African Entrepreneurship Record-Chapter 782 - 86: Chips

The war of East Africa against the remaining forces in Angola, or rather against the planters and mine owners, is one-sided. After all, even kingdom armies have failed, and these planters, who enslave the "Black slaves," can hardly earn their wholehearted allegiance.

Problems arise indeed! No, when there's trouble, they run faster than anyone else. But for East Africa, this is a good thing. Regardless of how they flee, as long as they remain on East African soil, these Black people's fate has long been arranged by East Africa.

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November 12, 1888.

First Town.

"All wars against Angola have basically ended. Most of the Portuguese, including soldiers and civilians, after our statistics, number around 130,000 people. There aren't many Portuguese inland in Angola, and many along the coast have taken ships back home," Sivert reported Angola's current state to Ernst.

Ernst: "Only about 130,000 people?"

After all, Portuguese rule over Angola has lasted hundreds of years, and such a small population does not meet Ernst's expectations, especially since many of these are troops from Portugal itself.

These original Portuguese troops, strictly speaking, cannot be counted as Angola's local Portuguese population, as they are only temporarily staying in the area due to the war.

Sivert explained: "There are many mixed descendants of Portuguese and natives, but we didn't count them as Portuguese. I think the Portuguese probably wouldn't be interested in these Blacks."

According to the American one-drop rule, those of mixed Portuguese descent surely belong to the Blacks. They are not like Portuguese whites who have family ties in the homeland, so their value isn't high. Thus, the Portuguese government probably won't take these "hot potatoes."

Ernst said, "Very well, gather these Portuguese people and detain them; they will be our bargaining chips in future negotiations with the Portuguese government."

Although it's impossible for East Africa to return Angola to Portugal, a war defeat doesn't mean the Portuguese government has the courage to compensate East Africa with "Angola," as this is akin to selling out the country.

So, to get Portugal to sign a treaty obediently post-war, East Africa needs these captives as hostages. If it's to redeem their nationals, then handing over territories or reparations shouldn't be too difficult for the Portuguese government.

130,000 purebred Portuguese is not a trivial number, especially for Portugal, whose population is merely in the millions, which can essentially create scenes of universal mourning.

Moreover, this is just Angola; there's still Mozambique which East Africa hasn't taken yet. Superficially, post-war estimates suggest East Africa could have at least 300,000 Portuguese in hand.

This 300,000 Portuguese becomes East Africa's critical leverage against Portugal. Of course, East Africa could use a more brutal method to directly "illegally" occupy two colonies.

However, a legally binding, humiliating treaty is more reassuring. Without Portugal signing a treaty, East Africa's international image wouldn't fare well.

Though signing humiliating treaties post-defeat is commonplace in Europe, like Prussia, France, Austria-Hungary... all have signed similar treaties, but Portugal is in Europe, not Africa. If the Portuguese government is adamant not to sign a humiliating treaty, East Africa wouldn't have too many good options.

Just like in the past life when Japan demanded war reparations after defeating Russia, Russia refused firmly because the Far East land wasn't too important to Russia. Japan defeated Russia in the Far East, but not in Saint Petersburg, and even if Japan had that capability, Russia's national character would likely resist full surrender.

Now, Portugal's situation with East Africa is somewhat similar. Ernst never thought he could get much war reparations from Portugal. First, the Portuguese government was already so poor they had to mortgage their own pants; second, East Africa lacked the ability to collect debts from the Portuguese homeland.

So the best outcome is for Portugal to calmly accept the loss of two colonies. Although painful, it's not entirely unacceptable.

At least Portugal is not entirely without hooks. For instance, the current colonial hotspots—West Africa, East Indies, and even in India and the Far East Empire, there are still Portuguese colonies along with a few significant islands.

However, besides the Gold Coast, these colonies do not compare to Angola or Mozambique.

Of course, if Portugal indeed loses Angola and Mozambique, according to Ernst's prediction, Portugal's future entrepreneurial direction will probably focus on the Gold Coast, that is, now Portuguese Vida, while West Africa's Dahomey Kingdom could become Portugal's expansion direction.

As for other regions, Portugal's opponents are too formidable, such as in India, where Portugal's colonies are still there but very small, and next to it is the British Empire's territory. The Portuguese colonies in the Far East Empire don't need thinking about; maintaining current status is only by the Far East Empire's current government's leniency.

Finally, there's the Portuguese Timor colony; the nearby Dutch are not currently manageable by the Portuguese. Losing Angola and Mozambique means Portugal is entirely outmatched by the Netherlands.

Only in West Africa, the Portuguese have a slight chance; although their territory is small, West Africa is chaotic and mixed, suitable for fishing in troubled waters.

Certainly, regarding the future fate of the Portuguese kingdom, Ernst remains unconcerned; Ernst now only wishes to secure Angola and Mozambique.

Thus he said, "Treat our Portuguese captives well; they are important bargaining chips for post-war negotiations. As for those mixed descendants, temporarily leave them be. If the Portuguese interest in them grows in the future, they might have a bit of value."

Of course, saying this, Ernst was highly skeptical of the Portuguese attitude towards mixed descendants; those who have fallen into intermarriage with natives or were simply irresponsible should belong to the lowest rung of Portuguese society.

A Portuguese with a bit of power wouldn't engage with natives; otherwise, given Portugal's colonial history in Africa, Angola's mixed descendants should have exceeded a million by now.

Of course, this also relates to Portugal's inattention to African development prior. The scope of Portuguese Angola and Mozambique's expansion was actually forced out by East Africa and the international colonial wave.

In Portugal's centuries-long colonial history in Africa, most times, Portuguese colonies were limited to coastal areas.

Previously, there were hardly any rivals for Portugal in Africa, and East Africa's sudden emergence is the critical reason Angola and Mozambique caught Portugal's attention.

It can be said that the decade plus years threatening Portuguese colonial safety by East Africa were also Angola and Mozambique's fastest growth period; regardless of population or construction, it exceeded the total sum of previous eras.

However, Portugal ultimately fell one step behind East Africa, similar to Ernst's situation. If the Far East Empire immigration hadn't been introduced early, East Africa's population wouldn't have reached this scale.

Portugal, whose homeland is sparsely populated, compared to other European countries and could go develop in Brazil, why should they head to Angola and Mozambique!

East Africa's openness is also an important reason behind its victory in the African colonial battles; without millions of Far East immigrants to previously lay East Africa's foundation, East Africa's current developments wouldn't exist, population and land are East Africa's development basis.

Additionally, it involves how easy it is to pull the wool over Far East immigrants. Europeans are somewhat aware Africa isn't "some" good place, but now in the Far East Empire, the majority of people might not have even heard of so-called Africa. Africa's spread might compare unfavorably to the fame of the East Pole Continent in Journey to the West.

However, now this is ancient history; Africa's recognition in the Far East Empire has been significantly promoted by East Africa; after all, immigration and commercial activities are overly frequent.

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