Chapter 1096 Pretending Not to Know
Even after getting off work early, after returning home, Alan Wilson received a call from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs staff on duty and learned that Grace from Northern Rhodesia had entered Congo with the assembled Slavic armed forces.
Now that he knew, the matter could not be hidden from the cabinet. After putting down the phone, Alan Wilson thought about how to answer when asked for his opinion, and most importantly, whether it would implicate himself.
This should not be the case, although he personally sent these Slavs to Northern Rhodesia. But in the chaos of the early post-war period, no one could figure out the truth of what happened at that time, and neither could the Americans.
Strictly speaking, those anti-Tito elements passed through the US-occupied area at that time, and the Americans were arranged to go to Northern Rhodesia because they were afraid of causing dissatisfaction with the Soviet Union and were forcibly digested by the United Kingdom.
No matter how you look at it, Americans have a greater responsibility, and Britain has to accept these unstable factors.
"Something happened in Northern Rhodesia?" Pamela Mountbatten also heard her husband's conversation and asked about the specific situation.
"Well, the Slavs gathered together and intervened in the Congolese Civil War." Alan Wilson told his wife the truth.
"A lot of people will die, right?" Pamela Mountbatten was a little worried, and I felt uneasy about the disastrous prospect of the war.
"That's not a big deal." Alan Wilson comforted with a smile. It was a smile. In essence, he lacked a kind of compassion, so he didn't even have a thought in his heart about how many people would die. People are meant to die.
Because of the number of deaths caused by war, a certain major country has repeatedly broken world records. As long as you understand it a little bit, looking at other statistical data will become a small scene.
There are 15 million people in Congo, and the main gathering area must be around Kinshasa on the lower reaches of the Congo River.
The entire province of Katanga covers about 600,000 square kilometers, and it would be good to have three to four million people. Taking the area south of Lubumbashi would mean expelling hundreds of thousands of tribal people proportionally.
Even if these Balkan Slavs were cruel and killed everyone, it would not be worth making a fuss about.
"As long as you think it's okay." Pamela Mountbatten could not guess her husband's essentially ruthless personality, so she just assumed that the matter was not serious. "As long as the colonial turmoil does not affect Malaya."
"You act impulsively when your head is hot. Any ethnic group may do this, but the Chinese are the least likely to do so." Alan Wilson knew what his wife was worried about, and patted his chest and assured,
"Relax, nothing will happen."
Alan Wilson calculated the comparison between Britain and France. Even if France took Algeria, Britain would still be stronger than France as long as it could keep Northern Rhodesia.
Because in terms of effective area, Britain still exceeds France. Northern Rhodesia has a lot of livable land, and it is on a plateau and does not have a tropical rainforest climate. Its only weakness is that it is an inland colony and is not as convenient as the coast of Algeria.
The geographical environment plays a big role. Even if East Asians who claim to be hardworking and willing to work are placed in Niger or Mali, the local living standards will not change much.
It’s not like the British colonies didn’t have a good geographical environment. Malaya was located in all directions and could shoulder another part of the role. Of course, the most important role is to resist the rise of Japan.
Today, Japan is in the midst of the so-called demographic dividend, which means that the labor force is willing to work hard and shed blood for the country. However, this is not impossible to resist. The more Malaya gains, the more Japan's overseas operations will fail. The demographic dividend cannot last forever.
If one generation can be hard-working, can the second generation do the same? What's more, the previous generation worked hard when they were young, and when they reach middle age, they want to occupy the toilet. As long as the momentum of Japan's rise is curbed even a little bit, decades of accumulation will be enough for Japan to eventually run out of oil.
Compared with the late-developing countries in East Asia, Europe still has something to build on. What's more, Alan Wilson has now begun to unite with other European countries to build patent barriers to block the pace of Japan's industrial upgrading.
Alan Wilson is even ready for a price war and must put a brake on Japan's development.
Of course, the United States can continue to open its market and continue to support Japan. There is nothing the Americans can do if they want.
Grace's current action is to lead the Balkan warriors to intervene in the Congolese civil war in the name of the original Katangan warlord Tshombe. At this time, he also knows in his heart that it is not time to open his mouth to annex.
Our own troops still need to prepare, and some military supplies are still being transported until everything is ready. When Tshombe is no longer of use value, it is not too late to turn against him.
In sub-Saharan Africa, the harsh climate environment makes survival the biggest test, and both humans and animals and plants must face this problem head-on.
Grace will not learn from South Africa. Northern Rhodesia deeply believes that although South Africa seems to be very strong now, it is only a matter of time before a volcanic eruption engulfs the Boers.
The Boers always took it for granted that the natives' butcher knives and bullets could not hit them, and that people who could comfortably enjoy a superior life could naturally make innocuous remarks about being magnanimous to the natives. The colonies in South Africa had nothing to do with these people. If the action of sending troops to exterminate the indigenous people was discovered, they would only receive false criticism and criticism.
It seems that some people have long wished to profit by keeping the natives in their primitive state. Grace would rather not have these cheap labor forces and develop slower, but at least the results will be her own, and she will not give the accumulated wealth to the local indigenous people in vain one day.
The top leaders of the two major military organizations also know that with their base of less than one million people, they must need a country as their backing. Whether they are independent or not is irrelevant. The key is whether you can live your own life quietly. There are two problems. The border of Northern Rhodesia is very unfriendly. Only by occupying the salient can the door be closed.
The other is that Northern Rhodesia is landlocked, so if you want to live a good life, you must risk a military operation, even if you face Tito's advisory group again.
At the resting camp, Grace inspected the military camp. People kept standing up and saying hello wherever he passed. As Grace walked, he said to the people around him, "Everyone has come from afar. How can you do it without taking a serious look? Raise troops for a thousand days. , We have been training for such a long time, and if we can’t get even a little bit of land, wouldn’t it be a waste of money and manpower?”
No one else dared to refute Grace's words. These people were gathered together and were willing to fight the indigenous people because of immediate security issues. This was the consensus of the military. What awaits everyone after this battle is a life without worries about food and clothing.
You don’t have to worry about it, this is what Grace herself said. Most of the people who participated in this operation were not innocent. They all had more or less painful pasts, and the war itself was no stranger to them.
"Now I believe that I should be happy to leave Tshombe and contact the Belgian expatriates after arriving in Lubumbashi. Whether we can succeed depends on whether they will stand with us." Grace raised her wrist and checked the time. , "I hope to reach Lubumbashi within three days. Immediately send people to survey the terrain, mark out the land that we are only temporarily controlled by Tshombe, and start laying mines as soon as we fall out."
Alan Wilson woke up early in the morning to go to work, yawning and listening to the unexpected events in Northern Rhodesia. In contrast to his listlessness, Macmillan was clearly in high spirits and expressed a lot of concern.
"A call from No. 10 Downing Street." Just as Alan Wilson said that this was a matter for the Colonial Office, the Prime Minister's call had already come to the door. Macmillan had to stand up and said, "Alan, come with me to No. 10."
"Yes, Minister." Alan Wilson said with a duty-bound tone, and they drove to No. 10 Downing Street together.
The actions of Northern Rhodesia, if they happened in Japan, could be explained by the sentence "down to overcome". However, the UK does not face this kind of thing often. Originally, the independence of Southern Rhodesia was of a similar nature, which caught the UK by surprise.
But Southern Rhodesia is not independent yet, but Northern Rhodesia has set a precedent.
In No. 10 Downing Street, Macmillan and the Prime Minister were talking about some boring countermeasures. Alan Wilson's eyes were at a horizontal line, as if he would accept the call of sleep at any time.
"Alan, you have also dealt with a lot of African affairs, don't you have anything to say?" Aiden asked.
"Dear Prime Minister, the thing that can attract the attention of all countries at present is France's mobilization order. The matter in Northern Rhodesia does not attract attention. How can a colony attract more attention than France." Alan Wilson said this The topic changed, "We will also take this opportunity to see the reaction of the United States. If an atmosphere friendly to the United Kingdom can be established in Katanga, then at least part of this African mine will become a bargaining chip for the United Kingdom to increase its strength."
"If it doesn't go well, we can just say we don't know. Anyway, France is in front, so we can take advantage of the opportunity to operate. It's good to get benefits, but even if we don't get them, we won't lose anything."
Alan Wilson talked eloquently, and this also had an explanation for France. You see, as a colonial country, it was not just you who took action. We, Great Britain, also tried our best to challenge this time, and maybe even established a restricted zone.
Believing that France has nothing to fault, Aiden nodded. The colonial policy also depends on whether France can quell the war in Algeria this time. If Algeria's independence fails, Britain will naturally not allow important colonies to become independent. :.
"But we should also let those Slavs know that they cannot ignore our opinions." Aiden said.
Alan Wilson understood instantly and suggested, "I wonder if there are any Redbeard tactical nuclear bombs in the country? You can send a batch there. Of course, I am talking about sending them secretly." To provide you with the fastest updates from British civil servants, No. Chapter One Thousand and Ninety-Six Pretending to Not Know is free to read. :.