War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

The soil in the Ivory Coast region is fertile and ideal for the growth of tropical plants.

It is precisely because of the favorable location and latitude that Franz, who is proficient in agricultural knowledge, and some professional scientists in Austria prepared a large number of improved seeds for this future "model overseas enclave" after long-term research and discussions. and experienced farmers for future farming.

However, both coffee and cocoa require five years to grow, and more importantly, the trade cycle needs to continue without any interruption during this period, so cotton has become the only crop option.

For Austria, an advantageous condition is that it can buy harvested cotton from the Ivory Coast, then transport it back to the mainland to be processed into cotton cloth by factories, and then sell the finished products to the people of the Ivory Coast. The cycle starts over and over again, forming a closed loop for production and sales.

The most important reason not to directly establish a processing plant in Ivory Coast is that there is a lack of a large enough market. Establishing a textile factory in Austria will be more helpful in solving employment and people's livelihood problems, and can play a role in alleviating social conflicts.

When this trading cycle is formed, a large amount of cheap Austrian industrial products will hit the local market, causing the natural economy to collapse. At that time, there will be a situation governed by a small number of elites and plantation owners.

These elites and planters are more economically dependent on the Austrian market, and will naturally be closely linked to Austria politically. Even if the bottom wants to resist, they will not get the consent of the top.

As for the so-called upper class elites, they have a natural hostile relationship with the people at the bottom. If they really choose to rebel, then Austria can take advantage of this contradiction to easily subvert them and support a group of controllable high-level leaders. Continue this cyclical game.

Franz's jungle trip to West Africa went smoothly at the first stop, Ivory Coast, and then the second stop was Guinea, which was difficult to conquer.

At this time, the largest colonial force in Guinea was the Portuguese, with a total of about 500 people. In addition, the old overseas colonial powers such as Spain, the Netherlands, France, and the United Kingdom all established trading stations here. The various forces can be said to be intertwined.

It's just that the local country is controlled by the Tyrian Order (the real historical order name is not used in the book to avoid unnecessary missing chapters) and does not allow foreign powers to go deep into the interior.

As a latecomer, Franz did not choose to show his country's strength here in a big way. He just found several chiefs of coastal tribes to sign trade agreements and protection treaties to prevent being squeezed out by the French using the same means in the future.

Franz had no interest in fighting against a clerical country with a population of nearly one million. It was not wise for Austria to take the initiative to cause trouble at this time, so he let the French take the lead in causing trouble and wait for the opportunity.

What he hates the most is this kind of clerical state. Although it is unbearable to fight, the endless security war will definitely deter any force.

Moreover, Guinea's resource storage is far inferior to that of Ivory Coast. Although its iron ore and bauxite reserves are large and of high grade, these are not resources that Austria lacks. Its only value is the numerous rivers in its territory, the "West African Water Tower" The title is not for nothing.

Guinea has huge agricultural potential, but due to some special historical and other reasons, 80% of the arable land in Guinea is still uncultivated today.

At the same time, it is connected to the Ivory Coast. As long as it is developed properly, it can provide sufficient grain and non-staple food for Austria during wartime.

In short, Guinea did have advantages as a colonial option, but its internal ethnic and religious conflicts were so deep that Franz did not want to be the first to wade into this muddy water.

Togo, which is on the coast of West Africa, was banned from the slave trade and the entire region fell into a severe recession. On the contrary, the slave trade in neighboring Benin did not end.

As a result, powerful tribes continued to come to Togo to plunder the population, including the famous Kingdom of Dahomey. This plunder of the population has resulted in serious shortages of local productivity.

After the arrival of the Austrian fleet, the Togolese chiefs held a grand ceremony to welcome Franz and his party. They hoped to trade their population for weapons in exchange for protection of the security of their lands and property.

Those so-called slaves were not obtained through war or kidnapping, but voluntarily. Most of them were women, because many strong young men were sacrificed on the battlefield or because of the slave-catching wars of neighboring countries. Became a slave.

Most women will not go to dangerous areas to participate in hunting, so they will not be discovered by the slave team. In addition, even if they are discovered by the enemy, most men of the same tribe will choose to stay behind, allowing women to escape first.

Looking at the dressed-up slaves in front of him, Friedrich seemed a little overwhelmed. In fact, most of them were the widows of slave-catching victims.

Among such indigenous tribes, women's social status is extremely low, and more often than not they are only part of the tribe's property. In order to protect the safety of the tribe, even they themselves agree with sacrificing them in exchange for weapons.

However, Franz had an attitude of not wanting to engage in the slave trade at all, which disappointed the chiefs.

But what excites them is that this foreign archduke pointed out a clear way to these people, which can sell them equipment, and the method of handling it is the same as that of the Ivory Coast. The first step is to establish a trading post, and then start to be responsible for teaching the locals. Grow cotton, coffee, cocoa.

As for weapons trading, if the other party is willing, you can sell them a batch first and treat it as a deposit. The chiefs were ecstatic when they heard that they could get weapons, and immediately agreed to sign the contract very readily.

Franz was very pleased to be able to complete the first task of the colony without resorting to the option of force.

Several coastal tribes even held a grand signing ceremony for this purpose. They respectfully invited Franz and Friedrich to sit on the main throne, and then accepted the warm cheers of the chiefs standing in the audience.

The entire process went smoothly and was followed by a lively live dance performance. This African dance looks vaguely like modern slide dance.

"Hey! Franz, I think that black girl is attracted to you!" Friedrich laughed. Franz looked in the direction Friedrich pointed, and he saw an unusually strong black girl, like an elegant cheetah hunting.

Although I have a collecting habit, I don’t have this special hobby. "Uncle Friedrich, you are really good at joking. I am still a minor, so you should think more about yourself.

Look at how strong that lady is. If you are together, your children will definitely surpass you in height in the future. "

Franz's original intention was just to counter the ridicule from the other side, but he could see that Friedrich really made the decision after careful consideration.

"No, this is too"

At this time, the black girl suddenly stood up and walked over to Franz and Friedrich. Although she was smiling, it only made Franz's scalp tingle unconsciously.

The Austrian royal guards were of high quality and stopped the black girl at a distance of about five meters. The girl showed a shy expression, and when the guard turned around to ask, the girl who was very shy just now suddenly had a machete in her hand.

When they saw the machete, Franz and Friedrich exclaimed at the same time, "I'm sorry!" Although the meanings were slightly different, their surprise was palpable.

Before the guard had time to react, the girl strode forward with her machete raised high, as if she wanted to take a leap of faith and chop off the two's "dog heads".

But before she could take off the knife, she was shot several times in the air and fell down. When she landed on the ground, she was already a bloody corpse.

Franz pushed away Oshiosugi Yin who was jumping on him, took out his revolver and looked around.

It was obvious that there was more than one assassin, and it seemed that he had premeditated it. The black girls sitting in the audience just picked up machetes and rushed towards the stage where Franz and Friedrich were sitting.

At this time, the chiefs were so frightened that they collapsed on the ground and kept begging in indigenous languages. It seemed that they were unaware of this emergency and were probably being taken advantage of by someone with ulterior motives.

Franz withdrew his sharp gaze. At this time, Colonel Pep Griffiths, the captain of Friedrich's guard, said from the side: "Your Highnesses, please rest assured. There are thirty of us in total, and all of them are excellent." The carefully selected guards will definitely be able to send you two out. I am preparing to break out now, please follow us!"

The battles that Friedrich participated in before were all won by crushing. He could even enjoy the battle on the battlefield while having some leisure time to enjoy refreshments. But it was different now. Splattering blood and hideous corpses appeared in front of him. Even a real general could not help but feel scared.

Franz suddenly felt that his uncle was completely different from the war maniac who was usually full of fighting spirit and confidence.

But it is a normal reaction to think about it. After all, who in this world is not born afraid of death?

"Listen, stay here, don't go anywhere, reinforcements will be here soon." Franz said loudly.

After his reminder, everyone around him suddenly realized that there were still 200 Royal Guards guarding the outside, and an entire regiment of dragoons was stationed less than 300 meters away from the scene (Franz II left it to his eldest grandson legacy).

The entire ceremony stage is divided into inner and outer layers. Franz and Friedrich are located at the central podium and celebration performance area. It is separated from the outer level by a layer of fence, and anyone who wants to enter this level must be searched by the Royal Guards.

Except for Chief Yobaru, who was the host, and had two bodyguards following him, the bodyguards of other chiefs were blocked from the outside. To prevent any unexpected surprises, Franz kept the cavalry nearby as a guard of honor.

Although it was unclear where the attackers got the machetes, it was still a bit too far-fetched to kill thirty heavily armed elite guards with such crude weapons.

Moreover, the number of attackers was not large. They screamed one by one and tried to break through the effectively separated ceremonial stage and the guard circle of the royal guards. However, they lacked strong cooperation and teamwork, and the chaotic scene only seemed shocking.

Although Franz still doesn’t know who is going to attack him? But he can guarantee that those guys definitely made the wrong calculation.