Wild North America 1846

Chapter 783 One good news and one bad news

When the emperor of the Tang Empire went south to inspect the territory of the South American vassal state, the Boer War in South Africa, which attracted worldwide attention, shifted from the fierce confrontation between the two sides to the stage of guerrilla warfare.

And in the mainland of China, eight bandits crazily bullied the rotten Qing Dynasty, setting off a frenzy to carve up China...

The Tang Empire has the world's most complete and convenient long-distance cable telegraph network, and its business has reached all countries in the world.Even if you are in South America, current affairs news from all over the world will be delivered as soon as possible.

On January 20 in the early 1th century, Roberts, the new Commander-in-Chief of the British South African Expeditionary Force, and Lord Kitchener, the Chief of Staff, arrived in Cape Town. They brought the homeland Seventh Army, reinforcements from Australia, New Zealand and Canada, and Three cavalry detachments in India and Ceylon.

As of January, the number of British troops on the South African battlefield had increased to 1, to 19.5 in March, and to 3 in mid-April, an absolute advantage.

Armed with heavy troops, after weighing the situation in South Africa, Commander-in-Chief Roberts changed his strategy and moved his main attack direction from Natal West to the Orange area with weaker forces in the middle, striving to take the lead in breaking through in this area.

At the same time, he changed the rigid frontal attack tactics and adopted a flexible roundabout attack strategy.

On the western front, the British army defeated the militia commanded by the most ferocious "Black General" of the cloth army, Piet Kronye, ​​after a fierce battle, and liberated Kimberley Town, which had been besieged for several months, on February 2.

The British army on the Eastern Front launched a powerful offensive on February 2, defeated the Boers in Dordrecht on March 27, and finally was able to relieve the siege of Lady Smith.

The British army, which had learned a painful lesson, changed its rigid offensive method, and now it was the turn of the Boer army to adapt.

Under the fierce offensive of the British army in turn, the Boer army suffered heavy losses one after another. It no longer had the one-sided advantage at the beginning of the war, and the war situation became unprecedentedly severe.

On March 3, the British 10th and [-]th Divisions defeated the best-equipped Johannesburg police force of the Burmese Army at Abraham's Stable.

On March 3, the president of the Orange Free State, Mathius Stein, led government and congress officials to flee the capital, Bloemfontein, and fled to Kronstad in the north.

On the afternoon of March 3, the British army entered Bloemfontein and occupied this important city, which meant that the British army had achieved a staged victory and dealt a heavy blow to the arrogance of the Boers.

4月中旬，又有一大批英国援军抵达南非，英军经过兵力调整，在主攻方向上，罗伯茨有八个步兵师（第3、6、7、8、9、10、11师、殖民地师）和第12骑兵师。

At the beginning of May, the British army re-launched the offensive with a thunderbolt, successively occupied Kronstad, the capital of the Orange Free State, and Pretoria, the capital of the Transvaal, and fully occupied the two Boer countries.

So far, all major towns in South Africa have fallen into the control of the British army.

On September 9, President Kruger of Transvaal arrived in Lourenço Marques, the capital of Portuguese Mozambique, after a long journey.

On October 10, Kruger, who stayed in Mozambique for more than a month, boarded the cruiser "Gelderland" sent by Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, and embarked on a slow journey to Europe to ask for help.

At this stage of the war, the situation was almost over.

However, the tenacious Boers did not admit defeat. About 16 Boers were still fighting. After they withdrew from the frontal battlefield in the city, they dispersed into several small groups of guerrilla troops with greater mobility. Raid operations in the area.

The British army saw the tricks and built more than 1.7 bunkers in the vast South African region. They pulled up barbed wire to separate the various regions.

Many Boers were thrown into concentration camps, including women and children. The extremely harsh concentration camps resulted in the death of a large number of Boers.

And these descriptions spread like wildfire through the descriptions of German priests, and soon spread throughout Europe.

One time
Britain has been thrust into the forefront of public opinion and received numerous negative comments, which has put great pressure on London.

Mid 12 month

During the tour of the thirteen vassal kingdoms in South America, Emperor Li Cha received a piece of good news;

The government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands admitted defeat and requested an unconditional peace negotiation with the Tang Empire.

Upon receiving this news, Emperor Li Cha couldn't help laughing out loud.

this time last year

The already defeated Kingdom of the Netherlands still behaved quite arrogantly after losing the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan and being routed thousands of miles away by the imperial army.

Their tough confidence comes from the fact that the Boers beat the British Expeditionary Force on the South African battlefield, which attracted the exclamation and admiration of almost all of Europe, which brought infinite confidence to the Dutch.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands, from top to bottom, was cheering for the victory in South Africa, seemingly oblivious to the disastrous defeat in the East Indies, completely immersed in the old glory of the old colonists.

At the beginning of the peace negotiations, the Dutch government proposed to immediately release all Dutch prisoners of war unconditionally and withdraw from the preconditions of the peace talks on the occupied islands.

Who is the victor?
This is clearly treating the Great Tang Empire as the corrupt and incompetent Manchu Qing court, something that could not be obtained on the battlefield, and it is wishful thinking to try to obtain it through blackmail at the negotiating table.

The Tang Empire was not used to them either, and the peace talks broke down before they even started.

The Tang Empire government and the military expressed their enthusiasm that they should fully occupy Java Island, give those idiots of the Kingdom of the Netherlands a head-on blow, and completely eliminate the white influence in the East Indies...

The plan cannot keep up with the fast-changing situation.

The military occupation plan approved by Emperor Richard originally only included the Kalimantan Islands.The Sulawesi Islands and Sumatra Islands left the last reservation to the Dutch colonists ~ Java Island.

I didn't realize that people were ungrateful, and I became more and more eager to push my nose on my face.

after much thought

Emperor Richard approved the military plan to attack Java Island in an all-round way, which undoubtedly crossed the red line of tacit understanding between Britain and Tang, and caused irreversible damage to the close relationship between the two countries.

With the current size of the Tang Empire, it is entirely possible to give priority to its own interests, regardless of the backlash from the British.

As it turns out, the British were wise to keep their mouths shut on the issue.

With Emperor Li Cha's rich experience in international politics, he knows that this matter is far from over, and there will be more haggling in the future.

Even if it takes another 30, 50 or even longer, someone in the UK will bring up the East Indies issue, proving that the relationship between the two countries is fragile and unreliable, and that Tang's military power has substantially damaged the status of the UK as an international leader.

These ups and downs are not as good as taking full control of the huge benefits harvested by the East Indies.

Therefore, Emperor Richard was particularly happy when he saw the Dutch surrender, and his heart was filled with the joy of victory.

In front of His Majesty, Deputy Prime Minister Lin Wanqin reported with a respectful expression;

"Show Your Majesty;
The imperial cabinet appointed Tan Zheng, the ambassador to France, as the extraordinary and plenipotentiary representative to start formal peace treaty negotiations with the Dutch side in Paris, and the first round of dialogue has now begun.

There are four main demands of the empire,
Article 1. The Dutch side needs to formally recognize and pass a bilateral treaty. The Tang Empire will have all the indisputable territorial sovereignty of the East Indies. This article cannot be negotiated or compromised.

Article 2: The Dutch side needs to formally acknowledge the fact of infringing on the interests of Chinese immigrants in Lanfang on international occasions, make an apology and compensation, and take full responsibility for the resulting war between the two countries.

Article 3: The property and future arrangements of Dutch prisoners of war and white colonists in the East Indies will be reasonably resolved through negotiations between the two parties.

In response to the Dutch special proposal to confiscate a large number of white manor properties, the official position of the imperial government is:
Relevant white families are suspected of providing logistical support to the resistance army, so they are identified as those directly involved in the war and charged with multiple crimes, and their property is not included in the legal protection.

After the situation is calm in the future, the whites of the East Indies will be treated equally as citizens of the empire, and their personal and property safety will be protected by law, provided they do not break the law.

Article 4, issues related to war compensation.

There is very little room for compromise on the first three items, especially the first item is not negotiable, which is the bottom line for negotiations drawn by the imperial cabinet.

The fourth clause is relatively flexible, and it is a buffer mechanism set up by the imperial cabinet for bilateral peace talks. It can somewhat take care of the dignity of the Kingdom of the Netherlands without being too embarrassing.

The Netherlands is a small country with few people, and facing two wars at the same time, it is difficult to squeeze out any oil and water.

During the cabinet consultation stage, some hardline ministers proposed huge war compensation claims. The prime minister rejected the proposal after considering the economic situation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

the Prime Minister considers;

At present, we should take advantage of the favorable opportunity to swallow the fruits of victory, so as not to change over time, so as to give the world powers such as Britain, Germany and France an opportunity to intervene and make things more complicated.

Some economic compensation is not the most important thing. "

Emperor Li Cha listened to the report seriously, with a thoughtful look on his brows, and then nodded and said after a while; "But, since there is a cabinet decision, then follow the government-led opinion and reach a formal bilateral contract as soon as possible." Remember, the more than [-] white captives in your hands are the biggest bargaining chip to crush the Dutch."

"Your Majesty is wise, and I would like to abide by the oracle." Deputy Prime Minister Lin Wanqin replied with a bow.

Emperor Richard waved his hand, and after he immediately bowed, he turned around and left quietly.

His Majesty's will needs to be immediately transmitted to Chaoge City through the American long-distance telegraph network, and finally arrived in the hands of Tan Zheng, the extraordinary and plenipotentiary representative of Paris, and the negotiation team led by him is responsible for implementation.

This process takes 3-4 days.

Although Emperor Li Cha is on tour in South America, he has everything under his control, controlling the situation in the mainland of the Great Tang Empire.

Just yesterday, bad news came; His Highness Tang Li Ren (the twelfth son of the emperor) who was entrusted in Youzhou (formerly Chubut Province) died of a sudden illness.

The emperor was furious and ordered a thorough investigation. Now a large number of high-level officials of the Youzhou Kingdom have been detained, and task forces from the Imperial Audit Office and the Independent Commission Against Corruption have arrived one after another.

All the members of the royal family of Youzhou are waiting to be investigated behind closed doors. As long as there are taints and bad grades on their bodies, none of them can escape.

Seeing a bloody storm coming, all the kings of the thirteen vassal states in South America were restrained like a cicada, and the clever ones had already begun to conduct self-examination and self-correction within the kingdom, quickly abolishing the chaos that was inconsistent with the imperial policy.

This tactic of "killing chickens to scare monkeys" has a remarkable effect, and all the feudal states are awe-inspiring from top to bottom, and the atmosphere is clear.

(End of this chapter)