Admiral Yagir's misjudgment did not matter at all, or rather, Admiral Yagill did not misjudge.

As the revolt in Dutch Borneo intensified, Zivadan's power expanded greatly during the period when troops were dispatched after the defeat of the Dutch. The inland towns of Lombavaan, Lombbo, Bersa, and Ujibina were all occupied by him. And as the sphere of influence expanded, its number also skyrocketed, reaching more than 13,000 people.

According to Xiaodao, this time the Dutch were ruthless, intending to mobilize 5,000 troops to conquer the Zivadan rebel forces that made them lose face.

The actions of the Dutch, the Italians, as neighbors, saw it. As an example of a good neighbor, Governor Antonio also cared deeply about the Dutch.

In the governor's palace in Pontianak, an official was reporting to him about the attitude of the Dutch.

"Your Excellency the Governor, the Governor of Kissinia in Jakarta has rejected our request. He said that the Dutch army was able to cope with the present situation, and that the Dutch colonial government would compensate our merchants for the losses they had suffered in the revolt. ”

After hearing the Dutchman's reply, Antonio did not change his face. "I see, let's go down."

It was only after the official had left that Antonio touched his forehead and sighed.

I made a mistake, I didn't expect the Dutch to be so stubborn, it seems that the strength of Borneo alone will not work.

True, Antonio underestimated the determination of the Dutch, or rather, the determination of the new governor Kissinia.

It is also to blame Antony for his bad temperament, the new governor of the Netherlands, unlike his predecessor, is a rare die-hard nationalist, the kind who would rather suffer his own losses than let others have a good time.

Antonio's plan to help the Dutch destroy the rebels was rejected by the new governor.

But then again, Italy's sneaky behavior over the years, and the Dutch are not fools, how can they not get any rumors.

Previously, given Italy's strength, it could only turn a blind eye. But with the emergence of the Zivadan rebels, the Dutch could not allow the presence of Italian troops in their colonies.

Of course, Antonio is not without other methods, but these methods require the help of Rome, and he did not want to use Roman power before, because it would not show his ability.

However, now that he has a stubborn governor of Jakarta, Antonio will not be stubborn at this time, and it is a good choice for a politician to flexibly change his countermeasures.

Of course, Antonio could have increased his support, but this option is not feasible. This would make Italy an outlier among the colonizers. You must know that although all countries have all kinds of means when fighting for colonies, some of them can be done but cannot be said, and some of them cannot be said and cannot be done.

Something like Antonio's support for the rebellion in the colonies of other countries is something that cannot be said, but can only be done.

Of course, there are some differences in this only way of doing it, in which you can't get caught with evidence, it's an iron rule not to let it disgrace him and Italy.

Moreover, expanding support for the rebels is also a taboo thing in Southeast Asia. It is not a crime, but it is a foul play. (Small-scale funding is not counted, but large-scale funding is not allowed)

Thinking of this, Antonio took out a pen and paper and prepared to write a letter.

After a while, he sealed the letter and handed it to his secretary.

"Arrange for this letter to be sent to Rome."

For reasons of secrecy, Antonio did not intend to send the news by telegraph, but instead sent it to Rome by means of a communication ship. Anyway, it's not that urgent, and confidentiality is the first priority.

At a time when Antonio was having a headache for the Dutch, at home, Carlo went to the Guards barracks on the outskirts of Rome after inspecting the navy.

Rows of straight Guards officers and soldiers, with their heads held high and not squinting, waited for the king and military bigwigs to review them.

"Very good, the officers and soldiers are very energetic!"

Carlo looked at the officers and men of the Guards lined up and praised the Guards commander Lieutenant General Grove with satisfaction.

"Your Majesty has praised it, and the officers and soldiers of the Guards can have today's appearance, which is the reason why Your Majesty values it."

There is a very important reason for Carlo's inspection of the Guards, that is, the Guards have finally been promoted from divisional units to corps-level units.

The subordinate of the Guards finally has a division level, and the first division of the Guards that Carlo is currently visiting is the unit that has just been reorganized. The 1st Guards Division was reorganized from the 1st and 3rd Guards Regiments and the 1st Brigade of the 2nd Marine Division.

At present, the 1st Guards Division has a full infantry regiment, two unsatisfactory regiments, a shelf regiment with only officers, and auxiliary units such as artillery regiments, transport regiments, engineer battalions, communications companies, and gendarmerie units, and the 1st Guards Division has a total of 11,359 officers and men, a gap of more than 5,000 compared with the full number of 16,451 men.

At present, the second division and the first division have not yet been completed, and the difference between the number of people is not large, and they are both in a state of dissatisfaction.

In fact, the current state of the Guards is basically the same as that of the Italian Army.

With regard to the demand for a reduction in the total number of troops, the Minister of War, Marshal Kadolna, the Chief of the General Staff, General Simeone, and other senior army officials, were inclined to this kind of compression of the various units rather than the entire reduction.

At present, the army has 21 infantry divisions, four cavalry divisions, six mountain brigades, and other units such as heavy artillery and garrison, excluding the guards. If the full strength of these troops is carried out, the total strength of these troops should be as high as 430,000, while the current total strength of the army (excluding the Guards) is only 210,000. The reduction of troops by half depends entirely on reducing the actual strength of the various forces.

At present, the Italian army units are divided into three situations, one is a standing division with two full infantry regiments, two infantry regiments with less than one formation, and other subsidiary units with full formation. This kind of division is the best unit in the army at present, and it is also a priority in terms of weapons and equipment, and it is also the fist of the army. At present, there are only three such standing divisions under the army, and they are basically located on the Italian-French border.

In addition to this kind of standing division that can be pulled into the battlefield at any time, there are also divisions like the 1st Guards Division, a full regiment, two dissatisfied regiments, a shelf regiment with only officers, and then with other auxiliary troops, there are also tens of thousands of divisions. There are nine such divisions in the army, which are called standard divisions, and they only need to have enough conscripted soldiers and simple training, and their combat effectiveness will not be much worse than that of standing divisions. Of course, the standard teachers are also different, the best standard teachers can reach more than 12,000 people, and some are only 10,000 are still poor. The reason for this disparity is the difference in the number of dissatisfied regiments, some of which are only in the squad and reduced, from ten to seven in a squad, and some will be reduced to a rack battalion at the battalion level, which are called infantry regiments that are not in the same class.

Most of the cavalry and mountain brigades also use this model.

Then there is the most condensed division in the army, this kind of division, there are only two infantry regiments that are not yet formed, the other two infantry regiments are shelf regiments, and in addition to artillery and other auxiliary units, there is also a reduction in personnel. For example, the 15th Division is such a compendium division, compared with the standard division of the 1st Guards Division, in the artillery regiment, the 1st Guards Division is in a full state, and the three subordinate artillery battalions are all fully manned. Armed with 72 guns, although the caliber is somewhat different, there are 105-mm guns, there are also 80-mm and 57-mm guns, but the number of guns will not be small.

The 15th Division, on the other hand, had only two full-fledged artillery battalions and a rack battalion, and it had only more than 50 artillery pieces.

This kind of compendium division is also an emergency establishment adopted by the army in view of the current external pressure. Reduced troops and some equipment, and only before the war came, it was expanded. Although it is much inferior to the standing and standard divisions, it is much better than the mobilization divisions that are temporarily recruited. It only needs to be given a month of training time, and its combat effectiveness will not fall too far behind.

Carlo's downsizing plan for the army, of course, is supportive, although it seems that the generals are divided into three, six, nine and so on, but European countries are basically like this. With the exception of a small number of troops, this approach was adopted, except that it was not as brutal as the Italian compression.

Inspecting the expansion of the Guards was a trivial matter for Carlo, and after reading it, he spoke to the Chief of the General Staff, General Simeone, who was accompanying him. "When, arrange exercises in the army to see how the combat effectiveness of the army is maintained?"

In the face of Carlo's words, how could Simeone, as the chief of the General Staff, refuse, I saw him speak. "According to the plan of the General Staff, we will conduct divisional confrontation exercises in the second half of the year."

Hearing Admiral Simeone's words, Carlo suddenly asked. "Have you chosen a place?"

Carlo's words made Simeone moved. "Your Majesty has a choice?"

"How about East Africa?"

Carlo's words made him stunned, and he didn't understand what His Majesty meant by this?

"East Africa can be possible, but it's a long way to go, and it adds unnecessary costs."

That's right, Simeone feels that going to East Africa for exercises is a bit of a waste, so many people and equipment, freight alone is a lot of money, and the foundation in East Africa is very poor, and the officers and soldiers still need to adapt to the environment in the past, isn't it a bit redundant?

In the face of Simeone's questioning, Carlo immediately explained. "Recently that Menelik II has asked us for help, and the Sudanese have invaded the granaries of Lake Tana in Abyssinia, we need to at least make some gestures to help him."

That's right, the Sultans and the Abyssinians fought again, and the two countries were going to fight every once in a while for the rich lands of Lake Tana, without breathing.

Menelik II, the Abyssinian emperor, was also very troubled by this.

But Lake Tana is related to nearly 20% of Abyssinia's grain production, and he can't say anything to lose it in his own hands, so he has no choice but to bite the bullet.

In fact, the Sudanese next door are also having a hard time, with frequent droughts and wars keeping the Sudanese in a state of hunger. At the moment, the only ones who can grab a handful of the surrounding area, and for a reason, are the Abyssinians. What else do you say, take your livestock, your wife and children, and go to the Abyssinian house to eat.