African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1092 Vegetable Market

The British government in the early 20th century was still very efficient. After all, the whole country was in a state of "prosperity", although the growing strength of other countries posed a certain threat to the imperial hegemony.

However, the British at that time would not have imagined that their descendants would quickly become corrupt after entering the 21st century. Britain at that time was like the United States in later generations. The vast majority of people still had strong confidence in their country. After all, without this confidence, Britain would not have been able to survive the two world wars.

Soon Asquith's cabinet drew up a draft of its own plan and sent it to Asquith.

Asquith looked at the plan for a long time, and after confirming that there was no problem, he said to George, "Send this draft to the embassy in East Africa! Negotiate with the East Africans according to this standard."

"Yes, Prime Minister!" George said, then turned and left with the manuscript.

……

Rhine City.

The National Assembly Hall, where the negotiations between East Africa and Britain were taking place, was like a chaotic vegetable market at this time.

The game between the East African government and the British representatives was still very exaggerated because the differences in the expected plans of both sides were indeed very large.

Foreign Secretary Freer questioned British Ambassador Russell in an exaggerated accent: "Five hundred thousand tons, this standard is simply impossible to achieve. Nowadays, the standard naval capacity of the world's powerful countries is more than 800,000 tons. Even the little devils you support, the total tonnage of Japan's naval ships is very close to five hundred thousand tons. It may only take one or two years to break through five hundred thousand tons. Therefore, we absolutely cannot accept the British proposal."

"If this plan is passed, we in East Africa will lag behind Japan, which is unacceptable to us. After all, Japan is just a small island country in Northeast Asia."

Russell had every reason to suspect that Freer was implying something about Britain. What does a small island country mean? In fact, the British mainland is not even as big as Japan. Isn't Britain even worse than Japan, a small island country?

And why do you East Africans look down on Japan? Although Japan's geographical location and ethnicity are indeed prone to discrimination in European society, you East Africans are not much better!

As we all know, East Africa is an African country, and Africa, except North Africa, has traditionally been regarded by Europe as a wild land and a desert of civilization.

Before the rise of the independent country in East Africa, sub-Saharan Africa could be said to be the least civilized place the colonists had ever encountered. Even though there were some ancient "civilized" countries in West Africa and East Africa, these countries with rudimentary civilizations were actually secondary civilizations of Arabism.

Take Zanzibar, which was annexed by East Africa, for example. It was a country that emerged after the expansion of the Omani Empire. The Kingdom of Uganda, which was destroyed by East Africa, also belongs to this type.

The same is true for the indigenous countries in West Africa. Many of them are the legacy of the glorious era of the Ottoman Empire in Africa. For example, in the British-colonized Nigeria, there are a large number of emirate states of various types, just like the many princely states in British India.

As for the original civilization of sub-Saharan Africa, there is only one Great Zimbabwe site that has been completely wiped out in East Africa. And because of the lack of archaeological evidence and written materials, no one can determine how this civilization came about. And even if there is a Great Zimbabwe site, it is probably not related to the traditional black people and Bantu people. It is very likely the work of the San people. In short, before the rise of East Africa, sub-Saharan Africa was a civilization depression, which was despised by all regions of the world. So for Russell, East Africa is theoretically not as good as Japan!

So Russell said to Freer, "Mr. Freer, you East Africans should not be impatient. Japan has already proved its strength. They have defeated Russia, one of the most powerful countries in the world, so Japan should naturally be considered a member of the civilized countries. The current strength of the Japanese navy alone is enough to rank among the top in the world, so Japan is definitely not a so-called weak naval country. The naval share we give to East Africa is enough to support East Africa's status as a great power."

Freer didn't buy it. He said to Russell, "Japan can't be compared with us in East Africa. Even if they defeated Russia through such despicable means as sneak attacks, in our definition of East Africa, Japan is just a puppet country that was lucky and supported by others. Although our comprehensive strength in East Africa is not in the first echelon among the world's major powers for the time being, it is not something Japan can touch."

In fact, Russell agreed with what Freer said. Although it sounded a bit harsh, countries like East Africa that consider themselves German countries actually psychologically regard themselves as part of the "civilized world."

The so-called "civilized world" naturally refers to Europe. In this regard, East Africans are even more extreme than Americans. After all, the United States at least recognizes and proudly considers itself an American country, and has even come up with the Monroe Doctrine, an attempt to control the entire American hegemony.

Of course, the arrogance of the East African government is not without reason. After all, apart from East Africa and the South German Kingdom, the entire African continent is either inhabited by indigenous peoples, colonies of other countries, or pagan countries like those in North Africa. It can be said that there are no three normal countries in the entire African continent.

But it is different in America. Although Canada is a British colony, it has a very high degree of autonomy. And as a British colony, Canada is different from colonies in the general sense. At least in the eyes of Canadians, their status is no different from that of their homeland. They are not a place like India that was enslaved by Britain, nor a place for criminal exile like Australia.

Except for Canada, other American countries can basically be said to have gained de facto independence, even the black country of Haiti, whose economy is a mess. This is much stronger than the black forces on the African continent.

Freer went on to say, "We in East Africa expect at least one million tons. The current tonnage of the US Navy is close to this level, and Germany and France are not far from one million tons. In the next few years, the naval tonnage of these three countries will definitely exceed one million tons, and may even exceed that of your Royal Navy. At least this is not difficult for Germany and the United States."

“East Africa must ensure that its navy has the ability to balance all naval forces other than your Royal Navy, so as to effectively safeguard our interests around the world.”

What Freer said was true. From the perspective of East Africa, at least in terms of national strength, even if all of Britain and its colonies were added together, it would probably not be able to guarantee an advantage over the United States. As for Germany, if there was no interference from Britain, it would not be difficult for its navy to surpass Britain in size.

Russell certainly could not agree to Freer's nonsense. The total tonnage of the Royal Navy is only two million tons. If the total tonnage of the East African Navy reaches one million tons, wouldn't it directly meet the British definition of one of the two naval powers?

If the United States, Germany and France are added to the list, there will be four countries in the world, in addition to Britain, with a total naval tonnage of more than one million tons. Britain's two-power standard will not be enough to suppress other countries, and this also requires considering that the giant Russia may recover at any time.

Before the Russo-Japanese War, the size of the Russian Navy exceeded 800,000 tons, second only to the British Royal Navy at the time, and its strength was firmly ranked among the top three in the world. Although the Russian Navy suffered heavy losses due to the Russo-Japanese War, most countries, including Britain, did not think that this would break the backbone of the Russian Navy.

After all, judging from the experience of the past few hundred years, Russia has a very strong recovery ability. Although the Russo-Japanese War had a serious impact on Russia, it could only delay the time for the Russian navy to rise again.

(End of this chapter)