Kabul, since the arrival of representatives of Britain and Russia, has been filled with the smell of gunpowder every day.

Just now, the Russian representative made an anti-British speech in public, which was met with applause from the citizens of Kabul.

The British delegation, by contrast, was much more low-key. As the head of the delegation, Walters knew how unpopular he was.

In just two weeks, they were subjected to three terrorist attacks and two sieges, and if it had not been for the Afghan government's concern for their safety and the sending of troops to protect them, it is estimated that the British delegation would have been wiped out.

Although he came here to make trouble, Walters was not prepared to put his life on the line. After seeing the enthusiasm of the Afghan people, he began to live in seclusion.

A young officer was indignant: "Mr. Walters, the Russians are making anti-British speeches again, this is a provocation to Britain, we must give them some color!" ”

Reaching out and patting the young officer's shoulder, Walters said earnestly, "Henry, calm down.

This is Afghanistan, and if we take any drastic actions, we will fall for the tricks of the Russians.

Let's not forget the task of our trip, and we should all fight for it before the Afghan government has a clear and superficial position.

War is the last resort, and if it is only to provoke a war, it can be carried out at any time, so why bother mobilizing the army? ”

This is true, life is your own. On someone else's territory, if you don't keep a low profile, you will die in vain.

In fact, the British government has co-opted Afghanistan many times, but it has never achieved results because of hatred and credibility.

Of course, there was also the credit of the colonizers during this period. The repeated attempts have made the Afghan government very wary of them.

As the Russians' strategic center of gravity shifted southward, Afghanistan's strategic position became more and more important.

This pull is also an ultimatum. The seemingly consultative negotiations are in fact forcing Afghanistan to take sides again.

Henry, the young officer, shook his head: "I hope your plan will work, but I'm not optimistic.

The anti-British sentiment of the Afghan people is so strong that even if the government is willing to compromise, a paper treaty will not do much. ”

In this era of the jungle, hard fists come first. It seemed that the British delegation was at a disadvantage, but instead took the initiative in the actual negotiations.

In the final analysis, Britain was strong enough, and British India was right next door to Afghanistan, while the Russians were separated by Persia and the Central Asian khanates.

Walters confidently said: "Don't worry, the conditions we put forward this time are not excessive, and the right to garrison troops is only to help them resist the Russian invasion, and the Afghan government knows what to choose." ”

……

In the royal palace, Lieutenant General Stroretow has just completed a contract with the king of Afghanistan, Emir, and the content of the treaty is not much, there are only 11 items.

However, this piece of paper of 11 treaties placed Afghanistan under the protection of the Russian Empire.

The main content is: the Russian Empire supports the rule of the emir, will help the Afghan government defeat internal and external enemies, is responsible for mediating relations between Afghanistan and third countries, and guarantees the territorial sovereignty and security of Afghanistan.

There is really no excessive demand, as long as Afghanistan is on the side of the Russian Empire at a critical moment.

Compared with the requirements of the British garrison, the Russians' protection treaty was obviously more reassuring to the emir king.

Responsible for witnessing this history was the Austrian minister to Persia, Redmond. A small country like Afghanistan, which has no interests and does not deserve the attention of the Austrian government, naturally does not send diplomatic envoys.

When something needs to be dealt with, the nearest minister in Persia will do it for him. This is a characteristic of the times, and it is already very formal compared to appointing a businessman as a minister at random.

In a sense, Minister Redmond's position also affected the judgment of the emir.

The bad things between the Russian-Austrian alliance are not known to the people of the two countries, let alone the outside world, except for the high-level officials of the two countries.

For a closed country like Afghanistan, Russia and Austria are a model of close allies, and the friendship between the two countries has stood the test of time from the beginning of the war against France to the present.

Hugging the thighs of the Russians is equivalent to hugging the thighs of the Russian-Austrian alliance at the same time, and the individual may not be as good as the British, but the combination of the two will definitely not be inferior.

Minister Redmond said insincerely: "Congratulations to the two of you, you have opened a new chapter in the history of Central Asia, and I believe that with the help of the Russian Empire, Afghanistan will soon become strong."

To celebrate this great occasion, the Austrian Empire was willing to sponsor the Afghan government with 10,000 rifles, as well as a number of ammunition, free of charge. ”

There is nothing surprising that the Austrian armament equipment can defeat many competitors and become the mainstream of army equipment in the international arms market.

Usually, a batch of retired rifles with good performance is sponsored first, so that people can use them at home, and then slowly sell supporting weapons and equipment, even if the sales are unsuccessful, they can also sell ammunition.

In recent years, it has become even more powerful, and it has developed into the warship business. As the arms race continues, similar giveaways will continue to increase.

Upon hearing the good news, the emir king rejoiced: "Thank you for your generosity, this is the best gift I have ever received!" ”

This is true, Afghanistan is closed to transportation, and if you want to get weapons and equipment, you have to go through many changes, and even cheap weapons have become sky-high prices.

The asymmetry of poor information is not the same, and the value judgment of weapons and equipment is also different.

In Austria, the average cost of a rifle produced by a large-scale industry is less than 1 Aegis, and the retail price on the market will not exceed 3 Aegis.

But in Afghanistan, the price of these rifles has increased several times, and if you want to buy them, you have to order them in advance.

Redmond smiled, "You're welcome, we're all friends!" Austria has always been generous to its friends. ”

Seeing that Lieutenant General Storetow's face was a little unnatural, Minister Redmond did not continue the topic.

Afghanistan is the younger brother of the Russians, and Austria is clearly selling arms here, which is obviously a cross-border bargain.

However, in order to show the outside world that the Russian-Austrian alliance is unbreakable, Lieutenant General Stretov's dissatisfaction is only fleeting, and he deliberately pretends not to care.

Next, the three of them naturally talked happily with each other, and they also had dinner together before they dispersed.

……

Late at night, Redmond had a headache when he returned to his residence. Provoking a war between Britain and Afghanistan is not an easy task.

The key to deciding this war was not in Afghanistan, but in the British government. No matter how much they cheered up the emir king, they could not take the initiative to run to provoke the British.

The outbreak of the Anglo-Afghan war can only be one outcome: the British government sends troops to fight it.

Redmond is self-aware and makes decisions for the British government, which he doesn't have yet.

Whether or not to send someone to kill the British mission is a question worth considering.

It was not that he had a moral purity in his heart to reject the assassination, but the point was that Austria did not have enough strength on this side, and the Afghan government sent troops to protect the mission.

The idle assassin can't get close at all, and if he takes action, he doesn't care whether he can succeed or not, in case he leaves a trace and is caught, it will be a big trouble.

The domestic order is very clear, you must find the person who is behind the pot before you can do it, and you can't do anything to set yourself on fire.

In order to provoke the British, Redmond had already done a number of things, such as encouraging the young Zhuang faction of the Russian delegation to run and make anti-British speeches.

But the British held back, they didn't come out at all, and they couldn't encourage the Russians to kill the British mission, right?

Everyone is not stupid, and the anti-British speech can also be said to mobilize public opinion and contribute to the great cause of negotiations, and the assassination of the British mission is to provoke a war.

Such a big thing can't be carried on anyone's shoulders.

A young man proposed: "Your Excellency, why don't you buy off the local religious groups, they are the most repulsive to the British, and they have sent people to attack the British mission before, but they are ......"

Hearing the news of the local anti-British group, Minister Redmond suddenly became energetic and hurriedly asked, "What's just that?" ”

The young man replied, "It's just that they exclude all Western powers, including us." ”

Redmond's hanging heart suddenly relaxed, the exclusion of Western forces was nothing at all, and Austria was not ready to expand in Afghanistan.

In a sense, religious extremists are good, only these guys will dare to do anything without thinking about the consequences.

After a pause, Redmond said slowly: "Send someone to contact them secretly, you can't be someone in the mission, and you can't reveal our identity."

As long as they are willing to sell, the price is set by them, and the money and weapons are fine.

If the money does not exceed 50,000 Aegis, and the weapons and equipment do not exceed 5,000 fast guns, they can be directly agreed. ”

The higher conditions are not that they cannot be opened, but mainly because the bids are too high, which is easy to arouse suspicion.

It's just that Redmond hasn't realized that the price is compelling enough.

It's just money, the key is guns, and no force in Afghanistan is willing to spend so much arms to buy murder.

……