African Entrepreneurship Records

 Chapter 1089 The Final Plot—Persian Gulf

All in all, in the area near the Red Sea route, it is impossible for the UK to allow East Africa any chance to expand in the Red Sea area. This is one of the bottom lines of the UK, because East Africa already has a certain advantage due to its location too close to the Red Sea. If East Africa Going one step further, the Red Sea route controlled by the British was really dangerous.

In this way, India and Australia will definitely not be able to move, Nanyang will not be able to move due to the Strait of Malacca, and the area around the Red Sea will not be able to move. The only operable area left is the coast of the Persian Gulf.

Ernst confirmed Sweet's judgment: "Yes, if the UK really gives up an area, it will most likely be near the Persian Gulf. Of course, if the UK really wants to give us this kind of 'bad land', then we have no choice but to accept it. "

Although the Persian Gulf plays an extremely important role in the British national strategy, the situation is stronger than the people. The British government's current idea is not to expand its hegemony, but also to consider how to delay the decline of its hegemony.

This point is not directed at East Africa, but at the United States, the world's largest economic power today. The development of the United States has made the British government realize that the British idea of ​​monopolizing world hegemony is unrealistic, and with the size and industrial capabilities of the United States, it will soon As time goes by, Britain will have no way to deal with the United States.

And now that Japan and East Africa have joined, Britain's situation is even more difficult. Why Britain wants to support Japan is essentially a manifestation of the decline of hegemony. Japan's role is not only to check and balance Russia and the Far East Empire, but also the United States and East Africa. This is the reason why Britain supports Japan.

This has shown to a certain extent that Britain is alone in the competition in the Far East and must find agents and allies to share the pressure on Britain. After all, Britain is also aware of the ambitions of Japan, a white-eyed wolf, but apart from Japan, Britain has no other choice. .

East Africa, like the United States, is a component that cannot be eliminated. It is not that the United Kingdom has not suppressed East Africa in the past, but just like the United States at the beginning of independence, due to geographical reasons, the United Kingdom could not find a fulcrum to contain East Africa.

For this reason, Britain even went so far as to personally fight a war with East Africa in the 1980s. The result was naturally unsatisfactory. It joined forces with Portugal and the Boers, and was eventually defeated by East Africa.

However, the greatest advantage of the United Kingdom is that it knows how to make trade-offs. This is the most important point that distinguishes the United Kingdom from many irrational countries. This also allowed the British hegemony in the previous life to be delayed until the end of World War II.

Nowadays, the United Kingdom actually adopts similar methods towards East Africa, Japan and the United States, that is, having the courage to compromise. This is undoubtedly a wise choice for the United Kingdom, which is still the world hegemon. The general government cannot do this at all. It is no wonder that the United Kingdom can He has been sitting on the position of world hegemon for such a long time.

Ernst said: "For us, it would be a surprise if the British government could provide a piece of land as our operating area on the Indian Ocean coast, so regardless of the value of the land, even if it is a desert, we can Acceptable, of course, provided the desert is located on the coast of the Persian Gulf.”

Ernst finally said what he was thinking, which also gave East African government officials a shot in the arm, that is, the crown prince was optimistic about the land along the Persian Gulf.

In the view of East African officials, although the land near the Persian Gulf, except for the two river basins, is almost all bad land, the Persian Gulf is also a relatively important strategic location in the world. If East Africa can occupy a place near the Persian Gulf, it will be considered A very good start.

In this era, more people still cannot see the value of the land along the Persian Gulf. Of course, for countries such as the United Kingdom and Russia, it is unmistakable that the Persian Gulf has huge strategic value. Russia needs an outlet to the sea, and the United Kingdom does. In order to open up the land channel to India.

As for the economic value, it is almost negligible. Those oil-rich countries in the previous life did not exist at all. The local area almost existed in the form of nomadic tribes, and eating was a big problem.

This is also the point where Ernst plans to utilize the land along the Persian Gulf. At this time, the oil and gas resources along the Persian Gulf have not yet been discovered on a large scale to find a stable "oil barrel" for East Africa, which will be of great benefit to East Africa's economy and industry in the future. Development is particularly important. Nowadays, with the development of the automobile industry and the petroleum industry, East Africa's oil consumption has reached an alarming level. However, the current development of domestic oil and gas resources in East Africa is not going well. Although it can meet its own needs, in the face of rapidly increasing consumption, East Africa must Find a stable, large-volume, and low-cost oil producing area.

The Persian Gulf coast is undoubtedly the easiest area to plot in East Africa. This is the main reason why Ernst has made great efforts to disrupt the local situation. Everything is to pave the way for the industrial development of East Africa.

Ernst said: "Currently regarding the Persian Gulf region, my idea is to get a piece of land from the British. If the British only give us bad land like the desert, it is not unacceptable, but the area must not be too small. And it must be matched with the corresponding coastline. Of course, we must not drag out our trump cards during negotiations.”

"The UK itself cannot give us land of great value, so we should not have too much hope in this. We can interfere with the UK's sight by making some excessive demands, and then guide the final result to what we want. on the results.”

"To put it simply, our bottom line is to obtain a large area of ​​land along the Persian Gulf. Even the desert must be large enough. As for which piece of land the UK is willing to give, that is not the result of our consideration, but depends on the sincerity of the UK."

For Ernst, no matter where the Persian Gulf coast ends up, it will be of great benefit to East Africa. As the most oil-rich area in the world, the Persian Gulf will inevitably have oil resources as long as it occupies a large enough area, even if it is The bottom of the Persian Gulf has the same result.

As for what Ernst said, East African officials did not find it surprising. Just as Ernst said, unless the British are crazy, they will allocate good land to East Africa. The British will definitely give away bad land to East Africa. , on this basis, it is not too much to ask for a larger area in East Africa.

As for the coastline issue, it is easy to explain. Without a coastline, according to the coastal environment of the Persian Gulf, even if East Africa gets these areas, it can only eat sand without transporting food from the mainland.

"That's it! During the negotiations, we chose a few areas that the British would never agree to, such as the Red Sea coast or places near the Strait of Malacca as a test. In the end, the British will definitely return to the Persian Gulf coast. After all, there are only It’s barely acceptable to the British here.”

Although the Persian Gulf is very important to India, it is not worth mentioning compared with the Red Sea route. The Persian Gulf is only a link in Britain's plan to control India from land, while the Red Sea route and the Cape of Good Hope route are the basis for Britain to control India.

In addition to preventing East Africa from moving north along the Red Sea, Britain itself also has a huge demand for the Red Sea route. Taking the experience of the First World War in its previous life as an example, in order to deal with the European battlefield, the United Kingdom needs to obtain troops and a large amount of supplies from India, and these supplies are absolutely Most of them were achieved through the Red Sea route and the Cape of Good Hope route. After all, the Ottoman Empire belonged to the Allied camp at that time, so-called land passages were simply impossible to achieve, and the cost of land transportation was too high.

As for the Strait of Malacca, Malacca can be said to have monopolized most of the trade between the Far East and Europe, and Britain cannot make fun of it, so in the end only the Persian Gulf coast is within the range that Britain can bear.

Of course, if Britain really agrees to cede part of its sphere of influence along the Persian Gulf coast to East Africa, it will play into Ernst's hands. Years later, when East Africa exploits oil from the Persian Gulf, Britain's thighs may be bruised when they review the situation.

(End of chapter)