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

Chapter 1460: Set a Fire
However, Prime Minister John Russell's good mood did not last long. The news about the British Honduras colony made him shocked and angry.

A regiment of soldiers and hundreds of tons of supplies were lost at one time. John Russell couldn't understand what the Governor of Honduras and the Colonial Office were thinking. Why did they do this on the border? Didn't they think the world was chaotic enough?
Now the Austrians had set a huge fire on the border, and all the people and supplies were gone. As for the natives, there was no trace of them at all, leaving only a mountain of ashes.

The Austrian Empire's explanation was "burning mountains to open up wasteland." The British side was unable to disclose its losses and could only choose to protest, but all it received in return was symbolic compensation from the Austrian Empire.

The Austrian Empire's Central American colonies provided the British colony of Honduras with a pension of two thousand pounds to compensate Britain for the losses suffered in the fire.

John Russell found the Duke of Northumberland, the Secretary of State for the Navy and Colonies, and he wanted to know what the other party was trying to do.
"Do you think we in Britain have been at peace for too long?"

"No, Prime Minister. You are joking. We just got out of a war."

The Duke of Northumberland apparently has not yet realized the seriousness of the problem.

"Then why do you want to stockpile heavy troops and supplies on the border between Honduras and Ecuador? If the Austrians find out, will it trigger a new round of border friction? Have you considered this?"

In response to John Russell's questioning, the Duke of Northumberland spoke calmly.

"Prime Minister, this is an order from the former Lord Admiral. It has nothing to do with me."

Faced with the Duke of Northumberland's frankness, John Russell's jaw almost dropped to the ground. He did not expect that there would be such a decent guy in his cabinet.

"But now you are the Lord High Lord of the Admiralty!"

John Russell almost roared, but the Duke of Northumberland remained calm.

"Oh, I was just about to report this to you. I think Count Coulan's approach is somewhat inappropriate. I propose to cancel this plan.

Do you agree? "

John Russell clenched his fists, but spoke anyway.

"You are right, Duke of Northumberland. But please tell me earlier next time."

"Okay, Prime Minister. If there's nothing else, I'll go back first."

"Please."

John Russell said through gritted teeth.

"Oh, by the way! There's a polo match at my estate this weekend, and I'd be honored if you could come."

John Russell smiled in response, but in his heart he wanted to tear the rubbish into pieces. Unfortunately, he couldn't do it.

Some people become officials in pursuit of fame and fortune, but some people become officials simply to kill time.

John Russell disliked the latter very much, but he still needed the latter's support, so he could only endure it for the time being.

The British could only rage helplessly, and New Granada was even more silent. The Republic of New Granada also wanted to send diplomats to protest, but they were turned away in Vienna and did not even meet the governor of the Austrian Empire's Central American colonies.

On the other hand, Franz was not prepared to let New Granada go. He directly sent warships to blockade several important ports in New Granada and demanded that New Granada hand over the natives who crossed the border and attacked the Austrian Empire's military and civilians.

However, the president of New Granada at that time, José Hilario López, was no ordinary person. He made many far-reaching reforms to the country of New Granada.

Even when facing a power like the Austrian Empire, José Hilario López had to keep the initiative firmly in his own hands, so he took in the indigenous people driven away by the Austrian Empire and sent them back to the Austrian Empire's Central American colonies.

José Hilario López has always been proud of his genius ideas, at least he thinks they are his ideas.

At this time, facing the Austrian Empire's powerful behavior, José Ilario López decided to fight back strongly. He was not afraid of any powerful countries, after all, New Granada had fought against Spain in the past.

On the one hand, José Hilario López mobilized the whole country, calling on the people to arm themselves and fight the Austrians until the last moment. On the other hand, he sent people to Europe for help, hoping that Britain, France, Russia, Spain and Portugal could intervene to mediate the war.

However, such reformers usually make countless enemies.
A few days before the Austrian Navy blockaded the port, the docks were still on high alert, but within a few days, they were filled with people waving flags and lining the streets to welcome them.

Various maps, defense diagrams, and surrender documents flew onto the warships of the Austrian Imperial Navy like snowflakes. At this time, Captain Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, who was only 23 years old, was a little overwhelmed. He felt that it was not impossible to capture the port in front of him.

But reason still overcame his young, competitive heart that wanted to achieve success. After all, the first lesson he learned in military school was to obey orders.

Commanders can be free to play tactically, but they cannot afford to make any mistakes strategically. They must be rigorous at the strategic level, as a small change on their part may inadvertently kill friendly forces.

However, the scene before him still made the young Wilhelm von Tegetthoff feel proud. He did not expect that even though the Habsburg family had left South America for hundreds of years, the people here still missed the dynasty.

On the other hand, José Hilario López's political opponents in New Granada jumped out to attack his policies. Some regions even issued declarations of independence or claimed to return to Habsburg rule.

In fact, José Hilario López's reforms had a lot of problems. His reforms were indeed progressive, but not as great as historians boasted.

In the economic field, the state's monopoly on tobacco and alcohol was abolished, 80% of the country's miscellaneous taxes and the church's tithes were cancelled, free navigation on inland rivers was allowed, and no government or individual was allowed to collect tolls.

The original intentions of these measures were very good, but in reality they caused New Granada's fiscal revenue to plummet and reduced the central government's control.

At the same time, people's enthusiasm for building waterways and roads was greatly reduced, and Colombia's water and land transportation developed very slowly in the next hundred years.

On the other hand, José Hilario López expanded local power politically. The provinces enjoyed more legislative and financial powers and could even organize their own parliaments and armies.

This laid a solid foundation for Colombia's democracy, but also laid the groundwork for a century of turmoil.

Even more progressive was José Ilario López’s abolition of the death penalty, which, although he stressed was political, left a lot of room for maneuver in practice.

This allows criminals to become emboldened, and civilians are forced to either join gangs to help them do evil or live in fear every day.

The most frightening thing about these three measures is that they are strongly linked, which ultimately leads to even more chaos.