Chapter 675: British "Goodwill" (Part 2)

However, the British "goodwill" was not completely useless. In the eyes of Milos Obrenovic, it was like the sky falling and the earth collapsing. He knew that he might never counterattack Western Bosnia again in his life.

As for Belgrade, Milos Obrenovic dared not even think about it. After all, after so many years of repair and transformation, the capital of the former Grand Duchy of Serbia has completely become a fortress.

Moreover, both the local industry and agriculture are dependent on the market of the Austrian Empire.

The entire Belgrade region is not allowed to grow any food crops, but they can enjoy cheap food from the Austrian Empire.

Considering the population of the Belgrade region and the weak agriculture of Serbia at this time, Franz has reason to believe that even if Belgrade returns to Serbia, the latter cannot support the former.

I could have endured the darkness if I had never seen the light.

——"Metamorphosis"

Yes, the Serbians who have been poor for hundreds of years can endure high-intensity labor every day and only eat some food that even animals hate.

But after eating bread, butter, carp, and all kinds of strange animals raised by Franz, these people no longer wanted to return to the days of warlord separatism and people being treated like grass.

(The bread here refers to non-whole wheat bread, which is about a quarter of the price of normal whole wheat bread, but it is very good for civilians at this time.)

The situation in Western Bosnia is actually similar. Coupled with the nationalism of the Croatians, it is actually more difficult for Serbia to recover than Belgrade at this time.

However, due to the mountain barrier, Milos Obrenovic in the East Bosnia region did not have detailed local intelligence.

The Montenegrins had no feelings about the British recognition, and the British also tried to win over some local families in Montenegro to oppose the rule of the Austrian Empire.

But either the British who went there as lobbyists disappeared, or those families who tried to oppose Austria disappeared. In short, Montenegro is still in the hands of Austria and has never caused any waves.

In fact, Montenegrins and Croatians are very similar. They both like to be mercenaries and have no objection to leaving their hometowns, so the small Montenegro actually sent out 20,000 mercenaries.

The reason why Montenegrins like to be mercenaries so much is that their land is too barren. However, with the large number of middle-aged men leaving, it is a joke to organize anti-Austrian military operations in Montenegro.

Not to mention that the troops stationed in the Montenegrin area are the most skilled mountain warfare troops of the Austrian Empire - the Tyrolean Chasseurs and the Croatian Mountain Troops.

Humans all have a strong psychological admiration, and this is particularly obvious among mountain peoples. Whether it is the Gurkhas or the blacks, they all worship the strong.

So after several battles, the locals completely turned to the Austrian Empire. They would even take the initiative to suppress the rebels to show their loyalty.

In fact, this situation is common in the Austrian Empire, but Franz still gave certain rewards in order to strengthen positive feedback and shape a model.

Although the reward is not high, it is still a considerable income for these Montenegrins. Judging from local taxes, Montenegro was the poorest place in the Austrian Empire at that time.

The most valuable thing about Montenegro at that time was its people. After all, it was not easy to find people who were willing to leave their hometown and stay abroad for a long time.

Franz did not have to worry about the problem of too many Montenegrins, as the latter had a much smaller population than Italians.

And they admired Austrian culture relatively more, which meant that it was easier to assimilate, but they did not like to stick together and it was not easy to form independent communities.

Of course, the most thorough way to deal with the Montenegrin region was to build roads, but given the local terrain and economic conditions, this was not urgent (it was already being built, but the construction speed was not fast).

In addition to this painless recognition and statement, Palmerston also dug a big hole for the Austrian Empire.

That was Madagascar. At that time, when people talked about this place, they thought of the animal paradise and the penguin gang (movie, the penguins of Madagascar).

But in the 19th century, Madagascar was one of the few non-European countries that dared to say no to the powers.

The British and French once studied how to divide this island country in southeastern Africa. The result of the study was that the west belonged to Britain and the east belonged to France.

Because there were more ports in the west and minerals in the east.

Everything went very smoothly at first. The Kingdom of Madagascar signed countless contracts with the powers and even followed the British advice to stop the slave trade with the Portuguese.

However, just when Britain and France thought they were about to succeed, the African female Nero turned out. Ranavalona I was one of the king's twelve wives, but like Wu Zetian, she used iron-fisted policies and bloody massacres to complete the takeover of the country in a short period of time.

After Ranavalona I ascended the throne, she announced that all people in the country must shave their heads to mourn for her husband. No one is allowed to bathe, dance, sing, sleep in bed or clap within a year, otherwise men will be sentenced to death and women will be used as public slaves.

At that time, Westerners only regarded this as a quirk of the monarch of the primitive country, and did not regard it as a dangerous signal.

Lanavalona I was a cold-blooded animal lover and liked to use animals for executions. What excited her most was throwing people to crocodiles and monitor lizards and watching the victims bite and devour them.

In a country with a population of only 2.5 million, Ranavalona I executed at least 300,000 people in this way.

Ranavalona I judged whether a person was loyal to him by throwing him to a crocodile. If the crocodile bit him, he was a traitor. If the crocodile did not bite him, he was a wizard.

Ranavalona I hated black people, so he almost exterminated the black people on the island.

After that, Ranavalona I began to trample on the treaties that the Kingdom of Madagascar had signed. How could such behavior be accepted by the Western "civilized" powers that uphold the "spirit of contract"?

So Britain and France sent people to negotiate with the Kingdom of Madagascar, but Ranavalona I responded by massacring Christians on the island.

And she did not kill only her own people like the Japanese did. She also killed Western missionaries and merchants related to the church.

Britain and France were dumbfounded. Not to mention in Africa, even the great dynasties in Asia did not dare to do such a thing.

So in 1845, the British and French coalition forces bombarded Madavi Port, trying to force Lanavalona I to surrender. As a result, the female Nero directly ordered the port to be closed, playing the trick of Kangxi's relocation of the border and the ban on the sea.

At this time, Westerners had almost never lost in colonial wars, so they naturally did not know how to be afraid. In the end, about 600 soldiers of the British and French coalition landed on Madagascar Island, ready to give these African natives a little Western shock.

However, what they did not expect was that in the end, the female Nero killed all 600 soldiers of the coalition at the cost of 12,000 lives.

This is not over yet. Lanavalona I also ordered people to put the heads of all the coalition soldiers on wooden stakes. For a time, the docks of Madavi Port were full of Western heads.

I had a heat stroke yesterday, and my mind may not be very clear now. Book friends can help me find errors or incoherent places.