Chapter 692: Huge Gap
Government of the Transvaal Republic.
"Mr. President, we can't just sit there and wait for death. Reality forces us to take action in advance, otherwise it will be even more difficult to make a comeback in the future."
"Our main problem now is military expenditure. Maintaining such a large army is a huge burden for a country like ours. It is not an exaggeration to describe it as militarism. Even if we include the Orangemen, there are only about 400,000 Boers in the entire Orange Free State, which means there are only 200,000 men. We have to exclude the elderly, the weak, the sick and the disabled. Therefore, a standing army of more than 10,000 people is simply an astronomical figure for us. We can't sustain it at all."
"When our Transvaal Republic still existed, rats often ran away from the treasury and we couldn't afford to support the army. Now even if rats come, they will leave in tears. The only thing left is a pile of debts!"
"In this way, even if we restore our country in the future, we can only continue to repay the British. So Mr. President, the British must make a choice. Either provide more free aid, or disband the Transvaal Restoration Army now."
Young Pretorius listened to his subordinates' report with a gloomy face. Because of the military expenditure issue, the Transvaal Republic now faces two choices: either disband the troops or start a war as soon as possible.
Neither of these two options is good for the current Transvaal people. Disbanding the troops will seriously undermine the government's authority.
After all, there was supposed to be a "restoration" army, but in the end the army is gone. How do the Boers in the Orange Free State feel about this?
In order to maintain combat effectiveness and keep the army running, the Transvaal army had already undergone several downsizings, which naturally caused dissatisfaction among the Orangemen.
Because the Orangemen promoted the "restoration of the Transvaal Republic" more actively than the Transvaalers, it was not because the Orangemen had a change of heart or regarded the Transvaalers as their "brothers".
The purpose was to get these British running dogs out of the Orange Free State as soon as possible. The prerequisite for the Transvaal people to leave the Orange Free State was obviously the re-establishment of the original Transvaal Republic, otherwise the Transvaal people could only live in the Orange Free State.
As for launching a war as soon as possible, the people of Transvaal also want this option, but now the people of Transvaal are just a dog led by the British with a leash, and the British government has become the main force in maintaining regional peace. An important reason for this result is that Britain is not yet prepared for war.
So Pretorius the Younger said: "If the British don't cooperate with us, then this war is doomed to fail. So now the question is not whether I want to start a war, but when the British want to start a war. After all, the gap between us and East Africa is too big. As long as the East Africans continue to consume us, even a few big victories cannot change our disadvantage."
Population is a core secret of East Africa. Coupled with East Africa’s semi-closed national management system, it is difficult for foreign countries and forces to obtain East Africa’s true population data.
However, through observations of the East African coast and the performance of previous wars in East Africa, other countries generally recognize that the current population of East Africa should be no less than 10 million. The only thing they don't know is which is larger, compared to Brazil. As for being on the same level as the United States, no country dares to think so, after all, East Africa has existed for too short a time.
East Africa is happy to conceal its national strength. Apart from its military and trade volume, there is basically nothing obvious for other countries to judge its national strength.
After all, the value created by each person is different. For example, the value created by a steam engine is similar to that of dozens of workers. Even agricultural exports have a lot of room for flexibility. In addition to not wanting to excessively damage international food prices, domestic consumption is also very large.
However, East Africa is a big country after all, with abundant resources, including food, various cash crops, industrial products, minerals, as well as a huge trading fleet and a powerful army. Such a comprehensiveness would not be possible without a population of tens of millions.
After all, small countries with a population of one million cannot have such a complete industrial chain and trade exports, so East Africa can only be a big country with a population of over ten million. This can be seen from the development of open cities along the coastal ports of East Africa.
The two major cities in East Africa, Dar es Salaam and Mombasa, are not inferior to those big cities in Europe, and their industrial development is similar to that of Europe and the United States, so it can be determined that the eastern coast of East Africa has reached the European level.
The vast territory of East Africa can also strengthen its national defense. It neighbors Portugal, Transvaal, Britain, and a group of countries on the northern border. This shows that the military stock in East Africa is very considerable, and such a large number of troops requires population cultivation.
What makes British intelligence agents most uneasy is that the East African country has been demilitarizing over the years.
Just like the streets of Dar es Salaam used to be full of East Africans in military uniforms. At that time, East Africa was called a "military state" by passing ships. Later, there were more clothing styles in Dar es Salaam, but the number of police increased, and it became a "police state" again. Now Dar es Salaam and several other open cities are completely no different from ordinary European cities. Walking on the streets feels no different from cities in Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
This undoubtedly shows that East Africa is developing towards a normal country, but in this state, East Africa's military strength is not weak but strong, and it has even established a powerful new navy.
This can only mean one thing, that East Africa's national strength is growing, and there is no need to "arm the whole country" as before. This is a manifestation of self-confidence, and the confidence of East Africans is obviously related to the growth of the national strength of East African countries.
The British intelligence was naturally equal to that of the Transvaal people, and the Transvaal people would have had close access to the East African border.
East Africa maintained a large army in the southern region all year round and built numerous fortifications and military fortresses on the border. The military expenditure must have been considerable, but the economy of eastern East Africa continued to develop rapidly. This was a situation that made the people of Transvaal feel terrified.
The two provinces on the southern border (South Frontier Province and New Baden Province) have a permanent garrison of about 50,000 troops. Together with the dependents and personnel serving the army, there are almost hundreds of thousands of people. Moreover, the capital of South Frontier Province (the Zulu Kingdom and the southern part of the Transvaal Republic), New Hamburg, is currently the undisputed largest city in South Africa, with a population of up to 130,000, while Cape Town, which ranks second, has only about 50,000 people.
Therefore, in East Africa, only the two southern provinces bordering the Orange Free State have a population similar to that of the Orange Free State, and these two provinces are only provinces with relatively low economic rankings in East Africa. Among the more than 20 provinces and regions in East Africa, only Southwest Africa, the Congo Rainforest, and some western provinces have smaller populations than these two provinces.
"There is a huge gap in strength between us and East Africa, so we have to rely on the British to do everything. If it weren't for Britain, I'm afraid East Africa would have crossed the Fetter River and taken action against us, the Transvaal Republic elements." Little Pretorius knew clearly the gap between East Africa and the Transvaal Republic, so he said with a hint of tragedy.
“Mr. President, now is not the time to consider the gap in national strength between the two countries. The great cause of national restoration is the responsibility of our generation of Boers. We need to restore the glory of the Boers in the past. We are the masters of this piece of land in South Africa. Britain and East Africa are both thieves. At present, we have only one choice but to solve the problem of East Africa.
The smallest gap between us and East Africa is in the military. As long as all the Boers unite and have the support of the British, we may be able to achieve the same scenario as Prussia did in attacking France. "
(End of this chapter)
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