Chapter 803 Threat
Salisbury was unable to refute what Herman said. The war was indeed initiated by Britain in the first place. This basically determined that Britain was the main person responsible for the war. However, this did not affect Salisbury at all. Leigh placed the blame on East Africa.
"The original intention of us in the UK to launch this war was entirely to maintain regional peace and stability. East Africa itself is the most unstable factor in Africa. From the time when the Kingdom of Hechingen opened its first colony to now, the territory of East Africa has directly expanded to Ten thousand square kilometers, so your East African Kingdom is the most evil country in the history of Africa. These lands were all snatched from the hands of the indigenous people. This is more like the Russians..." Salisbury said unabashedly. .
"Ahem..." Chersevsky, the representative of Tsarist Russia, expressed his dissatisfaction with an ugly face. As expected, the British couldn't spit out ivory.
Salisbury also realized his gaffe and quickly changed the subject: "Of course, although the Russian land is vast, Russia itself has a 'long' history, and it only took a few decades for East Africa to acquire the area of these lands. Said to be the most aggressive country in the world."
Judging from the results alone, Salisbury is absolutely right. East Africa is indeed a greedy country. Of course, in other words, there is nothing wrong with Ernst being greedy.
However, there are very few countries or politicians in this world who are not greedy. Ernst seized the opportunity of the times. Since he had the ability to annex so much land but left it alone, it is simply unworthy of Ernst's ambition. God will not take it. Take the blame instead.
Just like Angola and Mozambique now, if East Africa does not get it, it will create obstacles for East Africa in all aspects.
Hermann: "Your Excellency Salisbury, this is a complete slander against our Kingdom of Hechingen. All countries are expanding in Africa, especially you, the United Kingdom, with Egypt in the north, British Somaliland in the east, and British Somaliland in the south. Cape Town has the Gold Coast to the west, and from a global perspective, Britain is the country with the most colonies in the world, especially India, Australia, Canada, etc., regardless of population, economy, politics, or military expansion. They are all the most exaggerated in the world. Could it be that the same principle applies to East Africa, which is greedy and aggressive? So is Britain the spark that spreads civilization?"
"Well said." Representatives from other countries thought in their hearts.
As a world hegemon, there are many countries that are hostile to Britain. In particular, apart from Portugal and the Boers, the countries here can be said to be chess players in world politics. They have long coveted the assets of the British Empire. There are also some countries that are simply hostile to Britain. People have hatred, just like the Russians.
Chersevsky fully agreed with Herman's words. These British guys were originally a group of pirates, and they had the nerve to accuse the great Russia.
Of course, Cheersvsky is also quite jealous of East Africa. Russia is desperately expanding in order to get access to the sea, and the little Hechingen royal family has expanded so much land in such a short period of time. It is simply incomparable. Infuriating.
There are many people who have the same idea as Chersevsky, but the overall feeling of everyone towards East Africa is not jealousy, but regret, and they hate that they started too late. If even one country here starts to compete with East Africa at the same time, what will happen? It is not more advantageous than the little Hechingen royal family.
Unfortunately, it was already too late. By the time of the Berlin Conference, East and South Africa were basically a foregone conclusion, and there were too many competitors in West Africa and North Africa. This shows the importance of seizing the opportunity.
Of course, it is not too late to make efforts now. West Africa and North Africa are not small in area, and they are much richer than East Africa and South Africa. This is what representatives of various countries have in mind.
Of course, except for Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the geographical location of Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire is destined to miss Africa, especially West Africa. Now Tsarist Russia is still blocked in the small Black Sea and the Baltic Sea, and its first priority is to expand in Eurasia. , instead of sacrificing the near and far away to West Africa to show off its strength, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was mainly due to domestic political reasons, and at the same time, the central position was easily contained.
Herman's words greatly stimulated Salisbury. He said to Herman: "You East African pigs, we in the UK are the messengers of civilization, in order to change those uncivilized and barbaric places. You guys Such savages cannot understand."
"Ahem..." Earl Ellenthal said: "Your Excellency Salisbury, please do not make personal attacks casually. Everyone here is a decent person. If you want to vent your emotions, you can go back to your hotel after the meeting. , don’t do this in public areas, it will appear very unethical.”
Earl Ellenthal's words simply added fuel to the fire, but good medicine was bitter and good for the disease, so Salisbury had to behave a little more "gentlemanly" and then sit upright in the armchair again.
However, everyone could tell from his red face that he was feeling very uncomfortable, and he was probably very angry.
As the moderator of the meeting, Ellenthal brought the topic of the meeting back on track: "Personal grudges and negative emotions will affect your judgment. We want to solve the problem this time, not argue for the sake of arguing, so the two countries The representatives should hurry up and reach a consensus on how to resolve the war."
Salisbury, who had calmed down, said categorically: "Our British attitude is very clear. East Africa will withdraw its troops and restore the pre-war borders. At the same time, East Africa must compensate us for our losses in the war."
Von der Leyen spoke at this time, and he said: "Haha, Earl of Salisbury, Britain is destined to pay a price if it launches a war, and your request is just like the winner of the war, and I don't think Britain We are at an advantage in the war, after all, the National Defense Forces are less than 400 kilometers away from Cape Town."
Salisbury replied: "Don't think that East Africa will defeat us. We in the UK just haven't exerted our strength. Defeating East Africa is as easy as drinking water for the imperial army, but for a poor country like East Africa , even if we defeat them with great effort, I’m afraid it won’t be able to make up for the loss of our military expenditure.”
"The reason why you were able to escape was entirely due to the remote location. However, this shortcoming is not important in the eyes of the Royal Navy. As long as you make a little move, you can turn the tide of the war."
Regarding Salisbury's tough attitude, Hermann directly threatened: "We in the Kingdom of Hechingen are not fighting with excuses of one kind or another, but with real capabilities. Now we have a total of more than 60,000 British prisoners. , they can fully illustrate the status of both sides in the war, and at the same time Angola, Mozambique, Orange, Northern Cape, and Eastern Cape all illustrate that we in East Africa are not afraid of war and have the ability to win this war."
Count Hermann's words can be said to have revealed a big deal. In fact, only East Africa knows the number of British prisoners, but everyone thinks that tens of thousands of British prisoners were captured in East Africa.
Some people even doubted whether Indians were included. After all, it was almost "impossible" to capture tens of thousands of British troops.
Even Salisbury couldn't believe it when he heard the news for the first time, but he didn't dare to deny it directly. If it was true, it would be troublesome for Britain.