The Ottoman Empire's base was mainly concentrated in Asia Minor, and the Sultan's control over the rest of the region was significantly lower.

Especially after the Sudanese government was cut off from the local authorities by the anti-Turkish alliance, its control was even more indifferent.

Loyal ministers are only a minority, and in the face of the cruel reality, the weakness of human nature is exposed.

Seeing that the Ottoman government was gone, those who were unwilling to stay with the empire began to look for a way back.

Baghdad was just the beginning, and after the Austrian march into the valley of the two rivers, there were many cases of abandonment and flight from the city.

People are blindly obedient, and when they saw that the powerful men had run away, ordinary people naturally rushed to follow suit, and for a time the Persian borders were overcrowded.

……

Baghdad, Provisional Command of the Middle East Theater of Operations

Admiral Morks asked with concern: "Dennis, how many people have left?" ”

Dennis's middle-aged officer replied: "About 120,000 people have left in the Baghdad area, and about 500,000 people have left throughout the two river valleys. ”

Admiral Morks frowned: "It's not enough, there are still too few people leaving." The fighting in the two river basins is largely over, and all that remains is sporadic resistance.

The local population is more than 3 million, and even because of the war, there are at least 2.23 million, minus more than 500,000 left, and there are 1.7 million and 800,000 left.

In the future, it will cost a huge amount of money to relocate so many people, and the best way is to let them leave on their own.

The news was that we were going to implement the "Land Fallow Law" and ban the cultivation of grain and livestock in the two river basins for the next 20 years. ”

True and false news is often the easiest to believe.

If you are a little more well-informed, you will know that Austria has implemented land fallow laws after the occupation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Arabian Peninsula.

Now, except for a few cities, everything else is overgrown with weeds and shrubs, and the inland areas are basically uninhabited.

"Yes, Your Excellency, Commander!" Major General Dennis replied

After a moment's hesitation, Dennis still expressed the doubts in his heart: "Your Excellency, Commander, leave them to create wealth, we can collect taxes immediately, why do we have to move the population away?" ”

In the eyes of many, the Vienna government's "Land Fallow Law" is a fool's errand, and has no real value other than labor and money.

It is not yet fashionable to protect the environment, and no one has raised objections before, and that is when it comes to Jerusalem. The holy land is about to be buried by the wind and sand, and it is really not good to protect it.

The Arabian Peninsula can only be regarded as incidental, anyway, there is nothing in the area, and there is no shortage of camels in Austria, so let it be fallow if it is fallow.

The two river basins are different, but the Mesopotamian plains are very fertile, and agriculture and animal husbandry can be developed.

The era of population explosion has not yet arrived, and Iraq, for example, had a population of 1.2 or 3 million before the war, and water resources were relatively abundant.

Admiral Morks smiled slightly: "Naturally, for the sake of stability, you don't think that these people will accept our rule with peace of mind, right?" ”

Hearing this answer, Dennis was even more confused. The Ottoman Empire was able to suppress these people, and Austria was worried about the stability of the region, which was a joke to say.

Colonial empires have their own methods of rule, and generally speaking, when encountering problems that cannot be solved, they can be solved in one way - "kill"!

Admiral Morks would continue to explain: "If it is an ordinary colony, it is naturally not worth our heavy investment, but the two river basins are special.

Our people have discovered oil here, and geologists estimate that the oil reserves in the two river basins are likely to exceed the total amount of oil found in the world so far.

Scientists believe that oil is the next most important energy source, and it is likely to replace coal in the future. ”

Dennis shook his head in disbelief and blurted out, "This can't be!" How can oil replace coal because of its limited uses? ”

Admiral Morks waved his hand: "This question is not something I can answer. Anyway, the scientists convinced the government and convinced the country of this judgment. ”

Looking at Dennis, who was in a state of self-doubt, Admiral Morks continued: "Okay, whether oil can replace coal, the question is for time to tell.

At present, we just need to know that the role of oil is very important, and we have very few domestic reserves, and there are many reserves in the two river basins.

When it comes to energy security, in order to ensure the safety of oil extraction, we must have full control over the region. ”

Mörks also doesn't believe that oil is replacing coal as an energy source, but as long as there is a "possibility", it is worth paying attention to.

In order to make the French realize the "importance of energy", the Vienna government did not do much to publicize it, and now everyone in Europe knows that energy is very important.

After hesitating for a moment, Dennis slowly spoke: "Your Excellency, Commander, if this is the case, then it is not enough to just release the news.

It would be better to have practical actions, such as: imposing a war tax and setting a tax that most people can afford; Or send people directly and persuade them to leave.

The Persians have learned the lessons of the last refugee crisis and have set up a cordon in the border area, where a large number of refugees have now gathered.

If you don't open the passage, even if these people want to leave, they won't be able to get out. ”

There is definitely more than one way to leave. The problem was that Russia did not dare to go, and Austria did not let them in.

Admiral Morks nodded: "This is indeed a problem, I will report to Vienna and try to get domestic support."

However, the chances of success were very low, and even if the Ministry of Foreign Affairs intervened, the Persians would not have the courage to accept the two millions.

It is really impossible to encourage the refugees to break through the border first, so let the troops create a misunderstanding and tear a hole. ”

The anti-Turkish alliance did not support it, and under the military and diplomatic pressure of the British government, the Persians released British supplies into the Ottoman territory.

For this reason, the Persian government repeatedly explained to Vienna and St. Petersburg, but unfortunately this did not make any sense, and the great powers did not like to be reasonable most of the time.

In Admiral Morks's view, whatever the reason, Persia was on the opposite side of the anti-Turkish alliance, and there was a price to pay.

……

The progress of the Austrian army in the valley of the two rivers did not make Franz happy, and the news reported by Admiral Moulks was even more troublesome to him.

The Middle East theater of operations is thinking about the problem of one or two million people, while Franz, the emperor, needs to consider the problem of more than three million people, or even more than four million people.

There is no way, the Ottoman government is crazy, it does not mean that the generals below are crazy, all the people are not fake, and if they can't win the battle, they still have to surrender.

There are still one or two million prisoners of war on the peninsula of Asia Minor, after all, the Sudanese government has gone crazy and brought so great losses that the locals have nothing to eat if they are not prisoners of war.

In desperation, the Vienna government had to keep this large group of "prisoners of war". Both sides were stained with each other's blood, and Franz did not consider himself capable of influencing them.

It is necessary to send it away, and Franz doesn't care about spending money, just as it is an upfront investment, and the question is where to send people.

Weysenberg, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs: "Your Majesty, most of the countries of the Americas have expressed their refusal to accept refugee immigrants, and the United States of America has agreed to accept some immigrants, but only in the young and strong workforce. ”

There is no way, the Ottomans were not popular, and the countries of the Americas never recruited immigrants from the Ottoman Empire, let alone the old and weak women and children.

The United States of America was willing to accept it, but because of the Franz butterfly effect, the number of Europeans immigrating to the United States was greatly reduced, and the capitalists were severely lacking.

It is a pity that no matter how short of people there is, the capitalists only need a young and strong labor force that can create wealth, and they have no love for the old and weak.

"What are the government's plans?" Franz asked

Prime Minister Felix: "The government has three options: first, to divide a piece of land from the colony and relocate these people;

second, to throw trouble at the soon-to-be-founded kingdom of Ameria;

Thirdly, under the pretext of Persian support for the Ottomans, provoke a war in advance and expel these people into Persia.

There are pros and cons to all three options. To divide land and settle in the colonies, you can only find a way to do it from the Americas or the South Seas, and the cost is relatively large.

Losing to the Kingdom of Ameria seems to be the easiest, but there are many troubles in the future.

The Russians were certainly reluctant to give rich land to the Amerians to build a state, and it was very likely that the new kingdom would not be able to support such a large number of people.

Expulsion into Persia was the least costly, but it was too violent to affect our international reputation. ”