African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 296 Taking Venice

"I'm sorry, everyone. We in Mozambique are very sensitive to this matter and will not open the port. This is related to the security of Mozambique."

"That is to say, there is no need to discuss this matter! We just hope that you can provide the port for economic development, and personnel can operate under your supervision without involving your safety issues."

The receptionist in Mozambique shook his head and said, "Please go back! This is the governor's decision."

The East African diplomats glanced at each other. It seemed that the new governor of Mozambique was really not easy to deal with, but everyone had no choice but to go back and report the situation first.

Mozambique's disapproval of the port lease issue is not surprising to the East African government. It was not expected that Mozambique would agree, and it was entirely with a try attitude.

Thinking in another way, if a country asks East Africa to open its market, East Africa itself will not agree. Of course, renting a port is not the same as opening the market, but the reason is the same.

East Africa fully understands the Portuguese. After all, the Portuguese have been manipulated by the British before, and they will definitely not let down their guard.

……

Fast forward to December.

Grand Duke Albrecht, the supreme commander of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, finally started the final battle against the Kingdom of Italy. It is definitely not an option to drag it on. Venice has been besieged for several months, and more than half of the population has gone. Some people have gone to East Africa. , Some went to South America, and some went to the surrounding area. Now that the purpose of the Austro-Hungarian Empire has been completed as a whole, the war cannot be dragged on to prevent changes.

"Attack across the board!"

With the order issued, the whole of Italy resumed the scene of artillery fire. The heavy artillery mobilized from the rear of the Austro-Hungarian Empire violently bombarded the city defense of Venice, and the pressure on the Venice defenders increased sharply.

On the same day, the Austro-Hungarian coalition forces in the Lombardy area also launched a large-scale offensive towards Lombardy, and the expeditionary force, which detoured back to the Papal State to rest, and the Papal State army also steadily advanced towards Florence for the second time.

The Kingdom of Naples did not take large-scale actions, mainly to guard against Sicily in the south. The Sicilians were not interested in the Kingdom of Naples, and did not want to restore the former Kingdom of Two Sicilies and live together.

Due to the internal instability of the Kingdom of Naples, the Kingdom of Naples did not join the war, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire agreed.

Although Sicily is still under the rule of the Kingdom of Italy, as long as the Kingdom of Naples and the Pope exist, their connection can only rely on the Mediterranean Sea. Even if this enclave does not separate from the Kingdom of Italy in the future, it is very likely that it will demand autonomy.

In the past few months when the Austro-Hungarian Empire stopped its offensive, the Kingdom of Italy was not unprepared. Apart from the trouble of dealing with the annoying fly of the expeditionary force, the Kingdom of Italy was able to maintain order in general.

Taking advantage of this gap, Emmanuel II asked the British for help again. The British did not refuse this time. A large amount of military aid was tilted towards Italy. The British did not want Austria-Hungary to easily defeat Italy. The Franco-Prussian War was a foregone conclusion unless A figure like Napoleon who saved France in times of crisis appeared again, but the chances were extremely low, so the British began to free up their hands to curb the expansion of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Italy.

"The Austro-Hungarian Empire is not as terrible as imagined. The achievements they created before were just a sudden launch after a long-planned plan, which caused us to suffer heavy losses in the early stage. However, based on the results of the two sides' fights in the past few months, we can clearly see that the soldiers of the kingdom What kind of progress.” said the Minister of Defense of the Kingdom of Italy.

It is an objective fact that the military strength of the Kingdom of Italy has progressed, but it is also a fact that the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not exert its strength in the past few months.

This led to a very interesting result. Although the Italian side was losing troops and losing land every day in the Venice area, the Italian military did report frequent successes.

Especially after Venice was besieged, it still swears to the kingdom: "The Austro-Hungarian Empire is at the end of its strength, and with the fortifications of Venice, it is absolutely possible to keep the bridgehead of Venice from being lost."

The reason why the Italian military reported this is that they have not been hurt. Apart from the moment when the war started, the offensive strength of the Austro-Hungarian Empire soon dropped, causing the main force of Italy to shrink slowly, and finally squeezed into the small city of Venice. .

At the same time, the Kingdom of Italy took the aid of the British and organized an army of 10 people in the rear. Therefore, in this war, the judgment of various countries is that the Austro-Hungarian Empire may not win. Although the overall strength of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is stronger, but with the British Italy, supported by many people, may be able to complete the reverse push.

However, the Austro-Hungarian Empire at this time is not the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the First World War in the previous life, and its army and navy generals are not the kind of incompetent people, but two recognized world famous generals, Archduke Albrecht and Von T. Gerthoff.

Therefore, the current Austro-Hungarian army is still online among the great powers, and it will not take as much effort to fight Serbia as in the previous life.

Albrecht increased the strength of the Italian Army on land, and the Austro-Hungarian Navy also began to harass Sicily, Sardinia and the mainland in Italy.

The restoration of the Kingdom of Naples ensured that it had a place to dock for supplies in the waters west of Italy.

The Kingdom of Italy felt pressure from the very beginning in the final battle against Albrecht, and multiple lines began to run out, and Venice, a strong bridgehead, was not as strong as they imagined.

Under the bombardment of multiple rounds of artillery fire, the Venetian defense line was quickly opened, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire entered the Venice area and began street fighting with the Italian army.

Under normal circumstances, as a side fighting locally, Italy should have an advantage in street fighting in Venice.

But this time is different, because the enemy of the Italian Army is not only the Austro-Hungarian Army, but also the local citizens of Venice.

After the Austro-Hungarian army entered Venice, it immediately won the support of the people of Venice, led the way, assisted in combat, and shot black guns behind the Italian army.

As for why the Venetians did this, it was because the people of Venice could no longer bear the so-called Kingdom of Italy.

The dignitaries of Venice took the opportunity to make a fortune in Venice, and they ran amok in Venice for a few months, but they dumped the blame on the Italian Army.

In the small city of Venice, nearly [-] Italian troops were crowded, and the amount of food they consumed was huge. Coupled with the exploitation of the government, the citizens of Venice could be said to be collapsing day by day.

Before the Austro-Hungarian army came in, it was good to say that the moment the Austro-Hungarian Empire entered Venice, the people's anger that had been pent up for several months broke out completely.

With the help of the citizens of Venice, the Austro-Hungarian Empire gained an advantage in the street fighting, and the already low morale of the Italian army collapsed instantly after being stabbed in the back. Venice fell completely on the first day.

(End of this chapter)