Chapter 698 Fishing Bait
Ernst's good mood did not last long because of the birth of the first oil well, because a piece of "weird" news came from the south in East Africa, which made the East African government and military somewhat agitated. I can't figure out what the British and the Boers are doing at this time.
“According to our news in February 1877, the Orange Free State regained its independence. The Orange Free State was officially renamed the Boer Republic, and a new coalition government was in power. However, this coalition government was the original The Provisional Government of the Transvaal Republic changed its shell and continued to control the politics of the entire Orange Free State."
"Will the British just watch the Transvaal re-establish the Boer Republic?" Ens. Te asked.
“There was indeed no reaction from the British side. We even found that they withdrew part of their troops to Cape Town, which shows that the British acquiesced to the independence of the Orange Free State.”
"This is a conspiracy. Even something as bad as colonial independence can be accepted by the UK. This only shows that the British have great intentions. Apart from us, I can't think of a reason for the UK to do this."
"No. Wrong, if colonial independence is not well controlled, it is likely to cause a chain reaction. After all, the spread of this kind of news will have a certain negative effect on any country. "
Ernst said: "The Boer Republic was reorganized, which shows that the Orange Free State did regain its independence from the Cape Colony this time. However, we got this news through our spies in Bloemfontein, which shows that the news did not spread. Come.
So the British and the Transvaal must have reached some kind of deal. You said that the Orange Free State's separation from the Cape Colony was a bait, and the fish they wanted to catch was We are in East Africa.”
After all, East Africa itself has to admit that it has “indecent” thoughts towards the Orange Free State, and the Transvaal and the British naturally know this.
However, for so many years in East Africa, the Chen Bing Border has not taken action against the Orange Free State.
Especially during the last Orange Free State Civil War, it can be said that the entire Orange Free State was at its most vulnerable. East Africa did not take the opportunity to send troops to capture the Orange Free State.
Then what makes this "hungry wolf" in East Africa keep his face calm despite the fat in front of him?
Of course it is the Cape Colony standing behind the Orange Free State, and behind the Cape Colony is the British Empire.
If East Africa annexes the Orange Free State, it is almost the same as going to war against the British Empire, so of course the British must also wonder whether East Africa is intimidated by its "mother country" and does not dare to act rashly.
This is the speculation of the East African high-level people about the psychology of the British. If you think about it in other people's shoes, East Africans will think the same way.
“So the British just played a double act with the Transvaal people, and the independence was fake, attracting us to initiate a war of aggression against the Orange people, thereby dragging us into the quagmire of war?” someone asked.
"This possibility cannot be ruled out. After all, it is indeed in the interest of the British to let the Orange Free State, which is today's Boer Republic, contain us and consume our strength, but they are not afraid of us. Should the Boer Republic be eliminated like the Transvaal Republic? "
"The Boer Republic is just a chess piece. It has a certain value to us and the United Kingdom, but it is not indispensable. "Yes, if I were a British person, I would also like to sacrifice the Boer Republic to test the strength of East Africa. Even if I lose, I can pass the blame to the Boers without making a fuss." Count Yalman proposed an idea. Rather constructive opinions.
“In recent years, the military strength of the Transvaal people has definitely increased. Although they have been disarmament in the past year, the weapons have not been recycled. Instead, they continue to be held by civilian armed forces. At the same time, they have also They have retained a regular military force of more than 10,000 people, so there is only one reason for their disarmament, and that is financial problems. According to the size of the Orange Free State, it is a bit excessive to maintain so many modern troops! "" We all know that the name of the Transvaal's armed force is the Transvaal Restoration Army. From this name, we can see that the Transvaal have never given up their goal of regaining their lost territory. From our East African hands, Here, the ultimate goal is to regain part of the land in Hechingen Province and the Southern Frontier Province, rebuild the Transvaal Republic, and even include the current Orange Free State.”
“So this time, the independence of the Boer Republic means that the war is one step closer to us!”
Someone asked Arman: “Is your Earl a little alarmist? In the past, the Transvaal people had their backs to the British, and they did not dare to go to war with us. But now that they are out of British control, they will only 'declare war' against us if they have lost their minds."
Asia! Earl Mann said: "Don't believe what you see with your eyes and hear with your ears, but look through the appearances to see the essence. It is just a statement of independence. Can the Transvaal people really get rid of the shackles of the British?" ”
“In the past, the Orange Free State might have been able to obtain more security guarantees as a British colony. After all, few countries dared to tease the British Empire’s beard, but this also restricted Britain’s own actions. Motivation, because we in East Africa are not weak countries like Myanmar and Afghanistan.”
Contrary to what happened in East Africa are the weak countries in Central Asia and Southeast Asia. They are close to Britain's most powerful Indian colony, including the "overlord" of East Asia, the Far Eastern Empire. They are all targets of bullying.
East Africa is special. The British colony here is the Cape Town Colony. However, the Cape Town Colony cannot form a crushing force on the surrounding forces like India. deterrence.
If Egypt in the north can act as a pawn. There may be some hope, but unfortunately Egypt is only a semi-colony, and the Khedive dynasty still has some autonomy.
Of course, the main reason is that imperialist hawks like the Khedive are the most bully and fearful of the strong. Otherwise, Egypt would not have betrayed Egypt's national interests and allowed Britain to exploit them.
Egypt cannot defeat Britain and France, and it also has a fear of East Africa in the south. In other words, Egypt has a fear of "white Europeans".
Regarding the question of whether East Africa has strength, East Africa's territory and army are the most convincing. It is not that East Africa has never fought against the Sudanese in the past. The Sudanese local army in Egypt was basically crushed.
So it is basically impossible for the British to mobilize Egypt to fight in East Africa. Even if the Egyptians can be mobilized, the East African garrison in Gezira can intercept them in the Sahara Desert.
Earl Alman continued: "Now that the Boer Republic has been established, it may be the first chess piece played by the British against us. Even if this chess piece is eaten by us, it will not be able to implicate the British Cape Town. On the other hand, if this chess piece really delays us, I am afraid that Britain and Portugal will end up at the same time."
"Count Arman, your analysis is very reasonable. We should think about it now. Should we eat the bait of the Boer Republic? If we want to eat it, how to eat it? Finally, what benefits can we gain from it and what may we lose!" Ernst asked them.
(End of this chapter)