Chapter 823 The British Are Also Afraid

London, England.

In order to prevent France and Spain from coming together, the British were ready to support Carlos again at this critical juncture before Isabella II ascended the throne.

But old Carlos had already given up his right to inherit the throne, and he was an extremely superstitious and stubborn guy.

So the British chose his son, Robert Carlos, and it happened that Spain was hit by both natural and man-made disasters.

As mentioned before the natural disasters, there were volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, fungal diseases, etc. in Catalonia and other regions.

The so-called man-made disasters were the successive tyrannies of the Regent Queen Christiana and the military government. The formulation and implementation of the policies of both sides had reached the level of inhumanity.

Moreover, many policies of both sides were self-contradictory, and the chaos in the entire Spanish region can be imagined. Although the French later forcibly replaced the military government, the power of the military government was not eradicated.

The most important thing was that Spain's national fortune was declining at this time, coupled with the impact of the Industrial Revolution and the entry of French goods, it was not something that Christiana, a wicked woman who only knew how to fight in the palace, could solve.

What's more, the Queen Regent Christiana didn't want to solve the problem. She just wanted to get enough pension before her daughter came of age.

Christiana's lovers took turns to come to power. Like the Queen Regent, these people didn't care about the lives of the Spaniards.

So when Prince Carlos, supported by the British, decided to provoke a civil war, he immediately received a wide response, especially the remnants of the military government period.

So the Carlos War 2.0 was about to be staged vigorously, and at this time the Germans suddenly found out that the Boers had German ancestry.

What the hell is this? Almost all British politicians had the same first reaction. They didn't quite understand why Austria was crazy? They actually wanted to do such a stupid thing.

Crossing the whole of Africa to launch a war with no chance of winning? It should be so, but now Britain itself has a little problem.

The Spanish Civil War is about to start, and Britain is very likely to fight the French. This is a sure war, but what if it goes to war with the German Confederation at this time?

What about the Americans? Although John Russell had just overpowered Polk not long ago, the latter was known as the toughest president in American history. Would he add insult to injury?

There were great differences within Whitehall. Some people thought that the British Empire was invincible and fully capable of facing any challenge, while others thought that no matter how powerful Britain was, it was too risky to go to war with the whole world.

But more British politicians thought it was not worth it. Even if they won the war with the whole world, it would do more harm than good to Britain. Factories would be depressed, trade would shrink, and many financiers' investments abroad would go down the drain.

And how long would this war last? Ten years, twenty years, or thirty years like the war that collapsed the three empires?

As for the so-called Boers, many British officials had never heard of them, and Transvaal was a barren land, so many people heard of them for the first time.

Palmerston spoke directly. He couldn't stand the timid look of his colleagues.

"Whether it's Germany or Austria, just give it to them if they want it.

The so-called Boer people are only more than 20,000 people. Transvaal seems to be called this name, and it's just a piece of grassland that has just been leveled.

It's not worth going to war with the entire German Confederation just for such a small amount of land and population."

"Humph, you say it easily. What if the German Confederation's appetite is not just Transvaal, but the entire Cape Colony?"

The Colonial Secretary, Earl Henry Grey, said very unhappily. He hated his Colonial Department being despised, so he retorted.

But Earl Grey overlooked a problem. Palmerston was not an easy person to deal with.

"Respected Earl, let me ask you, is Transvaal on the coast?"

"No, Transvaal is an inland area."

"Then how can 20,000 Boers counterattack the Cape Colony with a population of 100,000?"

"This"

"The Austrian Namibian colony next door is rich in gold and diamonds. Why don't you take it down together? Not only can you solve the worries of the Cape Colony, but you can also expand the territory for my British Empire. What do you think?"

The port of Namibia is not difficult to conquer, but the Austrian Namibian colony is built on the inland mountains. What's more terrible is that if you want to attack the inland, you have to cross a large desert first.

Soldiers can only live half of their lives after crossing the desert. Let alone attacking the city, it is hard to say whether they will surrender directly at that time. The so-called gate of hell is not called for nothing.

As for the 20,000 Boers, most of them are old, weak, women and children. Because of frequent wars and a lot of labor, the adult male losses are huge. At most, there are only three or five thousand people who can carry guns.

The British Cape Colony was used to settle veterans of the Napoleonic War. It not only had sufficient manpower, but also a large number of trained soldiers and their descendants.

Note: There were nearly 100,000 white people in the Cape Colony, and the number of black people was about half of that of white people.

Colonial Secretary Earl Henry Grey just snorted and did not answer, but Palmerston was relentless.

"Why don't you take over Austria's East African colonies and the Oman Empire as well?"

"You"

"Enough!" John Russell stopped the quarrel among the cabinet members. He hated Palmerston, but it was not worth it to ruin the overall situation because of such a small thing.

"Transvaal can be given to them, but they must guarantee to remain neutral in the next war."

The cabinet members still had to give some face to the Prime Minister. And this method seemed to be the most reasonable approach at this time.

However, before the British sent an envoy to the German Confederation, the latter's messenger arrived first, hoping that the two sides could negotiate to solve the problem.

This made the British relieved, and it seemed that the Austrians did not want to fight. In fact, it is not difficult to think that Austria had just offended France on the issue of Switzerland, and it would be a very unwise move to go to war with Britain at this time.

So negotiation became the most reasonable choice for both sides.

In fact, the monarchs of the German states also opposed going to war with the British, so the German Confederation held its first meeting after the expansion (including the Swiss states).

In this vote, except for Luxembourg's abstention, almost all states voted against it.

However, in order to take care of national sentiment, the German Confederation would not abandon its compatriots in southern Africa, so it planned to solve the problem by ransom.

However, it would be fine if money was not discussed. Once money was discussed, the monarchs of the states were a little reluctant, but the domestic nationalists were making a lot of noise, so they had to compromise.

Fortunately, Transvaal is a barren land, and most of the land is still in the hands of the natives, so the price should not be very high.

But the words of British Foreign Secretary Palmerston made people dumbfounded.

"Ten million pounds."