Chapter 607 Detour
"It's okay to provide assistance to the Orange people, but we can't rush forward and get it together. Instead, we have to negotiate terms with them. Of course, considering the industries that the Orange people are engaged in, we can symbolically cooperate in agriculture and animal husbandry." Ernst said to Constantine.
"You are right. Now that the Orange people are trapped in the interior and have offended the British, they will not be able to contact the outside world. Related trade will definitely be affected. Only we can provide them with relevant help." Kang Standing said in agreement.
This may be the sorrow of a landlocked country, and Ernst thought of the Abyssinian Empire in the north. Just like in its previous life, the Abyssinian Empire has now become a landlocked country.
The three neighboring countries of the Abyssinian Empire, Italy and Egypt, have very poor relations with the Abyssinian Empire, so the trade of the Abyssinian Empire can only be completed through cooperation with East Africa.
Although some tribes in parts of the Egyptian Sudan have good relations with the Abyssinian Empire, most of their traditional commercial routes pass through the Sahara Desert and go westward, so they cannot solve the problem of the Abyssinian Empire.
The Abyssinian Empire is, after all, a country with a population of tens of millions. Such a large economic volume cannot be solved by North African trade, especially since the relationship with Egypt is very poor.
As for traditional commercial routes, the Red Sea has been completely blocked by Egypt and Italy, and can only cooperate with the East African Kingdom in the south.
East Africa can profit from it as a middleman. Although East Africa had some interests with the Abyssinian Empire before, especially the annexation of some subordinate forces in the south of the Abyssinian Empire, it has not threatened the Abyssinian Empire. Compared with Egypt and Italy in the core areas, East Africa looks much more beautiful.
Subordinate forces, after all, are not completely a family, just like the relationship between the Far Eastern Empire and those vassal countries, and the relationship between the Abyssinian Empire and its own subordinate forces is not as close as that of the vassal countries.
The vassal states had a sense of cultural identity, while the relationship between the Abyssinian Empire and the subordinate forces was more about military conquest without much emotional investment.
"For the Orange people, we should try our best to provide some neutral weapons without strong East African overtones. At the same time, trade with the Orange people should be mainly in kind. We should focus on providing food and military supplies. Orangemen need to be more supportive," Ernst continued.
The Boers are mainly engaged in animal husbandry, which is convenient, trouble-free and profitable. As for the hard work of farming, they are not active.
Furthermore, the Orange Free State is now in a state of civil strife, and production will definitely be significantly affected, so support for the Orangemen should not be limited to weapons and ammunition.
Of course, East Africa's greater consideration is that it does not have so many weapons to support the Orangemen. As for the weapons and equipment in active service of the East African army, it is impossible to export them, especially to its neighboring countries, because East Africa does not They only covet the market of the Orange Free State, but they are more interested in Orange itself.
"Then which country are you going to provide equipment to the Orangemen, Britain or France?" Constantine asked.
As for Germany, Constantine did not mention it, because Germany's weapons are not exactly the same as those of East Africa. They can also be said to be the same compatriots. If German weapons are provided, it is better to directly export East Africa's own weapons.
Ernst gave Constantine an unexpected answer: "We provide the Orangemen with weapons from the Austro-Hungarian Empire."
"Why?"
"We provided weapons to the Orangemen. No matter what the result was, the British knew it was us. After all, no one else had the ability. Moreover, we had frequent military cooperation with the Austro-Hungarian Empire. There are many suppliers, and it is easy to get the goods. Moreover, we in East Africa can produce part of the weapons and ammunition of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and provide repair services to the Orange people, but the bulk still needs to be imported from the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
In this way, the Orangemen's arms import and export are completely in our hands, unless they replace all the Austro-Hungarian Empire's weapons in the future, but they do not have the financial resources to do this. " explained Ernst.
Constantine raised a new question: "In this case, why don't we directly export domestically produced weapons in East Africa?"
Ernst: "Because when the Orangemen fight against the British and Transvaal people, they will definitely not fight with eggs against stones. They will use more guerrilla tactics. Now the enemies of the Orangemen are first and foremost the British and German forces. In the future, they are likely to be One of the characteristics of our guerrilla warfare is that we cannot defend ourselves against the enemy's supply lines, which also makes it easier for the other party to seize supplies from the enemy. In the event of a conflict between the Orange and us in the future, we must avoid this and use the Austro-Hungarian Empire You don't have to worry about this with weapons."
How the weapons of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were exported to the Orange Free State was completely controlled by East Africa. In this way, if the Orange people survive the offensive of the British and German coalition forces in the future, the Orange people will have to continue to rely on East Africa. supply channels.
In this way, it is similar to using East African weapons, and it can also make the Orange people lower their guard a little. After all, directly using East African weapons is no different from becoming a military vassal of East Africa.
After all, the Austro-Hungarian Empire is a third-party country. This can at least make the Orange people feel more at ease on the surface. Of course, it is only on the surface. When the Orange people really rely on the weapons of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, they will find out how. East Africa cannot be bypassed, and even bullets need to be provided by East Africa.
As for East Africa, they can completely rely on intermediary channels to control the Orange people's military. After all, the initiative whether to cut off the Orange people's weapons supply lies entirely in East Africa's hands.
In this way, even if East Africa becomes an enemy of the Orangemen in the future, it can cut off its weapons supply at any time and win over them without having to fight a battle.
Unless the Orangemen reconcile with the British and continue to supply goods through the British, after all, the Austro-Hungarian Empire is in the same group as East Africa, and East Africa can completely interfere with it.
If the United Kingdom provides the Orangemen with its own weapons to replace the weapons of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, this will involve the Orangemen's entire military system, including use experience, maintenance systems, etc. In short, it is not that easy. This is the same as the previous life of India. The inability to directly break away from dependence on Russian-made weapons is the same.
And according to the current relationship between the Orangemen and the United Kingdom, there is basically no possibility of reconciliation between the two. Unless East Africa really ends up annexing the Orange Free State, the enemies of the three parties will instantly become East Africa.
And this is why Ernst is not in a hurry to take action against the Orange Free State. First, let the three parties suffer a **** blow. It is best to maximize the hatred value. Then it will be difficult for East Africa to invade the Orange Free State in the future. can drop significantly.
After all, after this lesson, the Boers will definitely be divided in the future and will not be able to work together. The gap in their hearts will increase as time goes by.
Moreover, in the eyes of the Orange people, this civil strife was entirely caused by the betrayal of the Transvaal people. There is a saying that traitors are more hateful than enemies. By then, the Orange people will definitely feel that the Transvaal people Worse than Britain and East Africa.
In this way, it will be more convenient for East Africa to assimilate the region in the future. Of course, East Africa will definitely have to take other measures to further erase the Boers as a once-existing community.
(End of this chapter)