Chapter 220
"His Excellency Archduke Ferdinand!"
A row of young Austrian navy officers stood upright in front of Ferdinand. Ferdinand looked at the "young talent in front of him with satisfaction" hansome".
"Your Excellency, the Grand Duke, this is the East African advisory group formed by the Imperial Navy. From now on, they will work under you!" Blair introduced to Ferdinand.
Ferdinand nodded and affirmed: "Okay, when you get to East Africa, you can work in peace and quiet. Don't be dissatisfied when you come to East Africa. The current conditions in East Africa are a bit worse, but with a former like me, The leadership of the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Navy will not bury your talents, just treat East Africa as your home from now on.”
Ferdinand and Blair identified these people in a few words. Of course Ferdinand knew that these people in front of him might be thorny or not from a good background. After all, in the system of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was difficult for civilians to get ahead.
But the more this happens, the more it shows that these guys have real abilities. Anyway, there is a shortage of all kinds of talents in East Africa, and Ferdinand can use them without fail.
With this group of people in hand, the eight hundred sailors in East Africa now have a real leader. Ferdinand cannot do everything himself.
There are not many people, but they can share the knowledge they have learned and some experiences of the Austro-Hungarian Navy with the sailors from the Neihu Force. This is the most valuable asset.
……
January 7, 1870.
Central District, the first town, Qivit Palace.
"Your Majesty, Mozambique sent a mission, saying that they want to cooperate with us! Now their people have arrived at the port of Dar es Salaam."
Von der Leyen held a copy A telegram from Dar es Salaam came to the Palace of Chewit to report to Prince Constantine.
“Cooperation! What does Portugal want to do?”
"After some insinuations, our people learned that they probably wanted to carve up the Kingdom of Malawi with us."
"Oh, this is really a rare thing. I thought they were here to protest against us in Kazembe. What about the kingdom’s actions?”
Prince Constantine took the telegram and began to read it with interest.
"Your Majesty, why do you think the Mozambique colony wants to talk to us about this matter? With their strength, they should be able to deal with those indigenous people alone!" Von der Leyen asked.
“It’s very simple, they are not enough to swallow the entire Kingdom of Malawi, so they need an outside country to help them share the pressure.” Constantine said after putting down the telegram in his hand.
"It is estimated that they have been interested in the Kingdom of Malawi for a long time, but the resistance of the local people was too fierce, so they have not succeeded. The Kingdom of Malawi was almost disintegrated by the Portuguese before I came. The Central Committee The government exists in name only, but the tribes below don’t care about them.”
“Your Majesty, what should we do? Let them come.” Let’s talk in one town?”
“Just let the Dar es Salaam Municipal Government negotiate with them. There is no need to let them enter the interior. This may expose some information. Just agree to cooperate first. They are fine, we just take this opportunity to occupy some more places with difficult terrain and consolidate the land of the Kingdom of Malawi that we have encroached on over the years." "But I feel like it. I think this is too cheap for the Portuguese, Your Majesty. In this way, we have not actually won much land, but it is equivalent to giving the southern part of the Kingdom of Malawi to the Portuguese.”
"Now we are launching a war against the Sultanate of Gradi. At the same time, we are also using troops in the southwest, which involves a large number of troops. We have no energy to launch another one. On this front, let the Portuguese take a chance on the Kingdom of Malawi. As for whether they can master it, it depends on their own destiny. However, for so many years, the Portuguese have been unable to do anything about the Kingdom of Malawi, so. Whether the Kingdom of Portugal can succeed or not is still unknown, so no matter what they do, let’s do our own thing first.”
"Your Majesty, I understand, but in my opinion, we will have a war with the Portuguese sooner or later. There are still many blank areas in Africa, so there is no need for the two sides to compete fiercely. But after the interests of this area are divided, we can say It’s uncertain.”
“Of course I know this, now. It is better to stabilize the Portuguese people as much as possible, and as long as we maintain the current development speed, it will not be a problem even if we face the entire Kingdom of Portugal in the future.”
The native population of the Kingdom of Portugal at this time is only more than 4 million, but Portugal. It is a traditional naval power and its power in the Indian Ocean is not weak.
The current population of East Africa is actually comparable to that of countries such as Sweden, the Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium, Switzerland, and Greece.
But again, the history of East Africa is too short and the accumulation is not enough. It is much better than Greece, a country that relies on debt to survive.
"Your Majesty, there is one more thing that I must explain to you. If it is not resolved, it may drag down the development of East Africa."
"What is it?"
"When we compiled statistics last year , the lower-level governments have reported to us that East Africa may usher in a baby boom this year, which is a huge challenge for us.”
“The 200,000 baby boomers last year were not enough? A breakthrough? "
"Your Majesty, I was shocked when I heard this, but when I think about it, it is true. When immigrants arrive in East Africa, in addition to those who have already married, those who are single have also gotten married in recent years. , through our efforts in the past few years, the number of families established in East Africa has exceeded one million. In addition, East Africa is becoming increasingly stable, and people have a strong desire to have children. Some families have even begun to have second and third children, so this year’s birth rate is probably It’s amazing.”
Prince Constantine fell into deep thought, then looked at von der Leyen and asked: "Will they have four or five children..."
Von der Leyen nodded and said: "It is conservatively estimated that there will be at least five. If there are no accidents, it may not be uncommon for families to have more than ten children!”
The main body of immigrants in East Africa are farmers from various countries, and the population structure is very young. Coupled with East Africa’s special land and distribution system, The fertility rate is truly horrific.
At the same time, East Africans don’t go out at night and don’t have much nightlife, so cats can only make babies at home. The fertility rate in East Africa is naturally not low.
The current population of 2.5 million may become more than 10 million or more in twenty years. When Prince Constantine thought about this, he immediately felt that Ernst’s immigration policy was still too radical. .
It’s not that East Africa can’t support so many people, but that there are too many newborns, and the outbreak in such a short period of time will definitely cause a shortage of manpower and food pressure. After all, taking care of young children is also very energy-consuming, and at the same time they are all born together. This is equivalent to hundreds of thousands more mouths at once, and according to the traditional age of adulthood in East Africa, it will take at least 14 years for them to support themselves.
"In this matter, you should first clarify the situation in each place and report all the data. I will discuss this issue with Ernst."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Von der Leyen replied.
(End of this chapter)