Chapter 1449 Austria's Conspiracy
Ibrahim Palace.
Imam Faisal was awakened by the sound of gunfire. He opened his eyes and heard the anxious and panicked voices of the butler and servants. He sat up and scolded, "What's wrong? Everyone is like a burnt ass. What happened outside?"
"Something terrible has happened, sir! The East African army has entered Hasa!" Butler Afif bowed quickly in response.
"What?" Imam Faisal was shocked. "How could the East Africans come to Hasa at this time? Didn't their ultimatum say that they would take over Hasa in a week?"
Afif: "Sir, we have been deceived by the East Africans! I saw with my own eyes that vehicles and personnel of the East African army entered the city of Hasa."
Imam Faisal angrily shouted: "Why didn't anyone stop them? Why did they let them in?"
Afif said helplessly: "Master, we can't stop them! East Africans use a tin box to clear the way, and bullets can't penetrate it at all."
"Moreover, their ordinary soldiers are also armed to the teeth, with a large number of artillery and machine guns. They can destroy our rammed earth walls with just one shot."
"Our people don't even have the courage to resist. Now the guards in the outer city have all fled."
Imam Faisal cursed with red eyes: "These bastards eat my food, wear my clothes, and run away when they meet the enemy. They are such bastards."
Afif said to Imam Faisal in horror: "Sir, now is not the time to assign blame, but what should we do now? It depends on you to make the decision! The East Africans are already coming in our direction."
Even as the two men were talking, Imam Faisal had already heard the sound of the East African armored vehicles' tracks rolling, accompanied by the rough roar of their diesel engines.
"Your Excellency Imam Faisal, you have been completely surrounded by our army. Please stop resisting, otherwise we will raze the Ibrahim Palace to the ground." Outside the Ibrahim Palace, an Omani man held a loudspeaker and shouted into the Ibrahim Palace.
In the Middle East, especially in the Persian Gulf region, many countries and forces know that the Omanis, or the original Zanzibaris, are the running dogs of East Africa.
The troops stationed in the Beibu Gulf Territory in East Africa will also hire a certain number of Omanis to serve as translators and guides.
After hearing East Africa's call to surrender, Imam Faisal completely lost his strength. He collapsed on the bed, his eyes blank as he said, "It's over, it's all over!"
Soon, the East African army broke into the Ibrahim Palace, and Imam Faisal was carried by two East African soldiers on their shoulders and taken to the yard.
General Cleveland had been waiting for a long time.
"You must be the chief of the Khalid tribe, Imam Faisal!" Cleveland asked Imam Faisal, who looked lifeless and like a corpse.
At the same time, the Omani translator converted the German into Arabic so that Imam Faisal could understand.
Imam Faisal raised his head and looked at the tall and resolute East African officer in front of him, and said, "I am Imam Faisal. I wonder who you are, Excellency?"
Cleveland: "I am Major General Cleveland, the highest military commander of the North Gulf Territory in East Africa."
Imam Faisal had some knowledge of Western military ranks and knew that Flickland was a high-ranking official in East Africa.
He asked: "General Flickland, our Khalid tribe has not offended your country! Why did you invade Hasa without reason?"
Cleveland asked in return: "Your Excellency Imam Faisal, where did this statement come from?"
"We are not invading. After all, the Hasa region was originally the territory of the Ottoman Empire. You have to admit this! The Ottoman Empire had already traded the Hasa region to the Empire before, so the ownership of Hasa naturally belongs to the Empire."
"So, when we enter Hasa, we are just entering our own territory. It is you who are now considered outsiders."
“So I ask you, why do you want to stay on our land in East Africa?”
General Cleveland turned the tables, which made Imam Faisal very angry: "Shame on you! Hasa is the land where we Arabs have lived for generations. The words of those villains in the Ottoman Empire cannot count."
General Cleveland smiled instead of getting angry and said, "Your Excellency Imam Faisal, you are wrong in saying this. After all, the Ottoman Empire's ownership of Hasa was previously recognized by the entire international community. The Ottoman Empire traded it to East Africa because of debt problems, which was also in line with procedures and international rules."
"So, our East African sovereignty over Hasa is reasonable. As for your disagreement with the Ottoman Empire, you should negotiate with the Ottoman Empire instead of blaming it on the Empire."
"It's like a house. The original owner of the house has the property certificate. Now they sell the house to us with complete procedures and legal compliance. So Hasa has naturally become the empire's indisputable territory."
"As for you, you have indeed become victims, but this is not imposed on you by us in East Africa. After all, your former suzerain was the Ottoman Empire, so even if you want to cause trouble, it should be the Ottoman Empire instead of us. Do you agree with this?"
After listening to Cleveland's fallacies, Imam Faisal angrily cursed: "You damned pagans, your conspiracy will not succeed. And the heretics in the Ottoman Empire, one day Allah will punish you demons, liars, and unbelievers..."
Seeing that Imam Faisal was so tactless, Cleveland had nothing to say.
He ordered: "Detain him first, inform other troops, and after stabilizing the local situation, bring all the tribal leaders to Hasa."
Three days later.
Basically, all the tribal leaders in the entire Hasa area were captured and brought to the city of Hasa, and Cleveland once again had a dialogue with them.
Chief Bani once again came to Ibrahim Palace, but this time he came here as a prisoner.
"General Cleveland, I want to know, even if we are unwilling to hand over the land, you shouldn't be so unreasonable to attack us! After all, we never said that the problem cannot be resolved through negotiation!" Chief Barney asked unwillingly.
Cleveland faced a group of bound prisoners and said, "Since you clearly want to die, I might as well tell you why we in East Africa changed our minds at the last minute."
"According to our original idea in East Africa, as long as you withdraw from the area, we will naturally not hold you responsible. However, you conspired to oppose us in East Africa. This is something the Empire cannot tolerate!"
Chief Barney was still unwilling to give up. He shouted loudly: "General Cleveland, we are innocent! From the beginning to the end, we have no plans against your country. How can you say this?"
Cleveland sneered and said, "Still being stubborn, your plan has already been leaked. Do you think you will give up only if I tell you about it?"
Chief Bani continued to play dumb and said, "That's impossible. We have no plans against your country at all."
Cleveland said calmly, "At the end of last month, on December 23, the tribal leaders of the Hasa region met at the Ibrahim Palace. At that time, Chief Bani, you were the most radical and the first to express your dissatisfaction with the empire. You also actively proposed military actions against the resistance of the empire."
As soon as these words were spoken, the faces of the tribal leaders in Hasa changed drastically.
Cleveland continued calmly, "Finally, after your discussions, you came up with three major plans. The first was to send your family members abroad, and the second was to try to negotiate with East Africa. Of course, these are not the main points. The main point is that in the end, you tried to introduce the Saudi family and external forces such as Britain to interfere in the internal affairs of the empire."
After all, in the eyes of East Africa, the Hasa region is already East African territory, and these Arabs are trying to bring external forces such as the British into East African territory to cause trouble, so this is interfering in the internal affairs of the Rhine Empire.
Cleveland then explained in detail the military plan they had formulated, and all the chiefs looked dejected.
"Okay, it seems that you also know where you are wrong. However, the Empire will not give you another chance this time." After that, Cleveland had them put back into the cell.
As soon as he returned to the dungeon of Ibrahim Palace, Bani immediately changed his expression. He leaned on the cell door and accused other prisoners: "There must be a traitor among us! Otherwise, how could the East Africans know our plan so clearly?"
Imam Faisal also thought so. He asked: "Just now, we didn't see the chiefs of the tribes of Alebei, Telato, and Khanta. The traitors are likely among them."
During the encirclement and suppression of the Hasa region in East Africa, some people must have escaped or been shot dead in the chaos. Those who were not caught and imprisoned in the Ibrahim Palace were basically of this type. Imam Faisal believed that the "intelligence leak" was caused by these people.
Of course, they would never have imagined that East Africa obtained intelligence through technological means.
But it doesn’t matter now. The East African government will certainly not be lenient towards these hostile elements.
…
In early 1927, East Africa's foreign policy had obviously undergone new changes. Along with the annexation of the northwest coast of the Persian Gulf, East Africa also made a number of moves in other areas.
Of course, the focus of world news at this time was mainly on other regions, such as the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Far Eastern Empire, all of which were experiencing political turmoil.
All three countries are major powers, and their turmoil will, to a certain extent, have a profound impact on their own future destiny and the development of the world situation.
Of course, the political turmoil in the Ottoman Empire was a bourgeois movement, while that in the Austro-Hungarian Empire was initiated by the Labor Party. The situation in the Far Eastern Empire was even more complicated, and there was even a situation where the bourgeoisie and the Labor Party joined forces, but the rift between the two class parties was also growing.
The turmoil in the Ottoman Empire happened quickly and ended quickly. Now the Ottoman Empire has entered a new stage, while there is a lot of suspense about the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Far Eastern Empire.
Vienna.
The Hungarian Labor Party regime survived 1926 very tenaciously. Although the Hungarian Labor Party was not wiped out, the Habsburg family was in a pretty good mood.
In 1926, the Austro-Hungarian Empire made little military progress in Hungary, but it effectively suppressed unrest in other regions. At the same time, the scope of activities of the Hungarian Labor Party was also compressed to a certain extent.
However, Hungary's original ruling class was apparently dissatisfied with the speed and efficiency of the imperial army's current advance.
Therefore, in early 1927, Hungarian nobles gathered in Vienna, hoping to push forward the progress of the empire's recovery of all of Hungary.
However, the Habsburgs had other plans. They were prepared to use this as a bargaining chip to promote reforms in the empire's politics, that is, to end the dual political system that had long hindered the country's development.
At this time, Austria had the following advantages. First, the Hungarian high-level government was wiped out by the Hungarian Labor Party in Budapest, which left the various forces in Hungary in a state of disarray.
Secondly, the Hungarian Labor Party caused serious damage to the original local order in Hungary and greatly weakened the power of the original Hungarian ruling class.
Finally, because of the turmoil in Hungary, the Austro-Hungarian government, which is now completely centered on Austria, has the basis for redistributing and integrating Hungarian resources. Of course, the prerequisite is to completely wipe out the Hungarian Labor Party.
The local dignitaries in Hungary had to accept the various harsh conditions of the empire. After all, for them, recovering Hungary now could reduce their losses. At the same time, only by surrendering to Vienna could they seize the initiative in the new round of resource allocation in Hungary.
Of course, the local Hungarian dignitaries had thought about struggling, but the Austrian side obviously would no longer accept the past dual system, and the two sides started a round of discussions in Vienna.
Austrian Prime Minister Clavel said at the meeting: "The division of the country in the past has seriously hindered the development of the country. It has been proven that this division not only seriously drags down the development of economy, industry and agriculture, but also requires the empire to pay more administrative expenses, while allowing the Labor Party to take advantage of loopholes. Therefore, the empire should be integrated again as a whole."
"It ended the situation of one country, two governments, and even two capitals. At the same time, because the Hungarian region was severely damaged by the Labor Party regime, a new power vacuum was formed, which also requires us to conduct a careful study."
"As for these new power vacuums, I believe that only patriots who support the policies of the imperial central government should be treated with a certain degree of preferential treatment."
The Hungarian government was wiped out, leaving many positions vacant, and Clavel used this as a bargaining chip to try to disintegrate Hungary's already loose and unsystematic alliance.
Naturally, some Hungarian nationalists strongly opposed Clavel's sinister intentions, but their voices did not receive support. After all, most of the local dignitaries in Hungary wanted to make progress more. As for Hungary's interests, they were just bargaining chips for them to gain benefits in the past. Now that Hungary has been disrupted by the Labor Party, with so many positions and interests, the dominant power over how to distribute them is in the hands of the Austrians.
So, it wasn’t long before the Hungarian nationalists were stabbed in the back by their “fellow countrymen.”
Clavel used an open strategy. For the local forces in Hungary today, they had no better choice, so the meeting quickly succeeded in allowing Austria to take back all the power of the empire. In the future, the imperial capital, parliament, courts, army, etc. will all be integrated.
Of course, if Clavel wants to cash his blank check, Austria will also have to use all its strength to destroy the Labor Party regime that now covers most of Hungary.
However, Clavel was not worried about this. In addition to the fact that the Austro-Hungarian Empire already had a military advantage over the Hungarian Labor Party regime, he planned to persuade the emperor and the crown prince to use the German army to thoroughly liquidate the Hungarian Labor Party.
As long as the Hungarian Labor Party is wiped out, the politics of the Austro-Hungarian Empire will enter a new era in the future, and it is even very likely that the Austrian Empire will be restored.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com