African Entrepreneurship Record

Due to the delays on the western battlefield, Sivert had to temporarily change plans, and soon the General Staff’s plans were reported to Ernst.

After patiently reading through them, Ernst asked, ”Is the southern battlefield already over as a whole?”

”Yes, Your Highness, the main forces of the Boers and the British army have been withdrawn to the south bank of the Orange River, including places such as Bloemfontein and Kimberley. Basically, Boer cities and important villages have been controlled by our army,” Sivert replied.

However, this did not completely convince Ernst, as the Boers had performed exceptionally well in South Africa in the past life. Therefore, this actual supreme ruler of East Africa always viewed the Boers through a filter.

Ernst cautiously said, ”The plan can be implemented, but there are some details that need to be changed, especially the attacks on Boer guerrillas cannot be interrupted. After the southern military district pulls troops eastward, the rear will definitely be empty, and the southern provinces have always lacked population. Therefore, the Armed Forces should organize militias from the central and eastern regions to support the southern military district, cutting and eradicating the remaining forces of the Boers. The most important task is to eliminate the soil for the guerrillas’ survival.”

Ernst does not pay much attention to the development of the Heixinggen province, or deliberately so, as Heixinggen province is too close to the British. If the gold and other minerals in Heixinggen province are exposed under the British’s noses, fear is that the British would have already been fully active in the South African war.

It is not just the British; even the fighting capability of the Portuguese might be elevated a notch. The 19th century’s pursuit of gold was extremely enthusiastic, akin to the strategic significance of oil in the 20th century.

In the past, the British went red-eyed for gold and attacked the Boers with full calculation of interest. Without the South African gold mines as the bottom line, the British would not have gone all out against the small Boer forces.

In this life, not to mention the British, even the East Africans besides Ernst did not know that the world’s largest gold mining area was buried on both sides of the Fall River.

This also dampened the British’s enthusiasm for the South African war currently. Although the British army in South Africa has over 300,000, more than 200,000 of them are Indians. The intensity faced by East Africa and the Boers in the previous life is completely different.

Of course, the British also enlisted the Portuguese and Boers as helpers, which to some extent expanded the scale of this war beyond the Boer war of the past life.

However, in terms of war quality, the South African war is not necessarily superior to the Boer war because the Boers’ strength was far inferior to the British in the past.

In contrast, East Africa seems evenly matched with the entire Allied forces. The most crucial part is that East Africa is fighting ”at the doorstep,” while despite the British and Portuguese being powerful, their strength cannot effectively support the South African battlefield.

This is what troubles the British most. If East Africa were the type that doesn’t prioritize naval defense and had limited vision, it would be easier to handle.

But the problem is here; East Africa lacks no talented individuals with broad horizons and, in addition, has a ruler like Ernst, who has received the benefits of ”nine-year compulsory education” and the ”useless” knowledge surplus of the internet explosion era.

Therefore, when East Africa was poor, they ardently sought coastal defense, and once wealthy, they actively expanded their navy. Even if the British could go all out to wipe out East African naval forces, it is unlikely they could brazenly enter and exit East African near-seas and even inland rivers like they did with the Far Eastern Empire.

Moreover, Ernst, while acting very cautiously, does not suffer from this era’s ”fear of England” syndrome, resulting in East Africa’s unwavering attitude against the British military.

Do not think ”fear of England” syndrome did not exist. Which of Germany, France, Czarist Russia, Austria-Hungary, and America does not have stronger powers than East Africa? However, they all secretly developed under the maritime hegemony of the British Empire, like other countries worldwide.

The only one who dared to openly challenge British hegemony was ”William II,” but William II’s challenge to British hegemony was more like a ”rebellion” against his mother, the tyranny of his mother, Princess Victoria, during his childhood made him instinctively dislike the British.

It is worth noting that William II already went online two months ago, officially becoming the ruler of the German Empire.

Frederick III ultimately could not rid himself of the torment of disease and passed away. For this German emperor, who had a good relationship with the Heixinggen royal family, the Heixinggen royal family could only send someone to mourn.

In fact, before William II, Germany had always been one of the closest allies of Britain, which is also an important reason Germany had not intervened in the South African war until now.

And now, William II is still unstable, still scheming against Bismarck. If the South African war had delayed a few more years, resembling the time of the Boer war in the previous life, perhaps William II would have come to help.

In conclusion, the current history has become unrecognizable; it’s uncertain whether William II will still follow the old path of resisting the British and French like in the previous life.

At the same time, the attitude of Czarist Russia is also worthy of vigilance. In this life, Czarist Russia’s relationship with Austria-Hungary is not as rigid as in the previous life.

Europe’s political landscape has also experienced some ”small” changes, like Italy, the repeated ”expert,” has lost its opportunity to become a ”major power.”

At the end of this war, Portugal might also completely fall into the ranks of Europe’s third-rate countries, and Portugal’s situation is even more dire than Italy’s.

Italy can still gain a piece of colony in Africa, while Portugal might only be left with small colonies in West Africa and the Far East areas, with an economic level much less than Italy.

Although Italy failed last time to unify, Italy’s economy has actually been moving in a positive direction these past two years.

In the previous life, Italy might have overestimated its strength after unification, resulting in being beaten severely by Ethiopians in Africa. In this life, due to a lack of national strength, they have adopted a steady strategy in Africa, thus avoiding disaster.

Italy’s Red Sea colony greatly alleviated the domestic population pressure, and the presence of the colony helped stimulate domestic economic recovery, which could potentially regenerate the homeland.

Additionally, Belgium, the minor European country, has seen significant changes, as Belgian Congo and the former Belgian Congo are completely different concepts. Today’s Belgian Congo, although resources are more concentrated and supported by excellent ports, lacks the population and economic scale of the previous Belgian Congo.

Of course, there’s no change in Leopold II’s brutal rule, and the Black people in Belgian Congo are suffering more appalling treatment than in the past.

Today’s Belgian Congo is like the former French Congo. Although the French were not known for implementing ”benevolent rule” in Congo, they did not replicate Belgium’s complete imposition of ”tyranny” in Belgian Congo.

Moreover, the worst part is, the people of the former Belgian Congo could escape, but now the residents cannot escape, as the surrounding lands have been divided in advance, and East Africa will not let them run east of the Ubangi River. Those Blacks not in East African regions do not even have the qualifications to be ”slaves” in East Africa.

East African Blacks, although living poorly, can still ”endure” until East Africa exports them abroad, and then they might gain ”freedom.”

Outside of Europe, East Africa has also made some changes in the Far Eastern region. Besides East Africa establishing several colonies, the most substantial achievement was preventing the Far Eastern Empire from coveting ”Egg Bay Island,” without the South Ryukyu Islands as a stepping stone, the Japanese temporarily do not have such inclinations.

Of course, as a price, East Africa’s Pacific fleet bears the pressure, as Japan has conducted several rounds of probing for the so-called recovery of ”South Ryukyu Islands” after the South African war began.

However, despite East Africa currently unable to teach ”Japan” a lesson, the South Ryukyu Islands are not easy bones to chew. For East Africa, the South Ryukyu Islands are strategic points designed to contain various Far Eastern countries, thus the South Ryukyu Islands’ construction was initially aimed at ”war.”

Meanwhile, the Japanese navy is not yet prepared for a direct confrontation with East Africa, as the outcome of the South African war remains uncertain, risking a ”reckoning later” could be detrimental.