African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1157: Chapter 166: Cooling Off in the Shade of East Africa

Cabinda in East Africa is only a hundred kilometers away from Black Horn, so the Belgians in Black Horn are not unfamiliar with Cabinda, this ”international metropolis”. All it takes is a boat ticket to reach Cabinda, and of course, there is also a road connection between the two places.

For the citizens of Black Horn, the level of prosperity in Cabinda is in no way inferior to the Belgian capital Brussels, and many Belgian dignitaries in Black Horn even live in Cabinda permanently.

Hughes hailed a taxi and then called his brother’s family to his residence.

Herman said with some surprise, ”Isn’t this too extravagant?”

For Herman, cars are something rare; the entire automotive industry in Europe, not to mention compared with East Africa, is lagging far behind the United States. So, in Europe, only rich people can afford cars, and Herman’s family is not wealthy, usually only envying the wealthy and noble people driving cars on the streets of Belgium.

Hughes casually remarked, ”Just notice the number of cars in Black Horn, you should be able to tell, there are quite a lot here. I’m not sure about the development back home in the past few years, but when I first arrived in Black Horn City, I was also shocked.”

”Our hometown Antwerp is considered a big city in Belgium, but when I left Antwerp, I hardly saw any cars. But as soon as I got to Black Horn, I noticed there were quite a few cars here.”

”Especially in recent years, the number of cars in Black Horn city has increased rapidly. Almost anyone with a bit of spare money would buy one. There are quite a few rich people in Black Horn, I estimate there are at least tens of thousands of cars in total.”

It’s worth noting that the total population in Black Horn city is only in the tens of thousands, so the car penetration rate is quite high, perhaps even exceeding some cities in East Africa.

Herman sighed, ”Antwerp hasn’t changed much since you left, but before coming to Black Horn, I definitely couldn’t have imagined that it would be a Belgian colony.”

”It’s mainly because Black Horn is in a good location, and East Africa has developed rapidly over these past decades. With East Africa as a backing, Black Horn has also enjoyed the dividend of development. Massive mineral exports have made Black Horn rich. You need to know that the entire Belgian Congo is six or seven times the size of the mainland but has only a fraction of the population. So, mining here is quite developed and creates significant social benefits, enough to make many people prosperous.”

”This is why I’ve contacted you to come here to take refuge. Currently, Belgian Congo is most lacking in population, especially technically skilled people. In Antwerp, you work hard only as a small worker, but here you can at least get into a small managerial role, and the salary is no less than back home.”

”Almost nothing is lacking here, even medical, consumer, and educational needs can be addressed in the nearby big cities of East Africa, Cabinda, and Kinshasa.”

”Our boss lives in Cabinda, which is quite valuable land; Kinshasa is not bad either, although it’s a bit far from Black Horn city. You must first transfer at Cabinda, then proceed by train or bus to reach Kinshasa.”

Cabinda and Kinshasa are the two most influential and well-known East African cities in Belgian Congo. Most Belgians in Belgian Congo would go to these two East African cities based on proximity.

Those along the coast would choose Cabinda, which is convenient by both sea and land routes, whereas most from inland areas would opt for Kinshasa, typically by navigating through the relatively weak inland transportation of Belgian Congo to reach Kinshasa.

After all, the transportation within East Africa and Belgian Congo are worlds apart. Except for its capital city Black Horn, other regions have extremely poor infrastructure, with low investments.

However, in recent years, due to the export of minerals and agricultural products, the Belgian government has increased its investments in Belgian Congo’s transportation, so the transportation situation is improving.

”From what you are saying, it seems that East Africa has played a significant role in the development of Belgian Congo?” Herman curiously asked his brother.

In fact, Herman has been curious about East Africa for quite a while. In their past communications, Hughes would often mention East Africa, but due to the high cost of communication, their contact frequency wasn’t very high, perhaps only once or twice a year, mostly to report safely.

Hughes answered, ”That’s natural. One could say everything about Belgian Congo is closely related to East Africa. Nowadays, many industries in Belgian Congo are invested in by East Africans, and East Africa is essentially the only civilised country nearby Belgian Congo. So aside from dealings with the mainland, East Africa and we have a very close relationship.”

”Recently, East Africa was even planning to join forces with four Central African countries to conduct transportation planning for regions including our Belgian territory, to build railway and road projects. Unfortunately, it was temporarily interrupted due to the war.”

”If it weren’t for the war in Europe that made Germany and Belgium hostile countries, construction might have already started.”

It can be said that the relationship between Belgium and Germany is quite awkward. After all, everyone used to cooperate quite harmoniously in Africa, but now they have become sworn enemies.

Of course, this is a helpless move. Germany’s invasion of Belgium is certainly indefensible on moral grounds, but France isn’t necessarily any better.

Germany’s Schlieffen Plan chose Belgium as the entry point due to the French side’s military deployments.

And the French military deployment can even be linked to the famous Maginot Line from another timeline. In fact, before World War I, France had laid out a prototype of the Maginot Line.

After all, the grievances between France and Germany haven’t been for just a day or two. Since the Prussian War, most of France’s military actions have been related to Germany.

So the French Government began deploying defensive works spanning from the border between the two countries to the Alps. Although the defensive system formed by these works wasn’t as tight and systematic as the Maginot Line, it still significantly increased Germany’s pressure.

In fact, before World War I, the French Government successfully predicted some future plans of the German Army, so the French Government formulated the so-called 17th Operation Plan based on these predictions.

The 17th Operation Plan was based on assumptions about the German Army’s attack plans by the French Army’s General Staff. Since the French Army had already established a strict defensive system in the border area, the French Army correctly estimated that the German Army wouldn’t launch a frontal attack but instead would bypass the French Army’s border fortress system via Belgium and Luxembourg and attack the French Army’s flank.

In other words, from the beginning, the French Government anticipated that Germany might bypass France’s eastern defensive line, taking a route through either Belgium or Luxembourg, thus attacking French territory.

This played right into the hands of the French, who, based on a mentality of shifting trouble to neighbors, intended to make Belgium the battlefield from the start.

Like the German Army, the ”quick victory mindset” also dominated within the French Army, and since the eastern defensive line would obviously focus on defense, Belgium similarly became the main breakthrough point for the French against the German manoeuvre warfare.

As long as the war wasn’t being fought on French soil, the French Government remained utterly unconcerned, which was a lesson learned from the Franco-Prussian War.

So saying that Belgium’s invasion by Germany is inextricably linked to France. Similarly, France during World War II might have embraced the same mentality, which is why they didn’t extend the Maginot Line. But they didn’t expect the German Army’s tactics in World War II to be on an entirely different level.

Herman: ”When we left, the Germans had already occupied Brussels, and were very close to Antwerp. This was the main reason I decided to bring my family to rely on you since now the two countries have become enemies, and previous cooperation agreements naturally became void. I just hope East Africa won’t exploit the situation like Germany.”

In his heart, Herman is somewhat apprehensive about East Africa. After all, both East Africa and Germany are German countries, and at this moment, with Belgium’s mainland being invaded by Germany, the Belgian Congo far away in Africa might well be taken advantage of by East Africa.