"Hmph! These Germans have no sense of propriety at all! They did not even give us a heads-up—they truly do not take the Kingdom of Portugal seriously!" Yalish said indignantly to his subordinates.
"President, what do you intend to do?"
"Do? Do what? We are merely a chamber of commerce, while they are an army! Are you planning to use an egg to smash a stone?"
"Should we contact the government and have them deal with the Germans?"
"You expect those wine sacks and rice bags in the rear to do it? Portugal's young people have long since lost the Kingdom of Portugal's old edge! If they had not been so timid and hesitant, they should have stopped the Germans at all costs back then, even if it meant offending the Sultanate of Zanzibar. Now that the Germans have established themselves in Africa, I am afraid the whole of Mozambique is no match for them."
"President, surely it is not that bad! We have been developing in Africa for centuries, while the Germans only arrived in East Africa three years ago."
"Pah! Remember this: when you look at a problem in the future, you must seize the key point. Do not look at things with old eyes." Yalish lectured them. "Let me ask you, why have we Portuguese abandoned expansion into the interior all these years?"
"This...?"
"Is it not because we lack the ability? Not only are the colonies inadequate—even the kingdom itself is inadequate. Mark my words: East Africa can now field organized troops in the interior, while we cannot."
"President, that should not be difficult, should it?"
"Of course it is not difficult, but take a look at the standard of Mozambique's garrison. In recent years, they have struggled even to fight natives, while the Germans have