The efficiency of British Government in the early 20th century was still very high. After all, the entire country is now in a "prosperous" state, although the growth of other countries' strength has posed a certain threat to the imperial hegemony.
However, the British at this time would not have imagined that their descendants would be rapidly corrupted after entering the 21st century. At this time, Britain was just like United States in later generations. The vast majority of people still had very strong confidence in the country. After all, without this confidence, Britain would not have been able to survive in World Wars.
Soon the Asquith cabinet formulated the first draft of its own plan and sent it to Asquith.
Asquith looked at this plan for a long time, and after confirming that there was no problem, he said to George, "Send this manuscript to the Ambassador to East Africa library! Negotiate with East Africans according to this standard."
"Yes, Prime Minister!" George said, then turned around and left with the manuscript.
Rhine City.
National Assembly Hall, where negotiations between East Africa and the United Kingdom are taking place, and at this time, the National Assembly Hall is like a noisy vegetable market.
The game between East African government and the British representative is still exaggerated, because the differences between the two sides' expected plans are indeed very large.
Foreign Minister Freer asked the British ambassador Russell in an exaggerated accent, "Five hundred thousand tons, this standard is simply impossible to achieve. Nowadays, the standard configuration of the world's powerful navies is more than 800,000 tons. You are the brat you support. Japan The total tonnage of naval ships is already very close to half a million tons. It is probably only a matter of one or two years to break through 500,000 tons, so we absolutely cannot accept the British plan."
"If this plan is passed, then we in East Africa will actually lag behind Japan, which is unacceptable to us. After all, Japan is just a small island country in Northeast Asia."
Russell has every reason to suspect that Freer means Britain. What is a small island country? In fact, mainland Britain doesn't even have Japan, so isn't the UK worse than Japan, a small island country?
And why do you East Africans look down on Japan? Although Japan's geographical location and race are indeed prone to discrimination in European society, you in East Africa are not much better!
As we all know, East Africa is an African country, and except for North Africa, Africa has traditionally been regarded by Europe as a barbaric land and a civilized desert.
Before the rise of the independent country of East Africa, African continent's Sub-Saharan could be said to be the least civilized place that the colonists had ever encountered. Even though there were some "civilized" ancient countries in West and East Africa, these initially civilized countries were actually secondary civilizations of Arab religion.
Take Zanzibar, which was annexed by East Africa, as a country created after the expansion of the Omani Empire, and the Uganda kingdom, which was destroyed by East Africa, also belongs to this type.
The same is true for the indigenous countries in West Africa. Many of them are the legacy of the Ottoman Empire glorious era in Africa. For example, the British colonial Nigeria area has a large number of various types of emir countries, just like a large number of British India feudal states.
As for the original civilization of Sub-Saharan, there is only one Great Zimbabwe Ruins that has been completely wiped out in East Africa. And due to the lack of archaeological evidence and written data, no one can determine where this civilization came from. Moreover, even Great Zimbabwe Ruins probably has little to do with the black people in the traditional sense, Bantu people, and is most likely the work of the San people.
All in all, before the rise of East Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa was a civilization depression, an existence that could be despised by all regions in the world, so for Russell, theoretically speaking, your East Africans are not as good as Japan!
So Russell said to Freer: "Your Excellency Freer, don't be impatient in East Africa. Japan has already proven its strength. They have defeated Russia, one of the most powerful countries in the world, so Japan should naturally belong to a civilized country. The current strength of Imperial Japanese Navy alone is enough to rank among the top in the world. Therefore, Japan is definitely not a so-called weak navy. The naval share we give East Africa is enough to support East Africa's status as a great power."
Freer did not accept this trick. He said to Russell, "Japan cannot be compared with us in East Africa. Even if they defeat Russia through despicable means such as sneak attacks, in our definition of East Africa, Japan is just a puppet country that is lucky and has been supported by others. Although our comprehensive strength in East Africa is not currently ranked in the first echelon among the world's major powers, it is not something that Japan can touch."
In fact, Russell also agrees with these words of Freer. Although it sounds a bit harsh, in a country like East Africa that calls itself German state, they actually regard themselves as a part of the "civilized world" psychologically.
The so-called "civilized world" naturally refers to Europe. In this regard, East Africa is even more extreme than the United States people. After all, United States at least recognizes and proudly considers itself an American country, and has also devised a plan like Monroe Doctrine's attempt to control the entire American hegemony.
Of course, East African government's arrogance is actually not unreasonable. After all, except for East Africa and Kingdom of Southern Germany, the entire African continent is either indigenous or a colony of other countries, or a pagan country like North Africa. It can be said that there are no three normal countries in the entire African continent.
The Americas are different. Although Canada is a British colony, it has very great autonomy. As a British colony, Canada is not the same as a colony in the general sense. At least in Canadians's view, their status is no different from that of the mainland. It is not a place like India that was enslaved by the British, nor a penal colony for criminals like Australia.
With the exception of Canada, other American countries can basically be said to have achieved de facto independence, even Haiti, a black country whose economy is in a mess, is much stronger than the group of black people on African continent.
Freer continued, "Our expectation in East Africa is at least one million tons. The current tonnage of American Navy is close to this level. Germany and France are not far away from one million tons. In the next few years, the naval tonnage of these three countries will definitely exceed one million tons, and may even exceed that of your country Royal Navy. At least this is not difficult for Germany and United States."
"East Africa must ensure that its navy has the ability to check and balance all naval forces except your country Royal Navy, so that it can effectively safeguard our country's interests around the world."
What Freer said is true. From an East African perspective, at least in terms of national strength, the United States, even Britain and its colonies combined, may not be able to guarantee an advantage over the United States. As for Germany, if there is no interference from the United Kingdom, it will not be difficult for its navy to surpass the United Kingdom.
Of course Russell would not agree to Frier's nonsense. The current total tonnage of Royal Navy is only two million tons. If the total tonnage of East Africa's navy reaches one million tons, wouldn't it directly meet the British standard for defining the top two navies?
If United States, Germany and France are added, then in addition to the United Kingdom, there will be four countries in the world with a total naval tonnage of more than one million tons. The British two-power standard is not enough to suppress other countries, and this also needs to take into account that Russia, a behemoth, may not regain its strength.
Before Russo-Japanese War, Russian navy's scale exceeded 800,000 tons. At that time, it was second only to British Royal Navy in terms of scale and ranked among the top three in the world. Although Russian navy suffered heavy losses due to Russo-Japanese War, most countries, including the United Kingdom, would not think that this could break Russian navy's backbone.
After all, judging from the experience of the past hundreds of years, Russia's ability to recover is extremely strong. Although Russo-Japanese War has a traumatic effect on Russia, it can only delay the re-emergence of Russian navy.