While UNAMA in Far East was in Dar es Salaam, new changes were taking place on the African continent.

May 13, 1871.

After enlisting the support of the British, the Kingdom of Italy embarked on the path of repaying its debts, which were already poor and only had debts left, so they could only pass on their debts through colonization.

An infantry division of the Kingdom of Italy landed in the port of Assab on the Red Sea coast, and the Italian government officially opened its own colonial path.

This was very important for the Kingdom of Italy, which could explode at any time if it did not alleviate the anger of the population through the colonial route.

Port of Assab.

After simple intimidation, on the morning of 13 May, the Government of the Kingdom of Italy expelled the Egyptians from the city of Assab.

After all, Eritrea is too far away from Egypt proper, and it is easy for the Egyptian defenders of Assab to deal with a colonial gang like the Rubatino Company, but when the Royal Italian Army came ashore, the defenders of Assab immediately gave up holding on, and the entire Assab defenders were only one battalion in strength, and the gap was obvious in front of an Italian division.

And worst of all, the Lubatino company in the city and in the docks launched a timely rebellion and seized a series of important facilities, including the docks, which bought precious time for the landing of the Royal Italian Army.

The 1st Division of the Abyssinian Expeditionary Force of the Kingdom of Italy won the first battle and obtained this important stronghold from Egypt.

After the 1st Division entered the city of Assab, Sapeto, the owner of the Rubatino company, personally came to greet him: "Hello, General Samuel, I am the boss of the Lubatino company, Giuseppe Sapeto!" ”

Samuel, Commander of the 1st Division: "Mr. Giuseppe Sapeto, thank you for your support for the motherland, the Italian people will not forget your credit." ”

Samuel was the most brilliant general in the Italian-Austrian War, and he rose from company commander to brigade commander all the way through his exploits, and did not lose a single battle from the beginning to the end, but because of the incompetence of friendly forces, the Kingdom of Italy still failed.

After the war, the Royal Italian Army found that Samuel, a general from a civilian background, was much stronger than those Italian aristocratic officers who were in the position of corpse meal, although almost all the top officials of the army were from noble backgrounds, which did not prevent them from attributing Italy's defeat to the enemy's too strong, and also facing Austria-Hungary, why did Samuel have a good record!

That's right! Why? That's certainly not because the Kingdom of Italy is incompetent in the army, after all, Austria-Hungary is the top power in the world, and it's normal that our Kingdom of Italy can't beat it.

As for Samuel, he could keep winning because he was a military talent as natural as Albrecht. By elevating the enemy and elevating the colleagues, the army can get rid of its own culpability.

Sapeto: "Where, General Samuel, compared to me, you are the real hero of the Kingdom of Italy, but it's a pity that you appeared too late, if you had become a high-ranking general earlier, you would have been able to lead the Kingdom of Italy to victory!" ”

Sapeto didn't compliment, he really thought so, Samuel was already a national hero of Italy after being packaged by the army of the Kingdom of Italy, and used it to restore the only remaining pitiful pride of the people of the Kingdom of Italy.

Samuel: "No, no, Mr. Sapeto, if Italy wants to get out of the crisis, all Italians need to work together, and no one can lose it, I am just an Italian who is a little luckier, but the fate of our whole country is not as lucky as mine, which is painful for every Italian, so we should unite to fight against the tragic fate of Italy!" ”

Samuel had always been a humble man in front of outsiders, so he remained anonymous until the war.

He was not very good at packing himself, which was very unfriendly to his path to promotion, and he would not have made a fortune in peacetime, but he encountered war, and it was at the most tragic time of the Kingdom of Italy.

And the reason why Samuel was able to sit in the position of company commander before the outbreak of the war was because of his own talent and junior high school education, which made him automatically become a company commander when he expanded the army in Italy.

Although he was born in a civilian family, Samuel's family was not very poor, and even a little rich, which is why he was able to complete his junior high school education.

Although Samuel is touted as a famous general, there are ingredients in the packaging of the Italian Army, but he has real skills.

When fighting against Austria-Hungary, it is generally relatively steady, and in the situation that the enemy is strong and we are weak, it will never take risks easily, but once it discovers the flaws of the Austro-Hungarian army, it immediately bites the enemy like a lion, and at the same time quickly slips away before the enemy's reinforcements arrive, and never loves to fight.

Sapeto: "General! You are too modest, this time our enemy is not an invincible existence like Austria-Hungary, but only an indigenous country in East Africa, so I am sure that the army of the kingdom will easily solve Abyssinia. ”

Samuel shook his head and said: "We can't underestimate any opponent, even the natives, just like Europe, before the war, no one would have thought that Prussia would be able to easily defeat the powerful France, if you don't pay enough attention to the enemy and attack rashly, you will only leave a flaw and be defeated by the enemy, this is the experience I learned from the Austro-Hungarian army!" ”

Sapeto was a little skeptical of Samuel's ability: "In fact, the British only used a very small number of colonial troops to tear apart the Abyssinian Empire, and the emperor committed suicide, so Abyssinia is not strong, or very weak. ”

Samuel: "The British can do it, it doesn't mean that Italy can do it, because the purpose of our two countries is different, the reason why the British started the war is to demonstrate, and we Italy are for the living space of the whole nation, there is an essential difference, the war launched by the British will only make the careerists of the Abyssinian Empire cooperate with them to pull their own emperor into the water, and the purpose of our Italian nation is to obtain land, which is for the Abyssinian Empire to take their lives, they will unite, Fight us all over Ethiopia, even to the last man. So we must not be sloppy in every step and must overturn in Abyssinia, where Italy has already gambled its future fate. ”

Samuel knew very well that the invasion of Abyssinia by the Kingdom of Italy was fundamentally different from that of the British, who were only for hegemony, while Italy simply carried out extermination activities against the "enemy", vacating the land and feeding Italy itself.

Every next step of the Kingdom of Italy must be designed, so that the Abyssinian Empire cannot discover its true intentions, and it must ensure that the Abyssinian Empire remains divided and cannot be united, so that the Kingdom of Italy can defeat the power of the Abyssinian Empire.

(End of chapter)