Chapter 854 The American Plot
December 1892.
“Brother Roger, are you here?” Enders, a member of the American Hawaii Business Association, introduced Roger into her home with a smile.
“Moore, go make a cup of coffee.”
Moore is a servant in Enders’ family, a typical black man, and Enders hires black people as her domestic servants, naturally because of the high cost performance. , not only the price is right, but also the house can be managed in an orderly manner. After hearing the order, Moore honestly followed the master's instructions.
Rogge was lying on the sofa, looking quite comfortable. He asked Enders: "Boss Enders, why did you have time to ask me to come here this time? In the past, I often invited you, but you were not at home."
“Oh, I’m all busy with business. Unlike you, I don’t have such a big business, so don’t stay busy for a while. A while ago, I was busy with orders from Europe. The order was not big, but it was all The portions are small and the portions are large, so the work is endless,” Enders said.
"You are joking. I am just a small businessman. I haven't had much business recently, so I have time to wander around. I don't know how many of you really envy you. Europe has always been aggressive. I We can only do business in the Far East.”
In Hawaii, we are mainly engaged in the sandalwood business, but the sandalwood business in Hawaii is also declining. Think about it, there are only a few small islands here, no matter how many there are. Resources cannot keep up with decades of deforestation.
As for other places, the biggest role of Hawaii is to serve as a docking place for sea ships. After all, the only decent place in the hinterland of the North Pacific is the Hawaiian Islands.
Of course, this is also the main reason why East Africa is eyeing this place. Hawaii’s location is too important to justify not taking a hand.
Hawaii is right in the middle of the North Pacific Warm Current, and East Africa mainly travels along the route to Alaska. Follow the North Pacific Warm Current to the west coast of America, and then go north along the Alaska Warm Current.
Ships sailing at sea generally follow the ocean currents, which can save a lot of time and cost, especially in the age of sails. This is especially prominent.
The Southern Ryukyu Islands colony in East Africa happens to be at the source of the North Pacific Warm Current, so as long as the land of Hawaii is supplemented, the transportation between East Africa and Alaska will be stable.
Of course, when the ship returns from Alaska, it will take another route, that is, the Japanese Islands and the waters of eastern Asia.
Most of the goods carried by Alaskan ships returning home were timber and furs. After being sold in Japan and the Far East, they were reloaded and returned to East Africa.
After all, there is no shortage of wood in East Africa, and there is no need for fur. East Africa is located in a tropical area and does not need fur for heating. Instead, silk and other products are more popular.
Thanks to the fact that the Far Eastern Empire is extremely short of wood, especially in the northern region, the Alaskan merchant ships will not have a high empty ship rate when they return.
Of course, in this way, the Alaska route will not make much money from the trade in East Africa, and will even lose money. East Africa has to transport more than 20,000 tons of rations to Alaska every year to ensure the supply of the Alaska royal territory. normal operation.
At the beginning, the main reason why Tsarist Russia abandoned Alaska was Alaska's poor food self-sufficiency rate.
Moreover, Tsarist Russia itself had a Siberian region, and the Tsar had to continuously exile prisoners to maintain the population, so it was even more impossible for the Russians to go to Alaska to open up wasteland. It’s not that everything can’t be grown in Alaska. Potatoes, barley, oats and a small amount of drought-tolerant vegetables can be grown in the south. However, this is a drop in the bucket for the entire Alaska. Therefore, East Africa must continue to supply the staple food of the Alaskan people. On this basis, Alaska can be effectively utilized. of arable land resources.
Of course, if Alaska’s mineral resources can be developed, that will definitely be a different matter, but does East Africa have the ability to develop Alaska now?
Obviously not. It is certain that if mineral development in Alaska is allowed, the Canadian and American armies will immediately go north, so the people of Alaska can only suffer first.
Of course, this is just a joke. The living standard in Alaska is actually not bad at all. After all, the population is small. As a country with overcapacity in agriculture, East Africa does not lack that food. In addition, Alaska is rich in fishery resources, so in In terms of food, clothing, housing and transportation, the living standards of Alaska residents are quite high.
In East Africa, or in other words, if the Hechingen royal family wants to maintain its rule in Alaska, it naturally needs to ensure smooth communication between the two places. From East Africa to Alaska, it is mainly by sea, so the importance of Hawaii is once again highlighted.
This is the same as when Ernst insisted on intervening in the Ryukyu Islands dispute. In fact, the ultimate goal was to ensure the safety of Alaska.
Without the Alaska Crown Territory, East Africa would not have gotten into troubled waters at all, because the Southern Ryukyu Islands and Kauai Island have few resources. East Africa would not gain much actual benefit from occupying these two places, and it might also be attacked by Japan and Japan. Targeted by the United States.
Of course, when the United States and Japan target East Africa, they will definitely not be cowardly. East Africa is far away from the two countries. Even if they use all their strength to control East Africa, there is no good way to control it. On the other hand, East Africa can control the two countries.
This reflects the geographical advantage of East Africa. World trade is mainly concentrated on the Eurasian continent. It is impossible for the United States and Japan to avoid the Indian Ocean region. In the Indian Ocean region, as long as East Africa does not target Britain and the United States, who will There is nothing we can do about East Africa.
Especially for Japan, the European raw silk market is extremely important to Japan, and the Indian Ocean is the only way for Japanese merchant ships to go to Europe. Otherwise, they can only go around the Americas. Today, when the Panama Canal is not open, the risk of going around the Americas is too great, and It also takes a long time.
The railway construction in the United States in the 19th century was also due to the inconvenience of sea transportation, so it was forced to connect the east and west coasts through railways, giving birth to the world's largest railway network.
The poor French are still building the Panama Canal. They simply have not learned the lessons of the "Suez" Canal. But now France likes to invest overseas. After all, the cost of industrial production in the country is too high. This is especially true after Lin and Alsace, which cannot compete with Germany at all, so it is understandable that France invests heavily overseas.
And France’s approach cannot be said to be fruitless. In the past, the French colonies were relatively stable because France had a higher level of construction, and the colonies received more dividends than the colonies of other countries. Of course, This dividend has nothing to do with the local indigenous people. It is mainly French residents living in the French colonies.
“Brother Rogge, you underestimate yourself too much. During these years in Hawaii, who doesn’t know Rogge’s name? Your industries are almost all over the entire Kauai Island. With these industries, you are Hawaii is also a big businessman who can be ranked. Unlike me, I can only work in the sandalwood business. And with the depletion of sandalwood resources, I am afraid that I will not be able to continue in a few years. If I change my career at that time, I'm afraid I need you to take more care of me, brother," Enders complimented Rogge.
Rogge's industries are naturally concentrated in Kauai. After all, this is an instruction from the central government, which is conducive to East Africa's secret control of Kauai.
It is not the time for a showdown yet, East Africa can only continue to raise its bets on Kauai. Once the United States takes action in Hawaii, East Africa will "respond" in time and realize the carving up of Hawaii between the two countries.
To put it bluntly, Americans did not expect East Africa to be so insidious. In fact, there are three countries that the United States is mainly on guard against in Hawaii, the United Kingdom, France and Japan.
With these three countries sharing firepower, East Africa, a country far away in Africa, naturally no one cares about, and in the midst of mutual competition and precautions, no one would have thought that East Africa would quietly reach out to Hawaii.
(End of this chapter)