Chapter 359: Now that you’re here, don’t leave!
While Zimbabwe was preparing for war, the kingdom's central government received the Far East Aid Group, and Constantine met with the members of the aid group in person.
Li Ge: "...Under the instructions of the Emperor, the Far East Government sent Li Ge and Ande as the chief and deputy envoys to respectfully wish His Majesty the King peace and security."
After listening to the self-introductions for a long time, Constantine figured out that Lige and Ander were not doctors, but officials of the Far East Empire, and only the 103 people behind them were doctors from the Far East.
Constantine immediately had an idea in his mind: "It's a good thing that your country cares about the development of East African medical care. In this case, we have to express our gratitude. Although your country has diplomatic relations with our country, it has never established an embassy in our country. This is not equal in the international community. Why don't you two serve as Qing envoys to East Africa and be responsible for liaison between the two countries on diplomatic affairs."
Constantine's words directly scared Lige and Ander. Constantine, the "foreign king", wanted to kill them!
Li Ge and Ande's mission to East Africa was originally despised by some people as follows: "If you can't serve people, how can you serve ghosts? Why go to your parents' country?" This was the general attitude of bureaucrats in the Far East. Otherwise, they would not have allowed Li Ge and Ande, two mere candidates who were not even official officials, to come to East Africa. Historically, it was not until the first year of the Guangxu period (1875) that the Qing government officially sent diplomatic envoys to Western countries.
Li Ge and Ande were of low rank and had little influence, so they naturally could not go against the opinions of their superiors. However, from the moment they were sent on a diplomatic mission to East Africa, their future official careers were completely cut off.
Now Constantine directly appointed them as Far East ambassadors to be stationed in East Africa. If this matter were to be reported back to the country, Ligand would have a premonition that the label of traitor would fall on both of them.
Putting aside this matter, just the fact that Constantine, a foreign monarch, bypassed the Qing government and directly appointed the two of them as ambassadors to the Far East, would the emperor and the civil and military officials in the court let them go!
Lige and Ander begged for mercy: "Your Majesty King Constantine, this is absolutely unacceptable!"
Constantine: "Oh! Why?"
Li Ge said with a sad face: "We are officials in the Far East. We have a king and father above us. The Far East attaches great importance to moral principles. If the king is not upright, the ministers will go to another country. If we serve as officials in East Africa, where will our king and father stand? I am afraid I will not be able to face the elders in my hometown. The only way is to die to show my determination and refuse to serve."
Li Gewen said a lot of things in a very incoherent way, and it took the East African translator a long time to study it together before they could figure out the general meaning.
Only then did Constantine realize that he had been thinking in the wrong direction. Confucianism was prevalent among the scholars in the Far East, which was very different from the way of thinking in the West.
Constantine said, "You two don't have to do this. What I mean is that our country should negotiate with your emperor and ask him to agree to send diplomats to East Africa. If your emperor agrees, you two will most likely be able to take charge of this matter. If your emperor disagrees, then just ignore what I said."
Don’t be fooled by the fact that the East African Kingdom was quite formal when it was founded in Europe. In fact, no country has established an embassy in East Africa to date. In the eyes of Britain, France and other countries, the so-called East African Kingdom is just a colony established overseas by members of the Prussian royal family (German royal family), just a trick of the Hohenzollern family. Who would send diplomats to a colony to establish an embassy!
Especially when the East African Kingdom was first established, Prussia was still just a small Prussian Kingdom. The so-called East African Kingdom had a bad image in the eyes of outsiders, and its status was even lower than that of Portugal's Mozambique colony next door. Mozambique has a history of hundreds of years, and the East African Kingdom has only been less than a year (excluding the colonial time). It doesn't look like a serious country at all. At most, it bullies the African natives because they don't have hot weapons.
Not to mention countries like Britain and France, even Austria and Prussia, which had the best relations with East Africa, did not take East Africa seriously. For example, others just looked down on the East African Kingdom, but because Prussia and Austria gave the East African Kingdom a little face, the Austrian and Prussian governments really looked down on the East African Kingdom at all.
Even the identity of Prince Constantine of Hechingen was more valuable than the so-called King of the East African Kingdom. Although the Principality of Hechingen was small, it was indeed a legitimate European principality, and it was also recognized by European nobles. The Kingdom of East Africa was just like the identity of the Indian Emperor of the later British King, it was just a showpiece. If others mentioned the British King, Europeans would be in awe, but mentioning the Indian Emperor would make people laugh.
For example, Archduke Ferdinand, who was the commander-in-chief of the East African Navy, is still a laughing stock in Austria, but people don't talk about it for the sake of His Majesty the Emperor. Franz was also very embarrassed, but it was better for his brother to go to East Africa to retire than to that crappy place in Mexico.
In fact, ever since they learned that their emperor was not dead, the Mexican royalists had gone to Austria to beg Ferdinand to come back, or at least to set up a government in exile. At least everyone could earn some allowance in Austria, but Franz would definitely not agree. They should choose the lesser of two evils. In addition, Ferdinand was doing well in East Africa and could go home through the Suez Canal from time to time, so it was not a bad thing to let Ferdinand stay in East Africa. As for Ferdinand's career in East Africa, everyone just watched for fun.
Ferdinand: Don’t bully the poor middle-aged people!
The East African Navy is still developing rapidly, except for the lack of ironclad ships, which is a pity. However, two new steam-powered warships built at the Bagamoyo Shipyard will be put into service this year. Together with the two rebuilt warships of the Zanzibar Sultanate, Ferdinand will have eight steam-powered sailing warships by next year.
All in all, East Africa is now truly a diplomatic desert. There are many embassies set up unilaterally, but they are of little use. Sometimes they are not as effective as the Hexingen Bank.
Of course, this is also related to the fact that the East African Kingdom was established too recently, but it is not that there are no countries that plan to set up embassies in East Africa.
This country is Paraguay, which was badly betrayed by Ernst. After the baptism of war, Paraguay has completely become a ruin. Coupled with the large-scale loss of population, even maintaining government stability is difficult. Moreover, the Paraguayan government is adjacent to Argentina, which makes the Paraguayan government even more worried. Paraguay and Argentina originated from the Spanish La Plata colony, and the fact that they share the same origin is the most suspicious. Brazil just wants to beat him, but Argentina is really likely to annex him.
Therefore, Paraguay urgently needed to find a backer in the international arena. In addition, East Africa had been caught with Paraguayan immigrants. With the help of East Africa, Paraguay set its sights on the Austro-Hungarian Empire behind East Africa.
Although the East African Kingdom is of no great use in this, it is a contact person, so the Paraguayan government intends to set up an embassy in East Africa. However, the Paraguayan embassy has not yet been built, mainly because the Paraguayan government has not yet selected its diplomatic personnel.
As for who between Paraguay and the Far East will set up the first embassy in East Africa, it depends on who is more proactive. As for diplomacy, the current East African kingdom is not in a hurry anyway. It would be a good thing if no one paid attention to East Africa. If some country really paid attention to East Africa, it would be like a weasel paying a New Year's visit to a chicken, with no good intentions.
In fact, there is a country that really wants to set up an embassy in East Africa, but East Africa did not agree. That is the Sultanate of Zanzibar. Don’t you know what your status is? In the eyes of East Africa, being able to set up an embassy in Stone Town (the capital of the Sultanate of Zanzibar) is a face-giving to the Sultanate of Zanzibar. The Sultanate of Zanzibar is to the Kingdom of East Africa like Japan was to the United States in the past. If they take care of you in business, they are assured. If they are not assured, they would have exploded long ago.
After hearing Constantine's arrangement, Li Ge and Ander finally felt relieved, but they still felt extremely bitter inside. Constantine would definitely mention them when negotiating with the Far East government. Even if the Far East ambassador really fell on their shoulders, their future would probably be bleak. They decided to move to East Africa and bring their families over from the Far East. They were also afraid that their families would be gossiped about behind their backs in the Far East.
Li Ge and Ande were born in a poor family, with no background and not many family members. It was a great honor for them to pass the imperial examination. However, before they could enjoy themselves, they were exiled to the barbaric land of East Africa.
Constantine didn't realize that his casual decision made the two men feel very uncomfortable. In fact, Constantine just simply wanted to separate Lige and Ander from those Far Eastern doctors. These two people were official Far Eastern people, and those doctors must be under their management. This was not acceptable because the doctors were from East Africa.
So Constantine said, "It's settled. I'll write a letter to your monarch and praise you two. The Far East is indeed an ancient country with a long history of civilization. I think we should promote this in East Africa in the future."
This was Constantine's true words. Europe is such a small place with so many countries. If there were subjects who were really dissatisfied with their monarch, they would really jump to the enemy camp. Look at the subordinates of the Eastern monarchs, who even risked their lives to save the face of their own monarchs. As an absolute monarchy, the East African Kingdom naturally wanted such "loyal and patriotic" people.
In fact, the European civilization has a short history. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in the Far East, talented people also roamed around in various countries. The main idea was that if they were not welcome here, they would find other places to stay. The same principle applies to the use of talents from Jin to Chu.
Constantine went on to say, "The Ministry of Health should do a good job in reception. You should come up with a plan for these Far Eastern doctors so that they can feel like they are at home in East Africa and promote the development of East African medical care."
Minister of Health Bellred understood and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, we happen to be short of many deans who can take charge of their own affairs. We can arrange for these doctors to take up their posts."
The doctors from the Far East could not understand the conversation between the two people, and they did not know that they had been regarded as their own people by the East African Kingdom. There was no such thing as free clinics. They were all doctors from East Africa and would continue to contribute to the medical cause of the East African Kingdom.
As for their families in the Far East, it is not a big problem. Someone will naturally arrange for them to reunite in East Africa in the future. Once you come to East Africa, you can't leave if you want to.
(End of this chapter)
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