeated. If you have too many, it is not conducive to controlling Lihue. Once you control Lihue, you may have to divide your troops to other areas in the east and north of the island, so you Leave at least a thousand troops in Lihue, and you will be in charge of Lihue yourself."
Gladstone said: "Of course, Lihue has the largest population, I will. Pay more attention. As for the east and north of the island, you should pay more attention to the north. After all, if you control the east of Lihue, you will be stable. The north is mainly concentrated in Princeville in the east of Hanalei Bay.”
"Princeville is the second most populous town on the island, and it covers most of the island. If we send people out now, the news there will not be able to spread for a while." John Crane also said.
As for Elayele, because it is not far from Lihue, it was developed relatively late, that is, after the arrival of East Africans, Elayele became somewhat large-scale.
After discussing the relevant arrangements for the coup, Gladstone asked: "Your Majesty the Governor, why hasn't the navy arrived on Kauai yet?"
John Crane said: "The day before, the news It has been sent back that the navy should be on the way now and may arrive in Oahu within a day or two."
...
Oahu.
Iolani Palace.
Iolani Palace was built in 1882 in downtown Honolulu and was the "only" royal palace in the United States in its previous life.
This relatively late-built palace is completely built in Western style. It looks smaller than the Palace of the Sultan of Zanzibar, but it is also more exquisite.
At this time, the Hawaiian royal family did not expect that the Americans would not be "merciful" after all. After all, the United States was quite righteous before and helped the Kingdom of Hawaii resist the aggression of Tsarist Russia, Britain and France.
Of course, in recent years, the Hawaiian royal family has also realized the dangers of the United States' dominance in Hawaii, but they can only pretend to be ostrich and hope that the United States will show some respect.
The United States adopted a "boil the frog in warm water" approach to the Hawaiian Kingdom to achieve annexation of the local area. Originally, there was a native Kapu religion in Hawaii.
The Kapu cult was eradicated, which provided the conditions for the American invasion. Many American missionaries preached the Bible in Hawaii, and American Christianity spread wantonly in the country.
On the surface, American missionaries opened free schools and hospitals in Hawaii, and also held many charity activities. But in fact this is a means of invisible intrusion.
Of course, the Kingdom of Hawaii deserves it. Now King Kalakaua of Hawaii is an out-and-out admirer of beauty. After taking the throne, Kalakaua also took a series of measures to get closer to the United States, so from Kalakaua After Wa succeeded to the throne, the fate of the Hawaiian royal family was sealed.
In fact, the location of Hawaii is not an easy country to invade. Even the United States is more than 3,700 kilometers away from Hawaii.
If Hawaii could balance the forces of all parties on the island, it would still be easy to have both sides, but the Hawaiian royal family has blocked its own path. Today, the sea breeze in Hawaii is still very fresh. Kalakaua stands in front of the palace window, enjoying the blessings of the "civilized" world.
Since Kalakaua succeeded to the throne, he moved the capital from Lahaina to the more economically prosperous city of Honolulu. The American-style palace Iolani Palace was his handiwork .
The exterior wall of the palace is painted the same bright white as the White House in the United States. Tall tropical trees are planted in front of the palace, and the road is smooth, no less than the palaces of some small European countries.
Take the Ernst family’s Hohenzollern Palace as an example. The Hohenzollern Palace is more like a military fortress, and the living experience is actually not that good, while the Iolani Palace is the opposite. Located in the center of the city, there are not many defensive functions at all. There are only simple walls on the outside. And now outside these walls, Americans are already carrying weapons and are coming in a menacing manner.
"Your Majesty, no, our palace is surrounded!" Kalakaua's minister nervously reported to Kalakaua.
“What’s going on?” Kalakaua asked in shock.
"Americans, there are all Americans outside. They surrounded the palace with weapons. At the same time, I also saw demonstration banners against the monarchy."
"Damn, how could this happen! Kalakaua said in disbelief. How could his "American dad" overthrow him?
I have to say that Kalakaua trusts the Americans too much. If it were Ernst, he would definitely not put the palace in Honolulu. Although Lahaina was a little remote in the past, it was not easy to be directly visited by the Americans. Siege, if there is a military palace like Hohenzollern Castle, without the use of heavy weapons, it will not be a problem even if it is besieged for several months.
Of course, the most outstanding feature of Hohenzollern Castle is that it is built on a hill, so you can imagine how poor the habitability of Hohenzollern Castle is, while Iolani Palace and Hohenzollern Castle are completely opposite.
Kalakaua built this palace just to "enjoy happiness". Pearl Harbor in Honolulu is the best port in the entire archipelago, so the economy is also the most developed. In addition, a large number of Americans live there, so the living conditions are It's also the best, and now these are Kalakaua's reminders.
Of course, according to American morality, it is impossible to kill Kalakaua. After all, we must continue to use the name of the Kingdom of Hawaii to maintain local rule of the United States, mainly to prevent gossip from the international community, and East Africa also has this plan.
Six o'clock in the evening.
Lihue.
"You are the Governor of Kauai, Kumari. I heard that you are a descendant of King Gomu Ali'i?"
Gladstone easily led his troops into the Governor's Mansion in Lihue and captured him alive. Kumari, Governor of Kauai, canonized by the Kingdom of Hawaii.
"Next, what do we say, what do you do..." Gladstone did not talk nonsense to the frightened Kumari, and directly asked him to start forming a puppet government and declare his separation from the Kingdom of Hawaii. , restore the Kauai regime.
At the same time, the turmoil on the island naturally attracted the attention of the Americans, but looking at the murderous East African Defense Force soldiers, they did not dare to fart.
There were even sharp-eyed British businessmen who were the first to recognize the uniforms of the East African Defense Forces and exclaimed: "Oh my God, why are these damn East African barbarians here!"
Fortunately, the East African soldiers did not understand English, otherwise they would have given him a rifle butt.
On this day, March 13, 1892, a world-famous painting appeared on the Hawaiian Islands. East Africans and Americans launched coups on the Hawaiian Islands on the same day.
The unified Kingdom of Hawaii was completely destroyed, and two puppet regimes were established, one was the Republic of Hawaii supported by the United States, and the other was the Kingdom of North Hawaii (Kuai Island) supported by East Africa.
The changes that occurred on the islands quickly attracted the attention of the forces on the islands such as Britain, France, and Japan. All countries could only watch the United States and East Africa "divide the spoils" and were temporarily unable to stop it.
(End of this chapter)