Chapter 230 Killing the chicken to scare the monkey

Chapter 230 Killing the chicken to scare the monkey

There are four major tribes living in Ivory Coast. Among them, the Akan tribe and the Kru tribe are closer to the French. The two tribes are relatively weak, so France needs to provide them with powerful weapons to protect themselves from being annexed.

The Mander tribe and the Vodak tribe are relatively larger and more independent, but due to their backwardness in firearms and weapons, they are often at a disadvantage in wars.

In addition to these four largest tribes, there are dozens of tribes in Ivory Coast, large and small, but the number is usually only one or two thousand or even less.

Needless to say, the commodities these two tribes exchanged were slaves.

Although the French government has explicitly banned the sale of black slaves, the price of slaves is now too fragrant and tempting. For slave traders, it was worth it even if they risked their lives.

The French could exchange an old-fashioned Charleville flintlock gun in Ivory Coast for a strong slave, and then sell it to the United States for a sky-high price of $600.

You must know that the price of a bottle of Charleville at this time is around 8 US dollars. This 75-fold profit difference is enough to make people crazy.

Flor Martini was ostensibly a French army captain, but in fact he was the largest slave trader in Ivory Coast, with assets worth millions of francs.

He scorned the twenty thousand francs offered by the Austrian envoy.

"Tell your Grand Duke that this land will belong to France. If the fleet he brings is not withdrawn, sooner or later it will become a pile of rotten wood floating on the ocean."

The failure of negotiations did not surprise Franz, but Friedrich felt insulted.

"Don't be angry, Uncle Friedrich."

"They are insulting us! It's just a French captain, who does he think he is? That Corsican dwarf? You are so naive that you try to negotiate with those slave traders. Remember, we have signed a treaty, any country Battleships have the right to sink slave traders’ ships.”

Franz shook his head.

"There's no need for us to do it ourselves."

Friedrich immediately understood what Franz meant.

"Okay, I'll do this."

When the Austrian navy's ship appeared in the port, the chiefs of each tribe learned the news from their own sentries.

Franz then sent invitations to the chiefs, hoping to conduct trade with various tribes.

These indigenous tribes were eager for European goods and were naturally willing to trade with Austria, especially weapons, ammunition, ironware, medicines, and small handicrafts such as watches and compasses. Others such as snuff and sugar were also hot sellers.

As for the things used in exchange, the first thing these indigenous tribes think of is slaves, and even their own internal members can be sold openly.

However, Franz had no interest in slave trading, so the chiefs had to reluctantly take out their tribe's ivory, animal skins and food.

In fact, these things are not of great value to Austria, so Franz made several suggestions. First, the indigenous people can exchange labor for goods, and second, they can also choose to plant coffee and cocoa, but the chiefs are not interested in this. The proposal was not very approved.

Among them, the Akan tribe did not send anyone to attend the appointment. Although it was expected, Franz still felt unhappy.

However, since the opponent was a group of indigenous people, Friedrich's performance was not as intense as before.

"Let's go and destroy the Akan tribe."

"Huh?" Friedrich thought he heard wrongly.

"We are going to war, the Akan tribe has humiliated us and they must pay for it."

Although Franz said this, he had actually investigated and found that this tribe was a die-hard supporter of the French. The entire tribe only had more than 10,000 people, but it had more than 3,000 guns. Even the entire Ivory Coast The largest Vodak tribe (30,000 people) did not dare to fight with it.

"Then tomorrow night, I will ask the special forces to blow up their arsenal first?"

"Uncle Friedrich, we don't have enough intelligence. We'd better use our precious special forces members sparingly."

"Then how to fight this battle?"

"It's safest to fight directly head-on."

Without the support of reliable and accurate intelligence, there is no difference between rashly carrying out special operations and risking death.

Although special forces are almost omnipotent in movies and games, in fact once they are discovered in advance, their performance is no better than ordinary infantry.

At this time, the safest way is to conduct frontal combat, so that the possibility of accidents is minimized and the effect is most obvious.

And Franz did not think that the Ivory Coast would be stronger than the Zulus, but even the Zulus could not beat the car formation of 470 pioneers.

At this time, Franz's side had 1,500 marines, 1,000 professional dragoons, and a strong artillery team. Anyway, in terms of lineup alone, it was much stronger than the Dutch pioneers.

Of course, Franz didn't want to go to the battlefield in person. He still felt it was safer to stay on the boat. If any stray arrows or shrapnel were to fly towards him, wouldn't he die before he left the battlefield?

It's just that Friedrich would not allow deserters in his team, even from the royal family.

The war priests of the Akan tribe predicted that their tribe would cover the earth with blood, thunder would fall from the sky, and boundless fire would devour everything.

As soon as the war began, warriors from the Akan tribe armed themselves with guns and shields and swarmed toward the Austrian Marines like crazy.

You heard it right: a shield in one hand and a rifle in the other. Africans at that time believed that bullets were magic, and whether they could hit them all depended on their faith and God's mood.

Due to the lack of roads and efficient transportation methods, large-caliber artillery could not be transported. The artillery only brought 1,000 rodless spinning Congreve rockets and four four-pound field guns.

Ten launchers were set up, and with the sound of "swish, swish!", the gorgeous fireworks death flew towards the enemy at a speed of five rounds per minute.

When the rocket rose into the sky, the indigenous warriors were dumbfounded. They saw those strange things swirling and rushing into the crowd, huge explosions, accompanied by flying flames, everything was just as the wizard predicted.

But it seemed that it was his own side that was being slaughtered. Before those indigenous warriors could wake up from the shock, the Austrian infantry opened fire.

Intense bullets were fired at the indigenous people who only had cowhide shields and grass skirts for protection. Most of the bravest and most powerful warriors in the tribe who were standing at the front fell down at once.

Although the shooting has not stopped, it seems that the indigenous soldiers who have survived in the hellish environment are on the verge of collapse. However, the cruel battlefield will not give them any chance to breathe, and they will only be greeted by the servants of death.

As the young people of the Akan tribe continued to fall down one after another, looking at the bloody battlefield, the chief wanted to go to the war priest to ask for an explanation, but at this time the old wizard had been hit by a rocket and burned into a pile of coke. .

Less than a quarter of an hour after the war started, the 5,000 warriors brought by Chief Akan were already defeated.

These warriors were as fast as flying and could usually escape even if they couldn't be beaten. However, this time they encountered the Austrian cavalry.

No matter how fast a person ran, he only had two legs, and soon the warriors were overtaken by the horses.

The cavalry brought by Franz has a very complex composition and a variety of weapons, but there is no doubt that this unit is the strongest cavalry in Austria.

The cavalry's favorite thing is the fleeing enemy. They can use sabers, spears, and even revolvers to harvest lives.

This battle was actually destined to end from the beginning. It couldn't even be called a battle. It had turned into a one-sided massacre from the moment the cavalry attacked.