Chapter 408: The Executioner Steps Up
In March 1871, Leopold II remarked to his cabinet, "Belgium is small, lacking resources, and wedged among major powers. If we Belgians want to stand firm in these times, we must secure some vast colonies of our own!"
From a young age, King Leopold II of Belgium nursed aspirations of ruling a great power. Yet Belgium's limited size could hardly fulfill his ambitions. He believed that Belgium's destiny lay in overseas colonies.
By 1872, word of East Africa's colossal victories in southern Africa had reached him, and Leopold II—who had always kept a keen eye on African affairs—could no longer sit idle.
"East Africa! Who here is familiar with them?" Leopold II asked.
"Huh?" The ministers glanced at each other. None of them knew much about the East African Kingdom's specifics. At most, they'd heard the name in passing.
Seeing them stand there clueless, Leopold II growled with frustration: "I've been stressing it for so long—our future depends on colonies, and you've let my words go in one ear and out the other."
"Sire, it's not that we don't care, but colonizing is terribly expensive," said one minister. "If it isn't a place rich in resources, occupying it means no real benefit."
Leopold II retorted, "That's nonsense! Any land has value, so long as a clever person can see it. In this world, there are only two people who grasp it the way I do: Hohenzollern-Hechingen Constantino."
"I've here some detailed intelligence on the East African Kingdom, gathered through various channels. Since 1865, the Hechingen royal house has been colonizing East Africa. Now, in 1872, their African territory might span millions of square kilometers. From Somalia to southern Africa—and even central-west Africa—you'll find their armies."
He had long had designs on Africa. Once enthroned (in 1865), Leopold II had already begun dispatching expeditions to glean the overall picture of the continent.
"That implies that one puny German state, the Hechingen principality—which barely has any autonomy and only a few thousand people—spent just eight years to become a massive power holding millions of square kilometers. Merely the city of Mombasa in East Africa surpasses the population of the Hechingen Principality itself. And in March of this year alone, over a hundred ships, most of them oceangoing steamers, arrived or departed Mombasa daily."
That data wasn't wrong. Currently, East Africa has just two ports, Mombasa and Dar es Salaam, handling all large-scale exports. Both lie on established shipping routes, so the volume is indeed large.
But Ernst certainly couldn't have imagined Leopold II sending people to spy on Mombasa, gathering intelligence on East Africa's growth.
"You may not know the East African Kingdom, but you've heard of the Hechingen Bank, haven't you?" Leopold II continued. "Why do you think Hechingen Bank became one of the leading German banks in just a few short years? I argue that East Africa's resources have lent massive support to the Hechingen royal house. Africa still harbors countless untapped riches, and if even tiny Hechingen can carve off such a huge piece, then we Belgians—easily hundreds of times larger—deserve an even bigger slice!"
The truth is a bit different. Hechingen Bank's meteoric rise stemmed mainly from Ernst consistently betting on the winning side. He made fortunes from wars like the Second Schleswig War, the Austro-Prussian War, the Franco-Prussian War, the Austro-Italian War, plus the current railroad boom in Europe and America. That alone elevated Hechingen Bank to the top in Germany, rather than East Africa's resources.
"Therefore, we must act in Africa now! If we don't, we'll only be left with scraps behind the East African Kingdom," Leopold II insisted.
Originally, Leopold II was a careful man; in the previous timeline, winning the enormous Congo region from other powers was not easy, indicating his extraordinary cunning. Historically, Belgium entered Africa relatively late, starting real moves in 1876.
But East Africa's success had shaken him. The fact that the East African Kingdom had forced the Cape Colony (under British rule) to compromise was the final trigger.
After all, Cape Town was a British colony. The East Africans, operating for under a decade, had the ability to make such a venerable colony yield, which seemed downright legendary. The Cape's concession was something they wanted to hush up because it was too embarrassing, but it couldn't be hidden from Leopold II, who'd been observing East Africa closely.
He had followed East Africa's development in part due to Archduke Ferdinand (Maximilian I). Ferdinand's wife was Princess Charlotte of Belgium, Leopold II's sister. When Ferdinand was in trouble in Mexico, Charlotte had asked for help from every major European power, including her brother Leopold II.
But he had only been on the throne briefly, and Belgium was just a small country—it could never intervene so far away in Mexico. If anything, it would more likely be the other way around.
So Leopold II effectively looked away, leaving his sister to seek aid from the Habsburgs. But Austria-Hungary, bogged down by the Austro-Prussian War, couldn't spare any resources for Mexico, and Ferdinand himself didn't want to flee Austria in disgrace. He insisted on going the "valiant death" route, much like Emperor Chongzhen, until Ernst forcibly pulled him out of Mexico and brought him to Africa—leading him to a period of depression.
Knowing that, Leopold II realized the Hohenzollern-Hechingen family was also pursuing an African colonial policy. So he watched East Africa's endeavors with keen interest, letting Hechingen do the "pathfinding" for him.
And in only a few years, the East African Kingdom had ballooned from a speck in East Africa to millions of square kilometers of territory, though Leopold II didn't know its exact population. Judging by Mombasa, Dar es Salaam, and the East African Army's operations in southern Africa, he guessed there were at least a million people.
He didn't doubt that East Africa could attract immigrants. After all, the Hechingen Principality in Europe was a small place of merely thousands, so how else could the Hechingen family colonize Africa without luring other populations?
Leopold II investigated Mombasa and Dar es Salaam, discovering that East Africa heavily relied on German and Far Eastern immigrants. Germans made sense—Germany had long been a net emigration zone, so East Africa pulling in large numbers of them was unsurprising.
Belgium, however, couldn't match Germany's population. Thus Leopold II planned to replicate Ernst's model by recruiting Far Easterners as labor in Africa—just as East Africa's army included many from the Far East.
After all, the East Africans had answered: Use barbarians to control barbarians. Using Far Eastern workers to dominate African natives seemed perfect. Belgium would simply reap the rewards.
With that in mind, Leopold II declared, "Even the Hechingen Principality could do it—so we, who are far bigger, have no excuse not to. Just see how wealthy the Hohenzollern family has become! Our Belgium has over three million people, with decent industrial and agricultural development, whereas the Hechingen Principality is just a tiny vassal of Prussia. We must learn from the East African Kingdom and create a 'Belgium No. 2' in Africa. Time won't wait. Present your plans to me—at once."
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