Chapter 220

"His Excellency Archduke Ferdinand!"

A row of young Austrian navy officers stood upright in front of Ferdinand. Ferdinand looked at the "young talent" in front of him with satisfaction.

"Your Majesty the Grand Duke, this is the East African Advisory Group formed by the Imperial Navy. From now on, they will work under you!" Blair introduced to Ferdinand.

Ferdinand nodded and affirmed: "Okay, when you get to East Africa, you can work in peace and quiet. Don't be dissatisfied when you come to East Africa. The current conditions in East Africa are a bit worse, but with the leadership of me, the former Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Navy, , it doesn’t mean that you have buried your talents, just treat East Africa as your home from now on.”

Ferdinand and Blair determined the nature of these people in a few words. Ferdinand certainly knew that these people in front of him might be thorny or not from a good background. After all, in the system of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was difficult for civilians to get ahead.

But the more this happens, the more it shows that these guys have real abilities. Anyway, there is a shortage of all kinds of talents in East Africa, and Ferdinand can use them without fail.

With this group of people in hand, the eight hundred sailors in East Africa now have a real leader. Ferdinand cannot do everything himself.

There are not many people, but they can share the knowledge they have learned and some experiences of the Austro-Hungarian Navy with the sailors from the Neihu Force. This is the most valuable asset.

…

January 7, 1870.

Central District, the first town and city, Qivit Palace.

"Your Majesty, Mozambique sent a mission saying that they want to cooperate with us! Now their people have arrived at the port of Dar es Salaam."

Von der Leyen came to the Chewit Palace to report to Prince Constantine with a telegram from Dar es Salaam.

"Cooperation! What does Portugal want to do?"

"After some insinuations, our people learned that they probably wanted to carve up the Kingdom of Malawi with us."

"Oh, this is really rare. I thought they were here to protest our actions in Kazembe Kingdom?"

Prince Constantine took the telegram and began to read it with interest.

"Your Majesty, why do you think the Mozambique colony wants to talk to us about this matter? With their strength, they should be able to deal with those indigenous people alone!" Von der Leyen asked.

"It's very simple. They are not enough to swallow the entire Kingdom of Malawi on their own, so they need an outside country to help them share the pressure." Constantine said after putting down the telegram in his hand.

"It is estimated that they have been interested in the Kingdom of Malawi for a long time, but the resistance of the local people was too fierce, so they have not succeeded. The Kingdom of Malawi was almost disintegrated by the Portuguese before I came. The Central Committee The government exists in name only, but the tribes below don’t even watch them swallow it.”

"Your Majesty, what should we do? Let them come to the first town to talk?"

"Just let the Dar es Salaam Municipal Government negotiate with them. There is no need to let them enter the interior, which may expose some intelligence. We should agree to their cooperation first. We will take advantage of this opportunity to occupy more In some places with difficult terrain, we will consolidate the land of the Kingdom of Malawi that we have encroached on over the years.”

"But I feel that this is a bit too cheap for the Portuguese, Your Majesty. In this way, we have not actually won much land, but it is equivalent to handing over the southern part of the Kingdom of Malawi to the Portuguese."

"Now we are launching a war against the Sultanate of Gradi. At the same time, we are also using troops in the southwest, which involves a large number of troops. If we don't have the energy to open another front, let the Portuguese touch the Kingdom of Malawi. As for Whether they can master it depends on their own destiny. However, for so many years, the Portuguese have been unable to do anything to the Kingdom of Malawi, so whether the Kingdom of Portugal can succeed is still unknown, so regardless of how they play, let's first Do your own thing well.”

"Your Majesty, I understand, but in my opinion, we will have a war with the Portuguese sooner or later. There are still many blank areas in Africa, so there is no need for the two sides to compete fiercely. But after the interests of this area are divided, we can say It’s uncertain.”

"I naturally know this. It is better to try to stabilize the Portuguese people now. As long as we maintain the current development speed, it will not be a problem even if we face the entire Kingdom of Portugal in the future."

At this time, the native population of the Kingdom of Portugal was only over 4 million, but Portugal was a traditional naval power and its power in the Indian Ocean was not weak.

The current population of East Africa is actually comparable to that of countries such as Sweden, the Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium, Switzerland, and Greece.

But again, the history of East Africa is too short and the accumulation is not enough. It is much better than Greece, a country that relies on debt to survive.

"Your Majesty, there is one more thing that I must explain to you. If it is not resolved, it may hinder the development of East Africa."

"What's up?"

"When we compiled statistics last year, lower-level governments and we reported that East Africa might see a baby boom this year, which is a huge challenge for us."

"Baby boom? Last year's 200,000 births were not enough? Can we break through this year?"

"Your Majesty, I was shocked when I heard about this, but when I think about it carefully, it is true. When immigrants arrive in East Africa, in addition to those who have already married, those single immigrants have also been getting married in recent years. Through our efforts in recent years, The number of families formed in East Africa has exceeded one million, and as East Africa becomes increasingly stable, people have a strong desire to have children. Some families have even begun to give birth to second or third children, so the birth rate this year may be astonishing."

Prince Constantine fell into deep thought, then looked at von der Leyen and asked: "Will they have four more children, five children..."

Von der Leyen nodded and said: "It is conservatively estimated that there will be at least five children. If nothing happens, it may not be uncommon for families with more than ten children!"

The main body of immigrants in East Africa are farmers from various countries, and the population structure is very young. Coupled with East Africa's special land and distribution system, the fertility rate is indeed terrifying.

At the same time, people in East Africa don’t go out at night and don’t have much nightlife, so cats can only make babies at home. The fertility rate in East Africa is naturally not low.

The current population of 2.5 million may become more than 10 million or more in twenty years. When Prince Constantine thought about this, he immediately felt that Ernst's immigration policy was too radical.

It’s not that East Africa can’t support so many people, but that there are too many newborns, and the outbreak in such a short period of time will definitely cause a shortage of manpower and food pressure. After all, taking care of young children is also very energy-consuming, and at the same time they are all born together. This is equivalent to hundreds of thousands more mouths at once, and according to the traditional age of adulthood in East Africa, it will take at least 14 years for them to support themselves.

"In this matter, you should first clarify the situation in each place and report all the data. I will discuss this issue with Ernst."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Von der Leyen replied.