Chapter 1256: The Trade Center Shifts Southward

Subsequently, the East African government's discussion on the active development plan of the Kra Isthmus came to an abrupt end, mainly because apart from the strategic value here, there is really not much that can be discussed economically.

The highlight is the population aspect, which is to solve the population problem in the Kra Isthmus territory. In the future, neither Siam nor other countries will be able to take back the Kra Isthmus territory.

Ernst said: "The population policy of the Kra Isthmus territory includes two aspects, one is the immigration policy led by us, and the other is the assimilation and integration policy."

"In the future, the number of immigrants from the Kra Isthmus will be at least 200,000, thereby changing the local population structure. We must provide support and preferential policies to people from our country who are willing to live and work in the Kra Isthmus territory."

"For local Siamese who are willing to accept East African governance and accept Germanization, they can be screened."

After all, the East African government is not a complete butcher. It is actually acceptable to people who are willing to integrate into the Rhineland. After all, there are hundreds of thousands of indigenous people in East Kalimantan who have been taken in by East Africa.

Of course, there is a qualification, such as Hindu and Arab populations, which are definitely not within the scope of consideration by the East African government.

…

At the end of 1916, the East African government once again sent envoys to The Hague, Netherlands.

Freer stood on the bow and sighed: "This trip back to our old place can be said to be quite thrilling. The confrontation between the British and German navies in the North Sea may affect the coastal areas, which is not far from our destination this time. Far."

In the three years since the outbreak of the war, the German Navy and the British Navy have been constantly testing, which has caused frequent small-scale exchanges of fire between the two countries in the North Sea area.

However, this also resulted in the famous Battle of Jutland not breaking out in the previous life. The German naval commander was very aware of the gap between the two sides. At the same time, the blockade suffered by Germany due to the existence of East Africa was not enough to make Germany economically unsustainable, so Germany's high seas The fleet spent most of its time in the Baltic Sea or the Atlantic offshore dealing with the Royal Navy.

Of course, another important factor is that Germany is currently focusing on the Eastern Front. Its primary goal is to defeat Russia, so it is in a defensive posture on the Western Front.

This eliminates the need for the High Seas Fleet to risk a decisive battle with the Royal Navy. However, in this stalemate, the most unlucky is Denmark, followed by the Netherlands, which may be affected. The waters of the two countries are on the front line of the confrontation between the British and German navies.

This is why Freer is a little frightened. This time Freer's destination is The Hague, the political center of the Netherlands, which is not close to the warring waters.

But no one knows whether Britain and Germany will cause harm to Chiyu. After all, the High Seas Fleet has only two routes if it wants to rush outward, the most important of which is the English Channel.

Freer's deputy Rogers said: "Sir Freer, you don't need to worry about this. At the beginning of this year, although Germany launched a submarine tactic, it was stopped by William II. Unless Germany restarts this indiscriminate attack, tactics, but according to the last experience, the German Navy will definitely inform the empire in advance before using submarine tactics, so our security will not be threatened this time, so we can go to the Netherlands with peace of mind. "

Freer said helplessly: "I'm worried about Germany? Wrong, it's the UK. After all, the UK is now highly sensitive to the North Atlantic waters. Who knows if they will make some small moves secretly."

The reason why Freer said this is because Germany is currently the country least likely to offend East Africa in the world. Since its trade with the United States was cut off by Britain, East Africa has become its largest trading country.

Although East Africa cannot take the Atlantic route now, it can transport supplies to Germany through land channels such as the Baghdad Railway.

At present, the Baghdad Railway can be said to be Germany's life-saving straw. If this channel is cut off, Germany will definitely launch an attack on Britain and France at any cost.

In fact, Germany's current logistics situation is far from as bad as imagined. After all, Germany is basically self-sufficient in food, steel and other products. Only strategic materials such as rubber, copper, cotton, sugar, tobacco and other strategic materials have a relatively large gap.

It is easy to understand that Germany's food problem has been alleviated. Now Germany's huge advantage on the Eastern Front has enabled it to gain access to a large number of Russia's original grain-producing areas.

However, these lands obviously cannot produce tropical crops such as cotton, tobacco, and rubber. However, this also reduces the transportation pressure on the Baghdad Railway, allowing the Allies to have more railway surplus to import scarce resources from East Africa.

Although the British wanted to cut off the Baghdad Railway, they were powerless. The Baghdad Railway was completely in the hands of the Allies, and at sea, the Indian Ocean was East Africa's home turf.

In the North Atlantic, the British could make East African merchant ships "stay away", but they were completely unable to do this in the Indian Ocean.

The East African Indian Ocean Fleet has organized a large number of warships to maintain the smooth flow of routes in the Persian Gulf and escort East African merchant ships.

The British cannot fully exploit East Africa's industrial production capacity like they can to appease the Americans, so it is impossible for East Africa to make concessions in the Indian Ocean region for the sake of the British victory.

In fact, Britain had cut off the trade channels between the Suez Canal and the North Atlantic, East African merchant ships and the Allies.

This has greatly reduced the trade volume between East Africa and the Allies after 1916. Fortunately, East Africa's trade has now shifted to southern countries, namely South America, the Far East, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and West Africa. This has also led to a clear southward shift in the focus of East Africa's trade after 1916.

Of course, trade with Europe and North America still occupies an important position in East Africa's foreign trade. After all, the consumption capacity of other regions is limited.

However, East Africa is in a surplus state in the trade with southern countries, and the profit is very considerable. The trade with North America belongs to the category of mutual exchange, and there is no absolute winner.

Because Europe is currently in a state of war, East Africa's trade with Europe is also in an advantageous state. Even if the export volume decreases, it is not comparable to other regions.

However, the significant trade advantage with Europe is obviously only a short-term benefit, and if the trade with southern countries can be stabilized, it will be a long-term benefit.

This is also the reason why East Africa has expanded in Southeast Asia, West Africa and other regions in recent years and built overseas bases.

This time, Freer went to the Netherlands again to further expand East Africa's advantage in the South Pacific region. After completing the colony of the Kra Isthmus Territory.

East Africa once again set its sights on the Netherlands, the "big dog" in the South Pacific region. After all, looking at the entire South Pacific region, only the colonies of the Netherlands can be compared with Britain, France, and East Africa.

Even the colonies of the United States in the South Pacific region cannot be compared with these four countries. After all, the United States only has half of the Philippines in the South Pacific, which seems a bit difficult to support alone.

The Dutch East Indies, whether in terms of area, scale, or strategic locations, are clearly ranked at the forefront among the South Pacific countries.

However, the national strength of the Netherlands is obviously not on the same level as Britain, France, and East Africa. Naturally, the Netherlands will be targeted by East Africa again. After all, East Africa is best at picking soft persimmons.

"How long will it take to reach The Hague?" Freer asked.

"About three to four hours." Rogers replied.

The Hague is actually the real capital of the Netherlands, although Rotterdam or Amsterdam is the most economically developed region of the Netherlands and is its recognized capital.

However, the administrative center of the Netherlands is The Hague, because the Dutch central government, parliament, Supreme Court and other institutions are all located in The Hague.

Freer leaned on the railing, looked at the sea and said: "I just don't know if the Dutch will be happy with our arrival this time. After all, we just took away their East Kalimantan, and now they are coveting other places in the East Indies."

Rogers said with some gloating: "This is not something the Dutch can decide, but depends on the development strategy of the empire, and the Netherlands has no confidence to reject us."