Chapter 642: Complex Politics
Chapter 628: Complex Politics
Political struggle is cruel, this Ethiopian war was promoted by Benjamin’s cabinet, and if you dig your own hole, you have to be responsible for burying it.
The British public is arrogant, they can tolerate losing to any of the European powers, but can not accept losing to the African natives.
In order not to be caught by the opposition party, triggering public opinion attacks, the military’s false war reports, Benjamin cabinet can only hold their noses and admit it.
“Kick the Indian colonial army losses, out of the casualty figures, in addition to the number of killed in action do not publish all first, spread the losses to the subsequent war.
Mobilize all our forces to guide public opinion as much as possible to minimize the impact. If you can’t control the situation, create a big story to divert public attention.”
There was no way around it, Benjamin did not want to be ousted in disgrace just after taking office.
Hearing Benjamin’s words, Secretary of State for War Fox, “Sorry, Prime Minister. It was me who took the wrong war report just now, it was from the last Anglo-Boer war.
This one is only the war report sent back from the front line, after a month of bitter fighting, our army has annihilated 9,568 enemy troops at the cost of 351 killed in action and 1,126 wounded.
However, Ethiopia is too big, and France and Austria are eyeing it, in order to seize Ethiopia before France and Austria, the frontline troops requested 80,000 reinforcements from home.”
Watching the Minister of War take out a new war report, the crowd had seen it all before. There were so many strange things in politics, how could they not be more prepared?
Fox had already become the Secretary of State for War for the third time, and even after losing the Anglo-Boer War so badly, he was able to get out in one piece, not to mention this small defeat.
If the cabinet is to be held accountable, it is estimated that Fox will have to sell the frontline officers; now the cabinet government is not prepared to hold accountable, as a good leader, Fox naturally want to help cover up.
Benjamin asked Fox to become Secretary of State for War, is to see his ability to adapt.
The same war report, after a different statement, the situation changed at once.
The request for help is at such a level, originally the front line suffered a defeat, can not afford, instantly turned into a defense against the French and Austrians to seize the spoils of war.
There is no doubt that this argument is more acceptable to the British public. In case the British army suffers heavy losses on the battlefield in the future, the excuses to cope with the blame of all parties have been found.
No matter what kind of defeat, once the black pot is thrown on France and Austria, the London government’s responsibility will be lightened by half.
Even the opposition party has nothing to say, the British army is so little, the main force of the colonial are cannon fodder troops, can not win the army powerhouse that is normal.
Prime Minister Benjamin: “Just announce it to the public! Order Ismail to give me a hard lesson on those ****, we can’t let the blood of the lads go in vain.”
……
Foreign Secretary Edward: “The Foreign Office has just received a message that may help us.
The French are restless again, they got the rights to develop the Panama Canal from the Colombian government and are preparing the canal company, it looks like they are ready to make trouble.”
Smiling at each other, Prime Minister Benjamin made a decision, “That’s right, the French forcibly took the canal development rights from the Colombian government, blatantly trampling on a country’s sovereignty.
For the sake of world peace and stability, the government should inform the media as soon as possible to expose the French’s shameless behavior.”
It was a sleepy head delivered to the pillow, the London government was worried about how to divert the public attention, and the French made big news.
It doesn’t matter whether the French legally acquired the right to develop the canal or not, the point is that now the London government needs the French to be illegal.
It doesn’t matter if the reason is a little far-fetched, there is controversy to have a topic. As long as the controversy lasts for a few months, the public will forget about this small defeat.
Anyway, Britain and France have been hostile for hundreds of years, and the civil war of words has never stopped. We have been used to spraying each other, this little problem can not affect the relationship between the two countries.
Even if there is a slight impact, Prime Minister Benjamin does not care, as long as it can divert public attention, offending the French is not worth mentioning at all.
The Panama Canal issue, in the view of Prime Minister Benjamin, is entirely a farce made by the French.
The Austrians are right next door and have long regarded the Panama region as their own sphere of influence, so how could they let the French gain control of the canal.
It can’t be another joint development, can it?
The Panama Canal, unlike the Suez Canal, is not as strategically important to France and Austria, and there is no such thing as indispensable.
The Americas have not yet developed, even if the Panama Canal is opened, in the short term, simply can not get a lucrative income.
Without sufficient benefits, how can we cooperate?
The opening of the Panama Canal Britain and Austria are not beneficiaries, in line with the principle of harming others and benefiting themselves, the London government does not want to see the opening of the Panama Canal, and the Vienna government must be the same.
Now everyone can watch the fun, and when the French canal is dug almost, everyone will jump out to make trouble, just to pit them once.
……
Vienna Palace, Franz seems to be getting read to and sneezing a few times today.
Other than the sneezing, there are no other symptoms. Franz didn’t see a doctor, he was sufficiently distrustful of the level of medical care in this day and age, and tried not to take any medication if he could.
Unlike later generations, medicines nowadays almost always have side effects. Many medicines are rushed to the market when the production technology itself is not mature.
Many people don’t actually die of illness, but are instead cured to death. This is not that doctors are not responsible, but mainly because everyone’s physique is different, most people are able to resist the side effects of medicines, and there are still some who do not resist.
If you are rich and have a specialized doctor at your disposal, you can most likely detect the problem and stop taking medicines with side effects in time.
Ordinary people can not, even if the problem occurs, many people will continue to take the drug, simply can not imagine that it is the side effects of the drug caused by the aggravation of the disease and death, which is the reason why there are numerous medical errors.
These problems are hard to solve and can’t be managed if you want to. There are too few types of medicines in this era, and if medicines with high side effects are banned from the market, many diseases will become drug-free.
It is not only the problem of the composition of the drugs themselves, but also the reason why industrial technology is not well developed. In the industrial production process, whether it is the temperature, the quality of the raw materials, or the error in the dosage added, it can all lead to an increase in side effects.
Problems that can not be solved, naturally, can only be shelved for the time being. It is better for patients to gamble than to wait for death, and it is the lack of hope that is the most frightening.
In order to establish a perfect healthcare system, Franz has been working hard for many years, unfortunately it still only covers seventy percent of the population.
This is still only the ideal figure, the only patients who can really be effectively treated are those from the middle class upwards.
At most, ordinary people can only look at minor illnesses, and for the slightly more serious ones, they have to rely on God’s blessing. It’s not a lack of medical resources, it’s a lack of money.
The most critical thing is that even if you see a doctor, you may not be able to rely on him. Franz, for example, often went to the doctor, but he seldom took medicine, especially chemically produced Western medicine.
Often times, he would rather drink a bowl of Chinese medicine. In any case, Chinese medicine is still competitive in this day and age. It’s a bit slower, but it has fewer side effects!
For the sake of his life, Franz raised a professional medical team with both Chinese and Western doctors.
Western medicines used by the royal family, are specially produced, some of the drugs on the technical requirements of the high, or the laboratory directly produced to maximize the protection of the quality of drugs.
……
Colonial Minister Stephen reported, “Your Majesty, the British have decided to increase their troops by 80,000 to the African continent. It is now certain that the defeat of the British army that was rumored some time ago is true.
The British Army is limited in size, and for them to increase their troops they must have drawn some from the mainland and then some colonial troops from India.
It will take at least a month for these troops to arrive on the African continent. We can grab a piece of meat from Ethiopia before the British arrive, you see?”
Franz shook his head, “There’s no need, we’ve already nibbled away quite a bit of the Ethiopian region, and if we continue to grab more territory, the British are going to get anxious.
Besides, the Ethiopian natives are not that easy to deal with. In the previous years, in order to cause trouble for the British, we didn’t help them improve their combat power.
Now it’s time to test the results, just to see if our investment has been in vain and to learn a few lessons.”
Compared to the rest of Africa, Ethiopia was indeed considered progressive. Even though the instructors who helped them train their army, gave them low ratings, that was only relative to the Austrian army.
If the British do not increase their troops, Franz is still very optimistic about the “Warrior Emperor”, against the Indian colonial army, they still have no problem.
Now the situation has changed, the London government seems to be serious. The central factor in determining victory or defeat does not lie in the strength of the Ethiopian strength, the key depends on the degree of importance of the British.
“Yes, Your Majesty!” Stephen replied
Foreign Minister Weissenberg, “Your Majesty, the Panama Canal Company, established by the French, has offered us commercial cooperation, and they want to be able to bring in 200,000 laborers from Austria within three years to be used to excavate the canal.
They have offered a good price, paying a transfer fee of 30 goddesses per laborer, and they will take care of the transportation issues themselves.”
This was what was agreed upon, the French capitalists wanted to make money from the stock market and needed the cooperation of the Austrian government, so naturally they needed to pay a favor fee, or else the canal plan wouldn’t even have a chance to get off the ground.
The introduction of labor was just a front. Nominally the money, which was the laborers’ salaries, actually went into the pockets of the Vienna government.
Franz: “Promise the French that the laborers will be recruited from the natives of the Somali Peninsula, and that any shortfall will be supplemented by other regions. Any similar situation in the future can be promised directly by the Foreign Office.”
The peak of the labor export was over, and the number of natives in Austro-Africa was now small, and some of them were thugs raised by the colonial government.
Had it not been for the newly occupied Somali Peninsula, Franz doubted that the Austrian African continent, for all intents and purposes, would have been able to come up with two hundred thousand laborers.
(End of chapter)