Chapter 476 Huge Fleet
On the other side of the sea, Lieutenant General Raven Hoback, commander of the British fleet, was driven crazy by Friedrich because the Austrian fleet had anchored again.
This time the Austrians dispatched an unprecedentedly large fleet. There were three super-class battleships alone, not to mention the total number of other types of battleships reaching twelve. Coupled with various types of warships and transport ships, the number of personnel alone exceeded Twenty-seven thousand people.
This makes the team of 20 people and seven warships sent by the British look a bit small.
Billy Mullen Jr., the head of the British investigation team, felt the pressure doubled. He even suspected that the Austrians had premeditated a war with themselves. It is strange to say that a Dutch merchant ship was attacked by British pirates in the Southeast Asia. As a result, Austria and Britain were responsible for investigating the ins and outs of this incident.
In order to frighten the opponent, the Royal Navy directly dispatched a fleet of seven new paddle-wheel warships. As a result, the latter dispatched a larger fleet.
Of course, this was not what Franz had ordered, but it doesn't mean that he was shocked when he learned the news.
He took an eighteen-hour train ride to Trieste and spent the night looking for his uncle, a naval marshal.
"Uncle Friedrich, what are you doing?!"
"Give the British a show of strength! We sent ten people here, but they actually sent twenty people! There are also seven battleships! Investigate pirates? It's better to go to Nanyang to grab territory!"
Friedrich obviously had a big opinion against the British, and he had long known about Franz's plans in the Southeast Asia region. Of course, he also knew that the whole thing was inevitable.
"But even if you want to retaliate against your opponent, this fleet is too big and a bit wasteful. And why do you want to bring so many armies?"
A large part of the reason why Franz came to see Friedrich was that the former saw a large number of army officers in the entourage list, and then he also found a large number of army soldiers, and even engineering teams and medical soldiers. .
"Franz, there are some things I have to tell you. It was obviously you, the colonial minister, who said that tooth for tooth, blood for blood."
In some of the attacks on Austrian colonists and soldiers in West Africa last year, tribes hid in the forests and hung the remains of their victims (their eaten skeletons) from trees.
On the surface it was a defensive move by the natives to intimidate outsiders for their own safety, but in fact it was a revenge move by the French and Portuguese against the Austrians.
After all, the arrival of Franz and his party affected their interests, so the operators hiding behind the scenes decided to bribe some tribes.
However, most of the local tribes did not dare to accept this kind of business in view of the exaggerated combat power displayed by the Austrian army before.
So the French and Portuguese sent explorers to find the primitive tribe deep in the forest. These terrible guys had no fear of the Raushi army. They only recognized three things-muskets, food and women.
After some investigation after the incident happened, Franz already understood the ins and outs of the incident, but the solution still had to be solved.
Because the West African region occupied by Austria is different from Algeria and Morocco occupied by France. Most of the so-called "countries" are still in the era of primitive civilization, and they are not even medieval countries. Let's not talk about whether they can conquer it. Communication is also a problem. .
Franz must communicate with them in a way they can "understand", otherwise he will get half the result with twice the effort.
So he made a plan to eliminate the twenty-seven tribes. The process was the same as before. The Austrians would defeat them, and then the other tribes would divide their children and property. Franz only wanted the land.
However, it was still the rainy season in West Africa at that time. For the modern Austrian Army, it was still necessary to avoid going to the tropical rain forest to fight with primitive people.
But just after the rainy season, troubles continued on the European continent, and it was not until recently that Austria got around to it. Just end the fight before the rainy season in May.
In fact, in addition to the army, there were also a large number of colonists and professional technical workers who went to West Africa, mainly skilled farmers and breeders.
Of course, there were also some explorers and geologists. After all, Europeans’ understanding of the interior of Africa was still very limited at this time, especially in terms of geology. In the 15th century, an explorer saw Africans exchanging animal skins with Europeans. Iron tools, we came to the conclusion that there is no iron in Africa.
This outrageous rumor was still believed to be true by Europeans until the early twentieth century.
In addition, there are also many reserves of various precious metals and rare metals in Africa, but they have not been discovered yet.
Of course, the fastest way to withdraw funds in Africa is still the planting industry. This is because Austria needs a large number of laborers, and it is unrealistic to expect to transfer people from the country.
Therefore, Franz needed to turn those tribal chiefs into planters. Only by integrating them into Austria's economic system could the local area maintain long-term stability.
"Okay, Uncle Friedrich, no matter which general leads the army this time, I still have my original request, only defeat and not pursue, and set the mountain on fire."
This is the driest season in West Africa, and fire attack is undoubtedly a good choice. It saves time and effort, and the burned land will leave a large amount of humus that can be used for farming.
As for destroying the environment, Franz can't think that much now, and he's not native, so what's the worst he can do to adopt a rotating farming system?
The reason for only defeating and not pursuing is very simple. Africa is a place where people are not familiar with. If the Austrian army really pursues it, it may expand the results or fall into a trap.
As for annihilating the remnants of the hostile tribes, other local tribes can do it for them. Of course, if there are any traps, they will step on them for the Austrian side.
As for those rebellious tribes, they will soon discover that once they show weakness, they are seeking death, because they will be torn apart by their compatriots around them, so they can only choose to fight with their last ditch.
However, Franz still likes the numerical value game. After all, the technology and organization of the two are several generations behind, and there is no possibility of losing in a head-to-head confrontation.
Friedrich seemed a little dissatisfied with Franz's approach, which forced the latter to remind the former again.
"Uncle Friedrich, you don't want to become Austria's eternal sinner, right?"
After some discussion between the two, Friedrich had to accept Franz's suggestion of sending war supervisors and prosecutors.
In fact, Franz hoped to send some of his right-hand assistants, but the reality was that he did not.
Yes, Franz did have a lot of experts and scholars on his hands, and there were also countless soldiers who were willing to make friends with him.
But Franz could know which scholars and experts had real materials through the history of later generations, but he could not distinguish the advantages and disadvantages of these soldiers.
After all, most of the last batch of famous generals in Austrian history were already famous at this time, and Archduke Albrecht, who was not famous, was not lacking in fame at all.
But if those veterans were really sent to Africa, they would probably die of illness before the war started.
In the same way, the last few famous generals sent to Africa have a high chance of dying. Moreover, most of these people are of noble origin and do not need any military exploits to occupy their future positions.
As for these war supervisors and prosecutors, they are actually all outstanding graduates within the empire; of course, the "excellence" of these people is not given by their mentors, but obtained by taking Franz's examination.
But those exams can't actually prove anything. What can prove them is the battlefield and practice.