Chapter 692 The gap is huge
Government of the Transvaal Republic.
"Your Excellency, we cannot sit still and wait for death. Reality forces us to take action in advance, otherwise it will be more difficult to make a comeback in the future."
"Our main problem now is military expenditure. Maintaining such a huge army is a huge burden for a country like ours. It is not an exaggeration to describe it as militaristic. Now even with the addition of Orange There are only about 400,000 Boers in the entire Orange Free State, that is, only 200,000 men. We also have to exclude the old, weak, sick and disabled, so a standing army of more than 10,000 people is simply astronomical to us. The numbers just can’t hold up.”
"When our Transvaal Republic still existed, the treasury was often run by rats and couldn't afford to support the army. Now even if the rats come, they still have to leave in tears. The only thing left is a pile of debts!"
"In this way, even if the country is restored in the future, we can only continue to repay the debts to the British. Therefore, your Excellency, the President, must let the British make a choice, either provide more free assistance, or the Transvaal Restoration Army now The earth is dissolved.”
Little Pretorius listened to the report of his men with a gloomy expression. Due to military expenditure issues, the Transvaal Republic now faced two choices: either disband the troops or launch a war as soon as possible.
Both of these options are not good for the current Transvaal people. Disbanding the troops will seriously damage the authority of the government.
After all, the "restoration" army that was promised was gone. What did the Boers in the Orange Free State think?
In order to maintain combat effectiveness and maintain military operations, the Transvaal army had been reduced several times, which naturally caused dissatisfaction among the Orange people.
Because the Orange people were more active in promoting the "restoration of the Transvaal Republic" than the Transvaal people, this was not a discovery of the "conscience" of the Orange people, or that they regarded the Transvaal people as "brothers and sisters."
It is to get these British lackeys to leave the Orange Free State as soon as possible, and the prerequisite for the Transvaal people to leave the Orange Free State is obviously to re-establish the original Transvaal Republic, otherwise the Transvaal will Swazis can only live in the Orange Free State.
As for starting a war as soon as possible, the Transvaal people also want this option, but now the Transvaal people are just dogs led by the British on a rope, and the British government has become the main force in maintaining regional peace, which has caused this result The important reason is that Britain is not yet ready for war.
So Pretorius Jr. said: "If the British don't cooperate with us, then this war is doomed to fail. So the question now is not whether I want to go to war, but when the British want to go to war. After all, we and The gap between East Africa is too big. As long as the East Africans continue to consume us, even a few big wins will not change our disadvantage."
Population is the core secret of East Africa. Coupled with East Africa's semi-closed national management system, it is difficult for outside countries and forces to obtain the true population data of East Africa.
However, through observation of the East African coast and the performance of previous wars in East Africa, other countries have recognized that the current population of East Africa should be no less than ten million, but they do not know which one is more than Brazil. As for being on the same level as the United States, no country dares to Thinking about it this way, after all, East Africa’s time is too short.
East Africa is happy to conceal its national strength. Apart from its military and trade volume, there is basically nothing that can be detected on the surface for other countries to judge East Africa's national strength.
After all, the value created by each person is different. For example, the value created by a steam engine is about the same as that of dozens of workers. Even agricultural exports have a lot of flexibility. In addition to not wanting to overly damage international food prices, the domestic consumption is also very large.
However, East Africa is a big country after all, rich in various products, including food, various cash crops, industrial products, minerals, a huge trade fleet, and a powerful army. It cannot be so comprehensive without a population of tens of millions.
After all, it is impossible for small countries with a population of one million to have such a complete industrial chain and trade exports. Therefore, East Africa can only be a large country with a population of over 10 million. This can be seen from the development of open port cities along the East African coast.
The two big cities in East Africa, Dar es Salaam and Mombasa, are not far behind those big cities in Europe, and their industrial development is similar to that of Europe and the United States. Therefore, it can be determined that the eastern coast of East Africa has reached the European level.
The huge territory of East Africa can also consolidate national defense. It is adjacent to Portugal, the Transvaal, the United Kingdom, and a group of countries on the northern border. This shows that the stock of East African troops is very considerable, and such a large army needs a population to support it.
What makes British intelligence officers most uneasy is that the East African country has been demilitarizing over the years.
Just like in the past, the streets of Dar es Salaam were full of East Africans wearing military uniforms. At that time, East Africa was called a "military country" by passing ships. Later, Dar es Salaam had more clothing styles, but the number of police officers It climbed up and became a "police state" again. Now several open cities such as Dar es Salaam are completely the same as ordinary European cities. Walking on the streets feels no different from cities in Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
This no longer shows that East Africa is developing in the direction of a normal country, but in this state, East Africa's military strength is not weak but strong, and it has even established a powerful new navy.
This can only show that the national power of East Africa is growing, and there is no need to "arm the whole country" as before. This is a manifestation of self-confidence, and the confidence of East Africans is obviously related to the growth of the national power of East African countries.
The intelligence of the British was naturally equivalent to the intelligence of the Transvaal, and the Transvaal had close access to the East African border.
East Africa has maintained a large army in the southern region all year round. It has built many fortifications and military fortresses on the border. The military expenditure must be quite large. However, the economy of eastern East Africa is still developing rapidly. This is a situation that makes the Transvaal people feel Terrified situation.
The two southern border provinces (Southern Frontier Province and New Baden Province) have about 50,000 troops stationed all year round. Together with the military families and personnel serving the army, there are almost hundreds of thousands of people. Not to mention the Southern Frontier Province (Zulu Kingdom) New Hamburg, the capital of the province of South Africa (Southern Transvaal Republic), is currently the undisputed largest city in South Africa, with a population of 130,000, while the second-ranked Cape Town only has about 50,000 people.
Therefore, only the two southern provinces in East Africa that border the Orange Free State have a population similar to that of the Orange Free State. However, these two provinces are only relatively low-ranking provinces in East Africa. There are more than 20 provinces in East Africa. Among provinces and regions, only Southwest Africa and the Congo Rainforest, as well as some western provinces, have smaller populations than these two provinces.
"There is a huge disparity in strength between us and East Africa, so we must rely on the British for everything we do. Without the British, I am afraid that East Africa would have crossed the Fetter River long ago and taken action against us elements of the Transvaal Republic." Little Biller Torius clearly knew the gap between East Africa and the Transvaal Republic, so he said slightly tragically.
"Your Excellency, President, now is not the time to consider the gap in national strength between the two countries. It is the responsibility of our generation of Boers to restore the country and restore the glory of the Boers. We are the masters of the land of South Africa. Britain and East Africa are thieves. At present, we can only solve the big problem in East Africa first.
The smallest gap between us and East Africa is military. As long as all the Boers unite and have the support of the British, we may not be able to get the script of Prussia's counterattack against France. "