Samuel said, "In unfamiliar surroundings, we must be even more careful—especially in Eritrea. During the day, we can easily keep the natives pinned down and beat them, but what about at night? Then we face the risk of our supply lines being cut and of being ambushed."
Sapeto believed he had figured out why the Kingdom of Italy had lost the Italo-Austrian War. Even the kingdom's "military genius" was timid as a mouse—how could they possibly stand against the powerful Austro-Hungarian Empire?
Thus, Sapeto said with some disdain, "Hahaha, General! You think too highly of the Abyssinians. Could they possibly use spears to fight a fully armed Italian army?"
Seeing Sapeto being so blindly confident, Samuel shook his head. "Mr. Sapeto, if that is what you think, then you are gravely mistaken!"
Sapeto asked, "What insight does the general have?"
Samuel said, "Do you know how I rose to prominence during the war?"
Sapeto shook his head.
Samuel recalled, "When I had just enlisted, the kingdom was rushing its recruitment because of the threat from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The company I was assigned to could be said to consist of farmers who had only just put down their hoes in the fields. They could not even tell left from right, and military commands left them utterly bewildered. I myself was also a green young man, knowing little to nothing about the military. Do you think an army like that had any hope against the well-trained Austro-Hungarian Empire?"
Sapeto shook his head and said firmly, "No."
He himself had once been a soldier and knew quite a bit about such matters. Otherwise, he would not have come to Eritrea to engage in colonization after retiring from the military.
Samuel continued, "And that was not even the worst part. No matter how