Chapter 449: The Tiger Eats Its Own Cub

In fact, when Franz heard that the British and Argentines jointly invaded Uruguay, he was really surprised, but he quickly recovered.

Because this decision was not a wise move. The resistance of Latin Americans was one aspect, and the attitude of the powers was another.

At this time, Britain had too many enemies. In addition to Brazil and France on the surface, the United States and Austria did not actually want the British to dominate Latin America.

The Americans were naturally not for some bullshit "Monroe Doctrine", but they did regard Latin America as their tonic pill, hoping to swallow it one day and then surpass Europe.

Moreover, due to Palmerston's radical strategy and strong attitude, the contradictions between Britain and the United States continued to increase. At this time, the US President John Tyler was not an easy person to deal with. He was not intimidated by the former's behavior, but faced the challenge head-on.

In the Oregon region, except for not declaring war directly, what the two sides did was no different from fighting.

The United States had a large number of people in the local area, but after Palmerston's division and disintegration, this advantage was already very weak. But the British did not have much advantage, because they had too few people, and the Americans who defected were not content.

In contrast, the starting point of the Austrian side was much more bizarre. In addition to not wanting Britain to be too powerful, the most important point was that they were too close to Brazil.

At this time, Brazil was the world's largest rubber producer. Austria's rubber industry was far ahead, in addition to its technological advantages, it had the exclusive advantage of raw materials.

Almost all of the natural rubber produced in Brazil was sold to Austria, but this still could not meet the needs of its industrial development at this time, and it was stuck every year because of this.

This was not because Franz was short-sighted and did not know how to prepare for a rainy day, but because the development speed of the rubber industry far exceeded his imagination.

Franz originally thought that it would take decades, or at least more than ten years to develop the technology, but it was successfully developed in less than a year. The reason for this was that in addition to Franz's winning over a large number of talents, reasonable guidance, and clear goals, some technologies really had no technical content.

What Franz, an outsider, felt was magical, was really nothing in the eyes of real experts, scholars and master craftsmen.

In fact, Austria will become the world's largest rubber producer in just a few years, but even so he does not want to give up Brazilian rubber.

After all, the technology iteration is too fast at this time, who knows if there will be a sudden growth point that will catch Franz off guard.

Franz has already expanded the rubber planting area again according to the current industrial growth rate. But the cycle of rubber is too long, even if there is a plan, the shortage of raw materials will not change instantly.

Central Asia, Afghanistan.

In fact, the British also fought a proxy war in Afghanistan, and Shah Shuja was the agent they supported. He was a descendant of the Durrani dynasty that once ruled Afghanistan.

In the eyes of the British, the orthodoxy is stronger than Dost Mohammed, and everything was as they expected in the early days of the war.

"This war is like an outing." - A British soldier in the Afghan expeditionary force wrote in his diary.

However, the British soon encountered problems, high maintenance costs and terrible guerrilla warfare. When the British needed this agent to solve their problems, conflicts broke out within the agent's family, and they fought over who could become the "agent".

When the family finally decided who would win, the British army's operation in Afghanistan also failed, tens of thousands of soldiers died tragically, and the Duke of Orange was forced to resign.

And the new head of the Durrani family was strangled to death in his own palace, becoming one of the many victims of this war.

Akbar Khan, the eldest son of Dost Mohammed, actually controlled Afghanistan. The only one who could compete with him was Aminullah Khan, but in fact the latter's strength and reputation were far inferior to the former.

Akbar Khan was a humble and polite politician, and also a shrewd general on the battlefield. If he became the king of Afghanistan, he would definitely go south to attack India.

At this time, Akbar Khan's slogan was to go south to deal with his father Dost Mohammed, so the British took advantage of the situation and released the latter.

Akbar Khan's personal character was indeed very good, so he handed over his power after Dost Mohammed came back, and was sincerely happy that his father could return to power.

But soon Dost Mohammed began to purge the Akbarites and quickly marginalized them. Even Akbar Khan himself was repeatedly accused without reason.

At this time, the Akbarites remembered the prophecy of a beggar many years ago.

"The king of the past and the king of the future will kill each other. If the past wins the future, there will be no tomorrow in Afghanistan. The earth will be covered with blood and yellow sand, and the wind will blow away the screaming souls."

(As mentioned in the previous document, Franz once had a secret operation.)

After many years, these Akbar's men suddenly remembered and were frightened. Isn't this what Dost Mohammed has to do now?

In fact, what these tribal leaders care about is not the future of Afghanistan, but the lives of themselves and their tribesmen. Dost Mohammed is cruel and suspicious, not as generous as Akbar Khan.

If such a person really intends to eliminate his son who is a threat to him, then he will definitely kill them all at once.

“Even a tiger won’t eat its own cubs, but it’s not uncommon for fathers and sons to kill each other in the royal family.”

Akbar Khan might hesitate again and again because of the father-son relationship, but his men would not sit still for their lives and property.

Sure enough, Akbar Khan suddenly caught a cold and was bedridden soon after, so Dost Mohammed sent a doctor to treat him.

But when the doctor entered Akbar Khan’s room, he found that the prince, the hero of the Afghan people, was sitting on the floor drinking tea.

The doctor, who realized that something was wrong, was held down when he tried to escape. Akbar Khan’s men searched the doctor for a medicine bottle, which smelled pungent.

“What is this?” A tribal leader under Akbar Khan shouted.

“This is… This is medicine for treating diseases.” The doctor answered tremblingly.

His expression had betrayed him, and no one would believe what he said.

A guard dropped a drop of medicine from the bottle into the water, and then gave it to the camel outside the door to drink. In a few minutes, the strong camel fell to the ground with foam at the mouth.

The guard drew out a scimitar and pressed it against the doctor's neck. Due to excessive force, a faint blood line had been drawn.

"Speak"

Before the guard finished speaking, the doctor burst into tears.

"The Emir sent me here. If I don't do it, he will kill my whole family. For the sake of Allah, please spare me."

"Master, please make a decision."

The tribal leaders around Akbar Khan gathered around him, naturally hoping that he would become king. He also knew that if he didn't follow their wishes, they would probably not give up, so he could only sigh helplessly.

"Doctor, go back and tell my father that you saw me drink the medicine with your own eyes. You have to believe that it's not just my father who can kill your whole family, but you know that doing what I say can at least ensure that your family can survive."