As for colonizing Africa, Belgium itself had previously been unable to reach a unified position, which had cost Leopold II no small amount of time and breath in persuading Parliament.
Now that Leopold II had used the Kingdom of East Africa as an example, he had indeed put those opponents in check. Even the poorly situated Principality of Hechingen had managed to carve out such a huge piece of Africa; Belgium, with its size, could only gain more, not less.
The nobles generally knew one another well. In recent years, the House of Hohenzollern had undoubtedly been the most glorious among the nobility. First, the Prussian Royal Family had unified Germany, turning a kingdom into an empire; second, Sigmaringen had gained Romania; and finally, the Hechingen Royal Family had struck it rich and established the Kingdom of East Africa.
Though the Kingdom of East Africa did not hold a high status—after all, Africa was no good place—the wealth acquired by the Hechingen Royal Family was enough to make anyone green with envy.
However, Leopold II had clearly overestimated his subordinates by asking the cabinet to produce a plan. Though the ministers had often been lectured by His Majesty before, they had treated it as little more than a joke and had not prepared any contingency plan at all.
Leopold II spoke at this point. "Hmph, I knew it would be like this. Since you cannot come up with a plan, then from now on, you will listen to me."
As he spoke, Leopold II ordered a servant to bring over a map of Africa. "This is a map of Africa. The red areas are France, the blue areas are Portugal, the gray areas are Spain, the green areas are Britain, and the black areas are East Africa... The remaining areas