Chapter 483

No matter how political show, still can not change the situation is deteriorating. Contradictions that were concealed in the past have also emerged one after another.

The law and order in Cape Town has deteriorated rapidly. Murder, robbery, rape... All kinds of vicious crimes have emerged one after another, causing panic among people.

The Cape Town colonial government was very weak in this regard, and the bureaucratic police did nothing. Not completely inactive, they focus their police force on defending the interests of the powerful.

The deterioration of public security is not a trivial matter, it is nothing more than an increase in the number of rumble incidents. The people of the colony are not soft persimmons, even if men enter the army, women can still kill people with guns.

After the initial chaos, the people also learned to hug together to keep warm. Anyway, in the colony's tradition of people carrying guns, most ordinary people basically have shotguns in their homes.

If there is no external interference, the future Cape Town will be a holy place for gangs. After going through this wave, it is difficult for the gang to not grow and develop.

A middle-aged official reported worriedly: "Your Excellency, since the outbreak of the war, the price of food in Cape Town has tripled, exceeding the limit of many ordinary people.

Not only food, but the prices of most living materials have risen to varying degrees, and some commodities have even been out of stock. "

Prosperity is difficult to make money, this is the basic quality of a good capitalist. Of course, this time is an exception. The blame for skyrocketing prices should not be entirely borne by the capitalists.

Due to the war, Cape Town lost the food produced in South Africa and could only rely on imports. This cost will naturally go up, and the price increase has become inevitable.

Governor Delphi's expression changed, and he sternly ordered: "The order is sent to calm down the price as soon as possible, and the price of food cannot be allowed to rise any further.

Forget it, don't embarrass you anymore, I'll go out in person. Tomorrow night, I'm going to hold a banquet at the Governor's Palace and invite these bastards, whoever doesn't cooperate with the government to stabilize prices will bring the flag to sacrifice. "

Such extreme things cannot be done by the Governor of Delphi under normal circumstances. But isn't it abnormal now?

He has made it clear in the background of the London government that if he loses the war, the Governor of Delphi will have to die. The difference lies in how to die, whether you are killed in battle, or you are killed by someone.

His life is about to die, and the Governor of Delphi is naturally not afraid of offending people. Anyway, even if he wins this war, he, the instigator of the war, has to go home to retire, and he is not afraid of their revenge at all.

Political struggles in the London government still have a bottom line, and slaughter is rare. With the Governor of Delphi in the background, it is not difficult to get out.

A middle-aged man in a military uniform said, "Your Excellency Governor, our military supply reserves are seriously insufficient. Due to insufficient preparation in advance, we only reserve 20,000 people for three months of combat supplies.

Judging from the current situation, these materials will only last for a month at most. At present, for newly recruited soldiers, we can only distribute retired rifles to them and make do with them. "

Because of the war, most of the people in the British colonies of South Africa, except for the indigenous tribes, were concentrated in Cape Town and the Cape of Good Hope.

So many people eat, drink and Lazarus, can't ignore it. Even if sea freight can meet the material needs, this pressure is still great.

Before the arrival of Austria, Cape Town's colonial government did not take into account the threat from the interior, and the Royal Navy was the world's hegemony enough to ensure smooth sea routes.

In this context, the Cape Town colonial government naturally did not take into account the strategic reserves, and African indigenous tribes could not threaten them.

The Governor of Delphi can be said to be one of the first people to anticipate the threat of Austria. The main purpose of this attack on the Boer Republic is to eliminate Austria's advantage in South Africa.

It is a pity that the plan did not change quickly, but instead fell into the trap of the enemy, which directly led to the Boers throwing into the arms of Austria.

Governor Delphi replied calmly: "I have already asked for domestic help for the material problem, and it will be resolved soon."

How long will it take? This question will test the integrity of the British bureaucrats. It will take three to five days as soon as possible, and three to five months as slow as possible.

There are so many processes in the British government, as long as there is a problem in one of the links, it can be delayed indefinitely.

Not everyone wanted to see him win the war, and there were plenty of people in the London government who wanted Delphi to lose the war.

In a political struggle, the internal enemy is always more formidable than the external enemy. To many, Cape Town is a backcountry, and it doesn't matter whether the battle is won or lost.

To put it bluntly, the greatest value of the existence of the British South African colony is to defend the Cape of Good Hope and provide supplies to the Royal Navy.

If one Cape Town can be sacrificed and the London government can be replaced, it is estimated that many opposition parties will not mind.

What is lost on the battlefield can be brought back from the negotiating table. Unprecedentedly confident Britons don't think anyone dares to sway their might.

Of course, it's not the high-level government who sees the law like this, otherwise the Governor of Delphi will really be killed.

Once Britain and Austria compromised, the war was over. However, as the culprit who lost the city and lost the land, Governor Delphi will stare at the infamy and go to the military court, and he has no chance to be convicted.

Even his backstage will be implicated, the colony falls, and the Colonial Ministry will naturally bear the brunt. Without back-office support, Delphi is really dead.

This bad situation did not happen, the politicians in the London government are still on the line and not listening

The bombastic commander of the gunmen.

Austria is a big player on the African continent. If Cape Town is lost, it is completely unknown whether it will be able to get it back in the future.

If the Vienna government doesn't buy it, is it possible that it can't be captured by force?

Not bragging: on the sea, even if the Austrian navy is doubled, the Royal Navy can still be hanged; on land, on the contrary, the British Army has doubled its army, and it is not enough to send it to the African continent.

Relying on "maritime deterrence" to force Austria to make concessions exists in an ideal state. Even if the London government tried its best, at most it would capture a few pieces of Austria's tasteless colony, and the African continent could not be beaten.

Sending the Royal Navy to the Adriatic to block the door was originally the most deterrent. It is a pity that today is different from the past. If the Royal Navy dares to enter the Mediterranean Sea, it must be prepared to have no return.

The French occupied Sicily, and the Mediterranean was essentially divided in two. At this time, the risk of sending the Royal Navy into the Mediterranean has greatly increased.

This possibility is not only a problem, but inevitable. Faao did not join forces to engage the British, the main reason was that he did not have the opportunity to strike.

Otherwise, in the face of interests, the two would have already done it. France and Austria joined forces, originally aimed at the British, and had a similar plan from the very beginning.

...

The roar of artillery fire was deafening, opening the prelude to the war. After the artillery fire, the dark crowd with a variety of weapons launched a charge to the British positions.

Intensive gunfire rang out, and the charging crowd kept falling. The heavy casualties left the charging team with no morale, and many people even turned around and fled.

Putting down the telescope in his hand, Viscount Fickney's brows were about to knit together. Obviously, he was very dissatisfied with this tentative attack.

After sighing, Viscount Fickney gave the cruelest order: "Send a supervising team to supervise their attack, and those who are afraid of the enemy and those who escape on the battlefield will all be killed.

From now on, attack day and night. Unless the cannon fodder in our hands is dead, the attack cannot stop. "

This is the most typical life-consuming tactic, also known as: the worst tactic.

Attacking the city in this way is completely hurtful. Even if the war is finally won, it will be bleak because of their own losses.

Viscount Fickney is not worried about this issue at all. Anyway, he uses cannon fodder troops, and he does not feel distressed how many times he dies.

In the view of Viscount Fickney, as long as Cape Town can be conquered, even if all the hundreds of thousands of cannon fodder troops are consumed, it will be worthwhile.

A young officer replied immediately: "Yes, Your Excellency Commander."

This tentative attack was not completely without results, at least it exposed the enemy's firepower.

Without the order of Viscount Fickney, the front-line commander had already made fine-tuning when the second round of artillery fire attacked.

This time, it was no longer blooming in all directions, but instead focused on bombing, specifically picking the areas with the strongest firepower to attack.

For a time, the British army suffered heavy losses, and the Colonial Sixth Division, stationed in the north of Cape Town, became the first victims.

Colonel Belding hid in the fortress and scolded angrily: "Have our artillerymen all gone to eat shit, they don't know how to fight back!

The guards connected me to the general headquarters and asked for fire support. It has to be fast, no matter how you go down, the sixth division will be finished. "

The sixth division is about to finish, which is an exaggeration. Even after two rounds of bombing, the casualties of the Sixth Division were no more than one hundred and eighty.

It was only the passive beating that was very demoralizing that made Colonel Bertin angry.

It's not that the British artillery did not launch a counterattack, but they suffered a small loss in the frontal artillery bombardment.

After all, the area of ​​Cape Town is limited, and there are many buildings in the city, so there are not many places suitable for artillery erection.

The army of the "Boer Republic" attacking outside was different. In some places, the artillery positions were scattered and erected.

Although it is more difficult to command after the dispersal, it is not a big problem to have a telephone. It's totally worth it, considering the increased security of artillery positions.