African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 769: Chips

The war in East Africa against the remaining forces in Angola, or against the plantation owners and mine owners, is one-sided. After all, even the kingdom's army has failed, and these plantation owners who enslave "black slaves" to survive cannot make the black slaves sincere. Work hard.

 It’s true! No, they run faster than anyone else when something happens, but this is a good thing for East Africa. After all, no matter how they run, as long as they are still on the land of East Africa, the fate of these black people has already been arranged by East Africa.

 …

  November 12, 1888.

 The first town.

"At present, all wars against Angola have basically ended. Basically, most of the Portuguese people, including soldiers and civilians, have about 130,000 people after our statistics. There are not many Portuguese people in the interior of Angola, and the Portuguese in the coastal areas Many people have fled back to the mainland by boat." Sweet reported the current situation in Angola to Ernst.

Ernst: “Only more than 130,000 people?”

After all, Portugal has ruled Angola for hundreds of years. Having such a small population does not meet Ernst’s psychological expectations, and there are also many Portuguese troops here.

Strictly speaking, these Portuguese local troops cannot be counted as the local Portuguese population in Angola. After all, they only came to Angola to stay in the area temporarily because of the war.

Whitt explained: “There are also many mixed descendants of Portugal and indigenous people, but we do not count them as Portuguese. I think the Portuguese will most likely not be interested in these black people.”

 Thirteen thousand pure-bred Portuguese are not a small number, especially for Portugal, which has a population of only a few million. It can basically show the scene of "wearing sackcloth and wearing filial piety".

Although it is normal in Europe to sign a humiliating treaty after defeat. Prussia, France, Austria-Hungary... have all signed similar treaties, but Portugal is in Europe after all, not Africa. If the Portuguese government is determined not to sign a humiliating treaty, East Africa will really not have much hope. Good idea.

These 300,000 Portuguese are an important bargaining chip for East Africa to blackmail the Portuguese. Of course, East Africa can also use very crude means to directly "illegally" occupy two colonies.

 Although it is impossible for East Africa to return Angola to Portugal, the failure of the war does not mean that the Portuguese government has the courage to compensate "Angola" to East Africa. This behavior is no different from betrayal.

However, a legal and humiliating treaty can make people feel more at ease. After all, if Portugal does not sign the treaty, it will not be good for East Africa’s international image.

Ernst said: "Very good, let's gather these Portuguese people and imprison them first. These will be the capital for us to negotiate with the Portuguese government in the future."

And this is just Angola. There is still Mozambique in East Africa that has not yet been captured. After the war, it is optimistically expected that the number of Portuguese in East Africa will reach at least 300,000.

So if you want Portugal to sign a treaty honestly after the war, East Africa needs these captives as hostages. If it is to redeem its own citizens, then the Portuguese government will be able to account for it even if it cedes territory and pays compensation.

According to the one-drop principle in the United States, the mixed-race descendants of Portugal must also be black. Unlike the white Portuguese, they are not related to the mainland, so their value is not high. Therefore, the Portuguese government will most likely not take over these "hot potatoes."

Just like in the previous life, Japan demanded war reparations after defeating Tsarist Russia. Why Tsarist Russia refused stubbornly? It was because the land in the Far East was not actually too important to Tsarist Russia. When Japan defeated Tsarist Russia in the Far East, it did not reach St. Petersburg. Moreover, even if Japan really had With this strength, Tsarist Russia’s national character is unlikely to surrender completely.

Now Portugal is in a similar situation to East Africa. Ernst has never thought about how much war reparations he can get from Portugal. First of all, the Portuguese government is already so poor that it can't collect debts from Portugal. Secondly, East Africa has no ability to go to Portugal to collect debts. .

 So the best result is for Portugal to honestly accept the cost of losing two colonies. Although this is painful, it is not unacceptable. At least Portugal has not lost everything. For example, in the current colonial hotspots-West Africa, the East Indies, and even in India and the Far Eastern Empire, the Portuguese still have colonies, as well as some more important islands.

 It’s just that except for the Gold Coast, the value of these colonies cannot be compared with Angola and Mozambique.

Of course, if Portugal really loses Angola and Mozambique, according to Ernst's prediction, Portugal's only entrepreneurial direction in the future is estimated to be the Gold Coast, which is now Portuguese Vida, and the Kingdom of Dahomey in West Africa is likely to become the Portuguese Expand direction.

As for other areas, Portugal faces too powerful opponents, such as India. Portugal still has several Indian colonies, but the area is very small, and it is adjacent to the territory of the British Empire. There is no need to think about the Portuguese and Macao colonies of the Far Eastern Empire. The current government of the Far Eastern Empire is able to maintain the status quo because of its extrajudicial favor.

Finally, there is the Portuguese Timor colony, and the Dutch next to it are not something the Portuguese can provoke now. After losing Angola and Mozambique, Portugal is completely unable to compare with the Netherlands.

Only the Portuguese in West Africa still have a little chance. Although Portugal’s territory in West Africa is a bit small, West Africa is a mixed bag and is very suitable for fishing in troubled waters.

Of course, Ernst is not concerned about the future fate of the Kingdom of Portugal. Now Ernst just wants to put Angola and Mozambique in peace.

So he said: "Enter our Portuguese prisoners well. These are important bargaining chips in post-war negotiations. As for the mixed-race descendants, let's leave them alone for the time being. If the Portuguese are interested in them in the future, they may still have some use value."

Of course, as he said, Ernst was very unfavorable about the attitude of the Portuguese towards mixed-race descendants. After all, the Portuguese who were reduced to intermarrying with the natives or simply being irresponsible should themselves be at the bottom of Portuguese society.

  The Portuguese, who are somewhat powerful, would not have any relations with the indigenous people at all. Otherwise, according to Portugal’s colonial history in Africa, the number of mixed descendants in Angola should exceed one million.

Of course, this is also related to Portugal’s previous lack of attention to the development of Africa. The expansion of Portuguese Angola and Mozambique was actually forced out by East Africa and the international colonial wave.

 During the hundreds of years of Portuguese colonization of Africa, most of the time, Portuguese colonies were limited to coastal areas.

 Because the Portuguese had few competitors in Africa before, and the emergence of East Africa was an important reason why Angola and Mozambique received Portugal's attention.

It can be said that the more than ten years when East Africa threatened the security of the Portuguese colonies was also the period during which Angola and Mozambique developed the fastest. Both their population and construction were higher than the sum of the previous eras.

 It’s just that Portugal is one step behind East Africa after all. Just like Ernst, if immigrants from the Far East Empire had not been introduced in the early days, the population of East Africa would not have reached this size now.

And Portugal even has a vast territory and sparsely populated territory (compared to other European countries), and it can go to Brazil for development, so why go to Angola and Mozambique!

The openness of East Africa is also an important reason for East Africa's victory in the African Colonial War. Without the millions of Far Eastern immigrants who laid the foundation for East Africa in advance, there would be no current development in East Africa. Population and land are the basis for East Africa's development. .

Of course, this is also related to the fact that immigrants from the Far East are easy to fool. Europeans still know more or less that Africa is not a good place. However, the people of the Far East Empire are not yet enlightened. Most people have probably never heard of the so-called Africa. Africa may not be as famous as Dongsheng Shenzhou in "Journey to the West".

Of course, this is also old history. Now Africa's popularity in the Far Eastern Empire has been promoted a lot by East Africa. After all, immigration and commercial activities are too frequent.

 (End of this chapter)