African Entrepreneurship Record

The opening of the Age of Exploration was due to the Arab countries monopolizing trade between the East and West, along with the historical conquests of Middle Eastern regimes like Ancient Persia, the Arab Empire, and the Ottoman Empire towards Europe. This forced Europeans to find new trade routes. Even after these routes were opened, they continued to strive to restrict the expansion space of the Arabian Religious Influence, and East Africa inherited this aspect.

Compared to Europe, East Africa is located on the Indian Ocean coast, naturally forming a competitive relationship with the Arabian Religious Influence. The reason East Africa can dominate the Indian Ocean today is largely due to the decline of Arabian Religious Influence, creating space for East African expansion in the Indian Ocean.

Therefore, what Frier referred to as the "Arabian Religious Threat" is also determined by the national interests of East African countries. This point is agreed upon within East Africa.

Ernst affirmed: "In the future, there can only be one voice in the Indian Ocean, and that is us, East Africa. Any existence that might threaten the Empire is our target for suppression."

"Since that’s the case, we will temporarily take over local governance in Galligal and Yan areas, using these three places as bases to export ideology and public opinion hegemony to the South Asian Subcontinent. We will incite regional conflicts and prevent the Arabian Religious Influence from rekindling in the South Asian Subcontinent, avoiding the emergence of a strong and unified Arab-style Indian Empire."

"Besides supporting other local religions in India for quick results, we also need to strengthen the dissemination of external sects such as Catholicism in the South Asian region."

"Meanwhile, to reduce the sensitivity of the British government, we must try to avoid conflicts with the British in South Asia. We will only focus on ideology and propaganda without targeting the British governance order in India."

For East Africa, the British setup in India is not enough to make India a threat to East Africa in the future, so there is no need to overthrow the current British rule in India.

Moreover, if British rule in India suddenly collapses now, India’s development cannot be controlled by East Africa either.

The British rely on the Arabian sect and Hinduism to govern India. If Britain is expelled at this time, these two religions may become dominant in India. Although East Africa is not particularly hostile toward Hinduism, its strong popular base on the Indian peninsula can easily consolidate into a unified country like India’s past, which does not align with East African interests.

Until East Africa cultivates forces like Sikhism, Buddhism, and Dravidian Nationalism that can compete with the Arabian sect and Hinduism, it should not disrupt the current social order in India.

Ernst also considered another point: chaotic India is likely to allow for an opportunity for the Russian Labor Party to infiltrate.

After all, the corrupt social order of India and the struggling lower class naturally suit the violent ideology infiltration of the Russian Labor Party. If a Labor Party regime is established along the Indian Ocean coast, the East African leaders wouldn’t find it amusing.

In Ernst’s view, a Labor Party regime is one of the threats second only to the Arabian Religious Influence, considering the Soviet Union of the past established a large red camp on the Eurasian continent with this strategy.

If the situation of the past arises, it would be highly problematic for the East African government. Therefore, East Africa instead needs to maintain some of the backward and decaying regimes surrounding it, preventing them from being replaced by forces supported by the Russian Labor Party.

As the leader of a world-renowned "reactionary" regime, Ernst has this "awareness." Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to bring Aleksey and other core members of the Russian royal family to East Africa.

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In late 1917, while the war in Europe was still at a stalemate, internal turmoil erupted once more in Russia. The Russian Labor Party organized armed forces in Saint Petersburg, formally overthrowing Russia’s capitalist provisional government.

In a lakeside manor in Rhein City.

Aleksey and three core members of the Russian royal family received more bad news.

"We have completely lost contact with His Majesty and his situation is unknown. It is heard that the Labor Party has secretly relocated your parents and two sisters, and no one knows where they have been sent. Previously, the provisional government merely had His Majesty under house arrest, but now we don’t even know their whereabouts!"

The bodyguard commander, She Liayou’er, tearfully reported this devastating news to the three members.

Stricken by the news and unsure of what to do, Aleksey nervously held onto the hem of his third sister, Princess Maria’s clothing and asked tremulously, "Sister, Father must be alright, right?"

As the eldest among the three, Princess Maria couldn’t afford to be overwhelmed by grief. She held the hands of her younger siblings and said, "God will protect Father. Information within the country is still unclear and things are unsettled, so we must be strong. Especially you, Aleksey, you are the Empire’s only legitimate heir. Now, only Saint Petersburg has seen rebellion, and I believe the rebels will soon be suppressed."

"Instead of mulling over uncertainties, we should do more practical things. Even though we are far in East Africa, it’s not that we can’t establish contact with our homeland."

"Uncle Balarnov should be aware of changes within the country. We should reach out to him. He is Father’s trusted confidant and someone we can rely on."

Balarnov is the current ambassador of the Russian Empire to East Africa, so he is in Rhein City and the highest-ranking Russian official in East Africa. He remains a relic of the orthodox Russian past.

Being one of the most powerful countries in the world, Russia naturally values its diplomatic relations with East Africa, especially after the outbreak of World War I, where East Africa became Russia’s largest maritime trading partner.

To engage East African government support for Russia, Nicholas II naturally conducted a rigorous selection of diplomatic personnel dispatched to East Africa.

Balarnov, originating from a great Russian noble family, had his capabilities recognized by Nicholas II, thus was dispatched to East Africa to manage diplomatic tasks between the two nations.

During the Russian revolution earlier this year, although Nicholas II announced his abdication, and a capitalist provisional government came into power, due to the provisional government’s initial grip on power, there were no significant adjustments to Russia’s diplomatic activities. Russian diplomatic staff in East Africa also weren’t greatly affected.

Therefore, Ambassador Balarnov continued his work in East Africa, and provided extensive support to Aleksey and his entourage upon their arrival last year. Much domestic information from the end of last year till now was communicated by Balarnov to Aleksey and the others.

Of course, besides the "official" route for Aleksey and the others to contact their homeland, there was a secret channel managed by the bodyguard commander, She Liayou’er.

This information channel previously maintained contact with the Russian court, and after Nicholas II’s abdication, was managed by Russian nobles.

But now, with the Labor Party’s rise to power, the Russian nobility naturally faced purges, and the entire system in Saint Petersburg was basically disrupted, causing She Liayou’er’s information channel to be cut off.

Aleksey and others could only hope to obtain the latest information from the Russian embassy in East Africa, or from the East African government.

Guided by Princess Maria, Aleksey, the former Crown Prince, and Princess Anastasia also had no choice but to calm down.

With his youthful face strained to maintain composure, Aleksey said, "Sister Maria is right, we must not panic. Regardless of how far East Africa is from our homeland, we can still make a significant impact."

"East Africa is a great power, and once we communicate with Ambassador Balarnov and the Rhein Royal Family, we should be able to acquire some useful intelligence, and then we can make plans."

Seeing Aleksey regain composure quickly, Princess Maria had a rare sense of relief amidst a complex mood. She instructed, "Uncle She Liayou’er, now please prepare the vehicles, as we should go to the embassy to seek assistance from Ambassador Balarnov. I believe they have some intel on the homeland that we are not aware of."

She Liayou’er nodded and said, "Don’t worry, Grand Duke and Your Highness the Crown Prince. I am also very concerned about the domestic situation. I believe His Majesty will be safe and sound."

The reason She Liayou’er referred to Maria as Grand Duke instead of Princess is due to Russian tradition. They do not have the title of Princess, primarily to show that Russian princesses are superior to princesses in other European countries, signifying greater nobility.