As the monarch of Portugal, Carlos I's unlucky days are indispensable anyway, but there is hatred in East Africa and Latin America can solve a lot of problems, but Portugal's future road is not expected to be easy, in the previous life under the leadership of Carlos I, Portugal had two government bankruptcies.

Now that Portugal has lost two important sources of revenue, Mozambique and Angola, and owes Britain a large sum of money to expand its army against East Africa, Portugal's finances will only become more difficult.

And Carlos I's confidant, Prime Minister Frank is not a good hand at the economy, even if the political means are very ordinary, otherwise Carlos I's father and son would not have been assassinated on the street in their previous lives.

The only consolation is Frank's loyalty to the royal family, which is more important to the monarch than anything else.

"Your Majesty, after this war, Angola and Mozambique, I am afraid that East Africa will not choose to return to us, and we must be prepared to lose the two most important colonies! But this is not a bad thing for us, and it can be regarded as getting rid of two burdens. Frank said to Carlos I about his opinion.

To be honest, the importance of Angola and Mozambique to the Portuguese government, that is, to maintain the face of Portugal's old colonial powers, does not actually bring Portugal too many tangible benefits, and in order to prevent East Africa over the years, the two colonies have actually been in deficit.

The perennial stationing of troops in Angola and Mozambique is itself a burden that is difficult for Portugal to insist on, and if it were not for the need for "cannon fodder" and the need for united front, it would not have been the turn of East Africa to bully Portugal.

These were not important for Carlos I, and the big problem now was to deal with possible political problems in the country.

Carlos I had just ascended the throne, he did not have much control over the country, and Portugal was a European country with a very strong internal democratic movement.

A large number of republicans are ready to overthrow the rule of Carlos I, which, of course, is not a problem of Carlos I himself.

After all, Carlos I has just ascended to the throne and has not yet shown his "political iron fist", and the pot cannot get rid of Carlos I, but the long-standing political struggle in Portugal.

Portugal continues to weaken, and the people are naturally not very optimistic about the Portuguese royal family, of course, even without the Portuguese royal family, according to the performance of Portugal in the previous life, it will not change.

"Prime Minister Frank, we are powerless to change the outcome of this war, and for such a powerful enemy as East Africa, it is impossible for Portugal to organize more troops to recover the lost territory, so for the young people in the country, we must strictly guard against it, and from now on we must strictly supervise it, and we must not let their purpose succeed." Carlos I said.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty, I have been prepared for a long time, this is the most difficult time in Portugal in a hundred years, and anyone who wants to undermine the unity of Portugal is my enemy." Prime Minister Frank said firmly.

Later, Frank turned the question back to the South African war and asked: "But Your Majesty, the problems of Angola and Mozambique, we must also solve them, and if they are not handled well, they will still cause new waves." ”

Carlos I said with a grim face: "At this time. The only people we can rely on are the British, and you send people to negotiate with the British government, and the British must give us some explanation for the erosion of the situation in South Africa. ”

This was intended to put pressure on the British, and although Portugal did not perform well in the South African War, it was ultimately in response to the call of the British government.

And Carlos I himself originally intended to be dependent on Britain in foreign policy, so as a younger brother, now that his interests are damaged, he naturally hopes that Britain can come forward to settle down.

Of course, the British government is not a vegetarian, but it is certainly impossible for the British government to persuade the East Africans to spit out the two colonies of Portugal, after all, Ernst is not a dumb king, he has won the battle, and it is impossible for Britain and Portugal to take back the spoils of East Africa at the negotiating table.

The "diplomatic" victory of the French in Vietnam could not have been replicated by the British in East Africa.

……

First Town City.

"Your Highness, this is a message from London from the British government, and they are ready to enter into peace talks with us to end the Four-Nation War in South Africa." Foreign Minister Hermann reported to Ernst.

"What price did the British offer?" Ernst asked.

Ernst was not at all surprised by the peace talks with the British at this time, after all, if the East African Defense Forces continued to fight, they were about to advance to the south of Cape Town.

"The British advocated the restoration of the pre-war territories and the signing of an armistice agreement between the four countries to maintain stability in South Africa."

"It's gone!" Ernst asked, seeing Hermann, who had not continued.

"Well, that's right." Herman said.

"It seems that they are still not sincere, Britain and Portugal are powerless to change the overall situation in this war, there are less than 200,000 troops left in Cape Town, most of them are Indians and Boers, does the British government expect the Indians to help them!" Ernst scoffed.

The restoration of the pre-war territories of the four countries, such a thing can also be said, it is simply not to treat East Africa as a dish, of course, Ernst knew that this was only a temptation by the British government.

For Britain, it is better to be able to overwhelm others with force, after all, this is not without precedent in the world, and if it can make concessions to East Africa, it will naturally be a "great" victory for Britain.

"The diplomatic department replied to the British government that there was no pointless war in East Africa, and if they did not sit down and negotiate seriously, then we would have our own spoils on the battlefield," Ernst said. ”

At this time, Ernst will definitely not be able to show his price in advance, but wait until Britain is ready to hemorrhage mentality, and then East Africa will put forward conditions.

According to Ernst's psychological expectations, Angola and Mozambique will definitely be included in East Africa, and the Orange Free State should be the focus of negotiations.

However, East Africa will certainly not take the Orange Free State too seriously, but proceed from the overall situation, using Cape Town and other British colonies as a threat to break the illusion of the British, so that the British will naturally cede the Orange Free State.

As for Angola and Mozambique, that is the bottom line of East Africa, and neither of these two places does the British want to cede to East Africa, then there is no need for peace talks, nothing more than to continue the war.

"Of course, the wording should not be too harsh, it is okay to be decent, otherwise it will be used by people with good intentions to make a fuss, and it is still possible to make the situation develop in a direction that is not favorable to us." Ernst emphasized.

For the world's great powers, dignity is also extremely important, especially the hegemonic country, although East Africa is the winner of the war, but it cannot be too arrogant.

In the era of nationalism, this was very easy to provoke public anger in Britain, so that British hawks could use it to continue the war.

And this is obviously not what Ernst wants to see, the war has been fought so far, East Africa has actually suffered a lot of losses, the war alone has more than 28,000 military and civilian casualties, of which the city of New Hamburg is the most serious, during the months of the siege, the British repeatedly shelled the city, so that the city of New Hamburg suffered heavy losses.

Of course, East Africa is not comfortable, but it is completely within the scope of bearing, and the losses of Britain and Portugal and other countries are several times that of East Africa, and the allied troops captured and killed in East Africa in the entire Maputo Battle alone exceeded 60,000 people, although there are a huge number of Indians and blacks, but this is also the price that Britain and Portugal must pay for using colonists as soldiers.

(End of chapter)