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

Chapter 1587 Dividing the Spoils on the Spot (Part 2)

The reason the two sides were arguing so fiercely was that Prince Schwarzenberg had announced early on that the Austrian Empire would only want control of the Tananarivo region in central Madagascar and a river port.

As mentioned earlier, although central Madagascar was the heart of the Kingdom of Imreina, it was not considered of great practical value by most Europeans.

Naturally, no country had any objection to this, since it was tantamount to eliminating one of the strongest competitors in reality.

Regardless of the Austrian Empire's motives, the immediate benefits were undeniable, and the great powers had no reason to give them up.

Although Imreina is also a primitive kingdom, it is much more developed than those indigenous African tribes.

In the eyes of Europeans, it was more like a colony similar to India, except that its natural endowments were relatively poor, but its strategic value was higher.

That's why Britain and France were so frantic at this time. Of course, it wasn't just Britain and France who were frantic; Russian Ambassador Neserlov also wanted to seize strategic strongholds for Russia.

“That’s right, we mobilized three thousand men. Mahazanga Province should rightfully belong to the Russian Empire, after all, this war was initiated by our Holy Alliance.”

Although Russia had no interests in the Indian Ocean, that didn't stop them from seizing territory on Madagascar. As for the banner of the Holy Alliance, they might as well use it; the Austrian Empire was unlikely to oppose Russia's claims.

Although the accompanying Duke Uvalov did not understand why the Austrians did not seize the strategic stronghold in eastern Madagascar themselves, he was well aware that Russia absolutely could not let Britain and France take it, and that this was the true purpose of the Austrians in inviting Russia into the game.

When both parties share the same interests, there's no question of whether or not they're being used.

"Where did you get three thousand men? Didn't you only send one cargo ship with a total of 162 people?"

Viscount Stratford could no longer remain silent upon hearing the Russian diplomat's boastful remarks.

"That was just the vanguard."

Neserlov explained nonchalantly.

Everyone knows the Russians are talking nonsense, but no one can refute them.

"Our ships have been at sea for half a month! You just sent out an advance team?"

Viscount Stratford questioned this, to which Duke Uvalov responded.

"My Russian Empire is vast and rich in resources, unlike your country which is small and exquisite."

"Then our country can deploy 4000 people! No! 4! We can directly transfer troops from India!"

Viscount Stratford was clearly at odds with the other side.

"Then why didn't you say so sooner? Were you after money?"

Duke Uvalov retorted without holding back, and although he was anti-British, there shouldn't have been such a strong sense of hostility.

Britain has been funding the Ottomans one minute and Balkan rebels the next, and there are recent reports that the British are in contact with Chechen rebels.

As a typical Great Russian nationalist, he would never be friendly to such a typical enemy state.

"you"

Viscount Stratford really wanted to curse, but then he thought that he was a civilized man and the other side was a barbarian who was also big and burly, so he refrained from doing so.

Alexandre Corona Valevski found it amusing that although Mahazanga Province was the richest province in Madagascar, France was not necessarily determined to acquire it; they would be content as long as it did not fall into British hands.

After all, if the British controlled the Indian Ocean shipping routes, France would have no choice but to hope that the Suez Canal would open as soon as possible.

But the Russians taking Mahazanga province might collude with the Austrians, so he still had to try.

“Your argument will never end. If you offer 40,000 and he offers 80,000, then will someone else offer 100,000?”
I propose that the benefits be distributed according to the losses suffered. The Austrian Empire goes without saying, but the French soldiers, tourists, missionaries, and merchants murdered in Imreina over the years number at least ten thousand. Therefore, the Mahazanga province should compensate us.”

No sooner had Alexander Colonna Valevsky finished speaking than Viscount Stratford continued.

"We British have lost even more! At least 50,000!"

Alexander Corona Warewski immediately retorted.

"How could that be? Do you think that's India? Where did all these British people come from?"

Viscount Stratford said smugly.

“We have civilized tens of thousands of islanders in Madagascar, and they are naturally considered British.”

"Bah! How shameless!"

Neserlov immediately cursed, saying that this distribution method was obviously very disadvantageous to Russia, since no one in Russia had ever been to Madagascar, and the shameless statement of the British made him nauseous.

How dare you insult our country like this?

Viscount Stratford rose to protest.

I'm talking about you!

"you!"

Seeing the great powers arguing fiercely, Spanish Ambassador Paulo Rufus stated his demands.

"We Spanish just want the south."

The Spanish leadership has a certain understanding of its own capabilities, and they feel that it would be quite good if they could acquire even a remote piece of land.

However, this drew the ire of the Portuguese.

"Why should we? We Portuguese have sent more troops, and we have more experience in ruling the indigenous peoples of East Africa."

Spain and Portugal weren't the only ones eyeing the south; Prussia and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies also had their reasons.

However, no country objected to the Austrian Empire's decision to destroy the Kingdom of Imreina, mainly due to its strength and national characteristics, in addition to the justification for the war effort.

After all, there have been many countries in history that persecuted Christians, but almost none of them were destroyed as a result. For example, in the Abyssinian warlord conflicts, all the dead were Christians, yet no major power stood up for justice.

Generally speaking, the Austrian Empire should have first overthrown the existing system and then installed a puppet ruler in order to conform to the colonial process.

However, that was the British approach, and Franz had no interest in it; he wanted a permanent solution. That's why he wanted so many European countries to colonize simultaneously.
Of course, he had even deeper plans, but those would have to wait until decades later.

The current debate aligns perfectly with Franz's expectations, necessitating mediation from the Austrian Empire. Allowing Britain, France, Russia, or any single country to monopolize the Mahazanga province is unrealistic.

This was not only unacceptable to other countries, but also contrary to the strategic interests of the Austrian Empire.

Therefore, from the beginning, Franz's idea was European co-governance. The north and west were divided into three parts and given to Britain, France and Russia respectively, while the southern region, which was considered a wasteland, was divided among Prussia, Spain, Portugal, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the Netherlands.

Although Sardinia and Greece also had navies, at this point they were not even qualified to be on the table.

Most countries did not object to this, but the Orleans family felt that they should receive half of France's interests in Madagascar, but that's another story.

Madagascar Island.

At night, Queen Lanavarona I was suddenly awakened by a series of noisy footsteps. She immediately opened the secret passage and tried to escape.