African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1164: Chapter 173: The East Africans Are Attacking!

Ernst always chooses population based on the principle of ”preferring scarcity to inadequacy.” This preference is not based on the immigrants’ abilities but on their future loyalty levels.

When East Africa was conducting population immigration activities, it was precisely the era when the German economy had not developed, and the people of the Far East Empire were living in poverty. At that time, most of the immigrants who chose East Africa were poor people, who were the easiest to influence and win over.

Simultaneously, East Africa actively promoted a policy of population integration, making other ethnic groups, except for Black people, truly become a unified big family in the true sense in East Africa, doing more thoroughly than other immigration countries.

In fact, this led to a complete transformation of the current East African ethnicity. Although it still waved the German banner, its recognition by the world was due to East Africa’s development. Otherwise, if East Africa hadn’t developed, Germany and Austria would certainly have kicked East Africa out of ”German nationality.”

While Rhodes and Boer were contemplating how to further expand the company’s business in the office, deafening cannonades rang out on the La Plata River outside Buenos Aires.

Rhodes’ train of thought was interrupted, and he said irritably, ”Damn it, what’s happening outside?”

Because the Rhodes company was engaged in overseas trade, it was very close to the Buenos Aires port, and the sounds from the port direction were easily transmitted here.

Boer looked out the window, gazing in the direction of the Buenos Aires port, only to see a grand fleet anchored on the broad surface of the La Plata River, which made Boer suddenly realize something.

He said to Rhodes, ”It’s the East Africans! This commotion must be related to East Africa.”

Because Rhodes was not sitting by the window, he didn’t know what was happening and asked Boer, ”How can you be sure it’s the East Africans? And judging by the noise, it sounds as if they’ve waged war on us!”

Rhodes’ comment was clearly made in jest.

However, he then seemed to think of something that wiped the smile off his face, exclaiming to Boer in shock, ”Could it really be that East Africa has started a war with us!”

It wasn’t entirely illogical for Rhodes to have such a surprising notion. Normally, he would not entertain such wild speculations.

But, what time is it now? It’s when war is erupting all over Europe, with England, France, Russia, and Germany all entangled in Europe, leaving them unable to manage other world regions.

Rhodes thought to himself, if East Africa took advantage of this time to expand into other regions of the world, it wouldn’t be impossible; rather, the chances of success might be considerably high.

After all, for a country with East Africa’s capacity, choosing this particular moment to wage war on other countries might indeed go uncontested, unless the United States decided to ”meddle.”

Does East Africa have the motive to annex ”Argentina”? Clearly, it does. The land in Argentina is quite fertile and the national power is not strong, while East Africa is separated from Argentina by only the South Atlantic Ocean, making transportation quite convenient.

If they could annex Argentina, it would undoubtedly be a considerable temptation. One must know that in this era, Argentina was exceptionally wealthy.

So, Rhodes’ malicious guesswork was not entirely without basis. If Rhodes were the ruler of East Africa, he would be willing to test Argentina’s strength.

Of course, Rhodes was overthinking it. Although Argentina’s population is only eight million, it is by no means insignificant, and Argentineans are not African natives; the East African Government would not trouble itself unnecessarily.

Looking at the pale-faced Rhodes, not knowing what was going on in his head, the secretary Boer was a bit speechless and said, ”Boss, haven’t you been following the news lately?”

”What news?” Rhodes asked, somewhat perplexed. ”I’ve been busy with reconciling accounts lately, how would I have the leisure to care about other matters.”

Boer replied, ”The East African Navy’s visit to countries in America, this news came out a month ago, and back then the East African Navy had just arrived in Mexico. Who would have thought they’ve reached Argentina now.”

Rhodes suddenly understood, ”So it’s about that matter. At the time, the newspapers only mentioned visiting America, so I ignored that piece of news.”

America doesn’t equate to Argentina, so predicting which countries the East African Navy might visit isn’t a casual assumption. The Argentinean officials naturally reported this news, but Rhodes didn’t pay attention to the specific content at the time, only skimmed through the headlines.

Having ascertained that East Africa wasn’t attempting a ”sneak attack” on Argentina by taking advantage of the European war’s timing, Rhodes felt relieved and got up with interest to the window, looking out over the vast river surface of the La Plata River.

The La Plata River estuary is rather peculiar, as its width reaches over two hundred kilometers, sparking academic debate.

Some say it’s a bay because its area and width surpass the limits of a normal river, while others consider it part of the La Plata River, as the estuary is all freshwater.

Upstream of the La Plata River is the Parana River. The rich rainfall from southern Central America, covering Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, and Bolivia, converges here through the La Plata-Parana River, with an enormous water volume. Thus, even though the La Plata River estuary is vast and connects with the Atlantic Ocean, the estuary remains freshwater.

It’s somewhat similar to the Amazon River; the massive water volume of the Amazon creates extensive freshwater regions along the coast.

And the East African Navy was conducting live-fire drills on the broad river surface of the La Plata, with the continuous powerful firepower providing a real shock to Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay.

Indeed, East Africa chose the La Plata River as the drill location because it is the outlying area for Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Conducting a large-scale military drill here can effectively deter the three countries.

”The barbarians of East Africa, why did they choose a place so near Buenos Aires to conduct live-fire drills? They are truly a bunch of lunatics!” Rhodes complained.

Boer responded, ”They should be demonstrating their strength. Now that Britain and France are bogged down by Germany in East Africa, their control over Argentina and other parts of South America is significantly weakened. Hence, East Africa likely intends to use this action to let South American countries recognize East Africa’s strength, consequently deepening East Africa’s penetration here.”

Boer’s guess was completely correct. If it were in the Caribbean, East Africa wouldn’t act this way, since the U.S. is not deceased; that place is truly America’s backyard garden. Although East Africa flirts with countries like Mexico, they won’t overly provoke the United States.

But upon reaching Brazil and the countries further south, East Africa naturally doesn’t need to exercise the same caution as in the Caribbean. At this time, the East African Navy needs to demonstrate East Africa’s formidable military strength.

In simpler terms, East Africa is threatening the southern countries of South America; the British have already left, and those with insight better switch allegiance quickly.

And the La Plata River estuary is the best demonstration platform, involving Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. After ending visits with Argentina and Uruguay, the East African Navy will sail upstream to visit its little brother in South America, Paraguay.

In the past, Paraguay was a foothold for East Africa and the Austria-Hungary in South America. Now that Austria-Hungary is unable to extricate itself, East Africa’s visit can draw Paraguay deeper into being East Africa’s pawn.

After all, compared to Argentina and Brazil, Paraguay is just a small country, especially in recent years when the power of Brazil and Argentina has rapidly increased. At this time, Paraguay doesn’t possess the courage to challenge all three as it did back then. Moreover, apart from historical grudges with Argentina and Brazil, Paraguay also has territorial disputes with Bolivia.

Thus, Paraguay has always clung tightly to East Africa, even more so after the South African war, and now East Africa is entirely different from the past; the West Coast of East Africa has been developed, enhancing East Africa’s influence and military presence in the South Atlantic drastically. In reality, East Africa is the most potent country in the South Atlantic; in the Indian Ocean, there’s still the British Empire (India) as a counterbalance, but in the South Atlantic, apart from Brazil, most countries and colonies cannot be taken seriously by East Africa. In fact, Brazil’s impoverished military strength can’t impose much of a threat to East Africa.