African Entrepreneurship Record-Chapter 736 - 40 East Africa’s Strategic Objectives
Though the East African government and the Heixinggen consortium are two separate systems, the matter of Ernst establishing "fraudulent" universities isn't something that can be easily publicized, so the East African government, unaware, fell for the deception.
Indeed, Ernst made the fake universities very convincingly, with all the "official" procedures complete, resulting in a situation akin to the Dragon King's Temple being flooded.
After some thought, Ernst said, "Later, I'll have someone from Europe first identify the list of schools, and you should send people to investigate, to prevent our students from being 'scammed.'"
The East African international students are fortunate because the East African government has paved the way for them, which is also related to the Heixinggen royal family's connections. Possibly only the Heixinggen consortium could deceive the East African government.
Of course, although the Heixinggen consortium has established dozens of fraudulent universities, they have indeed done some "legitimate" business, such as managing the Heixinggen line schools of East Africa's talent cultivation base.
That is, within the boundaries of the Prussian Hohenzollern province, in the Heixinggen Principality, there were a heap of schools left by Ernst back in the day, including the old site of the Heixinggen Military Academy, which have now all become important bases for East African international students.
The biggest difference from those fraudulent schools is that the land here genuinely belongs to the Heixinggen royal family, and the teachers are all hired from Europe, with over five hundred international students studying here each year.
In addition to international students, there are also schools in the form of "orphanages" left by Ernst, which take in orphans from Germany every year, making up the most elite part of East Africa's immigrant composition. After completing their studies in Germany, they would develop directly in East Africa.
Most of the language school teachers came initially this way, but now East Africa can provide them with a stable learning environment, no longer needing so-called "crash course" study.
The issue of where language school teachers would go is settled, mainly by reshaping them and then reintegrating them into East African society.
"Crown Prince, the next issue is about our southern strategy. As of now, our troops in the central and southern parts and the eastern region of East Africa have been deployed, and the defense lines are basically completed: the Zambezi River defense line (lower section of the Zambezi River within Mozambique), the Eastern Defense Line (Matebel Province, eastern provincial border of Heixinggen Province), and the Southern Defense Line (also known as the Orange River defense line), a total of three sections of over three thousand kilometers altogether."
East Africa's military defense line consists mainly of three sections, also showing the tremendous national defense pressure on East Africa. Just with the existence of Mozambique as a colony, East Africa has to cover over eighteen hundred kilometers more of border, and without Mozambique, East Africa's land border defense expenditure could be reduced by one eighth.
Regarding the Orange Free State (referred to as the Boer Republic by the British and Transvaal people), East Africa similarly wants to drive them entirely south of the Orange River, which is the eastern Cape Town region of the former South African Republic.
This brings up the regional division of the South African Republic: besides Cape Town city, South Africa's southernmost end has three large provinces named after Cape Town: Northern Cape Town, Eastern Cape Town, and Western Cape Town.
The capital of Western Cape Town is present-day Cape Town in the Cape of Good Hope, while the capital of Northern Cape Town is Kimberley, and Eastern Cape Town lies to the south of the Boer influence, south of the Orange River.
Apart from these Cape Town regions, the other areas in the administrative map of the former South African Republic are primarily dominated by the former Boer and Zulu peoples.
In other words, East Africa wants to settle with Britain by drawing a line along the river, incorporating the original regions of Boer and Zulu influence into its territory, and using the Orange River as a natural geographical boundary.
As for capturing the Cape Town region, East Africa has no such intention. Even if the British were to lose on the front lines, they could never concede the Cape Town region.
Furthermore, East Africa does not intend to completely rupture relations with Britain, as this would only benefit countries like Germany, France, Russia, Austria, and America, which does not align with East African and British interests.
Therefore, even though East Africa and Britain have irreconcilable conflicts, neither would choose to fight to the bitter end over the South African region.
This indeed illustrates East Africa's current predicament. Britain's mere military presence in South Africa requires East Africa's full effort, and even if East Africa wins, it merely removes a strategic threat from the south for Britain.
Thus, knowing when to quit is the choice that best suits East Africa's interests, otherwise with the current power of the Royal Navy, just dealing with East Africa would end its international trade.
Although East Africa could choose to be tough and fight to the end, success on the African continent would still result only as an African strongman, possibly allowing Germany or America to reap the benefits preemptively.
This involves East Africa's "major industrial" blueprint after the war. Currently, East Africa has only constructed the most rudimentary industries, far from achieving industrialization.
If East Africa had industrialized before the war, it could attempt to challenge Britain's global hegemony, perhaps even achieving Indian Ocean dominance.
However, the issue is that East Africa hasn't completed industrialization, similar to the current situation faced by Tsarist Russia.
If the Tsarist Russia had industrialized, Eurasian hegemony could have ended prematurely, so East Africa needs the British ship not to suddenly fall apart.
This tangled mentality is akin to how Western countries viewed the Soviet Union in the past world: hoping for the Soviet's downfall, but not too rapidly.
For instance, just two years after the Soviet Union's dissolution, the European Union was established. Though the EU is an economic union, European integration is definitely not something America wants to see.
Of course, this is considering East Africa's victory, but should the outcome be a defeat, East Africa would certainly feel quite distressed. A better scenario would be for East Africa to continue resisting, getting involved in a prolonged war with Britain and other nations, who would join in dividing East Africa.
A worse scenario would be East Africa directly losing the central and southern regions, nearly half of its industrial investments, and one-third of its agriculture, which would benefit other countries.
This is precisely the disparity between East Africa's and Britain's national power that causes an unbalanced state of war outcomes.
However, if any side achieves victory in this war, the gains will be enormous. For instance, if Britain could seize East Africa's Matebel Province, future British hegemony could be greatly solidified. Matebel Province alone has a population over one million and is closest to industrialization. Along with the various resources from Heixinggen Province, the British would be overjoyed, and just the gold revenue from Heixinggen would allow the British to recuperate their costs.
If East Africa prevails, it would provide East Africa's homeland with decades-long opportunities for peaceful development, firmly establishing its great power status globally, and gaining the important regions of Mozambique and Angola, filling East Africa's oil energy gap, becoming a nation linked by both oceans, opening up a land passage between the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, forming an economic belt with the central area and Central Railway as the core.
It appears to be a repeat of the Boer War but actually an enhanced version, although its international impact might not be as severe as the former Boer people's blow to Britain's international image.
Because East Africa itself is one of the (pseudo) great powers; of course, if Britain were to be defeated, they would immediately award East Africa a great power title, solidifying East Africa as Africa's top nation.
After all, losing to a world power and losing to the Boer people—a "peasant" stronghold—is a different concept.
Hence, once this war erupts, it would alter the global landscape, with the winner taking all advantages. However, the most crucial for East Africa isn't Britain but the Portuguese. Absorbing the Portuguese's two Central and Southern African colonies would be a big profit, and capturing the Transvaal Republic would be a pleasant surprise.
