The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 1457 Counterattack
Previously, Franz had been busy with wars on the European continent and had no time to take care of the colonies of the Austrian Empire.

The governors and officials appointed by the Austrian Empire's Colonial Planning Bureau had varying abilities. Some of them chased the natives everywhere, while others were beaten so badly by the natives that they had to ask for help from their homeland.

The Austrian Empire was a country that lacked colonial experience, and as long as Franz did not interfere, they would copy the experience of Britain, France and Russia.

Some of these experiences are indeed worth learning from, but some are poison to the Austrian Empire. Franz had to identify them one by one, as the colonial development of the Austrian Empire still had a long way to go.

The black natives in Africa did not have the ability to attack the castles and towns of the Austrian Empire, and they did not even dare to approach villages where people gathered.

Most of the attacks by black natives occurred in border areas and jungle areas. Based on this characteristic, Franz decided to clear the border areas, set up outposts, and send cavalry to patrol, which would be enough to deter the vast majority of natives.

In addition, technological progress gave the Austrian Empire more options, that is, barbed wire. These barbed wires can not only block the natives, but also isolate most wild beasts.

Especially the wild boars, which are the most destructive in the colonies. Previously, the Austrian Empire's colonies could only organize hunters to hunt down wild boars, but the effect was very limited.

After the installation of barbed wire, the damage caused by wild animals to farmland was significantly reduced. At the same time, the emergence of barbed wire made it possible to develop animal husbandry in colonial areas.

In addition to technology, there is of course biological control, that is, hunting dogs. The Austrian Imperial Agricultural University hybridized the Cane Corso with African dog breeds to obtain a new dog breed that is extremely adaptable to the local climate.

This hound has a keen sense of smell and is extremely good at tracking, especially primates.

Soon this kind of hunting dog will be distributed to all colonies, and the colonial army will use this hunting dog to wipe out the indigenous tribes that dare to invade the colonies.

Franz knew very well that simple defense would not solve the problem, and he would only consider giving up when the enemy's benefits were far less than the costs.

West Africa, a colony of the Austrian Empire.

As night fell, a group of black natives gathered on the outskirts of the Austrian Empire's colony.

"Hello, Nubani, did you bring the things?"

The leading black native asked, and a short native immediately answered.

"We brought them all! Those white people with forked flags gave us a lot."

"Yeah, that's good. Now we have magic wands too! Today we're going to show them how powerful we are!"

"Ohhh! Hoo-ho!"

Under the cover of night, countless black natives wearing animal fur and grass skirts came to the border. They wanted to climb over the fence as usual, but this time there was an extra circle of barbed wire.

The first person who climbed up the fence didn't notice that his arm was scratched by the barbs on the wire and he cried out, "Ah!"

The native next to him wanted to help cover his mouth, but he lost his balance and fell into the barbed wire, getting scratched all over, and screaming in pain.

The entire border area was plowed by Austrian colonists with fire, so the screams of the natives could be heard from far away. The colonial guards and militia immediately became alert. The cavalry was a mysterious and terrifying opponent for the black natives.

Most of the natives could not understand why people could ride on horses. They thought that they must have communicated with the spirits of wild beasts, or were blessed by the spirits of their ancestors.

After all, the natives had tried to tame horses to fight for them, but their attempts almost always failed because all they could find were zebras.

Although zebras are also called horses, they are much wilder than ordinary horses. It is not uncommon for them to bite people. Countless warriors of the black indigenous tribes sacrificed their lives one after another, but they only managed to tame a few zebras for a short time.

However, due to its body structure, zebras are not suitable for bearing weight and can only be ridden by the shortest and weakest natives. Carrying a small amount of equipment makes them completely intimidating.

However, since there was a successful precedent, the natives saw hope, so the smartest and bravest among them devoted all their energy to the great cause of taming zebras. That’s another story.

When a patrol of the Austrian Imperial Colonial Army arrived on horseback, they found only a few natives trapped in the barbed wire.

Several natives were injured and abandoned by their companions. After interrogation, they told everything they knew.

However, most of them were useless information. There were only two pieces of really useful information: one was the location of their tribe, and the other was that someone gave them muskets, matches, and even explosives.

With the first one, we can launch a counterattack against the natives, but it still needs to be verified with the tracking results of the hounds. The morale of the people and soldiers in the colony is very high for revenge.

However, the more times like this one must not be impulsive. Franz had already set strict rules for all the colonies, that is, someone must be left behind to guard, and the number of troops in a single attack cannot exceed one-third of the total strength of the colony to prevent being lured away.

This rule has been in place since the establishment of the colony. No matter what kind of enemy it is, only one-third of the troops will be deployed for the attack, which would be a joke in other areas.

But in West Africa and East Africa, Franz was absolutely confident that he could defeat all the natives with just a few thousand regular troops. This was indeed the case, and the colonial army rarely suffered defeat when its strength exceeded three digits.

It might be difficult to enforce discipline in colonies of other countries, but it was not a problem in Austria because the colonies of the Austrian Empire were national property from the beginning and Franz deployed a large number of troops there.

The so-called immigrants, except for a small number of military dependents, were mostly exiles and laborers. There were very few real immigrants before 1848, so military camp culture prevailed in the colonies.

In addition, given Emperor Franz's status, almost no one would go to the colonial government or Vienna to protest.

After 1848, private capital poured into the colonies, but they could only adapt to local customs. It was impossible for them to do things without paying any price like the British colonies did.

Moreover, compared with the colonial government of the Austrian Empire, the civilian colonial teams of the Austrian Empire were terribly weak, and most of the time they had to rely on the colonial government and national policies to survive.

In the colony, no one dared to violate or even question the iron rule set by Franz. There was no other way, Franz had to do this before the submarine cable was connected.

This may not be the best approach, but it is definitely the safest approach.

However, Franz was still worrying too much. How could such a grassland genius who could unify countless tribes and control them at will, a once-in-a-century talent, be everywhere?

Most of the natives who were attacked were not on guard, or they were guarding against the existing threats on this continent, such as poisonous insects, wild beasts, and other natives, but the Austrian colonial army was obviously not among them.