Bloemfontein.

"What? Let the Orange Free State regain its independence! Little Pretorius was a little surprised when he heard Cape Town's request, but he was more worried in his heart.

In normal times, the Boers must be very willing to be independent, because the ultimate goal of the Transvaal is to rebuild the Boer Republic.

But the Transvaals had to rely on the British for their existence, and it was not a good thing for the Cape Town colony to regain its independence from the "Orange Free State".

"Are the British worried about being dragged into the water? At the beginning, the Orange Free State was incorporated by Cape Town, and we have treated the British in the territory quite favorably over the years, but now they want to kick us away because of the threat of East Africans? ”

No wonder little Pretorius thought so, now a British colony, but the umbrella of the Orange Free State.

If there is a war, then the British must not let their colonies be invaded or bullied by others, as a colonial empire, the British have so many colonies, so they must maintain their image of "master", even if they beat dogs, they must first pass the "dog" master.

"Your Excellency, I'm afraid you're right, although Britain is the world hegemon, but the authority of the world hegemon comes from having the largest number of colonies in the world, but this is also destined to be relatively scattered in Britain, and our Orange Free State is an insignificant existence for Britain, but it is a complete big trouble."

Little Pretorius had an ugly face, and although his subordinates were telling the truth, they were still harsh.

He retorted: "Isn't it worthless for us to be at the forefront of the confrontation with East Africa? If they are so arrogant, then the entire African continent will probably be the world of East Africans in the future!

Therefore, the British cannot let us go as a pawn, their own strength on the African continent is not necessarily much stronger than that of East Africa! And if you want to suppress East Africa, you can only unite more allies, although our Orange Free State is indeed not worth mentioning, but its position and military strength should also be among the top ten in Africa. ”

"Your Excellency, but that's not it, I think the British should have their own agenda, after all, the number of British troops in the Orange Commonwealth has increased over the years, and Cape Town has obviously made big moves, so they must also be cautious about the threat in East Africa, and this is the basis of our cooperation."

The British will not knock the Transvaals at this time, after all, the Orange Free State is in a special position, and if the people of Heaven resented and pushed this ally to the East African side, it would be worth the loss, although the Transvaals This "little brother" also has his own little ninety-nine in his heart, but compared with the direct threat in East Africa, it is not worth mentioning, and the size of the Transvaal people is not even a threat.

"Then what is the ultimate purpose of this sacrifice that you say the British let us get rid of them at this time, the colony that we had planned for many years?" Little Pretorius said.

"Your Excellency, this may be a matter of initiative, first of all, the British suddenly made this request after we first proposed to increase military aid, which probably means that the British will not be able to meet our demand.

So they must have thought about it financially, after all, it's not easy to help us raise an army. ”

Little Pretorius affirmed: "It's a novel idea, but it makes sense. ”

If it were little Pretorius himself, he would certainly not be able to be as generous as the British, of course, there are reasons for the strength of the British, but helping other countries to train an army is thankless in itself, not to mention spending their own "taxpayers'" money, it is better to pull more cannon fodder in India to organize, at least in the eyes of the British, the Indians are "reliable".

"Yes, Your Excellency, after all, the British replied after we made this request, so it is certain that their finances are also tight."

During the civil war in the Orange Free State, the British could be said to have single-handedly supplied the Transvaals and the Oranges, who were supported by East Africans.

And the final gain is that a lot of money and time were spent to fight a worthless war, and the gain is not as good as the Burmese kingdom that was taken without much effort, and in this comparison, the British must have felt a big loss.

As the back-the-scenes financier of the Orange people, East Africa is naturally also losing money, but for East Africa, it is earned to consume the internal strength of the Boers in advance, although because of the support of the British, the Transvaal armed forces have also grown, but it is in the interests of East Africa to spend British energy in the Orange Free State.

"Secondly, the British idea must be to avoid the situation out of control, I guess now the British is definitely not ready to tear up the face with East Africa, after all, the British sanctions on East Africa over the years, just like the original sanctions against the United States, have not achieved any results, and East Africa, like the United States, has achieved good development after the sanctions, which makes the British realize that East Africa is different from ordinary colonies or Asian, African and Latin American countries."

"What does this have to do with us?" Someone asked.

Little Pretorius answered the question: "The British are not ready, but we in the Transvaal want to start a war as soon as possible, because our finances are a big problem, and the sooner the war is started, the better it will be for us, which will conflict with the British grand strategy, so in order to avoid the situation getting out of control, the British want to cut us off and avoid being dragged down." ”

"Your Excellency, that's it, so we can only accept the British's advice now, but we can't just cheapen the British, after all, they didn't think of this when they annexed the Orange Free State, and this alliance doesn't want to kick us out without paying the price."

The top brass of the Transvaal government still had to accept the British's proposal, after all, they were far more dependent on Britain than Britain depended on them, so they had to bow their heads under the roof.

Of course, this also further makes little Pretorius and others want to break away from the control of the British in the future, and after solving the big problem of East Africa, they must not work with Britain, an "insidious" country that abandons their teammates at any time, otherwise they will help the British count money if they are sold one day.

"First of all, the British must solve the problem of aid, we must at least maintain the army first, so the premise of independence from Britain is that the British continue to give us military spending, set a small goal first, and then measure it for five years."

This is a sky-high asking price, pay back on the spot, and the British will definitely not be able to agree, but combined with the broken window effect, the British should also be more likely to accept the next Orange Free State asking price.

"Secondly, we have less money, and we can only pay the British merchants and miners in the Orange Free State, which I believe Cape Town will acquiesce."

The British controlled the economy of the Orange Free State, so it made sense for the Transvaals to target the British merchants and mine owners.

"If Cape Town doesn't accept it, then we'll declare war on East Africa while it's not yet out of the UK, and I don't think that's what the British want to see." Little Pretorius laughed sinisterly.

(End of chapter)