Chapter 657 Angola Defense
Many of Ernst's suggestions are panaceas, but they also determine the overall development direction of the East African tea industry, which is to rely on the sea of questions and mechanized production to promote the future development of the East African tea industry. After all, the two major tea-producing countries are not easy to deal with, and if East Africa wants to compete with them, it must "roll up".
Relatively speaking, the tea industry of the Far Eastern Empire posed no threat to East Africa, because the development of tea in the Far Eastern Empire had no government support, private tea production was prevalent, and everyone was fighting on their own.
In the past, India completely surpassed the Far Eastern Empire in the 1890s when the Far Eastern Empire's tea industry was booming. Of course, this mainly refers to exports. After all, the Far Eastern Empire itself was larger than any other tea producing areas and markets in the world. Moreover, the Far Eastern Empire was particular about drinking tea, and foreign tea simply could not squeeze in.
This is also reflected in the import and export trade between East Africa and the Far Eastern Empire, that is, coffee is more popular than tea. In fact, coffee is what the Far Eastern Empire now considers to be "foreign tea", and it can also be drunk as a novelty.
…
After receiving Ernst's instructions, von der Leyen prepared to integrate the East African tea industry, including opening up a new major tea-producing area. Because most of them are located along the coast of the Great Lakes (Lake Victoria), it has been preliminarily determined that there are two names to choose from, so von der Leyen still has to ask for instructions before leaving.
"Your Highness, you just mentioned the expansion of tea production in Western Great Lake Province. How should we name it? Should we use 'Western' or 'Great Lakes' as the prefix?"
This was a small matter, so Ernst said without thinking: "Let's name it after the Great Lakes Tea Region! After all, the western part of East Africa is so large, and there is also a piece of land called Angola, so it is more appropriate to name it after the Great Lakes."
Ernst clearly remembered that Angola was also a tea producing area, but it was far from comparable to the East African Plateau. However, everyone was well aware of the situation in Africa in the previous life. The black people had poor agricultural technology, and Angola had oil as a backing, so there was no need to mess around with tea planting, which would be a waste of resources.
In fact, Ernst had a very simple and crude analysis standard for whether the African countries in the previous life were qualified, that is, the region was stable, there had not been a war for a long time, and if there were fewer wars, the lives of Africans could barely be tolerated. For example, the countries in Southeast Africa in the previous life had obviously fewer troubles than those in Northwest Africa.
However, when he thought of Angola, Ernst found that he seemed to have neglected this Portuguese colony recently, at least compared with Southern Mozambique. Because Southern Mozambique was closer to Cape Town, he naturally attached more importance to it. Subconsciously, he always believed that Portugal could not succeed.
However, Angola is much closer to mainland Portugal than Mozambique, so Portugal may have more bargaining chips in Angola than in Mozambique.
"There's nothing to do, just go and do your work first!" Ernst sent von der Leyen away and asked someone to call Siewert. Soon, Siewert arrived at Ernst's reception room.
"Has there been any major developments in the Angolan colony in recent years?" Ernst asked directly.
“Your Highness, this is inevitable. Our current contact area with Angola is slightly larger than that with Mozambique, but Mozambique is adjacent to Matabele Province, so our focus has always been on Mozambique.”
Mozambique is in the east, and the core area of East Africa is also in the east, so the General Staff will definitely keep a close eye on Mozambique's every move. One negligence may lead to heavy losses for East Africa's industrial investment in Matabele Province. However, because of the Matabele Plateau, the terrain of East Africa is higher than that of Mozambique, which is very beneficial to East Africa in terms of military defense.
The Portuguese obviously had the opposite plan from East Africa. Their strategy was to attack the west and defend the east, because the two colonies of Mozambique and Angola were of similar value to Portugal, and Angola, which was closer to the mainland, was obviously more important.
This is also related to the existence of the East African Navy. Now East Africa is on the coast of the Indian Ocean, and its naval strength is quite strong. Moreover, if Portugal wants to support the Indian Ocean, there are only two directions: one is the Red Sea route and the other is the Cape Town route.
Neither of these two lines is safe in the eyes of the Portuguese. On the contrary, Angola is located in a way that allows it to be reached from mainland Portugal along the West African coastline without passing through the East African naval influence area or the East African coast.
It’s not that the Portuguese are cowardly, but the ambition of the old empire has been worn out over the years, and East Africa has only accelerated this process.
Of course, the vested interests in Portugal's two colonies and the Portuguese are now much more active in resisting East Africa than Portugal itself.
I only heard Siweite say: "The plantation owners and mine owners in the Angolan colony have organized an army since the last cession of land, but we are not very clear about the specific situation, because Angola is not like South Mozambique. Although South Mozambique is hostile to us, it is also closely connected with East Africa economically, which makes it easier for us to obtain intelligence in South Mozambique."
"At the same time, Portugal also has troops gathering in Angola, including the navy and the army. Their navy often sets out from the port of Benguela and encounters our Atlantic naval detachment in the south. Compared with the Indian Ocean coast, our naval power in the Atlantic Ocean is almost negligible. If a conflict occurs, we will definitely be at a disadvantage."
"However, since the opening of the Mangjing Highway, we don't have to worry about Angola raiding our territory from the coast of southwest Africa. Instead, we should pay attention to the areas bordering Angola. The several provinces bordering Angola in our west have a small population and poor transportation, which is indeed a bit dangerous. But it is not too difficult to support the central part. At least we can ensure that the Angolan army is kept within the western provinces."
The area bordering East Africa and Angola, excluding the Congo rainforest, is mainly composed of the Danube Province (southwest of Kinshasa), Zambezi Province (the source area of the Zambezi River) and Letania Province.
The Letania Province also hosts one-third of the southern Angola region, which is the southern territory of Angola bordering Namibia in the previous life.
In fact, these three provinces are incomplete. Ernst took this into consideration when dividing the provinces. If these three provinces are to be finalized, it will inevitably have to wait until East Africa completely annexes Angola.
Only by completely taking over Angola can East Africa be better and the area of the western provinces can be redivided, which will be beneficial to the future industrial layout of East Africa.
To the extent that now the capitals of the three provinces are temporary office locations. After all, the good places in West Africa, including climate, seaports, and high-quality land, are all concentrated in Angola.
There is also the western section of the Central Railway Line, which East Africa has been waiting for to open up the Atlantic Ocean port. The end point on the Central Railway plan is the Portuguese-controlled Port of Benguela.
Ernst: "In this case, we should not ignore Angola, especially the three western provinces. The military should focus on deploying defenses in these areas. Now the only place where troops can be deployed should be the Eastern Military Region. There is Mongu City in the south, so there is no need to worry too much about Letania Province. The Danube Province and Zambezi Province in the north are the focus."
"The terrain of the Danube Province is relatively complex and mountainous, so it should not be the Portuguese's priority option. On the contrary, the road between the Danube Province in the north and Angola is flat, and there is no railway to provide rapid support. We will focus on deploying defenses in the Danube Province." Siewert replied.
In fact, the Portuguese have not done nothing in the past two or three years. They made up for the losses they suffered in East Africa by returning the favor from the Kingdom of Congo. Now the territories of the Kingdom of Congo on both sides of the lower reaches of the Congo River have become part of Angola.
The military power of the entire Angolan colony also moved northward, so the defense pressure in the Danube Province was indeed the greatest.
(End of this chapter)
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