African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1565 Northwest Route
Ultimately, these are all legacies of World War I. What was signed at the end of World War I was merely an armistice agreement, not a ceasefire agreement, much less a surrender agreement by one side. Therefore, the outbreak of a new round of European war is only a matter of time.

Against this backdrop, the binding force of the Treaty of London was already weak, and Germany was bound to return to the path of expansion.

Finally, Ernst said, "The Austro-Hungarian Empire is now in danger of collapsing at any time. We should also help the Habsburgs to prevent them from being purged in the future, especially Vienna. If something suddenly happens, it will be difficult for them to evacuate."

For the Habsburg dynasty, there was no more dangerous situation than a coup d'état in the capital. Local rebellions at least allowed for some reaction time, but if a rebellion broke out in Vienna, it would be very difficult to escape.

For example, the overthrow of the Tsarist government stemmed from the fall of St. Petersburg, and the collapse of the Soviet Union in its previous life also began in Moscow. Vienna is now clearly another place of turmoil.

……

April 7, 1934, Dihua.

A passenger plane circled in the air, preparing to land at an airport in the suburbs of Dihua, a city in the northwest of the Far Eastern Empire. The plane was a Junkers Ju 52, a passenger and cargo aircraft developed by Germany, and one of the most advanced transport aircraft in Germany at present.

"Consul Hoffman, we have reached high altitude over Dihua County and the plane is about to land." The assistant woke up the drowsy Hoffman.

Hoffman was the consul of the East African consulate in Xi'an. After the first Battle of Shanghai by the Far Eastern Empire, East Africa established a consulate in Xi'an.

This consulate quickly became the core diplomatic institution of East Africa in the northwest of the Far Eastern Empire. Hoffman arrived in Dihua by plane from Xi'an.

Hoffman opened his eyes, stretched, and said, "Are we finally arriving at our destination? This is wonderful. I don't want to experience this kind of flight again."

Flying in 1934 was clearly not a pleasant experience. Hoffmann and his party spent two and a half days before finally arriving in Dihua, with the plane making two stops for refueling and maintenance.

The route from Xi'an to Dihua is about 2,300 kilometers, but in reality, due to limitations in navigation technology, planes often have to detour and make stops, so the actual flight distance is more than 2,500 kilometers, and if you're unlucky, it may exceed 2,800 kilometers.

Hoffman and his team were lucky this time; they didn't encounter sandstorms, strong winds, or other severe weather that forced them to stop flying to places like Hami. Otherwise, the journey would have taken even longer, potentially exceeding three days.

Hoffman's assistant, Brownie, said, "Consul, it's good enough that we have a plane to fly with. If we had chosen to walk, it would probably have taken us half a year. But now we have arrived at our destination in less than three days."

"The Far Eastern Empire also did not have a railway from Xi'an to Dihua. The Longhai Railway ended in Xi'an, and the only railway to the west was the unfinished Baoji."

"In other words, if there were no Eurasia Airlines flights between Xi'an and Dihua, we would have had to rely on horse-drawn carriages or camel caravans to cross a large number of areas with harsh climates and unsafe conditions."

In 1934, transportation in the northwestern region of the Far Eastern Empire was extremely backward, and it was very unsafe due to the separatist forces of warlords and serious banditry along the transportation routes.

In comparison, while airplanes pose risks, they are still safer than land routes, even for personnel at East African consulates.

Local warlords might not make things difficult for East African officials for political reasons, but local bandits and highwaymen might not. For them, the concept of "great powers" simply doesn't exist.

After all, the northwestern region of the Far Eastern Empire is currently too closed and backward. Most people there have little understanding of the international community. At most, they have only met the Soviet Union and the British. As for East Africa, most people are unaware of the existence of the world's most powerful country.

Therefore, if Hoffman chooses to travel to Dihua by land, he will inevitably take risks, and there may be some ignorant bandits and highwaymen who will broaden the horizons of the East Africans.

Moreover, the northwest of the Far Eastern Empire is vast, with poor transportation and complex terrain. If they were to perish there, they might not even be able to find the killer.

Hoffman said, "Brownie, you're right. It's definitely not safe on land, and it's more painful. It's over two thousand kilometers. Even taking a train would make your butt hurt, let alone not being able to take a train at all."

"If there really were a direct railway to Dihua, I might have chosen a different mode of transportation."

Compared to airplanes, railways clearly offered Hoffman a greater sense of security, but in the northwest of the Far Eastern Empire, this option was unavailable.

Brownie said, "We also have to thank the Germans and the Far Eastern Empire for building this route; otherwise, we would have been in big trouble if it had been overland."

"Eurasia Airlines is currently the only airline operating in the northwest of the Far Eastern Empire; however, their aircraft are clearly not as good as those of the local East African airlines."

Eurasia Airlines was actually a civil aviation company jointly built and operated by the Far Eastern Empire and Germany. The Nanjing government contributed the majority of the funding, so it was not wrong to regard Eurasia Airlines as the Far Eastern Empire's domestic airline. However, the pilots, maintenance, and operations personnel were mostly German.

The reason why Germany chose to cooperate with the Far Eastern Empire to build this airline and open the first, and now only, air route from Xi'an to Dihua was related to Germany's strategy.

As is well known, Germany was heavily dependent on the Far Eastern Empire for minerals and certain special resources. However, Germany was not a maritime power, and its trade with the Far Eastern Empire could not rely on sea routes.

Therefore, Germany attaches great importance to the development of airplanes as a new mode of transportation. Currently, Germany's aviation industry ranks second in the world, second only to East Africa and slightly stronger than the United States.

Of course, Germany's trade with the Far Eastern empires in the past was not limited to the sea. Eurasia is a unified continent, and theoretically Germany could trade with the Far Eastern empires through Central Asia.

In the Tsarist era, this might have been possible, but now the Soviet Union occupies Central Asia, and even in peacetime, the Soviet Union is extremely hostile to Germany.

Therefore, with both sea and land transportation impassable, Germany placed even greater emphasis on developing air routes from its Far Eastern empire to Germany.

As for the Far Eastern Empire, its northwestern region was the closest to Germany. If an air route could be established, Germany could use the Ottoman Empire as a transit point to avoid trade with the Far Eastern Empire being completely blocked by other countries.

Eurasia Airlines was established against this backdrop. It was actually related to Germany's Eurasia route strategy. Of course, the Nanjing government also had significant needs for Eurasia Airlines, which is why it cooperated with Germany. As mentioned earlier, the northwest of the Far Eastern Empire was dominated by warlord forces, so the Nanjing government considered using aviation to strengthen the connection between the central government and local authorities.

Hoffmann said, "Right now we can only fly with German planes. In the future, East African routes will also be established here, making us the second country in the northwestern region of the Far Eastern Empire to operate aviation business."

"This time, I came to Dihua to preside over the negotiations with the local government. The Nanjing government has approved the Northwest Route plan led by East Africa. Once the Dihua local government is secured, the first international air route between East Africa and the Far Eastern Empire can be established."

Indeed, Hoffman's main mission on this trip was to open up the last key link in the international air route between East Africa and the Far Eastern Empire, thereby establishing the first international air route between the two countries.

Previously, there were no air routes from East Africa to the Far Eastern Empire. The Far Eastern Empire's economy and population were mainly in the east, while the southwest was a high-altitude plateau region that was off-limits to aircraft. The high altitude of the southwestern plateau region naturally hindered the development of air routes between East Africa and the Far Eastern Empire.

Because East Africa is located in the southwest of the Far Eastern Empire, a direct flight would not bypass the Himalayas and the plateau region of southwestern Tibet.

The Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau is feasible, but the risks remain significant, and East Africa lacks transit points in South Asia, with only the Kingdom of Sikkim currently having an airport.

The Kingdom of Sikkim was trapped in the Himalayan valley by India, in other words, it was trapped by British influence. Nepal, which was nearby, could also be considered part of the British sphere of influence.

This makes it difficult for Sikkim to connect with the East African mainland. The British had not noticed the connection between East Africa and Sikkim before, but it is no secret now. Therefore, the British are naturally very vigilant.

Fortunately, Sikkim is just a tiny, insignificant country on the map, not worth the trouble of Britain and East Africa turning against it; otherwise, Sikkim would probably have perished long ago.

In summary, East Africa's past attempts to establish air routes with the Far Eastern Empire through Sikkim have encountered numerous difficulties. Even without external interference, the complex terrain and climate in the region pose significant challenges, resulting in the crashing of three aircraft by East Africa.

Now, the East African government has realized, or rather found, a better solution: instead of going through the southwest, it seems more appropriate to build an international air route between the two countries through the northwest region of the Far Eastern Empire.

However, the construction of the Northwest Route would require even more cooperation from the Far Eastern Empire.

Although the southwest route is risky, it is not far from Yunnan, which has a relatively developed economy and transportation and a dense population. Therefore, as long as the plane enters the border port of Yunnan, it can open up all the links of trade with the Far Eastern Empire.

In modern times, Yunnan was a relatively developed region of the Far Eastern Empire. During the Beiyang period, it had already become a province with relatively abundant finances in the Far Eastern Empire. This was mainly due to border trade and relatively convenient transportation, with the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, which was built under the leadership of the French, running from Mengzi all the way to Kunming.

Meanwhile, Yunnan also had routes operated by Eurasia Airlines, which actually formed part of the later Hump airlift, thus delivering supplies directly to the rear.

The situation in the Northwest was completely different. Although it also belonged to the Far Eastern Empire, it was very difficult to connect with the eastern part of the Far Eastern Empire. Transporting goods to the border was not very effective. Only communication with Shaanxi was of practical significance.

Therefore, East Africa's plan is to cooperate with the Far Eastern Empire government to establish a transit airport in Dihua or Shule, and then connect with Shaanxi. With the capacity of East African transport aircraft, there is no need to stop in the Hexi Corridor.

For the starting point of the Northwest Passage, East Africa also has several options. First, there is the Gwadar Port colony in East Africa, then the territories along the Persian Gulf coast in East Africa, and finally the northern Persian region that East Africa can influence. Airports can be built in any of these areas.

Starting from these regions, it is only two thousand kilometers to the northwest of the Far Eastern Empire. Moreover, it can bypass the southwestern plateau and mountains of the Far Eastern Empire. Although it also passes through the Pamir Plateau, the Pamir Plateau is much lower in altitude than the southwestern plateau and will not hinder the passage of the aircraft.

Hoffman said, "The Empire's main Northwest Route now starts from Gwadar, stops in Dihua, and finally arrives in Xi'an, a total distance of about 5,000 kilometers. It is much safer than the Southwest Route in the past."

"Moreover, Gwadar Port is located on the Indian Ocean coast, facing the empire's mainland. The transportation of goods and personnel is not difficult. Large quantities of supplies can be sent to Gwadar Port by ship first, and then transported to the Far East Empire. The only route is through Afghanistan, which will not pose a threat to the shipping route."

"Alternatively, one can take off directly from the local airport, stop over in Gwadar, and then fly to the northwest of the Far Eastern Empire without transiting by sea."

"In this way, planes from East Africa can directly reach the Far Eastern Empire. This route is far more feasible than the southwest route."

"The only one we should be wary of is the Soviet Union. I've heard that the Soviet Union has been quite infiltrating the northwest of the Far Eastern Empire in recent years. Fortunately, the Far Eastern Empire and the Soviet Union don't have good relations, and our planes don't need to pass through the Soviet-controlled Central Asian region."

The Soviet Union had a great influence over the northwest of the Far Eastern Empire and carried out comprehensive infiltration of the border areas. For example, Shule County, mentioned earlier, was easily affected by its interference.

The Soviet Union played a significant role in preventing Germany from establishing its Eurasian air routes. German aircraft had limited flight range and needed to establish more transit airports, but the Soviet Union prevented Germany from doing so. Their influence in the Far East, northwestern border regions, and Afghanistan was too weak.

This is also an important reason why Dihua was the final stop of Eurasia Airlines' business in Northwest China. Dihua is already a relatively inland place in the Western Regions, some distance from the border, and it was difficult for the Soviet Union's influence to spread to this place.

However, with the route west of Dihua unable to be built, the goal of the German Eurasian route could only remain on paper.

East Africa is different from Germany in this respect. It also has a profound influence in Central Asia and East Africa. For example, Afghanistan would definitely side with the Soviet Union if it were facing Germany and the Soviet Union. However, if it were East Africa and the Soviet Union, Afghanistan would have to think twice.

In Central Asia and East Africa, the Soviet Union and Great Britain were the three main players, making it difficult for the Soviet Union and Great Britain to keep East Africa out.

Of course, the Soviet Union's influence in Central Asia was undoubtedly the greatest, followed by Britain, and finally East Africa. After all, the Soviet Union itself had a large amount of territory in Central Asia, while Britain had the support of its Indian colony and had also cultivated a large amount of influence in Afghanistan.

East Africa also has supporting forces in Central Asia, mainly tribal forces in places like Afghanistan. Afghanistan has a poor attitude towards the Soviet Union and Britain, with many historical grievances, since both countries (Tsarist Russia was the predecessor of the Soviet Union) invaded the region in the past.

Therefore, cooperation between East Africans and Afghans was naturally easier, or rather, local powers hoped to bring in East Africa to counterbalance the Soviet Union and Britain, two countries with a history of such actions.

(End of this chapter)