Chapter 393 Civil Conflict in East Britain
The war in East Africa against the Transvaal Republic ended, but the war in the South African region continued, starting with the 123rd Cavalry Division and the 514th Infantry Division from Pretoria heading east Join Felix's tribe to start the war against the Zulu Kingdom.
In addition to gaining abundant coal resources by conquering the Zulu Kingdom, the most important thing is to gain access to its eastern seaport, where Richards Bay Port, the main coal export port in South Africa in the past, was abandoned.
Capturing this port is of great significance to East Africa in ensuring the security of the southern homeland. After acquiring the Transvaal, the East African Kingdom directly became a long and narrow distribution in the north and south. The distance from the core area of East Africa (the former East African Federation) to South Africa is too long. After conquering the Zulu Kingdom, East Africa can use Richards Bay Port to complete the dispatch of personnel and materials by sea.
In the territory actually controlled by East Africa in South Africa, Ernst did not intend to develop large-scale planting industry, but to develop large-scale pasture grazing industry similar to that in northern Kenya.
The difference between here and northern Kenya is that the temperature is lower, it is already in the subtropics, and the climate is warmer and cooler. It is considered the best pasture resource in East Africa.
At the same time, Ernst also considered that in the future, this place will rely on rich mineral resources. , it is necessary to develop industry, and industrial development cannot be separated from water resources. However, the annual precipitation in South Africa is worse than that in Zimbabwe, especially in the hinterland, and it fluctuates greatly. In some extreme years, it may be only more than 400 millimeters.
Water consumption is nothing more than residential water, agricultural water and industrial water. Among them, agricultural water consumption is the largest. If large-scale planting is carried out in South Africa, it is certain that agricultural water alone will not be enough.
Furthermore, East Africa does not need to engage in planting in South Africa at all. First, there is no demand for this, and the current grain production capacity in East Africa is surplus. Second, East Africa has too abundant arable land resources. Tanzania alone has arable land. The resources are 44 million hectares, or 660 million acres, which is almost 30% of the cultivated land in India, and most of them are plots that mature for more than a year, so Ernst does not intend to develop those in Tanzania that are of poor quality or are not conducive to development. Irrigated farmland.
In the future, South Africa’s food will be imported from the north, so that the limited water resources in Eastern South Africa can be used for industrial development.
The importance of water resources to industry can be taken as a reference from Shandong Province in previous generations. Shandong is a province of heavy industry, with traditional industries such as chemicals, steel and coal accounting for about 70% of the industry. The overweight industrial structure also makes Shandong's energy consumption level always rank among the top in the country.
However, Shandong’s industrial water consumption is only a little more than 10% of that of Jiangsu, which is also a major industrial province. This severely limits Shandong’s industrial development. In addition, Shandong is also a major agricultural province, so Shandong’s agricultural and industrial water consumption The competition is fierce, or in other words, they are competing for water. They have to use the little water from the Yellow River sparingly.
Eastern South Africa is also facing this problem. Ernst’s solution is that if South Africa does not develop water-consuming agriculture, then there will be no water crisis in the future, and there will even be a surplus of water resources, because Ernst is not very It is believed that the industrial scale of Eastern South Africa in the future will reach the level of Shandong in the 21st century. Not to mention other things, Shandong has a population of 100 million. It is unlikely that Eastern South Africa will achieve this in the future. It is more realistic for the entire East African Kingdom to have a population of over 100 million.
Rather than develop large-scale planting on the spot, Eastern South Africa must rely on other regions in East Africa to dispatch food. Sea transportation is the lowest cost, which reflects the importance of Richards Bay Port.
The conditions of Richards Bay Port are not inferior to those of Durban Port in the south. However, due to the Zulu Kingdom, Richards Bay Port has not been developed, so the East African Kingdom needs to build it.
The Port of Durban is now the political and economic center of the British colony of Natal, and East Africa has not yet had the guts to touch the British Empire's beard.
In addition to the war against the Zulu Kingdom that had just begun, it was followed by a war of conquest in East Africa south of the Kalahari Desert and north of the Orange River.
This area is currently unclaimed land and there are not many indigenous people, so Merk's troops advanced very smoothly and basically encountered no difficulties in the early stage.
However, after approaching the Orange River, the East African army still had a small conflict with the British Cape Town Colony. "Stop! Who are you?"
The 7th Regiment, the forward force of the 411th Division of the East African Army, was blocked by a group of militiamen. The leader of the 7th Regiment, Nardovich, had a bad temper and was not used to this group of people.
When Nardovich heard his name, he had a Slavic flavor. In fact, he was a Croat from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but the Kingdom of East Africa counted the German Slavs in the Austro-Hungarian Empire as Germans. , so Nardovich's official career was relatively smooth with his military exploits.
Nardovich rode on his horse and asked: "Who are you? Why are you blocking our way?"
"This is the land of the Republic of Grigualand. If you continue One step forward would be a violation of the line!" said one of the Boer militiamen.
Asshole, how many republics have these Boers established! Nardovich complained in his heart that in fact Nardovich did not know that the Boers also had a new Grigualand Republic in the east, which meant that the Boers had established two Grigualand republics.
With military orders in hand, Nardovich didn't care what kind of republic he was in. Nardovich dismissed it and asked: "What nonsense is the Republic of Grigualand! I have never heard of it. The entire north of the Orange River is us Germans." land, why do you appear in our German territory? "On the soil?"
Nardovich said this, and the Boer militia couldn't be defeated, because it happened that there were many descendants of immigrants from the German area. If Nardovich If Qi said it was East African land, the Naboer militia would definitely object.
But Nardovich said that this is the land of the Germans, so are the Boers from the German region considered Germans?
Here we can also see the national identity that Nardovic created through the assimilation of East African culture. Although he was a serious Croat, his cultural life was not much different from that of the Austrians in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. However, it was impossible for the Austrians in the Austro-Hungarian Empire to recognize the Croats as Germans, and after Nardovich arrived in East Africa, he attached great importance to his "German" identity.
It is understandable that the Boers are entangled in their identity. After all, the concept of Boers has not been around for a long time. For example, after the British seized the Cape Town Colony, many Boers of British descent left the country and immigrated to the UK. , which made the Germans and French an important part of the Boers.
But after struggling for a while, the Boer militiamen reacted: "No matter who they are, this is the territory of the Republic of Grigualand."
Nardovich: "Oh, Grigualand, I believe that no one in the international community has ever heard of this country. Your behavior is stealing the territory of the East African Kingdom. Now surrender, we in East Africa can forget about it and ensure your safety at the same time."
Nardovich's words made. The Grigualand militiamen heard a new term, the Kingdom of East Africa, but they were not afraid. I had never heard of the Kingdom of East Africa. It was not the same as the Republic of Grigualand! .
It is indeed different. The Republic of Grigualand is not like the Kingdom of East Africa. When it was established, it was specially shouted out in Europe. Maybe they don’t know East Africa, but they know the existence of the Kingdom of East Africa. What about Grigualand? If you ask about the Republic of Poland now in Europe, most people will probably think it is some kind of chieftain or tribal country in a remote area.
Of course, the greatest confidence of the Grigualand militia does not lie in whether the East African Kingdom is a self-proclaimed country like Grigualand, but in the fact that the Republic of Grigualand has voted to voluntarily join the British Empire since last year. The colony of Cape Town, and the British are behind me. With such a background, who is so ignorant that dares to offend me?
(End of this chapter)