Chapter 239 Assassination

Because Australasia has established diplomatic relations with major European powers, it only needs to summon their foreign ministers to notify the powers.

Among these European powers, Australasia’s main invitations are naturally Britain and Germany, which have great influence in the international community, and Russia, which has very good relations with Australasia.

The powers responded quickly. On September 30, Russia had already responded, expressing its willingness to participate in the mediation as a neutral country and strive to bring peace to Australasia and Portugal.

Next came Germany and Britain, who also agreed to participate in the mediation. The Germans had nothing to do with this war, and the war area was very far away from Germany.

Willing to participate in this mediation was actually agreed by William II for Arthur’s sake.

Finally, it was Britain. Britain actually had some connection with this war. The main battlefield between Portugal and Australasia was Portuguese India, which was also near an important area of ​​the British Empire.

The British Empire had a strong influence in India and Southeast Asia, and was the most suitable and qualified country to participate in this mediation.

After Britain, Germany and Russia agreed to participate in the mediation, the participation of other powers had little impact.

These three countries were enough to crush Portugal in any region, and it was no longer up to them to decide whether Portugal participated in the mediation.

On October 1, 1907, Australasia officially issued an announcement in the name of the national government, publicly inviting Britain, Germany and Russia to participate in the mediation of this war.

Australasia is currently the dominant party in this war, and Australasia's initiative to request mediation also surprised Europeans.

In response, the Australasia government gave a seemingly reasonable explanation, that is, all citizens and governments of Australasia yearn for peace and are unwilling to bring disaster to the world.

In fact, Australasia has already obtained the benefits it wants, and there is no need to fight again.

Soon, the three countries also publicly responded to Australasia's request and announced that they would participate in the mediation as a neutral country and strive to bring peace to the warring parties.

On October 2, the three countries invited the governments of Australasia and Portugal to hold peace talks. The venue for the talks was chosen to be London. After all, it is not only one of the most developed cities in the world, but also the capital of the most powerful country, the British Empire.

The invitations from the three countries made the Portuguese government feel very embarrassed.

The development of the war so far has been completely beyond the expectations of the Portuguese government. Even from the current trend, the possibility of Portugal's victory has been greatly reduced.

But this war is a war of reputation for Portugal. If the government and the royal family win, they will gain a lot of popular reputation, and take the opportunity to thoroughly consolidate their rule and stabilize the situation.

If it is a real defeat, it is easy to say, and they can use the excuse that they have tried their best to safeguard the interests of the people, but the enemy is too powerful.

If they directly participate in the peace talks and abandon the fishermen they want to protect before the war has really come to an end, I am afraid that the great reputation that the Portuguese government and Carlos I have gained before the war will disappear.

Combined with the situation in Portugal, this may even subvert the rule of the kingdom.

In the midst of sorrow, under the instruction of Carlos I, the Portuguese government chose to remain silent.

Now Britain, Germany and Russia were angry. After all, the three countries are well-recognized powers, and Britain and Germany are still the two hegemons of the world.

They vowed to mediate the war, but Portugal did not give them face. Isn't this a slap in the face of the three rogue countries?

The day after Portugal chose to remain silent, a British government official publicly stated that due to the extremely bad impression Portugal left on Europeans in this war, the British government would reconsider its relationship with the Portuguese government.

Although it did not say what would happen, the implicit threat in the words was known to everyone.

This is not over yet. Germany also expressed its attitude on the same day.

The Germans' attitude was not so euphemistic. A German official stated in a high-profile manner that he supported Australasia's efforts for peace, and urged the Portuguese government to participate in the peace talks as soon as possible to create a peaceful and beautiful environment for the people of both sides.

Needless to say, the Russians even publicly stated that the Russian Navy was considering organizing a round-the-world voyage, which perfectly covered the war zones of Portugal and Australasia.

The successive statements of the three countries made the Portuguese government a little overwhelmed.

At the same time, the domestic people were increasingly dissatisfied with the defeat in the war, and Portugal's internal and external troubles had become more serious.

On October 3, after a day and night of consultations, Carlos I lowered his noble head helplessly and announced that Portugal agreed to start peace talks with Australasia.

On October 11, 1907, David, the Royal European Affairs Director, who received Arthur's order, and Henry Kania, the Australasia Ambassador to the British Empire, formed the Australasia delegation to participate in the peace talks on behalf of Australasia.

The two parties to the peace talks were Herbert Simon, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Portuguese Government, and David, the Director, Ambassador Henry, the British Empire, the German Empire and the Russian Empire as neutral countries to supervise the fairness of the peace talks and ensure the smooth progress of the contract.

The first day of the peace talks was destined to be not smooth. The Portuguese side seemed to have no intention of negotiating, and the conditions offered were even more shocking.

Even though they were the losers in the war, the Portuguese actually demanded war reparations from Australasia and apologized to the Portuguese government and people for launching the war.

In addition, Australasia must release all captured Portuguese prisoners free of charge and pay high compensation to all Portuguese soldiers who died in the war.

This does not include the property losses of the occupied Portuguese colonies. If these are counted, the compensation demanded by the Portuguese from Australasia is at least 40 million Australian dollars.

Such conditions were exchanged for a few sneers from General David, and the representatives of the three countries of Britain, Germany and Russia were speechless.

I don’t know how confident the Portuguese are to offer such a sky-high price on such an occasion.

In this regard, General David also gave Australasia’s opinion. First, the Portuguese government should compensate Australasia for this war, including Australasia’s losses in the war, as well as the casualties of the Australasia army, the property losses of the people, etc. The Portuguese government needs to pay a total of 100 million pounds to the Australasia government, which will be paid off in five years.

The compensation that is not paid off each year will be calculated at an interest rate of 15%.

Since the Portuguese were asking for a sky-high price, General David was naturally not polite.

In addition to these sky-high compensations, the Portuguese needed to cede Portuguese Timor and Portuguese India to Australasia, and Australasia would obtain the co-management rights of Portuguese East Asian colonies.

Finally, the more than 1,000 captured Portuguese prisoners only needed to pay 5,000 pounds each, and they could return to Portugal safely and smoothly.

Such conditions were not to be underestimated. The Portuguese government might fall into bankruptcy crisis just by the financial compensation, not to mention the loss of two colonies, and the remaining East Asian colonies would probably not be saved.

If such conditions were really agreed to, Ambassador Herbert Simon felt that even if he could escape the punishment of Carlos I, he would definitely be torn to pieces by the angry Portuguese people.

However, Australasia's attitude also made Herbert Simon understand that Australasia was not an object that Portugal could control.

What's more, there were three countries, Britain, Germany and Russia, sitting next to it. If Portugal continued to be so unreasonable, it might offend these three powerful countries.

After the first day of peace talks, Ambassador Herbert Simon immediately sent a telegram to the country to seek the opinion of Carlos I.

Whether it is Australasia or the three countries of Britain, Germany and Russia, they are not stupid.

It is too naive to use nonsense to delay the progress of the peace talks.

On the second day, Ambassador Herbert Simon's attitude ushered in a great change. He gave up the demand for Australasia to pay war reparations and only asked Australasia to compensate the Portuguese who died in the war.

At the same time, Australasia should withdraw from the three Portuguese colonies, and the spheres of influence of both sides should be restored to those before the war.

Australasia naturally could not accept such conditions. Steward David could not help but directly conveyed Arthur's words to Ambassador Herbert Simon: "If the Portuguese do not accept the peace talks in a short time, then Australasia will rent warships from Russia and destroy the Portuguese army at all costs. At that time, the contract will be signed on Portuguese territory."

Judging from the current military strength of Portugal and Australasia, the only thing Australasia lags behind is the navy.

But if Australasia successfully leases warships from Russia, or even directly leases a battleship, the naval advantages and disadvantages between Australasia and Portugal will be directly wiped out, or even directly reversed.

At that time, Australasia will not only be able to complete the defensive war more calmly, but will even be able to land in Portugal's African colonies.

But Portugal has no good solution for this. At present, the European people generally support Australasia in this war, which also means that basically no European country is willing to lease ships to Portugal.

Ambassador Herbert Simon could not refute the threat of General David, and could only tell Carlos I everything that happened in the peace talks with a heavy face.

On October 13, 1907, on such a seemingly unlucky day, a major event happened in the Kingdom of Portugal.

The then King Carlos I took his Crown Prince Luis to the government to attend a meeting to discuss the current peace talks with Australasia.

But halfway through the car, two men in black came towards them and took out their pistols and shot two shots at Carlos I's motorcade.

Because Prince Luis was closer to the assassin, he was hit directly in the chest by the assassin's bullet, while Carlos I was sitting farther away and was only hit on the shoulder by a stray bullet.

It was not until a few seconds after the shooting that Carlos I's guards reacted and shouted to protect His Majesty the King, and then quickly chased the assassin.

The injured Carlos I and Prince Luis were escorted by the remaining guards to the nearest hospital for treatment.

Carlos I's injury was not serious. After the bullet was removed, Carlos I was no longer in danger of death.

But the location of Prince Luis's injury was very close to the heart, and due to heavy bleeding, it was very difficult to treat him.

After the assassination, the Portuguese government responded very quickly. After successfully arresting the assassin, the Portuguese government released the news that the assassin might come from Australasia, trying to confuse the Portuguese people and make them hate Australasia again.

At this time, Ambassador Herbert Simon, who was attending the peace talks in London, also received news from home. After receiving the order, Ambassador Herbert Simon suddenly stopped the peace talks and expressed his doubts to General David.

It happened by coincidence that when the peace talks between Portugal and Australasia were in a stalemate, King Carlos I of Portugal was assassinated.

It seems that Australasia is indeed suspected, and many Portuguese people have indeed been deceived. They have publicly marched to express their dissatisfaction with Australasia and rejoined the ranks of supporting the government to go to war.

Seeing that the goal was achieved, Carlos I was in a much better mood and focused his attention on his son Louis.

Facing the Portuguese's scapegoating, General David was confused, but he still learned that King Carlos I of Portugal had been assassinated.

It must be said that the assassination of Carlos I was indeed beneficial to Australasia. A more chaotic Portuguese government naturally could not continue the war firmly.

But no matter what, Steward David would not take the blame for others in vain.

Steward David disdainfully refuted Herbert Simon's questioning and said that small Portugal did not need Australasia to make small moves.

The peace talks of the day ended in this situation. After returning to his room, Steward David ordered his men to find out the details of the assassination of Carlos I, and let his men start to spread the news, publicizing all the conditions of the Kingdom of Portugal in this peace talk, and belittling the Kingdom of Portugal for arbitrarily starting a brutal war, being in a disadvantageous position but not caring about the lives of the Portuguese people, and having no real desire to stop the war.

Public opinion is something Australasia must master. Public opinion has brought a lot of benefits to Australasia, and has successfully made Portugal the target of public criticism in this war.

Given the good impression Australasia had given to the European people before, most Europeans are still willing to believe Australasia's words and stand on Australasia's side.

However, what really allowed Australasia to maintain its advantage in public opinion was not the European newspapers controlled by Australasia, but a newspaper from a tabloid in Portugal.

Although this was just a newspaper published by a tabloid, it was reprinted by many Portuguese newspapers shortly after it was published, and it also attracted the attention of many European media.

This allowed the news of this newspaper to spread across most of Europe within a few days, and the content of the newspaper was also known by most Europeans.

The content printed in the newspaper was actually very simple, probably some statements from a political party in Portugal.

But this party is currently the largest opposition party in Portugal. It opposes not only the Portuguese government, but also the Portuguese monarchy and King Carlos I.

If the Portuguese Republican Party was only famous in Portugal before, now the name of the Portuguese Republican Party has even spread throughout Europe.

A radical member of the Portuguese Republican Party publicly stated that the assassination of Carlos I that took place not long ago was planned by the Republican Party, and the purpose was to eliminate Carlos I, the biggest scourge of Portugal at present, who was the culprit for Portugal's war and defeat.

At the same time, this member of the Portuguese Republican Party also listed many of Carlos I's crimes, such as implementing a high-pressure policy in the political arena, turning the democratic republic of Portugal into a monarchy, not caring about the interests of the majority of civilians, and insisting on going to war with Australasia at all costs in order to maintain the stability of his ruling position.

In order to reflect the arbitrary and tyrannical nature of Carlos I, this member of the Republican Party also specifically listed Australasia's reaction in the war, and specifically explained that Australasia's initial request was only an apology and compensation from the fishermen, but the arrogant Carlos I was desperate to create his so-called impression of loving the people and launched a war that should not have happened.

So far, the war has caused Portugal to lose tens of thousands of soldiers, but the Portuguese government still has no intention of peace talks, and is even secretly planning a counterattack, causing more Portuguese soldiers to suffer unnecessary casualties.

Carlos I's arbitrary and overbearing behavior, as well as the autocratic and high-pressure policies implemented in Portugal, are the real reasons why the Republicans planned this assassination.

Let's just stop at these 4,700 words today, brothers, I'm back late. Tomorrow at home, try to write 10,000 words again!