In the Indian Ocean, Friedrich, in order to show weakness to the enemy, chose to use only a steam engine to boil hot water along the way; The propellers of your own warships were not activated at all, and they drifted around by the force of the wind.

The British who were traveling with them had a keen interest in the Austrian fleet, after all, the latter's record was reasonable.

Although the means are despicable, the victor should not be condemned, and this is the consensus of Western military circles.

As for showing weakness to the enemy, it was naturally proposed by Franz, and he didn't want Friedrich to get carried away and show all his hole cards to the other party.

In the eyes of the British, the performance of the Austrian Navy along the way was a big surprise, and at first the fleet left the British fleet far behind.

But soon the British found out that there was a serious disconnect between the Austrian fleets, the frigates and cruisers that were supposed to open the way were left behind, the troop carriers and baggage ships actually ran faster than the frigates, and at the front were three super-first battleships.

Then the British discovered something even more bizarre, that is, the Austrian fleet as a whole had slowed down, and the commander of the British ships, Vice Admiral Ravan Hobak, thought that the other side was waiting for him.

But soon the British overtook the Austrian side and left the latter far behind.

In desperation, Vice Admiral Raven Hobuck had no choice but to ask the fleet to slow down and wait for the Austrians to come up.

After a period of communication between the two sides, it turned out that it was the steam engine of the Austrian Navy that broke down en masse.

The British laughed for almost a month, but after a month they couldn't laugh because the sailing was so slow.

The Austrians had to rest for a while in each colony, and even launched several battles.

In modern times, regular armies and indigenous troops fought head-on on the plains, which is really not worth watching. Lieutenant General Ravan Hobak politely asked Field Marshal Friedrich if he needed help, and the former decisively agreed.

Then the British had to organize men to dig the canals for the Austrians for several weeks, and although the pay was good, it always felt strange.

Finally the two fleets came to the Cape of Good Hope, and Vice Admiral Ravan Hobak even thought about what to say at Friedrich's memorial service, after all, the stability of the Austrian warships was so poor that 99% could not cross the Bay of Killings.

The result was a sudden restoration of steam power in the Austrian Navy, which then disappeared from the field of view of Vice Admiral Ravan Hobak at lightning speed.

Two weeks later, Lieutenant General Raven Hobak finally met Friedrich again in Bagamoyo. However, the latter had already fought a war in East Africa.

When Friedrich suddenly appeared on the coast of East Africa with the Austrian navy, he frightened both Benny Erbin and Said.

The former, the governor of Tanzania, was too distracted and trusted his black brother too much, causing him to become too inflated, wanting to kill him as a big brother and become a chief himself, and contacted the Omani Empire to offer Bagamoyo to Saeed in exchange for support.

The latter is considering whether to tear his face with Austria, after all, he has been in obscurity for so long, purchased warships from Britain, France, Spain, and Austria, and retrained sailors, and his strength has recovered by seven or eight points.

In fact, the fleet of the Omani Empire was stronger than before, but the loss of too many good generals and sailors in the naval battle with Austria made it difficult to recover, and fighting inexperienced sailors and pirates was tantamount to death.

In Said's mind, the Austrian navy was much more powerful than the wandering pirates, and he remembered the cities and palaces that he had turned into flames.

Then the sudden appearance of the Austrian fleet broke the silence directly, and Friedrich's first stop was Zanzibar, not Bagamoyo.

This shook the entire Omani Empire, with some ministers proposing that Sultan Saeed flee immediately, while others advocated fighting to the death

At this moment, a eunuch ran into the palace with a rolling belt.

"The Austrians' fleet has arrived outside the harbor, and Djabri Pasha is negotiating with it. This time the Austrians brought in a fleet even bigger than the last time."

This news made the princes and vassals of Oman look like ashes, because it is too late to fight or flee now.

Because the Omani navy was scattered and still sail-powered, they expected the Austrians to arrive in three days at the earliest, and they arrived in one day, which was unbelievable.

However, Saeed the Great was worthy of being the man who brought the Omani Empire to its peak, and he immediately stopped the noisy officials.

"Go and bring the messenger of Tanzania, and get some more gold, silver and jewelry, and we will go to the docks to meet our honored guests."

Emperor Said's eyes flashed with an imperceptible murderous intent, and a eunuch immediately disappeared into the crowd.

Saeed the Great, together with the princes and nobles of Oman, received the Austrian fleet with the highest courtesy.

Friedrich, who was only 1.58 meters, stood in front of Said, and before the former could speak, the latter offered a gift, pushed the black Tanzanian messenger out, and told the whole thing again.

Finally, he reaffirmed that the Omani Empire would always be a good friend and trusted partner of the Austrian Empire, and as soon as Friedrich said a word, he immediately sent troops to help the Governor of Tanzania quell the rebellion.

Friedrich just opened a notebook, flipped through it, and said a few warm words to the other party.

He came this time only to deter the other side, after all, Franz said that it was actually beneficial for Austria to keep the Omani Empire.

After all, the East African hegemon is fierce enough to scare off a lot of competitors, and without this guy, Austria will have to deal with a lot of trouble, and possibly face even more formidable opponents.

In that way, the East African colonies would no longer be valuable, but would be a burden.

And Said the Great made a mistake, each time the gifts were worth more than a million pounds, even someone like Friedrich, who never cared about money, would be moved.

But it was a different story in Said's eyes, and so many gold, silver, and jewels were withdrawn after just one glance, knowing that his sons could not walk when they saw so many treasures.

Then there are only two possibilities, one is that the other party does not care about money at all, and the other is that the other party is an extremely loyal general, and he will not leave these private gifts behind.

Thinking of this, Saeed couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat, and he wondered what kind of opponent he was facing.

But he'll try no matter what, even if it's only 1% hopeful.

"Your Excellency, can you come to my palace for a dinner?"

Friedrich flipped through the notebook in his hand, and he suddenly frowned.

"You want to kill me?"

Just a simple sentence scared Saeed to the ground.

"Don't dare, absolutely don't dare! I just feel that the marshal has worked hard all the way, and I want to dedicate my daughter to you. The Omani Empire and the Austrian Empire were married, so that our two countries could be united forever."

The book in Friedrich's hand was written by Franz, and it was full of some common strategies in the East, after all, the former family seemed to have problems in dealing with human affairs, and the cultural differences between the East and the West were relatively large.

For example, it is not necessarily a good thing for the weak to invite the strong to dinner, especially when the two may be in an adversarial relationship.

(End of chapter)