"Father-in-law, the Navy has recently transferred three ironclad ships, and I am going to seek a colony in the Far East."

"Hmm, you have an idea?"

The Far East was definitely the most attractive area of the colonial era, and the Huaihai Economic Zone and the Zhuhai Trade Zone in East Africa were one of the important markets of the Heixingen consortium, but these two areas can only be regarded as economic colonization.

There is nothing to say about economic colonization, even in the 21st century it is the most common form, just like aid to Africa, which is actually a form of economic colonization.

Colonization, colonization, that is naturally to let the people in the region create value for foreign capital, East Africa is not a good person, it is not profitable in the Far East, and it will not be the whole development model of the Huaihai Economic Zone and the Zhuhai Trade Zone.

After all, the definition of a colony is a country or region that has been deprived of political and economic independence by capitalist countries, and is controlled and plundered by it.

In fact, compared with this kind of economic colonization, East Africa itself is more like a traditional colonial country in the strict sense, except that there is no suzerainty in East Africa, as evidenced by the nearly 20 million black slaves in East Africa.

Ernst took out a map from a drawer and laid it flat on the table, revealing a map of the Far East.

"Father-in-law, you also went to the Far East last time, you should be familiar with this place, right?" Ernst said, pointing to the location of the Ryukyu Kingdom.

"I'm a little impressed, but it's not easy to take here, huh?"

Archduke Ferdinand knew that the composition of this so-called Ryukyu Kingdom was very complex, and that both the Far Eastern Empire and Japan had interests here.

"Yes, so my goal is not the entire Ryukyu Islands, but the Southern Ryukyu Islands to the south."

The Southern Ryukyu Islands, known as the Sakishima Islands in Japan, are also the southernmost island group of the Ryukyu Islands, consisting of two parts: the Miyako Islands and the Yaeyama Islands.

These names are relatively unfamiliar, but the Miyako Strait is a geographical term that should be familiar to those who followed the news in the past life, and the Southern Ryukyu Islands are located on the southern side of the Miyako Strait and are an important base for controlling the Miyako Strait.

"Last year, the Far Eastern Empire and Japan had a dispute over the Ryukyu Islands!" Archduke Ferdinand asked.

At the end of 1879, Japan decided to depose the king of the Ryukyus and establish Okinawa Prefecture, which was naturally very opposed by the Far Eastern Empire, which was the nominal suzerainty of the Ryukyu Kingdom.

Therefore, Japan retreated to the next best thing and proposed a dichotomy of the Ryukyu Islands, with the southern Ryukyu Islands being ceded to the Far Eastern Empire, and the central and northern parts of the Ryukyus being returned to Japan, on the condition that the Far Eastern Empire would increase Japan's most-favored-nation status in the goodwill treaty.

In fact, until the 21st century, the Southern Ryukyu Islands were the territory of the Far Eastern Empire, as made clear by the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, and that Japan had illegally occupied them.

Ernst seems that this is better than letting East Africa take advantage of this cheapness, and now that the Far Eastern Empire and the Japanese Navy are not in the climate, East Africa can be overlorded.

So Ernst said to Archduke Ferdinand: "It doesn't matter, the snipe and the clam fight, and the fisherman wins." We went directly to the Far Eastern government to get the economic privileges of the region first, and then planned to make the region a colony at the end of the year. ”

This is also a routine of East African colonization, and this is how Lanfang Overseas Province became a territory of East Africa, but Ernst did not intend to let the South Ryukyu Islands directly become a territory of East Africa, but to become a colony of East Africa.

As for why it was necessary to wait until the end of 1880, because it was at that time in history that Japan completely abolished the Ryukyu Kingdom.

At that time, it was just right for East Africa to establish a vassal state in the South Ryukyu Islands at the same time, and the Far Eastern Empire and Japan could not find a reason to oppose it, after all, the Ryukyu Kingdom was destroyed, and even if they objected, it would be invalid.

Of course, Ernst also gave the Far Eastern Empire enough face and took the right to rule the region from them, after all, they couldn't hold it, so it was equivalent to nominally being the territory of the Far Eastern Empire, but in fact it was a colony in East Africa.

As for whether this place can return to the hands of the Far Eastern Empire in the future, it depends on whether the Far Eastern Empire can be revived and strengthened.

In fact, the South Ryukyu Islands were of great value to the Far Eastern Empire and Japan, which valued sea power and had no small ambitions, and the location of the South Ryukyu Islands was important for both countries.

East Africa's acquisition of the South Ryukyu Islands is nothing more than to provide material supplies, ship maintenance, and garrison needs for the East Africa-Lanfang-Alaska route, or the Far Eastern Empire route.

In fact, this can be done along the coast of the Far Eastern Empire, but Ernst does not want to garrison troops in the Far Eastern Empire, so he really turns the Far Eastern Empire into his own colony.

The South Ryukyu Islands are not small in size, and they are relatively rich in products, which can support more than 100,000 people in later generations, and the scale of this era is 10,000 people, so it is convenient to occupy East Africa.

"Since you have a plan, then I naturally won't object, but it's not easy to gain a firm foothold here, and you can only get nominal governance rights by relying on diplomatic operations."

In fact, the right to govern is not right, it should be said that it is the right of escrow, East Africa proposed the Far East to manage the region, which is not important to East Africa, but it is very important to the Far Eastern Empire, after all, when it comes to territorial issues, even if it is still nominally its own, it will look better on the face, and you won't worry about having more debts.

In fact, the Far Eastern Empire's place and Japan are still closed to the country for too long, 1840 has only passed 40 years, the Far Eastern Empire's shipbuilding industry, ports, navy, and sailors can be said to be new, for example, the port of Jiaozhou was built with the help of the Heixinggen Foundation, otherwise the Far Eastern Empire would not have been kicked in the face by the Japanese.

The Far Eastern Empire's progress in maritime undertakings is not as good as that of East Africa, and the establishment of East Africa is twenty or thirty years later than the Far Eastern Empire's opening of the country, and the Far Eastern Empire's door is opened step by step, and many bays were abandoned before.

Therefore, many later ports in the Far East have not even been developed, and only the treaty ports that foreign countries forced the Far Eastern Empire to open up have modern ports.

Of course, it does not mean that many ports do not exist in the state of seclusion, but that they cannot be developed without official endorsement, after all, so many Chinese who go to the South Seas cannot swim there.

Although East Africa started late, with the technical support of Germany, the support of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, the expansion of the ocean-going trade of the Hexingen Foundation, the expansion of East African immigration and slave trade, overseas colonization, and the construction of ports in East Africa, the maritime industry of East Africa, a large land area, has also developed relatively prosperously, at least without delay.

East Africa is also closed to the outside world, but East Africa has always been engaged in maritime business, but foreign forces are not allowed to directly participate in East Africa's maritime trade, and the bunch of newly built ports in East Africa are used by their own commercial ships and navies, which is a kind of one-way valve structure of the closed country, not the kind of closed country that the Far Eastern Empire does not go out of itself.

(End of chapter)