The British did not hide the little moves from the Austrian ambassador to Portugal, and the news was immediately transmitted back to Vienna. This time it was the Vienna government that was stunned and had no idea why the British suddenly ate explosives.

The South African crisis is just a potential. Now Austria is busy operating a new territory, but it has not been looking for the bad luck of the British.

Not long ago, Colonial Minister Josip Yelachic retired gloriously, and now the acting Colonial Minister Stephen is in charge of the work.

Stephen is also a legendary figure. During the process of opening up a colony in Austria, he was temporarily appointed as Mayor of New Brooke, and then opened Qingyun Road.

He served as the Governor of West Africa and the Governor of Congo, and was later transferred back to Vienna to serve as the Deputy Minister of Colonial Ministry. After Josip Yelachic retired, he was in charge of the work.

After so many years of development, the Ministry of Colonial is no longer the dispensable department at the time, but is second only to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Finance, and Defense.

The Colonial Minister Stephen explained: "Your Majesty, it has been verified that in recent times, we have not had a major conflict with the British in Africa.

Just last month, the Governor of West Africa also communicated with the British on the issue of British colonial strongholds in West Africa. The negotiations have made breakthrough progress, and now they are only negotiating on the price issue."

Obviously, the British-Austria crisis in South Africa was not provoked by the African colonial government of the Austrians. The colonial bureaucrats are not fools. Even if they want to attack South Africa, they will not be the case now.

Wouldn't it be better to wait until the railway is passed and then attack South Africa?

Moreover, conflicts in West Africa can be resolved through negotiations, while conflicts in South Africa are not unfair.

There may be warriors, but no one will choose the British as an enemy. This opponent is easy to clean up on land, but when you get to sea, the winner will be reversed.

Due to the gold mine problem in West Africa, everyone has been in a stalemate for more than ten years. Now Austria has gradually settled the Dutch, Portuguese, and French, and it is not up to the threat of force, but mainly because the gold mine has been mined.

To be precise, gold mines that have been discovered and have mining value in various countries have been mined.

Without economic benefits and without strategic value, the remaining problems will naturally be easy to deal with. As for colonies, as long as the price is appropriate, they can be sold.

If someone pays a high price, Franz doesn't mind selling a few colonies. Austria's colonies distributed all over the world have more than 17 million square kilometers in total, and many of them are not of great value.

You can tell by paying attention to it. Franz attaches importance to African colonies not because it is rich or because it has high strategic value, but mainly because it is close and has great development potential.

The natural conditions in Asia and America may be better, but the distance determines that the Vienna government has weak control over those areas.

The trans-ocean telegram is still being laid, and the Vienna government has to delegate power to the colonies before it cannot guarantee instant communication.

It is enough to be able to obtain benefits. Now, except for the strategic value of Central American colonies overseas, it is a powerful tool to restrict Americans, and other regions are only economic interests.

Tragedy like Alaska, he has to pay for money every year. Franz has circled several uninhabited islands near Canada, preparing to disgust the British.

Foreign Minister Wesenberg analyzed: "Based on the intelligence we have collected, the British are doing very strange. If they can win over the Portuguese, they can indeed dominate in South Africa.

In fact, although they have no alliance, the two sides have long stood together on the South Africa issue. Our expansion is too fast, and the Portuguese have always been very alert, and many times they have turned to the British.

However, if they want them to stand up and be enemies with us, the Portuguese should not be so unwise.

Even if our forces are expelled from South Africa, it will be only temporary. Once both sides tore their faces apart, even with the support of the British, Portugal will not be able to preserve the African colonies.

If we want, we can end the colonial empire of Portugal at any time. In this context, I don’t think Portugal dares to jump out.

We can think of it, and the British can think of it. If you know it is impossible, there may be a big problem in it."

Wesenberg saw that there was something wrong, and Franz also saw it. Unfortunately, he didn't know what the problem was, which prompted the British to do this.

It is not impossible to win over Portugal. If the interests are large enough, the Portuguese are likely to be caught.

However, Franz didn't believe that the British were willing to give it. Besides, even if the British were willing to promise, would the Portuguese dare to believe it?

It’s not bragging, the reputation of British people these days is a little better than that of Russians.

Portugal is the ancestor of the great powers. They have played with these tricks, so it is not easy to fool them.

Could it be that South Africa's gold mine reserves were exposed, causing the British to take them down at all costs and even turn against Austria?

As time went by, Franz gave up this idea again. It was not easy to find out that gold mine reserves were found. Just a few gold mines were discovered, even if the Rand mine was discovered, it would not be enough to make the British take risks.

It’s not that the temptation of the Rand mining area is less, but the key is that no one will believe the reserves of 6,000 tons of gold, which is a joke. Whether there is so much gold mined in the world combined is a big question mark.

With the prospecting technology and mining technology at that time, it was only worth two or three thousand tons of reserves at most, and it was impossible to have more.

More than 95% of gold mines in later generations had no mining value in this era. Including many rich mines, they also had no mining value due to natural conditions.

Otherwise, gold in West Africa would not have been mined in more than ten years. It was not that the gold mines were emptied, but mainly gold mines with economic value were mined.

Since it is not for gold, it is naturally impossible to make it for diamonds. The current price of diamonds has not yet been launched.

Most people are considering eating and cannot afford such luxury goods. Rich people are not easy to fool, and they do not value diamonds too seriously.

"Watch the actions of the British, not just in Africa, but also in places where our interests are involved, we must be vigilant.

No matter what the British want to do, just find a way to destroy it. Since they have won over Portugal, let our people disrupt the situation.”

If I can't figure it out, Franz simply didn't bother to think about it and just sabotage it. If it was just a British shot, it would be impossible for others to be the real target.

Franz has also played with this kind of thing. Many times, it is to release false information, real and real, just to deviate the enemy's sight.

If someone leads his nose, he will be trapped. It is better to deal with all changes because of inconvenience.

Anyway, even if Britain and Portugal really work together, at most it will cause Austria to suffer some losses in South Africa. Now it will be back in three to five years and it will not threaten Austria's core interests.

...

Both the ministers of Lisbon, Britain and Austria took action, and the atmosphere in the Portuguese government became tense.

This multiple-choice question is difficult to do. If Britain and Austria go directly to war, then Portugal will naturally stand on the side of the British.

Anyway, there are two countries blocking the land, and the British Royal Navy at sea, so Austria's tentacles cannot reach Portugal.

Unfortunately, the two countries are just colonial conflicts, and they are still a thousand miles away from the outbreak of war. At this time, it is dangerous to take sides.

No matter who supports him, he will offend another company. If a great power is playing, no one can do anything to anyone, but he can take revenge on Portugal.

The tense atmosphere of the government soon affected the people. Many people knew that the time had come to determine the fate of Portugal.

Now Portugal is divided into two factions, and in general, it still supports more British people, but Austria has lower requirements and less risks to bear.

They just made them neutral and did not need to directly participate in the confrontation between major powers, so they gained the support of neutral factions, and now the two factions are equally matched.

As a businessman engaged in overseas trade, Roston is also very concerned about international politics. Seeing Britain and Austria showing their magical powers, he even turned down his recent ocean shipping business.

There are so many opportunities to make money, but it is definitely not now. When you go out to sea during this tense time, aren’t you afraid of encountering pirates?

No doubt, once the Portuguese government handles it improperly, their chances of encountering pirates will increase greatly.

The moral integrity of the great powers is so high. If you don’t feel happy, you will be attacked. Britain and the Aoire are both world empires, and it is impossible to avoid their sphere of influence.

For safety reasons, the frequency of merchant ships going to sea in Portugal has been greatly reduced in recent times. Offshore trade is also the so-called "ocean trade". Everyone is very cautious about offshore trade.

If you are robbed by pirates, you still have a chance to survive; if you are unfortunately robbed by the navy, you will be dead.

Pirates usually do not kill past merchants if they want to shear wool. This is their parents for food and clothing. It would be different if they were robbed in the navy, and they had to silence their reputation for silence.

Of course, under normal circumstances, the navies of various countries will not travel to the navy. It is understandable that a few black sheep will appear occasionally.

It is best not to bet on this luck, after all, Britain and Austria have not had high moral integrity. If the government just goes out to sea and the government takes the team and attracts revenge from the enemy, they will be in danger.

In this era, thousands of ships encountered accidents every year, and more than 200 ships disappeared. Ocean trade is a real high risk.

As soon as he arrived downstairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Roston met an old friend. He knew that he was all concerned about this British-Austrian conflict.

"Julian, how is the situation?"

Roston asked expectantly that if he kept dragging on like this, he would miss the best ocean season. This era is mainly due to sailing power, and the sea monsoon is also a very important factor.

Julian shook her head and teased her, "There is still no result. These officials and men are still arguing, as if Portugal's position is really important."

Roston shared the same hatred for the enemy: "Damn it, if you drag it on like this, we will eat dirt this year!"

The bourgeoisie in Portugal was long dissatisfied with the government, and despite some reforms, Louis I still failed to satisfy the capitalists.

The government's hesitation now has aroused the dissatisfaction of capitalists. In the eyes of most capitalists, taking sides now is a joke.

Both Britain and Austria are indeed trying to win over Portugal. The problem is that their attention is very average and they do not give much benefit.

Since that's the case, why do you need to take the risk of taking sides? Isn't it better to be neutral? If you participate in the conflict between Britain and the Austrians, one thing is that you are bleeding.

If you think so, you won’t be able to do this. Portugal has long declined and it’s not good to keep a large colony. They can rely on diplomatic means to be able to do everything they can.

Louis I also wanted to declare neutrality and not participate in the destruction between Britain and Austria, but he was not able to decide.

The British were unwilling to let go, and Austria also wanted to see what the British gourd was selling, so the Portuguese government could only accompany the performance.
Chapter completed!