African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1102 Preparing for War
The reason why East Africa established a similar economic colony within the Austro-Hungarian Empire was essentially due to concerns about the future of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. As a channel for East Africa to connect with the Central and Eastern European markets, the Austro-Hungarian Empire played an irreplaceable role in East Africa's foreign economic development.

However, assuming that the Austro-Hungarian Empire disintegrated like in the previous life, and Austria and Hungary became two landlocked countries, East Africa’s current political investment in the Austro-Hungarian Empire might be wasted.

Therefore, East Africa must control a location along the coast of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and ensure that this force is pro-East African. This way, even if the Austro-Hungarian Empire disintegrates, East Africa can continue to maintain unobstructed trade channels within the former Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The lower Neretva River valley is such a location that East Africa is looking for. East Africa's investment in this area even exceeds that of Venice and is second only to Croatia and Slovenia.

……

Mostar.

Mostar International Winery at night.

"Kerlev, you're here!" Hagen, the owner of Mostar International Winery, greeted his old friend enthusiastically.

"Hagen, why did you call all of us here today?" asked Kerlev.

Hagen put his hand on Kerlev's shoulder and said to him, "Let's go to the conference room at the back. I'll announce the Empire's instructions this time. You go in first. I still have to greet the others."

Kerlev nodded and said, "Then we'll go to the conference room and wait for you."

After saying that, Kerlev walked towards a building behind the winery with great familiarity. As a large winery that monopolized the entire Mostar wine production and sales, the winery was quite large. This was just one of the estates of the Mostar winery.

Mostar is one of the cities with the most sunshine in the entire Balkan Peninsula and has abundant heat, so it is also one of the best wine producing areas in Europe.

With the support of the Hechingen Consortium, Mostar wine has become a well-known brand in the entire Balkan Peninsula, and Hagen is also one of the major wine merchants in the Balkan Peninsula and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Soon, Kerrev arrived at the conference room that Hagen mentioned. The conference room was large and luxuriously decorated, and there were already quite a few people in the conference room.

"Kerlaif is here!" Many people greeted Keerlaif enthusiastically, and Keerlaif responded one by one. After all, they were all colleagues.

People kept arriving in the conference room, and finally Hagen led in the president of the Mostar branch of the Hexingen Consortium.

Hagen said, "Everyone, please don't be shy. I called you all here mainly because of some instructions from the imperial government, so I called everyone here to convey them to you all."

On both sides of Hagen, the conference table was already full of people. If other people from Mostar came here and saw it, they would probably be shocked. Nowadays, the Mostar Winery is home to many big figures from Mostar, including people from the business, political and even Austro-Hungarian military circles.

As for the gathering of East Africans, why there were Austro-Hungarian politicians and military personnel? It is easy to understand. Because of the Austro-Hungarian system, East Africans could easily infiltrate the Austro-Hungarian local government and army. As mentioned before, the lower Neretva River valley was an important source of troops for the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Bosnia, and most of the local residents were basically under the economic control of East Africans, so East African management could gain an advantage in local elections and conscription.

Hagen went on to say, "The latest instructions from the Imperial Government require us to prepare for war in secret in the next few years, especially to be vigilant against the ambitions of foreign forces led by Sarajevo towards the lower Neretva River valley."

What East Africa is obviously guarding against is the Kingdom of Serbia. The Kingdom of Serbia has ambitions for the surrounding lands. Naturally, it is also jealous of the rich areas in Bosnia such as the lower valley of the Neretva River.

However, how could the lower Neretva River valley area, which was supported by East Africa, be cheap to the Kingdom of Serbia?

Ross, the deputy commander of the Mostar Infantry Company, asked Hagen, "Mr. Hagen, are the Empire's concerns a bit excessive? You know, although we are not in the core area of ​​the Austro-Hungarian Empire, we are definitely not a place that a small country like the Kingdom of Serbia can provoke."

Hagen said: "Serbia and Austria-Hungary will inevitably have a war, and the location of our region can be said to be very dangerous. It is almost surrounded by Slavs. Serbia has always wanted to establish a Yugoslav regime like Greater Serbia and become a great power in the Balkan Peninsula."

"So, what we fear is not Serbia's strength, but the dangerous ideas spread by the Serbs. If the Serbs achieve this goal, then if the Kingdom of Croatia, the Kingdom of Dalmatia, the State of Bosnia, and the Principality of Montenegro are instigated by Serbia, then we will be surrounded."

There were many kingdoms in the administrative divisions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so the Kingdom of Croatia and the Kingdom of Dalmatia could be regarded as first-level administrative regions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, equivalent to the provinces of East Africa.

"Among so many Slavic forces, our lower Neretva River valley region can be said to be a thorn in the eyes and flesh of certain ethnic groups. If the Yugoslavs unite into one country, then we must accumulate strength in advance if we want to ensure the security of the region."

Since the restoration of the Kingdom of Serbia in the Balkan Peninsula, Serbia can be said to be one of the most inflated countries in the region. In response to this extreme national sentiment, East Africa must naturally guard against it.

In fact, when it comes down to it, the East African government is not optimistic about the competition between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. Although Austria-Hungary is powerful, its performance in the previous war was not satisfactory.

Therefore, in order to prevent the Austro-Hungarian Empire from following the same path as in the previous life in any subsequent European wars that might break out, thereby causing losses to East Africa's investments in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Ernst had to take action himself. If the Austro-Hungarian Empire disintegrated like in his previous life, East Africa would take the opportunity to separate the lower valley area of ​​the Neretva River, so that East Africa would not be left without a foothold in the region.

Ross said: "Some of the political propaganda about the Kingdom of Serbia is indeed difficult to understand, but if Serbia really dares to challenge the Austro-Hungarian Empire, we may become the front line, so it is necessary to take precautions in advance."

Hagen said: "Who knows! These small countries on the Balkan Peninsula are all ambitious. Greece, Bulgaria, and Serbia are all like this. However, Serbia is the most arrogant. It even wants to take over the territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. If the small countries around East Africa dared to have such thoughts, they would have been destroyed by us long ago."

In fact, East Africa has really encountered such a country, that is the former Orange Free State government. Now the Orange Free State government is probably living in exile in South Africa or London.

Kerlev also interrupted at this time and said, "In short, the entire Balkans have never been peaceful. This is also a hot spot for European countries to compete with each other. At the same time, the conflicts between countries are very sharp. The Kingdom of Serbia wants to go further, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire also wants to annex Serbia. So we all know that there will be a war between Serbia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. We just don't know who will fire the first shot. Even any country in the Balkan Peninsula may trigger a chain reaction and plunge the local area into turmoil."

No matter how the two countries fight in the end, they will certainly not be able to avoid Mostar, a relatively critical place, so it is indeed urgent for the lower valley area of ​​the Neretva River to prepare for a rainy day.

(End of this chapter)