Ade finally returned to Pretoria, although Roque and Sidney Milner both wanted Ade to have a good rest, but the country cannot be without a king for a day, as the leader of the country, Ade must not be sick, otherwise it is easy to cause all kinds of problems.

By mid-August, the rebellion in the Congo Free State had not yet subsided, and the Italo-Turkish war was showing signs of an end.

From August 1909 to now, the war has been going on for two years, and both Italy and the Ottoman Empire are exhausted.

Italy couldn't fight because it ran out of money.

Before the outbreak of the Italo-Turkish War, most European countries expressed their support for Italy, and some even coerced the Ottoman Empire into agreeing to Italy's demands to cede Tripoli and Cyrenaica to Italy.

At that time, the Ottoman Empire was suffering from internal and external troubles, and the Balkan Peninsula was surging, which had become a powder keg that detonated Europe, and the Ottoman Empire was losing ground in North Africa, and most of the North African provinces became French colonies.

Taken together, Italy was generally optimistic about the prospects for war, and the Italian government believed that Tripoli and Cyrenaica would be conquered with only a small number of soldiers and a monthly cost of 300,000 lire.

As a result, after the outbreak of the war, the Ottoman Empire, known as the "sick man of Europe", showed unprecedented resilience and tenacity, although Britain occupied Egypt and strictly forbade the Ottoman Empire to provide aid to Tripoli and Cyrenaica through Egypt, but Britain did not block the Suez Canal, and the Ottoman Empire's supplies could still reach North Africa through the Suez Canal.

The development of the war was also unexpected by the Italians, who did easily occupy the coastal areas of Tripoli and Cyrenaica with the advantage of a strong fleet at the beginning of the war.

But as the war progressed, Italy found that the local resistance in Tripoli and Cyrenaica was very tenacious, and the Ottoman Empire did not have many troops in North Africa, only 8,000 to 10,000, but their leaders were all elite people with modern education, including Mustafa who would later establish the Republic of Turkey. Kemal.

Italy, which had maritime superiority, could not go deep inland without the cover of naval artillery, and the cost of the war quickly soared from 300,000 lira per month to 800,000 lira per month.

The problems of the Ottoman Empire were even more serious, as parts of the Balkan Peninsula were de facto independent before the outbreak of the Italo-Turkish War, and others had achieved autonomous status, and Slavic nationalists across the peninsula strongly demanded independence, and the Ottoman Empire was weak in control.

After the outbreak of the Italian-Turkish War, the North African troops on the front line were still resisting stubbornly, but the Balkan Peninsula was on fire in the backyard, led by the Serbian Autonomous Region, the Negoro (Montenegrin Kingdom), the Principality of Bulgaria, the Kingdom of Romania and the Kingdom of Greece and other countries and regions that had been ruled by the Ottomans for a long time formed an alliance against the Ottoman Empire, compared with North Africa, the Balkan Peninsula was the core interests of the Ottoman Empire, so the Ottoman Empire had no intention of fighting and could only be forced to give up Tripoli and Cyrenaica, Focus on alleviating internal contradictions.

At this time, the Ottoman Empire and Italy needed a communication channel, and southern Africa, with which both sides had trade exchanges, became the best choice.

"Basically, the Italian navy blocked the Suez Canal, attacked the Ottoman transports, and attacked the Aegean region, occupying twelve islands, including Rhodes, posing a direct threat to Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, the Ottoman backyard was on fire, the Balkans were full of smoke, and if the war was not ended, the Ottoman Empire could be torn apart, and the consequences were more serious than the loss of the North African provinces." When Roque reported to Ade, he was being treated by Su Xian.

Ade's chronic illness required frequent treatment, but Ade's time was too precious to travel to Johannesburg as often, so Suxian came to Pretoria once a week for at least three days at a time.

Now Su Xian's clients are not only Ade and Sidney Milner, but also Philip, Louis Botha, Douglas, and even Owen and Henry, so Su Xian has to stay in Pretoria for longer and longer, and it has even affected Su Xian's teaching work at the Johannesburg Medical School.

Many people, including Sidney Milner, suggested that Su Xian simply resign and open a private clinic in Pretoria, so that Su Xian's skill level would ensure that the business would be prosperous.

But Su Xian is unwilling to give up his job at the Johannesburg Medical School, traditional Chinese medicine and modern medicine are different, it takes a long time to teach by word and deed, the same massage, Su Xian's massage effect and Su Xian's two sons massage effect is completely different, the key is the accumulation of experience, in fact, Su Xian in the Johannesburg Medical School There are only more than ten students, but according to Su Xian's requirements, these students must at least follow Su Xian to study for more than ten years before they can enter the classroom.

"If the situation is so good, why do the Italians also want a truce?" Having worked in Egypt and knowing the situation in the Ottoman Empire, Ade was not at all surprised by the current situation of the Ottoman Empire.

The sick man of Europe is not called for nothing.

"The Italians are also too busy to take care of themselves, their navy has a huge advantage, but the performance of the army is not satisfactory, as long as they leave the range of naval artillery support, the army cannot fight independently, the Italian regular army with equal numbers can not even defeat the guerrillas in North Africa, Tripoli and Cyrenaica are inland desert areas, the Italian army can not go deep, can only occupy the coastal zone, and also face the ubiquitous rebels, the Italian government is also unprepared, and actually thinks that 300,000 per month can conquer Tripoli and Cyrenaica, They grossly underestimated the attrition of the war. Roque looked down on the Italians, and even now that the lira has not depreciated, 300,000 a month is too little, and it is estimated that the Italian government thinks that only 10,000 troops are needed to conquer Tripoli and Cyrenaica.

"How many people do you think it would take to conquer Tripoli and Cyrenaica if it were our southern Africa?" Ade also has ambitions, but it's better to cover them up.

"It's hard to say, the conquest of a region is not as simple as a comparison of forces on paper, if you just defeat or eliminate the Ottoman forces in North Africa, then 8,000 to 10,000 people are enough, but to annex Tripoli and Cyrenaica, it will take more than 50,000 troops." Roque does not underestimate the determination of people to defend their homeland, and the biggest difference between Southern Africa and Italy is that Southern Africa does not need to enslave the indigenous people of North Africa, so it can be used in other ways that are more convenient.

"The Italian government thought 10,000 people would be enough." It's not that Ade doesn't trust Roque, but he fears that Roque will get carried away by a string of victories, and there are countless examples of this.

Roque smiled and didn't speak, this kind of thing is empty, unless it is a real fight.

There is a question that Ade has never thought about, whether it is the Ottoman army or the Italian army, the strength must not be comparable to the German army, which defeated France and won the "world's first army".

Although nominally the armies of Southern Africa and the German forces did not fight, the Southern African armies and the rebellious German forces had fought each other during the previous rebellion at Fort Glory in Tanganyika.

Although this was related to the fact that the counterinsurgency forces had just been formed, had not undergone rigorous training, and were physically and mentally exhausted after a long journey, the result of the fiasco could also prove the strength of the southern African army.

"What do you think about this?" Ade didn't want to know Roque's answer either, but asked about the negotiations between Italy and the Ottoman Empire.

"If you want to talk casually, but not in southern Africa, the problems of European countries are still solved in Europe, let them go to Switzerland to talk." Roque didn't want to focus the world's attention on southern Africa, especially Nyasaland, and Roque had the impression that Italy and the Ottoman Empire had signed a "Treaty of Lausanne" or something, so Lausanne in Switzerland was very good.

"Well, we in southern Africa don't even have the right to independent diplomacy, and we are really not suitable to play this role." Ade still has regrets, and his words inadvertently reveal a desire for more power.

This is not Ade's desire for personal power, but the desire for more power in southern Africa, such as diplomacy, such as waging war.

It doesn't matter to Roque, a country that does not have the power of diplomacy and development war is indeed not an independent country, but this does not affect the development and external expansion of southern Africa, and now Britain still has a certain influence on southern Africa, and after the world war, Britain's binding force on the colonies will be further reduced, and then southern Africa can seek more rights.

Although Roque remembered that Italy and the Ottoman Empire were engaged in peace talks in Switzerland, this time and space, because of the birth of southern Africa, the trajectory of the world's progress has been very different from that of another time and space, and Italy and the Ottoman Empire finally chose not Lausanne, Switzerland, but Cairo, Egypt.

It was also a reasonable choice, since Egypt was located between the Italian-claimed provinces of Cyrenaica and the Ottoman Middle East, and although Britain showed a clear inclination in the Italian-Turkish war, the Ottoman Empire had no better choice.