African Entrepreneurship Record-Chapter 824 - 128: Farewell

New Hamburg Port.

The majority of New Hamburg Port City, devastated by war, has now been repaired. Some Portuguese-organized black servant army prisoners were used as labor, and East Africa has done quite an impressive job of restoring New Hamburg Port City and Maputo.

Today, New Hamburg Port City is even busier than before the war, with dozens of British and Portuguese ships docking here daily to take war prisoners stranded in East Africa.

"General Roberts, I hope to see you visit East Africa again next time. We welcome friends here," Merk joked with the Allied commander-in-chief about to return to the United Kingdom.

Count Roberts chuckled bitterly: "Returning this time, I'm afraid it doesn't look good. I might not last long in the military; if I have the chance, I definitely want to come back here to see this land where I also tasted failure."

As the highest commander of the Allies in the South African War, Count Roberts is sure to face difficulties upon returning to his country, but he won't bear all the blame.

After all, he has previous battle achievements, along with strong connections in the UK, so the outcome won't be too bad; it's just difficult to hold a high position.

Although East England and the UK have "reconciled," this isn't the outcome the British government wanted. In fact, the UK has already been defeated in the South African War, and the suppression over East Africa has completely failed.

However, they managed to preserve the integrity of the Cape Town colony through negotiations, which gives some consolation.

Seeing the cheerful British Army soldiers, Count Roberts only felt bitterness in his heart; human joy and sorrow are not related.

Now that British war prisoners know they can finally leave this godforsaken place of South Africa and return home, their memories of South Africa are not pleasant.

Actually, they are not discontent with the war, but more with South Africa's environment. Many encountered their greatest challenge in the South African War, the painful memories of contracting malaria, even feeling they might die in this wild land of South Africa.

This situation only improved after East Africa's intervention. As long-term victims of malaria, East Africa became self-taught doctors, developing not just quinine and other effective medications, but also various auxiliary treatments, mainly using traditional Chinese medicine.

Since East Africa's modern medical and chemical fields are relatively backward, lacking drug development capabilities, they could only resort to conservative treatments like traditional Chinese medicine, although the results were still good.

The British soldiers certainly won't forget the experience of being administered Chinese herbal medicine in the prisoner camp. The main issue was the bitterness, and each dose was a large bowl. After being administered East Africa's peculiar medication, they felt as if their souls had drifted away.

At first, the prisoners even thought East Africa brewed some kind of "poison," given the unbearably awful taste and how hard it was to swallow even while pinching their noses.

However, the effects were quite remarkable. They felt refreshed once they recovered, so in the prisoners' mouths, East Africa's peculiar medication was dubbed "refreshing potion."

Of course, in the end, the British government did pay for it; East Africa wouldn't make a losing deal.

Moreover, the fundamental reason for saving lives was East Africa's fear of getting dragged down by these Brits. In every major war, an epidemic follows. So right after the war ended, East Africa conducted extensive disinfection in the occupied zones.

Given the large occupied areas this time, they primarily used fire attacks; many battlefields were burned by East Africa, while towns and villages were cleared of ruins, water sources checked, etc.

And Count Roberts was one of the witnesses. Looking at the completely new New Hamburg Port City, he sighed, "Losing this war to you wasn't entirely unjustified. Your strong mobilization capability and efficient organization are in no way inferior to most European countries."

Merk was naturally aware of this. After all, this time, East Africa was fighting at their doorstep, while the UK, no matter how eager, couldn't be swift. He said, "You are not bad either. If not for the distance limitations, the outcome of the South African War might be different, but such hypotheses are meaningless."

While they were talking, the ships arranged by the British government were already fully loaded.

"Count, our ship is about to depart," said one of Count Roberts' subordinates.

Count Roberts looked at the bustling docks of New Hamburg Port City, a sense of loneliness and regret in his gaze. He patted Merk on the shoulder and said, "Goodbye, young man!"

Then, this old man who fought for Britain for most of his life slowly walked towards the deck, with the sunset casting its afterglow over the British ships.

Merk smiled slightly, then turned back without looking.

This time, the British and Portuguese governments had their hands full. Aside from the British Army, the British government showed some conscience as they did not abandon over 200,000 Indian soldiers, whereas the Portuguese acted rather heartlessly, leaving behind nearly all black people, including Portuguese mixed-race individuals.

In fact, for some colonial Portuguese civilians, the Portuguese government was not too willing to take care of them. However, due to East Africa's strong demands, the Portuguese government had no choice but to arrange ships to take these Portuguese residents back to their homeland.

Because the numbers were too large, the Portuguese government even sought help from the Brazilian government. Brazil, lacking population, welcomed those colonial residents to join them.

Thus, many Brazilian ships appeared in the Luanda area. In Angola, there were still more than one hundred thousand Portuguese besides the military, and the Brazilian government welcomed these Portuguese.

Now, Portugal was deeply in debt, hoping to bring back and resettle nearly 300,000 Portuguese civilians from Angola and Mozambique, which was simply impossible.

So, they turned to their former little brother, Brazil, for help, losing all face, but it was the only choice. East Africa didn't have much sentiment for these Portuguese, just like with the Boers.

In East Africa, there were over a hundred thousand Boers scattered throughout the land. If they weren't somehow associated with the Germans, East Africa would have already sent them back to Cape Town. Actually, the British had no sentiment for these Boers, so even if East Africa wanted to send them to Cape Town, the British Cape Town colonial government probably wouldn't accept them.

The core of the Boers consist mainly of Dutch, French, and Germans, so they barely had any connection with East Africa, which is why East Africa took in the Boers.

Of course, to ensure these Boers fully integrate into East Africa, they couldn't be concentrated in one place, and they could no longer stay in Orange and Heixinggen provinces. They were mainly used to fill Angola and Mozambique, with further migration from East Africa, eventually disappearing into the river of history.

As for the Boers in Cape Town, the future is uncertain. There are too many Boers in Cape Town, so it's highly likely that the pre-South Africa scenario will play out again, with Boers regaining power after independence.

Furthermore, this time Cape Town's colony doesn't have the racial dispute between blacks and whites as a foundation. South Africa was originally an area with fewer black people, and the main black ethnic group, the Zulu people, has already been eliminated by East Africa, so there won't be a Mandela-like figure in the future Cape Town, even if it gains independence.

However, Cape Town cannot replicate the former glory of the South Africa Republic. All mining areas are pretty much occupied by East Africa, so it might at most become a nation focused on agriculture and animal husbandry.

The only notable aspect is maritime value, as future East African shipping on both coasts cannot avoid Cape Town. However, once East Africa's Two-Ocean Railway is completed, the dependency on it will be greatly reduced.