Chapter 1111: Layout in the Far East

Time has come to 1912. This year can be said to be a turbulent year in the previous life. Many major events have occurred in almost every continent.

In Asia, domestic conflicts in the Far East Empire have completely erupted, the Balkan War has also broken out in Europe, the Argentine labor movement in America, the US presidential election, and the black indigenous people's resistance movement against the Portuguese in Africa.

Of course, the last thing is impossible to happen. The two protagonists of the incident, one was driven back to Europe by East Africa, and the other was completely insignificant due to the long-term consumption of East Africa.

The East African government is obviously most concerned about the social changes in the Far East Empire at this time. As the most important market in East Africa, any changes in the Far East Empire may have an important impact on East Africa.

Moreover, East Africa is in a relatively delicate position in the Huaihai Economic Zone, which is the most influential in the Far East Empire. It can be said that this is a transition zone between the central government of the Far East Empire and the southern forces. Therefore, in order to avoid the Huaihai Economic Zone from becoming a hot spot for conflict between the two forces, the East African government must always pay attention to changes in the political situation in the Far East Empire.

For this reason, at the end of 1911 when the situation was already tense, East Africa sent diplomats to "negotiate" with both sides.

…

As a country, East Africa’s determination to safeguard its own interests is unshakable. Even Ernst himself would not excessively interfere in East Africa’s diplomatic behavior at the national level because of personal emotions.

Xuzhou.

Although Jiaozhou is the economic core of the Huaihai Economic Zone, East Africa’s influence on the Huaihai Economic Zone is mainly achieved through Xuzhou.

For this reason, the East African Consulate in Xuzhou called all local forces in the Huaihai Economic Zone for a meeting in early 1912.

Mannheim, the Consul General of the East African Consulate in Xuzhou, said to the participating forces: "In the Huaihai Economic Zone, no force should show obvious political tendencies towards the South and the North, or participate in the disputes between the South and the North governments. In this political turmoil that swept the Far East Empire, we only stand on the side of the final winner."

Now people in the Far East Empire are thinking, and so is the Huaihai Economic Zone. The Huaihai Economic Zone can be said to be a rather complicated place.

As a trade cooperation zone, East Africa has played a leading role in the past few decades, but it is ultimately not as deterrent as other countries, so the East African government can only temporarily suppress the conflicts in the region through negotiations.

After all, the Huaihai Economic Zone involves the intersection of five provinces, namely Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan, Anhui and Hebei, and the official level alone has to deal with five provinces.

Mannheim said: "I believe everyone here also knows the harm of war. It can be said that every large-scale war within the Far East Empire has caused the most serious damage to the Huaihai region. Since your country has written records, this place has been a natural ancient battlefield."

"And in the last century, the turmoil and the Yellow River floods can be said to have turned the entire Huaihai region into a ruin, so that now the entire Huaihai region is one of the weakest economic places in the coastal area of ​​the Far East Empire."

Of course, this is the case in the Huaihai region, but not in the Huaihai Economic Zone. After all, the eastern part of the Shandong Peninsula does not belong to the Huaihai region. It was only because East Africa carried out trade activities with Jiaozhou as the core that it was forcibly included by East Africa.

Moreover, the Huaihai region was not as destitute as Mannheim said. After all, after so much time had passed, the economy of the Huaihai region had almost recovered, and in the trade with East Africa, Germany, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the economic level here actually exceeded the pre-war level.

Unlike other colonizers, East Africa would use various methods to attack local industry and commerce, so a large number of national capitals of the Far East Empire actually appeared in the Huaihai Economic Zone.

Of course, as an industrial power, East Africa certainly has an advantage in local trade, but this is almost unavoidable, and it is impossible to say that East Africa really harms its own interests and sells blood to support the development of national capital in the Far East. It is already a benevolent act to be relatively fair compared to other imperialist countries.

Mannheim went on to say: "Economic discourse power is political discourse power. Your current power can be said to come from the support of our East Africa. Otherwise, you will not be able to compete with the interest groups in the Pearl River or Yangtze River Basin."

"If a war breaks out in the Huaihai Economic Zone and the tragedy of the 1950s and 1960s is repeated, it will be bad for you and for East Africa. Therefore, it is our common responsibility to maintain regional stability."

"Don't have any small thoughts. After all, other powers are not as easy to talk to as we are in East Africa. I believe you often deal with Britain and Americans, and you know the true face of the powers. East Africa is one of the countries with the most friendly attitude towards my country."

"So in the current great changes in your country, you should be consistent with our country and don't easily intervene in the political or military conflicts within the Far East Empire."

East Africa's frank discussion with these local snakes is actually in line with the ideas of local political forces. In fact, as Mannheim said, cooperating with East Africa at least has the right to eat meat, unlike other comprador groups, which can only drink soup.

Moreover, everyone has seen what the economy of Huaihai was like back then. It can be said that except for southern Anhui and Jiangxi, which were completely destroyed, Huaihai was the worst off.

Although East Africa is unreasonable, the entire Huaihai region has maintained basic stability over the past few decades. On the one hand, a large number of refugees immigrated to East Africa, easing conflicts. On the other hand, the development of local industry has made the economy of the entire Huaihai region even more developed than before the war.

So everyone basically agrees with Mannheim's words. If there can be peaceful development, who would like war?

Of course, the most important thing is that the country behind Mannheim makes everyone convinced. As a world power, East Africa has a relatively strong deterrent power.

...

In addition to negotiating with the local snakes, the East African government also had a "friendly" exchange with the southern and northern governments.

"In the Huaihai Economic Zone where our country and your country have signed an agreement, large-scale wars are not allowed. If any force introduces the war into the Huaihai Economic Zone, we in East Africa cannot sit idly by, and the East African government will not take the initiative to interfere in the war between the two sides in other areas."

In short, East Africa must ensure that the Huaihai Economic Zone maintains a peaceful state within the Far East Empire. This requirement is not excessive.

In fact, up to now, the main contradictions within the Far East Empire are not as intense as last year. The southern government and the northern government have reached some deals in secret, so what East Africa does will not have much impact on the politics of the Far East Empire.

As for why Ernst wanted to ensure the stability of the Huaihai Economic Zone, the most important purpose was actually to preserve the Far East Empire's industry and economy in the Huaihai region.

Ernst's purpose in doing so was also to dig a hole for Japan in the future. In Ernst's view, East Africa must take the initiative to give up its interests in the Far East in the future. After all, East Africa's core strength is in the Indian Ocean, the South China Sea, and the South Atlantic, not the Far East waters.

It can be said that except for the United States, no country can curb the surge in Japan's military strength in the Far East in recent years, so it is better to directly support the Far East Empire's local forces to make things difficult for Japan in the future.

After all, in terms of East Africa's naval strength alone, it is not much stronger than Japan, and East Africa has to take care of the Indian Ocean and the South Atlantic at its doorstep, and it is even more impossible to withdraw troops to confront Japan.

The United States and Britain, two countries in cahoots with each other, both have a laissez-faire attitude towards Japan. There is even a high probability that the two countries may use Japan to eliminate East Africa's interests in the Far East Empire in the future. Therefore, East Africa must always be prepared to give up its interests in the Far East. During this period, it is difficult for East Africa alone to suppress Japan, not to mention that behind Japan stand Britain and the United States, two top powers that are in no way inferior to East Africa.