African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 506: The evil spirit will never die

After the East-Portuguese War, East Africa seemed to be back on track. However, allowing East Africa to escape smoothly in this way obviously did not conform to the British sinister style. The British Prime Minister, Benjamin, felt that Britain had been defeated by East Africa this time. This was for the arrogant It was intolerable to him.

"The climate in East Africa has become such that it seems that resolving East Africa by force or even weakening it will not be possible. Instead, it will push East Africa further." Benjamin said somewhat depressedly.

 After the East-Portuguese War, the momentum of East Africa seemed to have increased, and many countries began to communicate with East Africa. The British also saw this, and this was considered stealing the chicken but losing the rice!

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, our intervention in Africa was still a step too late for the Germans. If the previous government could contain East Africa before it annexed the Transvaal Republic, the situation in Africa would not have deteriorated to this point."

“Humph, after all, no one would have thought that our British Empire would one day focus on Africa. After the invention of quinine, we should take advantage of the situation to intervene in Africa.”

"This is caused by historical inertia. Before the invention of quinine, only the Portuguese colonized Africa. For hundreds of years, malaria hindered our exploration of the interior of Africa. Perhaps it was because it took so long that everyone Africa was ignored, and the Germans took advantage of it."

Quinine was invented in 1826. Britain or other countries did not need to be too early. Even if they entered Africa on a large scale in the mid-19th century, Ernst would not have anything to do with it later.

Of course, Britain, which was at its peak, would not have imagined that one day it would seek Africa, and the earlier Portuguese colonial empire could not have imagined that its descendants would decline to this point.

But as far as Ernst is concerned, all this is still due to greed. There are so many British colonies and it is really unkind to still focus on a piece of rotten land like Africa. It is better to bear the pain by yourself.

Benjamin: "Now you think about how to deal with East Africa? We will not have much effect in the short term of the war. Can we contain the development of East Africa through other means?"

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, if we exclude the means of war, our way of containing East Africa is nothing more than political and economic means. Politically, we must isolate East Africa and cut off the connections between East Africa and other countries. Even if it is not possible, we must draw in the neighboring countries of East Africa to prevent East Africa from further Economically, it imposes sanctions on East Africa, cuts off East Africa's foreign trade and exchanges, and hinders East Africa's development. However, these methods can only treat the symptoms but not the root cause. East Africa is too big a territory, and I'm afraid we can live well if we only rely on the local area."

Benjamin nodded and said: "Your idea coincides with mine. I can also see that this time we cannot directly take over East Africa. After all, they are not a colony like India, so now we can only restrict the further development of East Africa and wait until We will attack East Africa when we are ready."

Benjamin's idea is to weaken East Africa's strength as much as possible, and finally take military action against East Africa. Although East Africa's record against Portugal this time seems to be pretty good, it will not make Benjamin give up.

With India as its support, Britain can continue to strengthen its military power in Cape Town. The East African army has Germans, and Britain can also raise troops from the mainland. So with India added to the mainland, the UK can also play explosives. In the Boer War, Britain could send troops An army of 400,000 can still do this in this time and space, so Britain is not worried at all about not being able to defeat East Africa militarily, but the price it needs to pay is a bit high.

Benjamin: "That's it! First get in touch with the countries around East Africa and form an anti-East Africa alliance. At the same time, we will impose economic sanctions on East Africa and cut off its foreign trade."

As the British government reached a consensus, the British Foreign Office also began to investigate and contact neighboring countries in East Africa.

However, there are actually only a few forces around East Africa. It is certain that Portugal is tied to the United Kingdom, so the United Kingdom decided to further strengthen Portugal's strength.

 In fact, Portugal has come to the door a long time ago. This war with East Africa was entirely instigated by the British. As a result, Portugal ceded territory and paid compensation. Portugal believed that the United Kingdom bore a great responsibility. "Ambassador Williams, you can't just let it go. Portugal will suffer a big loss this time! We have completely waded through troubled waters for you. Your guarantees before the war were not implemented, which made Portugal lose its reputation internationally. Lose face."

"Your Excellency, Archduke Varus, you have wronged us in this matter. What we said before the war was to ensure the existence of the two Portuguese colonies in Africa, but we did not say that we would ensure the integrity of the two Portuguese colonies in Africa. Moreover, we did not stop it in time. I’m afraid you won’t even be able to save more than half of the remaining colonies in the war.”

“Ambassador Williams, you were clearly misleading us before and set up a language trap for us, and now you refuse to admit it, then you are too unkind. Are all diplomats in your country doing things like this?”

“Ahem, Your Excellency Grand Duke Varus, you’d better pay attention to your words. Our country’s diplomats are all qualified. As for you misunderstanding our intentions, it only shows that the professionalism of your country’s diplomats needs to be improved.”

Seeing that Varus was obviously unconvinced, Williams, who had a guilty conscience, could only comfort him: "Although the war strength has caused you some trouble this time, with the help of our country, didn't you still retain the elite colony! Anyway, the losses It's not too big. As far as I know, you haven't developed much in southern Angola and northern Mozambique, and there aren't many people there. Besides, you can't allow others to sleep soundly beside the bed. Sooner or later, East Africa will have twisted thoughts about your country's colonies. , we just exposed East Africa’s ambitions in advance.”

　What is certain trouble? The corner of Archduke Varus's mouth twitched. The previous government collapsed directly because of this incident. The East-Portuguese War had a too great negative impact on Portugal.

“Mr. Ambassador, no matter what, we in Portugal are all victims, and we are inseparable from your country. You must be responsible for us.”

"Alas! Don't tell me, His Excellency the Grand Duke Verus, as a responsible and responsible country, the British Empire will not give up on Portugal. This time, I will come to discuss with your country with the instructions of Prime Minister Benjamin. Dealing with East Africa.”

Hearing about dealing with East Africa, Varus immediately sounded alarm bells in his heart: "You still want us to fight a war with East Africa!"

 “How is this possible? We don’t have this idea in the short term...”

Varus interrupted: "It is impossible for us to face the East Africans alone."

"Of course, are we friends with you? We misjudged the strength of East Africa, and our intelligence errors led to the failure of the war. So this time we come with sincerity. Not only will we be with you in the future We will fight side by side and will provide you with the best weapons."

In the final analysis, the British still want to put Portugal on their own battle chariot. As for providing advanced equipment, this is because the British believe that the military assistance to Portugal was not strong enough last time, which led to the failure of the war. This time, the British plan to provide themselves with advanced equipment. This ally in Africa provides advanced military weapons including artillery, machine guns and more.

From the British point of view, the last war was just a test of East Africa. The British Military Observer Group believed that it fully understood the military strength of East Africa, so it was well prepared and could definitely defeat East Africa next time.

The combat effectiveness of the Portuguese colony of Mozambique is also remarkable. If Angola had not been in a hurry, Mozambique could have continued to fight, at least for a few months.

 (End of this chapter)