Chapter 233: Letter of Allegiance

Ivory Coast, Crewe tribe.

Chief Pons was still excited about the transaction he had just made. He had exchanged 600 guns and 20,000 rounds of ammunition in one go. But now that the Akan tribe is finished, the French can only deal with themselves. If this trend continues, sooner or later he will be able to organize an invincible army.

While Chief Pons was still dreaming of his spring and autumn dream, other nearby tribes had already sent envoys to the Austrian army's camp, telling the whole incident in more detail, and expressing their willingness to send troops to support the Austrian offensive.

Abidjan, Austrian imperial camp, former Spanish trading post.

Friedrich was irritated by the constant arrival of messengers reporting the same thing.

"Franz, it seems that they regard us as idiots. Those indigenous people want to use our hands to eliminate dissidents. If all the indigenous people unite, it will be extremely detrimental to us. After all, our army cannot It’s too expensive to stay here for a long time.”

"Uncle Friedrich, I'm glad you didn't say: 'That's just right, bring them together and solve it all at once.' But things may not be as complicated as you think. There are dozens of tribes and hundreds of languages ​​in this area. "It is not easy to unify."

After the previous battle, Franz is now very confident that even if the entire indigenous people of Ivory Coast unite, they can defeat it.

To be honest, Franz really didn't consider the cost of maintaining the occupation. He really wanted to do business. After all, history proved that forced plunder was far less profitable than joint development.

And even if you want to localize, you still need enough manpower. At this time, the concepts of Austrians are changing. Before the railway was built, many Austrians had never left the place where they were born, or even visited the city.

But now Franz still has no way to recruit enough people willing to leave their hometown to develop these colonies.

At this time, Franz noticed that Miss Shanyin was looking at him expectantly. She probably had her own ideas.

"Miss Shanyin, do you have anything to say?"

"Yes, Archduke Franz. I think you are here to do business, and those French people are obviously here to destroy business. They not only destroyed your business, but also broke the rules you set. They must be punished, and Those natives will come in handy.”

"It's good not to forget our original intention." Franz praised.

"Use indigenous people to kill the French?!" Friedrich looked shocked. It was clear that he had just tricked the French with the help of the British, but now he was just replaced by indigenous people.

"But what if the French know that we instigated the indigenous people to do it?" Friedrich said very worriedly.

"This matter was done by the Akan tribe and the Kru tribe together. Because the slave trade spoils were unevenly divided, internal strife broke out. So the French trading post sent us envoys for help, but by the time we arrived, it was too late. , so we imposed sanctions on the Akan and Kru tribes.”

There is nothing wrong with Franz's statement, because in this era, in the eyes of Westerners, the indigenous Africans are primitive people. Not to mention the uneven distribution of the spoils, even if those tribes take the initiative to attack the trading post, the French government will believe it.

And whether they believed it or not, as long as Franz provided a sum of money, officials of the French Colonial Bureau would be willing to sell this trading post, which was not very profitable and had been attacked by indigenous tribes, to the Austrian Empire.

French trading post at night.

Captain Flor was very depressed. His efforts in the past few years were all in vain, but it was not easy to survive from the British. After all, if the money was gone, he could continue to make money. If his life was gone, everything would be the same. Retired.

After this period of ups and downs, Captain Flor swore that after he made this last move, he would return to France and find an honest and dutiful woman to live in the country, working at sunrise and resting at sunset.

The trading post was empty, oil lamps and candles were expensive, and except for a few people who took turns guarding the slaves, most of them had gone to bed.

It was extremely quiet in the woods today. Only the mosquitoes on the beach kept chirping. Thomas had to keep driving away the mosquitoes with his hands. Although the entire trading post was extorted by the British for two million francs, for him, a newcomer in the industry, , not only did it not scare him, but it made him full of motivation.

Thomas even began to imagine that after working for a few years, he would have tens of thousands of francs. Then he would first live in the Moulin Rouge for a month, and then go to Blue Satin.

(Moulin Rouge, a famous attraction in France.)

Tutubayo is the leader of a small tribe. Their tribe only has more than 500 people, but most of them are brave and good at fighting. Tutubayo is the bravest warrior among them. His apron is made of the mane of the most brutal lion on this grassland.

However, due to the emergence of muskets and the small population of the tribe, Tutubayo was destined not to become a great chief. And as those already powerful tribes became stronger and stronger, the fate of his tribe being annexed seemed inevitable.

At that time, the annexation between tribes usually ended by killing all the men on one side or selling them all as slaves.

After Tutubayo saw the power of the Austrians, he decided to take a gamble, so when other tribes were still hesitating, he took the initiative to step forward and ask to be the vanguard.

Although Tutubayo's behavior caused dissatisfaction among the leaders of the Mande and Voldak tribes, they did not dare to do anything out of line because Franz and Friedrich were present.

Franz readily agreed to his request. After all, Austria needed an agent in Ivory Coast, and this young man with great ambitions and shallow foundation was very suitable.

Although the leaders of the Mande and Voldak tribes were respectful to Franz now, that was only a superficial phenomenon.

When Franz asked them to rescue their trapped compatriots, the two leaders refused to accept this letter of surrender, and when Tutubayo stood up, the two guys tried to use their power to suppress others.

Franz hated the most these guys who wanted to get benefits without working hard, and who were too proud to let others show off.

Such people were of no help to the construction of colonies, and were the main force of future rebellion. After that, the countries would definitely infiltrate each other's colonies, and at that time these guys would be easily bribed, or they would be able to hold their own troops after getting support from other countries.

Tutubayo climbed over the fence nailed by the French in the woods under the cover of night and arrived at the main gate of the trading post.

The two guards were dozing off and would occasionally use their hands to drive away mosquitoes. He took out his bow and arrows and pulled the string to full.

With a "whoosh", an arrow went straight into the throat of a guard. The arrow was coated with poison, and the guard who was shot fell down without even a groan.

The other guard just turned his head to look at his falling companion, and a big black hand covered his mouth, and then his neck was cut by a cold blade.

Thomas wanted to say something, but the blood foam blocked his throat, and he could only make a gurgling sound.

After the two guards fell, Tutubayo imitated a bird's cry, and then a group of natives with machetes and spears came out of the woods and entered the French trading post one after another.