What de Gaulle felt most profoundly in southern Africa was the confidence of the southern African people in their country.
Since its independence, Southern Africa has experienced rapid economic development, its people live and work in peace and contentment, and there has never been a war in the country. This is in stark contrast to Europe, which experienced two world wars in less than 30 years.
The French once had full confidence in France. From being the best army in Europe to being the best in the world, France was once so powerful that it required the whole of Europe to unite to fight against it. The seven anti-French alliances left a lasting impression on Europe, especially the United Kingdom, which will never be erased.
The memory has had a significant impact on British national policy.
Britain's continental balancing policy was essentially to contain France. Germany had only been unified for a short time and would not be qualified to be checked and balanced by Britain for a long time. Germany was listed as a target of checks and balances only after the Franco-Prussian War.
France today is being abandoned by the French.
Before the outbreak of the last world war, more and more French people were fleeing France.
The sad thing is that most of these French people who fled France are the French elite. Ordinary people are not aware of France's weakness at all. Even if they are aware, they are unable to leave. They can only stay in France and accept their fate.
Although France paid a heavy price in the last world war, at least it won the final victory and completed its revenge on Germany after the defeat in the Franco-Prussian War.
In this world war, France stopped resisting and withdrew from the war early. The entire northern France was ceded to Germany, and the Vichy government became a vassal of Germany. The French completely lost the spirit of independence and freedom they had been proud of since the French Revolution.
Many French people have lost confidence in France. De Gaulle tried to rebuild the spiritual core of the French people, but he didn't know how to start.
After leaving school, de Gaulle went to the Pretoria branch of Nyasaland Military Industry.
What surprised de Gaulle was that the branch was very small with only a few employees, which was not in line with the reputation of Nyasaland's military industry.
"Ours is just an office here. The company's R&D headquarters is in Los Angeles, and the factories are located in Walvis Bay and Port Edward. The labor costs there are cheaper, the state government provides more preferential policies, and it is more conducive to exports.
"The branch business manager, Kenny Verdell, accompanied him throughout the whole process. He is another Frenchman, and like de Gaulle, he is from Lille.
"Why isn't the R&D headquarters in Pretoria? Don't those well-paid engineers yearn for the life in Pretoria?" De Gaulle was puzzled. The French all wanted to go to Paris, so Paris was
Become a super city in France.
Kennikovdale's attitude towards de Gaulle was not very respectful and he scorned him.
"What else does Pretoria have besides the sanatorium in Hot Springs Valley? This city is nothing compared to Los Angeles." Kennikverdale is from Nyasaland, and Los Angeles is the City of God in Kennikverdale's heart.
.
De Gaulle was speechless, and then he remembered that the situation in France and southern Africa was completely different.
Excluding overseas colonies, France's mainland area is only 550,000 square kilometers, which is not as large as Nyasaland before it was split.
The area of France's overseas territories is 20 times that of the mainland. It relies heavily on the blood of its overseas territories to ensure the luxurious life of the French people.
More specifically, it is the luxurious life of Parisians.
The development of Southern Africa is more balanced than that of France. Pretoria is only a political center, not even a cultural center. In the ranking of cities in Southern Africa, Pretoria has long been suppressed by Los Angeles. Without the support of the federal government,
Support, Pretoria's ranking is not even as good as Salisbury, the capital of Rhodesia.
"The military industry in Nyasaland has been developing well in recent years. We are able to produce 1 million rifles, 2,000 tanks, 1,500 aircraft, and 10,000 heavy trucks every month. With the commissioning of our factory in Katanga, the production capacity is still
It can be further improved." Kennikovdale didn't care about De Gaulle's attitude. The production capacity of Nyasaland's military industry has exceeded the production capacity of the entire country of Free France.
Nyasaland Military Industry is not the only military industry enterprise in southern Africa. Nyasaland Heavy Industries and Rhodesian Industrial Group are also processing enterprises with strong industrial capabilities. It is precisely because of these large enterprises that Southern Africa has become an Allied force.
Logistics manager.
De Gaulle didn't want to talk and felt a little autistic.
Ten years ago, European countries talked about the economic miracle in southern Africa, which was inseparable from the exploitation of cheap workers in neighboring countries.
Now the situation has improved significantly. Southern African military-industrial enterprises have produced more industrial products and the number of factories has increased. However, the number of workers has not increased, but is decreasing. This is thanks to the improvement of automation technology.
Enterprises in southern Africa have been committed to improving production efficiency. During World War I, Nyasaland military factories had an average of about 1,500 workers, but now there are only about 900. The assembly time of a car has gradually increased from 20 hours before.
Reduced to one and a half hours, workers' efficiency has been greatly improved.
Before the introduction of the assembly line, the assembly time of a car was nearly 800 hours.
De Gaulle didn't know how long it took for Renault to produce a car. Even if it could reach one and a half hours, the efficiency would certainly not be as high as that of Nyasaland's military industry, because Renault workers often went on strike due to issues such as income and benefits.
Workers at Lan Military Industry have never behaved like this.
"How do you manage workers?" De Gaulle was really curious. It is impossible for workers in southern Africa not to have similar demands.
"I'm sorry, I'm only responsible for the business side, not the management of the workers -" Kennikovdale couldn't answer this question. The treatment in Nyasaland's military industry was quite good.
In fact, the 996,007 is not the key, the key is to give enough money.
While shouting about wolf culture and letting workers eat grass, the workers will definitely rebel. If French capitalists can be more generous and allocate more income to corporate employees, French workers will not go on strike every day.
Unless this problem is solved, French companies will never be able to compete with Southern African companies.
Back at the hotel in the evening, de Gaulle and Leonard Capet discussed this issue.
Grain dip
Leonard Capet went to Henry today, hoping to obtain more cheap and high-quality raw materials from Favalte Steel Group.
Well, this is another flaw of French companies. Southern African companies seem to have endless cheap industrial raw materials, and French companies can only spend a lot of money to buy them from Southern Africa. This fundamentally widens the gap.
In this business competitiveness, Southern African companies are both athletes and referees. How can French companies win?
"I went to see Christian today, yes, the same Christian who was called a 'human smuggler' by France Soir. He owns the largest human resources company in Southern Africa - and probably the world." Renard Ka
Pei took a different approach. France is actually qualified to cultivate the world's largest human resources company. Unfortunately, as long as such a company appears in France, it will be scolded by French newspapers.
How could such inferior creatures as "human traffickers" appear in France, which is known for its national freedom?
"Christian also owns the largest construction company in Southern Africa. Many major projects in Southern Africa, such as the Zambezi Dam and the Nyasaland Power Plant, were undertaken by Christian's company. His company is known for its low price and reliable quality.
It is well known that more than 80% of the company's workers are Africans. These Africans receive only about one-tenth of the salary of southern African workers and contribute to major projects in southern Africa. If this is the case in France, Christian's
The company cannot survive at all, but in the surrounding countries of southern Africa, Christian is well-known as a philanthropist." Leonard Capet himself is France's largest capitalist and must have a say in this regard.
"For the French, unfairness in salary and benefits is unacceptable, but for people in neighboring countries in southern Africa, Christian provides them with jobs so that they can support their families, and their salaries are on par with those of southern African workers.
There is a big salary gap, but compared with domestic workers, the salary is already high, so many people hope to work for that 'human trafficker', even for life."
To de Gaulle, it was a great irony that the word "human trafficker" came out of Leonard Capet's mouth.
Leonard Capet is also not well regarded in France.
In the words of the harsh French media, Leonard Capet is the spokesperson of Southern African capital in France, a French traitor, a comprador, and a bloody sickle for Southern African capital to plunder French wealth.
But after the editors finished scolding Leonard Capet in the newspaper, they rode in the Southern African car sold by the Capet family to France, and when they returned home and tasted the "high-quality wine" also from Southern Africa, they could only say that it tasted great.
Southern African wines are not allowed to use the "Champagne" trademark in France. The quality is not inferior to French Champagne, but the price is much cheaper than real Champagne.
“To compete with Southern African companies, we must first have human traffickers like Christian, who can provide our companies with endless, hard-working low-level workers—and we must also have resources like Favalte Steel Group and Adan Company.
Enterprises provide us with high-quality and low-cost industrial raw materials, and finally we must have government officials who are fair and honest, and whose minds are not about getting paid, but serving the business operations. Do we have these?" Leonard Capet smiled bitterly.
, he has accepted the reality, de Gaulle has not yet accepted it.
"Even if southern Africans do not engage in industrial production, they can make all southern Africans live a happy life just by selling resources. You only see the strong industrial capabilities and perfect social services in southern Africa, but you do not notice that they are all over the south.
African farms, those farms are the greatest basis for stability in southern Africa." Leonard Capet was full of emotions. France also has vast overseas territories, but unfortunately it cannot generate a lot of profits. Instead, the French government has to continue to maintain colonial rule.
Increase investment in colonies.
It seems contradictory to draw blood from the colony and at the same time transfuse blood to the colony.
In fact, it is normal. Britain began to shrink strategically 40 years ago. How could France not be affected?
This is the shrewdness of the British.
The British will at least try to solve the problem after discovering it, although in many cases it is not the optimal solution.
France was more passively waiting. After the sinking of the "France", France realized that Madagascar's independence was irreversible.
After Germany broke through the French defense line from the Franco-Belgian border, the French began to regret not using the Maginot Line to surround France.
After the French navy sank, the French began to ask why the French government could not even save its last fleet?
Speaking of farms in southern Africa——
This is another one of France's shortcomings.
France has a population of about 41 million people living in the 550,000 square kilometers of mainland France. The population density is much higher than that of southern Africa. Moreover, French farmers are keen on growing cash crops such as grapes and rarely grow basic rations such as wheat and corn.
Farms in southern Africa grow everything, and people use it to raise poultry and livestock if they can't eat them all. As a result, the eggs at home can't be eaten. The Rhodesian company will send braised eggs that have been processed and can be stored for three months to France.
An egg only costs 40 francs, which is about the same price as raw eggs in France.
In the past two decades, prices in France have soared.
Before the outbreak of World War I, an egg sold for 0.087 francs in Paris. Before the outbreak of World War II, the price had risen to 3.5 francs. Now it is 40.
Eggs are the epitome of inflation in France. Compared with France, the price of eggs in southern Africa has barely changed from before the outbreak of the world war. It is a little cheaper than during the Great Depression. This is mainly due to the improvement of technology of food processing companies.
.
"Can we in North Africa copy the model of southern Africa?" De Gaulle was unwilling to accept it. From Leonard Capet's description, France's decline was unstoppable.
"It's impossible. Most of North Africa is desert, and it's still being exploited by predators. You may not believe it, but even the Abyssinian Empire's efforts in sustainable development are much better than ours." Leonard
Capet has nothing to say. Most capitalists in France are only interested in profit. What is sustainable development?
Leonard Capet is the Prime Minister of Free France and the largest capitalist in France, but he cannot interfere in the operations of other French companies.
The reason is very simple. If Leonard Capet's company eats meat, it must let other French companies eat soup. Leonard Capet not only cannot interfere with the operations of other French companies, but also must find ways to help other French capitalists make money. Otherwise, other French capitalists
They will vote with their feet to change a prime minister who can help them make money.
"The only thing we can do now is to participate as much as possible in the economic operation of southern Africa and strive to become a part of it, so that we can survive." Leonard Capet reminded de Gaulle that France, as the leader of the world order,
The era is over.
De Gaulle didn't speak. He slumped in his chair as if his backbone had been ripped out. His whole person instantly lost all energy and spirit, as if he had aged ten years.
The next day, de Gaulle went to see Roque again, and this time his attitude was much better.
