For the politicians of the mother country, the colony is a place of wealth and a golden adornment for their faces. But for those who go to colonize to develop, the colony is a quagmire of garbage.
Politicians in Paris can sing hymns in the National Assembly, saying how much territory the empire has expanded, how much more people have been added, and how much commercial interests have been greatly improved.
Newspapers reported, people cheered, and officials continued to get promoted and rich!
But after the colony is conquered, there must be someone to manage and garrison it, right? There is a difference between a job and a hard job!
For those areas that have been occupied by Europeans for two to three hundred years, although during such a long period of time the Europeans only plundered resources and dumped goods, there was little investment in them.
But Europeans always make the cities they often live in more beautiful and closer to the West.
For example, North Africa, Bangladesh, North America and other port cities are all areas where France has a long history of colonization. Not only are there many European immigrants, but they also live closer to home.
You can eat food with similar tastes, you can pray in European-style churches, and you can even pay to find prostitutes of European origin to be happy!
The streets are stone roads, the city has walls, the port has forts to defend against pirates, and even the local indigenous people learned some French during the colonial process.
Living in such a colony is called paradise. You can not only enjoy the majesty of a European lord and show off your power in front of the natives, but also get a quality of life similar to that in Europe.
Such a colony is fat and needy!
But this is not the case here in Annan. The French colonization here began in 1860. It was the French fleet that expedition to the Qing Empire and took over Saigon to start colonial rule.
It has only been ten years, and during these ten years the French have continued to fight against local resistance forces, interspersed with several conflicts with the Chinese.
Especially in the sneak attack on Naha, although no battleships were provided here, the army also detached a battalion of elites to support!
The war will definitely destroy the economy, because they must always be prepared for sneak attacks by local indigenous people and the increasingly powerful local Chinese. The spirits of these Annan French troops are always highly tense, for fear that the Chinese will come over from the sea that day.
In such a tense atmosphere, no one is willing to carry out infrastructure construction, nor does they have the energy! The only achievement in ten years was the construction of the Governor's Palace and the continuous military inspections.
Continuously detailing the maps in the dense forests, constantly enriching the hydrological data of the coastline... all of this is to prepare for France's long-term rule here.
Of course this is all hard work, and Annan has become a hell in the mouths of local soldiers!
Many letters from the French troops stationed in Saigon to the mainland indicate this!
"This is a cursed land. I really don't know why the emperor wanted to attack this place...The air is humid and it rains for half the year..."
"The roads are so muddy that the strongest leather boots will be soaked in less than a month here... Countless of our brothers are suffering from eczema..."
"You have never imagined that the mosquitoes here are actually bigger than moths. Mosquitoes that have sucked up enough blood are so swollen that they can no longer fly. If you slap me, your palm will be covered with blood..."
"There are big mosquitoes, small mosquitoes, spotted mosquitoes, poisonous mosquitoes...and all kinds of small biting reptiles, even the most dense mosquito nets can't stop them..."
"These locals are so stupid that they don't know French cuisine at all. No matter how you teach them, it's hard to understand... I miss the cheese from my hometown so much..."
"What a disgusting place. We don't even know how to spend our military pay. We don't know what to buy except gambling... Even the wine here has a strange smell..."
"Although the women here are pretty good, they are too small, as small as dolls...and their skin is very dark. The tropical sun is really too harsh..."
Almost all the letters contained complaints from the troops stationed in Annan, France. In fact, Europeans did not always open up new colonies to enjoy the blessings. The hardships of the first few generations were exchanged for the blessings of future generations.
The governor was almost helpless in the face of such emotions. He could only use strict military laws to suppress the complaints of these soldiers. However, no matter how fierce the whip was, it was impossible to eliminate people's grievances. If the suppression was too strict, it would easily lead to mutiny.
But Annan is a newly developed colony, and the fiscal revenue here is good enough to maintain capital, and the governor cannot spend much money to boost morale.
And as the soldiers said, this place has nowhere to spend money, and there are too few things that can provide entertainment.
High pressure doesn't work, and there are no monetary rewards. The last resort is to lie!
Over the years, the two governors of Annan were big liars. They deceived the soldiers and said that His Majesty the Emperor had been encouraging everyone and even wrote personal letters to the colonies.
He held a disguised letter from the emperor and read it to the soldiers, using the soldiers' thoughts of loyalty to the emperor to boost their morale.
Constantly preaching the greatness of France, asking priests to say Mass to the soldiers, and using religious and patriotic enthusiasm to stabilize people's hearts.
Then there are empty promises, saying that no matter how hard it is, they will be rewarded in the end, and that they will be given bonuses as appropriate when they are transferred back to their homeland in the future.
And there is also a very generous pension after retirement!
Even after coaxing and deceiving, the situation has been stable for ten years. These two governors are considered talents!
But today Xiao Hexin exposed all their lies!
"Gentlemen, French soldiers! Are you still waiting for the Imperial Military Department to allocate fat salary to you? Are you still fantasizing about high pensions?"
"It's a pity that I must tell you that all of that is false. It's these nobles who are lying!"
"Don't say it, shut up... don't listen to his nonsense..." The governor rushed forward to stop him, but was blocked by the Chinese soldiers.
Xiao Hexin jumped onto several stacked shell boxes. "Gentlemen, I think you probably already know some of the local changes. The empire fell, a new government came to power, and the empire turned into a republic..."
"Of course I know the anxiety in your hearts, and I also know that the Governor will definitely give you a lot of promises. We can guess this without us having to spy!"
"But gentlemen, give up your illusions! A blank check can never be cashed!"
"Such a serious foreign war and civil war broke out in the French Empire. The capital of the country was almost burned down by fire... Your imperial military headquarters was looted several times in a row!"
"Gentlemen, do you really think your files are still there?"
"To tell you the truth, the Thiers government doesn't even know how many troops are stationed in Annan, nor does it know the names of each of you!"
"He didn't have a list at all. He disappeared into the flames of war long ago!"
