The reason why East Africa has established a presence similar to an economic colony within Austria-Hungary is essentially due to concerns about the future of Austria-Hungary. As the channel for East Africa to access the Central and Eastern European market, Austria-Hungary plays an irreplaceable role in East Africa’s foreign economic development.

And assuming that Austria-Hungary disintegrates like it did in a previous life, with Austria and Hungary becoming two landlocked countries, East Africa’s current political investment in Austria-Hungary could go to waste.

Therefore, East Africa must control a coastal location within Austria-Hungary and ensure that this influence is pro-East Africa, so that even if Austria-Hungary falls apart, East Africa can still maintain the trade channel within the former Austria-Hungary territory.

The lower Neretva River Valley is such a location that East Africa is searching for, and East Africa’s investment in this area even exceeds that in Venice, second only to Croatia and Slovenia.

...

Mostar.

At night, Mostar International Winery.

"Kerleff, you’re here!" Hagen, the proprietor of Mostar International Winery, warmly greeted his old friend.

"Hagen, why have you called us all together today?" Kerleff asked.

Hagen placed his hand on Kerleff’s shoulder and said, "Go to the meeting room in the back first. I will announce the Empire’s instructions this time; you go in first while I invite the others."

Kerleff nodded, "Then we’ll wait for you in the meeting room."

Having said that, Kerleff familiarly walked towards a building behind the winery. As a winery that monopolizes Mostar’s wine production and sales, its scale is quite large, and this is just one of Mostar Winery’s estates.

Mostar City is one of the sunniest cities on the Balkan Peninsula, with abundant warmth, making it one of the best wine-producing regions in Europe.

With support from the Heixinggen Consortium, Mostar wine has become a well-known brand across the Balkan Peninsula, and Hagen is one of the prominent figures in the wine business in the Balkans region and within Austria-Hungary.

Soon, Kerleff arrived at the meeting room Hagen specified. This meeting room is quite large and luxuriously decorated, and by this time, many people had already arrived.

"Kerleff is here!" Many warmly greeted Kerleff, and he responded to each of them in turn, as they were all colleagues.

The meeting room continued to fill as more people arrived. Finally, Hagen led the manager of the Mostar branch of the Heixinggen Consortium into the room.

Hagen said, "Everyone, don’t be reserved. I gathered you all mainly to relay some instructions from the Empire’s government, so I called everyone together to uniformly convey this."

Seated around the table on either side of Hagen were people already familiar to him. If other residents of Mostar City saw this assembly, they would likely be surprised, as many prominent figures from Mostar City, spanning business, political, and even Austria-Hungary’s military personnel, were gathered in this Mostar Winery estate.

As for the gathering of East Africans, why there would be Austria-Hungary’s political and military personnel is also easy to understand, because due to Austria-Hungary’s system, East Africa can easily penetrate the local government and military in Austria-Hungary.

As previously mentioned, the lower Neretva River Valley is an important military recruitment area for Austria-Hungary in Bosnia, and a significant proportion of local residents are essentially under East African economic control. Therefore, in local elections and military recruitment, the East African management can gain an advantage.

Hagen continued, "The Empire government’s latest instruction is for us to secretly prepare for war in the next few years, especially to be wary of external forces, primarily Sarajevo’s ambition towards the lower Neretva River Valley area."

East Africa is evidently guarded against the Kingdom of Serbia, which has ambitions for surrounding lands, and such a prosperous area as the lower Neretva River Valley in Bosnia naturally attracts interest.

However, given that the lower Neretva River Valley is nurtured by East Africa, it cannot fall easily into the hands of the Kingdom of Serbia.

Mostar Infantry Company Deputy Commander Ross queried Hagen, "Mr. Hagen, isn’t it perhaps exaggerated for the Empire to be so concerned? Although we are not in the core of Austria-Hungary, we are definitely not to be trifled with by a small country like the Kingdom of Serbia."

Hagen said, "Serbia and Austria-Hungary are bound to clash, and our region is quite precarious, nearly surrounded by Slavs, while Serbia has always wanted to establish a Greater Serbia, a kind of South Slavs government, to become a great power on the Balkan Peninsula."

"Therefore, what we fear is not Serbia’s strength, but the dangerous ideology propagated by the Serbians. If they achieve this goal, and incite the Kingdom of Croatia, Dalmatia, Bosnia, or the Black Mountain Duchy, wouldn’t we be encircled?" 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

In Austria-Hungary’s administrative divisions, there are many kingdoms, so the Kingdom of Croatia and Dalmatia can be seen as primary administrative regions of Austria-Hungary, equivalent to provinces in East Africa.

"Among so many Slavic powers, our lower Neretva River Valley region can be likened to a thorn in the flesh to some alien races. If the South Slavs unite into a single country, we must accumulate strength in advance to ensure regional security."

Since the Kingdom of Serbia’s restoration on the Balkan Peninsula, Serbia has been one of the most expansionist countries in the region, and in response to such extreme nationalism, East Africa naturally needs to maintain strict vigilance.

In essence, the East African government is not optimistic about the competition between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, despite Austria-Hungary’s strength. Its performance in a past war was disappointing.

Thus, Ernst intervened personally to prevent Austria-Hungary from repeating the mistakes of a past life in subsequent potential European wars, which could otherwise result in losses for East Africa’s investments within Austria-Hungary’s territory. If Austria-Hungary disintegrates as before, East Africa would take the opportunity to make the lower Neretva River Valley region independent, ensuring that East Africa still has a foothold in the area.

Ross said, "Some of the political rhetoric from the Kingdom of Serbia is indeed difficult to comprehend, but if Serbia truly dares to challenge Austria-Hungary, our area may become the frontline, so early prevention is indeed very necessary."

Hagen said, "Who knows! All the small Balkan countries are ambitious, like Greece, Bulgaria, and Serbia, but Serbia is the most inflated, even coveting the territory of Austria-Hungary. If a small country around East Africa had such thoughts, they would have been annihilated by us long ago."

East Africa has indeed encountered such countries before, such as the former Orange Free State government, which is likely now living in exile in South Africa or London.

At this point, Kerleff also interjected, "In short, the Balkans has never been peaceful and remains a hotspot for European nations’ games, where conflicts among states are very sharp. While the Kingdom of Serbia wants to go further, Austria-Hungary likewise contemplates annexing Serbia, so we all know there must be a war between Serbia and Austria-Hungary; we just don’t know who will fire the first shot. Indeed, any country on the Balkan Peninsula might trigger a chain reaction, plunging the region into turmoil."

No matter how the two ultimately fight, they can’t avoid the crucial location of Mostar, so preparations for the lower Neretva River Valley are indeed urgent.