Chapter 471 Loophole
The British in South Africa have shown increasingly strong aggressive ambitions, as have virtually all the so-called forces around East Africa.
Portugal's two colonial operations are also accelerating. The Mozambique colony is intensifying its invasion of several indigenous kingdoms in the territory, and Angola's invasion of the Kingdom of Congo in the north is also intensifying.
The Belgians had established a foothold on the coast and at the same time included the kingdom of Ankuz (an indigenous kingdom on the west bank of the Ubangi River) as their protectorate.
Italy is also progressing relatively smoothly. Now they have seriously threatened the security of the Abyssinian Empire, forcing all forces in the Abyssinian Empire to stop arguing and jointly deal with the threat from the Kingdom of Italy.
Even Egypt launched a war against the Darfur Sultanate in an attempt to bring the Darfur Sultanate, a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire, under its rule.
In other areas of Africa, the French, Spanish, and Dutch were also actively exploring the African region. When these countries expanded their colonial operations, they would encounter an existence that they could not ignore—East Africa.
At the national defense conference, Defense Minister Yaman summarized the recent defense and security situation in East Africa and surrounding areas:
"In February 1876, a Dutch colonial ship attempted to land in the Jetsona Bay east of Nonwadu in the coastal area of New Württemberg Province. It was discovered by residents of the town of Nonwadu. We expelled this group of people who tried to enter East Africa illegally. Dutch."
"In August 1876, the Western Azande Province reported that a six-member French expedition was discovered in the west. They claimed that they were separated from the large army and had no intention of breaking into the Western Azande Province."
"In November 1876, an expedition from the British colony of Natal secretly crossed the Tugela River, but we discovered and expelled it. At the same time, there were several British forces on the Orange River who tried to sneak into our territory."
"In 1877, this year, we encountered British ships during our colonial activities in southwest Africa."
"Also in May this year, the Cape Colony merged with the Orange Free State, and the buffer zone between us and Cape Town has completely disappeared."
"At the same time, there are signs that the British troops in Djibouti are also making changes, and they may have ideas about the Sultanate of Harald Emir near British Somalia."
"The Portuguese side is also restless. We have had several small conflicts with civil colonial groups in Southwest Africa and Angola."
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The above is only what has been discovered in East Africa in the past two years. If there are still more discoveries, I am afraid there will be more, which is also very helpless. East Africa is too vast, and the Congo rainforest area directly exceeds 10 million square kilometers. If you add Southwest Africa, it will be Reaching more than 11 million square kilometers.
Moreover, many areas on the borders of East Africa and other countries are deserts, rainforests, or rivers and mountains that are not suitable for human habitation. The land is vast and sparsely populated, and it is difficult to detect foreign forces infiltrating.
Not to mention those areas where East Africa was occupied relatively late or where natural conditions are poor, the eastern coastal areas of East Africa will also encounter this problem. For example, when the Dutch entered Jetsona Bay, thirteen days had passed by the time East Africa was discovered.
Jason Bay is a large bay (for East Africa), about fifty kilometers south of Soko Port.
Port development in East Africa is limited, focusing on the development of a few important ports, so it is easy to ignore the importance of some ports with poor conditions.
This allowed the Dutch to seize the opportunity, because from the sea, Jason Bay really looks like a deserted land. East Africa has not developed it at all, so it remains in its most primitive state.
In fact, the first person to discover the Dutch activities here was an East African ship heading south to the port of New Hamburg to transport rails, but it did not attract attention because the Hechingen Ocean Trading Company and the East African government were not in the same system.
From the perspective of the crew of the Ocean Trading Company, the Dutch in Jason Bay may be "one of their own". After all, the government will not notify itself in advance when developing new ports.
Just like the Soko Port that is being built, it is a newly established port entirely because of the planned southern railway in East Africa. As for "wild" bays like Jason Bay, most people don't have the time to get close and take a look.
The discovery of the Dutch in the end was also quite dramatic. If they had stayed on the coast honestly, they might have been a gangster for a while, but what were the Dutch here for? They came here for colonization, so after landing, the Dutch colonial group headed inland, hoping to capture some black slaves to build a stronghold in Jason.
As a result, after traveling more than ten kilometers inland, we finally saw human habitation. More than just human habitation, thanks to the construction of East Africa, the emergence of large tracts of fertile farmland and German-style villages gave the Dutch a premonition of something bad.
The East African farmers working in the fields also noticed something strange about these "outsiders". They were wearing messy clothes and carrying weapons. At first glance, they didn't look like serious people.
Subsequently, the Nongwadu Town Police Department mobilized collectively to intercept these illegal intruders. The East African police were basically retired soldiers from the army. At the same time, the villagers also had many militiamen, so they quickly arrested this group of hundreds of people without fear of danger. The Dutch surrounded them.
After being interrogated by the Nonwadu Police Station, the identity of this group of Dutchmen was also revealed. They have no Dutch government background. They are just a small colonial company registered in the Netherlands. Because they were established only a short time ago, they are not familiar with African forces. , and ended up diving into East Africa.
Ernst said at the National Defense and Security Conference: "The Jason Bay incident shows that we have not fully considered coastal security, especially some natural harbors that have not yet been utilized and developed. Fortunately, this time it was just a private colonial gang. If there is a state Using this loophole to launch an attack on East Africa would have unimaginable consequences. Therefore, we need to investigate all the ports along the East African coast, register all the ports that can be developed and utilized, and develop and utilize them immediately. Even if they cannot be developed and utilized immediately, military facilities must be established first. , stationing military personnel, the navy must make patrols in coastal areas routine, and coastal telegraphs must be laid to prevent this farce from happening again.”
In fact, there is a telegraph line along the coast of East Africa, but this line ends abruptly in the city of Dar es Salaam, and leads all the way to the border of Northern Province in the north. There are also telegraphs in the south, but they do not go to the coastal area, because there are not many port cities in East Africa on the southern coast of Tanganyika. There are only two ports, Mtwara and Soko Port. Soko Port is still a new port. The telegraph linking Mtwara and Dar es Salaam was completed through Ronroda, the former capital of the Lower Marina District. Ronroda is inland, so this line is unnecessary. Passing through the southern coastal zone.
Although the harbor conditions in mainland East Africa are very poor (excluding islands, compared to large countries of the same level, there is a lack of world-class natural harbors), there are also many in number, especially small natural harbors.
These small harbors have been in a state of stocking before. In addition, if East Africa wants to "close itself", it cannot invest too much on the coast. Therefore, the status of the East African coast in this era is almost the same as that of the Far East Empire's coast.
The offshore defense system previously set up by Ernst did not consider these small natural harbors, but focused on the ports developed in East Africa. After all, most of the East African coast was really a deserted land at that time. Now it seems that these small harbors need to be used. In fact, Jason's Bay is not a small harbor, but the lack of population and economy has made it deserted. Ernst did not expect that anyone would land here, and Even if I thought about it at the time, I wouldn't be able to manage it.