Salisbury's Cabinet's strategy for the Transvaal was undoubtedly working, and in the past two months, nearly 2,000 British troops had been sent from India and the Mediterranean to the Cape Town colony in South Africa, and with the arrival of troops and supplies, the Transvaal Republic and the Autonomous Region of Orange were soon informed of the Boers in the colonies.

The Boers did not know the details of the British military build-up, and in fact, they did not have sufficient intelligence resources, but the constant appearance of British troop carriers in the harbor made the Transvaal and Orange very nervous, and on December 1, the Transvaal Prime Minister Kruger finally could not hold back and negotiated with the Cape Town colony, demanding that Britain not increase the number of troops to the South African colony.

The attitude of the British Empire to the demands of the Boers was obviously arrogant, and the newly appointed Lord Milner had no idea of listening to the Boers, and the plans of the mighty empire on which the sun never set were able to stop it...... However, considering that it was now winter, whether it was the British army or the Boer army, fighting on the ground where there was not a single grass, and the most mobile cavalry would completely lose room to move, Lord Milner still tactfully told the Boers - this is a normal change of guard of the British army, with no special intentions!

In fact, Lord Milner now had no advantage in the forces at hand, and despite the reinforcements sent from overseas, the entire colony had less than 9,000 regular troops, in addition to more than 3,000 South African company policemen, and the potential adversaries - the Boers, because of Kruger's always important armaments, now had more than 15,000 regular troops in the entire Transvaal Republic. There was also a large number of armed men with experience in the first Boer War. You can join the party at any time.

Kruger was suspicious of the increasing number of British troops. However, due to the lack of forage and even hay reserves in winter, he also realized that it would be difficult for the Boer cavalry to start a war in such a situation, so after receiving feedback from the British, the Transvaal government did not immediately respond directly, but sent a diplomatic team to Cape Town to begin diplomatic negotiations with Lord Milner.

Subsequently. The Transvaal Republic immediately began to make all-out preparations for war, in addition to immediately issuing large-scale arms purchases to Germany and France, Kruger did not forget to complain to European countries, he listed the evidence of the so-called monopoly management of the Transvaal mineral resources by British expatriates, and asked people to publish it in the newspapers of Germany, France and other countries, and this qiē naturally stimulated various countries.

By late November, demonstrations against Britain first broke out in the Netherlands, which had close ties to the Transvaal, with thousands of Dutch people rushing into the streets in solidarity with the Boers of the same skin color and genes as them, at the same time. The demonstrators also burned a portrait of the Queen of England outside the British Consulate in Rotterdam, demanding that the British immediately stop planning an attack on the Transvaals.

Subsequently. France, Germany, Russia, and Austria-Hungary issued diplomatic statements against Britain and the Transvaal Republic, demanding that Britain settle the Boer question through negotiations, and more directly, a large number of white Europeans boarded ships and rushed to southern Africa with weapons, preparing to join the Transvaal Republic to start a war against Britain.

On 22 November, the first shipment of military supplies from the Mediterranean to the port of Maputo arrived in the port under the escort of German warships, and several Chinese companies that had undertaken inland shipments here immediately unloaded their cargo and transferred it to small steamboats on inland waterways, where the accompanying 400 German soldiers also took off their uniforms and boarded the river transports.

This news was sent to Beijing by telegram on the night of the 22nd, and the chief of staff, Ma Ze, took the telegram and felt the prime minister's residence overnight, and this news also surprised Qin Kai, in the history he knew, although the Germans were the strongest support for the Transvaal Boers, but in the Second Boer War, from beginning to end, the Germans did not consider direct participation, but sold arms to help the Boers.

Early the next morning, the telegram sent back from Berlin by the intelligence officer in Germany made Qin Kai feel a slight change, because Wang Li had earlier made clear to Kaiser Wilhelm II about the British intentions in Africa, so the German Army Staff had re-enacted the Boer War a few weeks ago, and now the Maputo River, which had fallen into the hands of China, became an important opportunity for the German Army.

The intervention that had been impossible to carry out was now possible to advance the army along the Maputo River to the border less than 150 kilometers from the Transvaal, and the road into the Transvaal had been opened two years earlier, so the German War Office immediately made the bold decision to send a force into the Transvaal border in advance to wait for the opportunity, with the help of the Volunteer method that is now being established in Europe.

The Germans clearly did not want their allies in Africa to be annexed by the British...... This news made Qin Kai seem to have a little more inspiration all of a sudden, but after thinking about it carefully, he still didn't have any ideas...... Whether the Germans finally intervened in the war or not, to be honest, now that history has changed dramatically, it is indeed a little difficult for him to judge.

Two days later, the London Stock Exchange, where the market was stable, suddenly broke out new rumors that the Transvaal Republic would once again raise the industrial tax on the Rand gold mining area and limit the scale of production of the Debisel mines, and that war was imminent......

These messages were apparently completely unverified, but the day after the news broke, the Cabinet did not explicitly refute the rumors, but issued an unknown circular that was reportedly being investigated by the Governor of the South African Region...... This had an immediate impact on the entire London bond market, and the war shadow of the Transvaal was immediately reflected in the market, with shipping, arms, and mining stocks rising sharply.

For two days in a row, the British cabinet was selectively deaf to the Transvaal news, which immediately confirmed the reliability of the news from one side, and as a result, more rumors and messages were heard, and it was not until November 30 that Colonial Secretary Neville Chamberlain officially announced that Britain was conducting diplomatic negotiations with the Transvaal Republic on the previous conflict between the two sides.

Later, Chamberlain was summoned by Prime Minister Salisbury to discuss the situation in South Africa, and although Prime Minister Salisbury did not mind taking full advantage of the British Empire's strong position to suppress the Boers, he also understood in the shadow of the First Boer War that the British army was not strong enough to start a full-scale war in the Cape Town colony.

Subsequently, Chamberlain, who was authorized by Prime Minister Salisbury, sent a telegram to Berlin, and the next day, Minister Firmman in Germany first met with Prime Minister Hornlore, and the British minister very tactfully asked the prime minister about Germany's bottom line on the Transvaal question, but Prime Minister Hornlore unexpectedly expressed concern about British ambitions.

The Germans made it clear that the interests of Africa cannot be plundered by one country, and that according to the multi-party negotiations of the earlier Paris Agreement, the interests of the interior of Africa cannot be occupied by Britain alone, or France alone!

Firmman immediately realized the desire of the Germans for interests, and he immediately threw out a new plan, he showed Prime Minister Hohenlore a map of Eurasia, and then made it clear that Britain would consider giving up part of the interests of the Middle East in the competition for African interests, and the British government was willing to support the German Empire to enter the Middle East.

This news obviously came as a big surprise to Prime Minister Hohenlore, compared with the barren African colonies, the Middle East, which is richer and more closely connected with Europe, has long been an area planned by Kaiser Wilhelm II, but after the British controlled the Suez Canal, their control over the Middle East has been greatly strengthened, and although Britain's control over the Middle East is not very strong, it has always been the traditional control area of the British.

Now the British suddenly put forward conditions, obviously so that Prime Minister Hornlore is also quite moved, he immediately euphemistically said that the two countries can have more in-depth consultations on African affairs, and then, Kaiser Wilhelm II is obviously also moved by the British conditions, just when Chamberlain is quite confident in reaching a secret deal with Germany, the Congo region in central Africa, but the conflict that shocked the whole Britain! (To be continued......)