China formally proposed to Japan that they would not be allowed to drop mines, a weapon that threatened shipping lanes. The Japanese Meiji government quickly gave in and said that Japan would restrain itself in this regard in the future. This speed was beyond Wang Haiyang's imagination. He thought that the Japanese would at least show some toughness. Wang Haiyang's attitude also somewhat wronged the Japanese Meiji government. Before the Chinese Navy hit the mines, the Japanese Meiji government's own ships first hit a large number of mines. Not to mention civilian ships, there was even an accident where a warship was seriously damaged and a warship was lightly damaged.
As a last resort, they had to use mines to deal with the Hokkaido Navy. Now the Meiji government had to continue to taste the problems left by the mines. Now that even China was involved, the Meiji government could only "appreciate" the fact that the mines made by Togo Heihachiro were strong and durable.
Compared with the mines, the Transvaal Republic's purchase of a large number of new weapons from China surprised Wang Haiyang, who had just come into contact with a deeper level of diplomacy. The Transvaal Republic had fought a Boer War with the United Kingdom, which was known as the "First Boer War" in Vézé's space-time.
In September 1880, in order to seize a large number of guns from the Kimberley diamond mine paid to the black laborers, the British protectorate of Basutoland (now Lesotho) took place. The main British force stationed in Transvaal went south to suppress the Boer Rebellion. The total number of British troops left in Transvaal was less than 3,000. They were only stationed in Pretoria, Rustenburg, Leidenburg, Standerton and other important towns. The defense was empty. On December 16 of that year, more than 5,000 Boers who were dissatisfied with the British governance gathered in Paardeklaar to hold a national assembly. They announced armed resistance and the restoration of the South African Republic.
The British immediately sent two companies to suppress the Boer rebellion. After the outbreak of the battle, of the 247 British troops, 77 were killed and 157 were injured. The Boer army only suffered two deaths and four injuries.
In January 1881, British reinforcements set out from the Natal colony and marched to the Transvaal. The British commander, General Coley, led the reinforcements of more than a thousand men to Transvaal. In the battle with the Boers at the Lang Gap on the border between Natal and Transvaal, the British suffered 93 killed, 133 wounded and 54 taken prisoner. Coley himself was killed on the hilltop. On Bu Jun's side, only one person was killed and five were injured.
However, the Boers lacked weapons and equipment, and in the end, peace was negotiated. On August 3, 1881, both sides signed the Pretoria Agreement. The agreement provided that the Transvaal would be guaranteed a fully autonomous government under the suzerainty of the Queen of England, and that England would retain three prerogatives: control of the external relations of the Transvaal; control of the relations between the Transvaal and the African tribes; and the right of British troops to pass through the Transvaal in time of war.
China forcefully intervened in southern Africa when the Great Powers were dividing up Africa. First, it intimidated the Portuguese colonial government in Mozambique with its powerful military force. The Portuguese colonial government still maintained a basic sense of existence. The Portuguese governor would not offer his wife and daughter to sleep with Chinese officials. When China wanted to do something in Mozambique, they would give the local colonial government an agreement for them to sign. That was all. The railway from the Transvaal across Mozambique to the Indian Ocean was completed. The goods transported by the Transvaal Republic and other countries through this railway were not inspected and controlled by the Portuguese colonial government.
The large amount of gold sold to China in exchange for a large amount of money, and the Transvaal Republic naturally spent this money on purchasing military equipment. Wang Haiyang naturally knew how to hide his abilities and did not dare to ask questions in the standing committee. He found Li Xin in private and asked a question. "Does the Transvaal Republic want to go to war with England?"
When mentioning soldiers, everyone's first thought was men. At this stage, the Transvaal Republic had about 120,000 men who could carry a gun. The Transvaal Republic bought 120,000 rifles, a thousand machine guns, and 100 portable 37 mm cannons from China. It became a situation where everyone carried a gun.
These rifles were also continuous firing bolt-action rifles with magazines. The Transvaal Republic, which had become rich by selling gold mines, bought millions of bullets and tens of thousands of shells. Just by looking at it, it looked like they were going to practice with the British.
The Transvaal Republic was only a small country that maintained the mentality of expelling England and gaining complete independence. Li Xin did not find Wang Haiyang's surprise difficult to understand. The British population and industrial capacity were undoubtedly huge compared to the Transvaal Republic, and the gap between the two sides was much larger than the gap between China and Japan. Even so, Li Xin did not underestimate the Transvaal Republic. The Liberation Army's evaluation of the Transvaal Army was "quite good at fighting."
Using the terrain, crawling forward, lying down to shoot, these techniques and tactics were only a few of the many training subjects for the Liberation Army. The Liberation Army could even apply such tactics in a major battle of more than 100,000 people. It was not these techniques and tactics that could be considered "good at fighting" by the powerful Liberation Army, but the Transvaal Army's concept of "guerrilla warfare." Fight and leave: concentrate forces to attack the enemy's inferior forces; no matter how many routes you come, I will go all the way. This was the theory put forward by the Military Governor Of Vaize for war. The Liberation Army did not expect the Transvaal Army, which had never been exposed to the Liberation Army's military philosophy, to have such a concept of war. It was even more unexpected that they could implement these concepts into war.
The Liberation Army had long conducted such exercises, in which the defending side used the advantage of the interior line to use guerrilla warfare to attack the attacking side. After ten exercises, the Liberation Army, which prided itself on its unparalleled offensive power, had to admit that this tactic was "quite troublesome." It would be too difficult to crack this kind of warfare if it was assisted by a communication tool such as a radio. The results of repeated discussions were frustrating. It was not impossible to win, but it required the attacking side to cut off all the sources of weapons and ammunition for the defending side, and at the same time adopt a strategy of "total cleansing" in enemy-occupied areas, as well as a large number of immigrants and establish strongholds. Otherwise, as long as the defending side could have a "rear" to provide troops and equipment, this kind of war would be protracted.
Because of this, the attitude of the army toward the North American troops became more and more cautious. The exercise had proved that if China wanted to swallow the United States, it would have to pile up corpses and make rivers of blood in the United States. The most tragic battle was not the battle between the China Liberation Army and the United States regular army, but the slaughter between the Chinese army and the American militia. As one's horizons were broadened, the conclusion of the problem would naturally change a lot. The Liberation Army once thought that the price of the commander-in-chief "spending a lot of money" to hire the Japanese to help clean up Southeast Asia was too high. Now the military commission recognized that the commander-in-chief had chosen the simplest, easiest, and cheapest option.
However, Wang Haiyang was not a soldier, and Li Xin did not want to waste the effort to educate Wang Haiyang about military knowledge. He smiled and said, "Exporting weapons and equipment has no negative impact on the country, right?"
Wang Haiyang did not expect Li Xin to change the topic in this direction. He was slightly stunned, then replied, "Not only does it have no negative impact, it also has a great impact on the economy."
The Liberation Army had more than two million troops, and the Transvaal Republic's purchase of equipment for more than one hundred thousand people accounted for about 5% of the weapons and equipment needs of the Liberation Army Army. The logistical supply of more than two million troops was a great pressure on the Min dynasty, and the equipment for more than one hundred thousand people made the munitions factories operating at full capacity make a lot of money, greatly stimulating the vitality of the economy.
Seeing that Wang Haiyang also agreed with the benefits brought about by arms sales, Li Xin smiled and said, "Since we have no intention of fighting with the Transvaal Republic, and the Transvaal Republic has no ability to attack us, what does it have to do with us whether they fight with the British or not?"
This was easy to understand, but Wang Haiyang always felt that there was a hint of deceiving in Li Xin's attitude. How could politics be so simple? A group of hot-blooded Boers roared to the sky, and then straightforwardly picked up their weapons and rushed to the powerful British army? It was possible to write this way in a book, but in fact, there had never been such a simple country. Since he was already sitting in the position of Prime Minister, Wang Haiyang asked, "Old Li, I don't think it's right for you to be so vague."
Li Xin did not hide it. He laughed and said, "I can give you five thousand pages of indexed information, and I can send someone to give you a two-day course on the conflict between the Transvaal Republic and the United Kingdom. This is nothing to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Do you have time? "
Hearing the workload, Wang Haiyang immediately retreated. "Can you reduce it to one-tenth of the content?"
Li Xin smiled and said, "I can tell you in three sentences. The Transvaal Republic wants to get rid of the British control and monopolize the interests of the Rand gold mine. The Transvaal Republic thinks that they are very good at fighting and wants to expel British influence in South Africa and establish a great Boer nation. The United Kingdom wants to maintain their interests and annex the Transvaal Republic. Naturally, we hope to use this conflict to become the largest buyer of the Transvaal Republic's gold mine and the largest supplier to the Transvaal Republic. "
With this, Wang Haiyang understood where the conflict was and also understood that he actually had no room to intervene in this conflict. The Prime Minister of the Min dynasty did not have so much time to pay attention to a small country. Even if this small country was rich in gold mines and was a major source of the Min dynasty's gold mines, its importance was not on the list of the Min dynasty's priorities. This kind of work was naturally done by a specialized department. And from a system point of view, if there was a huge change in the Transvaal Republic, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would naturally bring it up at the Politburo meeting, and Wang Haiyang would have time to speak at that time.
Putting this matter to the back of his mind, Wang Haiyang continued to complete his work. But half a month later, news about the Transvaal Republic came. At the Politburo's regular briefing meeting, Foreign Minister Li Xin looked at the notebook with the contents of the briefing and read, "The Transvaal government announced that foreign nationals residing in Johannesburg must pay full taxes, but are not allowed to enjoy the right to participate in presidential and legislative elections unless they have lived in Transvaal for 14 years and become naturalized. In addition, all foreigners cannot hold government office, and their children cannot attend government-funded schools. "
After reading, Li Xin raised his head and continued to say to the committee members, "This law has been protested by the United Kingdom."
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