Chapter 409 Belgian Congo
In fact, Belgium had not been able to reach a consensus on the issue of colonizing Africa, which caused Leopold II to waste a lot of time and effort trying to convince the parliament.
Now Leopold II used the East African Kingdom as an example, which really defeated his opponents. The Principality of Hechingen, with such poor conditions, was able to gain such a large piece of land in Africa, and Belgium must be no less large than this.
The nobles all know each other relatively well. Among the nobles in recent years, the Hohenzollern family is undoubtedly the most glorious. First, the Prussian royal family unified Germany and turned it from a kingdom into an empire. Next, Sigmaringen obtained Romania. Finally, there is the Hechingen royal family, which made a fortune and established the East African Kingdom.
Although the East African Kingdom does not have a high status, after all, Africa is not a good place, but the wealth obtained by the Hechingen royal family is very enviable.
However, Leopold II obviously overestimated his subordinates when he asked the cabinet to come up with a plan. Although the ministers had been educated by His Majesty the King before, they just treated it as a joke and had no contingency plan at all.
Leopold II then said, "Humph, I knew this would happen. Since you can't come up with a plan, you have to listen to me from now on."
Then, Leopold II ordered his servant to bring the map of Africa and said, "This is the map of Africa. The red area is France, the blue area is Portugal, the gray area is Spain, the green area is Britain, the black area is East Africa... The remaining areas are the places we can choose."
At this glance, everyone instantly felt that the competition seemed to be very fierce.
Leopold II explained: "Colonial maps are often vague. Countries may not really control some places, but only have verbal claims. In reality, it still depends on who has the stronger fist."
When the Belgian ministers heard that they were going to compete with fists, they backed off: "Your Majesty, if that's the case, then wouldn't it be very risky for us to colonize Africa? Except for the East African Kingdom, there are no countries that are easy to mess with."
Leopold II confidently revealed: "You are totally wrong. The country that you should not mess with the most in Africa is the Kingdom of East Africa. Not long ago, the Kingdom of East Africa and the British Cape Colony had a small dispute in South Africa. In the end, the British chose to give in and were forced to cede a territory of more than 100,000 square kilometers."
Sure enough, Leopold II's words aroused doubts from the ministers.
"This is impossible! Your Majesty, the British will not suffer such a loss."
"That's right. It has always been the UK that invaded other countries' territories. It is impossible for others to bite back at the UK. If it was France before, it might be possible, but now no country can challenge the UK."
"And if this happened, it would be an international scandal, no less than the British defeat in Afghanistan. The British newspapers didn't report it. How did you know about it, Your Majesty?"
…
The ministers spoke at once and all agreed that Leopold II was talking nonsense. If this happened in other regions, it would be easy to accept, but Africa is the most backward region in the world and has never produced a decent civilization. How can the East African Kingdom built in Africa compete with the British!
Leopold II knocked on the table and said, "Silence! Look at what you are like now! Would I deceive you with my identity? Although this is unbelievable, it is true. My information was obtained from officials in Cape Town with money, and it was also confirmed by Princess Charlotte."
Although Ernst implemented a policy of isolation, it was certainly impossible for East Africa to not communicate with the outside world. Archduke Ferdinand and his wife are examples of this.
As great European aristocrats, they have a lot of relatives and friends, and they receive a lot of letters every year, but they are generally not a big deal.
Before he achieved success, Archduke Ferdinand was reluctant to contact his old friends, and even if they did communicate, it was mainly necessary greetings.
As for Princess Charlotte, she does not have the same concerns as her husband, but her social circle is generally composed of European noble ladies, who never talk about politics. Moreover, Charlotte almost sent her husband to see God because she cared too much about politics, so now she is even more taboo about discussing politics with her sisters.
That is, Leopold II, as her brother, asked her about the situation in East Africa, but Charlotte didn't know much about it, unless it was some major events that everyone in East Africa knew about.
The East African Kingdom's war in South Africa was such a major event. After all, it was the first time that South Africa had defeated a country with another white regime (the Transvaal Republic). It was a very exciting event for the East African Kingdom. Almost every bulletin board detailed the East African Army's achievements.
Leopold II went on to say: "The Kingdom of East Africa sent out tens of thousands of troops this time, and defeated several small countries in South Africa like autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves. This is where their confidence comes from."
"Tens of thousands of troops!"
Leopold II: "Yes, it is tens of thousands of troops. This is the fundamental reason why the East African Kingdom can make the British bow their heads."
"But, Your Majesty, I want to remind you that the cost of tens of thousands of troops is not a small amount. The defense pressure on our homeland is already very high. If we send troops alone to colonize Africa, I'm afraid it will not be worth it!"
Leopold II: "Well, what does this have to do with our national defense? To be honest, anyone in Belgium's position would have a headache. If either Germany or France has an idea, Belgium may become a battlefield. With our national strength, unless we mobilize the whole country, we can't expect to stay out of it. And it is precisely because of our poor geopolitical environment that we should break out of Europe and strengthen our national strength through colonization.
And we don't need to send too many troops to Africa at once. I have studied the situation of all the colonies in Africa, and basically no country's colonies have developed their armies as vigorously as East Africa, which is also a place for us to learn from."
Ernst has made the development of the army a top priority since the establishment of the East African colony. This has now been proven to be a very correct decision. The army is the foundation for the East African Kingdom to gain a foothold in Africa and even in the world.
After listening to Leopold II's explanation, a minister asked, "Your Majesty, where should we start? Where should we land in Africa?"
Leopold II pointed to the Congo River on the map and said: "We will start from the mouth of the Congo River and colonize inland along the north of the Congo River."
"Your Majesty, this is the Portuguese force!"
Leopold II shook his head and said, "No, there is a small African country to the north of the Congo River estuary, called the Kingdom of Ngoyo. The Portuguese did build a stronghold here before, but it was destroyed by the Kingdom of Ngoyo, and that was last century. It is now a no-man's land. Besides, the south bank of the Congo River is not Portuguese territory, it is the land of the Kingdom of Congo. If I hadn't been concerned about the Portuguese's face, I would have directly chosen to invade the Kingdom of Congo."
"Your Majesty, it seems that France also has colonies here." Someone said, pointing to the red area north of the Congo River.
This red area is the coastal area of Gabon in the past, where the French had colonial activities decades ago.
Leopold II said: "This is normal. The French have many colonies."
"Then will we run into the French?"
Leopold II said: "Don't worry, we just need to be the first to expand inland. France has so many colonies, but we only want this one. They can't pose a threat to us."
Leopold II wanted to acquire land in Africa, which was actually the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), also known as French Congo, in his previous life.
The time is very good now. Belgium does not need to go to the Congo rainforest to develop colonies like in the past. It also does not need to worry about the problem of access to the sea. There are only a few indigenous countries here, and it is no problem for Belgium to take over here.
As for the Congo rainforest, although it is large in area, it has no real value and has a harsh climate. In the past, Belgium was able to gain profits from Congo, but that was the result of continuous inland expansion. The Congolese colony had already extended westward to Rwanda and Burundi in East Africa.
After Leopold II and a group of ministers reached a consensus, the Kingdom of Belgium officially embarked on the grand cause of colonizing Africa. Although the colonial area was very different from the previous life, it was still called the Congo Colony.
(End of this chapter)
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