Towards 1884, a conspiracy was brewing in Europe, and as in the previous life, the venue was chosen in Berlin, but the purpose and content of the Berlin Conference were very different, and the East African government was surprisingly invited.

In the previous Berlin Conference, it was mainly caused by the dispute over the Congo River Basin, but the fuse of the Berlin Conference in this life is the Niger River Basin.

After all, East Africa already controls most of the Congo River Basin, only the lower reaches of the Congo River are controlled by Belgium and Portugal respectively, and the mouth of the Congo River is completely controlled by the Portuguese colony of Angola, so there is no so-called dispute in the Congo River Basin.

"German Prime Minister Bismarck intends to convene an international conference on West African affairs, nominally to substitute civilization into the West African region and change the backward status quo there, but in fact to completely resolve the increasingly fierce confrontation and disputes in the West African region, or to say that the colonizers of West African countries want to divide the interests of West Africa and speed up the colonization of West Africa."

"Invite us? Will they also allow East Africa to enter West Africa? Konstantin said jokingly.

"This is the strange place, to say that we in East Africa are definitely the number one force in Africa now, if they intervene in West Africa, they are not asking for trouble! So I'm afraid that some of the people who came this time were not good. ”

"This Berlin Conference is actually a contest between Britain, France and Germany in West Africa, with traditional colonial powers such as Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Portugal."

Portugal's colonies in West Africa are mainly a small coastal territory of the Kingdom of Dahomey-Weida, as well as the Portuguese island of São Tomé and Príncipe in the Atlantic.

Of course, Portugal is specifically mentioned, mainly because of the rather irony of Portugal's participation in this international conference, which, as in previous lives, are the sixteen "world powers" that qualify for this Berlin conference.

Specifically, the five major rogues in Europe, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and Austria, then the United States, Spain, the Ottoman Empire, the Kingdom of Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, the Kingdom of Italy, Portugal, and the only African country eligible to participate in the conference, the Kingdom of Heshingen (Kingdom of East Africa).

If Portugal is not counted as a "great power", then Denmark, Norway, and Italy, which is only half of the country left, are embarrassed, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Sweden are small, but they are either developed, rich, or influential in Northern Europe like Sweden, and these countries are no worse than the great powers in terms of industrialization.

"We were not invited to Sigmaringen at this Berlin meeting, will this affect our strategic layout in Sigmalingen?" Prince Karl asked.

It is true that Sigmaringen is more concerned about the content of this conference than East Africa, because the main direction of Sigmaringen's future territorial expansion is West Africa, in order to seek an independent outlet to the sea, but this Berlin conference disrupted the layout of Sigmaringen.

And what is even more embarrassing is that Sigmaringen is not qualified to sit at the negotiating table, that is, the mainstream countries of the world do not recognize the existence of the Sigmaringen royal domain.

In fact, it was not European discrimination, but that many countries were unaware of the existence of the Sigmaringen colony, including Germany, which led the conference.

Because the geographical location of Sigmaringen is indeed too remote, even the province of East Azande, which is at the junction of East Africa and Sigmalingen, actually has not much population except for the army, let alone Sigmaringen, which has to pass through East Africa to redevelop the Chad region.

Some French expeditions were aware of the existence of the Sigmaringen Crown, but they mistook Sigmaringen's Crown Territory for East Africa.

Because before Sigmaringen, the indigenous people of the Chad region mainly dealt with East Africa, and many indigenous forces that fled from the Great Lakes region to the Chad region naturally regarded East Africa as their suzerain.

Therefore, before the Sigmaringen royal territory colonized the Chad region, the East African Army often patrolled the Chad region to escort East African geologists and expeditions into West Africa.

In this way, the Chad region was regarded as East African territory by default by the French, but in fact it has become the royal domain of Sigmaringen in recent years, and the local indigenous forces have been driven away from East Africa in advance.

"Karl, you don't have to worry, at this meeting, we will definitely guarantee the basic interests of Sigmaringen, but because of the suddenness of the incident, I think it will be a little difficult for Sigmalingen to obtain access to the sea in the future!" Konstantin analyzed.

The final result of the Berlin Conference must be to divide the spheres of influence according to the strength of all parties in West Africa, so in addition to those countries that already have colonies in West Africa, such as Austria-Hungary, Tsarist Russia, Norway, Sweden, and even East Africa are all spectators.

In fact, large areas of West Africa have not been developed, especially inland, and a quick way for colonists to develop the interior in this era is to follow the waterway and go deep into the interior.

This is also the reason why European and American expeditions like to explore the source of the river, and in his previous life, Stanley was under the banner of exploring the source of the Congo River, and with the funding of Belgium, he carried out preliminary preparations for the colonization of the Congo Basin.

This time, he did not have this opportunity, because the west of the Kinshasa region was all in the area controlled by East Africa, and the East African inland river and lake troops could cruise the entire middle reaches of the Congo River.

The mouth of the Congo River was completely controlled by the Portuguese with the destruction of the Kingdom of Congo by Portugal, and the Portuguese are still a big force in Africa, especially in recent years in order to deal with East Africa, greatly improving their military strength.

Therefore, explorers like Stanley could only carry out activities in the Niger River Basin, and the fierce competition between Britain, France and Germany in West Africa in recent years led to the convening of the Berlin Conference.

Originally, in West Africa, France was the strongest, but Britain also occupied a lot of good places, the most famous is the Gold Coast, and now Germany, a new world power, has also inserted itself into the West African quagmire, and the entire West African coastline is a mess.

There is no way to do this, East Africa has blocked the roads for Britain to go south and north, so it can only sacrifice its body and compete with Germany and France for the last uncolonized area of West Africa.

"Nine times out of ten, Germany pulled us to the Berlin Conference to support its colonial activities in West Africa, and as for East Africa, it is basically impossible for East Africa to profit from this conference, after all, Britain, France, and Germany, including other countries, do not want a giant country to appear in Africa.

Therefore, our primary purpose is to fight for more economic interests like Tsarist Russia and Austria-Hungary, and at the same time to ensure the relevant rights and interests of the Sigmalingen royal domain, but the current situation along the coastline of West Africa is complicated, and it is difficult to agree on the distribution of West Africa among the last few powers. Ernst said.

The main reason is that Sigmaringen entered Africa too late, and it would have been much easier if Sigmaringen had colonized Africa at the same time as Belgium.

Konstantin also said to Prince Karl: "If Sigmaringen wants to obtain access to the sea, it must be negotiated with Germany, and you let Leopold discuss this matter with the Prussian royal family in advance, if Germany agrees, then this matter will be much easier to do, but in this way, Sigmaringen will also owe Germany favors in the future." ”

Favors are not afraid of owing anyway, especially the three kings (royal) families, which are all branches of the Hohenzollern family, and are the main three branches, so the Prussian royal family will definitely support Sigmalingen, but the attitude of the Prussian royal family does not necessarily represent the attitude of the German government.

(End of chapter)