Chapter 854 American Conspiracy
December 1892.
“Brother Roger, are you here?” Enders, a member of the American Hawaii Business Association, smiled and introduced Roger into her home.
“Moore, go make a cup of coffee.”
Moore is a servant in Endes' family, a typical black man. Endes hired black people as her domestic servants, naturally because of the high cost performance, the price is right, and she can also manage the house in an orderly manner. After hearing the order, Moore , Moore honestly followed the master's instructions.
Rogge was lying on the sofa, looking quite comfortable. He asked Enders: "Boss Enders, why did you have time to ask me to come here this time? In the past, I often invited you, but you were not at home."
"Oh, I'm all busy with business. Unlike you, my business is as big as yours, so don't stay busy for a while. A while ago, I was busy with orders from Europe. The orders were not big, they were all small portions, and the quantities were quite large. , the work is endless,” Enders said.
"You're kidding. I'm just a small businessman. I haven't had much business recently, so I have time to wander around. I don't know how much I really envy you. Europe has always been aggressive, and I can only do business in the Far East. business.”
In Hawaii, everyone is still mainly engaged in the sandalwood business, but the sandalwood business in Hawaii is also declining. Think about it, there are already several small islands here, and no matter how many resources there are, they cannot keep up with the deforestation rate in decades.
As for other places, the biggest role of Hawaii is to serve as a docking place for ships at sea. After all, the Hawaiian Islands are the only decent place in the hinterland of the North Pacific.
Of course, this is also the main reason why East Africa is eyeing this place. Hawaii’s position is too important, and it is unjustifiable not to have a hand in it.
Ships sailing at sea generally follow the ocean currents, which can save a lot of time and cost, especially in the age of sails. This is especially prominent.
Thanks to the fact that the Far Eastern Empire is extremely short of wood, especially in the northern region, the Alaskan merchant ships will not have a high empty ship rate when they return.
The Southern Ryukyu Islands colony in East Africa happens to be at the source of the North Pacific Warm Current, so as long as the land of Hawaii is supplemented, the transportation between East Africa and Alaska will be stable.
Of course, when the ship returns from Alaska, it will take another route, that is, the Japanese Islands and the waters of eastern Asia.
Generally, most of the goods carried by Alaskan ships returning home were timber and furs. After being sold in Japan and the Far East, they were reloaded and returned to East Africa.
Hawaii is right in the middle of the North Pacific Warm Current, and the way from East Africa to Alaska is mainly to follow the North Pacific Warm Current to the west coast of America, and then go north along the Alaska Warm Current.
After all, East Africa has no shortage of wood and no need for fur. East Africa is located in a tropical area and does not need fur for heating. Instead, silk and other products are more popular.
Of course, in this way, the Alaska route will not make much money from the trade in East Africa, and will even lose money. East Africa has to transport more than 20,000 tons of rations to Alaska every year to ensure the normal operation of the Alaska royal territory.
At the beginning, the main reason why Tsarist Russia abandoned Alaska was Alaska’s poor food self-sufficiency rate.
Moreover, Tsarist Russia itself had a Siberian region, and the Tsar had to continuously exile prisoners to maintain its population, so it was even more impossible for the Russians to go to Alaska to open up wasteland. It’s not that everything can’t be grown in Alaska. Potatoes, barley, oats and a small amount of drought-tolerant vegetables can be grown in the south. However, this is a drop in the bucket for the entire Alaska. Therefore, East Africa must continue to supply the staple food of the Alaskan people. On this basis, Alaska can be effectively utilized. of arable land resources.
Of course, if Alaska’s mineral resources can be developed, that would be another matter. But does East Africa have the ability to develop Alaska now?
Obviously not. It is certain that if mining development in Alaska is allowed, the Canadian and American armies will immediately move north, so the people of Alaska can only suffer first.
Of course, this is just a joke. The standard of living in Alaska is actually not bad at all. After all, the population is small. As a country with overcapacity in agriculture, East Africa does not lack that food. In addition, Alaska is rich in fishery resources. Therefore, in terms of food, clothing, housing and transportation, Alaska residents have The standard of living is quite high.
As for East Africa, or in other words, if the royal family of Hechingen wanted to maintain its rule in Alaska, it naturally needed to ensure smooth communication between the two places. The main way from East Africa to Alaska was by sea, so the importance of Hawaii was once again highlighted.
This is the same as when Ernst insisted on intervening in the Ryukyu Islands dispute. In fact, the ultimate goal was to ensure the safety of Alaska.
Without the Alaska Crown Territory, East Africa would not have gotten into troubled waters at all, because the Southern Ryukyu Islands and Kauai Island have few resources. East Africa would not gain much practical benefit from occupying these two places, and might also be targeted by Japan and the United States.
Of course, when the United States and Japan target East Africa, they will definitely not be cowardly. East Africa is far away from the two countries. Even if they devote all their strength to East Africa, there is no good way to take control of East Africa. On the other hand, East Africa can take control of the two countries.
This reflects the geographical advantage of East Africa. World trade is mainly concentrated on the Eurasian continent. It is impossible for the United States and Japan to avoid the Indian Ocean region. In the Indian Ocean region, as long as East Africa does not target the United Kingdom and the United States, no one can do anything about East Africa. .
Especially for Japan, the European raw silk market is extremely important to Japan, and the Indian Ocean is the only way for Japanese merchant ships to go to Europe. Otherwise, they can only go around the Americas. Today, when the Panama Canal is not open, the risk of going around the Americas is too great, and It also takes a long time.
The railroad construction in the United States in the 19th century was also due to the inconvenience of sea transportation, so it was forced to connect the east and west coasts through railways, giving birth to the world's largest railway network.
The poor French are still building the Panama Canal. They have simply not learned the lessons of the "Suez" Canal. But now France likes to invest overseas. After all, the country's industrial production costs are too high. After losing Lorraine and Alsace, Even more so, it cannot fully compete with Germany, so it is understandable that France invests heavily overseas.
And this approach of France cannot be said to be fruitless. In the past, the French colonies were relatively stable because France had a higher level of construction. The colonies received more dividends than the colonies of other countries. Of course, this dividend was not the same as that of the local indigenous people. Relations, mainly French residents living in the French colonies.
"Brother Rogge, you underestimate yourself too much. In all these years in Hawaii, who doesn't know Rogge's name? Your industries are almost all over the entire Kauai Island. With these industries, you can also be ranked first in Hawaii." Unlike a big businessman like me, who can only work in the sandalwood business, and with the depletion of sandalwood resources, I’m afraid I won’t be able to continue doing it in a few years. If I change my career by then, I’m afraid I’ll still need you a lot. Take care of me." Enders complimented Roger.
Rogge's industries are naturally concentrated on Kauai Island. After all, this is an instruction from the central government, which is conducive to East Africa's secret control of Kauai Island.
It is not yet time for a showdown. East Africa can only continue to increase its bets on Kauai. Once the United States takes action in Hawaii, East Africa will "respond" in time and realize the carving up of Hawaii between the two countries.
To be honest, Americans did not expect East Africa to be so insidious. In fact, there are three countries that the United States is mainly on guard against in Hawaii: the United Kingdom, France and Japan.
With these three countries sharing firepower, East Africa, a country far away in Africa, is naturally ignored. Moreover, in the midst of mutual competition and precautions, no one expected that East Africa would quietly reach out to Hawaii.
(End of this chapter)