African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1540 Railway Bridge

The Soviet Union's advantage lay on land, so it was not afraid of East Africa's naval power in the Persian Gulf, which meant Britain had no chance at all. However, East Africa had to be more wary of the British.

Britain's forte is "splendid isolation" and "balance of power policy," especially when dealing with rivals of the same level as Britain or those stronger than Britain.

East Africa and the Soviet Union were now more powerful than Britain, so they were also objects of Britain's "balance of power" strategy. Britain used various means to sow discord between the two countries. If the Soviet Union and East Africa were to directly confront each other, Britain could maintain its "isolated" status and ensure the security of its South Asian colonies.

If East Africa and the Soviet Union were not powerful, then the British could have used "gunboat diplomacy" to launch a powerful attack.

Although Soviet leader Joseph was a master of geopolitics, the Soviet Union could not shake off the straightforward, crude and simple diplomatic approach of the Slavs. East Africa was not afraid of this "open-ended" approach.

A country like Britain, which is adept at intrigue and scheming, is even more detestable. Even if it doesn't cause much damage, it can still be disgusting.

……

Dezfuller.

This is an important ancient Persian city, located on both banks of the Dizz River. Dizzfull translates to "Fortress Bridge" and has historically been a major military and commercial center in Persia.

In its city center stands an ancient bridge built during the Sassanid dynasty, known as the Dezfuller Bridge, which is over a thousand years old and still exists in the 21st century.

The Dezful Bridge is approximately 400 meters long and has 17 arches. The piers are constructed of massive stones and mortar. It is one of the representative works of the ancient Sasanian dynasty's water conservancy projects, and Dezful is therefore known as the "City of Bridges" in Persia.

To some extent, the prosperity of Dizzfull was closely related to the Dizzfull Ancient Bridge, which played a role in many military mobilizations and commercial activities in ancient Persia.

Today, a railway bridge is under construction next to the Dezfull Bridge. This railway bridge is an important supporting project for the Caspian Railway in the Persian Gulf.

"The completion of the Deedsfuller railway bridge will greatly promote the prosperity of Deedsfuller. Its southern section of the railway is already ready for operation, breaking the isolation of this small town and strengthening communication with the outside world."

At the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Dezfull Railway Bridge, East African bridge designer Moyol introduced the bridge to local Persian officials.

"This railway bridge has a double-deck design, with the railway passing underneath and the road on top. It uses a lot of steel and concrete, and it is adjacent to the Des Fuller Bridge, just like the fusion of tradition and modernity."

"The two bridges symbolize the historical development of Deedsfull, especially during the maritime era, when the Deedsfull Railway Bridge took over the baton from the Deedsfull Old Bridge and played an important role in driving local economic development."

Dizzfull is not far from the Persian Gulf, only about 200 kilometers away, but the poor transportation infrastructure in Persia has hindered Dizzfull's development. Before the Caspian Railway in the Persian Gulf was completed, the economy here was not expected to improve much.

Of course, this is only Meyole's standard. For a backward agricultural country like Persia, Dizzfull could not be compared with the major Persian cities, but its development was by no means bad.

However, as an East African, Moyol was used to comparing East African cities with Dizzeful. In that case, not to mention Dizzeful, even Tehran would only be considered a third-rate city in East Africa.

Leaving aside Tehran's economy, in terms of population, Tehran had only a little over 200,000 people in 1932, while the population standard for a medium-sized city in East Africa is between 500,000 and 1 million. In terms of population alone, Tehran did not even meet the standard for a medium-sized city in East Africa.

In the economic sphere, Tehran is even worse, lagging far behind even small cities in East Africa, because the Persian government has only just begun to develop Tehran's industry and introduce some light industries.

It's no wonder that the second largest country in the Middle East and the Ottoman Empire received such vastly different treatment on the international stage.

As for Dizzfull, a small Persian town, the situation was even worse. Its population was less than 30,000, and its economy relied entirely on traditional industries. It had almost no modern facilities, not even a modern hospital.

Therefore, the Persian Gulf-Caspian Railway, primarily constructed by East Africa, has become the city's only modern infrastructure, while the 430-meter-long Dezfull Railway-Road Bridge has become a new landmark for Dezfull.

Considering the scale, design, materials, and structure of this railway bridge, it has reached world-class standards.

The mayor of Postedizfull, Ferdowsi, was very satisfied with the construction of the railway bridge. He told Moyol, "This railway bridge is a testament to the friendship between Persia and East Africa, and it will also become an important milestone for Persia's modernization in the future."

"Once the railway is completed, Desfull will further consolidate its position in the domestic transportation sector, forming a comprehensive transportation hub integrating highways, railways, and waterways, and accelerate its connection with ports in the Persian Gulf, attracting overseas investment and the introduction of new technologies."

Although small in size in Persia, Dezfull held an important position in the transportation sector. The Dez River provided water transport, and the Dezfull Ancient Bridge made it an important commercial passage in the region.

Now that the Dezfuller Railway Bridge is completed, it has added a railway line and will also greatly improve the efficiency of road traffic.

Although the Dezfull Bridge was a great engineering feat in ancient Persia and continues to function today, it cannot be denied that the bridge is too old. In addition, due to internal and external difficulties in modern times, Persia has been unable to maintain the bridge, resulting in a significant decrease in its traffic capacity.

Therefore, the construction of the Dezfull Railway Bridge will replace the Dezfull Old Bridge, fulfilling its transportation function and providing a significant upgrade.

Moreover, the Persian government funded the construction of this railway bridge, so the financial burden on Dizzfull was not too great, which is the key point.

Whether the Persian government paid a huge price for the construction of the Caspian Railway in the Persian Gulf was not important to Dezfull, since the locals benefited anyway.

Moyol said, "Only when the entire Caspian Railway in the Persian Gulf is completed and open to traffic can the railway bridge in Desfull truly play its role."

"However, given the current situation in Persia, it will probably take some time before the Persian Gulf-Caspian Railway is fully operational."

“I heard that last month, the construction site in the northern mountains of Desfull was attacked, and even part of the railway track was removed. If your country cannot resolve the security issues along the route, this will greatly hinder the construction progress of the Persian Gulf-Caspian Railway and will also cause trouble for the future operation and maintenance of the railway.” Regarding Moyol’s point, Ferdowsi said with a somewhat gloomy expression, “Hmph, those guys who want to sabotage the railway construction are nothing but a bunch of vermin in the shadows.”

"They are most likely Bakhtiari, a branch of the Lur people, living in the mountains around Ditzfull. Our government has already begun to eliminate these saboteurs who are trying to hinder the modernization of Persia."

The region where Dizzfull is located is a typical multi-ethnic area in Persia. The main population here is Persians and Arabs, followed by Lur, Kurds and Azerbaijanis, while there are also some tribal forces of different ethnic groups around Dizzfull.

The Bakhtiari are one of them; they are actually the Lur people who live in the mountains, but their numbers are not large.

Ferdowsi had little affection for these Bakhtiari. He was a Persian, and the Bakhtiari were an absolute minority in Persia, not to mention the Bakhtiari, even their main line, the Luhr people, were the same.

Of course, overall, the Lur people have a relatively high sense of identification with Persia. They generally do not have conflicts with the Persian government because in ancient times, the Lur people were under Persian rule for a long time and were deeply influenced by Persian culture, which can also be seen from their choice of religion.

There was prejudice against the Lur people within Persia, but it wasn't based on ethnic identity. Rather, it was mainly focused on regional differences in development. They considered the Lur people to be "mountain tribesmen," a term similar to how city dwellers viewed rural people as "country bumpkins."

The ethnic groups with a relatively low sense of identity with Persia are mainly the Kurds and Arabs, while the Azerbaijani and Lur people have a very high sense of identity with Persia.

Therefore, it is highly likely that the Bakhtiari sabotage of the railway construction was supported by someone behind the scenes.

After all, the construction of the Caspian Railway in the Persian Gulf was more beneficial than harmful to the Bakhtiari people who live in the mountains.

Ferdowsi asserted, "There must have been some Bakhtiari people who were instigated by external forces. I think the Soviets are more likely, but the British are also a possibility."

Without evidence, the Persian government would certainly suspect the Soviet Union first, but Britain could not be ruled out in this matter either.

Because the construction of this railway did indeed harm British interests to some extent. Although East Africa and Britain had demarcated their respective spheres of influence in Persia, in reality, such division of spheres of influence was not binding.

The Persian Gulf-Caspian Railway was disadvantageous to Britain in terms of technology, equipment, and market.

This brings us to the economic landscape of Persia, which can be summarized as "the west is rich, the east is poor, the north is strong, and the south is weak."

In the past, Persia was mainly strong in the north and weak in the south. However, even though the north was richer, Britain would not have been too upset about giving up this region to East Africa, considering the threat it faced from the Soviet Union.

The west is rich while the east is poor. Here, "west" mainly refers to the northwest. Although the southwest region is backed by the Persian Gulf, its development is not satisfactory. Firstly, it is located in a border area, and secondly, it is mainly an area inhabited by Arabs. The Persian government does not invest much in the area.

However, the Caspian Railway in the Persian Gulf, coupled with the development of local oil resources in East Africa, will change this. The southwestern Persian region, which Britain previously paid little attention to, has now become a highly sought-after area.

This is bound to make some British people feel unbalanced. The completion of the Persian Gulf-Caspian Railway means that East Africa will have a greater advantage in the Persian market in the future, especially in accelerating the siphoning of the northern market, namely the Caspian coast, including relatively wealthy areas such as the Persian capital Tehran.

The oil resources are easier to understand. Although Britain had discovered and extracted oil in southwestern Persia in the past, East Africa has since surpassed it. In recent years, the newly developed oil fields in East Africa in Persia have already exceeded the output of the British-Persian Oil Company in Persia.

With the rise of the automotive industries in East Africa and the United States, the world's demand for oil has increased dramatically. Europe's automotive industry has also developed rapidly, and oil has become an important hard currency.

Therefore, the oil fields developed in southwestern East Africa aroused the envy of the British. But to be fair, East Africa cannot be blamed, since it has only been part of Persia for a short time.

The reason why East Africa was able to catch up is that it has a technological advantage over Britain. At present, East Africa and the United States are in the world's first tier in oil exploration and extraction technology, while other countries lag far behind.

Moyol said, "It is no longer important who is supporting the Bakhtiari in obstructing the construction of the Caspian Railway in the Persian Gulf. For Persia, the priority should be to prevent similar incidents from happening again. After all, the Caspian Railway in the Persian Gulf is nearing completion."

"If this problem still cannot be solved by then, you will be the ones who suffer. We are only responsible for the construction of this railway. The subsequent operation and maintenance are your responsibility. East Africa can only provide technical and after-sales services, but all of these will cost money."

Although the Caspian Railway in the Persian Gulf is being primarily constructed by East Africa, the country does not intend to make a big deal out of it. As for the investment portion, with the southwestern oil fields as collateral, East Africa is not worried about not receiving the final payment.

This also reflects the shift in East Africa's foreign policy towards Persia, becoming more conciliatory and reducing its interference in Persia's political and social governance, something East Africa did not do in the Middle East before.

In the past, East Africa was seen as an arrogant and domineering, greedy and brutal country by Middle Eastern countries. Direct evidence of this was East Africa's military expansion along the Persian Gulf coast, and many countries and tribes were destroyed by East Africa.

The Persians felt this deeply. Compared to the Ottoman Empire, East Africa treated it as an equal, whereas East Africa viewed Persia much like a colony.

Previously, East Africa's idea was to exert comprehensive control over Persia in terms of military, economic, and cultural aspects. Now, East Africa is focusing on economic interests, while relaxing its military and cultural efforts.

Hoping that East Africa would change Persian culture was indeed difficult, after all, even the Soviets couldn't do it. The Soviet ideology was much stronger than that of East Africa, and as a result, the Persian Labor Party, which they supported, played a negligible role in this religious country.

In terms of military affairs, East Africa felt it was not worthwhile to focus its efforts on Persia, especially since becoming Persia's protector would put it in direct conflict with the Soviet Union. In the event of a conflict, East Africa would become a shield for Persia, which could potentially exacerbate the corruption of the Persian government.

Just like in the past when European countries were confronting Russia, each of them wanted to rely on the United States to live a life of ease and comfort, while their own military continued to decline. After all, the United States already had troops stationed there and could provide protection, so why spend so much money on military spending?
East Africa also does not want the Persian government to become dependent on it, so it is better to maintain a distant attitude. This will force the Persian government to work harder in its fight against the Soviet Union, rather than relying on East Africa's protection.

In recent years, the global economic environment has been unfavorable, and East Africa naturally does not want to increase ineffective military spending. In East Africa's eyes, Persia's strategic value is thus considered an inefficient investment.

(End of this chapter)