African Entrepreneurship Record

Ernst’s suggestions are mostly versatile, but they also determine the overall direction of the tea industry in East Africa, which is to rely on a sea of strategies and mechanized production to boost the future development of the East African tea industry. After all, the two major tea-producing countries are tough competitors, and East Africa must ”roll up its sleeves” to compete with them.

Relatively speaking, the tea industry of the Far East Empire poses no threat to East Africa because the development of tea in the Far East Empire lacks government support, private tea prevails, and they fight independently.

In the past, India surpassed the Far East Empire in the tea industry in the 1890s, mainly in terms of exports. After all, the Far East Empire’s size is larger than any other tea-producing region and market worldwide, and the Far East Empire values tea culture, leaving no room for foreign tea.

East Africa’s import and export trade with the Far East Empire also reflects this; coffee is more popular than tea leaves. Coffee is practically considered the ”foreign tea” by the Far East Empire and offers a novel experience.

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After receiving instructions from Ernst, Von der Leyen prepared to integrate the East African tea industry, including developing a new main tea-producing area due to its proximity to the Great Lake (Lake Victoria) shore. There are currently two names initially confirmed for consideration, so Von der Leyen must seek approval before departure.

”Your Highness, regarding the expansion of tea production in the West Great Lake Province, how should we name it? Should we use ’Western’ or ’Great Lake’ as a prefix.”

This is a minor issue, so Ernst responded without thinking, ”Let’s go with the Great Lake Tea Region! After all, the western part of East Africa is vast, and there’s the land of Angola, so naming it after the Great Lake is more appropriate.”

Ernst clearly remembers that Angola is also a tea-producing area, although it cannot compare to the East African highlands. However, in the past African situation, it’s well-known that Black people’s agricultural technology was poor, and Angola had oil resources as a safety net, so there’s no need to mess around with tea planting, which would be a waste of resources.

In fact, Ernst has a simple and straightforward standard to analyze whether past African countries are qualified, which is whether the area was stable, had not experienced war for a long time, with fewer wars, African people’s lives were fairly manageable, like in the southeastern African countries in the past, where troubles were noticeably less frequent than in northwestern Africa.

However, thinking of Angola, Ernst realized he had somewhat neglected this Portuguese colony recently, at least compared to southern Mozambique. Due to its proximity to Cape Town, southern Mozambique naturally gained more attention, subconsciously thinking that Portugal couldn’t achieve much.

But Angola is much closer to the Portuguese mainland than Mozambique, so Portugal might be more invested in Angola compared to Mozambique.

”If there’s nothing else, you can get busy!” Ernst sent Von der Leyen off and asked someone to call in Sivert soon after. Sivert quickly reached Ernst’s reception room.

”Has there been any major activity in the Angola colony in recent years?” Ernst directly asked.

”Your Highness, it’s inevitable. Our contact area with Angola is a bit larger than with Mozambique, but Mozambique is next to the Matebel Province, so we’ve always focused on Mozambique.”

Mozambique is in the east, and the prime area of East Africa is also in the east, so the General Staff definitely keeps a close watch on Mozambique’s every move. One slip-up could result in severe losses for East Africa’s industrial investments in the Matebel Province. However, due to the Matebel Highlands, East Africa’s terrain is higher than Mozambique, which is advantageous for military defense.

The Portuguese strategy is opposite to East Africa’s, where they plan westward attacks and eastward defenses, as both Mozambique and Angola offer approximately equal value to Portugal, but Angola, closer to the mainland, is evidently more important.

This also correlates with East African naval presence. Currently, East Africa holds significant naval strength along the Indian Ocean coast, and Portugal has only two feasible routes to support the Indian Ocean: either the Red Sea route or the Cape Town route.

Portugal considers neither of these routes safe, while Angola’s location allows departure from the Portuguese mainland along the West African coastline, bypassing East African naval influence or coastlines and reaching the destination.

It’s not that the Portuguese are cowardly; it’s just that the old empire’s spirit has long been worn away, and East Africa merely accelerated the process.

However, the current vested interests in both Portuguese colonies and Portuguese citizens are much more proactive in defending against East Africa than the Portuguese mainland.

As Sivert stated, ”Since the last partition, Angola’s plantation owners and minelords have organized an army, though we’re not very clear about the specifics because Angola is unlike southern Mozambique, which, although hostile to us, maintains close economic ties, making intelligence gathering easier there.”

”At the same time, Portuguese mainland forces have also assembled in Angola, including the navy and army. Their navy often departs from Benguela Port and encounters our naval squadron in the southern Atlantic Ocean. Compared to the Indian Ocean, our naval power in the Atlantic Region is negligible, and any conflict would certainly place us at a disadvantage.”

”However, with the opening of Mangjing Highway, we need not worry about Angola staging a surprise coastal attack from southwestern Africa into our territory. Instead, the land adjacent to Angola should be monitored. Our western provinces bordering Angola have sparse populations and poor transportation, posing real danger, but reinforcing from the central region isn’t too difficult, ensuring we can keep Angolan troops at bay in western provinces.”

The region where East Africa and Angola border, excluding the Congo rainforest, mainly consists of the Danube River Province (southwest of Kinshasa), Zambezi Province (Zambezi River source area), and Letania Province.

Letania Province still administers a third of southern Angola, the territory previously bordering Namibia.

In fact, these three provinces are all incomplete. Ernst considered this when delineating the provinces then, as their final shape will depend on East Africa fully annexing Angola.

Only by completely acquiring Angola can East Africa benefit from redefining the western provinces’ area, facilitating future industrial planning.

So, now the capitals of these three provinces all serve as temporary offices, because western Africa’s favorable locations—climate, ports, quality land—are concentrated in the Angola area.

East Africa has always waited to open the western segment of the Central Railway’s horizontal line to the Atlantic Ocean, with the endpoint on the railway plan as Benguela Port controlled by the Portuguese.

Ernst: ”Given that’s the situation, Angola shouldn’t be neglected, particularly the three western provinces. The military should focus its defenses in this area. Right now, only the eastern military district can spare troops. With Manggu City in the south, Letania Province isn’t overly concerning, but the northern Danube River Province and Zambezi Province are priorities.”

”The Danube River Province’s terrain is complex, with many mountain terrains, making it unlikely for the Portuguese to prioritize. Instead, between the northern Danube River Province and Angola, there’s level ground, and no railway can expedite reinforcements, focusing our defenses on the Danube River Province.” Sivert replied.

In fact, the Portuguese have taken some actions over these past two to three years. Whatever losses they endured in East Africa, they compensated from the Congo Kingdom. Now both banks of the Lower Congo River have become part of Angola.

The entire military force of the Angola colony has shifted northward, making the Danube River Province’s defense pressure indeed the greatest.