African Entrepreneurship Record

Ernst’s words basically represent East Africa’s attitude toward war, which is now about how to conduct the war, the impact of the war on East Africa in various aspects, and the ultimate outcome East Africa wants to achieve through war.

Of course, East Africa ”welcomes” war, so it must first ”glorify” war. To be honest, many East African citizens are old slick ones who came from the Eurasian continent. Although Ernst likes to use ”honest and loyal” to describe them, sometimes ”honest and loyal” is the least honest and loyal.

However, after several military reforms, the image of the East African Defense Army has greatly improved, at least in the same era, there should be no military discipline that can surpass East Africa’s.

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Dodoma City, Heladi Town.

”One person enlists, the whole family is honored, enlist once, benefit for life, protect the homeland and defend the land is a responsibility.”

”Actively cooperating with the government’s conscription registration is the right and obligation of every East African citizen.”

A new round of conscription registration is being carried out in Heladi Town.

”Mayor Milady, all adult males in your town who are over seventeen, have graduated from school, and are physically fit must be counted, especially those veterans with military service experience. This is something the Central Government emphasizes, and if any falsification is discovered or reported, it will be a big issue.”

”Rest assured, Lieutenant Yajideman, Heladi Town has always been an advanced unit in recruitment work, never daring to falsify. You could say we are the most active in all of Dodoma City.”

This is indeed true, the enthusiasm for enlistment in agricultural areas is somewhat higher than in industrial areas. For example, in Dodoma City, military service is not the only employment direction, so there are more choices, and there’s no need to necessarily develop in the military, although the military welfare benefits are quite good, it’s also very tough.

”Lieutenant Yajideman, is the war coming?”

”Who told you that?”

”This is my own observation. First, there are some military supplies being transported by train through Dodoma; I’m quite familiar with them since I served in the military before. Moreover, the train schedules in Dodoma have changed recently. Coupled with this conscription and reserve registration, and the negative reports on Portugal, Britain, and Transvaal in the newspapers, that’s why I’m saying this.”

”Mayor Milady, this isn’t something you should be worried about. Since you’ve served in the military, you should know that places like Dodoma are even safer than our capital. As for any minor changes on the front lines, they are quite common. However, you are indeed observant, but I hope you keep what you know to yourself and not cause panic that would disrupt the normal production and living order.”

”I’m concerned about national affairs, but the most important thing is public opinion. I’ve never seen the official newspaper so openly publish various negative reports about three countries at once. This is obviously a way to stir emotions, so...”

”Mayor Milady, don’t overthink it. Our relationship with the British has never been good, and they are still sanctioning us, which greatly limits our development speed. Also, Transvaal’s hatred toward East Africa has never dissipated; I think you understand their attitude towards East Africa. Lastly, we have also had wars with the Portuguese.”

Lieutenant Yajideman continued, ”So you should understand that a long time ago they were already enemies of our East African Kingdom, which is irreconcilable.”

”I naturally understand this, as I was part of the war against Transvaal, and if I had retired a year later, I might have joined the East-Portuguese War. Unfortunately, I haven’t experienced that war, though I’ve heard the Portuguese fighting ability is not as good as that of Transvaal’s, just slightly stronger than the Black Kingdom and tribes. The newspapers even mockingly described it as using modern weapons to fight a primitive war.”

Mayor Milady’s experience is quite rich. In fact, many East African officials come from the military system, which is one reason Milady became mayor.

Lieutenant Yajideman: ”That’s why East Africa has never been at peace. Although we haven’t fought in recent years, the shadow of war has never dissipated, with Portugal, Britain, and Transvaal surrounding all of East Africa.”

”Moreover, these years, the Portuguese, Transvaal, and British have been building up their forces on the African continent, especially since the end of last year, with the most frequent military movements in Cape Town. It’s clear they have pulled out from Asia and can focus more on Africa.”

”So, two major military groups are forming in southern Africa, one being our East Africa, and the other being Britain and its two allies. This might not be everything, as the attitude of Italy and Egypt remains unclear.”

Milady also said with a solemn face: ”I don’t know when the war crisis will end. Does the kingdom plan to keep expanding until it takes over the entire African continent?”

”At least the three present threats should be dealt with, as a single hand cannot clap, and irreconcilable conflicts exist between us and the three opposing forces from the beginning.

As for expanding northward, it should be unlikely since we had opportunities before, like how Italy managed to stabilize its footing on the Ethiopian plateau, which was entirely due to us giving way behind the scenes,” said Lieutenant Yajideman.

Lieutenant Yajideman didn’t mean to mock Italy, but this is the truth. So far, Italy’s Red Sea colony (Eritrea and parts of eastern Ethiopia) and the Abyssinian Empire have fought to a draw.

This result of Italy is indeed touching, but right now, the Kingdom of Italy is just one of the countries on the Italian Peninsula. If it were the Italy of the previous life, a major power, performing like this would be truly humiliating.

However, it also indicates that the Abyssinian Empire is not easy to deal with. When East Africa invaded the Ethiopian plateau, they rarely directly clashed with the Abyssinian Empire but instead targeted the surrounding tribes or subordinate forces and it was still during a period of division within the Abyssinian Empire.

Italy’s invasion directly threatened the core area of Abyssinian ruling class, especially the northwestern regions, historically opulent places of Abyssinia.

Now, because of Italy as a foreign enemy, the Abyssinian Empire has instead united, allowing East Africa to use the Abyssinian Empire to counterbalance Italy.

These two forces are currently in a stalemate, and East Africa can break this balance at any time. Thus, the real threats to the northwest are Egypt and the British Somali colony, both under British control.

Though Egypt is only a semi-colony, Britain has military pass rights here, and it wouldn’t be impossible for them to choose to detour and launch a surprise attack.

Clearly, as Lieutenant Yajideman stated, East Africa is not very enthusiastic about expanding northward because the remaining regions either have too harsh conditions or the opponents are too strong (mainly referring to France), or they lack resources and strategic value.

Take West Africa, for instance, East Africa cannot bypass French Gabon to expand in West Africa, and since East Africa already has Britain as an enemy, there’s no need to add France to the list.