"Kill the chicken to scare the monkeys"—that was not so easy to pull off. First of all, the chicken being killed would not agree to it. If the butcher's skills were not refined enough, the chicken might just fly away.
No one who played politics was a fool. Everyone moved in the same circles; who did not have a few hidden pieces on the board?
The arrival of the Austrian delegation was no secret at all. Since the Vienna Government wanted to annex the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State, under normal circumstances it would have to win over powerhouses like them.
Do not assume that because they were politically anti-Austrian, they truly bore Austria a blood feud and would fight it to the bitter end.
Other than a handful of hot-blooded adolescents, the seasoned old hands opposed Austria only out of political necessity. Some people stood to profit from joining Austrian Africa, while others would see their interests harmed. It was impossible to satisfy everyone's interests.
Naturally, those whose interests were harmed would oppose the merger. The crying child gets the milk—this held true in both China and the West. How could they possibly gain benefits if they neither cried nor made a fuss?
The anti-Austrian faction had thus come into being in pursuit of greater benefits. The pro-Austrian and anti-Austrian factions were linked by countless threads; some were even merely hedging their bets on both sides.
No one had anticipated that Austria would expand so rapidly. Before they could react, Austria had already arrived at their doorstep and begun discussing annexation.
It was certainly too late to turn around immediately. The anti-Austrian faction had backers too—for example, they had secretly colluded with the British and the Portuguese.
Tragically, Austria now held overwhelming power on the African Continent.