Chapter 1499: Killing the Chicken to Frighten the Monkey
The scarcity of coal resources meant that the Kingdom of South Germany was destined to be unable to completely replicate East Africa's industrial development path in the last century. However, the Kingdom of South Germany had a certain distribution of oil and natural gas resources, but unfortunately they had not been developed.
The Kingdom of South Germany, like East Africa, called itself the "German State". The early national composition structures of the two countries also differed in details. For example, the early immigrants in East Africa were composed of Germans, people from the Far Eastern Empire, and Slavs (various Slavic groups within the Austro-Hungarian Empire), while the Kingdom of South Germany was mainly composed of Germans, people from the Far Eastern Empire, and Romanians.
The development of the Kingdom of South Germany to its current level was mainly due to agriculture and gold mining, which provided the original capital for the country's early development.
Only in recent years, with the help of East Africa, have some new industrial and mining sectors been established, such as the extraction of natural soda from Lake Chad, the mining of bauxite and iron ore, and the rough processing of non-ferrous metal ores.
From an industrial perspective alone, the industry of the South German Kingdom is basically a vassal dependent on the East African market and is unremarkable. In contrast, agriculture has made considerable progress over the years.
Especially in the newly occupied lands, which are roughly the intersection of Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad in the past, agriculture has developed rapidly.
For example, the Komadugu Yobe River Basin in the northeast of former Nigeria was once an important "granary" of Nigeria, but later due to religious and tribal wars, food production declined.
Now that this area has fallen into the hands of the Kingdom of South Germany, it has been greatly utilized and developed. Backed by agricultural technology support from East Africa, it has become one of the four major agricultural production areas of the Kingdom of South Germany.
The four major agricultural production areas of the South German Kingdom are mainly around Lake Chad, the Chari River Basin, the Komadougou Yobe River Basin, and its southwest. Agricultural crops are mainly sorghum, wheat, rice, cotton, etc., and animal husbandry is also relatively developed.
Of course, the East African government was not interested in the agricultural products and mineral resources of the South German Kingdom. The important purpose of supporting the South German Kingdom was to curb the southward migration of West African blacks and to become a population barrier for East Africa and a training pool for future young and strong labor force.
Ernst said: "Right now, the population of the Kingdom of South Germany is still too small. Five million is only slightly more than our colonies. They should follow the example of the Abyssinian Empire and increase their population to more than 10 million before they can be considered qualified."
"In addition to the Kingdom of South Germany, we should also speed up our layout in West Africa. Based on Togoland, we should encourage domestic forces to explore West Africa and continue to strengthen the Empire's penetration into West Africa."
East Africa has only two fulcrums in West Africa, one is the Kingdom of South Germany and the other is Togoland. In recent years, the British have been guarding against the Kingdom of South Germany, and Togoland has been facing the joint exclusion of Britain and France.
But this is not surprising. In the past, Britain and France might not have paid much attention to West Africa, but since the rise of East Africa, West Africa has also become a "hot spot" for colonial empires.
In other words, East Africa is unwilling to break the current international order too early. Otherwise, not to mention East Africa itself, even the Kingdom of South Germany, with the support of East Africa, would be enough to cause trouble for Britain and France.
Of course, East Africa was also wary of the South German Kingdom. Just like Britain's colony of Nigeria, if it was annexed by the South German Kingdom, then Africa might have a second regional power after East Africa.
This is obviously something that East Africa does not want to see. Just as the United States cannot tolerate Canada or Mexico being out of its control, the relationship between the Kingdom of South Germany and East Africa is equivalent to that between Canada and the United States.
…
In 1930, with the strict implementation of the East African Ecological and Environmental Protection Act, the country launched a large-scale conversion of farmland to forest and grassland, which also led to a reduction in the amount of arable land in East Africa this year.
Ubangi Province (formerly West Central Africa).
"According to the government's new regulations, the tropical rainforest area in the southern part of the province restricts local residents from excessive logging and burning of the rainforest and other destructive activities. Logging can only be carried out in an orderly and reasonable manner with the permission of the government and in accordance with the new regulations."
In an open space in the Congo rainforest in Ubangi Province, Walter, a staff member of the Forestry Resources Bureau, is reading a new notice to a forest farm.
This is a small forest farm. In Ubangi Province, timber is an important economic source for the province. Therefore, there are many forest farms in the local area.
After hearing what Walter said, Frank, the owner of the forest farm, looked unhappy. He stepped forward and said, "Mr. Walter, our forest farm is just a small business. We have dozens of workers who rely on logging to support their families. Aren't you destroying the workers' livelihoods?"
Facing Frank's questioning, Walter did not get angry. He patiently explained to Frank: "Boss Frank, don't say that we are making things difficult for you. This is an order from Rhineland. Even the provincial government can only execute it seriously."
"I understand your difficulties, but I think you may have some misunderstandings about the new policy. The government is not trying to prevent you from losing your jobs, but in order to protect the environment of our homeland, we have to take some strict measures to achieve sustainable development instead of barbaric destruction of the forest by exhausting all resources."
He pointed at the red mud under his feet and said, "Mr. Frank, and everyone in the forest farm, you should also know that logging in the way you did in the past is seriously destructive to the rainforest."
"Just like the mud under my feet and the exposed red soil around it, it doesn't seem to be a big problem now, but if there is a heavy rain at any time, the mud will flow into the Ubangi River along with the rain."
"The already barren land is even more difficult to recover after losing its topsoil, and wastelands are formed like pimples throughout the rainforest, eventually causing the entire rainforest system to collapse and creating the risk of disasters such as floods in the local area and downstream."
"You have been doing this business for many years, so you should be very clear about this. So, do you think there is a problem with the government's policy this time?"
Frank knew it in his heart, but he still said, "Mr. Walter, our forest farm only cuts a few trees at a time. Why don't you go find those large forest farms? As far as I know, the state-owned forest farms in the east are dozens of times larger than ours. They are much more destructive than us. If we want to catch typical cases, we should catch them first."
Walter sneered and said, "Boss Frank, you don't need to change the subject. The state-owned forest farm next door is also within the scope of this rectification. Our director personally led people there to communicate with them and supervise the rectification work."
"It is undeniable that state-owned forest farms are indeed larger in scale, but the problem is that there are more small forest farms like yours. Yours may not be important, but if there are hundreds or thousands of them, then the significance is completely different."
"Moreover, small forest farms like yours have more irregular behaviors and are more destructive to the ecology, so they are also the focus of this rectification."
"You don't have to put labels on us. This is not just targeting your forest farm. As long as it is related to enterprises and units in our province, we will treat them equally this time. As for whether it will become a typical example, it depends on what you do next."
Frank still did not give up and said, "You said you would rectify it, but who knows how far you can go? Some people cut down trees secretly. They run deep into the rainforest or work late at night. I don't believe you can find them all."
In response to Frank's questioning, Walter said, "Boss Frank, this is not more than a decade ago, so I advise you and your colleagues not to have such petty thoughts."
"In the past, it was really hard to detect and deal with people doing this, but now with the advancement of technology, we don't need to send people to investigate in the rainforest. We can just fly a plane in the sky and see clearly that a piece of rainforest has been secretly cut down. There is no place to hide."
"If you are caught, you will be severely punished. Of course, you can still have a lucky mentality, but the premise is to ensure that you will not be reported or caught in the act."
Hearing this, Frank's face became even uglier. With the development of the aircraft manufacturing industry, now in East Africa, as for the changes in ecology, including forests, grasslands, and cultivated land, the East African government only needs to let people observe from the sky to find clues.
In areas like the Congo rainforest, once a rainforest is destroyed, the exposed red soil and the surrounding green will form a very sharp contrast, so Frank has no doubt about the truthfulness of what Walter said.
Of course, Frank still had doubts about Walter's words, such as the initiative of the bureaucrats of the Forestry Resources Bureau. The environment in the rainforest is not good. Do they really have the leisure to come here to arrest people? Obviously, not everyone can perform their duties and do this selflessly.
Besides, patrol planes can detect where the rainforest has been destroyed, but they cannot come down from the sky to arrest people. By the time they go back to report, others have already run away.
Therefore, Frank decided not to argue with Walter and sent him away first, so he said: "Mr. Walter, thank you for your notice. We will follow the government's arrangements next."
Although he didn't know whether Frank's guarantee was true or not, Walter could only believe it temporarily. He said, "That's good. I hope Boss Frank, you can keep your word. After all, our request will only make your work procedures more complicated, but it will not really cut off your source of income."
Ubangi Province is not the Congo Rainforest Reserve. The latter is really strict in dealing with these issues. If a case is caught, the person may be fined to the point of bankruptcy or even go to jail.
Because the Congo Rainforest Reserve, an East African provincial administrative unit, was established with only one initial goal, which is to maintain environmental protection work in the region.
After all, there is almost no population in the Congo Rainforest Reserve, the land is not suitable for farming, and there is large-scale development, while Ubangi Province is a normal province, and economic development is the main line.
Therefore, it is impossible to eliminate the logging industry in Ubangi Province, but it can only restrict and supervise the development of the industry in order to achieve a sustainable development path.
Walter said: "As long as you standardize your operations, there won't be much difference from before. You may even be able to expand your business in the future. You should take a long-term view."
Then Walter left. He didn't care whether Frank took his words to heart or turned a deaf ear to them. This time, the main purpose of the Forestry Resources Bureau of Ubangi Province was to warn that if some people insisted on their own way and fell into their hands, they would suffer.
After watching Walter, the uninvited guest, leave, one of Frank's workers asked, "Boss, are we really going to do what he says?"
Frank said disdainfully: "Who cares what they do? Let's just keep doing our work. At worst, we can move to another place in a few days and continue cutting trees. As long as we keep moving, I don't believe they can do anything to us."
Frank was prepared to fight guerrilla warfare against the government. After all, the Congo rainforest was so large that there was plenty of space to cut down trees. He didn't believe that the people from the Forestry Resources Bureau could accommodate them under such circumstances.
So Frank and his workers continued to repeat the previous operations, completely ignoring the government's notice. To be on the safe side, they changed locations every once in a while.
In this way, a month passed peacefully. One day, Frank and his workers were cutting trees in a new place. At this moment, a roar suddenly came from the distance in the sky, and it gradually became louder and faster.
Frank instantly remembered what Walter said a month ago, but he did not panic at all. He directed the workers to hide in the surrounding rainforest to avoid detection by planes in the sky.
This was Frank's first time encountering a patrol plane. He had heard from several colleagues before that this was the first time he had encountered such a situation, but he didn't take it to heart.
Soon, the patrol plane flew over their heads, circled for a while and then left. Only then did Frank and the workers emerge from the rainforest.
He said to the workers, "As I expected, it is totally unreliable to catch people by plane. After all, they cannot land. However, this place has been discovered. Let's finish today's work quickly, pack up, leave here, and look for a new location."
The workers all expressed their agreement with the boss's opinion. After this experience, Frank felt even more disdainful of Walter's previous words. For the next period of time, Frank was still not caught.
But finally one day, Frank was caught in a way he never expected. Having evaded the previous inspections, Frank couldn't help but brag about his wit and spread his experience at a cocktail party with his colleagues.
As a result, this caused dissatisfaction among one of his colleagues. It was not because he had a conflict of interest or any contradiction with Frank, but because he had been caught once before, while Frank had been at large. He felt psychologically unbalanced, so he sent a letter of complaint to the Forestry Resources Bureau.
Then, based on the information he provided, the people from the Forestry Resources Bureau successfully arrested Frank and caught him red-handed. Frank successfully had an oil-free and salt-free "meal" in the detention center and was sentenced to a high fine.
There are many people like Frank who commit crimes in defiance of the law. Although the people from the Forestry Resources Bureau of Ubangi Province cannot catch all of them, they have greatly restricted their development space and set up a group of examples to serve as a warning to others. Unfortunately, Frank became one of them.
With the strong crackdown by the Forestry Resources Bureau of Ubangi Province, the problem of deforestation in Ubangi Province has been greatly improved.
(End of this chapter)
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