Chapter 1101 East African Infiltration into Bosnia
The situation in the entire Bosnia region is similar to that in Sarajevo. Bosnia can be said to be a natural arena for Croatians, Serbs and Ottomans.
Later, the Austro-Hungarian Empire occupied the area, which was not smooth sailing. The remnants of the Ottoman Empire and the infiltration of Serbia, a foreign force, made the local investment situation very bad.
Therefore, the Hechingen Consortium and the East African government behind it could only adjust their strategy and choose the relatively easy-to-control southwestern Bosnia as the main infiltration area.
As a German country, East Africa naturally did not trust the Ottoman remnants and the Serbs who revived with extreme nationalism, so the Hechingen Consortium colluded with the Austro-Hungarian military at the time to drive the Ottoman remnants and Serbian immigrants centered on Mostar to places such as Sarajevo in the interior of Bosnia.
This is also the main reason why the residents of the lower Neretva River Valley are mainly Chinese and Croatians. Of course, in the official caliber of the lower Neretva River Valley, there is definitely no so-called "Chinese". These Chinese are Germanized Germans, including Croatians and Serbs in the country.
As for the real Germans, such as officials and officers of the Austro-Hungarian government, there are still a certain number of Germans in the local upper class.
For example, Kellev, the general manager of the Mostar Hydropower Station Company, is a typical East African German. Although the Austro-Hungarian Empire controls the local military and administrative power, the economy of the lower Neretva River Valley can be said to be completely controlled by the Hechingen Consortium supported by East Africa.
This is also a tacit understanding between the East African and Austro-Hungarian governments. The Austro-Hungarian Empire's investment in Bosnia is concentrated in the north or key areas such as Sarajevo, while the sparsely populated lower Neretva River Valley area was not within the scope of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's governance capabilities at all.
Even after the Austro-Hungarian Empire occupied Bosnia, there was only one company of Austro-Hungarian troops stationed in Mostar. Apart from the military role of Mostar, the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not care about the local area at all.
At that time, the Austro-Hungarian Empire would not have thought that East Africa would be so crazy as to directly introduce nearly 100,000 immigrants from the Far East Empire to settle down in the lower Neretva River Valley.
Today, the number of Chinese immigrants in the lower Neretva River Valley has more than quadrupled, becoming the main ethnic group in the area, adding fuel to the ethnic hodgepodge of the Balkan Peninsula.
Now that the matter is settled, the Austro-Hungarian government has directly accepted the reality. This does not cause any psychological burden to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a multi-ethnic country without a main ethnic group. It is also a professional match. After all, the Austro-Hungarian Empire's rule over the Bosnia region was originally a mess.
East Africa's behavior in the local area has consolidated the Austro-Hungarian Empire's control over the Bosnia region. After all, the attributes of the Far East immigrants determine that they are much easier to govern than the Serbs and the remnants of the Ottoman Empire.
Moreover, the lower Neretva River valley area, with the support of East African capital and the backing of the large East African market, has developed rapidly in industry and agriculture, becoming one of the fastest-growing regions in the southern Austro-Hungarian Empire and an important source of finance for the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Bosnia, which further reassures the Habsburgs.
The Port of Ploče and the City of Mostar have also quickly become emerging industrial cities in the southern Austro-Hungarian Empire. East African capital has built textile, food processing, aluminum smelting and other industries here. Mostar has become an important aluminum product production center in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The aluminum smelter is a large power consumer, which is also the main reason for the construction of the Mostar Hydropower Station. After the completion of the Mostar Hydropower Station, the local industrial capacity will be further enhanced.
The Port of Ploče has also become an important seaport in Bosnia with its port advantages, forming a twin city in the lower Neretva River valley area with the city of Mostar.
After all, if the inland of Bosnia, including the most important city Sarajevo, wants to go to the sea, it has to go through Mostar and Ploce Port. The Hechingen Consortium has revitalized the economy of the entire southwestern Bosnia through railway and highway construction, and even formed a siphon effect on Sarajevo.
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Kerlev continued his speech at the completion ceremony: "As a typical mountain city, Mostar is not easy to develop. Through the efforts of people from all walks of life in the lower Neretva River Valley, we are committed to building Mostar into a pearl on the Balkan Peninsula."
"And the completion of the Mostar Hydropower Station has basically solved the problem of power shortage in the region. Nowadays, factories and urban development cannot be separated from the sufficient supply of electricity. The Mostar Hydropower Station will play a huge role in promoting industries including electrolytic aluminum and textiles."
Mostar has rich bauxite resources, and East Africa is an industrial power that masters electrolytic aluminum technology. In addition, East Africa has rich experience in hydropower construction in the past half century. It is difficult for Mostar not to develop. It can be said that it has gathered the right time, right place and right people. This is incompatible with the chaos in the inland of Bosnia.
After finishing his speech, Kerlev had a warm conversation with the officials of Mostar appointed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
To be honest, with the support of East Africa, the lower Neretva River valley area is also an economically developed area in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This is also a good place for Austro-Hungarian officials to gain experience. After all, they don’t need to invest too much, and East Africa will feed them.
This also makes the East African expatriates in the lower Neretva River valley area warmly welcomed by the local government. Of course, the East African capital group that controls the local economy actually controls the local discourse power.
As long as the officials appointed by the Austro-Hungarian government are not deliberately looking for trouble, the Hexingen Consortium is willing to give them some face, such as the first mayor of Mostar, who was a complete drunkard and a nobleman with high ambitions. In the end, the Hexingen Consortium drove the ignorant second-generation noble back to Vienna through public opinion and local control.
To put it bluntly, the lower Neretva River Valley is actually a colony of East Africa in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and this de facto colony is also a region that the Austro-Hungarian Empire has to pay attention to in order to stabilize Bosnia.
The lower Neretva River Valley, with a population of 630,000, is not only the most important source of tax revenue for the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Bosnia, but also an important source of troops for the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Bosnia, and a German enclave in the south of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Obviously, the Austro-Hungarian Empire could not unify its own language, especially in Bosnia. In addition to the remnants of the Ottoman Empire, there are Slavs here. On the contrary, the lower Neretva River Valley, supported by East Africa, has become the only region that has achieved full German education.
The army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was mainly composed of local people. For example, Austria, Bohemia, and Hungary all had their own armies, and this tradition was no exception in Bosnia.
The three traditional groups in Bosnia, Ottomans, Croats, and Serbs, did not speak German and were more resistant to the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This made the Austro-Hungarian Empire focus its recruitment efforts on the lower Neretva River valley since the 1990s.
The Chinese, who had no language barriers, significantly stronger organizational skills than the other three ethnic groups, and high obedience, became the best source of troops for the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Bosnia.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire only needed to send a few senior officers to organize a very combat-capable army, which was also the main reason why the Habsburg family understood why East Africa recruited a large number of immigrants from the Far Eastern Empire.
The immigrants from the Far Eastern Empire were not only hardworking, but also had no obvious political demands, and were highly obedient and organized. If Hungary had this awareness, the Austrian Empire would not have been replaced by the current dual system.