My Italian: Chapter 149 worry
If Italy got the result it wanted, and Abyssinia stopped the loss in time, then the Sudanese who invaded Abyssinia had a feeling that it was too late.
Facing the betrayal of Italy and the crushed Abyssinians, the Sultan Caliph Abdullah, who was put together, could only grit his teeth.
In fact, he should have thought about it after Italy signed the peace treaty with Abyssinia, because the Italians did not inform him of this situation at all. By the time he got the news, the Abyssinian army had already arrived.
In Azezo, on the north bank of Lake Tana, the soda caliph, his face was abnormally bad.
"I actually believed in the instigation of the pagans. It was greed that covered my eyes."
That's right, if Abdullah hadn't had ambitions for Abyssinian territory, how could he have attacked Abyssinia with Italy.
But now Italy has achieved its purpose, leaving the Sudan alone to face the Abyssinian counterattack.
However, although facing the Abyssinians alone, Abdullah still has confidence, giving him confidence that he has an army of 90,000 people in his hands. Because he knew that the Abyssinians had suffered heavy losses in the previous battle with the Italians, with 50,000 to 60,000 losses. Now, the Abyssinians are no more powerful than themselves.
This Abdullah was right, there are only more than 80,000 men in Menelik who led the army to Gondar. However, although his number is smaller, he has weapons supported by Italy, and even secret equipment. That's why his cheque for 100,000 pounds played a role in giving him this secret weapon.
Menelik has seen this kind of equipment, which is also the proof that he has the confidence to catch the Sultan. It seems that a war between the two countries is inevitable.
Now let's leave the battle between the two African nations behind and focus on Europe.
The news of Abyssinia's surrender made the city of Rome cheer. Although many people didn't even know where Abyssinia was, it did not prevent them from holding victory parades.
How can one not be happy that the motherland has won a victory, and the Italian colonies have been greatly increased.
As for the cheering parade of the Italians, the performance of Britain and France, as old colonial countries, is somewhat interesting.
French newspapers called the war in Italy a man who was madly hungry, picked up a loaf of bread, and stood on the street to show it off. He had never seen the world.
And the British Times reported that we don't want to comment too much on the Italian war in the colonies. However, it deployed a large number of troops and spent nearly eight million pounds. It is not known how Italy intends to make this money back from barren Abyssinia.
Well, the reports of the British are more objective, and the reports of the French are full of ridicule.
Well let's ignore the French attitude, the British are right about one thing. This time Italy is a bit too expensive.
To this end, Prime Minister Depretis found Carlo worried.
"Your Majesty, since the war is over, the army should be withdrawn."
Seeing that the first link was unwilling to wait for a moment, Carlo let go of his inner joy and asked curiously. "What's wrong?"
"Look at this bill. It's a list of expenses for this war."
Watching the Prime Minister hand a list to him, Carlo looked curiously. The various expenses listed above, Carlo directly saw the end, and the words 21.93 million liras remained on it, which was so stimulating to his eyes that he was stunned.
"How come there's only so much left?"
It is rare that Carlo actually cares about the problem of spending too much, the Prime Minister said with an ugly face. "This does not include the cost of withdrawing troops. If you add it, then I will be satisfied with 10 million lire left."
Well, the Prime Minister's words made Carlo look embarrassed. It was his fault that he was really too generous this time, but he didn't dare to be too generous when hitting the Abyssinians.
The report from Simeone made Carlo very fortunate that he did not follow the advice of the military. If only 10,000 people were dispatched, it would simply be sending sheep into the tiger’s mouth. You must know that according to Simone's report, the Italian army lost more than 4,000 people in this war against Abyssinia. Although it also caused the loss of 50,000 to 60,000 Abyssinians, it also proved that this East African feudalism The country is brave and good at fighting.
Of course, for Carlo, it is worth the cost to be able to beat the Abyssinians to the ground. At least he avoided making Italy the laughing stock of Europe, which would do a great deal of damage to the self-confidence of the Italian people, which money can't buy.
It's just that the large-scale spending is very cool, and my heart hurts a little after it's cool.
So in the face of the Prime Minister's questioning, Carlo can only think about him. "Let me think about the issue of withdrawing troops now."
"Your Majesty can no longer think about it. Now Simone's army needs to consume a lot of materials every day, which is all money. Besides, we have no money. If the army does not withdraw, His Excellency Teyera will go crazy. ."
Facing the Prime Minister's words, Carlo looked at him in surprise. "It's impossible."
"Why is it impossible? Finance Minister Teyera told me yesterday that the money in the treasury has been reduced to the warning line. If there is still a large amount of spending, then we can only continue to borrow foreign debt. At present, my country has been continuously in the securities market. Having borrowed several foreign debts has already consumed the confidence of enough investors. If we continue to borrow, we are likely to become the next Spain.”
The Prime Minister's words shocked Carlo a lot. Spain is not a good player in the stock market. The country's foreign debt is like buying a lottery ticket, which is shocking.
Carlo of course does not want to see Italy become a country with huge foreign debts like Spain.
At this time, Carlo couldn't help but ask. "How much foreign debt are we currently borrowing?"
Before that, Carlo was not very clear about Italy's foreign debt~www.mtlnovel.com~ But since the Prime Minister has said so, he needs to know what he says.
Facing Carlo's inquiry, the Prime Minister replied. "Currently, my country's total external debt is 4.129 billion lire. In the past three years, we need to repay 873 million lire of principal and interest external debt. In five years, we need to repay 1.571 billion lire of external debt. The remaining external debt, most of which are It needs to be paid off within ten years, so our country is under great financial pressure, and we must save various expenses as much as possible.”
In the face of the Prime Minister's words, Carlo was taken aback. He did not expect that Italy had so much foreign debt. This requires three years of financial income to fill.
In the face of such a financial situation, what Carlo can say can only be said to the Prime Minister. "Well, I will let the troops withdraw as soon as possible after stabilizing the situation on the ground."
When the satisfied Prime Minister left, Carlo called a squire. "Please come over to Mr. Allejad and say I'm looking for him."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Knowing the pressure on the government's finances, Carlo plans to increase investment in industry. Only industry can save Italy's finances. Electrification is the focus of this investment.