Jochen was at a loss as to how to warn the Boers not to make strategic mistakes, but this did not affect the progress of the Boers in the early stages of the war.

Under the leadership of General Coward, the combined forces of the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State gave full play to their familiarity with the terrain, light and flexible, and played a triumphant song all the way, defeating the British South African colonial army to the point where it was completely impossible to find the north.

After a series of defeats, the British lost the cities of Newcastle and Gronko within a month of the war, while Ladysmith, Maflotin, and Kimberley were surrounded by the Boers.

Director, this is different from what was said, the script is reversed, right? Shouldn't it be my British Empire that swept away these Boer?

The invasion, which was supposed to be easily resolved, and which the British considered to be a "small colonial conflict", ended far beyond their expectations. This makes it difficult for the entire British community to accept, is it that in the land of the Transvaal, the British Empire will still be slapped in the face once, and then lose face in front of the whole world?

Anyway, now that the whole of Europe is against our actions, where will we go if we shrink our faces? You have to give those Boer a taste of it.

In the midst of doubts and accusations from all walks of life in Britain, the Marquis of Salisbury knew that he had put his government under great pressure last time, and if he failed again, his political career would be completely over, so the British must do their best to win this war.

As a result, the huge war machine of the entire British Empire was activated, and the British Empire, which had just finished the bloody and brutal suppression of the Sultan Mahdi uprising, once again threw its unparalleled power into an even more bloody and cruel battlefield.

Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, the various colonies began to mobilize, a large number of troops began to build, and in a very short time, the size of the British Army was expanded from Europe to nearly 450,000 men.

The British Royal Navy protected the shipping lines of the British Empire, with 1,072 ships sailing on the lifeblood of the British Empire, allowing troops from various colonies to begin to gather on South African soil.

However, perhaps it was the bad luck of the British, and the French, who saw the signs after the start of the construction of Britain's huge warplanes, immediately realized that the British were going to make big news in South Africa. Since the annexation of Austria by Germany, the French, who had been struggling internationally in affairs, realized that this was a golden opportunity.

The British gathered their colonial troops in South Africa, which would naturally weaken the strength of other regions, and they had long been aware that Sudan was occupied by the British, and their 2S plan was cut off by the French, and once the Anglo-Boer war escalated, then the British would have absolutely no spare strength to find trouble for themselves.

And Germany, which originally needed to be worried, has been a vegetarian for many years, and finally opened meat, but the meat bitten off was in the Far East, and a large number of troops were withdrawn to the Philippines to suppress those yellow-skinned monkey uprisings, consuming a lot of manpower and material resources, and all the attention was on how to swallow the meat quickly The Germans are not expected to be unable to get along with themselves at this time.

Jochen never imagined that the French, who had not compromised with Britain because of the absence of the Fashoda conflict and because they were worried about Germany, would suddenly want to play big and snatch meat from the mouths of the British when they saw that Britain and Germany had no energy to take care of themselves now.

At the beginning, Jochen also considered whether to persuade Frederick III to support the French once the Fashoda conflict broke out, lest because France and Germany did not negotiate, and the French would rather pretend to be grandsons to the British than beware of Germany first, and finally lead the conflict between Britain and France to disappear with the concessions of the French, and finally lay the foundation for the Anglo-French alliance.

As a result, the left can't wait and the right can't wait, Jochen is still surprised, could it be that the French have a bad brain recently, and the prime minister has changed too much and forgot about the 2S plan? Now it seems that it is just that the previous small life was a little not smooth, so let's wait and see the opportunity.

In order to take advantage of this opportunity to continue the 2S plan, the French began to assemble troops in the French Congo, and at this time the British forces in the area began to gather south, and it was a difficult choice for the British to go back to guard against the French or continue to go south and leave the French there.

"These damn Frenchmen! Actually took advantage of the fire to rob! What is the clear demarcation of the Anglo-French question of the African colonial border? There is no border problem there at all! The whole Sultan belongs to our British Empire! What qualifications do those French have to negotiate with us?! Salisbury was furious when he received a request from the French ambassador for a sphere of influence in southern Sudan and for consultation with the British government.

"So we directly reject the request of the French, and then let the army in the Sudan return and confront the French? I don't think the French would have the guts to start a war with the British Empire in Africa, right? Colonial Minister Joseph Chamberlain asked the Prime Minister.

"I thought these damn Frenchmen would keep to themselves and get us in less trouble because of their powerful neighbors, but now it seems that these Frenchmen are still the biggest trouble for the Empire! At this time, whether we leave it alone or go-for-tat, it is not good for us. Salisbury is a bit irritable, and the criticism of his government in recent times has given him a headache.

"We can't clash with the French, and if the conflict escalates, the opposition parties and all sectors of society, who have long been ready to stir up because of the situation in South Africa, will use this as a lever to attack us! We can't go to war with the Boers with all our might. ”

"Then we can contact Germany and get them to put pressure on France, so that the French will worry about themselves and won't cause us trouble." Chamberlain said, in fact, Chamberlain has always wanted to form an alliance with Germany, of course, the premise is that the Germans only need to bear the obligations, and it is best to let Germany be the donkey of the British Empire, and it is a donkey that does not eat grass.

"It's useless, the Germans are now thinking only about the territory they have just acquired in the Far East, the Germans have now transferred at least 6 divisions to the Philippines, and it is still their standing force, now the strength of the German Army has been greatly reduced, and their own army has not replenished those streamlined troops because of this, I don't know if it is because the expansion plan of the Navy has squeezed out the resources of the Army, but the Germans are now eager to close the door of their own house and no one bother him.

The previous ban on German citizens going to South Africa was a clear indication that they did not want to get involved, and they could no longer tolerate anything other than the Philippines in their eyes. Salisbury speculated.

If Jochen had known that Salisbury was thinking, he would have said that although he wanted to get involved, His Excellency the Prime Minister did not agree, but it would be good to give the British such a false impression.

"Your Excellency, if we don't try to know how the Germans reacted, how to deal with the French, we need a plan now, and whether the Germans will intervene is crucial to how we prepare."

"Well, what you said makes sense, then let's contact the Germans first, but if we want the Germans to intervene, we probably have to come up with some benefits in exchange, some benefits that make them feel valuable, and that can make them take their attention away from the Philippines, which is not easy." Salisbury actually had some plans in mind, that is, he wanted to sell the unsalable goods that he didn't sell back then, Helgoland.

Over the years, the Royal Navy has come to feel more and more that it is a thankless task to maintain a military presence in the waters off Helgoland, and that it is not a day or two to abandon the baggage.

At the beginning, the Germans preferred economic interests to "strategic locations", and now let them come forward and put pressure on the French in exchange for a good deal on Helgoland.

Let's get in touch with the Germans first, compared to the Germans, they will not agree to the request of the British Empire so happily, then when the time comes, Helgoland Island will be thrown out, and it is estimated that these Germans will immediately take the bait.

Sure enough, after receiving the request from the British side for "assistance" on the African issue, the German side directly refused without even thinking about it. We have a lot of affairs now, and the main energy of the empire has been involved, and as for African issues, our opinion is to maintain stability, and stability maintenance is very important, so please be smart. Anyway, that's what it means, what do you like, we don't mix.

However, just as Salisbury was preparing to take the bait with Helgoland Island, the house leak happened to rain overnight, and a bad news came back: Venezuela made a territorial claim to Britain on British Guiana 62 in western Guiana.

Where is Venezuela on the map? How dare you make such an unreasonable demand against the British Empire?! The old birthday boy eats arsenic - he thinks it's long, isn't it?

But soon, the British figured out that behind Venezuela was the nouveau riche who had just beaten Spain. Salisbury had a feeling in his heart that 10,000 alpacas were galloping by: these bastards were staring at the situation that the empire couldn't spare now!

For the Americans, whose self-confidence in winning the Spanish-American War was bursting, this was nothing more than a test, a touchstone for the Monroe Doctrine, and a pretext for a large-scale expansion of the fleet.

But for the British, it was fatal, and in American waters, the British Navy could easily pinch the fleet of the Yankees, who thought they would be great if they had won the Spanish victory.

But now that the entire Royal Navy is consulting the shipping lines of the British Empire around the Boer War, how can there be time to go to the Western Atlantic? And now that the Imperial Navy is still there, there are French people jumping out to toss, if the naval fleet is transferred again, it will be simply opening Pandora's cartridge, who knows what those European countries with ill intentions will do.

For the first time, Salisbury felt that perhaps it was time for Britain to abandon its glorious isolation and find an ally. R1152