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

Chapter 1593 The Colonizers
Unfortunately, Franz was going to disappoint his generals. This was not a deliberate plan, but a helpless move, a compromise.

By this time, the Austrian Empire had already expanded somewhat too much, and coupled with the current colonial frenzy, if the Austrian Empire were to attempt to acquire the entire island of Madagascar, it would likely provoke the wrath of other countries.

This kind of anger is nothing in normal times, after all, the Austrian Empire was also a great power, but if a major war breaks out, it is hard to say that no one will stab it in the back, or even attack it from all sides.

As mentioned earlier, Madagascar's resources are not bad, but they are certainly not good either. Franz doesn't need to fight for every inch of land. In comparison, letting go and sharing some of the benefits with other countries would be a wiser choice.

After all, Madagascar is a large island, and things are not as easy as they seem.

The French were the most enthusiastic about colonizing Madagascar, initially sending over 1300 men, a significant advantage compared to the British (600), Russians (163), and Prussians (420).

With their greatest enemy, the Kingdom of Imreina, already collapsed, the French simply stopped pretending. They even stopped using the banner of spreading their faith, since the Austrian Empire had also come under the banner of revenge.

In fact, Napoleon personally preferred to use excuses such as "trade protection" and "civilization," which he found more fashionable.

However, the French colonial practice was to minimize the number of native inhabitants and then assimilate them into the local population.

The French army marched straight into the pre-designated area and began a frenzied massacre, destroying villages in their path. Due to the previous failures of their expeditions, coupled with the horrific sights along the coast, the French people's anger had reached its peak.

Anyone who dared to resist, regardless of age or gender, would be killed. Of course, not resisting didn't guarantee survival either; men would be conscripted into hard labor to consolidate French rule, while women would suffer a fate worse than death.

Some natives attempted to resist, but they were no match for the soldiers of the Kingdom of Imerina.

However, the French did not have an easy time either. Faced with the French who were excessively brutal and did not even give them a chance to surrender, the local natives put up a fierce resistance.

The French nightmare began the moment the natives broke up and entered the jungle. Under the natives' open and covert attacks and various traps, the French army could hardly move an inch.

But the most deadly dangers are poisonous insects, wild beasts, and diseases. The vast primeval forests are full of unknowns and dangers. Poisonous snakes lurk in the grass and treetops, and unknown poisonous insects buzz around all the time, like the whispers of death.

Besides the venom, what was even more terrifying were the infectious diseases, such as malaria, yellow fever, and various other unknown jungle diseases that constantly tormented the French army.

As time went on, a large number of French soldiers fell ill. Some people took the sick French soldiers to the port for treatment, which resulted in the widespread spread of the disease. Even the soldiers of the Austrian Empire were affected, and they had no choice but to isolate the French.

Other European visitors avoided the French like the plague, and it was only then that the French remembered to spread the slogan of love and the gospel.

However, the natives didn't believe it; they would never believe it, no matter what.

The British weren't much better off; their military strength was inferior to that of the French, so their actions were naturally not as brutal as the French's.

To put it bluntly, everyone was there to make money, so it was impossible not to plunder. Of course, the natives lacked even iron tools, so there was practically nothing of value to the British.

So the British resorted to their traditional supernatural abilities, and they certainly did things like exchanging cheap industrial goods like glass balls for prisoners with the natives.

However, the British Empire was cracking down on the slave trade, and British soldiers certainly couldn't do it directly. So they chose to have the Portuguese do it, and then they secretly collected fees. Of course, all of this was against the rules, but this was a colony, and it was a secret transaction.

Although the Kingdom of Imreina pursued a policy of isolation, its slave trade with foreign countries never ceased, and the Portuguese were quite adept at it.

Especially in the colonies, these dirty deals were so common that everyone had long been accustomed to them. But that was only true for countries with colonial experience; this time, it was a large-scale colonization across Europe, and such behavior was still appalling.

The propaganda of Britain and France was completely at odds with their actions at this moment, while the Austrian Empire's colonial team maintained considerable restraint.

Aside from sweeping through the army of the Kingdom of Imreina on the battlefield, no massacres were carried out against the natives along the way. This was not because the Austrians' moral standards had completely surpassed those of their European contemporaries, but rather because of Franz's orders.

Franz's orders were to overthrow the tyranny of Lanavarona I, occupy the central region, and liberate the Christians.

He placed all the blame on Lanavarona I, and it wouldn't be surprising if the Austrian soldiers tore this female Nero to pieces.

But the soldiers had no reason to vent their anger on the ordinary islanders anymore, since theoretically everyone was a victim.

In fact, Madagascar was not originally part of Franz's plan. While Madagascar's strategic location was indeed important, that was due to the limited navigation capacity of the Suez Canal.

However, with the opening of the Suez Canal in this era, navigational capacity became virtually limitless. The key to the Austrian Empire's dominance of the seas lay in its control of the Suez Canal and Gibraltar.

If the Austrian Empire could control these two regions, it would be able to dominate the Mediterranean, allowing it to both attack and defend, and extend its influence to almost all of its colonies.

Franz's turtle strategy only worked in the early stages of colonization. Once the colonies developed, the Austrian Empire's army and colonists could no longer remain cowards.

When the losses far outweigh the gains, one has no choice but to take the initiative, no matter how slim the odds of winning are.

Moreover, once a full-scale war breaks out, the Austrian Empire's colonies will inevitably become the primary targets of the enemy's attacks.

Therefore, a strong and rapidly maneuverable naval force is essential.

Returning to the topic of colonization itself, apart from a few established colonial powers, other countries did not have much experience in colonization.

In addition, most countries were just joining in the fun and trying to get something for nothing, so the number of people in the colonial teams was usually very small, mostly between 30 and 100. The most outrageous one was that Hessian only sent 12 people.

They had no idea how big the colony was. Faced with the vast land of the colony, they didn't know what to do, and they couldn't even establish an independent colony.

Fortunately, most of the small countries in Germany and the Apennines cooperated, and they also adopted a division of labor and cooperation in their colonies, which allowed them to settle down.

Prussia and Russia fared much worse. Frederick William IV had previously sent Bismarck with 300 prisoners to develop colonies, and now he was sending another 400 men to take over the colonies.

Judging from the above actions, it is really difficult to tell whether Frederick William IV was trying to trick Bismarck or was genuinely ignorant of colonial activities.