The battle between the British and the Sultan of Sokoto began as soon as they got off the ship, and under the advice of the German advisers, the were not prepared to hide in the city of Zaria, and then waited for the British heavy artillery shells to fall overhead, and William sent them more than two hundred Boer partisans in exile in Germany, these guys who had disgraced the British Empire in South Africa, and told them that the best way to fight was guerrilla warfare.

Tens of thousands of troops were divided into small teams, led by advisers, from the moment the British troops landed on the shore, they took turns all the time, quietly approaching in dense jungles and farmland, and then frantically threw grenades, first blowing up the British dizzy, and then rushed up with machetes to slash indiscriminately, while the British were not yet awake, and withdrew from the battle as quickly as possible.

In the face of such tactics, all the advantages of the British disappeared, 105 mm heavy guns, 120 heavy mortars, and even a large number of Weeks water-cooled heavy machine guns, all became decorations, the attacks of the who were familiar with the terrain were always caught off guard, these heavy weapons that could ravage them at will did not even have a chance to deploy, at most after they finished chopping, they would vent their anger in the direction of their escape, and they did not even dare to pursue, and the lobsters did not know how many were waiting for them in the depths of the jungle.

On the march from the crossing of the Kaduna River to Zaria, the British army was subjected to hundreds of such attacks, and more than 10,000 well-armed lobsters took a whole week to cover the journey, and more than 2,000 casualties, but when they arrived at the city of Zaria, the British commander was indignant to find that there was no enemy at all, only countless old and weak women and children looking at the exhausted invaders with innocent and curious eyes, and dozens of journalists from all over the world welcoming them.

The journalists regretted to tell him that His Majesty the Sultan of Sokoto and his ministers had retreated to Kano, and that the city was now full of civilians. There are no armed men, let alone guns, and you can't find anything in the city that can be used as a weapon except for kitchen knives, and the implication is that if you want to slaughter the city, don't blame us for saying bad things in the newspapers.

In fact, the British were indeed prepared to slaughter the city, and there was no point in playing appeasement against the, who were only worthy of being slaves were notoriously ungrateful, and the most effective way to conquer them was to kill them until they were frightened and voluntarily submitted, and then put chains on them. Let them work under the whip and shackles, and only then can become good. But how can they be slaughtered in this way, these reporters include almost all European countries, as well as China and the United States, not only with cameras and cameras, but even the reporters of the People's Radio are also equipped with radio stations, looking at this posture and waiting for them to carry out the massacre, the British Empire, which prides itself on being a gentleman, is of course difficult to start at this time.

But in doing so, they lose their most effective means of deterring. These old and weak women and children, who threw grenades and played with machetes at them outside, would never be grateful for the mercy of the British king, but they were even more fearless. Although there was no counterattack on the city of Zaria, the British transport lines became their best target, and soon the British discovered that they were essentially trapped in Zaria, and the helpless British commander had to call Lagos for help.

Fortunately, by this time a reinforced division had arrived. After a brigade had been sent to clear the Yoruba resistance, all the rest rushed by boat to Zaria for reinforcements, while their enemies were waiting for them in the jungle. His Majesty the Sultan of Sokoto, who had retreated to Kano, was issuing a call to the entire empire to call on his subjects to join the holy war against the invaders.

Thus the British were once again in a quagmire similar to that of South Africa, and although this time their enemies were not as strong as the Boers, this time they were no as numerous, and Orange and the Transvaal had a population of two or three hundred thousand at most, and here they had to deal with seven million.

The British, who were enraged by William, also took similar retaliatory measures, since the Germans did not let them live in peace in the colony, then they naturally did not need to let the Germans go unwanted in the colony, and with the secret support of the British, the Herero people in German South-West Africa, that is, Namibia, began their great war for independence and freedom. The poor became the toys of the Tyrannosaurus Rex game like this, and then embarked on their road of no return, waiting for the was William's bloody butcher's knife, it is estimated that this time the fate of the Herero people will not be much better than in the original history, in the original history they were killed hundreds of thousands, and even said millions, of which 80,000 were directly driven into the desert to die of thirst.

"When is the time for retribution?" Emperor Yang in Beijing looked at the smoke of Africa and sighed compassionately.

In fact, this is not as simple as retribution, William is no longer able to let the British get Nigerian oil anyway, this is related to the cost of competition between the two countries in industry, the British now rely on the United States and Imperial oil for crude oil supply, German crude oil depends on Central America, Imperial oil, Romania, there is no difference between the two sides in the cost paid, and even Germany has a slight advantage, after all, the cost of transportation of Romanian oil to Germany is very low, which is an important guarantee for the competitiveness of German industrial products in Europe, The low cost of crude oil has benefited Germany, but the entire industrial system has benefited.

If the British develop Nigerian oil again, it will definitely greatly reduce the cost of their oil, enhance the competitiveness of British industrial products, and even very likely to break through a balance point between the two sides, so William even if he can't get it, he must not let the British get it, this is a contradiction that the two sides can't reconcile, and this is also the main reason why the British blocked the Baghdad railway, with the advent of the oil age, politicians from all over the world have adapted well to the new rules of the game, The use of oil as a weapon is becoming familiar to more and more so-called politicians.

While the flames of war in Africa were raging, the flames of war in the Balkans showed signs of subsidence, for the simple reason that the four Balkan allies could not continue to fight, and in less than three months, they had lost 150,000 people, which was barely bearable, but no one could bear the financial burden. In particular, Bulgaria, which was still under shelling and blockade by the Ottoman navy, not only did the government's finances dry up, but the country's economy was on the verge of collapse. As for Montenegro, the weakest of them, at this time they had even stopped attacking Skodra and only kept contact with the north they were responsible for, even though the Serbs attacking from the south urged again and again, Nicholas I was resolutely not going forward, and he had more than 20,000 casualties in such a small country, and then fight? If you fight Montenegro, all the young and middle-aged people are dead, and now this guy is already regretting it, and he shouldn't be on this thief ship.

He lost interest in not fighting the Serbs, and they lost more than a division at Shkodra but the results were almost nil, and the defense system with the river and the city of Shkadra as the core was as solid as a rock with the support of Austro-Hungarian merchant ships. Although Britain, France, and Russia aggressively accused Austria-Hungary of violating the Neutrality Act, Franz. Emperor Joseph continued to do his own thing, not only sending guns and cannons to the Shbitar defenders, but even the oversized mortars tested by his own army to the Ottoman army. The 300-millimeter Škoda cannon was inspired by the Confederate army, but it wasn't as terrifying, but the hundreds of kilograms of shells still broke the hearts of the Serbs.

Emperor Joseph's support for Hamid II was now fully public, and merchant ships transporting arms sailed into the Buena River under the Austro-Hungarian flag, for the simple reason that Hamid II sold them sovereignty over Bosnia and Herzegovina for 500,000 pounds more than it had historically been. The three million pounds sterling did not have to be paid to Hamid II, all of them were used to buy arms in Austria-Hungary and Germany, and then sent directly to the defenders of Shkadar and Alta, such a good business Emperor Joseph naturally did not miss, in order to ensure his business reputation, now the merchant ships transporting arms are even protected by Austro-Hungarian battleships.

The deal hurt the fragile self-esteem of the Serbs, who had hoped to annex the two territories one day, knowing that they were both within their Greater Serbian territory, and now that they were robbed, even though they were already under the rule of Austria-Hungary and the Bosnians preferred Emperor Joseph. But in the eyes of the Serbs, this is still a violation of their national dignity, and there are constant voices of protest against Austria-Hungary in the country, and even radicals attack Austria-Hungary businessmen, and even the Serbian government condemns Austria-Hungary's actions in righteous words.

Emperor Joseph's reply to the response of the Serbs was simple, he gave the Ottoman army a boatload of arms for free.

In addition to selling sovereignty over Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hamid II sold oil exploration rights to more than a dozen plots of land to foreign investors, and these transactions alone brought him millions of pounds, which, together with a loan from the People's Bank, made him ready to crush his enemies to death.

This is a war that desperately makes the four Balkan countries, they can raise not even a fraction of the military money of the Ottomans, and there is no hope of victory if they continue to fight, in this case the four countries began to contact to see if they could negotiate peace, and the requirements were not high, as long as the Ottoman Empire ceded Albania and Macedonia. (To be continued......)