African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1277 Strait of Hormuz
Soon, Kumoyev and Leblia's boat successfully arrived in front of the Liberty. They successfully boarded the Liberty using the ladder dropped from the ship.

The Liberty was already packed with people, and the East African personnel on board began to assign them areas.

Hilda, the captain of the Liberty, looked at the surging Russian refugees and couldn't help but sigh: "I didn't expect that at the age of over 60, I could still drive this old-fashioned ship and sail on the sea with a group of immigrants."

"It was as if time had been moved back to more than 30 years ago, when I led a team to Haiti for the first time as a captain. However, this time our destination was indeed Southeast Asia, and the people on board were not black, but white, Slavs."

When Hilda was young, he once participated in the "slave trade" organized by the East African National Organization. At that time, he was driving a wooden sailing ship.

First mate Wilknitz said: "You can't compare them with black slaves. After all, they now have East African nationality, and their living environment is much better than that of the black slaves. They have free space to move around on the ship, and the food they eat is also better than that of the black slaves."

"Besides the worse conditions, Nanyang is much better than Russia. In the future, they may be grateful for the favor from fate this time!"

Wilknitz was also an experienced sailor who had long been active on trade and immigration routes in East Africa and the Far East.

Hilda said, "It's better than staying in Russia. Russia has been unlucky these years. I heard that there was a coup recently and Nicholas II stepped down."

Wilknitz: "Haha, given Russia's current situation, even gods can't save it. The Ottoman Empire has declared war on Russia, and the Allies have a great advantage. Russia is in turmoil. It is estimated that Russia will be the first to be eliminated in the European war. Even Russia's failure may trigger a chain reaction of wars. I don't know if Britain and France can hold on."

Since the turmoil in Russia, the balance of the war has tilted back towards the Allies. The Ottoman Empire could no longer sit still and rushed to the scene, wanting to bite off a piece of meat from Russia.

Throughout 1916, the Allies continued to make breakthroughs on the Eastern Front, and it was not easy for the Ottoman Empire to endure until 1917.

Hilda said: "This time the Ottoman Empire is well prepared. Russia may face the most serious situation in its hundreds of years of history."

"Although Napoleon once invaded Moscow, Russia had a large number of allies and good weather at the time, which enabled it to turn defeat into victory. This time, it is not just France, but three world powers, Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, that are attacking Russia from three directions."

Although the Ottoman Empire was not a great power, its strength should not be underestimated. Like the Far Eastern Empire, it was a world power that could change the balance of power in the region.

The reason why Hilda is optimistic about the Ottoman Empire is mainly because Russia is too weak now. Even if the Ottoman Empire only exerts the combat effectiveness of Bulgaria, it can teach Russia a severe lesson.

The Ottoman Empire could threaten Russia in two directions, namely the Black Sea and the Caucasus, which would greatly share the pressure from the Allies. Even if we only look at the size of the Ottoman Empire, its joining could very likely lead to the collapse of the entire Russian front.

Hilda said: "We have sold a lot of weapons to the Ottomans in recent years, from rifles, machine guns to artillery, and even some surface ships. As long as they can exert the strength of the Russo-Turkish War in the last century, they can also deal a heavy blow to the Russian army, unless Russia withdraws from the war, but this should not happen."

Hilda naturally couldn't think that the Russians would withdraw from the war during this period of time. The reason was that Russia had invested too much manpower, material resources and financial resources in World War I, and almost bet the fate of the entire country on this war.

Although Nicholas II had stepped down, Hilda did not believe that the new Russian government had the courage to stop the war.

As long as Russia does not withdraw from the war, no matter what the outcome, Russia will not have a good ending. After all, the war zones between the Allies and Russia are almost all the core areas of Russia in Europe.

Wilknitz did not object. He half-jokingly said, "Maybe by the time we return from the Southeast Asia, the Eastern Front will have ended."

Hilda said, "You've thought too much. At the beginning, all European countries wanted a quick victory, but they could never have imagined that the war would last until now. It has been two and a half years since Austria-Hungary and Serbia declared war." "Russia is a big country with a great cause, and Britain and France also have a strong foundation. It is not impossible that the war will last for a few more years. Of course, if the war can continue, it will definitely be beneficial to us, so we still hope that the war will not end too early."

"Otherwise, at my age, I wouldn't be sailing with you young people, and I'm driving an antique from the last century."

"From this point of view, we can see the prosperity of the empire's foreign trade, and this is all because of the outbreak of the European war, which gave us this opportunity."

"Thank goodness we live in a peaceful country, otherwise it would be these Russians driving the boat instead of us."

As time passed, four hours later, the Liberty finally had all its crew members present.

Hilda and Wilknitz didn't talk much and began to command the sailors to prepare to leave the coast of Fao Town.

After leaving Fao, it was completely safe to leave the Strait of Hormuz. Although the British in the Persian Gulf had not threatened East African ships so far, the risk had not disappeared.

The Ottoman Empire’s entry into the war was a foregone conclusion, and no one knew whether the British would become desperate and change their strategy in the Persian Gulf.

Even with the East African Navy's deterrence, they still have the ability to deliberately make things difficult for a few merchant ships.

A day later, the Liberty and other East African merchant ships gathered near the Beibu Gulf Territory. The reason why the East African merchant ships gathered here was mainly to facilitate the East African Navy's escort.

After gathering more than twenty ships, led by two East African destroyers, the Bella and the Gweru, and a frigate, the Kitwe, this large fleet, which was temporarily assembled, marched towards the Strait of Hormuz.

The Liberty was produced in the 1990s. Although it is an old-fashioned sailing ship, it is also equipped with a steam power system. However, this still cannot change the fact that its speed is unable to keep up with the main force and it can only fall behind the fleet, which makes it incompatible with an ocean liner.

Although the speed was slow, there were no dangers along the way. In fact, under normal circumstances, it was impossible for the British to stop these returning ships.

After all, what the British were most worried about was East Africa supplying war materials to the Allies, so if they were going to intercept any ships, they should intercept East African ships heading towards the port of Basra.

However, this is also difficult for the British to do. In the Strait of Hormuz, East African cruisers and destroyers patrol on a daily basis, and even battleships of the Indian Ocean Fleet occasionally come in and out.

These warships are the strength of East Africa. As trade in the North Atlantic stagnated, the power of the East African Navy began to return to the Indian Ocean.

In the early stages of the war, much of the Indian Ocean Fleet's forces supported the Atlantic direction. Now with the return of the support fleet, the Indian Ocean Fleet has returned to its peak.

The British naval forces remaining in the Indian Ocean are unlikely to pay attention to the Strait of Hormuz, because Britain needs to ensure the security of India first, which makes it impossible for the British to transfer the main force of the Indian Ocean Navy to the Persian Gulf.

As for the Berlin-Baghdad-Basra Railway, although it played a huge role in helping the Allies, it was not enough for Britain to take the risk of moving the Persian Gulf route.

The Berlin-Baghdad-Basra railway is, after all, a land transport channel. In addition, the country it passes through is complex and its connectivity is relatively poor. It is destined to be incomparable with sea transport. As long as East African warships do not slip into the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal, Britain can sit back and relax.

(End of this chapter)