Chapter 236 "Afrika's Hongmen Banquet" [Additional 1,000 Words]

The soil in the Ivory Coast region is fertile and very suitable for the growth of tropical plants.

It is precisely because of the geographical and latitude advantages that Franz, who is proficient in agricultural knowledge, and some professional scientists in Austria have prepared a large number of fine varieties and experienced farmers for future cultivation for this future "model overseas enclave" after a long period of research and discussion.

However, both coffee and cocoa need five years to grow, and more importantly, the trade cycle during this period needs to continue without any interruption, so cotton has become the only option for cultivated crops.

For Austria, one favorable condition is that it can buy cotton from the Ivory Coast after the harvest, and then transport it back to the country to be processed into cotton cloth by the factory, and then sell the finished product to the Ivorian people, and the cycle repeats, forming a closed loop of supply, production and sales.

The most important reason for not directly establishing a processing plant in the Ivory Coast is that there is a lack of a large enough market here. Establishing a textile factory in Austria is more helpful in solving employment and livelihood problems, and can play a role in alleviating social contradictions.

When this trading cycle is formed, a large number of cheap Austrian industrial products will impact the local market, causing the collapse of the natural economy. At that time, a situation of co-governance by a few elites and plantation owners will emerge.

These elites and plantation owners are more dependent on the Austrian market economically, and will naturally be closely linked to Austria politically. Even if the lower class wants to resist, they will not get the consent of the upper class.

As for the so-called upper elites, they are naturally hostile to the lower class people. If they really choose to rebel, then Austria can just take advantage of this contradiction and easily overthrow them, and then support a group of controllable upper class to continue this cycle game.

Franz's trip to West Africa was relatively smooth at the first stop, Ivory Coast, and the next stop was the difficult Guinea.

At this time, the largest colonial power in Guinea was the Portuguese, with a total of about 500 people. In addition, old overseas colonial powers such as Spain, the Netherlands, France, and the United Kingdom have established trading posts here, and various forces can be said to be intertwined.

It's just that the local country is controlled by the Tyrian Order (the book does not use the real historical order name to avoid unnecessary chapter missing cases), and does not allow the powers to go deep into the interior.

As a latecomer, Franz did not choose to show his country's strength here with great fanfare. He just found several chiefs of coastal tribes to sign trade agreements and protection treaties to prevent being squeezed out by the French in the same way in the future.

Franz has no interest in fighting against a theocratic country with a population of nearly one million. It is not a wise move for Austria to take the initiative to cause trouble at this time, so he let the French take the lead and wait for an opportunity to act.

What he hates most is this kind of theocratic country. Although it is unbearable to fight, the endless security war will definitely deter any force.

Moreover, Guinea's resource storage is far less than that of Ivory Coast. Although its iron ore and bauxite reserves are large and high-grade, these are not resources that Austria lacks. Its only value is the numerous rivers in its territory. The title of "Water Tower of West Africa" ​​is not called for nothing.

Guinea has great agricultural potential, but due to some special historical and other reasons, 80% of the arable land in the country is still uncultivated today.

At the same time, it is connected to the Ivory Coast. As long as it is properly developed, it can provide enough food and non-staple food for Austria in wartime.

In short, Guinea does have advantages as a colonial option, but its internal ethnic and religious conflicts are so deep that Franz does not want to be the first to wade into this muddy water.

Togo, which is close to the coast of West Africa, has fallen into a serious recession due to the ban on slave trade. In contrast, the slave trade in nearby Benin has not ended.

As a result, powerful tribes have been constantly coming to Togo to plunder people, including the famous Kingdom of Dahomey. This plunder of the population has caused a serious shortage of local productivity.

After the arrival of the Austrian fleet, the chiefs of Togo held a grand ceremony to welcome Franz and his party. They hope to exchange their population for weapons in exchange for the protection of the safety of their land and property.

Those so-called slaves were not obtained through war or kidnapping, but voluntarily, and most of them were women, because many strong young men died on the battlefield or became slaves because of the slave-hunting wars in neighboring countries.

Most women would not go to dangerous areas to participate in hunting, so they would not be discovered by the slave-hunting team. In addition, even if they were discovered by the enemy, most men in the same tribe would choose to stay behind and let women escape first.

Looking at the slaves dressed in fancy clothes in front of him, Friedrich seemed a little overwhelmed. In fact, most of them were widows of those victims of slave hunting.

In this kind of indigenous tribe, women have an extremely low social status, and more often they are just part of the tribal property. In order to protect the safety of the tribe, they were sacrificed in exchange for weapons, and even they themselves agreed.

However, Franz did not want to engage in slave trade at all, which disappointed the chiefs.

But what excited them was that this foreign archduke pointed out a clear way for these people, which could sell them equipment, and the method of handling was the same as that of Ivory Coast. The first step was to establish a trading post, and then start to teach the locals to grow cotton, coffee, and cocoa.

As for the arms deal, if the other party is willing, we can sell them a batch first, which will be regarded as a deposit. The chiefs were ecstatic when they heard that they could get the weapons, and immediately agreed to sign the contract.

Franz was very happy that he could complete the first task of the colony without using the option of force.

Several tribes along the coast even held a grand signing ceremony for this. They invited Franz and Friedrich to sit on the main seat and then accept the warm cheers of the chiefs standing in the audience.

The whole process went very smoothly, and after the end, there was a lively live dance performance. This African dance looks like a modern slide dance.

"Hey! Franz, I see that black girl likes you!" Friedrich laughed. Franz looked in the direction Friedrich pointed, and he saw an extremely agile black girl, like an elegant cheetah hunting.

Although he has a collecting habit, he does not have this special hobby. "Uncle Friedrich, you are such a joker. I am still a minor, you should think more about yourself.

You see that young lady is so strong. If you are together, your child will definitely surpass you in height in the future."

Franz's original intention was just to fight back against the teasing from the other side, but he could see that Friedrich did make the decision after serious consideration.

"No, this is too..."

At this time, the black girl suddenly stood up and walked towards Franz and Friedrich. Although she was smiling, it made Franz's scalp numb unconsciously.

The quality of the Austrian royal guards is still very high. They stopped the black girl at a distance of about five meters. The girl showed a shy expression, and when the guard turned around to ask, the girl who was very shy just now had a machete in her hand.

When seeing the machete, Franz and Friedrich exclaimed at the same time, "Fuck you!" Although the meaning was slightly different, the surprise was beyond words.

Before the guard could react, the girl took a quick step forward and raised her machete, looking as if she wanted to make a leap of faith and chop off the two men's "dog heads".

However, before she could slash the machete, she was hit by several bullets in the air and fell on her back. When she landed, she had become a bloody corpse.

Franz pushed away the big salt cedar that was on him, took out his revolver and looked around.

Obviously, there was more than one assassin, and it seemed that they had planned it in advance. The black girls sitting in the audience all picked up their machetes and rushed to the stage where Franz and Friedrich were.

At this time, the chiefs were so scared that they collapsed on the ground, begging in their native language. It seemed that they were not aware of this sudden incident and were probably used by someone with ulterior motives.

Franz retracted his sharp gaze. At this time, Colonel Pep Griffith, the captain of Frederick's guard, said: "Please rest assured, your highnesses, we have a total of 30 people, all of whom are carefully selected guards. We will definitely send you out. I am preparing to break out now, please follow us!"

Friederick had won the battles he had participated in before by crushing them. He could even enjoy the battles on the battlefield while tasting tea and snacks at leisure. But this time was different. The splattered blood and hideous corpses appeared in front of him. Even a real general would feel terrified.

The panic-stricken look of his uncle made Franz feel that he was completely different from the usual war maniac who was full of fighting spirit and confidence.

But it was a normal reaction. After all, who in the world is born not afraid of death?

"Listen, stay here, don't go anywhere, reinforcements will arrive soon." Franz said loudly.

After his reminder, the people around him suddenly realized that there were 200 Royal Guards guarding outside, and less than 300 meters away from the scene, there was a whole dragoon regiment (the legacy left by Franz II to his eldest grandson).

The entire ceremony platform was divided into inner and outer layers. Franz and Friedrich were in the most central rostrum and celebration performance area. It was separated from the outer layer by a fence, and anyone who wanted to enter this layer had to go through a body search by the Royal Guard.

Except for the host Chief Yobalu who had two bodyguards following him, the bodyguards of other chiefs were stopped at the periphery. In order to prevent unexpected accidents, Franz asked the cavalry to stay nearby as a guard of honor.

Although it was unclear where the attackers got the machetes, it was still a bit too whimsical to kill thirty fully armed elite guards with such simple weapons.

Moreover, the number of attackers was not large. They screamed and tried to break through the effectively separated ritual platform and the guard circle of the Royal Guards, but they lacked strong coordination and teamwork, and the chaotic scene only made them look impressive.

Although Franz still didn't know who was going to attack him, he could guarantee that those guys had definitely made a wrong calculation.