African Entrepreneurship Record

Ernst’s good mood did not last long after the birth of the first oil well because a ”peculiar” piece of news came from the south of East Africa, baffling both the East African government and military. At this time, what kind of ”trick” are the British and Boers up to?

”According to information we received in February 1877, the Orange Free State has regained independence and officially renamed itself the Boer Republic. A new coalition government is in power, but this coalition government is essentially just the former Transvaal Republic’s temporary government assuming another guise to continue controlling the entire political landscape of the Orange Free State.”

”Are the British just standing by and watching the Transvaal people reestablish the Boer Republic?” Ernst asked.

”There has been no significant reaction from the British side. We even discovered that they’ve withdrawn part of their troops back into Cape Town, which indicates that the British have tacitly accepted the independence of the Orange Free State.”

”This is a conspiracy. For Britain to accept such a malign event as colonial independence means they have greater ambitions. Apart from us, I can’t think of any reason for Britain to act this way.”

”That’s right. If colonial independence isn’t managed well, it could very likely cause a chain reaction, as the dissemination of such news can have a certain negative impact on any country.”

Ernst said, ”The reformation of the Boer Republic indicates that the Orange Free State has indeed gained independence from the Cape Town colony. However, we received this information from our intelligence operatives in Bloemfontein, which suggests that the news has not yet spread widely.

Therefore, the British and Transvaal people must have reached some sort of agreement. Perhaps the secession of the Orange Free State from the Cape Town colony is a decoy, and what they’re really trying to catch is us in East Africa.”

After all, East Africa itself must admit to having ”improper” thoughts about the Orange Free State, a fact well known to both the Transvaal people and the British.

However, over the years, East Africa has maintained troops at the border without taking action against the Orange Free State.

Especially during the recent civil war in the Orange Free State, which was arguably the most vulnerable time for the Orange Free State, East Africa did not seize the opportunity to take it over.

So, what has kept this ”hungry wolf” of East Africa from showing any change of expression despite having such a tempting prey in front of it!

Naturally, it is the Cape Town colony standing behind the Orange Free State, and the British Empire standing behind the Cape Town colony.

If East Africa were to annex the Orange Free State, it would almost be equivalent to declaring war on the British Empire, so of course, the British also suspect whether East Africa is intimidated by its ”mother country,” hence hesitant to take rash actions.

This is East Africa’s speculation on the British mindset. If the roles were reversed, the East Africans would think the same way.

”So the British and Transvaal people just put on an act of double-dealing, pretending independence to lure us into initiating an aggressive war against the Orange people, thereby dragging us into the quagmire of war?” someone asked.

”We can’t rule out this possibility. After all, allowing the Orange Free State, or now the Boer Republic, to tie us down and deplete our strength aligns with British interests. But aren’t they worried that we’ll just annihilate the Boer Republic as we did with the Transvaal Republic before?”

”The Boer Republic is just a pawn; it holds certain value for both us and the British, but it’s not indispensable. If I were British, I might also sacrifice the Boer Republic to test East Africa’s strength. Even if we lose, we can blame the Boers and avoid becoming the scapegoat,” Arman Count proposed a rather constructive opinion.

”These years, the Transvaal people’s military strength has certainly increased. Although they were reducing their army last year, their weapons have not been confiscated but instead are continued to be held by the civilian militia. Furthermore, they still maintain a regular military force of tens of thousands, so the sole reason for their army reduction is financial problems. Based on the size of the Orange Free State, sustaining such a large modern army is somewhat excessive!”

”We all know that the Transvaal armed forces are called the Transvaal Rebel Army. From this name alone, it’s clear that the Transvaal people have never given up on their aim of reclaiming lost territory, winning back parts of the Heixinggen Province and Southern Border Province from us in East Africa, reestablishing the Transvaal Republic, and even restructuring a Greater Boer Republic encompassing the current Orange Free State as their ultimate goal.”

”So this time, the independence of the Boer Republic means that war is now one step closer to us!”

Someone asked Count Arman, ”Your Excellency, isn’t this a bit of an alarmist view? Previously, backed by the British, the Transvaal people dared not go to war with us; now that they’re supposedly free from British control, unless they’ve lost their minds, why would they think of ’declaring war’ on us!”

Count Arman said, ”Don’t trust merely what your eyes see and ears hear; rather, see the essence through the appearance. It’s just an independence declaration. Can the Transvaal people truly rid themselves of British shackles?”

”In the past, as a British colony, the Orange Free State might have had more security guarantees, as hardly any country dared to provoke the British Empire. But this also limited Britain’s operations because we in East Africa are not like the weaker countries of Myanmar or Afghanistan.”

By contrast, the weaker nations in Central and Southeast Asia, adjacent to Britain’s mighty Indian colonies, including the Far Eastern Empire, the ”Overlord” of East Asia, are all targets of bullying.

East Africa, on the other hand, is quite special. The British colony matching against East Africa here is Cape Town, which, from any perspective, cannot exert the overwhelming deterrence that India does over its surrounding influences.

If Egypt in the north could serve as a pawn, there might be some hope. Unfortunately, Egypt is only a semi-colony, and the Hedif Dynasty retains some autonomy.

Of course, the most crucial reason is that Hedif, as an imperialist lackey, is the epitome of bullying the weak while fearing the strong. Otherwise, they wouldn’t betray Egyptian national interests and allow the British to exploit them.

Egypt can’t stand up to the British and French and equally harbors fear towards East Africa in the south or terror towards ”European whites.”

On the question of whether East Africa has the strength, East Africa’s land and military are persuasive enough. East Africa has engaged with Sudanese forces before, with Egypt’s local Sudanese forces mostly overwhelmed.

Therefore, the idea of Britain mobilizing Egypt to wage war against East Africa is virtually unfeasible. Even if the Egyptians were incited, East Africa’s troops stationed at Jezira could intercept and block them in the Sahara Desert.

Count Arman continued, ”The establishment of the Boer Republic now could be Britain’s first chess piece against us. Even if this piece is taken by us, it wouldn’t implicate the British in Cape Town. But on the other hand, if this piece truly entangles us, Britain and Portugal might also join the fray.”

”Count Arman, your analysis is very reasonable. Now we must ponder whether we should take this bait of the Boer Republic. If we decide to take it, how should we go about it, and ultimately, what benefits can we gain or what possible losses might we suffer!” Ernst asked them.