Port of Bagamoyo.

Two imposing-looking sail warships are completing the handover.

"Your Excellency, this is a warship that we have drawn from the active warships to support your cause."

Colonel Blair of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, who was in charge of the delivery, introduced the warship to Archduke Ferdinand (Massimiliano I) with a smile on his face.

"Well, I'm afraid I know them better than you know about them." Ferdinand, commander-in-chief of the East African Navy, unceremoniously interrupted Blair.

"They were in the Austrian Navy when I took office, and now they are in East Africa as a good place to continue to use their spare energy."

With that, Ferdinand boarded one of them, with Blair behind him.

"It's been so many years, and it hasn't changed much, but this paint is fresh?"

"Yes, before leaving the port, the two ships were carefully inspected, and the overall performance is still in good condition, but there are a few small problems that have accumulated over the years, and then they were brought to the Trieste shipyard for maintenance and some modern facilities."

"Franz is not bad, when you go back to report, send him this letter." Ferdinand took a letter from his bosom and handed it to Blair.

"Yes, Your Excellency, I will definitely bring the letter."

The content of the letter was naturally some words of thanks, and this time Ferdinand sincerely felt that it was really good to have a good big brother.

Archduke Ferdinand, who had been severely beaten by the Mexicans, had gone from one extreme to the other.

Back in Mexico, Ferdinand didn't ask the Austrian royal family for any help, and now Ferdinand said, it's really fragrant!

With the help of Franz, the East African Navy, two warships decommissioned from the Austro-Hungarian Navy, plus two antique warships from the Sultanate of Zanzibar, instantly became a look.

"Blair, what do you think the future of the East African Navy will be?" Ferdinand asked.

"Your Excellency, I don't approve of that, huh...... There is a lot of potential, at least the sea conditions are much better than in Austria. ”

Blair doesn't have much hope for the East African Navy, after all, East Africa is so poor what to use to build a navy, the two antique warships of the last century in East Africa, Blair feels a little sorry for Ferdinand, the so-called commander-in-chief of the East African Navy, but the geographical conditions of East Africa are indeed several times stronger than the "bathtub" at the door of the Austro-Hungarian Navy.

The port of Bagamoyo is in good condition, but because of its proximity to Dar es Salaam, it is often overlooked by the East African government.

Migration and commercial exports, for example, are diverted from the ports of Dar es Salaam and Tanga on both sides, and are not even as good as the ports of Mtwara in the south.

Because Bagamoyo is shallow and Dar es Salaam is a deep-water port, it is difficult for Bagamoyo to compete with Dar es Salaam, while Tanga and Mtwara are important ports in the region and have no competitors, so they are also more important than Bagamoyo, although Bagamoyo also has its advantages.

It is an estuarine port, that is, on the right bank of the mouth of the Lesser Rhine (Ruvo) in East Africa.

However, the shipping value of the rivers along the coast of East Africa is not high, and several slightly larger rivers are only a few hundred kilometers long, and only 100 kilometers are suitable for navigation due to the influence of topography.

But the Lesser Rhine is strategically important to East Africa, with its estuary leading up to the first town in East Africa's political center.

Therefore, the East African naval base is located here, which can not only take advantage of the port conditions of Bagamoyo, but also clamp the mouth of the Little Rhine, and at the same time can support the ports on both sides of East Africa.

It has to be said that East Africa's choice of Massimiliano I as Commander-in-Chief of the East African Navy was really the right choice.

After taking office, he couldn't get resources from the East African government, so he could only turn his attention to Austria, "I'm Ferdinand, Franz is making money!" ”

This is also the reason why Franz said that Ferdinand and Ernst had learned badly, but the Austrian Navy itself could not afford to support Ferdinand.

Oh, now it's wrong to call the Austrian Navy again, it should be called the Austro-Hungarian Navy, and in 1867 the Austrian Empire was renamed the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

In response to His Majesty's inquiry, the Austro-Hungarian Navy expressed our willingness to support Ferdinand's two brigs and warships free of charge, and at the same time to send a group of young men as advisers to help Archduke Ferdinand form an East African naval force.

A brig is a sailing ship with two masts and sails mounted as a crosssail. In the age of sail, brigs were widely used as warships and commercial ships because of their fast speed and high maneuverability.

19th-century pine brigs were designed to last 20 years, with many actually lasting even longer.

The two ships that the Austro-Hungarian Navy gave to East Africa were built around 1840, and the Austro-Hungarian Navy has long wanted to retire these two old ships, and they don't know where to throw them.

As for the young heroes, they were naturally inexperienced or ostracized young officers of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, for whom being sent to East Africa was no different from exile.

All in all, the attitude of the Austro-Hungarian Navy and the East African government is the same, it is easy to talk about money and everything, that is, we can give away ships and talents for free.

The Austro-Crèque Navy, squeezed in the narrow Adriatic Gulf, such a geographical location, caused the Austro-Hungarian Empire not to have much interest in the Navy, but the Italy next door helped the Austro-Plenum Navy, in order to deal with the unified Italy, the Austro-Crès-Empire Navy has had a relatively better time in recent years, and since 1861 the Austrian Navy has entered the era of ironclad ships, and now it is the Austro-Hungarian Navy.

"You're right, but potential is only potential after all, and without the support of a strong country, no matter how good the conditions are, they will be wasted." Ferdinand said.

"Your Excellency, don't worry, I am personally optimistic about East Africa, in the future, with the help of Austria, East Africa may not be able to catch up with Europe, but it should still be able to develop well in Africa." Blair said cautiously.

In this era, Europeans have been deepening the impression of the center of the European world, and the only country overseas that can be compared with Europe, the United States should be considered half, so Blair added the word Africa before the development is good, and the reason why the development in Africa is not bad is because there is a semi-modern country in Africa - Egypt.

The Egyptian naval strength in the Ali era was considerable even in Europe, with 32 warships in its heyday, and now although Egypt has declined, it is not the first military power in Africa that can be touched in East Africa.

In terms of the army alone, the number of troops in East Africa before the reform was very close to Egypt, but after the reform, the number of troops was basically cut in half, and the size of the single cong cannot be compared with Egypt.

Moreover, Egyptian equipment has the ability to produce independently, although it has now become import-oriented due to British and French colonization, but that set of military industrial system still exists.

Blair escorted the warship through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and finally to East Africa.

He had seen some cities in Egypt, but in East Africa he had only reached Mombasa once to replenish supplies, and then he went to Bagamoyo, Mombasa was quite prosperous, but Bagamoyo was too lonely.

So Blair concluded that East Africa is far from Egypt, so it will be difficult to become the number one in Africa.

Blair had never heard of any civilized countries in Africa other than Egypt, not counting the Ottoman Empire, after all, the main body was in the Middle East and Europe.

In fact, Bagamoyo is not to blame, after all, the immigration and export are in the free port of Dar es Salaam next door, so it seems to be very unpopular.

Bagamoyo was glorious for a period of time when Germany colonized here, but later the Germans also found that the conditions in Dar es Salaam were better, and they turned to concentrate on the development of Dar es Salaam, Bagamoyo was mentioned again that it was already a big country in the 21st century to engage in the Belt and Road Initiative, some hungry taste, the credit of African countries is not high, and the conditions of Bagamoyo port can only be regarded as average, but there is no other choice, after all, the excellent ports on the coast of the Indian Ocean are controlled by the West or pro-Western forces.

(End of chapter)