Chapter 506: The Thief's Heart Is Still There
After the Portuguese-Orthodox War, East Africa seemed to be back on track. However, letting East Africa escape successfully was obviously not in line with the British's sinister style. The British Prime Minister, Benjamin, felt that Britain was defeated by East Africa this time, which was unbearable for him who was so proud.
"The climate in East Africa has been formed. It seems that it is impossible to solve the problem of East Africa by force, or even to weaken East Africa. Instead, it will make East Africa go further." Benjamin said somewhat depressed.
After the Portuguese-Sinitic War, East Africa's momentum seemed to rise, and many countries began to communicate with East Africa. The British also noticed this. Does this count as losing the rice while trying to gain the chicken?
"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, we intervened in Africa a step later than the Germans. If the previous government had been able to contain East Africa before it annexed the Transvaal Republic, the situation in Africa would not have deteriorated to this point."
"Humph, after all, no one would have thought that the British Empire would one day set its sights on Africa. After the invention of quinine, we should have taken advantage of the opportunity to intervene in Africa."
"This is caused by historical inertia. Before the invention of quinine, only the Portuguese colonized Africa. For hundreds of years, malaria hindered our exploration of the interior of Africa. Perhaps it was because of the long time that everyone ignored Africa, and as a result, the Germans took advantage of it."
Quinine was invented in 1826, in Britain or other countries, not too early. Even if it had been introduced into Africa on a large scale in the mid-19th century, there would have been no Ernst involved.
Of course, Britain, which was at the height of its power, would never have imagined that it would one day set its sights on Africa, and the earlier Portuguese colonial empire could not have imagined that its descendants would decline to this extent.
But for Ernst, all this was due to greed. Britain had so many colonies, but it was still eyeing this piece of rotten land in Africa. It was really not fair. It would be better for it to bear the pain itself.
Benjamin: "Now think of a way to deal with East Africa. We won't be able to do much in the short term in the war. Can we curb the development of East Africa through other means?"
"Mr. Prime Minister, if we exclude war, the only way we can contain East Africa is through political and economic means. Politically, we need to isolate East Africa and cut off its ties with other countries. At the very least, we need to involve neighboring countries to prevent East Africa from becoming bigger. Economically, we need to impose sanctions on East Africa, cut off its foreign trade and exchanges, and hinder its development. However, these measures can only treat the symptoms, not the root cause. East Africa is too large, and if it only relies on its own territory, it may be able to survive well."
Benjamin nodded and said, "Your idea coincides with mine. I can see that we can't just take over East Africa this time. After all, they are not a colony like India. So now we can only restrict East Africa's further development and wait until we are ready before taking action against East Africa."
Benjamin's idea is to weaken East Africa's strength as much as possible and then take military action against East Africa. Although East Africa's record against Portugal seems to be good this time, it will not make Benjamin give up.
With India as a support, Britain can continue to strengthen its military power in Cape Town. There are Germans in the East African army, and Britain can also recruit troops from the mainland. Therefore, with the mainland and India, Britain can also play with the explosive growth of troops. Historically, Britain could send out 400,000 troops in the Boer War, and it can still do the same in this time and space. Therefore, Britain is not worried at all that it cannot defeat East Africa militarily, but the price to pay is a bit high.
Benjamin: "That's it! First, we will get in touch with the countries around East Africa and form an anti-East African alliance. At the same time, we will impose economic sanctions on East Africa and cut off its foreign trade."
As the British government reached a consensus, the British Foreign Office also began to investigate and contact neighboring countries in East Africa.
However, there are actually only a few forces around East Africa, and it is certain that Portugal is tied to Britain, so Britain decided to further strengthen Portugal's strength.
In fact, Portugal had already come to the door a long time ago. This war in East Africa was completely instigated by the British, which resulted in Portugal ceding territory and paying compensation. Portugal believed that Britain was largely responsible.
"Ambassador Williams, you can't just let it go. We, Portugal, have suffered heavy losses this time! We have completely waded into the muddy water for you. Your pre-war guarantees were not fully implemented, and you have made us, Portugal, lose face internationally."
"Your Excellency Archduke Varus, you are really wronging us. Before the war, we said that we would guarantee the existence of Portugal's two African colonies, but we did not say that we would guarantee the integrity of the two African colonies. If we had not stopped the war in time, I'm afraid you would not even be able to keep most of the remaining colonies."
"Ambassador Williams, you clearly misled us and set a language trap for us before. Now you deny it. That's really mean of you. Are all the diplomats in your country such villains?"
"Ahem, Your Excellency Grand Duke Varus, you'd better watch your words. Our country's diplomats are all qualified. As for your misunderstanding of our intentions, it only shows that the professional quality of your country's diplomats needs to be improved."
Seeing Varus's apparent dissatisfaction, Williams, feeling guilty, had no choice but to comfort him: "Although the war strength this time has caused you some trouble, with the help of our country, haven't you still retained your elite colonies? Anyway, the loss is not too great. As far as I know, you didn't develop southern Angola and northern Mozambique much, and there are not many people there. Besides, how can you allow others to sleep soundly beside your bed? Sooner or later, East Africa will have evil intentions towards your colonies. We just exposed East Africa's wolfish ambitions in advance."
What does it mean to be troubled? The corner of Grand Duke Varus' mouth twitched. The previous government collapsed directly because of this incident. The negative impact of the East-Portuguese War on Portugal was too great.
"Mr. Ambassador, no matter what, we in Portugal are victims, and your country has no way of separating us from the victims. You must be responsible for us."
"Oh! You're right, Your Excellency Grand Duke Verus. As a responsible country, the British Empire will not give up Portugal. This time, I came with the instruction of Prime Minister Benjamin to discuss with your country how to deal with East Africa."
When Varus heard about dealing with East Africa, he immediately felt alarmed: "You still want us to fight a war with East Africa!"
"How is this possible? We don't have this idea in the short term..."
Varus interrupted, "It is impossible for us to face the East Africans alone."
"Of course, we are your friends! Last time we misjudged the strength of East Africa, and the intelligence error led to our failure in the war, so this time we come with sincerity. Not only will we fight side by side with you in the future, but we will also provide you with the best weapons."
After all, the British still want to pull Portugal back on their chariot. As for providing advanced equipment, it is based on the fact that Britain believes that the last military aid to Portugal was not strong enough, which led to the failure of the war. This time, Britain plans to provide its ally in Africa with advanced military weapons including artillery and machine guns.
In the eyes of the British, the last war was just a test of East Africa. The British military observation group believed that they had a full understanding of East Africa’s military strength, so they were well prepared and would definitely defeat East Africa next time.
The combat effectiveness of Portugal's Mozambique colony was also remarkable. If it were not for Angola's emergency, Mozambique could have continued to fight and could have at least lasted for a few months.
(End of this chapter)
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