Chapter 787 Mahdi Uprising

Time flies by, and in a flash, we entered 1885.

The shelved development plan of the Near East was launched again, and the world economy also got out of the Great Depression and charged forward again.

Everything is developing for the better. In line with the "principle of only asking about important things", Franz, the emperor, is also idle.

Perhaps because of age, Franz's hobbies have also changed. I don't know when I started to fall in love with calligraphy.

The quill is obviously not suitable for calligraphy, so there is a scene of disobedience, and an emperor Shinra who practiced calligraphy with a brush was born.

It's just a personal hobby. There are so many wonderful hobbies of European aristocrats. In a large group, Franz's hobby is really nothing.

None of the ministers had enough food to support him, and he couldn't think of interfering in the emperor's daily life, and he was not the censor of the Ming Dynasty.

Not to mention changing a pen to write, even if you change a palace to live in, no one will come and compare.

The emperor's wallet and treasury have always been separate. In this world where private property is sacred and inviolable, no one can make irresponsible remarks about it.

Franz, who has freed himself, has no scruples when practicing calligraphy, writing whatever comes to his mind.

Anyone who travels with them will find that many famous sayings and poems of later generations have appeared on the paper very abruptly.

Fortunately, after too long, many of Franz's memories have been blurred, and the content he writes is often only one or two sentences, otherwise the original author will be confused.

...

Colonial Minister Stephen: "Your Majesty, a rebellion broke out in the French Sudan. The rebels have occupied the Wadi Halfa area and are marching towards Egypt."

It has been some time since a rebellion broke out in French Sudan. It's just that this kind of colonial rebellion will happen every once in a while, and it's not news until it's a big deal.

"Aren't our people involved?"

Franz asked suspiciously. There are too many cases of colonial empires stabbing at each other these days, even if everyone signed a treaty and promised not to do anything.

That's only limited to not doing things on the surface, and no one knows about it secretly. As long as you don't get caught, it's nothing.

After thinking about it, Colonial Minister Stephen replied: "The colonial government did not support the rebels, and whether the civil forces participated or not is temporarily uncertain."

This is the aftermath of colonial expansion. There are thousands of colonial powers large and small under Austrian command, and there are dozens of powers in the French Sudan area.

The government's management of these groups is limited to cities and localized areas, and other places are still places for everyone to play freely.

Foreign expansion is legal as long as it does not harm national interests. The premise is that the colony team can take down the site by itself and hold it.

The African continent has already been divided up, and if this one wants to make further achievements, he can only aim at other colonial empires.

Everyone has been gearing up for many years, but the central government does not allow it. Without the support of the state, I ran to challenge a colonial empire, and most people are not so hard-headed.

You can't do it directly, it's different when you do things in the dark. For example, now, if the French can't put out the rebellion, everyone's chance will come.

Anyway, the African continent is so big, and the French Egypt + part of Sudan has a total area of ​​more than two million square kilometers. Cut a small piece out of it, enough to feed a colony team.

Similar things happen all over the world. The major colonial empires are trying their best to exercise restraint. Colonial conflicts are still emerging one after another, mostly caused by civilian colonial teams.

Franz said indifferently: "Forget it, as long as the colonial government is not involved. The civilian colonial team wants to go, just let them go.

Just try it out and see what the French are like. The French government has been very busy recently, as long as they don't capture evidence. "

This "busy" naturally refers to the French invasion of Annan and the first foreign war provoked after Napoleon IV took the throne. The performance of the French army did not meet expectations.

Now it has caught up with the Mahdi uprising, enough for the Paris government to drink a pot.

If the rebels could not be kept out of Egypt, the French would suffer a great loss.

If the rebels can't think of it, they destroy the cotton plantations in Egypt, and the cotton textile industry in France will be hit hard.

The cotton textile industry is the most important industry in France these days, and one-fifth of the domestic industrial workers depend on the upstream and downstream of this industrial chain to live.

If something goes wrong, the entire French industrial system will be affected. Not only in France, but in all industrial countries, the textile industry occupies a large proportion.

In addition to the origin of cotton, there is also a Suez Canal related to the lifeblood of France. If the rebels hit the river and threaten to blow up the river, the Paris government will have a headache.

Perhaps before the rebels blew up the river, the forces of international interference came first.

In order to intervene in the Suez Canal, the British did not know how much thought was wasted, but they did not succeed. Naturally, it was impossible to miss the opportunity to deliver it to the door.

Even the Austrian government, which seems to be talkative, does not mind dominating the Suez Canal.

In the original time and space, it was the British who were worried about these issues. In order to keep the cotton production area and the Suez Canal, the British government also compromised with the local powers in Egypt.

Without the support of the Egyptians, the Mahdi rebels persisted alone for 7 years before they were extinguished by the British. Even the British governor in Sudan was killed by the insurgents.

Same thing, on the French side

can't happen.

The French government adopted direct administration of the colonies, and the local forces headed by the Egyptian king had long been suppressed.

Even the Egyptian royal family was relocated to live in Paris and received a lunch box during the recent Paris Revolution.

There is no doubt that now the French can only fight the rebellion themselves. It is also necessary to play the prestige of the French army, and then the incident of the Indo-China Peninsula, the French Empire will have an unstable foundation.

The reputation of the French army is built up by victories. A defeat can be an accident, but consecutive defeats are not an accident.

Without the strength that the world's No. 1 army should have, how can France compete with Austria when political diplomacy, industrial economy, resources and territory are all backward?

Colonial Secretary Stephen: "I'm afraid that's not enough. Unless we or the British do our best to support the rebels, or the rabble won't make it into the climate."

Franz nodded. Although the French army's training mode and mobilization mechanism are behind the times, they have to admit that they are still the world's first-class army.

The original time and space Mahdi uprising can persist for so long, mainly because the British have very weak control over the local area, and there are less than one regiment of British troops stationed in the Sudan area.

It's different if you change the French. Only French Egypt can pull out 50,000 or 60,000 troops, including a main French army division.

"No need, no matter how much you support them, they are not the opponents of the French. Now is not the time to turn around, maybe let the British try."

...

Paris, received two bad news in a row, poured cold water on the ambitious Napoleon IV.

Annan is thousands of miles away, even if he suffers a little loss, it is only a small problem. But Egypt is different. This is the most important colony in France.

"Have you checked it out, who is behind the scenes?"

The rebels did not stay in the Sudan to rule as king and hegemony. Instead, the main force went all the way to Egypt to fight. If there were no international forces behind the scenes, they would not believe that Napoleon IV was killed.

Home Secretary Edison replied cautiously: "According to the information we have collected, it can be determined that the weapons in the hands of the rebels are imported from the inland areas, respectively from the British and Austrian colonies.

Whether it was planned by the civilian colonial team or the conspiracy of the two governments, we do not have enough evidence, and we cannot determine for the time being. "

This is not an answer, but a standard answer. Britain, France and Austria are the only ones who have the strength to do things in Sudan. Except for themselves, the British and Austrian countries are both suspects.

No need for evidence, you can directly target the target, and you don't need to worry about wronging a good person at all.

It is useless to determine the target, and there is not enough evidence, Ino will definitely not admit it. It does nothing but waste time on diplomatic wrangling.

After suppressing the anger in his heart, Napoleon IV sighed and said slowly: "Forget it, this account will be recorded first, and then it will be settled with them later.

Ordered the governor of Egypt to immediately send troops to suppress the rebellion, and must not allow the rebels to enter the hinterland of Egypt. "

...