Chapter 657 Angola Defense
Many of Ernst's suggestions are panacea, but they also determine the overall development direction of the East African tea industry, which is to rely on sea tactics and mechanized production to help the future development of the East African tea industry. After all, the first two big tea countries are not good candidates. , East Africa must "roll up" if it wants to compete with them.
Relatively speaking, the tea industry in the Far Eastern Empire poses no threat to East Africa, because there is no government support for the development of tea in the Far Eastern Empire, and private tea is prevalent, and each one works independently.
In the previous life, India completely surpassed the Far Eastern Empire in the 1890s when the tea industry in the Far Eastern Empire was in such a state of euphoria. Of course, this mainly refers to exports. After all, the size of the Far Eastern Empire itself is larger than that of other tea producing areas in the world. The market is huge, and the Far Eastern Empire is very particular about drinking tea, so foreign tea cannot squeeze in at all.
The import and export trade between East Africa and the Far Eastern Empire also reflects this, that is, coffee is more popular than tea. Coffee is actually the "foreign tea" in the eyes of the Far Eastern Empire, and it can be a novelty to drink.
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After receiving Ernst's instructions, von der Leyen was ready to integrate the East African tea industry, which included opening up a new main tea production area. Because most of them are along the Great Lake (Lake Victoria), it has been initially determined. There are two names to choose from, so von der Leyen still has to ask for permission before leaving.
"Your Highness, what you just said about the expansion of tea production in Western Great Lakes Province, how should we name it? Should we use 'Western' or 'Great Lakes' as the prefix?"
This was a small thing, so Ernst said without thinking: "Just name it after the Great Lakes tea area! After all, western East Africa is so big, and there is also a piece of land in Angola, so it is more appropriate to name it after the Great Lakes."
Ernst clearly remembered that Angola is also a tea producing area, but it is far from being compared with the East African Plateau. However, everyone also knows about the situation in Africa in the previous life. The agricultural technology of black people is very poor, and Angola has oil as its backing, so there is no need. It is a waste of resources to mess around with tea cultivation.
In fact, Ernst had a very simple and crude analysis standard for whether African countries in previous lives were qualified. That is, if the region is stable and has not had wars for a long time, if there are fewer wars, the Africans can barely get by. For example, in the previous life, countries in Eastern and Southern Africa had significantly less trouble than Northwest Africa.
However, when thinking of Angola, Ernst found that he seemed to have neglected this Portuguese colony recently, at least compared to Southern Mozambique. Because Southern Mozambique and Cape Town are relatively close to each other, the degree of attention is naturally higher. Subconsciously I always think Portugal can't make it happen.
However, Angola is much closer to Portugal than Mozambique, so Portugal may have more chips in Angola than Mozambique.
"There's nothing to do, just go and do your work first!" Ernst sent von der Leyen away and asked someone to call Sweet. Soon, Sweet rushed to Ernst's living room.
"Has the Angola colony made any big moves in recent years?" Ernst asked straight to the point.
"Your Highness, this is inevitable. Our current contact area with Angola is a little larger than that of Mozambique, but Mozambique is adjacent to Matabele Province, so our focus has always been on Mozambique."
Mozambique is in the east, and the best part of East Africa is also in the east, so the General Staff will definitely keep an eye on Mozambique's every move. If there is an oversight, East Africa's industrial investment in Matabele Province may suffer heavy losses, but because Matabele Due to the plateau, the terrain of East Africa is higher than that of Mozambique, which is very beneficial to East Africa in terms of military defense.
The Portuguese are obviously contrary to East Africa's plan. The strategy prepared by the Portuguese is to attack in the west and defend in the east, because the two colonies of Mozambique and Angola are of similar value to Portugal, and Angola, which is closer to the mainland, is obviously more important.
This also has something to do with the presence of the East African navy. Now East Africa is on the coast of the Indian Ocean, and its navy is quite powerful. Moreover, Portugal wants to support the Indian Ocean in only two directions, one is the Red Sea route and the other is the Cape Town route.
These two lines are not safe from the Portuguese point of view. Instead, Angola is located. Starting from the Portuguese mainland and along the West African coastline, it can be reached without passing through the East African naval influence area or the East African coast.
This is not because the Portuguese are cowardly, but that the spirit of these old empires has long been worn away, and East Africa has only accelerated this process.
Of course, the vested interests of Portugal's two colonies and the Portuguese are now much more active in resisting East Africa than Portugal itself.
Just listen to Sweet say: "The planters and mine owners in the Angola colony have organized an army since the last time they ceded the land. However, we are not very clear about the specific situation, because Angola is not like Southern Mozambique. Although Southern Mozambique is hostile, We are, however, also economically close to East Africa, which makes it easier for us to obtain intelligence in southern Mozambique.”
"At the same time, the Portuguese mainland also has troops assembled in Angola, including the navy and army. Their navy often sets out from Benguela Port and encounters our Atlantic naval detachment in the south. Compared with the Indian Ocean coast, our naval power in the Atlantic waters is almost It’s negligible, and if there’s a conflict, you’ll definitely be at a disadvantage.”
“However, since the opening of the Mongolian Whale Highway, we don’t have to worry about Angola raiding into our territory from the coast of Southwest Africa. Instead, the areas bordering Angola on land should pay attention. The provinces bordering Angola in the west of us do not have a large population. , the traffic is not smooth, and it is indeed a bit dangerous, but it is not too difficult to support the central part, and at least it can ensure that the Angolan army is defended within the western provinces."
The areas bordering East Africa and Angola, excluding the Congolese rainforest, are mainly Danube Province (southwest of Kinshasa), Zambezi Province (the source area of the Zambezi River) and Letania Province.
Among them, the province of Letania also manages one-third of South Angola, which was the southern land of Angola that bordered Namibia in the previous life.
In fact, these three provinces are all incomplete. Ernst took this into consideration when dividing the provinces, because if these three provinces want to be finalized, they must wait until East Africa completely annexes Angola.
Only by completely acquiring Angola and East Africa will it be better to re-divide the area of the western provinces, which will be conducive to the future industrial layout of East Africa.
So much so that the capitals of the three provinces are now temporary office locations. After all, the good places in West Africa, including climate, seaports, and high-quality land, are all concentrated in Angola.
There is also the western section of the central railway line that East Africa has been waiting to open to the Atlantic port, and the end point on the central railway plan is the Benguela Port under Portuguese control.
Ernst: "In this case, Angola should not be ignored, especially the three western provinces. The military should focus on deploying defenses in these areas. The only ones that can mobilize troops now should be the Eastern Military District, and Mongu City in the south exists, so Lai Don’t worry too much about Tania province, Danube and Zambezi provinces in the north are the focus.”
"The terrain of the Danube Province is relatively complex and mountainous, so it should not be a priority for the Portuguese. Instead, there is a vast expanse of water between the Danube Province and Angola in the north, and there is no railway to provide quick support. We will focus on deploying defenses in the Danube Province." Sweet. replied.
In fact, the Portuguese did not do anything in the past two or three years. After suffering losses in East Africa, they recovered it from the Kingdom of Congo. Now the territory of the Kingdom of Congo on both sides of the lower reaches of the Congo River has become part of Angola.
The military power of the entire Angolan colony has also moved northward, so the defense pressure in the Danube Province is indeed the greatest.
