Chapter 458

The little actions of the British did not hide the Austrian ambassador in Portugal, and the news was sent back to Vienna as soon as possible. This time, it was the Vienna government's turn to be stunned. They had no idea why the British suddenly ate explosives.

The crisis in South Africa is only a potential, and now Austria is busy running the new land, but it does not have the bad luck of looking for the British.

The Colonial Secretary Josip Jelacic retired with honor not long ago, and now the Acting Colonial Secretary Stephen is in charge.

Stephen is also a legend. In the process of establishing a colony in Austria, he was a lieutenant colonel and was temporarily appointed as the mayor of New Brook, and then opened the Qingyun Road.

He served successively as the Governor of West Africa and the Congo, and was later transferred back to Vienna to serve as the Undersecretary of the Colonial Department. Josip Jelacic was in charge of the work after his retirement.

After so many years of development, the Colonial Department is no longer the dispensable department it used to be, but a real power department second only to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Defense.

Colonial Secretary Stephen explained: "Your Majesty, it has been verified that we have not had a major conflict with the British in Africa recently.

Just last month, the Governor of West Africa also communicated with the British on the issue of British colonial strongholds in West Africa, and the negotiation has made a breakthrough. Now it is only negotiating on the price issue. "

Obviously, the Anglo-Austrian crisis in South Africa was not provoked by the colonial governments of Austrian Africa. Colonial bureaucrats are not fools, and even if they want to do something about South Africa, it will not be now.

Wouldn't it be better to pay attention to South Africa after the railway has passed through?

Moreover, conflicts in West Africa can be resolved through negotiation, and conflicts in South Africa are not impossible.

There may be militant factions, but no one will choose the British as their enemy. This opponent is easy to clean up on land, but when it comes to sea, the victory and defeat will be reversed.

In West Africa, everyone has been deadlocked for more than ten years because of the gold mine problem. Now Austria has successively settled the Dutch, Portuguese, and French. It is not by force, mainly because the gold mines have been mined.

To be precise, the gold mines that have been discovered and have mining value have been mined in the controlled areas of various countries.

Without economic interests and without strategic value, the remaining problems will naturally be easier to handle. Colonies, as long as the price is right, they can be sold.

Franz didn't mind selling a few colonies if someone offered a high price. Austria's colonies all over the world add up to more than 17 million square kilometers, and many of them have little value.

You can tell by the degree of importance. Franz attaches great importance to African colonies, not because it is rich here, nor because it has high strategic value, but mainly because it is near and has sufficient development potential.

Asia and the Americas may have better natural conditions, but the distance determines that the Vienna government has weak control over those areas.

The transoceanic telegraph was still being laid, and before instant communication could be guaranteed, the Vienna government had to delegate power to the colonies.

It is enough to be able to obtain benefits. Now overseas, except for the strategic value of the Central American colonies, it is a weapon to restrict the Americans, and other regions are only economic interests.

Tragic, such as Alaska, every year they have to pour money into it. Franz also circled several uninhabited islands near Canada, ready to disgust the British.

Foreign Secretary Weisenberg said: "According to the intelligence we have gathered, the British are doing something very bizarre. If they can win over the Portuguese, they can really dominate in South Africa.

In fact, although they have no alliance, the two sides have long stood together on the South African issue. We are expanding too fast, the Portuguese have always been very wary, and a lot of times they are biased towards the British.

However, for them to directly stand up against us, the Portuguese should not be so unwise.

Even the expulsion of our forces from South Africa would only be temporary. Once the two sides are torn apart, even with the support of the British, Portugal will not be able to keep the African colonies.

We can end the Portuguese colonial empire at any time if we want. Against this background, I don't think Portugal would dare to jump out.

We can think of it, and so can the British. Knowing it can't be done, I'm afraid there is a big problem here. "

Wesenberg saw that there was a problem, and Franz saw it too. Unfortunately, he didn't know what the problem was, which prompted the British to do this.

It is not impossible to win over Portugal. If the interests are big enough, the Portuguese are likely to be recruited.

However, Franz does not believe that the British are willing to give. Moreover, even if the British are willing to promise, can the Portuguese believe it?

Not to brag, the credibility of the British these days is a little better than that of the Russians.

Portugal is the ancestor of the great powers. These routines are all played by them. It is not easy to fool the past.

Could it be that the gold reserves in South Africa have been exposed, and the British are desperate to take it down, even at the expense of Austria?

Afterwards, Franz dismissed the idea again. It is not so easy to find out the gold reserves. Just the discovery of a few gold mines, even the discovery of the Rand mining area, is not enough to make the British take risks.

It's not that the temptation of the Rand mining area is less, the key is that no one will believe it. 60,000 tons of gold reserves, that is a joke, whether there is so much gold mined in the world is a big question mark.

With the prospecting technology and mining technology at that time, the reserves were estimated to be two or three thousand tons at most, and it could not be more.

More than 95% of the gold mines in later generations have no mining value in this era. Including a lot of rich mines, because the natural conditions have no mining value.

Otherwise, the gold in West Africa would not have been mined in ten years. It is not that the gold mines have been mined out, but the gold mines with economic value have been exhausted.

Since it is not for gold, it is naturally impossible for diamonds, and the price of diamonds has not yet risen.

Most people are thinking about eating and cannot afford this luxury. Rich people are not good at fooling around, and they don't take diamonds too seriously.

"Pay close attention to the actions of the British, not only in Africa, but wherever our interests are involved, we must be vigilant.

Whatever the British wanted to do, just find a way to destroy it. Since they have drawn Portugal, then let our people spoil the situation. "

If he didn't understand, Franz simply didn't bother to think about it, and just destroyed it. If it is just a fake shot by the British, it is not impossible that the real target is someone else.

Franz also played this kind of thing. Many times, false information is released in order to divert the enemy's attention.

If you are led by the nose, it will be a trick, it is better to deal with the inconvenience.

Anyway, even if the UK and Portugal really join forces, at most, it will make Austria temporarily suffer a little loss in South Africa. Now the loss will come back at most in three or five years, and it will not threaten the core interests of Austria.

...

Lisbon, the British and Austrian envoys have all acted, and the atmosphere of the Portuguese government has also become tense.

This multiple-choice question is not easy to do. If Britain and Austria go to war directly, then Portugal will naturally stand on the side of the British.

Anyway, France and Spain are blocked on land, the British Royal Navy is at sea, and Austria's tentacles cannot reach Portugal.

It is a pity that the two countries are only a colonial conflict, and the war is still 108,000 miles away. It is dangerous to stand in line at this time.

Whoever supports it will offend the other family. In the game of great powers, no one can do anything, but revenge against Portugal can be done.

The tension in the government soon spread to the people. It is clear to many that the moment has come to decide Portugal's fate.

Portugal is now divided into two factions. In general, it still supports the British more, but Austria has lower requirements and needs to take less risks.

It is just to make them neutral, and there is no need to directly participate in the confrontation between major powers, so it has the support of the neutral faction, and now the two factions are evenly matched.

As a businessman engaged in overseas trade, Roston is also very concerned about international politics. Seeing that Britain and Austria have their own magical powers, he even turned down the recent ocean shipping business.

There are plenty of opportunities to make money, but definitely not now. Going to sea at this tense time, are you not afraid of encountering pirates?

There is no doubt that once the Portuguese government does not handle it properly, their chances of encountering pirates will greatly increase.

The integrity of the foreign powers is so high, if you are unhappy, you will be behind the scenes. Yingao are all world empires, and it is impossible to avoid their sphere of influence.

For the sake of safety, the frequency of Portuguese merchant ships going to sea has been greatly reduced recently. Offshore trade is still so-called, and everyone in ocean-going trade is very cautious.

If you are looted by pirates, you still have a chance to live; if you are unfortunately looted by the navy, you will die.

When pirates want to shear their wool, they usually don't kill the past merchants, which are their parents; if it is a navy robbery, it will be different, and they must be silenced for the sake of reputation.

Of course, under normal circumstances, the navies of various countries will not join the navy, and it is understandable that there are occasional black sheep.

It is best not to gamble on this luck, after all, the moral integrity of Britain and Austria is not high. If the government has just stepped out to sea and the enemy's revenge is incurred, these people will be in danger.

In this era, thousands of ships encounter accidents every year, and more than 200 ships go missing. Ocean-going trade is a real high risk.

As soon as he got under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building, Roston met an old friend. You don't need to ask him to know that they are all concerned about this conflict between England and Austria.

"Julian, how's it going?"

Roston asked expectantly, if it keeps dragging on like this, it will miss the best ocean-going season. In this era, sail power is the main factor, and the offshore monsoon is also a very important factor.

Julian shook his head and said teasingly, "There is still no result. These officials are still arguing, as if Portugal's position is really important."

Roston said with the same hatred: "Damn it, we will eat dirt this year if we drag it on like this!"

The Portuguese bourgeoisie was dissatisfied with the government for a long time. Although Louis I made some reforms, he still failed to satisfy the capitalists.

Now the government's hesitation has aroused the dissatisfaction of the capitalists. In the eyes of most capitalists, standing in line now is a joke.

Both Britain and Austria are indeed trying to win over Portugal. The problem is that they are very mediocre and do not give much benefit.

That being the case, why take the risk of standing in line, isn't it good to be neutral? Participating in the Anglo-Austrian conflict is one bad thing that is broken.

You can think so, but you can't do it. Portugal has been in decline for a long time, and they were able to keep large colonies by means of diplomacy.

Louis I also wanted to declare neutrality and not participate in the Anglo-Austrian affair, but it was not something he could have the final say.

Brits reluctant to let go, Austria

I also want to see what kind of medicine is sold in the British gourd, the Portuguese government can only accompany the show.