African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1145 Opportunity
Hughes smiled and said to his brother, "Don't worry about that at all. To put it bluntly, if East Africa really attacks, the Belgian Congo will have no choice but to surrender. There is no way a large-scale war like the one in Europe will happen."

"Our total population here is only a few hundred thousand, and most of them are immigrants from the Far East. If East Africa really had ambitions for the Belgian Congo, it could have done so more than a decade ago."

"After all, although East Africa is located in Africa, Africa cannot represent East Africa. East Africa has a population of over 100 million, strong military strength, and industrial strength that is not inferior to European countries. We, the Belgian Congo, have no chance of winning against East Africa. Moreover, our homeland has become a battlefield, and we cannot take care of the Belgian Congo as a colony."

In Hughes's view, as long as the Belgian Congo surrendered quickly, it would basically not suffer a big blow, and Hermann's ideas did not necessarily represent the ideas of the East African government.

He went on to say: "In the war on the mainland, the two sides are two world powers, Germany and France. Belgium is caught in the middle and can only be ravaged repeatedly. The two countries have hundreds of thousands of troops committing crimes on Belgian soil, which is extremely harmful to the people."

"This situation is simply impossible in the Belgian Congo. To put it bluntly, the total population of our colonies is probably only equal to that of the East African National Defense Force. If they charge, we will have no choice but to surrender. And this is assuming that East Africa has ill intentions towards us in the Belgian Congo. In short, the Belgian Congo is much safer than our homeland. Most importantly, there are many opportunities here, which will also be beneficial to the development of our De Croo family."

After listening to his brother's explanation, Hermann suddenly realized that he was worrying too much. Today, East Africa can be said to be the only dominant power in Africa, so a large-scale war will not happen.

But it is different in Europe. The five major countries, Britain, France, Germany, Austria and Russia, are equally powerful and none of them will submit to the other. Instead, they will be unable to do anything to each other in the short term. However, this will greatly increase the intensity and length of the war, leading to a huge negative impact of the war on civilians.

However, in the African continent, East Africa has no rivals at all. If East Africa really planned a war against Congo, I am afraid that most people would choose to surrender directly rather than resist.

A colony is a colony after all, and most Belgian immigrants only saw it as a place to stay without deep feelings, so surrender was no burden at all for the Belgians in the colonies. What's more, East Africa was one of the world's great powers, and it was not shameful to surrender in the face of such an opponent.

Although Hermann's idea was a bit skeptical, it was understandable, mainly because his family had just fled here from the European battlefield and did not want to encounter war again.

While the two were talking, Hughes did not forget to tease his nephews. Because he was relatively wealthy, Hughes gave a lot of candies to his three nephews.

"Sugar in Belgian Congo is cheaper than in our local area. We produce white sugar in the first place. There are many sugar factories in Pointe-Noire, and East Africa is also a major sugar producing country, so you can eat as much as you want. This is the Little White Rabbit milk candy that my uncle bought specially for me. It's considered a more expensive brand name, but don't eat too much, otherwise you will get cavities, and it's not good for your health." Hughes said lovingly as he rubbed his nephews' heads.

Herman: "Hughes, you're spending too much. These things shouldn't be cheap. You're not married yet, so you shouldn't spend money so lavishly."

Hughes: "Brother, you don't need to say more. My income is quite considerable, and we are family. This is a special gift for my nephews."

Hermann still had not gotten rid of his inertial thinking and liked to preach about European customs and common sense, but the Belgian Congo, as a Belgian colony, was very different from Belgium itself.

So Hughes went on to say, "The Belgian Congo is not as backward as you think. The prices here are somewhat different from those in the mainland. For example, many tropical fruits and agricultural products are expensive in the mainland, but they are not worth much here."

"Although the industry here is not very developed, we are close to East Africa, and it is no exaggeration to say that East Africa can provide all the goods we need." The Belgian Congo was in fact one of the dumping sites for East African products. Although it was a Belgian colony, with Belgium's national strength, it did not have the courage to reject East Africa's various activities in the Belgian Congo.

This also provided an important foundation for the development of the Belgian Congo. In addition to the investment of the Belgian government, the East African government also invested a lot in the Belgian Congo, mainly in the field of agricultural product processing.

At present, because Belgium has become a battlefield, the Belgian Congo can be said to have ushered in new development opportunities. Without local interference, the colonial government of the Belgian Congo has greater independence and can concentrate more power and funds for its own development.

Because of the war, the Belgian central government has actually lost control of Belgian Congo. In fact, before the Hermann family arrived in Pointe-Noire, the Belgian central government had already embarked on an exile journey because of the fall of Brussels. Now the Belgian government has begun to work in France.

Therefore, the Belgian central government was in a difficult situation, unable to save itself, let alone take care of the Congo colony thousands of miles away.

In fact, because of the fall of Brussels, the Belgian Congo colony has lost contact with the Belgian central government, and now the Belgian Congo colonial government is a completely independently operated government agency.

For a while, the central government did not even think of the existence of the Belgian Congo, which gave the colonial government of the Belgian Congo a great deal of autonomy, including the withholding of taxes.

On the other hand, although Germany and Belgium have become enemies, the development of Central Africa has not ended. After all, it is East Africa that dominates the development of Central Africa. The absence of Germany will not affect the cooperation between East Africa and Belgium at all. What's more, East Africa has already acquired Gabon in the north. Now the Belgian Congo borders East Africa on three sides, which will be more conducive to strengthening East Africa's dominance over regional economic development.

The absence of Germany has accelerated the process. East Africa is now discussing the construction plan of the Leipzig Railway with the Belgian Congo government.

Because Gabon has become an East African colony, land transportation between Angola in southern East Africa and Gabon is also possible. Connecting Angola and Gabon requires passing through the Belgian Congo. The initial plan for East Africa is to start from Cabinda, along the South Atlantic coastline, through Pointe-Noire and other Belgian Congo regions, and finally connect to the port of Libreville in Gabon.

The acceleration of infrastructure construction is obviously beneficial to both Belgian Congo and East Africa. This is a win-win situation. It can strengthen East Africa's national defense and economic construction, and also make Belgian Congo more economically connected with East Africa, while Belgian Congo can also increase its own income.

Finally, the most important point is that there are many Belgians like Hermann who fled to the Belgian Congo. Many of these people are either rich or noble. Their escape from Belgium to the Belgian Congo is conducive to increasing local consumption and investment.

After all, those who can run here are not ordinary people. Take Hermann for example. Although Hermann's family conditions are average, he is the type who relies on relatives and friends. If his brother had not developed here, it would not be easy for him to run here.

All in all, the war in Belgium is actually a good thing for the Belgian Congo. As long as this opportunity can be utilized well, the future development of the Belgian Congo is worth looking forward to. Especially the last point, the local immigrants can bring the funds and talents that the Belgian Congo lacks for its development.

Today, the economic foundation of Belgian Congo is not too bad. If these refugees can be guided to settle there, it will be of great benefit to Belgian Congo. At least compared with the mainland, except for the disadvantage of population, most of the conditions in Belgian Congo are better than those in the mainland.

(End of this chapter)