War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

In fact, Franz was really surprised when he heard that the British and Argentina had jointly invaded Uruguay, but he quickly recovered.

Because this decision is really not a wise move. The resistance of Latin Americans is on the one hand, and the attitude of the great powers.

At this time, Britain had too many enemies. In addition to Brazil and France on the surface, the United States and Austria actually did not want the British to dominate Latin America.

Of course, Americans are not for the nonsense "Monroe Doctrine", but they do regard Latin America as their own tonic, hoping that one day they can swallow it and catch up with Europe.

Moreover, due to Palmerston's radical tactics and strong attitude, the conflicts between Britain and the United States continued to increase. At this time, the U.S. President John Taylor was not an easy person to deal with. He was not intimidated by the former's behavior, but instead Face the difficulties head on.

Except for not directly declaring war in the Oregon region, what the two sides did was no different from fighting.

The United States has a large number of people there, but after the disintegration of Palmerston, this advantage has become very weak. But the British's advantage was not great because they had too few people, and the Americans who defected were not restless.

In contrast, Austria's starting point is much more bizarre. In addition to not wanting Britain to be too powerful, the most important point is that they are too close to Brazil.

At this time, Brazil was the largest rubber producer in the world, and Austria's rubber industry was far ahead. In addition to its technical advantages, it also had a unique advantage in raw materials.

Almost all the natural rubber produced in Brazil is sold to Austria, but this still cannot meet the needs of its industrial development at this time, and it is stuck every year.

This is not because Franz is short-sighted and does not know how to prepare for a rainy day, but the rubber industry is developing far faster than he imagined.

The technology that Franz originally thought would take decades, or at least more than ten years, to develop was successfully developed in less than a year. The reason is that in addition to Franz recruiting a large number of talents, having reasonable guidance, and clear goals, the main reason is that some technologies really have no technical content.

What Franz, a layman, thinks is magical, is really nothing in the eyes of real experts, scholars and master craftsmen.

In fact, Austria will become the world's largest rubber producer in just a few years, but even so he does not want to give up Brazilian rubber.

After all, technology is evolving too fast at this time. Who knows if a certain growth point will suddenly appear and catch Franz off guard.

Franz has re-expanded the rubber planting area based on the current industrial growth rate. However, the cycle of rubber is too long, and even if there is a plan, the situation of shortage of raw materials will not change instantly.

Central Asia, Afghanistan.

In fact, the British were fighting a proxy war in Afghanistan, and Shah Shuja was the agent they supported. He was a descendant of the Durrani dynasty that once ruled Afghanistan.

In the eyes of the British, legitimacy was stronger than that of Dost Mohammed, and everything in the early stages of the war was as they expected.

"This war is like an outing." - A British soldier in the Afghan Expeditionary Force wrote in his diary.

However, the British soon encountered problems, high maintenance costs and terrible guerrilla warfare. When the British needed this agent to solve their problems, conflicts arose within the agent's family, and they fought over who could become the "agent."

When the winner was finally decided within the family, the British army's operation in Afghanistan also failed. Tens of thousands of troops died tragically, and the Duke of Orange was forced to resign.

The new head of the Durani family was strangled to death in his palace and became one of the many victims of this war.

Akbar Khan, the eldest son of Dost Muhammad, actually controlled Afghanistan. The only person who could compete with him was Aminullah Khan. In fact, the latter's strength and reputation were far less than the former.

Akbar Khan was a humble and courteous politician and a wily general on the battlefield. If he became the king of Afghanistan, he would definitely go south to attack India.

At this time, Akbar Khan's slogan was to go south to deal with his father, Dost Muhammad, and the British used their trick to release the latter.

Akbar Khan's personal character was indeed very good, so he handed over his power after Dost Muhammad returned and was sincerely happy that his father could return to power.

But soon Dost Muhammad began to purge the Akbar faction and quickly marginalized them. Even Akbar Khan himself was repeatedly criticized without reason.

At this time those of Akbar's sect remembered the prophecy of a dervish many years ago.

"The past king and the future king will fight each other father and son. If the past wins the future, then there will be no tomorrow in Afghanistan. The earth will be covered with blood and yellow sand, and the strong wind will blow away those screaming souls."

(It was mentioned in the previous document that Franz once conducted a secret operation.)

After so many years, these Akbar's men suddenly remembered and broke into cold sweats with fear. Isn't that what Dost Mohammed had to do at this time?

In fact, what these tribal leaders care about is not the future of Afghanistan, but their own lives and the lives of their tribesmen. Dost Muhammad was cruel and suspicious, not as generous as Akbar Khan.

If this kind of person really intends to eliminate his son who is a threat to him, then he will definitely eradicate them all as well.

"Tiger poison will not eat its children, but fighting between father and son is nothing new in the royal family."

Akbar Khan may hesitate again and again because of the love between his father and son, but those under him will not sit still and wait for death for their own lives and property.

Sure enough, not long after, Akbar Khan suddenly contracted a cold and was bedridden. Dost Muhammad sent a doctor to treat him.

But when the doctor entered Akbar Khan's room, he found that the prince, the hero of the Afghan people, was sitting on the floor drinking tea.

The doctor who realized something was wrong was restrained just as he was trying to escape. Akbar Khan's men found a medicine bottle on the doctor's body, which contained pungent and unpleasant medicine.

"What is this?" shouted one of Akbar Khan's tribal leaders.

"This is...this is medicine to treat the disease." The doctor answered tremblingly.

His expression gave him away, and no one would believe what he said.

One of the guards put a drop of the medicine in the bottle into the water, and then gave it to the camel outside the door to drink. Within a few minutes, the strong camel foamed at the mouth and fell to the ground.

The guard drew out his scimitar and pressed it against the doctor's neck. A faint line of blood was drawn due to excessive force.

"explain"

Before the guard finished speaking, the doctor burst into tears.

"The emir sent me. If I don't do it, he will kill my whole family. For the sake of Allah, please spare me."

"Master, please make your decision."

The tribal leaders around Akbar Khan gathered around him, naturally hoping that he would become king. He also knew that if he didn't follow what these people wanted, they probably wouldn't give up and could only sigh helplessly.

"Doctor, you go back and tell my father that you watched me drink the medicine with your own eyes. You have to believe that my father is not the only one who can kill your whole family, but you know that if you do as I say, you can at least ensure that your family can survive. Come down."