Chapter 1145 Opportunity
Hughes smiled and said to his brother: "There is no need to worry about this. To put it bluntly, if East Africa really comes over, the Belgian Congo will only have to surrender. It is impossible to happen. As large as Europe War."
"Our total population is only a few hundred thousand, and most of them are immigrants from the Far East. If East Africa was really ambitious about the Congo, it would have done this more than ten years ago."
“After all, although East Africa is located Africa, in my impression, Africa cannot represent the country of East Africa. East Africa's population alone exceeds 100 million, its military strength is strong, and its industrial strength is not inferior to that of European countries. Our Belgian Congo has no chance of winning in East Africa, not to mention that the mainland has now been reduced to for On the battlefield, the Belgian Congo as a colony cannot be taken into account at all.”
In Hughes’s view, as long as the Belgian Congo surrenders quickly, it is basically impossible to suffer a big blow, and Herman is unlikely to suffer a big blow. The ideas do not necessarily represent those of the East African Government.
He went on to say: "The war in the country is fought between two world powers, Germany and France. We, Belgium, are caught between them and can only be ravaged repeatedly. The two countries often have hundreds of thousands of troops doing evil in Belgium, which is extremely harmful to the people. ”
“This kind of situation is impossible to happen in the Belgian Congo. To put it bluntly, the combined population of our colonies is probably equivalent to that of the East African Defense Forces. If they charge, we can only raise the flag and surrender. , and this is all assuming that East Africa has evil intentions towards our Belgian Congo. All in all, the Belgian Congo is much safer than the mainland. The most important thing is that there are many opportunities here, which can also be conducive to the development of our Decro family. "< br>
After listening to his brother's explanation, Herman suddenly realized that his worries were unfounded. Nowadays, Africa can be said to be the only one in East Africa, so there will be no large-scale war.
It is different in Europe. The five major countries, Britain, France, Germany, Austria and Russia, are not even close in strength. No one is convinced by the other. On the contrary, there is no way to defeat the other in a short time. However, this will also greatly increase the intensity and length of the war. Intensified, resulting in war having a great negative impact on civilians.
But on the African continent, East Africa has no rivals at all. If East Africa really plans a war with Congo, I am afraid that most people will choose to surrender directly instead of resisting.
After all, a colony is a colony. Most Belgian immigrants only regard this place as a place to stay without deep feelings. Therefore, surrender is not a burden for the Belgians in the colony at all. What's more, East Africa is a member of the world's powerful countries. Faced with There is no shame in surrendering to such an opponent.
Although Herman's idea is a little petty, it is understandable. The main reason is that his family has just escaped from the European battlefield here, and it is not like they will encounter war again.
During the conversation between the two, Hughes did not forget to tease his nephews. Because of his relative wealth, Hughes gave a lot of candies to his three nephews.
“The price of sugar in the Belgian Congo is cheaper than that in the mainland. We have always produced white sugar. Now there are many sugar factories in Pointe-Noire, and East Africa is also a big sugar-producing country, so you can eat it freely. This is what my uncle specializes in. The White Rabbit toffee you bought is a relatively expensive brand, but don't eat too much, otherwise it will cause tooth decay, and it will not be good for your health." Hughes rubbed his nephews' heads with a loving expression. said.
Herman: "Hughes, you spend too much money. These shouldn't be cheap, right? You're not married yet, so you shouldn't spend money so lavishly."
Hughes: "Brother, you don't need to say more. My income is quite considerable, and my family doesn't speak two languages. This is a special gift I give to my nephews."
Herman still doesn't have it. Get rid of inertial thinking and like to preach on European habits and common sense. However, there are huge differences between the Belgian Congo as a Belgian colony and Belgium itself.
So Hughes continued: "The Belgian Congo is far less backward than you think, and the prices here are also somewhat different from those in the mainland. For example, many tropical fruits and agricultural products are more expensive in the mainland, but here they are. Not very valuable.”
“Although there is not much industry here. It is too developed, but we are close to East Africa, and it is no exaggeration to say that East Africa can provide all the goods we need. "The Belgian Congo is actually one of the product dumping places in East Africa. Although it is a Belgian colony, it is known as Belgium. National strength, they simply did not have the courage to reject various East African activities in the Belgian Congo.
This also provides an important foundation for the development of the Belgian Congo. In addition to the investment by the Belgian government, the East African government also invests a lot in the Belgian Congo, mainly in the field of agricultural product processing.
At present, because Belgium has been reduced to a battlefield, the Belgian Congo can be said to have ushered in new development opportunities. Without the local dictates, the colonial government of the Belgian Congo is more independent and can concentrate more power. and funds to develop itself.
Due to the war, the Belgian central government has actually lost control of the Belgian Congo. In fact, before the Hermann family arrived in Pointe-Noire, the Belgian central government had already embarked on the journey due to the fall of Brussels. Exiled journey, now the Belgian government has begun to take office in France.
Therefore, the Belgian central government is like a mud Buddha crossing the river. It cannot protect itself, and it has no time to take care of the Congolese colony thousands of miles away.
In fact, due to the fall of Brussels, the Belgian Congo colony has now lost contact with the Belgian central government. The Belgian Congo colonial government is now a completely independent government agency.
For a while, the central government could not even think of the existence of the Belgian Congo, which gave the colonial government of the Belgian Congo great autonomy, including withholding taxes.
On the other hand, although Germany and Belgium have turned against each other, the development of Central Africa has not ended. After all, it is East Africa that leads the development of Central Africa. The absence of Germany will not affect the cooperation between East Africa and Belgium at all, not to mention that East Africa has already obtained In addition to Gabon in the north, the Belgian Congo now borders East Africa on three sides, which is more conducive to strengthening East Africa's dominance in regional economic development.
The absence of Germany has accelerated the process. Now East Africa is discussing the construction plan of the Lebbi Railway with the Belgian Congo government.
Because Gabon has become an East African colony, land transportation between the Angola region in southern East Africa and Gabon can also be carried out. The connection between Angola and Gabon must pass through the Belgian Congo. The initial plan for East Africa is to depart from the city of Cabinda. Along the South Atlantic coastline, passing through Cape Noire and other areas of the Belgian Congo, it finally connects to the Port of Libreville in Gabon.
The acceleration of infrastructure construction is obviously beneficial to both the Belgian Congo and East Africa. This is a win-win situation. It can strengthen the defense and economic construction of East Africa, and it can also make the Belgian Congo and East Africa economically prosperous. closer together, and the Belgian Congo could also increase its own revenue.
The last and most important point is that there are not a few Belgians like Herman who fled to the Belgian Congo. Many of these people are either rich or noble. Their escape from Belgium to the Belgian Congo is conducive to increasing the number of people. local consumption and investment.
After all, those who can come here are not ordinary people. Take Herman for example. Although Herman’s family conditions are average, he is the type who seeks refuge with relatives and friends. If his younger brother does not develop here, he would not want to run away. It's not easy getting here.
In short, the war in Belgium is a good thing for the Belgian Congo. As long as this opportunity can be taken advantage of, the subsequent development of the Belgian Congo is worth looking forward to, especially the last point. National immigrants can bring capital and talent that the development of the Belgian Congo lacks.
Nowadays, the economic foundation of the Belgian Congo is not too bad. If these refugees can be guided to settle there, it will be of great benefit to the Belgian Congo. At least compared to the mainland, apart from the disadvantage of population, the Belgian Congo , most of the conditions are better than those at home.
(End of this chapter)