Chapter 698 Bait
Ernst’s good mood did not last long because of the birth of the first oil well, because a "strange" news came from the south of East Africa, which made the East African government and military a little confused. What "trick" were the British and Boers doing at this time?
"According to our news in February 1877, the Orange Free State regained its independence. The Orange Free State was officially renamed the Boer Republic. A new coalition government came to power. However, this coalition government was just the Transvaal Republic's provisional government in a different shell, continuing to control the entire Orange Free State politics."
"Are the British just going to watch the Transvaal people re-establish a Boer Republic?" asked Ernst.
"There was really no reaction from the British side. We even found that they withdrew some of their troops back to Cape Town, which shows that the British acquiesced to the independence of the Orange Free State."
"This is a conspiracy. Britain can accept something as evil as the independence of its colonies. This only shows that the British have big ambitions. I can't think of any reason for Britain to do this except for us."
"That's right. If things like colonial independence are not properly controlled, it is very likely to cause a chain reaction. After all, the spread of this kind of news will have a certain negative impact on any country."
Ernst said: "The re-establishment of the Boer Republic shows that the Orange Free State has indeed regained independence from the Cape Colony, but we got this news through our spies in Bloemfontein, which means that this news has not spread.
So the British and the Transvaal must have reached some kind of deal, you said that the Orange Free State was separated from the Cape Colony, and the fish they wanted to catch was our East Africa. "
After all, East Africa itself has to admit that it has "indecent" thoughts about the Orange Free State, and the Transvaal people and the British are naturally aware of this.
However, over the years, the troops stationed on the border in East Africa have never taken action against the Orange Free State.
Especially during the last Orange Free State civil war, which could be said to be the most vulnerable time for the entire Orange Free State, East Africa did not take the opportunity to send troops to take over the Orange Free State.
What makes this "hungry wolf" in East Africa remain calm despite the fat meat in front of it?
Naturally, it was the Cape Colony standing behind the Orange Free State, and behind the Cape Colony stood the British Empire.
If East Africa annexed the Orange Free State, it would be almost the same as declaring war on the British Empire, so the British would certainly wonder whether East Africa was frightened by its own "mother country" and dared not act rashly.
This is the speculation of East African senior officials about the British psychology. If you put yourself in their shoes, East Africans will think the same.
"So the British were just playing a double act with the Transvaal people. Independence was fake, and they were trying to lure us into launching an aggressive war against the Orange people, thereby dragging us into the quagmire of war?" someone asked.
"We cannot rule out this possibility. After all, it is in the interests of the British to let the Orange Free State, now the Boer Republic, contain us and consume our strength. But aren't they afraid that we will wipe out the Boer Republic in one fell swoop, just like we did with the Transvaal Republic?"
"The Boer Republic is just a pawn. It has certain value to us and Britain, but it is not indispensable. If I were British, I would also like to sacrifice the Boer Republic to test the strength of East Africa. Even if I lose, I can put the blame on the Boers instead of getting into trouble." Count Alman put forward a more constructive suggestion.
"In recent years, the military strength of the Transvaal people has definitely increased. Although they have been disarming for the past year, they have not taken back the weapons. Instead, they continue to be held by the civilian armed forces. At the same time, they still retain more than 10,000 regular military forces. So there is only one reason for their disarmament, and that is financial problems. According to the size of the Orange Free State, it is a bit excessive to support so many modern troops!"
"We all know that the Transvaal people's armed forces are called the Transvaal Restoration Army. From this name, we can see that the Transvaal people have never given up the goal of recovering lost territory. Their ultimate goal is to take back part of the land of Hechingen Province and South Frontier Province from our East Africans, rebuild the Transvaal Republic, and even include the current Orange Free State. Rebuilding a Greater Boer Republic is the ultimate goal."
"So this time, the independence of the Boer Republic means that the war is one step closer to us!"
Someone asked Alman, "Your Excellency, are you exaggerating? In the past, the people of Transvaal had the support of the British, so they didn't dare to go to war with us. But now that they are out of British control, they will only declare war on us if they are crazy!"
Count Alman said: "Don't believe what you see with your eyes and hear with your ears, but see the essence through the appearance. It's just a declaration of independence. Can the people of Transvaal really get rid of the shackles of the British?"
"In the past, the Orange Free State might have been able to obtain more security guarantees as a British colony. After all, few countries dared to provoke the British Empire. However, this also limited Britain's own ability to act, because we in East Africa are not weak countries like Myanmar and Afghanistan."
The opposite of what happened in East Africa was the experience of the weak countries in Central Asia and Southeast Asia. They were adjacent to Britain's most powerful colony in India, including the Far Eastern Empire, the "hegemon" of East Asia, and were all targets of bullying.
East Africa is rather special. Britain's counterpart colony in East Africa is the Cape Colony. However, from any perspective, the Cape Colony cannot form a crushing deterrent to the surrounding forces like India does.
If Egypt in the north could act as a vanguard, there might still be some hope, but unfortunately Egypt was only a semi-colony and the Khedive dynasty still had some autonomy.
Of course, the main reason is that the Khedive, an imperialist lackey, is the most typical bully of the weak and fear of the strong. Otherwise, he would not have sold out Egypt’s national interests and allowed Britain to exploit him.
Egypt could not defeat Britain and France, and it also had a fear of East Africa to the south, or in other words, Egypt had a fear of "European whites".
As for whether East Africa is strong, the territory and army of East Africa are the most convincing. East Africa has fought with the Sudanese before, and the Sudanese local army in Egypt was basically crushed.
Therefore, it is basically impossible for Britain to mobilize Egypt to fight against East Africa. Even if the Egyptians can be encouraged, the East African garrison in Gezira can intercept them in the Sahara Desert.
Count Alman continued, "The establishment of the Boer Republic may be the first move made by Britain against us. Even if we capture this chess piece, it will not affect Cape Town. On the contrary, if this chess piece really holds us back, I am afraid that Britain and Portugal will also be defeated at the same time."
"Count Alman, your analysis makes sense. Now we should think about whether to take the bait of the Boer Republic. If so, how to take it, what benefits we can get from it, and what we may lose!" Ernst asked them.
(End of this chapter)
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