African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1174: Chapter 183: Poisoned Bait

This troublesome and thorny issue naturally needs to be handed over to parliament to resolve; this is Prime Minister Kaiboer’s ultimate tactic for shirking responsibility. Of course, when it comes to territorial trade, one cannot bypass the Dutch parliament.

Moreover, the Dutch parliament holds considerable power. As a pro-German figure, Prime Minister Kaiboer even contemplated joining the Allies before the war. However, this dangerous idea was curbed by the Dutch parliament, ultimately resulting in a pro-German prime minister but a neutral Dutch stance—a blessing in disguise.

After the final discussion by the Dutch parliament, the outcome was naturally... agreeing to trade with East Africa. Once the parliament nodded, it was practically a done deal, even if the queen and prime minister opposed it.

As a small country, the Dutch mentality is entirely different from other nations, especially the great powers like the UK, France, and Germany. Even during its strongest era, the Dutch mentality wasn’t as inflated compared to today’s great powers.

Of course, the reason the Dutch parliament agreed to the territorial trade with East Africa this time was mainly due to two reasons: one was the Dutch fear of East Africa turning hostile, and the other was that Dutch interests weren’t significantly harmed.

East Africa is ultimately a great power, and if they turned hostile against the Netherlands, it would be deemed terribly dangerous by the Dutch legislators, making it wiser to appease East Africa.

The Netherlands is heavily commercialized, and most Dutch people only focus on tangible benefits. This territorial trade, after evaluation by the Dutch parliament, not only poses no loss but even allows for substantial profits.

Of course, this mainly refers to economic benefits; if considering territory, sovereignty, and such, the Netherlands would be at a huge loss. However, for the Dutch, who are inherently more focused on economic gains, this is a characteristic of a mercantilist nation.

The Dutch trait is so prominent that even during the Japanese Shogunate era, they were not excluded. In Japan, the Dutch did not preach religion nor interfere in internal affairs, solely focusing on business.

Whatever the Japanese government demanded, the Dutch complied without opposing them.

Hence, during Japan’s era of seclusion, the Dutch were not expelled, unlike countries like Spain, Portugal, and the UK, which not only sought to profit from Japan but also attempted political interference, unacceptable to Japanese rulers.

Thus, the Dutch are sensible of the times. Of course, this could also be because the Netherlands is small, lacking the capital to imitate the practices of other great powers.

This time, the Dutch parliament’s attitude toward East Africa perfectly embodies ”acting within one’s means.” Since it could not be prevented, they might as well collude with East Africa.

September 30, 1914.

The East African Government officially confirmed all transaction terms with the Dutch government, with East Kalimantan formally becoming part of the East African Colony.

As compensation, the East African Government paid the Netherlands sixty million Rhine Shields as a purchase price for nearly over three hundred thousand square kilometers of land in East Kalimantan, while pledging to ensure the majority of Dutch interests remain unchanged in East Kalimantan, and jointly investing with the Dutch Government to develop the region. Local tax revenues would be divided according to investment proportions for a duration of twenty years.

The Dutch government is quite satisfied with this outcome. The purchase fee from East Africa alone vastly exceeds the actual current revenues from East Kalimantan, especially as colonial profits are drastically declining today.

Furthermore, guaranteed by the East African Government’s pledge, the Dutch effectively retained most original benefits, promising East Kalimantan to continue generating revenue for the Netherlands over the next twenty years without requiring extra expenses for colonial military costs.

Conversely, East Africa gained administrative, military, and vast territorial control over East Kalimantan, with most of Kalimantan Island falling into East African hands, save for the northern areas under British influence.

However, East Kalimantan was not entirely settled due to the East African and Dutch transaction; resolving matters with the Dutch was only one aspect, as there were numerous indigenous countries and tribes in East Kalimantan.

These nations did not entirely operate under the Dutch Government’s will; instead, they possessed significant autonomy, only paying the Dutch a protection fee annually for their protection rather than acting as Dutch puppets.

Thus, for East Africa to settle East Kalimantan, it needs to combat the indigenous forces in the island’s eastern region, divided primarily into two factions: some being Malays, and the rest true indigenous of Kalimantan Island.

As seen previously with the Kuwait Sultanate, there was also a slew of foreign rulers originally members of the Green Sect, while other forces like Hinduism competed with Green Sect but weakened centuries ago.

These non-native religious forces were in fact non-Western colonizers, being ne’er-do-wells, also within East Africa’s key targets.

Rhein City.

The joyful news of the acquisition of East Kalimantan arrived, bringing enthusiastic cheers from the East African Government. The outbreak of World War I undoubtedly accelerated East African destiny.

Thus far, East Africa’s overseas expansion yielded astonishing results, dealing in hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of land, leaving no one indifferent.

Ernst, of course, remained rather composed. While excited over securing East Kalimantan, from the outset, Ernst designed East Kalimantan as a poisonous bait.

Naturally, Ernst wouldn’t explicitly declare so now, rather pretending nonchalantly amongst the crowd: ”Securing East Kalimantan is a good thing for our country, but stabilizing control in East Kalimantan is no easy task. Taking advantage of now while European countries are preoccupied, we should stabilize all unstable factors in East Kalimantan.”

”Firstly, eliminate the national governments in East Kalimantan; with the UK trapped in Europe, if we act against the local indigenous, they cannot receive external support, sparing considerable trouble.”

”Secondly, commence orderly immigration activities in East Kalimantan, while striking the original heretics, subjecting them to Germanization education—those who go along prosper, those against it perish. Indigenous unwilling to accept East African transformation have no necessity to exist.”

Ernst has always viewed the Green Sect as a menace since once tainted, it’s incredibly tough to shake off; in the previous life, Green Sect countries were quite prominent in the South Sea Region, with Indonesia being a typical example, along with others like Bangladesh, Malaysia, etc.

Ernst’s planned ”terror policy” in East Kalimantan essentially replicates past actions by the Indonesian government—eradicate the roots completely and transform East Kalimantan into one of East Africa’s stable bases of influence for future spread.

Anyway, accumulating debt doesn’t worry Ernst; having many parasites doesn’t itch. Having committed ruthless acts repeatedly, Ernst readily accepts them now, as Ernst isn’t keen on leaving these troubles for future generations. Historically, when future generations attempted resolutions, it was incredibly hard.

Just like in the previous life, Europe and the United States faced severe social issues due to absorbing numerous refugees or culturally divergent immigrants.

With Ernst’s instruction issued, East Kalimantan is evidently set for upheaval next.

In fact, this isn’t the end of East Kalimantan’s calamity; East Kalimantan is merely Ernst’s bait. Once the situation is stabilized, Ernst will command domestic enterprises to aggressively develop East Kalimantan’s oil resources.

If history doesn’t deviate too much, this surely hooks some East Asian island nation’s mouth, allowing East Africa to use the island nation’s power to disrupt British, French, Dutch, American, Australian deployments, with East Africa ultimately entering and completely plowing through the South Sea Region, making it truly East Africa’s South Sea.

Thus further converting the Indian Ocean into East Africa’s internal sea, with the South Sea being crucial in East Africa’s Indian Ocean policy, especially key nodes like the Malacca Strait, without control, East Africa does not genuinely control the Indian Ocean.