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

Chapter 1903 Somalia

Tafi still remembers the fierce winds and huge waves on his way to Tanzania, during which several people died, but the sailors acted as if nothing had happened.

Franz understood his friend's concern, but he had his own path and wouldn't suffer such a terrible fate.

"Thank you. But I'm here today because I have something very important to discuss."

As soon as Franz finished speaking, the waiters in the room immediately left, leaving only Franz's few personal guards.

"Please speak, Your Majesty."

Taffy took a deep breath, her belly swollen and round.

“I will send people to take over Somalia in a year, and I need you to prepare sufficient supplies and manpower.”

We will establish a permanent colony there.

Franz's words made Taffy seem somewhat embarrassed.

"Your Majesty, as you know, I failed the military exam."

Franz curled his lip.

"Who told you to go to war? Just focus on preparing supplies, someone else will fight for you."

"Oh"

"After the battle, I need you to stabilize the situation immediately and build permanent fortifications."

Franz paused again before speaking.

“Not a single Black native will be spared.”

Taffy frowned.

"Your Majesty, there's something I've always been curious about: why can't we use Black people as laborers?"

Franz countered with a question.

Why do you think the British abolished slavery?

Taffy, however, still remembered Franz's explanation from back then.

"High cost? Low efficiency? Then why don't we just absorb them as free agents? We can also use an employment model."

Wouldn't that solve the problem?

Franz shook his head.

"No, not at all. The empire cannot afford this price. Especially my empire, I will not hide a powder keg in my crotch."

I suggest you don't do that either.

Those who sympathize with Black people and insist on advocating for them can be asked to renounce their citizenship and join Black tribes.

You must carry out my orders. Understand?

"clear."

Taffy nodded. He knew he didn't need to understand why, he just needed to understand what to do.

Although he didn't want to explain, Franz still said one more thing.

"The empire already has enough internal conflicts; I don't want to add any more."

Taffy nodded and said.

"We have another problem now: Somalia is a colony of the Omani Empire. Should we go to war with the Omani Empire?"

Actually, compared to the black people that Tafi had hardly ever seen, the Arabs who traveled to and from the colonies every day left a deeper impression on him. He felt that these guys were much more dangerous than the black people.

Moreover, as the governor of the East African colony, it was only natural for him to ask these questions, after all, he also had to consider the subsequent strategic deployment.

"No need. We've already done a trade-off; they'll hand over the land themselves."

In fact, there aren't many Omanis left in Somalia, and soon those local Somali tribes will find an excuse to slaughter all the Omanis, at which point Franz will have a legitimate reason to take action.

On the other hand, Franz couldn't help but lament why Sneka and her son had left the Austrian Empire. The Austrian nobility had never truly treated them as one of their own; even a kind-hearted person like Taffy harbored such strong hostility.

It's not entirely Taffy's fault; the things Sneka did in Vienna were truly inhuman.

Upon returning to Oman, they slaughtered their own people and blood relatives, seized the throne from their brothers, and even killed their rivals' descendants, regardless of age or gender.

To the nobles of the Austrian Empire, these were all heinous crimes, so it was impossible for them to consider them as one of their own.

"Those Somalis are very fierce. They're all fearless and ruthless."

Taffy thought for a moment and reminded him that he had dealt with Somalis quite a bit over the years.

Because Mombasa is located at the gateway to the country, it is frequently attacked by Somali bandits and pirates.

Although the Somalis were repeatedly routed, their reckless fighting style left a deep impression on Governor Tafi.

Franz's face clearly showed disdain.

"They're just nomadic tribes. If you beat them up, they'll feel the pain too. To deal with them, you have to sweep them out of their territory and bring the battlefield to their homes. Then they'll welcome you with songs and dances."

Franz was very familiar with these nomadic tribes, and the reason they raided so frantically was largely because it overlapped with their ancient hunting memories.

On the other hand, the food supply for nomadic tribes is also unstable; they might not survive if they didn't raid.

Driven by both hunger and ancient memories, those people were able to be so fearless in the face of death.

What Franz wanted to do was to awaken their instinctive fear, turning them from mad hunters into prey running for their lives.

The Austrian Empire also possessed military power sufficient to make those nomads dance.

However, Taffy lacked the courage and confidence to sweep away all opposition. He preferred to stay within his own small territory, focusing on development and doing business as an afterthought.

Of course, Taffy wouldn't argue, since he had known since childhood that there was a gap between him and Franz, and the two couldn't possibly choose the same approach.

"I believe you, Your Majesty. But I have another question. Somalia is such a poor land, what use do we have for it?"

Are we supposed to go farming or herding sheep? But we can't even fully develop the land we already have.”

Taffy felt it was better for this place to remain in the hands of the Omani Empire, since no other country would contest it anyway.

He served as governor of East Africa for so many years, and it wasn't just about gaining weight every day with his lovers.

Taffy also studied the surrounding area, and Franz sent out a large number of expeditions and geologists to gather intelligence, which gave Taffy access to accurate first-hand information.

After years of research, Taffy came to the conclusion that Somalia is a pile of shit.

The land is arid and barren, the climate is unpredictable, and it is so vast that it is hard to find many decent cities.

The natives were primitive and savage, preferring robbery to trade. Bandits were everywhere; one could even say everyone was a bandit. Communication between tribes was generally difficult, and they were unpredictable, frequently violating established customs to launch attacks.

Generally speaking, nomads do not easily attack caravans because nomadic regions cannot be self-sufficient in many resources, and they need to exchange goods more than other civilizations.

However, Franz never expected that one day he would fall into a pig butchering scam, as the Somali tribes simply didn't play by the rules.

After suffering several major losses, the merchants of the Austrian Empire finally gave up on communication altogether. Governor Taffy was well aware of this and had already organized dozens of retaliatory actions.

Others might have doubts about Franz's colonial policies, but Taffy was very clear that the Austrian Empire's expansion had already reached its limit, and large tracts of idle land were simply beyond its development potential.

At that time, the East African colonies, which seemed to have a million people, were actually a drop in the ocean compared to the more than two million square kilometers of land.

Two-thirds of the Austrians lived along the coast, leaving them with negligible control over the interior. Continued expansion would only further strain the colonies' resources.
Franz, on the contrary, showed delight at Taffy's doubts.

"Good. Good. Your thinking is very thorough and realistic, but taking over Somalia is for national strategic considerations, and all other interests can be sacrificed for it."

I told you before that the future Suez Canal will determine the fate of our Austrian Empire, so it absolutely cannot be lost.

Do you understand?

Taffy nodded and said.

"I understand, and I will do my best to do this well."

Although Taffy didn't fully understand, he would do his best as he said. After all, there were some things he didn't need to understand; he just needed to do his job well.

But some things still struck Taffy as very unusual.

"Your Majesty, why did you allow Aden to fall into the hands of the British?"

In Taffy's view, this was obviously very unreasonable. After all, if Somalia was recognized as important, then Aden would have the same value.

However, this time he clearly overestimated Franz; even Franz couldn't make the British unable to retaliate.

Moreover, doing so would likely be counterproductive, potentially leading to an early full-scale confrontation and even being regarded as the number one enemy by the British.

If Britain had chosen to ally with Russia, Austria would likely be facing a very different situation now.

However, that possibility is very low, because Franz had already used years of planning to keep both Britain and Russia in check, and even if they discovered a problem and wanted to change course, it wouldn't be so easy.

But he did not want to take such a pointless risk, and the value of the British acquisition of Aden had been greatly reduced due to the presence of the Omani Empire as an ally.

"Don't worry. The British won't stay long. They might even sell Aden to us on their own initiative."

While Franz's statement may be somewhat exaggerated, it is not entirely impossible. British politics may appear civilized and progressive, but in reality, it is surprisingly inefficient.

In Franz's eyes, the British government was a product of compromise among a group of armed businessmen, and he would never actually analyze it using the theories of the bourgeoisie, aristocracy, workers, and peasants.

Franz felt that saying British politics was based on business logic was an insult to business logic; it should be pure pirate logic.

Under this logic, long-termism and institutional advantages simply don't exist, making it difficult for them not to be short-sighted.

It must be said that the British acquisition of Aden as early as 1839 was a stroke of genius, but the opportunistic nature and pirate logic of the British determined that...

It will most likely be abandoned if it cannot make a profit or if the cost of maintaining it exceeds the benefits.

The Austrian Empire certainly had similar plans, but the cost of doing so might be higher than the cost of using force.

Having a strong military has its advantages, but it also makes it easier to develop path dependence, since violence and getting something for nothing are ingrained in human nature.

If Franz hadn't become desensitized to so many modern traps, he probably wouldn't have been able to resist.

With Franz's words, Taffy was completely relieved.

"That's good."

But as soon as he picked up his knife and fork, he spoke with some concern.

"Is it really a good idea to put Miss Jansie at the front? The natives here are very ruthless, especially the Egyptian army in Sudan, which has the British backing them."

Franz was well aware of this; the British loved to sabotage things in subtle ways.

For example, at that time the British set up the Nile River Company in Egypt, and they cooperated with the Egyptian government to sell weapons to the natives of Sudan.

The British thought that this way Franz wouldn't be able to see through them, and even if he did, he could shirk all responsibility.

The cost of engaging in proxy wars is indeed very low, and if a real conflict breaks out, it can strengthen the resolve of the resistance forces.

In comparison, the amount of weapons and supplies they gave up was negligible. Moreover, the British were not so selfless at that time; even if they sent people to their deaths, they would still make a profit.

Winning over the Egyptian government, weakening Austria, and making a small profit at the same time—it was a triple win. Even if it failed, the cost would be very low, well within the British's acceptable range.

Generally speaking, it is difficult to resolve a low-cost war that is achieved by gaining a moral advantage. Either you have to pay a high price, or you have to lower your moral standards to the same level as the other side.

However, Franz did not want to follow the path others had taken. He wanted to give the British a good opponent so they could experience what it meant to fight fire with fire.

Imagine the people of Jhansi in Africa discovering the truth behind the enemy, that even after so many hardships, the British are still haunting them. How would they react?
"Aren't you underestimating our Queen Jhansi? They've been fighting the British on the Indian subcontinent for several years, and their fighting strength is more than enough to deal with those blacks."

Moreover, if the British can support Egypt with weapons and supplies, why can't our Austrian Empire support the new Jhansi Kingdom?

Taffy still looked very worried.

"That's true. But they'll face more than one problem: the military of the Abyssinian Empire is also a formidable opponent."

Franz forced himself to listen to Taffy finish speaking.

"They're just some indigenous warlords. You really think of them as an empire?"

In fact, the Abyssinian Empire should have been unified by Tvordros II in 1855.

However, due to the successive interventions of Austria, Britain, France, and Oman, the civil war in the Abyssinian Empire was extremely fierce, and it was unable to achieve unification as easily as it had in history.

"But I heard that a warlord named Casa Hale Georges has emerged there and is very capable, having already unified the northwestern region of Abyssinia."

The Portuguese thought highly of him.

Franz didn't seem to care.

"Just a bunch of Portuguese merchants and missionaries. Not worth mentioning."

In fact, there was a great deal of luck involved in the fact that Tvordros II was able to end the nearly two-hundred-year-long War of Kings in Abyssinia in less than twenty years.

Casa Hale Georges, also known as Tvordros II, was merely the son of a minor border official.

His mother is said to have royal blood, but the credibility of that claim is comparable to "I am Qin Shi Huang".

Even the way Tvordros II rose to power was by gathering bandits and outlaws, uniting with small landowners to form a powerful force in the mountains, engaging in the business of Liangshan Marsh.

They acquired their initial capital by plundering caravans, collecting protection money, and extorting others. Then, they gradually developed amidst the chaos of warring kingdoms, eventually unifying Abyssinia while the other lords were exhausted from their battles.

But perhaps Tvordros II's confidence swelled after unifying Abyssinia, or perhaps he was simply a nouveau riche; in any case, the demise of his empire was utterly absurd.