Chapter 796 Tough attitude
As a Portuguese monarch, Carlos I's unlucky days are inevitable anyway. However, hatred of East Africa can solve many problems. However, Portugal's future is not likely to be easy. In the previous life, under the leadership of Carlos I, Portugal had two incidents. The government is bankrupt.
Now that it has lost two important financial resources in Mozambique and Angola, and owes a large amount of money to the United Kingdom in order to expand its military against East Africa, Portugal's finances will only become more difficult.
And Carlos I’s confidant, Prime Minister Frank, was not a good economic expert, and even his political methods were very average. Otherwise, Carlos I and his son would not have been assassinated in the street in their previous lives.
The only good thing is Frank's loyalty to the royal family, which is more important than anything else to the monarch.
"Your Majesty, after this war, I am afraid that Angola and Mozambique in East Africa will not choose to return to us. We must be prepared to lose the two most important colonies! But this is not a bad thing for us. Drop two pieces of baggage." Frank said to Carlos I regarding his point of view.
To be honest, the importance of Angola and Mozambique to the Portuguese government is to maintain the face of Portugal's old colonial country. In fact, they cannot bring too many real benefits to Portugal. In addition, in order to guard against East Africa in recent years, the two colonies have actually been in a state of deficit. .
The permanent presence of troops in Angola and Mozambique is an unsustainable burden for Portugal. If the British did not need "cannon fodder" and the need for united front, East Africa would not be able to bully Portugal.
These are not important to Carlos I. The biggest problem now is to deal with the political problems that may occur in the country.
Carlos I had just ascended the throne and did not have deep control over the country, and Portugal, a European country, had a very serious internal democratic movement.
A large number of Republicans were ready to overthrow the rule of Carlos I. Of course, this was not a problem with Carlos I himself.
Of course, the British government is not a vegetarian, but it is certainly impossible for the British government to persuade the East Africans to spit out the two Portuguese colonies. After all, Ernst is not a fool. He has won the battle himself. It is impossible for the British and Portuguese to vomit out the two colonies. Get the spoils of East Africa back on the negotiating table.
"Don't worry, Your Majesty, I have been prepared for a long time. This is the most difficult time for Portugal in a century. Anyone who wants to destroy Portugal's unity is my enemy." Prime Minister Frank said firmly.
"Prime Minister Frank, we are unable to change the outcome of this war. For such a powerful enemy in East Africa, Portugal will not be able to organize more troops to regain the lost territory. Therefore, we must strictly guard against the young people in the country. From now on We must strictly supervise from the beginning to prevent their goals from succeeding,” Carlos I said.
This was intended to put pressure on Britain. Although Portugal did not perform well during the South African War, in the final analysis, it responded to the call of the British government.
Then, Frank turned the question back to the South African War and asked: "But Your Majesty, we must also solve the problems of Angola and Mozambique. If they are not handled well, it will still cause new waves."
In with with with with with with foreign policy, Carlos I originally planned to rely on Britain, so as his younger brother, now that his interests are damaged, he naturally hopes that Britain can step in to smooth things over.
Portugal continues to weaken, and the people are naturally not very optimistic about the Portuguese royal family. Of course, even without the Portuguese royal family, Portugal's performance in previous lives will not change.
Carlos I said with an expression of embarrassment: "At this time, the only people we can rely on are the British. You send people to negotiate with the British government. The British must give us some explanation for the corrupt situation in South Africa."
After all, Carlos I had just come to power and had not yet shown his "political iron fist." The blame could not be thrown off Carlos I's head, but Portugal's long-standing political struggle.
…
The first town. "Your Highness, this is a message from the British government from London. They are ready to have peace talks with us to end the four-nation war in South Africa." Foreign Secretary Hermann reported to Ernst.
“What price did the British offer?” Ernst asked.
Ernst is not surprised at all that the British are negotiating peace at this time. After all, if the fight continues, the East African Defense Force will almost advance to the south of Cape Town.
“The British advocated the restoration of pre-war territories, and the four countries signed an armistice agreement to maintain stability in South Africa.”
“No more!” Ernst asked when he saw Hermann not continuing.
“Well, that’s right,” Herman said.
"It seems they are still not sincere. Britain and Portugal have been unable to change the overall situation in this war. There are less than 200,000 troops left in Cape Town, and most of them are Indians and Boers. Does the British government expect the Indians to help them? Get ahead!" Ernst mocked.
Restoring the pre-war territories of the four countries can also be said. It is simply not treating East Africa as a dish. Of course, Ernst knew that this was just a test by the British government.
For Britain, it is best to use force to overwhelm others. After all, this is not without precedent in the world. If East Africa can make concessions with words, it will naturally be a "great" victory for Britain.
Ernst said: "The foreign affairs department replied to the British government that East Africa will not fight a meaningless war. If they do not sit down and negotiate seriously, then we will get our own spoils on the battlefield."
At this time, Ernst will definitely not be able to reveal his price in advance. Instead, he will wait until Britain is ready to hemorrhage before East Africa raises conditions.
According to Ernst’s psychological expectations, Angola and Mozambique will definitely be included in the East African territory, and the Orange Free State should be the key disputed area in the negotiations.
However, East Africa will definitely not take the Orange Free State too seriously. Instead, it will consider the overall situation and use Cape Town and other British colonies as threats to break the British illusions and allow the British to give up the Orange Free State naturally. .
As for Angola and Mozambique, that is the bottom line in East Africa. The British do not want to give up these two places to East Africa, so there is no need for peace talks at all, and it will just continue the war.
“Of course, the wording should not be too harsh, it should be within the rules, otherwise it will be used to make a fuss by those who are interested, and it may still make the situation develop in a direction that is not conducive to us.” Ernst emphasized.
Dignity is also very important for big countries in the world, especially hegemonic countries. Although East Africa is the winner of the war, it cannot be too arrogant and domineering.
In the era of nationalism, it is very easy to arouse British public anger, so that British hawks can use this to continue the war.
And this is obviously not what Ernst wants to see. The war has started so far, and East Africa has actually suffered a lot of losses. The war alone has caused more than 28,000 military and civilian casualties. Among them, the port city of New Hamburg has been the most serious, with several people under siege. Within a month, the British bombarded the city repeatedly, causing heavy losses to the port city of New Hamburg.
Of course, East Africa is not comfortable, but it is completely within the tolerance range. The losses suffered by the British, Portuguese and other countries were several times that of East Africa. In the entire Maputo Battle alone, more than 60,000 East African coalition troops were captured and killed. There were many Indians and black people, but this was also the price that Britain and Portugal had to pay for using colonial residents as soldiers.
(End of this chapter)