War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

"It seems that I had the foresight. If I had signed the contract on the ship, this accident would not have happened. But you insisted on experiencing the African customs. As a result, the two of us almost reported to God in advance." Franz said with a hint of ridicule said.

"Who knows why these natives suddenly went crazy! If I had known earlier, I should have done what you did in Ivory Coast and wiped out a few tribes first."

Friedrich recovered from the shock just now, and was even in the mood to quarrel with Franz, teasing the latter's deterrence plan in Ivory Coast.

Almost all of the female assault team that rushed into the celebration area were killed. Just at this time, the Royal Guards also rushed in from the gate. While the two were still bickering, there was a sound of neighing from the surroundings.

300 meters is nothing to the cavalry, it is only a minute's journey at most.

(This does not mean that it takes a minute for a horse to run 300 meters, but the reaction time of the cavalry, from hearing the sound of gunfire to coming to support.)

Most of the attackers behaved very bravely. Of course, most of them died in the first battle, but even the bravest groups still had a few who hesitated to move forward after seeing the tragic death of their companions.

As the situation reversed, the attackers who had just been on the offensive side could only huddle in the corner. Although they still had machetes in their hands, their courage to charge was gone. Those who were lucky enough to survive were even so cowardly that Self-imposed suicide cannot be done.

The Royal Guards were very experienced in forcing them into a corner, because the situation was basically under control, and the next thing to do was to find out the real culprit behind the scenes.

Then it is very important to keep a few alive for interrogation of intelligence. At the same time, the officers are also paying attention to whether anyone is eager to get rid of these attackers.

Because usually when such an attack occurs, there is an insider at work.

About three minutes later, except for a few chiefs and a few remaining attackers huddled in the corner, there were no living indigenous people in the entire celebration area.

However, the killings outside are still continuing. It is simply impossible to expect these elite soldiers to show mercy to possible attackers.

"Why are you trying to kill us?" Franz pointed a gun at one of the chiefs and said in very blunt Portuguese.

The opponent shook his head. Franz's marksmanship was very poor and he couldn't guarantee a hit even from a distance of about two meters. In the end, he had to awkwardly empty the magazine before sending the other person away.

Franz came to another chief.

"It's your turn, why do you want to murder us?"

Seeing the miserable condition of the previous chief, the second chief immediately babbled in indigenous language. Franz was trying to aim at the opponent's head in order to kill him with one blow.

Only then did the chief react and immediately spoke in Portuguese.

"No! It's not us! It's King Cabrennon in the north. He promised us that as long as we get rid of these guys, he will urge King Gezo of Dahomey to let us go."

The northern part of Togo is a low plateau, but due to the obstruction of the Kola Mountains, European explorers at this time knew almost nothing about the geography and folk customs of the north, so Franz did not want to go deep into the inland area. To take this big risk.

"May I have your name?"

"Kamtiki."

"Do you know how to communicate with those Dahomeans?"

Kamtiqi nodded sternly.

"Go tell them and ask them to tell the King of Dahomey that if he continues not to stop the slave-hunting war, justice will be punished sooner or later. They can put down their weapons and leave."

Kamtiqi walked to a place about five meters away from the beautiful Daho warriors and stopped, communicating with them in indigenous language.

The female warriors' eyes widened after hearing this at first, with a look of disbelief. One of them dropped the weapon in her hand and ran towards the woods. Sure enough, no one shot behind her, and the others followed suit and quickly fled in. In the grass, he quickly disappeared from Franz's sight without a trace.

"Why did you let them go?" Friedrich asked.

"What's the use of keeping them? Is it because you want to enrich your harem?" Franz asked rhetorically.

"Forget it. With a group of female 'Assassins', I'm afraid I will die in an unknown way one day." Friedrich said with lingering fear.

(Assassin is a legendary sect that once controlled the country through assassination. Its representative is the Old Man of the Mountain, which is used here to refer to the killer.)

"I think you are afraid that you won't be able to find her at night?" Franz teased.

"What you said makes sense."

Friedrich was speechless.

"To be honest, even if we kill them, there is no meaning at all except to vent our personal anger. We need to let the king of Dahomey know what is happening here. Assuming that we send the messenger, let’s not talk about whether the other party believes it or not. Do you think we should send it? Will anyone come back alive?

And if possible, I still hope that the other party will give up and choose to cooperate with us. After all, this senseless killing can neither increase our glory nor make us feel the slightest happiness. "

Of course, after speaking, Franz himself suspected that these indigenous chiefs might have lied. Otherwise, how could it be so convenient to transmit information with the efficiency of communication in this era?

Europeans of this era may not know much about the Kingdom of Dahomey. But Franz knew it very well. After all, this was one of the few African countries that had ever defeated the great powers, and its territory was less than one-tenth of the size of Ethiopia and the Zulu Kingdom.

At this time, the slave trade in the Benin region had not yet ended, and the Kingdom of Dahomey was not the country that later declined. It now has more than 6,000 female guards, and the total number of troops that can be mobilized is close to 20,000.

During the same period, the total military strength of Zulu, known as the first military empire in "Black Africa", was only 50,000, and its population was ten times that of the Kingdom of Dahomey.

Moreover, Dahomey is a landlocked country. Franz neither wants to offend the slave traders, nor does he want to fight deep into the interior of Africa, nor does he want to be used as a pawn in the hands of others.

This attack was so strange that he simply did not believe that two inland indigenous countries would randomly send people to the beach to intercept him.

I have only been in Togo for more than ten days. If it is really a planned murder, then from the collection and acquisition of intelligence, to the formulation of the plan and the collusion with the local indigenous people, to the dispatch of a team of trustworthy killers to carry out the mission , all require a long period of preparation and planning.

He felt that with the efficiency of a mere indigenous kingdom, there would never be such mobilization and organizational capabilities. There is also a speculation that before he arrived in West Africa, thoughtful people in the tribe had already received the news.

However, after Franz thought about it, he dismissed the second possibility. After all, this place is 1,700 kilometers away from Guinea. The geographical disadvantage and the inefficiency of communication made him deny that the murder was the result of a series of connections between these indigenous tribes.

Then excluding the above three, there is only one last possibility left, the fourth party force. They are most likely slave traders or competitors of the Austrian Empire.

At least someone didn't want Franz to continue doing what he was doing.

Therefore, Franz firmly believes that now is not the time to vent his anger on the indigenous people. What he has to do is to complete his great plan step by step - to gain a foothold on the coast of West Africa. Only by laying the foundation for the first step can he avoid being about.

Looking at his thoughtful nephew, Friedrich was not sure whether this man's thinking was different from ordinary people. In short, he could not figure out Franz's true thoughts.

The casualties were soon tallied up. In the battle in the celebration area just now, a total of thirty-five people from the legendary and powerful Daho beauty warriors were killed, while only one person from the Austrian royal guard had his arm chopped off.

Coupled with his previous fighting experience in the Ivory Coast, he did not feel that these indigenous tribes could pose any substantial threat to the Austrian army on the battlefield, so he allowed Franz Hu to come.

"So what are you going to do here now?" Friedrich asked.

Friedrich's intention was, of course, to kill the remaining people to eliminate future troubles. No matter what the other party's reasons were, as a traitor, he should be prepared to be killed.

Franz shook his head. He didn't think this was a good idea, and then walked up to the three chiefs and said.

"I'll give you thirty days. After thirty days, I want all the chiefs in southern Togo to sign the treaty. If it exceeds thirty days, even for every extra day, I will annihilate a tribe as a sign of breach of trust. Punishment. You should have seen the fate of the Bayou tribe. If I remember correctly, he should be the most powerful chief among you, right?"

Franz kicked Chief Bayou, who was shot to death at random the first time. At that time, the guards thought of this guy as soon as they were attacked.

As a result, the most influential chief in southern Togo and his two strong bodyguards were instantly beaten to a pulp.

Even if he survived by chance, there were not many people left in his tribe at this time. After all, the two sides did not understand each other's language. In addition, both the royal guards and Franz's direct cavalry felt that the attack on the royal family was an honor to them. great stain.

Some people even thought that this was a good opportunity to please the two Grand Dukes. Naturally, they had no reason to spare those treacherous natives.

And the most important point is that Archduke Franz doesn't seem to like plundering very much, but as long as everyone is killed, it is "taking" rather than "robbery".

Although the cavalry will soon be eliminated on the European battlefield, it is still the most terrifying harvesting machine on the battlefield on the African continent at this time.

Especially in the open plains of southern Togo, there are very few trees to hide in. Therefore, the terrifying cavalry raid just now left an unforgettable nightmare for the surviving indigenous people.

The remaining three chiefs immediately nodded and fled towards their tribes.