Chapter 467 Observation
In addition to the Orange River, the Tugela River is also the geographical dividing line between East Africa and the Cape Colony. The Tugela River flows from Lesotho to the Indian Ocean.
The Tugela River is quite wide and fast-flowing, and the famous Tugela Falls stands on the Tugela River. The river falls from the big cliff of the Drakensberg Mountains, forming a waterfall group with a drop of 944 meters, which is second only to Angel Falls in the world.
Therefore, the terrain in the Tugela River Basin is extremely rugged, which provides great support for East Africa's national defense.
North of the Tugela River, construction of the new Port of Hamburg has been completed and its size is rapidly approaching that of the two ports to the north and south, Maputo and Durban, making it one of the three most prosperous cities in the region.
An observation ship from the British colony of Natal was wandering outside the port of New Hamburg, observing this emerging port that was both familiar and unfamiliar. An East African warship followed behind vigilantly to prevent the British from playing any tricks.
However, the British are not fools. As a dual-use military and civilian port, the New Hamburg Port has strong defensive capabilities. In addition to the naval base, the mobile artillery installed at the entrance to the port alone can play the role of a single man blocking a thousand.
"From the outside, the structure of this new port is similar to that of Durban Port. Both are trumpet-shaped with a small mouth and a large belly. They are very suitable for use as naval bases. Why didn't our people pay attention to it? Instead, the Germans got the upper hand?"
"Mr. Wilk, this question is easy to answer because we have the Port of Durban, and the natural conditions of the Port of Durban are much better than this port."
"But judging from the construction of the two ports, I don't see how the Germans' new Hamburg Port is inferior to the Durban Port."
"The natural conditions of the new Hamburg Port were not as good as those of the Durban Port, but East Africa has invested a lot in the region, especially with a fast population growth, which has made East Africa very capable of transforming the Durban Port, so it has overcome the local unfavorable conditions."
The current population of the New Hamburg Port is around 30,000, but if the Zulus are included the population is around 70,000. East Africa has invested heavily in the New Hamburg Port, especially the railway construction which makes this new city extremely busy.
"The Germans have very good infrastructure capabilities. We also saw the coastline conditions in the Zulu Kingdom a few years ago. At that time, the so-called 'New Hamburg Port' was just a deserted bay, far inferior to the Port of Durban. In addition, the southern part of the port was a swamp, so the port was seriously silted up. However, with the Germans' transformation, in a few years, the New Hamburg Port will definitely surpass Durban and become the most prosperous city in the region."
The swamp area south of the port has been transformed by East Africa. Through the hard work of more than 20,000 Zulu people, it took three years to create a new three square kilometers of deep-water area for the New Hamburg Port.
The canal connecting the lakes in the north has also been completed, which has greatly improved the conditions of the new Hamburg Port. The available area has far exceeded that of the Durban Port. This is not the limit of the new Hamburg Port. There is also a lake with an area of five square kilometers in the southern part of the southern wetlands, which has not yet been developed in East Africa.
Wilk said with some dissatisfaction: "Are the Germans reproductive machines? If the United States can't fill them, they will occupy Africa!"
"Mr. Wilk, the development of the East African Kingdom is closely related to the explosive population growth in the German region. They were able to mobilize tens of thousands of troops in the last war, which means that the East African Kingdom has at least hundreds of thousands of people. However, the population of the New Hamburg Port is almost tens of thousands. As far as I know, the population of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa will be even higher. There are other ports in East Africa, which means that the population of East Africa in the coastal areas alone may be at least hundreds of thousands."
As an old sailor who has been hanging around the Indian Ocean coast for many years, Enlai has a relatively clear understanding of the ports along the East African coast, especially the two free ports of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa. Enlai believes that these two port cities are likely to have a population of more than 100,000, which is almost the same level as some major ports in Europe.
After hearing this, Wilk felt that the situation was very serious. If this was true, then East Africa could still attack the South African region from the inland. The total white population in East Africa was likely to exceed one million. Although a million people was not a large number, that was compared with Europe. In Africa, perhaps only Egypt and some traditional white countries in North Africa had a stronger white population than the East African kingdom.
Nlaiyi said: "However, things may not be as extreme as we think. A large part of the population of East Africa is yellow. Half of the residents I met in Dar es Salaam and Mombasa are East Asians, so East Africa is not as terrible as we think."
"Is that so?" Wilk said after hearing this: "If the East African Kingdom is filled with yellow people, then it can be explained."
It is not Wilke's fault that he discriminated against East Asians, but the Far Eastern Empire has been too weak in recent years. Through wars in the past few decades, Britain has completely established confidence in the Far Eastern Empire, so it has given the British an illusion that East Asians are vulnerable, one British force is worth a thousand, and a few warships can easily make the Far Eastern Empire surrender. If half of the population of East Africa were East Asians, then the problem would not be "big."
Of course, it was not just aimed at East Asia. The British also looked down on the fighting power of South Asians, and the cost of British colonization of India was pitifully low.
Wilk, an investigator from the UK, had not conducted any prior investigation. Half of the East African army were Chinese immigrants serving, and the Chinese made important contributions to all the aggressive wars in East Africa, including the previous war in South Africa.
Of course, it is understandable that the British did not take it seriously. The South African War was mainly a war between the Germans and the Boers. The Transvaal Republic fought so poorly that the British would only take it for granted. After all, the Boers' motherland, the Netherlands, did not dare to make a fuss in front of Germany. It was not like they would go to fight in East Africa themselves. If they did, they would definitely let the Germans know what the power of a world hegemon is.
Wilk said arrogantly, "In the final analysis, it's the human race that's not good enough. Black people are the lowest class in the world. Even countries like India are much stronger than black people. So the Germans got a great bargain. They took advantage of our indifference to Africa to enclose large amounts of land in Africa. But their good days are about to end. After the Empire completes its affairs around India and the Orange Free State, we will let East Africa know who is the most powerful colonist. This is something those German barbarians on land cannot imagine."
Population and size do play a certain role but the British don't buy it. Countries like India, the Far East, and even the United States have all suffered heavy losses at the hands of Britain.
In the first few years after the founding of the United States, Britain imposed a trade embargo on the United States. At one time, only ships under 60 tons were allowed to leave the port. The deadlock was not broken until the United States developed Pacific trade and did business with the Far East Empire.
However, the Americans were not kind either. Before long, they began to engage in unfair competition through opium, just like their biological father, the British. It was difficult for the Far Eastern Empire to distinguish between the British and Americans, and many American businessmen made a fortune through opium, especially those in the Boston area.
Speaking of trade embargoes, this was what Ernst was most worried about before. Now the East African Navy has begun to take shape and has a certain counterattack capability. However, in order to avoid being targeted in the future, Archduke Ferdinand’s trip to Austria was made.
Britain's trade embargo on the United States was the result of cooperation with Spain, France and others, so East Africa could not allow other countries to cooperate with Britain's actions. Therefore, it was necessary to drag the Austro-Hungarian Empire into the water. Any country targeting East Africa must consider the attitude of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Although the Austro-Hungarian Empire had an ambiguous attitude, having an attitude was much better than having no attitude at all. Moreover, the education Ernst received also taught him not to rely too much on others and to be independent if he could.
(End of this chapter)
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