On May 12, 1870, Governor Delphi led an army of 30,000 troops to invade the Orange Free State, and the Great War of South Africa broke out.

After the news spread, the Boers instantly fell into a panic, and the manor where Viscount Fickney temporarily lived was full of guests for a while.

The Transvaal and the Orange Free State were almost one, and the two countries had always joined forces against the British.

The difference in strength between the two sides was too great, and no one had the confidence to defeat the British. In the face of the British, the Boer Republic has always chosen to be patient.

That was before, though, and now things have changed. Now that everyone is going to join Austria, it is natural that there will be no fear of the British anymore.

At this time, everyone came to visit for two main reasons: first, to make a stand to Viscount Fickney and take sides openly; Secondly, there was the accidental intervention of Austria in the war.

Viscount Fikney said confidently: "Don't worry, the British army seems to be huge, but in fact it is strong from the outside.

The British garrison in Cape Town will not exceed three thousand, and in recent times there have been no major troop movements in the London government.

Even if the colonial government of Cape Town had recruited civilian forces, it would not have been possible to have more than 5,000 combat-ready troops. In addition, it is conceivable what kind of goods are left of the British army. ”

The rivalry between Britain and Austria in South Africa is no longer a day or two, and they are collecting intelligence from each other.

There is no way to monitor the civilian armed forces scattered in various places, but there is still a close eye on the movement of military troops.

Britain and Austria were both colonial powers, and it was impossible to station a large number of regular troops in a region, otherwise even a million troops would not be enough.

The responsibility for maintaining local stability naturally falls on the colonial army and civilian armed forces. The British were more dependent on the colonial companies, while Austria was mainly armed with the aristocracy.

Of course, there is no difference in essence between the two, and the main combat force of the British colonization is also the children of the nobility. The difference was that the British capital was stronger, while the Austrian capitalists were in a subordinate position.

There are advantages and disadvantages between the two, and they cannot be generalized, which is determined by their respective national conditions, and cannot be changed by individual strength.

The Austrian model had the advantage of maintaining imperial power, it was replenished with new blood, the power of the aristocratic class was strengthened, and the position of the emperor was naturally more consolidated.

When opening up to the outside world, the combat effectiveness of the outbreak is also stronger, and it is naturally more difficult to fight for oneself than to work hard for others.

This can now be proved that if the British want to recruit civilian armed forces to the battlefield, they must negotiate the conditions in advance, and if the interests are not enough, passive sabotage is indispensable.

The Austrian aristocracy, on the other hand, was actively seeking war, and this was the question of the distribution of interests. A large part of the colonial gains of the British went into the pockets of the capitalists, while Austria was taken by the aristocracy.

It is not that the capitalists in the Austrian colony did not participate, but mainly in the process of achieving results, they had already completed their transformation into the aristocracy.

When classes change, so does stance. People tend to be interested in the disadvantage, and they will naturally choose the most advantageous side of themselves.

Now that the war has broken out, although Viscount Fikney is not visible on his face, he is actually happy in his heart.

Even if the war is temporarily lost, it is okay to take the opportunity to attack the local vested interests, so as not to make these outbreaks bigger.

In any case, Austria will definitely win, and this is the confidence that comes with strength.

Viscount Fikney is not in a hurry, he has already discussed with the nobles who came to make war achievements, and everyone will not make a move until they get the local power.

Marcoslin, a capitalist of the Orange Free State, said anxiously: "Your Excellency, this army of the British is nothing to your country. But for the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, this is a catastrophe.

If your country does not interfere, our strength alone will not be an opponent of the British at all. There is no way we can continue this war. ”

It seems to be panicked, but it is actually an expression of dissatisfaction.

However, when these words reached the ears of Viscount Fikney, he had already labeled Marcoslin as unusable in his heart.

The phrase "your country" shows that Marcoslin has not yet identified with Austria. The "no way to fight" in the back is a threat in the eyes of Viscount Fikney.

If Marcoslin had known Fikni's thoughts, it would have been too late to cry. His property was mainly in the Orange Free State, and he would suffer heavy losses in the event of war.

In a hurry, he blurted out, and he didn't expect that Viscount Fickney would think so much.

Although Marcoslin was also involved in politics, how could the politics of the Boer Republic be compared to Austria? They don't think so much about the details of these expressions.

Seeing everyone's expressions, Viscount Fikney mistakenly thought that these people were forcing the palace. This wonderful misunderstanding, in the later war, made many people present pay a heavy price.

Now that these people are still in use, Viscount Fickney will not turn against them, and immediately promised: "You don't have to worry, if the war situation is unfavorable, Austria will not sit idly by."

Now that the British dare to do it, they do not take Austria seriously, and we must retaliate and teach them a lesson.

However, Britain and Austria are both big powers, and if they clash directly, it is likely to detonate a full-scale war in Europe, and everyone must not want to see it.

So the next step was to go to war with the British in the name of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. You don't have to scruple about it, you can use any means.

Whatever the consequences are in the end, Austria will bear it, and you don't have to worry about retaliation from the British.

The Vienna government had given the authority to teach the British a lesson in South Africa. It won't be long before reinforcements arrive, and you just have to hold on for a month or two. ”

This assurance, which reassured many, that as long as Austria did not give up the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, the war would have to be fought.

The Boers did not lack the courage to fight a war, they dared to fight the British in the original time and space, and now with Austria as their backing, they will not be afraid of war with the British.

At this time, Skoman suddenly asked: "Your Excellency, if you don't turn your face with the British, what will you do with this reinforcement?" If you use the indigenous forces of Africa, I am afraid that they will not be the opponents of the British. ”

Of the 30,000 British troops now, more than 20,000 are indigenous troops, otherwise the Cape Town area would not have had 30,000 troops.

The combat effectiveness of these indigenous units is very limited, and perhaps these people do not lack the spirit of blood and bravery, but their overall quality is too far behind.

The Boers also trained indigenous troops, but unfortunately no matter how hard they tried, the trained troops were not presentable.

Now that he heard about the reinforcements, Skoman's first reaction was the Native Army. After all, without turning his face, it is easiest to hide his identity with the indigenous army.

Even if they were captured by the British, the words of these people could not be used as evidence on the table.

Viscount Fikney shook his head and said very calmly: "The fact that the government army cannot be dispatched does not mean that we have no army available.

The total number of civilian armed forces in Austrian Africa exceeds 300,000. You give them a new nationality and go to war as regular soldiers in the Transvaal. ”

Viscount Fikney is embarrassed and never mentions the matter of the nobles' private army. Otherwise, everyone knows that this is here to mix military merits.

Although the British army has a large amount of water and a large number of indigenous troops, after all, with the signboard of the British Empire, defeating them is also defeating the regular army, and this kind of military merit is much higher than fighting the African natives.

There is no way to classify military merits, if there is no such difference, Austria would have produced many famous generals and nobles flying all over the sky.

If you find a war report, it says that with a small force of a few hundred people, dozens of battles have been fought hard, thousands of enemy troops have been annihilated, and tens of thousands of enemies have been captured.

Don't be surprised, this is all normal on the African continent. A colonial team of several hundred people defeated several indigenous tribes, and this kind of anti-heaven record was released.

There are more such "anti-sky" achievements, and the gold content will naturally decline. Now, if you don't have the record of defeating tens of thousands of enemy troops, you are embarrassed to say that it is a big team.

Taking Viscount Fikney as an example, after so many years of colonial career, it is also a hundred battles, and the record of defeating the enemy army adds up, which is hundreds of thousands.

If he had made such a record on the European continent, he would have been worshipped as a god of war long ago. However, the enemy was a native of the colony, and this record was greatly reduced.

This is also the reason why everyone is keen to pick up cheap, yes, these nobles who bring their own dry food regard the British as "cheap".

Whoever made the British navy too powerful, the army gave the impression that it was not good. In the last few wars, the performance of the British army has been very rubbish.

In the eyes of many people, the combat effectiveness of the British Army was not very good, and now there is a group of indigenous troops to make up the numbers, and many people treat them as soft persimmons and are ready to step on them to take the position.

If 30,000 British regular troops come, it is estimated that the nobles who come to pick up the heads will have to think carefully about whether they can eat it.

……

Vienna, the news of the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer war took Franz by surprise, and he could not understand why the British would do it now.

The small actions of the nobles in secret will not be reported to the emperor. Everyone wanted to learn from the British, and if the emperor ordered to stop it, they would be in vain.

The nobility had many advantages, but also many restrictions, one of which was that they could not refuse the emperor's name, at least not for them, the minor nobles.

Nowadays, unlike in the past, even a few kings in the country are not capable of competing with the emperor, let alone them, the emperor's direct vassals.

Even if you can't abolish the title casually, you can still transfer the title, for example: change to the desert to eat sand; Or transfer to the ice and snow world, every day is full of wind and snow.

Even if the emperor wants to face them and change them to a rich fief, then they have to start business again, and it is indispensable to lose their vitality.

If you don't understand, you don't bother to think about it. Franz's mentality is still very good, there are so many people with convulsions in this world, and he has seen a lot of all kinds of ridiculous farces.

The bureaucrats of the colonies would have taken care of such small things. So far, there has been no proposal for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to intervene, which means that the situation is still under control.

Maybe there was a colonial government involved, but it didn't matter. Franz is not the kind of person who finds faults, as long as the result is good, the process does not matter.

South Africa's gold has not yet been exposed, and if the emperor cares too much, it is easy to attract the attention of those who are interested.

In his current position, Franz's every move will be interpreted as a political signal. If he had shown an extraordinary interest in South Africa, many would have thought that he was targeting the British.

Rather than this, it is better to suggest that his subordinates should do a good job, so as not to cause extraneous branches.

The annexation of the Boer Republic was what Franz meant, and after dividing the African nobility two years earlier, he casually mentioned at the banquet: "The Boers are part of the empire."

As a result, someone ran to implement it, and this is the benefit of being the boss. Send out a signal, and the little brother will complete it.

If you do a good job, the emperor's leadership is naturally indispensable; If you mess things up, it doesn't matter, it's all done by the people below, and it has nothing to do with His Majesty the Great Emperor.

Of course, Franz was a good leader. This kind of person who does what he wants, even if he messes things up, the final outcome will not be too bad.

After hesitating for a moment, Franz ordered: "Send a message to Stephen, secretly teach the British a lesson, and let them remember it for a long time." ”

This kind of shady order is naturally only verbal. What to do, the people below will think more thoughtfully.