African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1247 Fifty Thousand Square Kilometers
In terms of population, the residents of the Thapi River Plain are authentic Siamese, which is obviously different from the Arab people further south.

As for trade, although the rise of the Strait of Malacca has greatly reduced the value of the Bihe Plain, its importance is still extremely great.

After all, this place is in the hands of Siam, which means that no one can cut off Siam's trade with the East and the West.

At this point, the strategic value of the Hepi River Plain is obvious. It is actually an important part of the "Kra Isthmus Canal" concept in the previous life.

King Rama VI said: "The Thapi River Plain cannot be handed over to your country. Apart from this, other areas in the south can be negotiated."

Sir Clare of Britain, who had been "watching the battle", also jumped out at this time and said, "Except for the Pihe Plain, all other places can be given to East Africa. Sir Ande, I think East Africa should also be more considerate of the Siamese government. After all, this is the core area of ​​Siam, and Siam still owes East Africa a large sum of money. If it loses this place, the amount of compensation will also be calculated separately."

Siam owed East Africa 60 million Rhine guilders, and the Bihe Plain was an important financial and tax base for the country, so Sir Clare's words seemed to make some sense.

But this is obviously not his real purpose, which is why Sir Claire jumped out in a hurry to stop Ander.

That's because after analyzing the negotiation between the two, a bold idea popped up in his mind.

That is why the East Africans were eyeing this piece of land, and combined with the terrain of Siam and some rumors, he suddenly thought of a project.

That is the "Panama Canal". The opening of the Panama Canal can be said to be a major historical event, but the timing of the opening of this canal was not good. After all, the Panama Canal was officially opened in 1914. So at that time, the world's attention was attracted by the European war of the same period.

East Africa's aggressive demand for the Pi River Plain reminded Sir Clare of the "almost forgotten" Panama Canal.

The structure of the Isthmus of Kra is very similar to the Isthmus of Panama where the Panama Canal is located.

Does this mean that East Africa also wants to build a sea route similar to the Panama Canal in the Isthmus of Kra, so as to open up the connection between East Africa and the South Pacific?

Although, just by looking at the map, we can tell that building a canal connecting the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean in the Isthmus of Kra would be as difficult as building the Panama Canal, but what if East Africa really does that!
Sir Clare's ideas are definitely not wild and unrealistic, but are well-founded.

The reason why Britain can maintain its maritime hegemony, apart from the powerful Royal Navy, is that it occupies many strategic maritime channels in the world.

The Strait of Malacca is one of them. It can be said bluntly that as long as the Strait of Malacca is firmly controlled, all trade between Europe, the Indian Ocean coastal countries and the Far East will have to be under the control of Britain.

As a newly emerging power, will this East African country be willing to be controlled by Britain?

The Strait of Malacca, like the Suez Canal, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Cape of Good Hope, is a strategic fulcrum for Britain to contain East Africa.

Therefore, Sir Clare has every reason to believe that East Africa's attempt to attack Siam is precisely for the Isthmus of Kra.

Therefore, in order to safeguard the interests of the British Empire in the region, Sir Clare was determined not to let the East Africans succeed in their evil schemes.

Ander looked at Sir Claire who suddenly jumped out to obstruct him and said unhappily, "Sir Claire, you promised us not to interfere with the negotiation."

Sir Clare said righteously: "However, there is also a premise for what I said, that is, it cannot threaten the interests of the British Empire."

"And this is the case with the Pi River Plain. It concerns the security of the Empire's Indian colonies, so I can't just sit back and watch."

The Indian colonies that Claire mentioned here obviously include the Burmese region. After all, the Pihe Plain borders Burma, and Claire can still make the two related. This naturally caused Ander to complain. When discussing the Pattani region just now, why didn't you jump out and say that it threatens the security of the British colonies on the Malay Peninsula? After all, Britain also occupies a part of Pattani.

And Ander will naturally not give up his demands just because of the so-called security of the British Empire. After all, you have the British Empire behind you, and I have the Rhine Empire behind me!
Ander said: "Our demands on the local area will never threaten your country's interests in Myanmar. After all, judging from the terrain, this place cannot pose a threat to Myanmar."

"The area bordering Myanmar and Siam is obviously higher than the plains of the Thapi River. You have a military advantage."

As for why Myanmar did not compete with Thailand in ancient times, it is because Myanmar’s core area is too far away from here. Even if the local area is occupied, it will be disunited and difficult to control, and it will also be inconvenient to transport materials. In the era of sea power, this is not a worry. But Myanmar no longer has a chance, after all, Westerners have come.

But how could Claire allow the Strait of Malacca, a key area that threatened Britain's hegemony in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, to fall into the hands of East Africans?

Even if there is any possibility of a canal across the Isthmus of Kra, Claire will never allow East Africa to occupy this place.

After all, the Panama Canal has proved that the Isthmus of Kra Canal is not a castle in the air. As long as East Africa is willing to pay the price, the Isthmus of Kra may threaten the status of the Strait of Malacca.

Although Rama VI did not know why Sir Clare suddenly changed his mind at this time, he actively cooperated. In this way, the negotiations came to a deadlock.

In fact, it is easy to understand if you think about it simply. Although East Africa has many colonies in the Pacific region, these colonies all have a colonial shortcoming, that is, they are not closely connected with the mainland of East Africa.

The Strait of Malacca is blocking the communication between East Africa and the Pacific Fleet. At the moment, East Africa is not willing to be hostile to Britain.

The Isthmus of Kra is a very good choice for avoiding Britain and connecting the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.

Facing Sir Claire's firm opposition, Ander said, "Your Majesty Rama VI, we can take a step back, but since the Hebi River Plain cannot be controlled by us, then other areas, including Ban Lun, Phang Nga, Pattani, Nakhon Si Alam, Phuket... all the southern areas, must be handed over to us in East Africa."

"Sir Claire, this is my final compromise. If even this little request is not met, then we will have to decide the outcome on the battlefield."

Ander finally made a concession, which finally made Sir Claire feel relieved. As long as it wasn't his Bihe Plain, everything would be fine.

After all, if the Kra Isthmus Canal is to be built, the Tabi River is indispensable. Otherwise, the project would be too huge and the cost would be too high. At least Claire could not think of any other solution to this problem.

King Rama VI still wanted to fight for it, but was stopped by Claire with her eyes.

Of course Rama VI felt distressed. After all, although the East African plan had been modified, they still took too much. That was the land of eleven provinces of Siam in the previous life, a total of 50,000 square kilometers, which was almost equivalent to about 10% of the country's area.

But Claire did not have any psychological burden at all. After all, as long as he achieved his goal and ensured that the Isthmus of Kra Canal would not be built, it would be enough.

As for the territory ceded by Siam, Claire, as a British, naturally did not feel any regret at all. To be honest, except for the most suitable place for building the Kra Isthmus Canal, other places did not have much value in Claire's eyes.

Otherwise, Britain would have occupied these areas many years ago, and they would not be taken advantage of by the East Africans now.

This is also true. The 50,000 square kilometers of land acquired by East Africa are not highly developed. There are large areas of mountains, swamps and rainforests. After all, it is in the tropical region and the terrain is not high, so it will take time for East Africa to develop the local area.

Take the local population for example. The total population of these 50,000 square kilometers is probably less than 500,000, and this is the highest guess that Ander has made.

(End of this chapter)