My Italy

The coronation ceremony of Edward VII was very grand, with dignitaries and monarchs from all over the world witnessing the coronation of the new monarch of the British Empire. But after the excitement, it gradually died down.

Of course, countries are currently focusing on two places, one is South Africa and the other is the Far East.

In South Africa, although the British Empire declared that the war was over. But it is clear that they certainly did not ask the Boers, the other side of the war, for their opinion.

After President Kruger of the Transvaal Republic went to Europe to ask for help, the Boers did not put down their arms obediently. These freedom-loving cowboys continued to cause trouble for the British in South Africa. They continued to harass the territory of the British Empire in the form of guerrilla warfare.

The Boer guerrillas, under the leadership of De Wet, Delray, Botha, Jan Smuts and James Herzog, used their skills in field cavalry and archery to attack the British lines of communication and plunder Supplies the British army and annihilated the small group of British troops.

The more than 40,000 British troops stationed in the two newly captured territories were very troubled by these guerrillas basically composed of local people wandering around.

They are like fleas, unable to catch these guerrillas. The British army, which was angered by these guerrillas, was not helpless at all. The British army, who was a veteran bandit, used despicable methods in this attack. Since I cannot capture the guerrillas, I will capture the local Boers. As long as all these Boers are captured, these guerrillas will become rootless.

As a result, the local Boers were in bad luck. Faced with the arrests of the British soldiers, the local Boers had nowhere to escape because they were all old people, children, and women. All the captured Boers were put into concentration camps for management. The Boers, who were left with only the old, weak, women and children, suffered a high mortality rate when their livestock were robbed and imprisoned together. According to subsequent statistics, the chance of survival of the Boers imprisoned in the concentration camp was 47%. With a lack of medical treatment, medicine and food, what could the Boers do?

The British Empire's policy of persecution against the Boers soon came to light. With hundreds of thousands of people in the two Boer republics, it was impossible to cover up. The atrocities committed by the British army against the Boers soon attracted condemnation from people in various European countries. Many media outlets called the British Empire's treatment of the Boers an act of genocide.

The condemnation from the people of various European countries put great pressure on the British Empire.

Of course, if it were just public condemnation from various European countries, the British Empire could still withstand it. Since the British Empire became an empire on which the sun never sets, it’s not like countries have never experienced dissatisfaction, so just get used to it.

It's just that in addition to the condemnation of the people of various countries, the Boers who carried weapons to fight guerrillas were not only capable of condemnation.

From December 1900 to April 1901, the Boer guerrillas, under the command of Botha and De Wet, fought deep into the British Cape Colony. They launched many sneak attacks and succeeded frequently, capturing large amounts of arms, supplies, cannons, etc.

In response to the fire in the rear, the British army, in addition to continuing to recruit troops from various colonies, also recalled some of the British troops stationed on Boer lands in an attempt to eliminate them here.

After seeing the return of a large number of British troops, these Boer guerrillas returned to the lands of the two original republics and continued to launch various attacks.

It was obvious that the Boer guerrillas were running around the British colonies smoothly, attacking here and there, making the British army, which had an absolute advantage in numbers, exhausted to deal with it.

The tragic appearance of the British army has even led to ridicule from various countries. Of course, in addition to ridicule, the military of various countries are also considering countermeasures for this kind of modern guerrilla warfare.

But no matter what, this does not affect the fact that everyone sees the British Empire as a joke.

Of course, in addition to watching Da Ying's jokes, everyone also talked about the Far East issue.

First of all, regarding the Xinchou Treaty on the Outline of Peace, the Empress Dowager, in order to return to Beijing as soon as possible and to calm the anger of various countries, agreed to all the conditions unanimously put forward by various countries.

Why send people to Germany and Japan to apologize? Why send a prince’s envoy? Just send a prince’s envoy. All countries agreed to the terms of stationing troops to guard the embassy and demarcating the embassy area, leveling the Dagu Fort, and leaving troops from various countries to garrison the capital to the sea.

After agreeing to these conditions, the next most important issue is compensation. 450 million taels of silver is the total amount, which was unanimously decided by all countries. However, in addition to this total amount, the competition among countries for the share of reparations is equally fierce.

Maozi, who was rude and ugly, took the lead and demanded compensation of 130 million taels of silver. Immediately afterwards, Germany, which suffered the most losses this time, also requested compensation of 400 million marks. Then came France, which also demanded more than 70 million taels in compensation. Moreover, these three countries also demanded that the reparations be paid in cash in one lump sum. Such a huge request was immediately unanimously opposed by other countries.

Because other countries have huge interests in China, they do not want to see this kind of fishing in the river.

Therefore, in response to the behavior of the lions of the Three Kingdoms, all countries have jointly put pressure on them. After some wrangling discussions, they finally reached an agreement on the issue of compensation.

The first is Russia, which has the largest share of reparations. Due to the need to consider the issue of Russia's withdrawal from the Northeast, its 130 million taels of silver reparations will no longer be reduced after the Russians agreed to withdraw their troops.

In addition to Russia, Germany, which suffered the most losses this time (after all, an envoy died), received a share of 90 million taels of silver. (275 million marks) Then came the French request, and under unanimous pressure from various countries, 60 million taels of silver were obtained. The British Empire, which worked hard, received a compensation of 50 million taels of silver. Then there are the hard-working Japanese, who also received 30 million taels of silver compensation. As for the United States as far away as North America, it received 14 million taels of silver. Then there are countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Norway, which received a total of about 20 million taels.

As for Italy, it also received 56 million taels from the compensation.

However, it is impossible for the Manchu Qing Dynasty to come up with this compensation of 450 million taels of silver in one go. Therefore, this compensation can only be paid in installments. All countries unanimously decided that the compensation would be paid off in 35 years, with an annual interest of 4.5%, and the settlement would be based on the currency exchange rate of each country. The repayment of principal and interest is scheduled to be handled in Shanghai, and the total principal and interest of the compensation is 1.02 billion taels.

Looking at the compensation bill in his hand, Carlo couldn't calm down for a long time. This is a realistic example of falling behind and being beaten, because in order to pay compensation, the Qing government could only increase taxes. This resulted in the continuous increase of land tax, land tax, grain tax, deed tax, pawn tax, salt price increase, tariff, lijin, unified tax and various exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes. In addition, the repayment of the compensation also caused the price of silver to fall, which increased its expenses. And this compensation essentially accelerated the demise of the Qing Dynasty.

In this case, there are some things that need to be prepared in advance.

"Bakona, we are going to issue a statement. Our country is willing to use half of the annual compensation for education in the Far East. Our country is going to build a modern school in the Far East, and the remaining part will be used as a learning fund."

That's right, Carlo is preparing to learn from the advanced experience from the United States and give priority to cultivating a group of attentive students. These aspiring young people who come to Italy to study will always be full of feelings for Italy. You may not be able to see it in a year or two, but what about after a long time?

By then Italy will still be able to guarantee its influence in the Far East.