Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was 1885.
The Near East Development Plan, which had been put on hold, was launched again. The world economy had also emerged from the Great Depression and was once again charging forward.
Everything was developing in a good direction. In line with the principle of "only asking about the big things," Franz, the emperor, was also idle.
Perhaps it was because he was getting older, but Franz's hobbies had also changed. He didn't know when he started to be obsessed with calligraphy.
A quill was obviously not suitable for calligraphy, so an incongruous scene occurred. A Shinra emperor who practiced calligraphy with a quill was born.
It was just a personal hobby. European nobles had a lot of weird hobbies. In a large group, Franz's hobby was really nothing.
No minister had anything better to do than to interfere with the daily life of the emperor. They were not the imperial censors of the Ming Dynasty.
Even if he lived in a different palace, no one would come to blindly compare, let alone write with a different quill.
The emperor's wallet and the national treasury had always been separate. In this world where private property was sacred and inviolable, outsiders could not say anything about it.
Franz, who let himself go, had no scruples when practicing calligraphy and wrote whatever came to mind.
Those who traveled with him would find that many famous sayings and poems from later generations suddenly appeared on the paper.
Fortunately, too much time had passed. Many of Franz's memories had become blurred, and the content he wrote was often only one or two sentences. Otherwise, the original author would be dumbfounded.
…
Colonial Secretary Stephen, "Your Majesty, a rebellion has broken out in the French Sudan. The rebels have occupied the Wadi Halfa area and are moving towards Egypt."
It had been some time since a rebellion broke out in the French Sudan. However, this kind of colonial rebellion happened every few days. It was not news before it became big.
"Our people are not involved, right?"
Franz asked in a suspicious tone. There were too many cases of colonial empires stabbing each other in the back. Even if everyone signed a treaty and promised not to cause trouble.
That was only limited to not causing trouble on the surface. No one knew what was going on in the dark. As long as they did not get caught, it would not be a problem.
Colonial Secretary Stephen thought about it and replied, "The colonial government did not support the rebels. It is temporarily uncertain whether civil forces are involved or not."
This was the aftereffect of colonial expansion. There were thousands of large and small colonial forces under Austria, and there were dozens of forces in the French Sudan area.
The government's management of these groups was only limited to the cities and the localized areas. Other places were still free for everyone to do as they pleased.
As long as it did not harm national interests, external expansion was legal. The premise was that the colonization team could conquer the territory and defend it.
The African continent had been divided up. If they wanted to make more achievements, they could only aim their guns at the other colonial empires.
Everyone had been eager for many years, but the central government did not allow it. Challenging a colonial empire without the support of a country? Most people weren't that stubborn.
If he couldn't do it directly, it would be different if he did it in secret. Now, for example, if the French could not put out the rebellion, everyone's chance would come.
In any case, the African continent was so big. The total area of French Egypt and Sudan was more than two million square kilometers. A small piece from it was enough to feed a colony team.
Similar things happened all over the world. The major colonial empires were trying their best to maintain restraint, but colonial conflicts were still emerging. Most of them were caused by civilian colonization teams.
Franz said indifferently, "Forget it, as long as the colonial government is not involved. If the civilian colonization team wants to go, let them go.
It's a good time to test and see what the French are like. Recently, the Government of France has been very busy. It's fine as long as they don't get any evidence. "
This "busy" naturally referred to the French invasion of Annam. The first foreign war provoked by Napoleon Iv after he succeeded to the throne, the performance of the French army did not meet expectations.
Now it was the Mahdi Uprising, which was enough to give the Government of Paris a headache.
If they couldn't keep the rebels out of Egypt, the losses of the French would be huge.
If the rebels couldn't take it easy and destroyed the cotton plantations in the Egyptian area, the cotton textile industry of France would be hit hard again.
In this year, the cotton textile industry was the most important industry in France. One-fifth of the country's industrial workers depended on the upstream and downstream of this industrial chain.
Once something went wrong, the entire French industrial system would be affected. Not only in France, but in all industrial countries, the textile industry occupied a large proportion.
In addition to the cotton production area, there was also the Suez Canal, which was related to the lifeline of France. If the rebels fought to the river and threatened to blow up the canal, the Government of Paris would have a headache.
Perhaps before the rebels blew up the canal, the international interference forces would come in first.
In order to intervene in the Suez Canal, the British had spent a lot of effort, but they didn't succeed. Naturally, they wouldn't miss the opportunity that was sent to them.
Even the seemingly easy-going Government of Austria didn't mind monopolizing the Suez Canal.
In the original time and space, it was the British who worried about these problems. In order to keep the cotton production area and the Suez Canal, the Government of the United Kingdom also compromised with the local forces in Egypt.
Without the support of the Egyptians, the Mahdi Rebellion still persisted alone for seven years before being extinguished by the British. Even the British governor in Sudan was killed by the rebels.
The same thing couldn't happen on the French side.
The French government adopted direct jurisdiction over the colonies, and the local forces led by the Egyptian king had long been suppressed.
Even the Egyptian royal family was moved to Paris to live and received a lunch box during the Paris Revolution not long ago.
There was no doubt that now the French could only suppress the rebellion themselves. They also had to fight the prestige of the French army. If there was another incident in the Indo-China Peninsula, the foundation of the French Empire would be unstable.
The prestige of the French army was built up by one victory after another. One failure could be an accident, but continuous failure was not an accident.
Without the strength that the world's first army should have, how could France compete with Austria when politics, diplomacy, industrial economy, resources, and territory were all backward?
Colonial Secretary Stephen: "I'm afraid that's not enough. Unless we or the British do our best to support the rebels, that motley crew won't be able to do anything. "
Franz nodded. Although the French Army's training model and mobilization mechanism were behind the times, it had to be admitted that they were still the world's first-class army.
The original Mahdi uprising could last for so long mainly because the British's control over the local area was very weak. The British army stationed in the Sudan area was less than a regiment.
It would be different for the French. Just the French Egypt alone would be able to deploy fifty to sixty thousand troops, including a main division of the French army.
"There's no need. No matter how much support they have, they are no match for the French. Now is not the time to fall out. Maybe we can let the British try. "
…
Paris received two bad news in a row, pouring cold water on the ambitious Napoleon Iv.
Annam was thousands of miles away. Even if it suffered a little, it was only a small problem. But Egypt was different. It was the most important colony of France.
"Have you found out who is behind it?"
The rebels did not stay in the Sudan area to dominate. Instead, they sent their main force all the way to Egypt. If there was no international force behind it, Napoleon Iv wouldn't believe it even if he was beaten to death.
Minister of the Interior Addison replied cautiously, "According to the information we have collected, it can be determined that the weapons in the hands of the rebels were imported from the inland area, from the colonies of Britain and Austria.
Whether it was planned by the civilian colonial team or a conspiracy of the two governments, we don't have enough evidence and can't be sure for the time being. "
This was not an answer, but it was also a standard answer. The three countries with the power to cause trouble in the Sudan area were Britain, Fao, and Austria. In addition to themselves, Britain and Austria were suspects.
They didn't need evidence to directly lock onto the target. There was no need to worry about wrongly accusing good people.
It was useless to identify the target. Without enough evidence, Britain and Austria would definitely not admit it. In addition to wasting time on diplomatic wrangling, there was no use.
After suppressing the anger in his heart, Napoleon Iv sighed and said slowly, "Forget it. I will remember this and settle it with them later.
Order the Egyptian governor to immediately send troops to suppress the rebellion. We must not let the rebels enter the hinterland of Egypt. "
…
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