"Woo......"

With the sound of a long whistle, a mixed fleet of heavy cruisers led by the Xuanwu, escorting the cruise ships "Voyager" and "Golden Years", slowly left the dock and entered the deep-water channel, all the way west, across the wide Zambezi estuary into the endless blue sea.

This is a lean mixed fleet, consisting of 5 ships, the combat ships are the heavy cruiser "Xuanwu" and the fast cruiser "Takachiho", and the military auxiliary ship is the high-speed coal-water supply ship "Burns Postman", or "Postman" for short.

Jointly escorting the "Voyager" and "Golden Years" cruise ships, embarking on the long voyage of return.

The cargo ships in the originally huge fleet have long since returned, and the four Seagull II ocean-going cruisers have been transferred to the African Fleet, and will serve in Africa in the future, becoming the backbone of the African Fleet.

Its home port is Mozambique Island, and the ports under its jurisdiction include Xi'an Town, Mogadishu, Ibo Island, Hekou Town and Seoul City, and the fleet commander is Colonel Zhu Qingxi, the former captain of the "Sea Falcon", and the ship is the fast cruiser "Naniwa", which is also the flagship of the African Fleet.

He was also a classmate and friend of Geng Guigui at the Manchester Naval Academy, and accumulated numerous meritorious services in previous naval battles, and was promoted to the commander of the African Fleet.

In the luxurious cabin on the top floor of the "Voyager" cruise ship, there was a hearty laughter.

After signing the demarcation treaty with the German East Africa Company, a satisfied Li Fushou waved his hand and generously gave 20,000 black indentured laborers to the other party, which swept away the resentment in Carl Peters's heart and turned to gratitude.

In the final analysis, German East African companies are still capitalists and mercenary.

The 20,000 black indentured laborers who fell from the sky were enough to compensate for the losses of German merchant ships and other aspects, and also made the German East African Company feel that it was a demarcation treaty of equality and mutual benefit.

Of course, these 20,000 black indentured laborers are not in their hands for the time being, they belong to the rebel tribal armed forces of the Shona people in the central Manica plateau, and now the encirclement and suppression army has not yet arrived, so naturally they cannot be cashed in.

Moreover, the biggest difficulty is the distance of thousands of kilometers from the Manica Plateau to the border of Fort Weiyuan in the north, and it will take a lot of time to escort you there.

as planned;

After breaking through the rebel forces of the Shona tribe, the encirclement and suppression force led by the head of Li Dagen was turned into a prisoner and detention force on the spot, and after replenishing part of the militia force, the black prisoners of war were escorted all the way north to build a road, and after entering the Malawi area, they continued to build a wide road along the west bank of the lake, and finally arrived at Fort Weiyuan.

If 50,000 prisoners are calculated, it will take more than two years to finally build the planned 1,000-kilometer "Malawi Highway".

At that time, only God knows how many of the 50,000 captives will remain, and the remaining prisoners of war will give to the Germans, except for some to build towns or feeder roads, and the rest will be given to the Germans, which is almost 20,000.

In other words, it took at least 2~3 years for German East Africa to get these black indentured laborers.

The Queensland side got rid of the tricky trouble, and the hands were less bloody, so why not?

"Hahaha...... Heaven has the virtue of a good life, these African rebels have washed away their sins with their labor, and we must also give them a little hope, as for what will happen to the territory of the Germans, it is not something we can control, give a sweet date in the face, and the situation in East Africa will enter a relatively stable stage. ”

"The master is wise, and Tian Shan is admirable."

"Lao Tian, our Queensland style of action should still be fair and bright, try to do less criticism, we need to know that history is a mirror, and the merits and demerits have their own descendants to evaluate fairly, and we must not act arbitrarily!"

"Tayama has been taught, and in the future, the Supervision Department will follow the instructions of Lord Count and strive to maintain the fair and just operation of the social system."

"If you can do this, it is very good!"

Li Fushou stepped on the thick pure wool carpet, walked briskly to the large map hanging from the bulkhead, and admired the current distribution of African forces with satisfaction, and was in a very happy mood.

in South-Central Africa

South Africa, dominated by British influence, borders Mozambique to the north, and Mozambique is further north to German East Africa, which is a solid sphere of influence that has been established by a border treaty, basically along the coast of southeast Africa all the way to the north, with clear borders, and no objections to their respective spheres of influence.

As for the vast middle and upper reaches of the Zambezi River, which flows through Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and other inland areas, most of them are in a state of no one's attention, few European and American colonists intervene, and Queensland is temporarily unable to expand its territory.

Building an overseas territory requires a lot of resources and energy, and it takes a lot of food to digest it.

Li Fushou had no intention of imitating the old colonial powers, regardless of whether he could digest it or not, and occupied a large colony like a bear breaking a grain bag, which eventually led to obvious indigestion symptoms.

Queensland's strategy is to occupy a piece, build a piece, digest a piece, consolidate a piece, and build the overseas territory into a paradise for immigrants step by step according to the plan, so that it can be truly integrated into the Queensland system, which requires rigorous scientific planning and strong execution, which is precisely the strength of the Queensland immigration department.

"Master, the plan proposed by the General Staff of the Army to attack the Kingdom of Madagascar is in line with our long-term African colonization strategy, and when the plan is submitted, we feel that the feasibility is very high, why was it vetoed by the master?"

Tian Shan has kept this question in his heart for a long time, and today he asked it while the old man was in a good mood.

As far as he understands;

The General Staff of the Army plans to further strengthen the chaotic situation in the Kingdom of Madagascar by supporting the separatist forces on the island, enter the civil war of the kingdom in an appropriate way at an appropriate time (within 2~5 years), completely control the situation on the island by supporting one side and suppressing the other, and elect the puppet forces and herdsmen to achieve the ultimate goal of colonization.

There is no doubt about the feasibility of this plan, and it can be said that it is a very good solution.

Li Fushou stood in front of the map with his hands in his hands and did not look back, but a calm and powerful voice came; "In order to understand this issue, we must look at the international situation from a macro perspective, and not just focus on the Kingdom of Madagascar.

The so-called blind eye is the situation that is being said.

The question of Madagascar has never been a regional issue, the French and British have been trying to expand the region since the last century, and the French Emperor Louis XVI had a colonial plan to conquer Madagascar, but it was interrupted by the revolution at home.

The British and French have been wrestling on the island for nearly 50 years, and now the Germans are intervening, making the situation even more confusing.

The French conquest, which began in 1883 and ended in failure after two years, did not mean that they had given up their colonial ambitions for the region, but simply went back to lick their wounds and wait for an opportunity to make a comeback.

Any attempt to colonize the Kingdom of Madagascar would cause the French to be on high alert, and they would have to proceed with caution as a reckless act against French interests.

At this point

We need London's full support, or we can't do it.

The military, as an armed force of violence, carried out the task of infiltrating and subverting the separatist forces of the Kingdom of Madagascar, a bit like a martial artist picking up an embroidery needle, and only God knows what pattern it will be embroidered into in the end.

The plan is good, but I don't have any expectations for what it will look like in the hands of the military.

This is because the key points for the success of the plan are, first, strict secrecy, and second, superb subversive and countervailing skills, which are not areas in which the military is good at.

The British, French and German forces have already penetrated deeply into the Kingdom of Madagascar, and their shadow can be seen behind every armed separatist power, and we need to cooperate with the pro-British forces, not do it alone, after all, they are the masters of this.

This is exactly what I wanted to do in the first place when I vetoed the plan of the Army General Staff, and the right person should be handed over to the Political Intelligence Department, which is their area of expertise. ”

Speaking of which

Li Fushou turned around, his deep eyes flashed with wisdom, and he chuckled and continued; "Our ancestors have already set a good plan for us;

Know yourself and know your opponent, and you will not be defeated in a hundred battles.

What kind of indigenous country is the Kingdom of Madagascar?

The island is a predominantly yellow society, with a yellow population accounting for 99% of the island, the vast majority of whom are of mixed East Indies and Arab descent, and have established a kingdom since the 14th century, with a unique language, religious customs, human society and wildlife environment that is different from that of the Black African continent.

For such an indigenous kingdom, it is necessary to adopt a highly targeted colonial program, and the so-called support of agents will not work, and it will not cure the symptoms but not the root cause.

If you want to truly incorporate it into the Queensland system, then you must completely destroy the original ruling structure, completely destroy the ruling class headed by large landlords and old aristocrats, completely destroy the separatist forces of all parties, implement all-round sinicization from writing, language, and historical inheritance, and reshape values.

The Kingdom of Madagascar has a population of more than 1.6 million, so many people are difficult to assimilate, they are different from the situation of the semi-primitive tribes of black Africa, they have a strong sense of belonging and geographical cognition, it is impossible to take the "cage for birds" method to solve, let alone slaughter, that is an unforgivable crime against humanity.

This will be a huge challenge that Queensland has never faced before, and we cannot afford to take this huge problem lightly until we are ready to meet it. ”

"I see, Tian Shan understands." Tian Shan had a feeling of sudden enlightenment, and after thinking about it carefully, he felt that it made a lot of sense, and he admired the Earl in his heart beyond measure.

Those who do not seek the overall situation are not enough to seek a domain.

It's very simple to say, but very few can do it, and who can resist the temptation not to do it in the face of huge benefits?

"Master, Tian Shan still has a trace of doubts, please clear your doubts."

"Tell me?"

According to the current chaotic situation of infighting in the Kingdom of Madagascar, I am afraid it will be difficult to withstand the next colonial war, and the British and Germans are eyeing each other, if we do not do it for a long time, won't it be a bamboo basket to draw water?"

"That's a good question, it shows that you've thought about it carefully." Li Fushou did not hesitate to praise him, his secretaries have grown up in continuous learning, Tian Shan, as an old man around him, is already a henchman who has entered the high-level, he doesn't mind mentioning more.

"If we want to find the answer to this question, we have to look at the international situation.

Let's start with the British and the Germans, Britain is a global hegemon, so they have too many interests in the world, which also leads to their inability to devote more forces to Africa, and the end of the first Anglo-Boer War shows that even in a region of great interest like South Africa, it is difficult for the British to commit heavy troops.

The same is true of the Germans, at least during the reign of the iron-blooded Prime Minister Bismarck, it is impossible to invest too much power in overseas colonies, a policy that Bismarck has always strongly opposed, and forced by the growing call for colonization at home, the German Imperial Government at most secretly acquiesced in the development of civilian colonial power and provided symbolic protection, as was the case with the German East Africa Company.

All of the above factors made it impossible for the British and Germans to directly send troops to intervene in the Kingdom of Madagascar, which was not a war that could be solved by one or two thousand people, and at least tens of thousands of troops had to be mobilized to fight a difficult war of conquest.

Now look back at the French, who have just returned from the colonial war of the Kingdom of Madagascar, which has made the proud Gallic rooster even more sober.

In recent years, France has taken a step forward in its foreign colonial expansion.

From 1883 to 1885, the French expeditionary force basically conquered the Nguyen Dynasty in Vietnam, despite successive defeats in the northern part of Vietnam. Now the second war of aggression against Siam has been launched one after another, showing the great ambition of the French in Indochina, and basically establishing the territory of French Indochina.

meanwhile

France also stepped up its colonial conquest of Africa, and from 1881 to 1882, France used the Tunisian state of Bey (nominally loyal to the Ottoman Sultan) to assist the Algerian rebellion, but the strong opposition of the British launched the Franco-Tunisian War The French Navy and Army entered the war on a large scale, forcing Tunisia to become a French protectorate, further consolidating the sphere of influence in French North Africa.

After this

In the past two years, France has continued to expand into the interior of French West Africa, completely destroying the West African power Vasulu Empire through the two Mandingo Wars and occupying a larger African colony.

The French also had a strong grip on the Congo River valley, which led to a fierce conflict with the Kingdom of Belgium and a heavy army amassed in the Suez Canal area to confront the British.

No matter how strong the French army is, it cannot withstand such a large-scale casting of the net, as demonstrated by last year's failed war to conquer the Kingdom of Dagascar, where the colonial power has used its forces to the extreme.

This major setback, coupled with the crushing defeat in North Vietnam that led to the collapse of the French cabinet, and two successive major strategic blows made Paris also see this, and entered a period of strategic contraction and consolidation, hoping to start a new round of colonial expansion after digesting the interests of the existing colonies.

The Kingdom of Imerina in Madagascar, an indigenous country in modern Africa, was far more difficult to deal with than the indigenous tribes of the Black African continent, and it was a complete defeat for the French to completely drive the French forces out of the island of Madagascar and completely uproot the French forces dominated by missionaries.

Without 8~10 years of hard work, the French can't slow down this breath.

Therefore, we have a long time to secretly plan and realize our African strategy step by step, and we must walk very steadily and steadily at every step, instead of showing an ugly appearance and smiling and generous.

"Sun Tzu: Military Struggle":

Therefore, it is as fast as the wind, as slow as a forest, as invading as fire, as immobile as a mountain, as difficult as a cloud, and as moving as a thunderstorm.

The ancestors have already told us how to do it, don't we still know how to follow the cat and the tiger? ”

Speaking of which

Li Fushou's eyes showed a fiery ambition light, opened his hand and clenched his fists fiercely, and said with confidence; "All we lack is time, and when we are strong enough, we will swallow this island in one gulp."

His words stirred Tian Shan's mood, and he replied with a heavy nod; "Thank you for your guidance, Tian Shan is willing to attach the tail wing to participate in the grand event."

"Hahahaha...... Naturally, you are indispensable. ”

The two looked at each other and laughed, hearty laughter filling the luxurious cabin.