"You think we're fools? The Austrians say they're merely passing through, and that makes it so?
Historically, the Holy Roman Empire used this trick on Italy often enough!
If we really let the Austrian Army land in Cape Town, can those blacks and fence-sitters in the colony stop them?"
What Earl of Derby did not say was that, setting aside whether those people in the Cape Colony could stop them, it was uncertain whether they would even resist.
Britain was in a terrible state at the moment, while the Austrian Empire was on the rise.
It was hard to say whether those profit-seekers would simply choose to surrender. After all, the Austrian Empire's regular army was incomparably powerful, and its market was vast enough.
At the very least, Earl of Derby did not believe that the trash in those colonies would fight to the bitter end for Britain.
Earl of Derby's aides were equally troubled. They would never believe, not even if beaten to death, that the Austrian Empire was sending troops to help a colony suppress a rebellion.
Even if it were true, if it turned out that the British Government had been pulling strings behind the scenes, would those Austrian soldiers turn around and wipe out the Cape Colony on the spot?
"Prime Minister, we absolutely cannot let the Austrians land. Britain has fewer than two regiments stationed in the Cape Colony. If we really fight the Austrians, we do not stand the slightest chance."
Earl of Derby was startled when he heard this and hurriedly asked, "Didn't you say before that we had ten or twenty thousand men there?"
The aides could only answer in low voices.
"We still have over ten thousand Black auxiliary troops. Those Black soldiers are adequate against natives, but they cannot even