The capture of the British army is where the confidence of the East African negotiations lies, and when this card Herman is unfolded, everyone here, especially Britain, France, a colonial power, is the most touched, of course, Britain is broken, and the French are gloating.

In the colonial wars of the 19th century, colonialists often needed only a small number of troops to achieve considerable gains.

Before East Africa, for example, the Portuguese had fewer than 10,000 troops in Angola and Mozambique.

The most exaggerated is the conquest of India by the British East India Company in the 18th century, which only took less than 1,000 native troops and about 2,000 mercenaries to achieve the conquest of India, and even in the 19th century, the total number of British troops in India did not exceed 10,000.

The British can be said to have copied the Tang Dynasty Wang Xuance's conquest of India, although the British army was small in number, but the British formed a large number of puppet troops, most of them Indians.

In the wars between Britain and France and the Far Eastern Empire in the 50s, the total strength of the army was only more than 5,600 men.

Of course, the war of the Far Eastern Empire had great surprises, first of all, the Far Eastern Empire did not have sea control at that time, and the capital was close to the coast.

Before the British invasion, the Far Eastern Empire only had a treaty port in Guangzhou, that is, "one port of commerce", which was a major difference from East Africa, and in the early East Africa, there was only one treaty port in Dar es Salaam, but East Africa itself had poor natural and geographical conditions and lacked excellent ports.

It was only after the transformation of several coastal bays in East Africa that the current coastal city pattern was formed, such as Bagamoyo and Mombasa.

Before East Africa, both places were truly barren, with a population of only a few hundred (historically only about 1,000 in 1880), and Mombasa was slightly better, but it was a small town under the Sultanate of Zanzibar because it was far from the core of the Sultanate of Zanzibar (Zanzibar and the surrounding city of Dar es Salaam).

European colonizers often needed only a few regiments to conquer a country or a large area at will, and East Africa clearly broke this "common sense".

In fact, Britain had "overestimated" East Africa as much as possible before the war, first of all, the naval strength of East Africa was in the forefront of the world, and secondly, East Africa's weapons and equipment were basically the same as the level of Europe, so before the war against East Africa, British Prime Minister Cecil treated the East African war almost to the "maximum".

It turned out that they still grossly underestimated the war potential of East Africa, and the capture of tens of thousands of British troops was almost the greatest humiliation that the British army had faced since the 19th century.

Of course, Britain can make up its mind to use so many troops to attack East Africa at one time, and the rapid economic development of East Africa has an important relationship, although East Africa is "closed", but the economic situation in the coastal areas is visible to the naked eye, plus the trade boom, the density of ships on the East African route, and the control of the Suez Canal and the Strait of Malacca Britain itself can obtain a lot of import and export data in East Africa, so the essence of the South African war is still driven by interests.

Herman, on the other hand, continued to speak: "At present, there are more than 270,000 British and Indian prisoners, and in addition to the food, drink, and lazar of these captives in East Africa, as well as compensation for the economic losses and military expenses of East Africa, Britain should compensate our country 82 million pounds." ”

As soon as Hermann's words came out, the audience was in an uproar, not to mention Britain, but Austria-Hungary, Germany, France, etc.

You must know that during the entire Franco-Prussian War, France's reparations to Prussia were "only" five billion francs, which was about 200 million pounds at that time.

In East Africa, Britain was required to pay 82 million pounds in compensation at a time, which was almost half of the war reparations of the Franco-Prussian War, and at the same time close to the annual revenue of the British treasury, which in 1888 was about 90 million pounds.

And this is far from the end, when everyone was shocked, East Africa continued to open his mouth, Herman did not forget Portugal, rain and dew were all stained: "Portugal should also compensate our country 48 million pounds, this is still our country considering the financial difficulties of the Kingdom of Portugal and the combat effectiveness of the soldiers, special concessions, otherwise the unit price of Portuguese soldiers is also calculated according to British soldiers, this figure will be tripled." ”

One sentence not only made the Portuguese representative's heart beat faster, but at the same time deeply humiliated, and East Africa was a naming of Portugal's low combat effectiveness.

"Count Herman, you East Africa is too much, even if you sell the whole of Angola and Mozambique, it is not worth 40 million reais (Portuguese currency), let alone pounds." The Portuguese representative asked before Salisbury.

Herman smiled harmlessly and said: "Mr. Gers, don't worry, our calculation is naturally reasonable, the total number of Portuguese soldiers we have captured in this war is more than 120,000, and a Portuguese soldier is calculated according to one-third of the British army, that is, fifty pounds, that is, six million pounds, and this is only the ransom of the Portuguese soldiers, and we have also captured more than 300,000 Portuguese servants.

And the destruction of the three western and central provinces of our country by Portuguese soldiers was almost devastating, causing the displacement of millions of residents, the destruction of almost all infrastructure, and the compensation and pension of the Black Singen soldiers who died defending their homeland, so how much is 48 million pounds? Our Kingdom of Hexingen actually suffered heavy losses, and if it weren't for the fact that the level of the Portuguese economy and the destructive power of the Portuguese soldiers were not as good as the British army, you would have been the bulk of the compensation. ”

According to Herman's words, Portugal has lost less, of course, the account must not be calculated in this way, first of all, Herman's so-called millions of people, this is a figure conjured out of thin air, if it is black, it is reasonable, but blacks obviously cannot be counted as the population of East Africa.

Secondly, East Africa has hardly been developed in the west, and the so-called serious damage to infrastructure is also a non-existent situation, after all, most places in the west do not even have a "hair".

Finally, the calculation of the Portuguese army, will Portugal treat more than 300,000 black servant troops as "people"? Apparently not, let alone paying ransom for these blacks.

Therefore, it is actually 120,000 Portuguese soldiers who can be realized, and the ransom of 6 million pounds is actually enough for East Africa to recover its capital, according to the economic situation of Portugal, I am afraid that 6 million pounds will be difficult to pay, and the 48 million pounds offered by East Africa is only about three times more than counting blacks into the Portuguese.

Although 6 million pounds is a lot, Portugal can afford it, and 48 million pounds can directly kill the Portuguese government.

There is no doubt that as long as Portugal recognizes this figure, Portugal will not be able to turn around in the next 50 years, and will completely become a third-rate country in Europe.

The French country has a great cause, Portugal has always relied on the old capital, and Portugal has a small area and a small population, if it is compensated according to this amount, basically every Portugal can evenly spread the debt of about fifteen pounds, and during this period, most of the monthly wages of British workers did not exceed ten pounds, and the Portuguese with a worse economic level did not eat or drink It will take at least two or three months to pay off the debts of East Africa, not to mention that the salary level of ordinary Portuguese people can only barely support their families, so the Portuguese government will inevitably not agree to the conditions of East Africa.

(End of chapter)