If Italy got the result it wanted and Abyssinia stopped its losses in time, then the Sudanese who invaded Abyssinia felt like they were in trouble.
The sultan Caliph Abdullah, who was sidelined, could only grit his teeth in the face of Italy's betrayal and the Abyssinians who were pressed by the entire army.
In fact, he should have thought of it after Italy signed the peace treaty with Abyssinia, because the Italians did not inform him of the situation at all. By the time he got the news, the Abyssinian army had already arrived.
In Azezo on the north shore of Lake Tana, the Caliph of Soda looked extremely bad.
"I actually believed the instigation of the pagans. It was greed that obscured 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 had achieved its goal, leaving the Sudanese alone to face the Abyssinian counterattack.
However, although he was facing the Abyssinians alone, Abdullah still had confidence. What gave him confidence was the 90,000 troops at his disposal. Because he knew that the Abyssinians had fought against the Italians before.
The losses were heavy, between 50,000 and 60,000 men. Now, the Abyssinians would not have more troops than themselves.
Abdullah was right as he expected. Menelik, who has led the army to Gondar, has only more than 80,000 people. However, although his number is smaller, he has weapons and even secret equipment supported by Italy.
This was also the effect of his check of one hundred thousand pounds, which allowed him to possess this secret weapon.
Menelik had seen this kind of equipment, which was the proof that he was confident in overcoming Sudan. It seemed that a war between the two countries was inevitable.
Now let us put aside the fighting between the two African countries and focus on Europe.
The news of Abyssinia's surrender caused cheers in the city of Rome. Although many people did not even know where Abyssinia was, it did not prevent them from holding victory parades.
The motherland has won a victory, which has greatly increased the number of Italian colonies. Why can't people be happy?
As for the cheering parade of the Italians, Britain and France, as old colonial countries, were a little bit playful about this.
French newspapers described the war in Italy as a story about a man who was crazy about hunger, picked up a piece of bread, and stood in the street to show it off. He had never seen anything in the world.
The British Times reported that we don’t want to comment too much on Italy’s colonial war. However, it mobilized a large number of troops and spent nearly 8 million pounds. I don’t know that Italy plans to start from the barren Abyssini.
How can Asia earn this money back?
Well, the British report is more objective after all, while the French report is full of ridicule.
Well let's ignore the French attitude, the British are absolutely right about one thing. Italy's spending this time was a little too much.
For this reason, Prime Minister Depretis found Carlo worriedly.
"Your Majesty, now that the war is over, the troops should be withdrawn."
Seeing that the Prime Minister was unwilling to wait for even a moment, Carlo put aside his inner joy and asked curiously, "What's wrong?"
"Look at this bill. It's all the cost of this war."
Watching the Prime Minister hand a list to him, Carlo looked at it curiously. Among the various expenses listed above, Carlo went straight to the end and saw that there were still 21.93 million lire left on it. It was so eye-catching that it made him
He was stunned.
"How come there is only so much left?"
It was rare that Carlo actually cared about the issue of too much cost. The Prime Minister said with an ugly face. "This does not include the cost of withdrawing the troops. If it is added, then I will have ten million lire left, and I will be satisfied."
"
Well, the Prime Minister's words made Carlo look embarrassed. This was all because he was too generous this time, but he didn't dare not be generous when fighting the Abyssinians.
The report from Simeone made Carlo very happy that he did not follow the military's advice. If he really only sent 10,000 people, it would be like sending a sheep into the tiger's mouth. You must know that according to Simeone's report, this time against Abyssinia
In the war, the Italian army lost more than 4,000 people. Although it also caused the loss of 50,000 to 60,000 Abyssinians, it also proved that this feudal East African country was brave and good at fighting.
Of course, for Carlo, being able to defeat the Abyssinians was worth the cost. At least he avoided making Italy the laughing stock of Europe, which would cause huge harm to the Italian people's self-confidence.
This is something you can't buy with money.
It's just that spending a lot of money is very satisfying, but after that, your heart aches a little bit.
Therefore, when faced with the Prime Minister's questioning, Carlo could only make decisions. "Let me consider the issue of troop withdrawal now."
"Your Majesty can no longer think about it. Now Simeone's army needs to consume a lot of supplies every day, which is all money. Besides, we have no money. If the army does not withdraw, Your Excellency Tejela will go crazy.
.”
Facing the Prime Minister's words, Carlo looked at him in surprise. "This is impossible."
"How is it impossible? Finance Minister Tejela told me yesterday that the money in the national treasury has been reduced to the warning level. If there are still large expenditures, then we can only continue to borrow foreign debt. At present, our country has continued to lose money in the securities market.
We have borrowed several foreign debts, which has already consumed enough investors’ confidence. If we continue to borrow more, we may become the next Spain.”
The Prime Minister's words shocked Carlo. Spain is not a good player in the securities market. The country's foreign debt is like buying a lottery ticket, which is frightening.
Carlo certainly does not want to see Italy become like Spain, a country burdened with huge foreign debt.
At this time Carlo couldn't help but ask, "How much foreign debt have we borrowed now?"
Before this, Carlo didn't know much about Italy's foreign debt, but since the Prime Minister said so, he needed to know what he said.
Facing Carlo's inquiry, the Prime Minister replied, "Currently, the total foreign debt borrowed by our country is 4.129 billion lire. In the past three years, we need to repay 873 million lire of principal and interest foreign debt. Within five years, we need to repay 1.571 billion lire."
Foreign debt. Most of the remaining foreign debt needs to be paid off within ten years, so our country is under great financial pressure and must save all expenditures as much as possible."
Facing the Prime Minister's words, Carlo was shocked. He did not expect that Italy would bear so much foreign debt. It would take three years of fiscal revenue to fill it.
Faced with such a financial situation, what could Carlo say? He could only say to the Prime Minister. "Okay, I will let the troops withdraw as soon as possible after stabilizing the local situation."
After the satisfied Prime Minister left, Carlo called an attendant. "Ask Mr. Alejard to come over and tell me I'm looking for him."
"As you command, Your Majesty."
After Carlo learned about the pressure on government finances, he planned to increase investment in industry. Only industry can save Italy's finances. And electrification is the focus of this investment.
