Chapter 607 Detour
“It’s okay to provide assistance to the Orange people, but we can’t just rush forward. Instead, we have to negotiate terms with them. Of course, considering the industries that the Orange people are engaged in, we Symbolic cooperation is possible in agriculture and animal husbandry,” Ernst said to Constantine.
“You are right. Now that the Orange people are trapped in the interior and have offended the British, they cannot communicate with the outside world. Related trade will definitely be affected, and only we can provide them with Provide relevant help," Constantine said in agreement.
This may be the sorrow of a landlocked country. From this, Ernst thought of the Abyssinian Empire in the north. Like its previous life, the Abyssinian Empire has now become a landlocked country.
The three neighboring countries of the Abyssinian Empire, Italy and Egypt, have very poor relations with the Abyssinian Empire, so the trade of the Abyssinian Empire can only be completed through cooperation with East Africa. .
Although some tribes in parts of the Egyptian Sudan have good relations with the Abyssinian Empire, most of their traditional commercial routes pass through the Sahara Desert and go west, so they cannot solve the problem of the Abyssinian Empire.
After all, the Abyssinian Empire is a country with a population of tens of millions. Such a large economic volume cannot be solved by North African trade, especially the relationship with Egypt is very poor.
As for the traditional commercial route, the Red Sea has been completely blocked by Egypt and Italy, and can only cooperate with the East African Kingdom in the south.
East Africa can profit from it as a middleman. Although East Africa had some interests with the Abyssinian Empire before, especially the annexation of some subordinate forces in the south of the Abyssinian Empire, it has been threatened by the Compared with Egypt and Italy, the core areas of the Abyssinian Empire, East Africa looks much more beautiful.
After all, the subordinate forces are not exactly a family, just like the relationship between the Far Eastern Empire and those vassal countries, and the relationship between the Abyssinian Empire and its subordinate forces is not as close as that of the vassal countries.
The vassal states had a sense of cultural identity, while the relationship between the Abyssinian Empire and the subordinate forces was more about military conquest without much emotional investment.
“For the Orange people, we should try our best to provide some neutral weapons without strong East African colors. At the same time, trade with the Orange people should be mainly in kind. We should focus on Give the Orange people more support in terms of food and munitions," Ernst continued.
The Boers are mainly engaged in animal husbandry, which is convenient, trouble-free and profitable. As for the hard work of farming, they are not active.
And the Orange Free State is now in a state of civil strife, and production will definitely be significantly affected, so support for the Orange people should not be limited to weapons and ammunition.
Of course, East Africa’s biggest concern is that they don’t have that many weapons to support the Orangemen. As for the weapons and equipment in active service in the East African army, it is impossible to export them, especially to themselves. Neighboring countries, because East Africa not only covets the market of the Orange Free State, but also seeks Orange itself.
"Then which country are you going to provide equipment to the Orangemen, Britain or France?" Constantine asked.
As for Germany, Constantine did not mention it, because Germany’s weapons are not exactly the same as those in East Africa, they can also be said to be the same compatriots. If German weapons are provided, it is better to directly export East Africa’s own weapons.
Ernst gave Constantine an unexpected answer: "We provide the Orangemen with weapons from the Austro-Hungarian Empire."
"Why?"
< br>"We provided weapons to the Orangemen. No matter what the result was, the British knew that it was us who did it. After all, others We don’t have this capability, and we have very frequent military cooperation with the Austro-Hungarian Empire. There are many suppliers in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and it is convenient to get the goods. Moreover, we in East Africa can produce part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s weapons and ammunition. The Orangeman comes with repair services, while the big head still needs to be imported from the Austro-Hungarian Empire
In this way, the import and export of the Orangemen's weapons are completely in our hands, unless they replace all the weapons of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the future, but they do not have the financial resources to do this. Ernst explained.
But Constantine raised a new question: "In this case, why don't we directly export domestically produced weapons in East Africa?" "
Ernst: "Because when the Orangemen fight against the British and Transvaal people, they will definitely not fight with eggs against stones. They will use more guerrilla tactics. Now the enemies of the Orangemen are first and foremost the British and Germans. The coalition forces are likely to be us in the future. One of the characteristics of guerrilla warfare is that it is impossible to prevent and attack the enemy's supply lines. This also makes it easier for the other party to seize supplies from the enemy. In the event of a conflict between the Orange and us in the future, we must avoid this A little, but there is no need to worry about this with Austro-Hungarian weapons. ”
How the weapons of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were exported to the Orange Free State, the process in between is completely controlled by East Africa. In this way, if the Orange people survive the offensive of the British and German coalition forces in the future, then the Orange people We can only continue to rely on the supply channel in East Africa
In this way, it is similar to using East African weapons, and it also allows the Orange people to lower their guard a little. After all, using East African weapons directly is no different from becoming a military vassal of East Africa.
After all, the Austro-Hungarian Empire is a third-party country. This can at least make the Orange people feel more at ease on the surface. Of course, it is only on the surface. After the Orange people really rely on the weapons of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, , they will find that there is no way around East Africa, and even bullets need to be provided by East Africa.
As for East Africa, they can completely rely on intermediary channels to control the Orange people's military. After all, the initiative whether to cut off the Orange people's weapons supply lies entirely in East Africa's hands.
In this way, even if East Africa becomes enemies with the Orangemen in the future, they can cut off their weapons supply at any time, and they can win over others without having to fight a war.
Unless the Orangemen reconcile with the British and continue to supply goods through the British, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and East Africa are in the same group after all, and East Africa can completely interfere with it.
If the United Kingdom provides the Orangemen with its own weapons to replace the weapons of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, this will involve the Orangemen's entire military system, including use experience, maintenance systems, etc. In short, it is not that easy. This is similar to the previous life of India. The inability to directly break away from dependence on Russian-made weapons is the same.
And according to the current relationship between Orange and Britain, there is basically no possibility of reconciliation between the two. Unless East Africa really ends up annexing the Orange Free State, the enemies of the three parties will instantly become East Africa.
And this is why Ernst is not in a hurry to take action against the Orange Free State. First, let the three parties suffer a bloody blow. It is best to maximize the hatred value. Then East Africa invades Orange in the future. The difficulty of governing a free state will be greatly reduced.
After all, after this lesson, the Boers will definitely be divided in the future and will not be able to work together. The gap in their hearts will increase as time goes by.
And this civil strife, in the eyes of the Orange people, was entirely caused by the betrayal of the Transvaal people. There is a saying that traitors are more hateful than enemies. When the time comes, the Orange people will The perception of the Wa people is certainly worse than that of Britain and East Africa.
In this way, it will be more convenient for East Africa to assimilate the region in the future. Of course, East Africa will definitely have to take other measures to further erase the Boers as a once-existing community.
(End of this chapter)