Addis Ababa, from Amharic, the national language of Ethiopia, means "City of Flowers", at an altitude of more than 2,400 meters, is the highest city in Africa.

On November 4, 1887, Menelik II, the "King of Kings" of Ethiopia (then known as Abyssinia), personally selected Fervoha, located in the middle of the Ethiopian plateau, as the capital of the unified state, and was named Addis Ababa by Empress Tetu herself. The new capital grew rapidly, and by 1908 it had a permanent population of 60,000 to 70,000 people. The newly chosen capital is located in the center of the country more than any other capital in Ethiopian history, especially closer to the southwest and vast southeastern regions that have been newly conquered since the predecessor "King of Kings" Johnny IV, which is convenient for communication with the rest of the country and conducive to territorial expansion.

The city is built on a hillside that slopes from south to north, and is built along the slopes of the mountains, with the main streets running along the water. The streets are full of strange flowers: purple roses, bright and delicate cannas, frosted and snowy geraniums, elegant and noble magnolias, refreshing tuberoses, and bougainvillea...... It is worthy of the name of "City of Flowers".

Everywhere were newly planted eucalyptus trees, slender and lush, with drooping triangular leaves, slightly gray in color, which looked like bamboo covered with hoarfrost from a distance. In 1905, Emperor Menelik II called on the people to plant the trees widely in order to solve the problem of firewood and building materials in the capital, and at the same time, the state provided the seedlings cheaply, and the land tax for planting trees was exempted. In just a few years, this tree has been planted all over the city and beyond, becoming another unique landscape.

In June 1908, a small group of yellow-skinned, black-eyed soldiers strolled leisurely through the beautiful streets of the city of flowers, with dark-skinned locals occasionally casting respectful glances along the way, and the owner of a shop greeted them warmly.

"It's comfortable, it's hard to imagine that this place is actually at the same latitude as Nansha and Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is like spring all year round."

One of them, a middle-aged man with the rank of brigadier general of the Chinese Empire, sighed with enjoyment.

His name is Wen Yu, head of the Chinese Military Advisory Group in Ethiopia, Chinese New Year's Eve, who was the chief staff officer and brigade commander of the First Janissaries Brigade during the Asian-Russian War. ”

"That's true, because of the plateau, the climate is particularly pleasant, and it is not the same thing as the plains of the north and south, think of Mustahil in the south the year before last, I was dizzy three times in one day."

At the age of Chinese New Year's Eve, he successively served as a trainee combat staff officer of the Northern Army Headquarters of the Korean Dispatch Army and an operational staff officer of the Japanese Dispatch Army Command during the Sino-Japanese War, and during the Asian-Russian War, he served as the chief staff officer and regiment commander of an infantry regiment. ”

Parallel to the regiment commander and deputy regiment commander, there were four other members of the advisory group, namely Major Li Ruishi from the Infantry Section, Captain Li Xiuping from the Artillery Section, Lieutenant Huang Yan from the Army Aviation Corps (concurrently the deputy captain of the Royal Ethiopian Flying Corps), and Lieutenant Gu Dao from the Counsellorial Department.

"How's it going, which coffee shop to go to today?"

Li Ruishi, a member of the group, crossed his arms and stared at the sky boredly, the vast blue sky of the Ethiopian plateau was pure and flawless, and it was breathtaking.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Europeans introduced coffee trees and coffee drinking habits into Ethiopia, due to the suitable conditions in all aspects, the quality of coffee beans produced is relatively good, since then Ethiopia has gradually become the most important coffee producing area in Africa, and has also formed its own unique coffee culture, in 1908 in the streets of Addis Ababa, there have been 20 or 30 cafes to provide various styles of coffee for domestic and foreign customers.

"Let's go to 'Adwa'." The head of the regiment, Wen Yu, made a quick decision.

No one objected.

Located just outside St. George's Cathedral in Uptown, close to the Royal Palace, Café Aduwa is a high-class venue frequented by foreign embassies and prominent Egyptian personalities.

After a quarter of an hour's walk, the six arrived at the door of the European-style café, where they were greeted warmly by the waiter and ushered them to a round table by the window.

"Six cups of freshly ground Abyssinian coffee?" The waiter clearly knows the tastes of this group of regular customers.

"Excuse me, please hurry." Wen Yu answered in fluent English.

The national language of the country was Amharic of the Semitic language family, but by this time English was already common in the upper classes. The Aryan flavor of their ethnic origins can be sniffed out from their national language, and in fact, it is true that the skin of Ethiopians is not as charred as the pure black people of Central and South Africa, and historians generally believe that the current Ethiopians are descendants of the ancient Aryan branch mixed with the blacks.

This knowledge may not be important to the members of the advisory board, but what is the harm of knowing more about the country?

"I didn't see that Dr. Wu today, did you go to a corner to dig bones again?" The deputy head of the regiment, Yintian, said in pieces.

Dr. Wu was an adviser to the embassy, specializing in the history of Asia and Africa, and gave lectures on Ethiopia and other surrounding regions from time to time, owing much of his knowledge of the country to him, a chubby zealous scholar who often wore British expedition shorts and a hot-brimmed hat.

While waiting for coffee, the six of them chatted casually, stopping from time to time to enjoy the scenery outside the window.

The open windows front the famous St. George's Cathedral, built in 1896 to celebrate the defeat of the Italian invading army at the Battle of Adwa, in the traditional octagonal shape, with a towering gilded cross at the top of the church's tower that glistens in the sun.

To the east of the cathedral is the wooden and stone palace, with its red halls and towering stone walls, which are condescending and majestic - but in the eyes of the Chinese advisory group, the palace of this scale is probably inferior to some of the royal palaces in China.

These two towering towers are the hallmarks of Addis Ababa, and in fact, the original layout of the city was built in the style of a military camp: every nobleman and military leader loyal to the royal family was given a piece of land on the surrounding hills. Nobles and military chieftains lived in the center of the land, surrounded by their attendants and servants. This formed the first community in the city.

The Chinese advisory group was stationed on a hill east of the palace, where not only was the residence of Duke Maconnan, the "Hero of Aduawa", located in the capital, but also the 1st Brigade of the Royal Praetorian Guard, which was fully equipped with Chinese weapons and practiced Chinese drills. It takes only half an hour to walk from the advisory mission to the palace.

It took about 5 minutes for the coffee to be served, which was quite fast, and the café with the glorious name "Adwa" has been thriving since it opened, and at its busiest time it was even a quarter of an hour before you could drink authentic Abyssinian coffee.

Authentic Abyssinian freshly ground coffee is made by hand-grinding coffee beans directly from the coffee trees and grinding them into powder with a stone mortar – the members of the advisory panel did see the coffee grove behind the café with their own eyes.

Addis Ababa is not only stationed in the Chinese embassy and the Chinese military advisory group, but also the permanent legations of more than a dozen countries in Europe and the United States and dozens of religious, military and commercial missions every year, making the residents of this beautiful city lose the least curiosity about foreigners of different colors.

"Look over there, the Italian and German ministers." Deputy head Yin Tian reminded head Wen Yu.

Wen Yu squinted his eyes: "Those two guys have been really glued lately." ”

"Two years ago, they were fighting over the ownership of southern Somalia, but now the ministers of the two countries are so close and famous." Yintian added.

Gu Dao, a lieutenant in the intelligence department wearing a pair of glasses, said with a calm face: "I still believe that the intelligence judgment about the German and Italian attempts to jointly attack Ethiopia is correct. ”

Wen Yu stretched out his hands: "We have to wait for instructions, and we also need further information to convince the Ethiopian Emperor and his general staff." Lieutenant Gu, you have to work harder on the intelligence side. ”

"The question is," Li Ruishi folded his arms, "if Germany and Italy really attack Ethiopia in the near future, will Ethiopia be able to hold it?" ”

"It depends on how many troops they can use, according to the situation report updated two weeks ago, Italy has gathered 40,000 Italian troops and 25,000 indigenous troops in Eritrea, 28,000 Italian troops and 17,000 indigenous troops in Italian Somalia, and Germany has assembled 9,000 German troops and 12,000 indigenous troops in German Somalia. Yintian analyzed.

Li Ruishi sneered: "But don't you think, if it's not for the purpose of launching an attack, why should you gather so many troops?" It is clear that both Italy and Germany have gathered more troops than is needed to defend their colonies. Moreover, the German and Italian ministers have been fighting so hotly recently, and other sources of information have also shown that there has been no friction or dispute between Britain, France, and Germany and Italy in East Africa, which also excludes the possibility that Germany and Italy are assembling in order to confront each other or to guard against Britain and France. ”

"My personal opinion, that is, the countries of Britain, France, Germany and Italy, may have regarded us as opportunists who are trying to monopolize Ethiopia, so they secretly conspire to solve the problem at one time."

"Are we really going too far?" The head of the group, Wen Yu, said with a wry smile.

Coffee smells fragrant and tastes bitter, but people who are used to drinking it will not care about this, because incense exists above bitterness, and bitterness permeates between incense, and the two are inseparable and eternally belong to each other.

Wen Yu and they have long been accustomed to the coffee of Addis Ababa, as well as the hot wind in the northern and southern plains of Ethiopia.