As for the colonization of Africa, in fact, Belgium was unable to unify its ideas before, which made Leopold II waste a lot of time and words to convince the parliament.

Now Leopold II took the East African kingdom as an example, and indeed took those opponents into an army, and the Hexingen kingdom was so poor that it could get such a large piece of land in Africa, and Belgium was only a lot more than that.

The nobles all know each other better, and the Hohenzollern family is undoubtedly the most beautiful among the nobles in these years, first of all, the Prussian royal family unified Germany and turned from a kingdom into an empire, followed by Sigmaringen to Romania, and finally the Hehingen royal family, which made a fortune and established the East African Kingdom at the same time.

Although the status of the East African Kingdom is not high, after all, Africa is not a good place, but the wealth obtained by the Heixingen royal family is very eye-catching.

However, Leopold II asked the cabinet to come up with a plan obviously overestimating his subordinates, although the ministers were also educated by His Majesty the King from time to time, but they just listened to it as a joke, and there was no plan at all.

Leopold II then spoke: "Hmph, I knew this would be the case for a long time, and since you can't come up with a plan, then you have to listen to me next." ”

With that, Leopold II ordered his servant to bring the map of Africa and said, "This is the map of Africa, with France in the red area, Portugal in the blue area, Spain in the gray, England in the green, and East Africa in the black...... The rest of the area is where we can choose. ”

At this glance, everyone instantly felt as if the competition was also fierce.

Leopold II explained: "Colonial maps are often relatively illusory, and in some places countries do not necessarily control where they are, but only have verbal claims, but in reality it depends on whose fist is stronger." ”

As soon as they heard that it was a fist, the Belgian ministers retreated: "Your Majesty, in that case, isn't it very risky for us to colonize Africa?" There is no country to mess with except the Kingdom of East Africa. ”

Leopold II confidently broke the news: "Then you are very wrong, now the most unprovoked country in Africa is the Kingdom of East Africa, not long ago the Kingdom of East Africa and the British colony of Cape Town had a small dispute in South Africa, and finally the British chose to back down and were forced to cede a territory with an area of more than 100,000 square kilometers. ”

Sure enough, the words of Leopold II raised questions among the ministers.

"It can't be! Your Majesty, the British will not suffer such a loss. ”

"That's right, it has always been Britain that invaded the territory of other countries, and it is impossible for others to bite Britain back, if it was France before, it was still possible, and now no country can challenge Britain."

"And if this happens, it will be an international scandal, no less than the previous major event of Britain's defeat in Afghanistan, which was not reported in the British newspapers, how did you know about it, Your Majesty?"

……

The ministers said babblingly, unanimously agreeing that Leopold II was talking nonsense, if this happened in other regions, it would be easy to accept, but Africa is the most backward region in the world, and even a decent civilization has not been produced, what is the East African kingdom built on Africa to compete with the British!

Leopold II knocked on the table and said, "Silence, look what you look like now!" Who am I to deceive you? It was unbelievable, but it was real, and my news was obtained with money from officials in Cape Town, as well as confirmation from Charlotte (the princess). ”

Although Ernst pursued a policy of seclusion and seclusion, it was certainly impossible for East Africa not to communicate with the outside world, as exemplified by the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife.

As European nobles, they have a lot of relatives and friends, and they have a lot of letters every year, but they are generally not a big deal.

Archduke Ferdinand didn't want to get in touch with the old people before he achieved results, and even the communication was mainly based on necessary greetings.

As for Princess Charlotte, she doesn't have the same concerns as her husband, but her social circle is generally those noblewomen in Europe, and she doesn't talk about politics at all, and Charlotte was too concerned about politics before and almost sent her husband to see God, so now it is even more taboo to talk about politics with her sisters.

That is, Leopold II, as her brother, asked her about the situation in East Africa, but Charlotte did not know much about it, except for some important things that everyone in East Africa knew about.

The war of the East African Kingdom in South Africa belongs to this kind of major event, after all, this is the first time that South Africa has defeated the country (the Transvaal Republic), which is also a white regime, and it is quite an exciting event for the East African Kingdom, and almost every bulletin board details the achievements of the East African Army.

Leopold II continued: "The East African kingdom has sent tens of thousands of troops this time, and has defeated several small countries in South Africa like an autumn wind, and this is where their confidence lies. ”

"Tens of thousands of troops!"

Leopold II: "That's right, tens of thousands of troops, and that's the fundamental reason why the Kingdom of East Africa was able to make the British bow their heads." ”

"However, Your Majesty, I want to remind you that the cost of tens of thousands of troops is not a small amount, and the pressure on our own national defense is very great, and if we send troops alone to colonize Africa, I am afraid that the gains will outweigh the losses!"

Leopold II: "Okay, what does this have to do with our defense?" To tell the truth, anyone in Belgium's position will have a headache, either side of Germany and France has an idea, Belgium may become a battlefield, with our national strength, unless it is to mobilize the whole country, otherwise do not want to be alone. And it is precisely because of our poor geopolitical environment that we should break out of Europe and strengthen our national strength through colonization.

And we don't need to send too many troops to Africa at once, and I've studied all the colonies in Africa, and basically none of the colonies have as much military development as East Africa, and this is also a place for us to learn from. ”

Ernst has made the development of the army a top priority since the beginning of the East African colonies, and it has now proved to be a very correct decision, because the army is the foundation of the East African kingdom in Africa and even in the world.

After listening to Leopold II's explanation, one of the ministers asked, "Your Majesty, where should we start?" Where to land in Africa? ”

Pointing to the Congo River on the map, Leopold II said: "We started at the mouth of the Congo River and colonized inland along the north of the Congo River. ”

"Your Majesty, this is the power of the Portuguese!"

Leopold II shook his head and said: "No, north of the mouth of the Congo River is a small African country, called the Kingdom of Ngoyo, the Portuguese did establish a stronghold here before, but it was destroyed by the Kingdom of Ngoyo, and that was already the last century, this is currently a terra nullius, and the south bank of the Congo River is not the territory of the Portuguese, it is the land of the Kingdom of the Congo, if I am not concerned about the face of the Portuguese, then I will directly choose to invade the Kingdom of Congo." ”

"Your Majesty, it seems that France also has colonies here." Someone pointed to the red zone north of the Congo River.

This red zone is the coastal strip of former Gabon, where the French colonized decades ago.

Leopold II said: "It is very normal that the French have more colonies. ”

"Then will we run into the French!"

Leopold II said: "Don't worry, we just need to be the first to open up inland, France has so many colonies, but we only need this piece, they can't pose a threat to us." ”

Leopold II wanted to acquire land in Africa, which was actually the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville), that is, the French Congo.

Now the time is very good, Belgium does not have to go to the Congo rainforest to open up colonies like in the previous life, and there is no need to worry about access to the sea, there are only a few indigenous countries here, and it is not a problem to take this place with the strength of Belgium.

As for the Congolese rainforest, although it is very large, it is really worthless, and the climate is harsh, and in the past Belgium was able to benefit from the Congo, which was the result of continuous expansion into the interior, and the Congolese colonies have reached Darwanda and Burundi in East Africa to the west.

After Leopold II and his ministers reached a consensus, the Kingdom of Belgium officially embarked on the grand cause of colonizing Africa, although the colonial area was very different from the previous life, but it was still called the Congo colony.

(End of chapter)