African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 317: Chapter 304: Handing Over Mayotte Island

On the Indian Ocean, a fleet sails majestically along the eastern coast of Africa heading southward, with a German regional eagle flag fluttering in the sea breeze. This flag is the famous Prussian Black Eagle, which of course can be traced back to the Frankish Kingdom and ancient Roman times.

Later, as Germany grew stronger, the presence of the Black Eagle Flag became highly widespread, almost becoming one of the representative symbols of the German Empire.

However, the Black Eagle Flag is not exclusive to Prussia. For example, the flag of the Heixinggen Principality also features the Black Eagle, and the fleet flying the Heixinggen Principality flag is indeed the East African Navy led by Grand Duke Ferdinand.

During regular training and voyages, the East African Navy hoists the East African flag, but today is a rather special day, so the East African royal family has brought out the Heixinggen Principality flag to fly, mainly to deter a certain world power.

On the deck, Grand Duke Ferdinand and a young man are conversing; this young man is Bromel, a Prussian Naval Captain. This time, he was specially commissioned by the Prussian government to help East Africa receive the French Mayotte colony.

Grand Duke Ferdinand: ”Bromel, Prussia is on the verge of unifying Germany. I imagine your Prussian Navy will soon see significant development. How many warships are you planning to build in the Navy department?”

Bromel: ”Your Highness, please don’t tease me. Our Navy department has never been prioritized within the kingdom, even after unification; we might still be suppressed by the army. In comparison, I envy your leadership over the East African Navy. Though the hardware is lacking, its status is significantly higher than ours.”

So far, the Federal Navy (Prussian Navy) remains subordinate to the Federal Army (Prussian Army), without independence from the army. In contrast, the East African Navy, from its inception, held equal status with the East African Army, although the forces led by Grand Duke Ferdinand fall short in comparison to the army.

Grand Duke Ferdinand said in a Versailles manner: ”It’s just a name; it doesn’t allow His Majesty the King to allocate us more funds and ships.”

Bromel: ”At least the starting point for the East African Navy is far higher than that of the Prussian Navy, with considerable future potential.”

The Prussian Navy originated in 1815, following the victory of the anti-French alliance when Sweden ceded West Pomerania to Prussia. Prussia then took over West Pomerania and inherited the Pomeranian Navy left by Sweden. It was a naval force composed of militias who owned six unusable 65-ton single-masted gunboats and had two naval officers. Prussia selected one of the two retained officers, Lieutenant Dietrich John Lang, to become its first naval officer.

Grand Duke Ferdinand: ”Hahaha, that’s all in the past. Any major power cannot avoid developing its navy, and new players like Prussia cannot bypass naval issues. You at least have far more potential than Austria-Hungary.”

Bromel shook his head: ”Not necessarily! Austria-Hungary reclaimed Venice, and their naval power is bound to step up.”

Grand Duke Ferdinand: ”Venice is important, but the Austro-Hungarian Navy is still trapped in the Adriatic Sea. Whether it can further expand in the Mediterranean remains unknown; however, unified Germany can still strive further in the Atlantic aspect.”

Bromel nodded: ”In this respect, Prussia indeed has the advantage, but only compared to Austria-Hungary. The navies of both countries are limited by geography, whereas East Africa conversely has no such drawback.”

Grand Duke Ferdinand shook his head: ”Although East Africa’s coastline has some advantages compared to Germany and Austria-Hungary, our naval power is limited by national strength, which is far more miserable for you. Having the sea but no defense is the worst.”

Bromel: ”But no country would travel such a long distance to the Indian Ocean to attack East Africa, right? There are no naval powers around the Indian Ocean, so your self-defense capability should be adequate, even more so as the East African Navy slowly develops.”

Ferdinand: ”Although there are no surrounding powers, there are colonies of powers, and even the Egyptian Navy is much stronger than us.”

Despite saying this, Ferdinand, as the Navy Commander, finds himself quite comfortable, although the initial plans set by Constantine and Ernst seemed grandiose. However, those plans are not entirely an empty promise. Just half a month ago, Ernst already committed that once the Bajamojo shipyard completed, the Venice shipyard would prioritize building two new steam warships for the Navy. It’s not about distrusting Bajamojo shipyard but rather that Venice shipyard holds more advantage in this area.

Although Bajamojo shipyard was constructed as a replica of the Venice shipyard, it could not replicate Venice’s complete industrial chain. Even Venice shipyard couldn’t stand alone without its Venetian peers, let alone Bajamojo shipyard. Many parts and core technologies needed to be imported from Europe, making it more economical for East African naval ships to be built in Venice, and Bajamojo shipyard should first accumulate experience in the civilian vessel domain.

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”Commander! That ahead is Mayotte Island; we have reached our destination.” A guard reported to Grand Duke Ferdinand.

”Enter the port!” Ferdinand commanded.

At this moment, the people from the French Mayotte colony also saw the flag of the East African naval fleet.

”It’s the Prussian Navy.”

The Black Eagle Flag then played its role. The French knew little about the Heixinggen Principality, so they assumed this fleet was the Prussian Navy arriving for the handover.

Soon, Grand Duke Ferdinand and Captain Bromel landed on Mayotte Island, where the French Mayotte government had long been waiting.

Two months ago, they received the Republican Government’s order that Mayotte Island was ceded to Prussia due to France’s defeat. Though unwilling, they had no choice; Mayotte Island held little value for France. When Prussia mentioned Mayotte Island, most Republican Government officials hadn’t even heard of the colony’s name. After realizing it was merely a small island near Madagascar, the French government willingly handed over the island’s ownership to Prussia.

Mainly, Mayotte Island was too remote, especially after the Suez Canal opened, essentially becoming worthless. With Madagascar nearby, it didn’t matter if Prussia took it.

”I am the person in charge of Mayotte Island, Artir.”

”Prussian Naval Captain, Bromel.” Bromel stepped forward to say.

Artir: ”Captain Bromel, all Mayotte Island officials are present here, according to the instructions of the French Central Government, we are transferring Mayotte Island to your country. However, according to the agreement between the two countries, your country must ensure the safety of our personnel, and also ensure the safety of our property, without preventing the transfer of personnel and assets during our evacuation.”

Bromel: ”Certainly!”

After a simple handover ceremony, Mayotte Island fell completely into the hands of the East African Kingdom Navy, and Ferdinand discovered that the French cleanly evacuated, leaving no belongings for East Africa apart from the buildings they had no time to destroy. Even the black people on the island were taken away by the French.

Initially, to develop Mayotte Island, France specially introduced a large number of black people from Reunion, so the black people on Mayotte Island were important labor and assets for the French. Naturally, the French did not want to let Prussia benefit from them. But in this way, East Africa was spared a lot of trouble.

This handover was conducted between France and Prussia, which is why Captain Bromel traveled all the way here for a formality. Then, according to an agreement between the Prussian royal family and the Heixinggen royal family, the island’s ownership reverted to East Africa.

Captain Bromel’s existence is to make the French realize that the island was taken by Prussia, and regarding the subsequent handling of Mayotte Island, it becomes Prussia’s business, even if they blew it up, it would have nothing to do with France.

The East African Kingdom did not conduct the handover in person considering France’s honor. After all, losing to Prussia, France could resign themselves to fate, admitting inferiority in strength. But if East Africa directly took over Mayotte Island, the nature would be different. You as a ”colony” would dare to humiliate France.

Mayotte Island, being a trophy, couldn’t be directly handed to East Africa but needed to pass through as a formality in the hands of Prussia.