Chapter 216 The future is promising
"Humph! These Germans are so careless in their work! They don't even say hello, they really don't take our Kingdom of Portugal seriously!" Yaris said indignantly to his men said the man.
"President, what are you going to do?"
"Do it? What to do? We are just a chamber of commerce, and the other party is the army! Are you going to beat the odds against a rock?"
"Should we contact the government and let them deal with the Germans?"
"Do you expect those drunkards at the rear? Today's young people in Portugal have long lost the spirit of the Portuguese Kingdom! If they hadn't been timid, they should have kept the Germans out at the cost of offending the Sultanate of Zanzibar. Now the Germans It has become a force in Africa. I am afraid that the whole of Mozambique is no match for the Germans.”
“President, don’t be so pessimistic! We have been developing in Africa for hundreds of years, and the Germans have only been developing for three years. I just arrived in East Africa a while ago."
"Bah! Remember, you must grasp the key when looking at problems in the future, and don't look at things with old eyes." Yaris said: "I ask you. , Why has Portugal given up on expanding inland over the years? "
"This? "
"It's not just because of lack of ability, not only in the colonies, but also in the kingdom itself. I’ll put it here, East Africa can now have an organized army in the interior, but we can’t do it.”
"President, this shouldn't be difficult!"
"Of course it's not difficult, but don't look at the level of Mozambique's garrison. In recent years, it has been difficult to even defeat the natives. The Germans now don't even have cavalry. Now that they have it, they must have more troops in East Africa. They are indeed Prussian barbarians. I am scared when I think about their mobilization capabilities. The number of Germans is not large. Fifty thousand Germans are enough to drink a pot of all the kingdom's colonies in Africa. "
After careful consideration, the Kazenbe Chamber of Commerce chose to be patient, but still sent a letter to the Mozambican government behind the scenes to explain the situation.
......
Time waits for no one. After the cavalry battalion set off, other troops in East Africa also began to pour into the areas of the "pocket" plan.
The East African arsenal is also speeding up the process of refurbishing second-hand ordnance and distributing weapons to newly landed immigrants.
After several sweeps in East Africa, now in the hinterland of East Africa, because the indigenous people are extinct, there are not so many guns available, so most of them have been recovered, and a few can be left to the security forces to deal with wild beasts.
A steady stream of armed immigrants will penetrate all the way into Zambia, creating conditions for East Africa to completely occupy the "pocket" area.
At the same time, the telegraph line extending from Mbeya to East Katanga District also began to be constructed to ensure smooth communication. When the Kazembe Chamber of Commerce was still using letters to convey news to Mozambique, East Africa had long been using telegraphs. Send the news back to the First Town.
……
In a blink of an eye, the end of 1869 came to an end.
This time the statistical data will be aggregated to Prince Constantine and Ernst at the same time.
This year the immigrant population in East Africa has reached 2.453 million, of which the number of newborns is very impressive, reaching more than 200,000.
In terms of territorial expansion, it is mainly in the west, mainly the Mitumba Mountains, the area between Lake Solon and the Lualaba River, which is about 300,000 to 400,000 square kilometers, and there are still ongoing Advancing into the southwest, if at least more than 600,000 square kilometers of new land are added next year, and the north has been eroding land in the Omo River Basin, the territory of East Africa may exceed 3 million square kilometers by April next year.
In the industrial field, the East African Railway Company and a large number of mines that have introduced equipment will drive the development of the mining industry in East Africa. In addition to Mbeya, minerals near the Great Lakes region can also be developed. In terms of agricultural statistics as of November 30, 1869, the development was quite satisfactory. The development of cultivated land reached more than 25.5 million acres. It was mainly to expand the scope of the original cultivated land. However, due to the influence of the advance into the southwest, there should be good growth next year. score.
The newly developed land this year is mainly for rice and other food crops. There is little change in wheat, but the output of corn, soybeans, potatoes and other crops has increased significantly.
The total grain output exceeds 2.5 billion catties, which is about 1.25 million tons.
The per capita output is about twice that of Italy, but in addition to food crops, East Africa also has large-scale cash crops. At the same time, large areas of cassava grown to provide rations for the indigenous people have to be removed. The yield of this thing is very high. , and it is not a staple food for East Africans, so it is not included in the statistics. This is not included in Italy.
The population of East Africa, after excluding the indigenous people, is close to one-tenth that of Italy, which has a population of about 25 million.
Although East Africa is close to or even surpasses Italy in some areas, Italy has accumulated thousands of years of experience, so relying solely on agricultural and population data, East Africa cannot reach one-tenth of Italy's national strength.
As the Paraguay War is coming to an end, Ernst will introduce some immigrants from poor areas of Italy to replace this gap starting next year.
Sicily is an important source. Although Sicilian people, like southerners in the Far Southeast, prefer to form associations, when it comes to East Africa, everything will be diluted. Just don’t let them gather together.
Nowadays, East African villages can be said to have become very complete. There is no so-called ethnic gathering place. According to the template, everyone’s living locations are scattered, which means that your neighbors may be immigrants from any other area. Only immigrants who are not from the same area.
Neighbours are forced to communicate and integrate with each other, and the common language is German. In the end, a new German-speaking nation will emerge.
In addition to the newly occupied land, road construction in East Africa has basically been completed. The main roads can connect to all cities and villages. The next step for "laborers" will be to move to the construction of mines, railways and large-scale water conservancy projects.
The above data shows that East Africa already has a national foundation. If development goes smoothly, from the next year onwards, with the help of transportation, mining and agricultural production, East Africa will become an agricultural and mineral exporting country.
Now that the Suez Canal has been opened, Ernst plans to strengthen cooperation with the Austrian royal family. The focus is on Austria, not the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Strengthening Austria’s voice is equivalent to strengthening Germany’s voice, which is equivalent to strengthening East Africa’s power. The right to speak.
It is very important for Ernst to use the mineral and agricultural resources of East Africa to accelerate the development of the Austrian region. It is dangerous to regard Prussia as the big brother. Austria does not have this hidden danger because Hungary is holding it back.
After all, it is impossible for Austria to eat the size of East Africa. One Hungary is enough torture. Is it possible to build a triarchal empire?
At the same time, an independent country will be established in East Africa next year, and it must be recognized by the world's powers. Therefore, it is very important for the Austrian royal family to take the lead. It will be recognized by Prussia, Romania and a bunch of German states, and it will basically be stable.
As for Ernst's concession of profits to Austria, Prussia has ready-made wordings no matter what it thinks. Austria is the closest to East Africa, and the Suez Canal directly opened up the trade route between the two countries. We are all German countries and should help each other.
Moreover, the Prussian royal family is also a Hohenzollern family. The development of Hechingen in East Africa is a good thing for the Hohenzollern family. It also facilitates the Prussian government to take back some of the former Principality of Hechingen (Europe). right.
Every aspect has been taken care of, so naturally there is no objection. As for other countries, only Britain, the United States and Tsarist Russia are left. East Africa and Tsarist Russia have a good relationship, and there are no interest disputes.
The United States is currently busy fighting with the United Kingdom and Spain. The United Kingdom should also pay attention to the French-Public Affairs situation. As for France, its attitude is actually not important anymore. There should be a new government at this time next year. Enns, who is familiar with historical answers Trump only needs to make a bet on the new French government in advance, and since East Africa is a remote country, France may not necessarily intervene in East Africa.
(End of this chapter)