Chapter 1237 The Ottomans in the Corner
It can be seen that the current situation in Europe is too "volume", and because it is too divided, many countries have to invest heavily in the military.
Of course, this is not necessarily a bad thing. After all, without this state of division, it is estimated that the Renaissance and the Enlightenment would have been difficult to be born in Europe.
And this further encouraged European countries to expand overseas, such as the former Portuguese Empire. One of the reasons why the Portuguese became the vanguard of the Age of Discovery is that there was really nothing in Europe. Maneuverable space.
If nothing else, Ernst went to Africa to develop for the same reason. In the small place of the Prince of Hechingen, even if Ernst risked his life, the final outcome would probably be to become a Prussian high-level official. Military officer or civilian Dangdang.
After all, Prince Constantine served as a general in the Prussian army in his previous life, and finally died alone in Poland in his previous life, now the Green Mountain City in Prussia.
"Captain Rollingen, when can we dock at the dock." At this time, Cary, the head of the East African Child Trading Company, asked.
Child Trading Company is just a small trading company in Mombasa, East Africa. This small trading company is responsible for the cargo of the Rollingen this time.
Rolingen did not dare to neglect Kari. After all, Kari represented the boss behind this ship of goods.
He said to Cary: "Mr. Cary, don't worry. There are too many cargo ships in Odessa now, so waiting is essential. According to my experience, if nothing happens, We still have to wait for the first six hours, and we are already in a relatively advanced position.”
The biggest difficulty in maritime trade in this era is the loading and unloading of goods. After all, it takes a lot of time to load and unload all the goods on a ship. Especially before the popularity of containers, the loading and unloading of many bulk cargoes can almost make people collapse. Classification is a big problem.
This also makes dock workers in this era a very scarce profession. This does not mean that there are few people doing it, but that no matter how many people are recruited, it seems that they are not enough to cope with the huge scale of goods. In fact, the group of dock workers is quite large. Take Shanghai Port, the largest port in the Far Eastern Empire, as an example. There are nearly 30,000 dock workers alone.
This is also an important reason why East Africa vigorously promotes containers and transforms ports and railway systems, which is to save as much as possible the intermediate loading and unloading links.
Of course, the current effect of East African containers is mainly reflected in the country, especially the exchange of goods between the east and west coasts of East Africa.
This is mainly because the ports on both sides of East Africa are updating the fastest and have the most complete basic equipment such as tower cranes, hook machines, and transmission equipment.
In other countries and regions, due to the lack of large-scale loading and unloading equipment, even if they want to improve efficiency, they cannot improve it.
Take the trade between East Africa and Germany. Except for important strategic materials such as medicines, rubber, chemicals or urgently needed materials on the front line, containers are rarely used.
Germany is already a country that is relatively receptive to new products such as containers. After all, Germany's basic transportation, especially railway and water transportation, and ports are very developed.
In countries like Russia, the transportation of goods has basically not changed much. For example, the items carried by the Logan this time are mainly bulk cargo such as coffee, tobacco, tea, etc., which is basically a box box for storage.
The boxes used to carry these goods are not containers, because the Russians do not have the spare money to imitate Germany and directly leave East African containers in their own country. Many merchant ships from East Africa arrive in Germany and almost directly dump the containers with goods. Germany.
This method does not work in Russia. After all, container manufacturing itself requires consideration of technical and material issues, which makes containers relatively expensive.
Businessmen in East Africa have no doubt that if they are loaded in containers, the Russians will smash them and sell them for scrap. After all, Russia’s steel production is only a few million tons, and the demand for steel after the war is even greater. Russian steel prices soared.
Cary complained: "This is really life-threatening. For six hours, we can only stay on this ship, and the dock of the port is right in front of us." Rollingen comforted: "The current situation of European freight That’s it. Almost every port will encounter this problem, let alone a large port like Odessa.”
“To be honest, there are probably few busier ports in Europe than Odessa. Since the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Bulgaria launched an offensive against Moldova last month, Russia has lost a lot of land, which indirectly threatens Odessa and Kiev."
"So in order to resist the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Bulgaria. For the coalition's offensive, Russia must ensure the supply of materials on the front line. I heard that in at least one battle, many strategic reserves and positions were occupied by the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Bulgarian coalition. "
Kari said with some disdain: "I don't know if it was really taken away by the enemy, or if it was an excuse used by the Russians to settle the accounts. After all, this kind of thing is done a lot within the Russian army."
This is Russia. The impression left by the military on many countries around the world is that the military is seriously corrupt, that's why Kari said this.
Of course, this kind of problem will definitely exist in other countries, or as long as it is a country with an army, it is almost impossible to avoid it. The same is true in East Africa, but Russia is more prominent.
Captain Rollingen not only did not question Cary's guess, but said with a smile: "Mr. Cary, to be honest with you, we actually think so too."
"Only Those of us who run the Black Sea route know how much goods Russia has imported in the past two years, but judging from the news in the newspapers, I am afraid that many military supplies have not reached the frontline Russian troops.”
"I remember reading the news in the newspapers in Constantinople. Many soldiers on the Russian front line couldn't even get their rifles together. This is simply unbelievable. After all, Russia is not a small country without industry like Serbia or Bulgaria."
Kari said calmly: "This is normal. Our East African newspapers also said that the Russian army currently has a shortfall of about three million rifles, and Russia's annual military production capacity is only 80 Thousands of pieces, which means At least nearly a quarter of the Russian army's soldiers do not even have decent weapons."
"Before the war broke out, the Russian army only had more than one million soldiers, but now it has more than six million soldiers. Before the war, Russia also hoped to purchase large quantities of foreign military equipment, which prevented the development of its own military industry. "
As of now, the number of people mobilized in Russia exceeds 10 million, which also reflects Russia's strength in military affairs. The tragic state of war.
But this is understandable, after all, Russia is facing greater military pressure now than in previous lives.
Rollingen: "Who says it's not the case! Even basic weapons for soldiers cannot be guaranteed. It is understandable that Russia's current military situation has deteriorated to this point. However, gray animals are not valuable. Russia's ability to withstand the attacks of three countries at the same time is also impressive."
Cary said: "If the situation in Russia worsens further, I'm afraid it won't be the Three Kingdoms next. After all, the Ottoman Empire and Russia are feuding. If Russia is weak at this time, the Ottoman Empire may not wait any longer. "
Although the Ottoman Empire has joined the Allies, it has not taken any action, but is saving up. Strength, after Germany fell into war, Germany's military assistance to the Ottomans also stalled.
But the Ottoman Empire has one more choice than its previous life, and that is East Africa. The weapons in East Africa still have some similarities with Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
This allowed the Ottoman Empire to be more patient with its armed forces. The Ottoman Empire was very aware of the weakness of its army before the reform. If it was still in the same state as during the Balkan War, it would not even touch Russia, even a small country like Greece. I'm afraid they can all fight back and forth with their original army.
Therefore, the Ottoman Empire is still building strength, including expanding its army, hiring East African instructors, purchasing weapons, etc., and when opportunities arise, the Ottoman Empire will certainly not remain indifferent.
(End of this chapter)