The war in East Africa against the Transvaal ended, but the war continued in South Africa, beginning with the 123rd Cavalry Division and the 514th Infantry Division in Pretoria converging with Felix's division to the east for the Zulu Kingdom.

In addition to the abundant coal resources, the conquest of the Zulu Kingdom was mainly to gain access to its eastern outlet to the sea, where the port of Richardsbay, the main coal export port of South Africa, was deserted.

After obtaining the Transvaal, the Kingdom of East Africa directly became a long and narrow distribution from north to south, and the distance from the core area of East Africa (the former East African Federation) to South Africa was too long, and after the Zulu Kingdom was conquered, East Africa could use the port of Richardbey to complete the dispatch of personnel and materials by sea.

In East Africa, which is under de facto control of South Africa, Ernst does not intend to develop large-scale cropping industries, but rather large-scale pastures similar to those in northern Kenya.

The difference between here and northern Kenya is that the temperature is lower, it is already subtropical, the climate is more cool, and it is the best pasture resource in East Africa.

At the same time, Ernst also considered that in the future, relying on rich mineral resources, it is necessary to develop industry, and industrial development is inseparable from water resources, but the annual precipitation in South Africa is worse than that of Zimbabwe, especially in the hinterland, and the fluctuations are relatively large, and some extreme years may only be more than 400 mm.

And the water consumption is nothing more than residential water, agricultural water and industrial water, of which agricultural water consumption is the largest, if large-scale farming is carried out in South Africa, it can be determined that agricultural water alone is not enough.

In addition, East Africa does not need to engage in planting in South Africa at all, first, there is no demand for this, and the current grain production capacity in East Africa is excessive, and second, East Africa is too rich in arable land resources, and Tanzania alone has 44 million hectares of arable land resources, that is, 660 million mu, which is almost about 30% of India's arable land, and most of them are more than a year of cropping, so that Ernst does not plan to develop Tanzania's arable land that is of poor quality or not conducive to irrigation.

In the future, South Africa's grain will be imported from the north, so that the limited water resources of Eastern South Africa can be used for industrial development.

The importance of water resources to industry can be referenced in the previous generation of Shandong Province, which is a major province of heavy industry, with traditional industries such as chemicals, steel and coal accounting for about 70% of the industry. The excessively heavy industrial structure has also made Shandong's energy consumption level always rank among the top in the country.

However, Shandong's industrial water consumption is only a little more than 10 percent of Jiangsu, which is also a major industrial province, which seriously restricts Shandong's industrial development, and Shandong is also a major agricultural province, so Shandong's agricultural and industrial water competition is fierce, or it is a competition for water from each other, and the little water of the Yellow River must be saved.

Eastern South Africa is also facing this problem, Ernst's solution is that South Africa does not develop water-consuming agriculture, then there will be no water crisis in the future, and even there is a surplus of water resources, because Ernst does not believe that the industrial scale of East and South Africa in the future can reach the level of Shandong in the 21st century, not to mention the other is the size of Shandong's population of 100 million, and it is unlikely to be realized in the future, and the population of the entire East African Kingdom is more realistic.

Instead of large-scale development of local cultivation, Eastern South Africa would have to rely on other regions of East Africa for food shipments, and shipping would be the least costly, which reflected the importance of the port of Richardsbay.

The conditions of the port are not inferior to the port of Durban in the south, but because of the Zulu Kingdom, the port of Richardsbe was not developed, so it needs to be built by the Kingdom of East Africa.

Now that the port of Durban was the political and economic center of the British Natal colony, East Africa did not have the courage to touch the tiger's whiskers of the British Empire.

In addition to the war against the Zulu kingdom, which had just begun, it was followed by the war of conquest of East Africa south of the Kalahari Desert and north of the Orange River.

This area is currently borderland, and there are not many natives, so Merk's troops are advancing very smoothly, and there are basically no difficulties in the early stage.

However, after reaching the Orange River, the East African army still had a little skirmish with the British colony of Cape Town.

"Stop! Who are you? ”

The 7th Regiment of the 411th Division of the East African Army was blocked by a group of militiamen, and the commander of the 7th Regiment, Naldovic, was a short-tempered man who was not used to this group of people.

Naldovich had a Slavic flavor when he heard the name, in fact, he was a Croatian from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but the East African Kingdom was considered a German for the Germans of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so Naldovic's career was relatively smooth with his military exploits.

Riding on his warhorse, Naldovich asked, "Who are you?" Why are you blocking our way? ”

"This is the land of the Republic of Grigualand, if you go any further, you will cross the border!" A Boer militia said.

Bastard, how many republics have been established by this group of Boers! Naldovich complained in his heart that in fact, Naldovich did not know that the Boers had a new Republic of Grigaland to the east, which meant that the Boers had established two Republic of Grigualand.

With the military order in place, Naldovich didn't care what republic he wanted, Naldovich slapped a rake and asked: "What bullshit is the Republic of Griguarialand!" Lao Tzu has never heard of it, the entire north of the Orange River is the land of our Germans, why do you appear on the territory of our Germans? ”

As soon as Naldovich said this, the Boer militia could not be reorganized, because it happened that there were many descendants of immigrants from the German region in this group of Boer militia, and if Naldovich said that it was the land of East Africa, the Boer militia would definitely be resolutely opposed.

But if Naldovich said that this is the land of the Germans, are these Boers from the German region considered Germans?

Although he is a serious Croat, there is not much difference in cultural life from the Austrian-Hungarian Austrians, but the Austrians of the Austro-Hungarian Empire cannot recognize the Croats as Germans, and after arriving in East Africa, Naldovic attaches great importance to his "German" identity.

It is understandable that the Boers are entangled in their identity, after all, the concept of the Boers has not been too long, for example, after the British seized the colony of Cape Town, many Boers of British descent were detached into the British, which made the Germans and the French an important part of the Boers.

However, after a moment of entanglement, the Boer militia reacted: "No matter who it is, this is the territory of the Republic of Grigualand." ”

Naldovic: "Oh, Grigualand, I believe that no one in the international community has ever heard of this country, you are stealing the territory of the Kingdom of East Africa, and now surrendering to our East Africa will allow you to be safe and secure." ”

Nardovic's words made the Grigaland militia hear a new term, the East African Kingdom, but he is not afraid, what East African Kingdom, he has not heard of it, it is not the same as the Republic of Grigualand!.

It's really different, the Republic of Grigualand is not like the Kingdom of East Africa, when it was established, it was specifically shouted in Europe, maybe they don't know about East Africa, but they know the existence of the Kingdom of East Africa, and what Republic of Grigualand, now go to Europe and ask, it is estimated that the vast majority of people will think that it is a chieftain or tribal country in a remote area.

Of course, the biggest confidence of the Grigualand militia is not whether the Kingdom of East Africa is the same self-proclaimed country as Grigualand, but that since last year, the Republic of Grigaland has voluntarily joined the British colony of Cape Town.

(End of chapter)