Chapter 695 Natal
Cape Town.
"The Transvaal people's demands are too much! Is this a naked threat to us?" Governor Bart Freer was really angry at these brainless Boers.
Go to war directly with East Africa! Bartlett Freer felt that the Boers were not trying to go to war with East Africa, but with him, their immediate superior.
But Bartlett Freer had no way of expressing his grievances because the Orange Free State was still a British colony.
If the Transvaal launched a war against East Africa at this time, what would Britain do? Just ignore it? That was obviously impossible.
This is basically no different from Britain going to war with East Africa. After all, it is a fact that the Orange Free State was incorporated into the Cape Colony.
So Bartlett Freer had no choice but to accept the blackmail of the Transvaal people.
"Tell those Transvaal people that we can provide them with military assistance, but it can only last for half a year. The rest will be up to them to solve on their own. Hint to them that after the Orange Free State regains its independence, it can have 'independent' financial rights, especially taxation. Don't mention anything more."
This was the limit of what Bartlett Freer could do as Governor-General. After all, it was the people of Transvaal who had to offend people.
As for the mine owners and businessmen of diamonds and other resources, they just have to pay more taxes. This money is enough for the people of Transvaal to survive. The diamond business is a highly profitable industry. Although East Africa has also been exporting diamonds in recent years, East Africans are as restrained as the British. After all, they can be sold at a high price. Who would sell these things as stones?
Moreover, there is no artificial diamond technology in this era, so the value of diamonds is still very "value-preserving".
…
British Colony of Natal.
Pietermaritzburg is the capital of the Natal Colony and the location of Port Natal. As you can tell from the suffix of this place name, it was once an important military fortress.
Of course, this glorious history can be traced back to the prosperous era of the East Indian Ocean and African routes, but it was the British who ended this prosperity.
At that time, Pietermaritzburg was an important stronghold on this route, echoing Cape Town. After all, the location of Cape Town Port could only clamp the Cape of Good Hope and could not radiate to the Mozambique Channel, an important international channel.
Although the construction of the Suez Canal was promoted by the French, it is now controlled by the British, so the Suez Canal has lowered the strategic position of the Natal colony. But now, due to East Africa, the former port city of Pietermaritzburg has prospered again.
First, the new port city of Hamburg has boosted the commodity trade in the region. Second, the increase in garrisons here has boosted the consumer market.
"Another ship arrived at Natal Harbor today. There are obviously more Indians on the streets, and many of them are soldiers. This is the most common method used by the British to use Indians as running dogs. However, the number of Indian vassal troops in Natal is a little beyond expectations. It is obvious that they are not here to help Britain manage the colonies. After all, the colonies do not need so many people to manage them."
"Now the Natal Colony is almost turning into an Indian den. There is no doubt that the Indians here outnumber the natives. The air is filled with the smell of curry and masala. It seems that the British have stockpiled a lot of troops and a large number of Indian cannon fodder here."
It’s not that the agents of the National Defense Security Agency maliciously framed and slandered the Natal colony, but the catering business in the streets and alleys here is indeed very prosperous.
Most of the people doing business here are Indians. The British cannot cook, and there are so many troops, so the food problem is also solved by Indian chefs.
Due to the booming business, Indian restaurants and snack stalls can be seen everywhere. However, Indian food also provides convenience for East African spies, because only Indian food here is slightly suitable for the taste of East Africans.
After all, many American chefs are black, and many dishes are created by black people. What good things can these primitive guys make? This is similar to Indian cuisine in the UK, so there is no doubt that the Anglo-Saxons are born not able to cook.
"The increase in British troops is very slow. If we hadn't counted the ships at the port every day, we probably wouldn't have noticed anything. So Britain must be trying to take the enemy by surprise in the future. This conclusion should also be sent back to China."
"They used merchant ships to transport soldiers from India to the Natal colony in batches. I believe that other places in Cape Town should have similar measures. Therefore, it is difficult for us to find out the number of British troops in South Africa and the number of Indian vassal troops. This can only be investigated by colleagues in Cape Town."
Cape Town is the core of the British in South Africa, and places like Natal can only obey Cape Town's orders, so it is difficult for East Africa to gain anything other than watching the increasing number of Indians in Natal.
As for military intelligence and the like, that is the job of the East African Military Intelligence Bureau. After all, the East African National Defense and Security Agency is still immature, so it can only undertake some peripheral work.
This is not because the Military Intelligence Bureau is more powerful. To be honest, the work of the Military Intelligence Bureau is even less technical than that of the National Defense Security Bureau. After all, they can only serve the war, while the National Defense Security Bureau has a wider scope of business and is more proactive.
East Africa rarely lets its spies carry out dangerous missions, because spies need a lot of experience to be trained, and East Africa's short history means that it cannot afford to lose such special talents.
In this case, the East African National Defense Security Agency's chances of making meritorious service are greatly reduced, but the advantage is safety. After all, they are not without opponents. This world has some forces and some intelligence organizations.
Some of them can even be traced back hundreds of years, so there are many old foxes who have been trained. It is not yet time for these intelligence personnel in East Africa to fight against them.
"We definitely have people in Cape Town, but I don't know how things are going. But I think it should be easier than here. Natal is too close to East Africa, and there are many troops here, so the British are much more aggressive against spies than in Cape Town."
After all, Cape Town was not on the front line of the confrontation. On the contrary, opposite the Natal colony was the Port of New Hamburg, one of the largest cities in East Africa, and there were also East African troops stationed there. Therefore, it was the consensus of the British Army that East Africa would definitely collect information about the British Army in Natal.
Europe lacks professional and relatively independent intelligence agencies, but intelligence agencies affiliated with the military are indispensable. The counterpart is the East African Military Intelligence Bureau, while what is truly lacking is the East African Defense and Security Agency.
However, Japan's intelligence agencies should be relatively strong, which can be most clearly seen in the distribution of Japan's East African National Defense Security Agency. Moreover, Japanese culture is more profound than that of Europe. Japanese people are familiar with Far Eastern imperial works such as the Art of War, and are familiar with the use of deception in warfare. Traditional solutions such as conspiracy and trickery are nothing more than that in this era.
Of course, the Japanese intelligence agencies focused their main efforts on dealing with the Far Eastern Empire, while the East African National Defense Security Agency took the opportunity to launch a sneak attack on the Japanese mainland. The two intelligence agencies became parallel lines and rarely intersected. This could be considered a coincidence.
(End of this chapter)
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