Chapter 2043: He Is More Anxious Than You

At this time, Somalia.

The Italy Colonial Area!

The "Horn of Africa," which guards the Gulf of Asia, is the first checkpoint for entering the Red Sea.

Perhaps due to the heritage from their ancestors, every powerful great power has, at one time or another, wanted to turn the Mediterranean Sea into their own inland sea, wearing it like a pocket on their own person.

The Italy, hegemon of the West Asia peninsula, is naturally no exception, though ever since Europe split into dozens of countries, it has been in a state of long-term chaos.

Added to that is the British Empire located on the sea, a thing that stirs up trouble like a turd.

Whenever a European country becomes powerful, it always jumps out to form various military alliances.

This belongs to the traditional skills of Britain.

Therefore, if Italy wants to be powerful and wants to control the surrounding regions of the Mediterranean, it must find another way.

Having mastered Somalia, it naturally also masters the power to enter and exit the Red Sea to the Suez Canal.

It is just that this region of Somalia is occupied by three countries: Italy, France, and Britain.

Italy wants to take advantage of France and Britain fighting to break into the Ethiopian Plateau, attempting to occupy the Aksum Kingdom.

At this time, the Italy Colonial Area.

Dawn, who is about to be unable to hold on, sends a Messenger to request support from the Italy Commander.

The Italy Commander, Andrew, personally receives the Messenger from France.

"Oh, dear Snake, welcome."

Snake bows respectfully and says: "Thank you, honorable Andrew, I bring you good news."

"I will help you obtain the Aksum Kingdom!"

Andrew narrows his eyes as he looks at Snake, ignoring him, and instead says: "It has been a hard journey from the Nile River to my Somalia; you must be hungry. I have prepared the best banquet for you."

"I hope you like it."

Snake glances at Andrew, and seeing the calm, unrefusable expression on his face, he has no choice but to say: "Thank you, Commander."

Their France is currently on the verge of collapse from being beaten by the troops of Nashadier and the troops of the Prince of Yong, and they are in urgent need of support.

But diplomacy cannot be rushed.

He lets out a breath; he was too impatient just now.

He let Andrew obtain a lot of key information.

Attacking Aksum is not a particularly urgent matter for Italy, and besides, this kind of kingdom in Africa...

Even without the help of their France, it is very easy to conquer.

The bargaining chip he offered had no appeal.

At the banquet, the feast Andrew prepared is very rich—not Longyan cuisine, but Italian delicacies.

For Italy, food is like life itself.

Andrew raises his wine glass, the red wine reflecting the candlelight to reveal a different color: "Snake, have a taste. Wine from the Sinai Peninsula."

"See how it differs in taste from your French wine."

Snake, who is thinking about how to get Andrew to send troops for reinforcements, is stunned by his words, but immediately understands. He lifts his wine glass, gestures lightly to Andrew, and takes a small sip of the red wine.

Feeling the mellow taste in his mouth, several ideas surge forth.

The people of Italy value food the most; they would even risk their lives fighting others over pasta!

Thinking of this, Snake says: "Honorable Lord Andrew, the taste of this wine is not bad, but I think you have likely never tasted fine wine from France."

"It possesses a deliciousness comparable to Yinzhou Drunken Wine."

"Paired with a little carefully prepared pine mushroom or oysters from Norway, I think that taste would be enough to leave one with endless aftertaste."

This makes Andrew reminisce a bit; as a person who enjoys food, he is somewhat intoxicated just listening to it.

"It is just a pity that we need Egypt, a place where grain can be grown," Snake sighs.

This sentence is almost an explicit hint to Andrew.

Andrew laughs and says lightly: "Brother Snake, no need to beat around the bush. You want me to help you attack Longyan."

Snake looks at Andrew with a slightly astonished expression, bows with cupped hands, and says with great admiration: "The Commander is wise."

A faint smile curls at the corners of Andrew's mouth, and he says again: "What you need is the industrial zone on the Ethiopian Plateau; what we need is the Aksum Kingdom."

"Longyan is not a well-behaved neighbor to me."

"Snake, you should understand what I mean!"

Snake nods slightly. If the Ethiopian Plateau were to fall into the hands of the Longyan, even if Italy occupied the Aksum Kingdom, it would be unable to sleep or eat in peace because of having a powerful country nearby.

Although France is also powerful, the other party is still an ally.

At least if the other party had any ideas about his colony, he could quickly make a countermeasure.

The relationship of interests is now very clear; Italy would absolutely not want Longyan to be its neighbor.

He has already regarded the Aksum Kingdom as his own meal on the plate.

After hearing these words, Snake finally understands that he had not considered Andrew's ultimate goal.

In fact, Italy needs to find allies even more than they do.

Italy does not have many colonies in Africa, and its military strength is even weaker.

And Italy is located on the Mediterranean Sea, a typical Mediterranean country; at this time, the one controlling the throat of the Mediterranean is Longyan.

Italy urgently needs to shake off its geographical position in the Mediterranean; Somalia and the Aksum Kingdom are its backup plans.

After mastering this place, Longyan's control over Italy's maritime trade will be greatly weakened.

Thinking of this, Snake has completely figured it out: Andrew is even more anxious than he is.

Occupying Aksum is not the most urgent matter; containing Longyan is.

Snake says aloud: "Commander, perhaps we can cooperate..."

Andrew nodded, the banquet continued, and a military alliance was being born rapidly.

……

Meanwhile, on the other side of Egypt.

Ever since Dawn had been forced to split his main forces into two battlefields, the situation on the Valhalla front had been effectively contained.

However, the Nile River Basin was on the verge of being unable to hold out.

Although this side was easier to defend and harder to attack, Jiang Xuan's offensive was even more incisive.

The fierce offensive caused Dawn to suffer greatly.

Many French Soldiers, upon seeing severed fingers and broken limbs blown to pieces flying in front of their faces every day, wailed in agony.

Furthermore, due to the blockade by the Longyan army, their troops could not receive many supplies.

A lack of food on the battlefield was undoubtedly the most fatal thing.

High-intensity combat combined with a lack of food.

A soldier recorded the tragic state of this war in his diary like this.

"People are dying every day, and the Longyan army's blockade prevents us from getting even a tiny bit of food. One day, in order to keep us combat-ready, to keep hunger from consuming us, and to keep this fear of wanting to die but being unable to from entangling us, our squad leader got hold of some roasted meat from somewhere.

We ate it with great relish that day, feeling our whole bodies filled with strength; that day I even personally shot and killed three Longyan, but the beauty was interrupted here; I saw with my own eyes our squad leader, while clearing the battlefield, picking up those broken limbs of unknown origin..."