CHAPTER 552: CHAPTER 230: NEIGHBOR THEORY

"Uncle Karl, this time you should settle in First Town initially. Developing the colony requires a process, especially in Africa, which demands great caution. Staying in First Town will make it easier for you to liaise with Leopold and supervise the colonial progress."

Inviting Prince Karl to stay in First Town is only right; it’s impossible to let a seventy-year-old man go alone to Chad.

Now Chad is truly a barren land, a region with more beasts than people. This is because with East Africa arriving, a large number of Black forces have fled west, and in Africa, it typically involves a tug-of-war between humans and wildlife. The space left by Black people has not been occupied by East Africa, thus reclaimed by those wild animals.

So this time, the East African border troops heading to Chad are more likely to engage in large-scale hunting rather than conflict with Black forces.

In fact, as the population of East Africa increases, the wild animal resources in East Africa are greatly affected. Thus, the army’s tour to Chad might bring some profit, especially in ivory and leather.

Ernst continued, "Colonial development is not achieved overnight, especially in Africa. A slight mistake could lead to total failure. After all, there are examples of colonial failures in Africa. But as long as we follow East African experience and repeat it in Chad, it shouldn’t be difficult. We can send relevant experts to provide you with assurance."

The so-called experts are the old East Africans who have lived in East Africa for a long time. They’ve experienced the journey from nothing to something with the East African colonies, met various difficulties, and overcame them, so their experience is absolutely rich.

In fact, there are two divisions of East African troops next to Chad, and these armies can help future Sigmaringen solve most of the problems.

The troops have always been the vanguard of East African colonial expansion, and the East African army on the border is experienced in dealing with various risks. The forces are also one of the talent bases of East Africa.

In the army, they not only learn to march and fight but also come into contact with various new things, especially machinery and technology, while East African barracks are places to improve literacy rates.

Moreover, East African troops possess certain medical experience; basically, every soldier knows a little, and basic bandaging and disinfection skills are quite proficient.

Therefore, if Sigmaringen encounters any problem, seeking help from the East African army could solve most of it, whether in war or life.

"Ernst, what do you think, if we want to establish a colony in Chad and incorporate the areas you mentioned into Sigmaringen, how long will it take?"

Ernst thought for a moment and replied, "If it’s merely establishing colonial order, it would be like any general colony, needing only a few years. The number of colonists wouldn’t need to be high; a few thousand people would suffice to establish colonial rule in Africa."

In the former German East Africa, the number of Germans was only a few thousand, yet they controlled nearly a million square kilometers of land. But it’s clear; this colonial rule was not stable enough to compete with African colonizers like the British.

Using Ernst’s approach of directly employing tactics of overwhelming numbers is rather unconventional, as from the start, Ernst aimed at enclosing land and building a nation, not merely exploiting Africa’s wealth.

Therefore, Ernst said, "If Sigmaringen’s colony wants to develop and go further, it’s best to follow the same path as East Africa. Indigenous people are absolutely unreliable, with potential rebellion risks in the future."

"And truthfully speaking, African colonial prospects aren’t worse than developing in Europe. Take East Africa, for instance; after development, we relied on local resources to naturally build a major nation. If it were in Europe, Heixinggen wouldn’t have this opportunity."

"African land is easy to acquire now, but this is also the final open window, especially in Central and West Africa, where competition is much fiercer than when we colonized East Africa. Yet, they’re colonizing from the West Coast of Africa towards the inland, so the inland is Sigmaringen’s breakthrough point."

When East Africa was colonizing, only the French were most active across Africa, and East Africa had no competitors. Zanzibar’s Sultanate contributed significantly in this regard.

If it were several decades ago, during the Zanzibar Sultanate’s peak, it would have been challenging to establish an East African colony. At that time, Zanzibar’s Sultanate dared to take risks and fight, so grasping the timing is crucial.

"Currently, countries are striving in West Africa, correspondingly tying each other’s energy in coastal areas, making it harder to explore the inland. So, Uncle Karl, you’d best complete the colonial framework within a few years; being late might leave no soup to drink."

"Moreover, this land area amounts to over two million square kilometers. When the population develops in the future, if ambitious, it might secure an outlet to the South Atlantic, which is far more promising than in Romania."

The climate in Romania is certainly better than in Chad overall, but the southern part of Chad and the Cameroon area are no less than Romania in various aspects.

The northern part of Chad and Darfur, though arid in climate, are rich in mineral and petroleum resources; most of Chad’s minerals are distributed in the north.

Romania is best known for its oil resources, being said to be Germany’s oil storage during WWII. Chad’s most crucial resource is oil, but for the former France, Chad’s uranium mining is also significant.

Thus, Chad’s potential is quite promising, the key is the enough large area. Today, Romania, unlike the past, doesn’t include a large part of Hungarian land, so Chad alone is almost ten times the current Romanian territory, with farming regions in Chad’s south bigger than Romania nationwide.

"No problem, according to your meaning, it’s now about fencing off that place first, and securing local advantages over the next few years, right?"

"Yes, Uncle Karl, now it’s about acting swiftly, taking the initiative. You don’t need to worry about population, even if you can’t draw people from Europe. People from the Far East are absolutely assured."

Ernst’s goal is to squeeze the living space of African Blacks through immigration. Whether they are Whites or Asians is no concern as long as they can separate East African from West African Blacks. To build this buffer, there must be a large population.

History has proven that simple physical barriers aren’t effective; the Great Wall couldn’t stop the northern nomads’ invasion, North America’s border wall can’t stop Latin Americans from heading north, and Myanmar’s border wire fence can’t stop people intentionally getting trapped.

Thus, the best solution is to establish a buffer zone, and nothing is better than choosing a country of the same culture. In the future, Sigmaringen colonies will certainly adopt German as the sole official language. Their cultural traditions are naturally similar. Sigmaringen’s relationship with the Heixinggen royal family is the best, with no conflict of interest.

Therefore, having Sigmaringen create a colonial state in northern East Africa brings great benefits to East Africa’s future. At least the kind of Arab and Black refugee crisis that swept Europe in the previous life is unlikely to happen in East Africa; after all, East Africa isn’t America, exhausting surrounding countries.

The saying goes, "Being close to red makes one red; being close to ink makes one black." America made the Americas like a messy swamp, and it naturally receives backlash and pollution; drug and smuggling problems exemplify this.

These two issues don’t affect American capitalists and politicians, but the harm they bring to the lowest level American people is self-evident.

Thus, Ernst doesn’t want future neighboring countries of East Africa to become too awful. Like society, a good neighbor always makes one comfortable; bad neighbors might just resemble countries surrounding the Far Eastern Empire. But even so, the Far Eastern Empire has no choice but to maintain fragile neighborly relations, as warfare in the surrounding affects the Far Eastern Empire’s economy and investment environment.

Ernst similarly does not want to become neighbors with Black countries for this reason. Not to mention, many Black nations have insufficient governance levels, and some Blacks in West Africa already have enmity with East Africa — many were driven out by East Africa, so it’s better not to be too close.