The Rise of the Empire

"If you just want to buy some old-style ammunition, then you don't need to discuss with me at all. Your subordinates can communicate with my subordinates about these matters. Things like these trivial things can't be brought to the table at all, and our price will be very high." Reasonable. It will be about 20% lower than Krupp’s lowest quotation. It can be explained clearly within a few minutes, and there is no need to waste your precious time.” Ruprecht talked eloquently.

"Then may I ask your Excellency a question, you clearly know that the potential enemy we are facing is the most powerful country in the world, so why do you want to stand with us instead of cooperating with the British?" Passionate and sincere conversation will not convince the other side. Kruger must know exactly what caused the prince to choose to cooperate with them. This is very important, he must understand.

"The reason is simple. The British almost monopolize the minerals in the colonies. They don't give us a chance to cooperate! The cheap minerals make the British firmly control the price of raw materials, and we, who are forced to follow, are at a disadvantage. One easy wave of their hands can cost us dearly."

"Fortunately, the high import and export tax rates you imposed have weakened the competitiveness of the British. In a sense, this is the basis of our cooperation!" Prince Ruprecht had very good reasons. In history, not many Boers were directly engaged in mining. Almost all the mines set up by the British were mining in the two Boer republics. The Boers imposed heavy taxes on all mining-related products. The annual import tariff alone was as high as One million pounds! The Kruger government had a fiscal revenue of 3.54 million pounds in 1894. It is precisely because of such high taxes that the competitiveness of the British mining industry has been greatly reduced.

"Second, we have a large area of ​​land in Namibia. We need a large number of technical personnel and labor. The number of natives in Namibia is limited. Even if we recruit them all, it is difficult to meet our needs. The native Germans I don't want to go to Africa right now, so I need the help of the Boer Republic to provide us with labor and technical personnel."

"The third is the traditional friendship between Germany and your country. We have a large amount of investment in the Boer Republic, and the two sides have established a good relationship. However, we have no direct contact with the British colonial government. Bavaria is just a kingdom, and diplomacy is the central government. The cooperation with the British may cause dissatisfaction with the central government, and in order to exclude British capital from our land, it has been decided that we should not have anything to do with the British."

"As for the last point? What the kingdom can provide is very suitable for your country's needs! The number of Boers is rare, and even if all the people are soldiers, the number is limited, so you need high-performance weapons, and our newly developed weapons are small in production. It's more expensive, but I know that for the wealthy Boer government, if things are good enough, you won't spare your money."

"The fundamental reason why you choose to buy weapons from us is that the artillery in our inventory is basically the same as the new ones. What you value more is performance, and the price is only a subordinate factor. I think, the situation of the products in our hands, you should Has it been collected through various channels?"

"By the way, there is another point I forgot, you need horses! There are many countries with horse administration, but very few can provide horses to the Boer Republic. It is impossible for the British, and the Don River horses of the Russians are not suitable for the African environment. The number of horses in Italy itself is limited. The French cannot provide many pure military horses in order to maintain their vast colonies. Therefore, your choice can only be Germany!"

"In Germany, among all the kingdoms except Prussia, Bavaria's military horses are good in terms of quantity and quality. Bavaria's standing cavalry has 18 regiments, accounting for one-sixth of the total number of German cavalry. And Ma Zheng is good,

Its own demand is limited, and it is the most suitable seller to provide horses to the Boers. I said these reasons are still reliable! " Ruprecht said with a smile.

"If I hadn't asked the doctor to introduce me temporarily, I would even suspect that the prince has been preparing for this summoning for a long time!" Kruger had to praise the other party's very strict rhetoric! With good reasons and a good understanding of the situation in South Africa, he made a very attractive proposal-to assemble a fast cavalry unit to solve the problem of insufficient troops.

"These reasons are very good, and I am convinced by you. As a reward for your sincerity and friendship, we will order a large amount of supplies and weapons from you. Later, I will make a list and give it to your subjective attendant .” After a moment of silence, Kruger said with a smile.

"No, no, no. You still don't understand what I said. The Boer Republic needs to prepare in two ways. On the one hand, it needs to build an army, and on the other hand, it needs to find allies. Let's put aside the matter of simply buying weapons Things. Let's discuss what the Boers need to do to prepare for an emergency!"

As a prince trained as a senior officer of the system. The military knowledge learned in this plane is definitely not comparable to that of a Boer. The personal qualities of a Boer are indeed good at fighting, but compared with a regular army in terms of organization, strategy and tactics. Far from it! Among other things, when the Boer War changed from fighting on the outside to fighting on the inside, a large number of Boers left the team and ran back home to defend their farms. What happened?

"As a two countries with a population of only about 200,000, as a landlocked country surrounded by British colonies, don't you feel that you are too lonely? There is not even a person who can call a regiment for warmth?" Okay Rupp Recht originally wanted to say, even if a Boer is covered in iron, how many iron nails can he drive?

"There are only British people around us. There is nothing we can do about it. Except for the tens of thousands of Afrikaners in Cape Town who can be our friends because they are of the same language and the same race, we have no friends." Kruger smiled bitterly. With a sound, he spread his hands and said. Perhaps it is precisely because of this that the Boers are fierce and warlike. If you can't fight, you will die early! This is the social version of Darwin's theory of evolution!

"No, you are wrong. Whether it is the British or the Boers, they are a minority! On the land of 1.22 million square kilometers in South Africa, blacks are the vast majority! There are 4 million blacks there! If you want to fight against the British, you can Negroes must be on good terms!"

"Don't look down on black people, at least they can help you make up for your lack of manpower. They can undertake logistical transportation tasks, build fortifications, inform you, and even directly participate in battles! And all you need to pay is a little living material and a little Goodwill! There is nothing shameful in cooperating with black people! Our African Legion is about to take a seemingly simple step!" Although Kruger was very resistant to black people, some words of the prince still touched him.

Do Boers get on well with blacks? Of course not! Although the Boers did not do as much as the British did, they did a lot of cheating, abducting and stealing, so that after the outbreak of the Boer War, 56% of the Boers’ army was used to fight the British, and the other 44% of the army was used to fight the British. In order to defend against black people draw wages from the bottom! In this state, it would be a ghost to win!

"Another problem is the transfer of the old, the weak, women and children. When the war breaks out, the Boer Republic, which is only tens of thousands of square kilometers, will have no concept of a rear, and based on the performance of the British, you will not believe that they will follow humanitarian standards. Bar?"

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976 and the Iron Taiji Medal for the reward~~~, today is Friday, I don’t know if there is any recommendation next week--! This week's side position performance is not good, please bookmark, please recommend!