Austria, Schönbrunn Palace.
"Heh heh, what's this? Being Commander-in-Chief of the Navy didn't suit you, so you want to go back on your word? My foolish little brother."
Franz greeted Ferdinand, the East African Navy's Commander-in-Chief who had just returned to Vienna, with a barrage of cold mockery.
Having long since become a seasoned old hand, Ferdinand immediately fired back. "As Commander-in-Chief of the Navy in East Africa, even though I don't have many ships under my command, I'm still far better off than Austria's 'bathtub' navy. Once the East African Navy develops in the future, I'll order a blockade of the Gulf of Aden and forbid Austrian ships from entering the Indian Ocean."
Ferdinand's joke received no response from Franz.
A blockade of the Gulf of Aden? East Africa's geographical position actually did seem to make it feasible. Although East Africa had no ports along the Red Sea, in Djibouti, or on Somalia's northern coast, its northernmost point, Mogadishu, was not far from the Gulf of Aden. It was like North Germany: though it had ports facing the Atlantic Ocean, if the British truly wanted to use their navy to bottle Prussia up in the Baltic Sea, it was entirely possible.
What Franz had not considered was that if East Africa truly intended to blockade the Red Sea, it could never rely on the so-called East African Navy. What standing did the East African Navy have compared to Great Britain? Expecting the East African Navy to blockade the Gulf of Aden was less reliable than having the East African Army do it.
Given East Africa's current military strength, the army could, at any cost, charge directly into Djibouti and Somaliland, wipe out the British and French colonies in one stroke, and pose a severe threat to the Strait of