African Entrepreneurship Record-Chapter 706 - 10: Independence Again!

The military gap is indeed the easiest to bridge. After all, surpassing East Africa in other directions is impossible. To put it bluntly, the Orange Free State is just a palm-sized place in front of East Africa, with severe restrictions on both population and land.

But if the Boers in the region are mobilized to the extreme, like Paraguay in South America, a force of hundreds of thousands of troops could also be achieved by the Transvaal.

Of course, achieving this is clearly not the intention of the Transvaal leadership present. If truly like Paraguay, the future of the Transvaal Republic would be bleak, unless they also learn from Paraguay to reintroduce a large population.

But now Paraguay is like it's been replaced, is it still the same Paraguay as before? So things definitely cannot develop in that direction. After all, people aren't little Lopez, the war maniac imitating Napoleon. Everyone just wants to gain a small piece of land in South Africa to rebuild the Boer homeland.

Moreover, the Transvaal Republic probably doesn't have the same bravery as Paraguay did back then. Even though little Lopez failed, he did manage to single-handedly face three opponents, with British support behind the enemy.

The modernization level of Paraguay at that time was clearly higher than that of the current Orange Free State. After all, the Boers in the eyes of East Africa are just a group of herdsmen in South Africa.

And at that time, Paraguay was already rapidly rising under the leadership of the Lopez family across two presidencies, sending people to strong European countries to study and learn, imitating Western methods to build their own country.

Not only attracting a large amount of foreign capital to stimulate the economy, but also introducing technology to build railways, steel plants, laying telegraphs, and paying great attention to public facilities. Schools, hospitals, and other institutions beneficial to livelihood sprang up.

However, the population of the Orange Free State is not as large as Paraguay's, nor is the land as fertile. The Transvaal Republic territory that used to be rich in mineral resources has already been a bridal gown for East Africa.

In recent years, they even went through a civil war between Transvaal people and Orange people, so the economic development is in shambles. The only achievement is the establishment of a modern army with British support, with a certain level of combat experience.

This army is indeed the basis of the Transvaal people's confidence, so the smallest gap between the Transvaal Republic and East Africa is military.

"First communicate with the British, they are too dilly-dallying. Properly threaten them; if they can't deliver the aid to us, we'll disband the army and stop opposing East Africa. I think this is not the situation the British want to see!" said the Defense Minister. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Saying it's a threat is more like dropping the ball, just like the local British workers going on strike, demanding the government and factory owners forcibly increase wages. If Britain cannot satisfy the demands of the Transvaal people, they can also mess around with the confrontation against East Africa.

"I have to say, this is a good idea. Every time we make reasonable demands, the British don't pay attention. Instead, this kind of indirect threat might be more effective!" said little Pillotolius.

For the unified opinion of the Transvaal Republic leadership preparing to pressure the British, this scene is admittedly ironic because, in the 21st century, a Soviet Union-inspired political figure stands begging from Western governments.

In the small 'international community' of the South African region, there's also this kind of political correctness. Boers, Portuguese, British, even the Black people unanimously consider the East African Kingdom to be an 'evil' empire.

Therefore, the Transvaal people can stand on the moral high ground and reach out to the British government for funds. If this era had 21st-century media, little Pillotolius might also learn from Xiao Ze, criticizing those British politicians who don't supply aid to the Transvaal by accusing them of colluding with 'non' entities.

And a very coincidental point is that the current top leader of the Orange Free State is a Transvaal person, whereas Xiao Ze is Jewish, both are not considered 'one of us' in the eyes of the 'indigenous people' of the region.

...

Cape Town.

In fact, Britain is quite exasperated with the 'reasonable' demands of the Transvaal people.

"These idiots just can't solve this problem themselves can they? We currently have neither the time nor energy to take care of these so-called Transvaal people, and a force of over ten thousand soldiers should not seem too much to Transvaal people. Selling a few more heads of cattle should almost break even anyway!" said Governor Battle Frier.

"Your Excellency, Governor. In fact, the Boers do raise a lot of cattle and sheep, but their ability to convert them into cash is very poor. Previously they could directly export goods from the East, but now they have to go through our territory, being disposed of by local merchants, so price elasticity space becomes much smaller. Moreover, Boers attach great importance to quality of life, and they are not very willing to pay taxes or spend money on military expenses, and apart from crazies like Prussia, probably few countries do so."

The subordinate's words are somewhat reasonable. The Orange Free State is surrounded on three sides by East Africa, traditional commerce routes are blocked, coupled with the impact of war, the family roots are almost lost, and British profiteers raise prices on the spot reducing Boer profit space, further decreasing the Orange Free State government's fiscal revenues.

Previously, the Orange Free State could still collect taxes from local diamond mine owners or transit merchants, but now these are all operated by the British, and the Orange Free State has also become a colony under Cape Town's agency, naturally unable to receive this part of the tax revenue.

Battle Frier helplessly said, "Demanding money from us is definitely impossible. However, it's necessary to be ruthless against those stingy profiteers as well. Originally, they should have made contributions to resisting East Africa because our ultimate goal in South Africa is not to ensure their interests? So let the Orange Free State government have a discussion and re-establish tariffs, collecting taxes from local enterprises!"

"Wouldn't that cause discontent among the merchant community of our country?"

"There's no other choice, for the interests of the British Empire, someone always has to sacrifice their private interests. And these years they've been eating the fat oil from their mouths, it's time to contribute to the country." Battle Frier said indifferently.

"Your Excellency, Governor. I actually have an idea. I don't know if it could kill two birds with one stone, not offending local merchants and appeasing the Boers at the same time."

"Hmm? Let's hear it."

If Battle Frier could avoid directly offending the merchants and mine owners in the Orange Free State, he would certainly prefer to do so.

"Instead, why don't we let the Orange Free State directly become independent again!"

Battle Frier asked somewhat surprised: "Do you know what you're saying?"

"Your Excellency, Governor, this is the best solution. In fact, the Orange Free State is originally a burden for us. Our colonial government can't directly obtain much benefits from the Orange Free State, most of the benefits are taken by the local merchants. Moreover, the Orange Free State is still a powder keg that could explode at any time for Cape Town. They will have a conflict with East Africa sooner or later, and if a war breaks out we'll be dragged in, unable to extricate ourselves."

Battle Frier: "Do you mean strategic initiative?"

"Yes, if the Orange Free State gains independence again, they can't morally bind Cape Town. And they only have us, Britain, to rely on. Even if they become independent again, facing the threat of East Africa, they still have to follow our orders."

Britain isn't opposed to the Transvaal people going to war with East Africa. It's just that the timing must be in their own hands and not be dragged into a passive war by the Transvaal people. Therefore, letting the Orange Free State become independent again can solve this trouble.