African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 519: Chapter 197: The Thief’s Heart Never Dies

After the East-Portuguese War, East Africa seemed to return to its normal course. However, letting East Africa escape this crisis clearly does not align with the cunning nature of the British. The British government’s Prime Minister, Benjamin, felt that this time the British were thwarted by East Africa, which was intolerable for his proud self.

”The East African momentum has been established. It seems impossible to solve the East African problem through military force or even to weaken them; instead, they have taken another step forward,” Benjamin said, somewhat frustrated.

After the East-Portuguese War, East Africa’s influence seemed to rise rapidly, and many countries began to interact with East Africa, a fact that did not go unnoticed by the British. Does this count as trying to steal a chicken only to end up losing the rice used to lure it?

”Prime Minister, we intervened in Africa later than the Germans. If the previous government had restrained East Africa before it annexed the Transvaal Republic, the African situation might not have deteriorated to this extent.”

”Hm, after all, who would have thought that our British Empire would one day set its sights on Africa? We should have intervened when Quinine was invented.”

”This is the inertia of history. Before the invention of Quinine, only the Portuguese were involved in African colonization. For hundreds of years, malaria hampered our exploration of inland Africa. Perhaps the prolonged time led everyone to ignore Africa, allowing the Germans to pick up the slack.”

Quinine was invented in 1826. The British or other countries did not need to move too early. Even if they had entered Africa on a large scale in the mid-19th century, there would have been no place for Ernst.

Of course, the flourishing British Empire would not have imagined one day considering Africa, just as the earlier Portuguese colonial empire never imagined their descendants would decline to this extent.

But according to Ernst, all this stems from greed. The British have so many colonies yet set their sights on this small patch in Africa, which is really not considerate, rather than enduring these pains themselves.

Benjamin: ”Now think about it, how should we respond to East Africa? Short-term war is not very useful to us. Can we use other means to restrain East Africa’s development?”

”Prime Minister, if we exclude warfare, our means to restrain East Africa are mainly political and economic strategies. Politically, isolate East Africa, sever their connections with various countries, or at least involve surrounding countries to prevent East Africa from expanding further. Economically, impose sanctions, cut off their foreign trade and exchanges, hindering their development. However, these approaches can only treat the symptoms, not the root cause. East Africa’s territory is too vast, and relying on domestic resources alone might suffice.”

Benjamin nodded: ”Your thoughts align with mine. I can see it too. We cannot directly take East Africa this time. They are not, after all, like the Indian colonies. So we can only limit East Africa’s further development for now, and act when we are better prepared.”

Benjamin’s approach was to weaken East Africa as much as possible and then take military action. Although East Africa’s performance against Portugal was decent, it was not enough to dispel Benjamin’s determination.

With India as a base, Britain could continue to enhance its Cape Town forces. East Africa has German troops, but Britain can also summon troops from the homeland to play a war of attrition. Historically, Britain could deploy 400,000 troops in the Boer War, and they can do the same in this timeline, so Britain is not worried about losing militarily to East Africa; the cost is just somewhat high.

Benjamin: ”Then let’s proceed like this! Initially, contact the countries surrounding East Africa to form an anti-East African alliance. Simultaneously, we will impose economic sanctions, severing their foreign trade.”

As the British government reached a consensus, the British Foreign Office began investigating and liaising with the countries surrounding East Africa.

However, the forces around East Africa are relatively sparse. It is certain that Portugal is tightly bound to Britain, so Britain decided to strengthen Portugal’s capabilities further.

In fact, the Portuguese had already approached. This war with East Africa was entirely instigated by the British, resulting in territorial cession and reparations that the Portuguese believe Britain is greatly responsible for.

”Ambassador Williams, you cannot ignore this matter. We, Portugal, suffered greatly! We entirely waded into muddy waters for you, and the assurances given before the war were not fulfilled, causing us to lose face internationally.”

”Grand Duke Verus, you are unjustly blaming us for this matter. Before the war, we guaranteed the existence of Portugal’s two African colonies, but we did not guarantee the completeness of the colonies. Without our timely efforts to halt the war, you might not have retained even the larger portion of your colonies.”

”Ambassador Williams, you were obviously misleading us, setting language traps that you now deny. Are all your country’s diplomats such petty people?”

”Ahem, Grand Duke Verus, you better be mindful of your wording, as our diplomats are all qualified. As for your misinterpretation of our intents, it only suggests your country’s diplomats need to improve their professional competence.”

Seeing Verus visibly dissatisfied, the guilty-feeling Williams tried to comfort him: ”Although the war caused you some difficulties, with our assistance, you still retained the essence of your colonies! The losses were not that severe. As I know, the underdeveloped regions in southern Angola and northern Mozambique were scarcely populated. Moreover, allowing East Africa to develop unchecked is dangerous, and we simply exposed their ambitions early.”

What constitutes some difficulties? Grand Duke Verus’s face twitched slightly, as the previous government directly fell due to this matter, and the East-Portuguese War negatively impacted Portugal significantly.

”Mr. Ambassador, no matter how it’s phrased, we Portugal are victims, and we are inextricably linked with you. You absolutely must hold responsibility towards us.”

”Sigh! You are truly right, Grand Duke Verus. As a responsible and accountable nation, our British Empire will not abandon Portugal. I came here under the authorization of Prime Minister Benjamin to discuss dealing with East Africa.”

Upon hearing the topic of dealing with East Africa, Verus immediately became alert: ”You want us to fight East Africa again!”

”How can that be? We do not have such intentions in the short term...”

Verus interrupted: ”We cannot possibly face the East Africans on our own.”

”Certainly, we are friends, after all! Last time we underestimated East Africa’s capabilities due to intelligence errors, leading to war failure. Thus, we come with sincerity now, not only to fight alongside you but also to provide you with the best weapons.”

Ultimately, the British wanted to bring Portugal back onto their bandwagon. As for providing advanced equipment, it was based on Britain’s belief that their previous military aid was insufficient, leading to war failure. This time, Britain planned to equip its African ally with advanced military weapons like artillery and machine guns.

From the British perspective, the previous war was but a probe into East Africa’s strength, and the military observation team believed they fully understood East Africa’s military power. So, with thorough preparation, they felt confident they could defeat East Africa next time.

Moreover, the Portuguese Mozambique colony’s combat strength was noteworthy. If not for Angola’s emergency, Mozambique could have continued fighting, maintaining at least a few months of resistance.