Chapter 395 Playing Rogue

Among the several Boer republics, only the Orange Free State had relatively abundant finances. Although the bulk of the Kimberley diamond mines were taken away by Britain, at least some profits were left.

The resources of the Republic of Grigualan are actually very rich, but they have not been explored. In addition, the climate in Grigualan is bad and the population is sparse. Even if mineral resources are discovered, they are unable to be developed. The only industry that the Republic of Grigualan can engage in is nomadic farming. As a result, the economic level of the Republic of Grigualan is doomed to be low, and it is even inferior to some Arab countries with similarly poor natural conditions.

A few days later, Merkel incorporated the territory of the Republic of Grigualan into the Kingdom of East Africa under the noses of the British and the top leaders of the Republic of Grigualan.

This dumbfounded the administrators sent to Grigora by the Cape Colony, because the East African Army acted too quickly, and the British did not react until East Africa blocked the Orange River.

After reporting to higher authorities, Johnson, the highest official of the British Cape Colony in Gregory, met with Merck.

"Mr. Merk, this is a naked act of aggression by your East African Kingdom. Grigualan is already a territory of the British Empire. Do you want to challenge the majesty of the British Empire?" Johnson questioned Merk as soon as he saw him.

When Merkel heard Johnson say this, he actually felt very insecure. It was not because he was afraid of Britain, but because East Africa was indeed in the wrong in this matter.

"Mr. Johnson, please calm down. We did not intend to offend your country. I would like to apologize to you first."

Seeing that Merkel had a good attitude, Johnson said, "Well, that's more like it, but next, withdraw your troops from Grigualan immediately, and I can pretend that this incident never happened."

"Withdraw?" Merk was amused. How could he spit out what he had already eaten? He said to Johnson with a smile: "Mr. Johnson, I'm afraid this matter will not go as you wish. It is impossible for our East African Kingdom to withdraw from the Orange River line!"

Johnson felt greatly insulted when he heard this, but when he thought of the military strength of the East African Kingdom, he calmed down again. Now there is a fact.

That is, it is impossible for the Cape Town Colony to send troops to rescue itself. Not to mention that Cape Town does not have many troops, more importantly, it is not worth organizing an army to retake it for the sake of Grigoraland.

But as an official of the British Empire, he had the world's most powerful country behind him, so Johnson believed that the East African Kingdom would not dare to do anything to him.

He asked Merk in return: "Why, do you, the East African Kingdom, want to challenge the Empire and test whether the Empire has sufficient martial virtue?"

Merkel did not respond, but said to Johnson: "East Africa is a peace-loving country and certainly has no intention of offending Britain. However, the withdrawal of troops is not something that a small junior officer like me can decide. This requires an order from the central government. I will pass the news back to the country in time, and the central government will make the decision."

This is certainly not the reason. In fact, Ernst is now in Pretoria. It will only take a few days for the Crown Prince to be informed of the news by sending a messenger.

However, Merk did not want the British to know this. He needed to find a reason to keep East Africa from leaving, and then East Africa would take administrative measures to drive away the merchants and residents of the Republic of Grigualan and completely turn Grigualan into the territory of the Kingdom of East Africa.

This problem is easy to solve. First, abolish slavery. Second, impose heavy taxes on the Gregorians, forcing them to voluntarily move to the Orange Free State.

This is the "hawk-starving" tactic. If the Grigualans do not follow the usual path and take the initiative to provoke the East African Army, that would be even better. This would be exactly what Merkel wants, and he could directly and violently expel the Grigualans.

After the complete demise of the Griegualand Republic, the British accusations against the East African Kingdom naturally ceased to exist. You said that East Africa invaded the Griegualand Republic, but I didn't see any so-called Griegualand Republic. This has been the land of us Germans since ancient times.

Merkel has the confidence to do this. Having been in Africa for many years, he has also enabled East Africans to have a more thorough understanding of Africa.

That is, apart from the East African Kingdom, there is no opponent in sub-Saharan Africa that is worthy of the East African Kingdom's full efforts.

The British are certainly strong, but Merk doesn't believe that the British will go against the East African Kingdom for the sake of a small country like Grigualan. Can the British mobilize troops from other regions to conquer East Africa?

The East African Kingdom was not like Egypt or Abyssinia, countries that seemed powerful but would fall apart at the slightest touch. The British had no way to deal with the East African Kingdom, which had already established a firm foothold in Africa, on land.

Even if the British blockaded the coastline of East Africa and cut off East Africa's foreign trade, this would not work now. Ernst was afraid of this move before because the East African Kingdom did not have enough population, and the colony had to rely on the Hechingen Consortium for transfusions to maintain operations in the early stages. The food, seeds, livestock, tools, weapons and equipment needed to develop the East African colony in the early stages... all needed to be imported from Germany and other parts of the world.

Now the East African Kingdom can completely rely on the African mainland to achieve independence. Relying on a population of nearly seven million, it has achieved internal circulation, has a strong planting industry, and a handicraft system that can barely be self-sufficient. Especially in the military industry, there is basically no generation gap between the East African Army and Europe.

Now the mainstream weapons of the army are nothing more than two types, guns and artillery. The Dreiser rifles and small-caliber artillery equipped by the East African Army are not bad. They are first-class in Africa. The most important thing is that East Africa can already produce and sell these two things.

As for large-caliber artillery, East Africa is not bad. Although it cannot produce it, East Africa has enough stock and can dispatch the large-caliber artillery deployed near the coastline at any time. It is not a big deal. The artillery in the East African ports adopts a saturation defense counterattack strategy to deal with enemies at sea. From the day the East African Kingdom gained access to the sea, Ernst knew that the biggest threat to East Africa in the future would come from the sea. Therefore, the number of artillery on the coastline is actually in excess. The number of artillery on the East African coast even exceeds the number of Austro-Hungarian Empire's own coastal defense guns around the Adriatic Sea, which has brought huge dividends to Austrian military industrial enterprises.

However, this is also a strategy implemented by the Hechingen Consortium in Europe. As one of the world's top grain traders, the Hechingen Consortium must make some balances and sacrifices to gain a foothold in Germany and Austria. Otherwise, the Junker nobles and Hungarian nobles would not allow the Hechingen Consortium's food companies to exist.

In fact, the food company of the Hechingen Consortium is one of the largest purchasers of agricultural products in Germany and Austria. For example, the wine industry of the two countries in recent years has been promoted by the Hechingen Consortium, which allows landlords in both countries to grow more cash crops. Only then can the cheap food from East Africa fill the gap naturally. In the end, both sides can profit. The only one who suffers is Tsarist Russia. The entire market is too competitive. Although Tsarist Russia has tens of millions of gray livestock, gray livestock are not as cost-effective as more than 20 million black slaves in East Africa.

Neither East Africa nor the Hechingen Consortium will come to a standstill because of the British sanctions, so there will be no weak points in East Africa. The icy and snowy Alaska is a burden, but the British may not think of it, because Ernst himself often forgets that this territory still exists in the hands of the Hechingen royal family.

In short, East Africa's national strength gives Merkel the confidence to act like a rogue, and East Africa is not afraid even if the opponent is Britain.

Merkel's stubborn attitude made Johnson feel troubled, but after calming down and thinking about it carefully, Johnson became even more uncalm.

At this time he reacted, the East African Kingdom, the East African Kingdom, since it is the East African Kingdom, then how did they come to South Africa?

Also, East Africa has deployed so many troops just to deal with a small Republic of Grigualan, so what is the overall strength of the East African Kingdom? It's terrifying to think about it!

Johnson suddenly realized that he had noticed something extraordinary. This matter must be reported to Cape Town or even London, but he had to get out of Grigualan first.

(End of this chapter)