When the emperor of the Tang Empire went south to inspect the territories of the South American vassal states, the Boer War in South Africa, which attracted much attention from the world, turned from a fierce head-to-head duel between the two sides to a stage of guerrilla warfare.

And in the Shenzhou Continent, the eight robbers frantically bullied the rotten Qing Dynasty, setting off a frenzy to carve up Shenzhou......

The Tang Empire has the world's most complete and convenient long-distance cable telegraph network, and its business has reached all countries in the world. Even in South America, current political news from all over the world will be the first to arrive.

On 10 January of the early 20th century, Roberts, the new commander-in-chief of the British South African Expeditionary Force, and Lord Kitchener, chief of staff, arrived in Cape Town, bringing with them the Seventh Army on their homeland, reinforcements from Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, and three cavalry detachments in India and Ceylon.

By January, the number of British troops on the battlefield in South Africa had increased to 195,000, in March to 260,000, and in mid-April to 430,000.

With heavy troops in hand, after weighing the situation on the battlefield in South Africa, the commander-in-chief of the British army, Roberts, changed his strategy and moved the direction of the main attack from Natal West to the Orange area, where the troops were weaker in the center, and tried to be the first to break through in this area.

At the same time, he changed the rigid frontal attack tactics and adopted a flexible roundabout flanking combat strategy.

On the Western Front, the British defeated the militia under the command of Piert Cronye, the fiercest "black general" of the Burenos Aires, after fierce fighting, and liberated the town of Kimberley, which had been besieged for months, on February 16.

On the Eastern Front, the British launched a powerful offensive on 27 February, defeated the Boers at Dodrecht on 3 March, and were finally able to relieve the siege of Lattice Smith.

Having learned the hard way, the British changed their rigid approach to attack, and now it was the turn of the Boer army to get out of shape.

Under the fierce offensive of the British army in turn, the Boer army suffered heavy losses one after another, and the one-sided advantage at the beginning of the war was no longer restored, and the war situation became unprecedentedly severe.

On 10 March, the British 6th and 7th Divisions defeated the Johannesburg Police Force, the best-equipped of the Bono Cloth Army, at the Abraham Bullpen.

On 12 March, Orange Free State President Matthius Stein led government and parliamentary officials out of the capital, Bloemfontein, and fled to Kronstad in the north.

On the afternoon of March 13, the British army marched into Bloemfontein and occupied this important city, which meant that the British army had achieved a phased victory and dealt a heavy blow to the arrogance of the Boers.

In mid-April, a large number of British reinforcements arrived in South Africa, and the British army was reorganized so that in the direction of the main attack, Roberts had eight infantry divisions (3rd, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, colonial divisions) and the 12th cavalry division.

In early May, the British army resumed its offensive with a thunderous force, capturing Kronstad, the capital of the Orange Free State, and Pretoria, the capital of the Transvaal, and completely occupying the two Boer states.

At this point, all the major towns in South Africa fell under the control of the British.

On 11 September, President Transvaal Kruger arrived in Lorenço Marques, the capital of Portuguese Mozambique, after a long period of exile.

On October 19, Kruger, who had been in Mozambique for more than a month, embarked on a slow journey to Europe on the cruiser "Geldland" sent by Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands.

At this stage of the war, the general trend is almost gone.

But the stubborn Boers did not admit defeat, and the Boers who were still fighting, numbering about 16,000, withdrew from the frontal battlefield in the city and dispersed into smaller, more mobile guerrilla units to attack the logistics and weak areas of the British army.

The British army, on the other hand, saw the move and successively set up as many as 17,000 pillboxes in the vast South African area, pulled up barbed wire, divided various areas, stationed heavy troops on major communication routes, and implemented the policy of "encirclement by iron walls."

Many Boers were sent to concentration camps, including women and children, and the horrific conditions of concentration led to a large number of Boer deaths.

These descriptions by German priests spread far and wide throughout Europe.

Time

Britain has been pushed to the forefront of public opinion, with countless bad comments, which has brought great pressure to London.

Mid-December

Emperor Richard was on his tour of the thirteen vassal states of South America when he had good news;

The government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands admitted defeat and requested peace with the Tang Empire without preconditions.

Upon receiving this news, Emperor Richard couldn't help but laugh.

This time last year

The already defeated Kingdom of the Netherlands, after losing the islands of Sumatrara and Kalimantan and being crushed by the imperial army, still behaved quite arrogantly.

Their toughness came from the fact that the Boers beat the British expeditionary force on the battlefield in South Africa, which attracted the exclamation and praise of almost all of Europe, which gave the Dutch infinite self-confidence.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands, from top to bottom, cheered the victory of South Africa, seemed to have forgotten its defeat in the East Indies, and was completely immersed in the glory of the old colonizers.

At the beginning of the peace talks, the Dutch government proposed a precondition for the peace talks to unconditionally release all Dutch prisoners of war and withdraw from the occupied islands.

Who is the victorious power?

This is clearly treating the Tang Empire as a corrupt and incompetent Manchu court, and what it can't get on the battlefield is simply wishful thinking to get it through blackmail at the negotiation table.

The Tang Empire was also not accustomed to them, and the peace negotiations broke down before they even began.

The government and military of the Tang Empire said excitedly that they should fully occupy the island of Java, give the Dutch kingdom a blow to the idiots, and completely eliminate white forces in the East Indies......

Plans can't keep up with the changing situation.

Emperor Richard's original plan of military occupation included only the Kalimantan Islands. The Sulawesi and Sumatra archipelagos, leaving the last reserve for the Dutch colonizers ~ Java Island.

I didn't think that people didn't appreciate it, and I had more and more momentum to kick my nose and face.

After thinking about it repeatedly

Emperor Richard approved a military plan for an all-out attack on the island of Java, which undoubtedly crossed the red line of tacit agreement between Britain and Tang and caused irreversible damage to bilateral intimacy.

With the current size of the Tang Empire, it can put its own interests first and do not need to take into account the backlash of the British.

As it turned out, the British wisely kept their mouths shut on this issue.

With Emperor Richard's rich experience in international politics, he knew that this matter was far from over, and there would be a lot of trouble in the future.

Even in another 30 or 50 years, or even longer, some people in Britain will bring up the East Indies issue, proving that the relationship between the two countries is fragile and unreliable, and that Tang's obstinate military power has substantially damaged Britain's status as an international leader.

These ups and downs are not as good as the huge benefits gained by taking full control of the East Indies.

Therefore, Emperor Richard was particularly happy when he saw that the Dutch were soft, and his heart was filled with the joy of victory.

In front of His Majesty, Deputy Prime Minister Lin Wanqin reported respectfully;

"Your Majesty;

The Imperial Cabinet appointed Ambassador Tan Zheng to France as the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to negotiate a formal peace treaty with the Dutch side in Paris, and the first round of dialogue has begun.

There are four main demands on the part of the empire,

Article 1, the Dutch side needs to formally recognize and adopt a bilateral treaty, and the Tang Empire will have all the indisputable territorial sovereignty of the East Indies, which is non-negotiable and non-negotiable.

Article 2, the Dutch side shall formally admit the fact of infringing on the interests of Chinese immigrants in Lanfang in an international forum, apologize and compensate, and assume full responsibility for the war between the two countries caused by it.

Article 3, the property and future arrangements of the Dutch prisoners of war and the white colonists of the East Indies, the matter will be reasonably resolved through negotiations between the two sides.

In response to the Dutch side's special proposal to confiscate a large number of white estates, the official position of the Imperial Government was;

The white family in question was found to be directly involved in the war because of the alleged logistical assistance to the Resistance and was charged with multiple crimes, and their property was not protected by law.

In the future, when the situation calms down, the white people of the East Indies will be treated equally as citizens of the Empire, and their personal and property safety will be protected by law, provided that they do not violate the law.

Article 4, relating to the issue of war reparations.

There is very little room for concessions in the first three articles, especially the first one, which is not negotiable, which is the bottom line of negotiations drawn by the Imperial Cabinet.

The fourth clause is more flexible, and it is a buffer mechanism set up by the Imperial Cabinet for bilateral peace talks, which can take care of a little bit of the decency of the Kingdom of the Netherlands without being too embarrassed.

The Netherlands is a small country with few people, and it is difficult to squeeze out any oil and water at the same time.

During the Cabinet consultations, some hard-line ministers demanded huge war reparations, but the Prime Minister rejected the proposal after considering the economic situation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

According to the Prime Minister;

At present, we should take advantage of the favorable opportunity to swallow the fruits of victory, so as not to change over time, so as to give Britain, Germany, France, and other world powers an opportunity to intervene and further complicate the matter.

Some financial compensation is not the main thing. ”

Emperor Richard listened to the report with a serious expression, and his eyebrows lingered with thought, and after a while, he nodded and said; "However, since there is a cabinet resolution, it is necessary to follow the government's leading opinion and reach a formal bilateral agreement as soon as possible. Remember, the more than 100,000 white captives in your hands were the biggest bargaining chips that crushed the Dutch. ”

"Your Majesty, the ministers obey the holy decree." Deputy Prime Minister Lin Wanqin bowed and replied.

Emperor Richard waved his hand, and after immediately bowing, he turned around and quietly left.

His Majesty's decree was to be immediately transmitted to the Cha Ge City through the American long-distance telegraph network, and finally to Tan Zheng, the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in Paris, to be carried out by a negotiating team led by him.

This process takes only 3~4 days.

Although Emperor Richard was patrolling South America, he had all the situation in his hands and controlled the situation in the Tang Empire.

Just yesterday came the bad news; His Royal Highness Tang Li Ren (the twelfth son of the emperor), who was sealed in Youzhou (formerly Chubut Province), died of a violent illness.

The emperor was furious and ordered a thorough investigation, and now a large number of high-ranking officials in the Youzhou Kingdom have been detained, and the special teams of the Imperial Audit Office and the Anti-Corruption Administration have arrived one after another.

All the sons of the royal family in Youzhou are all closed to be investigated, as long as there are stains and bad deeds on their bodies, none of them can escape.

Seeing that a bloody storm is coming, and all the kings of the thirteen vassal states of South America are forbidden, they have begun to examine themselves within the kingdom and quickly abolish the chaotic government that is inconsistent with the imperial policy.

This trick of "killing chickens and setting an example for monkeys" has a remarkable effect, and the vassal states are awe-inspiring from top to bottom, and the atmosphere is clear.

(End of chapter)