African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1165 Collateral

Trade with East Africa and the United States is the lifeline of Russia's industry and commerce today. Especially trade with East Africa, it maintains the stability of Russia's internal society today.

For example, a large amount of food and supplies needed by the Russian troops on the front line had to be provided by East Africa. Although Russia's grain production could theoretically be self-sufficient, poor transportation and a bloated and corrupt logistics system meant that food from the rear of Russia could not reach the front line to supply the needs of the frontline troops and the western industrial clusters.

This led to the Russian troops on the front line even eating East African wheat bread, which was simply unimaginable for Russia, a major grain-producing country. It should be noted that before the war, Russia produced almost one-fifth of the world's wheat.

The prices of industrial products in Russia have been rising wildly with the outbreak of war. For example, the price of boots has increased by more than 200%, and the price of matches has increased by more than 300%. It is winter now, and these two are essential basic supplies. This is the result of the import of a large amount of goods from East Africa.

This is the case with industry and agriculture. Russia's poor military-industrial capabilities were fully reflected on the battlefield. Although Russia mobilized a large number of troops, at least a quarter of the Russian troops were not equipped with rifles.

From ordinary ammunition to telephone lines, there was almost no shortage of anything. The heavy weapons, which were already in small quantities, were even less as each one was broken. The Russian troops on the front line even had less than three artillery shells available to fire every day.

This resulted in East Africa's exports to Russia being dominated by military supplies and semi-finished products, which was not the case with other powers, while exports to other countries were mainly raw materials and light industrial products.

As the war progressed, many participating countries gave up some unimportant civilian industrial production, but the heavy industrial production capacity was basically met. However, Russia did not meet the standards in either light or heavy industry.

All in all, it was not unfair for Russia to disintegrate in the war in its previous life. At least from the current East African perspective, the internal situation in Russia was already very bad. However, most officials do not realize that Russia's bottom line is far more than that.

……

After the internal meeting of the East African government, Ernst met with Francis IV and his entourage at the Rhine Palace and negotiated some details regarding the Bas-Das-Bassin Railway.

At this time, Germany and Austria-Hungary were not able to support the construction of the Basra Railway due to the war, and the Ottoman Empire did not have the ability to build railways independently, so the construction of the Basra Railway had to fall on this "neutral" country in East Africa.

“The capital and labor were provided by the Ottoman Empire, while we in East Africa were responsible for providing important links such as technology, materials, and engineers.”

"Of course, depending on the economic capacity of the Ottoman Empire, we can lend money to the Ottoman Empire, but there must be collateral."

The conditions provided by East Africa were reasonable, but the collateral put the Ottoman Empire in a difficult position. The money was definitely not enough. After all, the Ottoman Empire was already in financial difficulties, and now it had to prepare for war, so it could not afford a single cent.

The Ottoman envoy Ehred looked at Francis IV with difficulty, obviously wanting Francis IV to help intercede.

So Franz IV had to come forward again and said to Ernst: "Your Majesty, the Ottoman Empire is obviously unable to come up with such a huge sum of money because of the war. So can we wait until the war is over and then let the Ottoman government slowly repay it?"

Ernst rejected it outright: "That's definitely not possible, Your Excellency. I'm sure you know that the Basra Railway is not just a simple railway line. It involves the game between the major powers behind it."

"Although this railway is backed by Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, Britain, France and Russia will definitely not agree to the construction and opening of this railway."

"So we undertook the construction of the Basra Railway under tremendous political pressure. Although East Africa is the leading power in the Indian Ocean region, the strength of Britain in the Indian Ocean cannot be ignored."

"Especially in the Persian Gulf region, where Britain has many military bases and colonies, our East African ships run the risk of being attacked every time they pass through the Persian Gulf."

This is of course true, but it is also an excuse made by Ernst. After all, the Ottoman Empire was dismembered after the war. If the Ottoman Empire ends up like this, East Africa will be left with nothing to prove if it does not get actual benefits in advance. "Then your Majesty, what do you think the Ottoman Empire can have as collateral that is worth East Africa's attention?" Franz IV could only ask.

Of course there were. As one of the great powers in the world with a strong financial foundation, the Ottoman Empire must have something that East Africa would be interested in.

Ernst pretended to be in deep thought for a long time, which made Franz IV and Ehrlied feel very nervous.

Elielud only hoped that the East Africans would not have too big an appetite. To be honest, the Ottoman Empire had already regarded this war as a battle of national destiny and had gambled everything on it.

Therefore, the Basra Railway must be built. In this way, trade between East Africa and the Ottoman Empire can be guaranteed to be smooth, thus solving the Ottoman Empire’s worries.

After pretending to think for half an hour, Ernst finally said, "Why not use the territory as collateral?"

Although Ernst's tone was very calm when he said it, it still made Elielud break out in a cold sweat. For all countries, territory has always been an untouchable forbidden zone.

Francis IV seemed a little indifferent, after all, this was a matter of the Ottoman Empire.

Elielud could only bite the bullet and ask, "I wonder what piece of territory Your Majesty intends to use as collateral?"

Looking at the nervous Elielud, Ernst pretended to be relaxed and said, "Don't be nervous. We in East Africa will naturally not do anything too extreme. As for the collateral, I think this small piece of land in the northwest corner of the Persian Gulf is very good. What do you think?"

Ernst pointed to the west coast of the Persian Gulf on the map, which was the coast of Saudi Arabia in the previous life, and asked, "At that time, the Saudi coast was still under the control of the Ottoman Empire and was not considered a very important place."

The area that Ernst asked for made sense in Elielud's eyes, because this land was very close to the Beibu Gulf territory of East Africa, separated only by the power of Emir Rashid. Does that mean that East Africa wants to expand the Beibu Gulf territory?

The Rashid Emirate was a family-ruled state that was dependent on the Ottoman Empire and was regarded as a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire. Later, Saudi Arabia defeated this country and seized a large amount of land from the Rashid Emirate, including a series of oil producing areas.

Of course, the Ottoman Empire still controls most of the coastal areas today, while the Rashid Emirate is mainly located inland and has an outlet to the sea in the area close to Qatar and Bahrain.

Elielud said: "If it is just this small area, then there is indeed a basis for negotiation, but I need to seek advice from the country on this matter."

Today, in the Persian Gulf region, except for the northern coastal areas such as Basra and Kuwait, which are important seaports for the Ottoman Empire, other places are indeed not of much value in the eyes of the Ottoman Empire.

Moreover, the area requested by East Africa is not very large. It is entirely desert and can be considered a scrap of the empire. If it is used as collateral for the construction of the Basra Railway, it would not be excessive, at least for Elielud.

Ernst, who had succeeded in his plot, said with a smile: "If your country can assign this land to East Africa, we can use this area as payment for the Basra Railway. In this way, East Africa will expand its interests in the Persian Gulf region, and your country will open up the last section of the Baghdad Railway to the Persian Gulf, which is very beneficial to both sides."

On the basis of the previous negotiations, Ernst chose to continue to increase the stakes. If he could directly obtain the sovereignty of the Persian Gulf coast, it would be much better than haggling in the future. East Africa would simply mean helping the Ottoman Empire build a railway of less than 700 kilometers at its own expense. In Ernst's view, if this deal was realized, it would definitely be a big profit.

(End of this chapter)