African Entrepreneurship Record

Karl recounted his experiences and the various landscapes he had witnessed before everyone. Although Karl was about the same age as everyone else, having lived in the Far East, Germany, and East Africa, attended school, and worked in factories, his experiences were indeed much more enriching than those of these rural youth from Germany and Austria.

Evening.

Everyone herded the cattle in the direction of the village, concluding another mundane day.

...

Mbeya.

A meeting focusing on the Central South Africa region was underway. Mbeya's military commander, Merk, was reporting the situation to the city's high officials and the commissioner sent by the central authority.

Merk stood in front of a map, pointed at it, and said, "Here is Mbeya. As the most important city in the southwestern region of East Africa, Mbeya not only has abundant resources but also serves as a military stronghold, guarding the route from the East African Plateau to the South African Plateau.

This group to the east is the East African Plateau, where the main territory of our East African royal domain is located.

Heading west from the East African Plateau, this large dotted area directly west is the Congo rainforest, and starting from the southern part of the Congo rainforest, this vast area is the South African Plateau.

Unlike the East African Plateau, which is a single large expanse, the South African Plateau is made up of many small plateaus.

This includes the Katanga Plateau, the Longda Plateau, the Kongou Plateau, the Bie Plateau, and others.

Look here, this position is the Katanga Plateau, located in the northeast of the South African Plateau, connected to our East Africa, and is the current target.

Soron (Tanganyika) Lake and Malawi Lake separate the East and the South African Plateaus. Between these lakes is a passage over three hundred kilometers long, which our troops patrol daily.

Crossing this passage marks the first step in our conquest of Central South Africa."

After educating the attendees on the geography of Central South Africa and its connection to East Africa, Merk returned to his seat.

"Very good! It seems you all have been working on this," said Commissioner Sivert. "I have come this time with directives from His Highness the Prince. This concerns our future strategy for managing Central South Africa, and Mbeya serves as the outpost for this operation. Merk, your garrison in Mbeya should be quite familiar with the forces around East Africa. Give everyone a brief introduction."

Merk sat at the conference table and said to everyone, "Commissioner, fellow attendees, currently the forces surrounding our Mbeya area are mainly twofold: one is the Malawi Kingdom on the southern end of Malawi Lake.

The Malawi Kingdom is not our target this time, so I will focus on the forces on the Katanga Plateau.

To our west, on the Katanga Plateau, exists a Yake Kingdom, also known as the Mwesili Kingdom. The Yake Kingdom is relatively young, established only decades before our East Africa.

Its founder was a slave trader named Mwesili, who was originally a native of the Tanganyika region, and his father was a porter for an Arab merchant.

This Mwesili was thus quite knowledgeable. He gained the trust of local chiefs through trading with Arabs for firearms, waged wars continually, expanded significantly, and eventually established the Yake Kingdom."

Feeling dry-throated, Merk took a sip of water before continuing: "The Yake Kingdom has long been dominant locally, thanks to the firearms provided by Arab merchants.

Initially, when we first developed the area around Malawi Lake (with Mbeya as the capital), we clashed with the Yake Kingdom. Their power was indeed formidable compared to the average local tribes.

However, the Yake Kingdom has a critical weakness: it relies on Arabs for ammunition, and since we have cut off Arab influence, every bullet they fire is one less in their arsenal.

At the time, we were not interested in the Yake Kingdom, as our numbers were limited. After repelling a few attacks, we didn't pursue further retaliation.

Later on, due to the necessity of slaves for construction, we started to cooperate with the Yake Kingdom. East Africa continued to supply them with ammunition, while the Yake Kingdom provided us with slaves."

The cooperation between the Yake Kingdom and East Africa wasn't by choice but rather out of necessity, not particularly aimed against it by the East African colony.

Initially, Mwesili built the Yake Kingdom primarily through firearms, leveraging his equipment advantage to wage wars and oppress surrounding tribes.

Yet, after the establishment of the East African colony—particularly upon the founding of the Malawi Lake area—it directly severed the Yake Kingdom's original trade routes with Arab merchants.

Consequently, the Yake Kingdom lost significant economic benefits and naturally refused to acquiesce, attempting to militarily crush the East African colony at the inception of the Malawi Lake area.

However, the East African colony wasn't easily defeated; in fact, its weaponry was more advanced, causing the Yake Kingdom to retreat in defeat.

The most critical issue was their inability to replenish weapons and ammunition, turning the firearms of the Yake Kingdom into mere fire sticks.

Their advantage over neighboring tribal powers vanished, many enemies began to retaliate against the Yake Kingdom, coupled with internal uprisings due to the already oppressive rule.

The Yake Kingdom's control started crumbling, but fortunately for them, the East African colony later realized that developing East Africa required slaves. However, all the local tribes in East Africa had already been captured, necessitating sourcing them from elsewhere.

Looking around, the Yake Kingdom was the easiest option, considering it had been engaged in slave trade for years, originally surviving by selling slaves.

The East African colony wasn't keen on venturing into Central South Africa to capture slaves themselves, so they used the Yake Kingdom as an intermediary for the mere price of some ammunition.

The Yake Kingdom had no choice; acquiring ammunition allowed them to restore considerable military power, suppressing nationals and surrounding tribal forces, thereby ensuring its continued existence.

Even if they made no profits, essentially working for free for the East African colony, it was better than facing destruction, so the Yake Kingdom accepted the East African colony's offer of cooperation.

"Yes, I am aware of this. The military authorities in Mbeya reported this to the central authority back in the day. But now, we need the entirety of the Katanga Plateau more than ever; slaves can be acquired from surrounding regions, but Katanga Plateau is one of a kind, and this Yake Kingdom blocks our growth path," said Sivert.

As the military chief of Mbeya, Merk immediately spoke up: "Officer, our Southwest Army District shares this sentiment. We should strike the Yake Kingdom hard, especially since we've not yet reconciled their past aggression against us."

Merk wasn't particularly spiteful against the Yake Kingdom, insisting on its destruction, but the Southwest Army District's troops gained nothing from previous northwest campaigns; all achievements were claimed by the Northwest and Northern Army Districts, leaving the Southwest district to merely monitor and prevent Central South Africa's indigenous powers.

The East African colony handled the northwest conflict remarkably well, almost effortlessly. Merk was naturally envious, thinking, "Isn't it just fighting the natives? I'm capable too."

Just as Merk was about to further persuade the commissioner to declare war on the Yake Kingdom, a discordant voice came from the Mbeya government personnel seats.

"Commissioner, I have an idea that might be worth trying, one that could conquer the entire Katanga Plateau at minimal cost."