Chapter 218 The Meeting Went Wrong
December 30, 1869.
Maputo.
"This is the news sent back by Yaris, the president of the Kazembe Chamber of Commerce. The Germans have appeared in the Kingdom of Kazembe, and they have stationed troops there. They probably don't plan to leave." said the Governor of Mozambique.
"Mr. Governor, the Germans are rapidly expanding inland in Africa. I think we should contact the colony of Angola to jointly curb the development of the Germans."
"Yes, if the Kingdom of Kazembe is occupied by the Germans, then the land route between us and Angola will be cut off by the Germans."
"But Angola may not act with us unless we convince the kingdom. But there is a fatal problem here. How can we deploy troops inland? The British have ill intentions towards us. This year, the British directly sent troops into the Dragua Bay in Mozambique. If it weren't for our powerful artillery fire, the British would not have fled in panic."
"It's really like a wolf in front and a tiger behind. If Germany is the wolf, then the British are the tiger. The Germans fight every day and have always been strong on land, while the British can directly attack our ports with warships."
Unlike a large number of inland cities in East Africa that were planned and built in advance, the core of Mozambique is the coastal cities and ports.
Therefore, it is difficult to say who poses a greater threat to Mozambique, East Africans or the British. East Africans are definitely larger in terms of land, as the two places are directly adjacent to each other. However, over the years, East Africans have been relatively well-behaved along the Ruvuma River, and the two colonies have been living in relative peace.
"Gentlemen, the Germans are developing too fast in Africa. If we allow them to continue developing like this, sooner or later Mozambique will be greatly threatened.
You know, the Germans have only been in East Africa for more than three years. At the beginning, they were just a small country parasitic on the Sultanate of Zanzibar. Now they have not only destroyed the Sultanate of Zanzibar but even expanded their sphere of influence to the interior of Africa. How terrible is this?
Look at this map. This is the mouth of the Ruvuma River, this is Lake Malawi, and this is the Kingdom of Kazembe. These three points form a line that half surrounds us.
I won’t go into detail about how long this line is, but it shows that the area of land occupied by the Germans is very large.”
"Mr. Kelton, I don't agree with you. It's true that the Germans have penetrated deep into the interior, but how can they gain a foothold? Although the capital of Kazembe was occupied by the Germans, the chiefs and tribes under them still exist. We also tried to expand inland in the past, but we gave up because of the stubborn resistance of the natives.
So the Germans can only support a few puppets in the inland to rule on their behalf. And Mr. Kelton, look at the line you drew, the distance is extremely long.
If the Germans expand inland in this way, we should be thankful, because their shape is like a long snake, which makes it easy to defeat them one by one. Look here, this is the Kingdom of Malawi, which is right in the middle of the German land. If we attack from here, we will make it impossible for the Germans to take care of both ends.
Our Mozambique colony has always been developing Mozambique in an orderly manner. After so many years of rule, it has become very stable. The Germans came late, but they are greedy and their rule in the local area must be unstable. If we have a conflict with the Germans, as long as they instigate the local indigenous people in East Africa, it will instantly lead to war all over East Africa. "
“Rather than discussing the threat from the Germans, we should talk about the threat from the British. The Germans may only be able to harm us, but the British have already taken action.
This year the British have begun to test us, but fortunately we have enough artillery to prevent them from succeeding."
"Besides, Britain has the Cape Colony in the south, which is actually not too far from us. The so-called Zulu Kingdom in the middle can't serve as a buffer at all. Moreover, if the British want to pass through, they probably won't refuse."
"So, the British can pose a threat to us from the sea or land, and they have already started to act. The British are the country we should be most wary of."
"The Kingdom has a good relationship with Britain on the surface, but when it comes to the colonies, everything becomes a mess. The British have been harboring evil intentions for years."
"We can't help but defend against the Germans. At least we should give some support to the three kingdoms in the west so that they can withstand the pressure from East Africa."
"No, we only need to support the Kingdom of Malawi. The Kingdom of Malawi is the buffer state between us and East Africa. The two countries in the south are our future expansion direction. Supporting them is equivalent to cutting off our own retreat."
"That's right, Chrissis, can you use your brain before you speak? The Germans can't reach there, but we have been infiltrating there over the years. So next time you speak, you'd better look at the map first. Don't be so smart as to make up the so-called German threat theory. That will only let everyone here know that you didn't bring your brain with you when you went out today."
The congressman's words caused everyone to burst into laughter, and Chrissis, who supported aiding western countries, wished he could find a hole to crawl into.
"Okay, silence." The Portuguese Governor of Mozambique, who had been listening to everyone's discussions, spoke.
"I have just listened to the suggestions of everyone present. After careful analysis, I still feel that the threat from the British is greater than that from the Germans. The most important thing is that the Germans do not have a strong navy, and the Kingdom of Portugal has an advantage in this regard.
We are temporarily unable to expand inland, but we can negotiate with the Germans first. The most important thing is to be wary of the British. Otherwise, if we really have a conflict with the Germans, the British will definitely attack us from the sea. Therefore, we must remain calm before our core interests are infringed upon in East Africa.
Moreover, we have not known enough about East Africa in the past two years, so the sudden appearance of the East African army in Kazembe was reported by the Kazembe Chamber of Commerce. We can use this negotiation as an excuse to investigate the development of East Africa and find out the strength of the Germans. "
"Mr. Governor, the main purpose of this negotiation is to get East Africa to protect our interests in the Kazembe region. It would be best if we could also bring the Kingdom of Malawi into the discussion. To be honest, it is better for us to control the southern part of the Kingdom of Malawi."
"That's right. The Kingdom of Malawi should have been consigned to the dustbin of history long ago. We can discuss with East Africa about dividing up the Kingdom of Malawi."
As soon as they heard that there was profit to be made, everyone immediately changed their attitude. They were East Africa's biggest threat just a second ago, but now they became accomplices who could share the spoils.
The party that originally said it would support the Kingdom of Malawi has now shut up. If East Africa is easy to talk to, wouldn't it be a win-win situation for everyone to just divide Malawi? This is much better than directly confronting East Africa.
Unconsciously, the topic of the meeting deviated from the original discussion of East Africa and the British threat to a discussion of how to divide the Kingdom of Malawi with East Africa.
(End of this chapter)
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