African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 21: Chapter 18 Oceanic Trade

The Heixinggen consortium’s colonization team established a foothold here after reaching an agreement with the Zanzibar Sultanate.

The colonization team began crafting carriages and tents in Zanzibar to prepare for exploring the inland.

Meanwhile, Dutch ships docked at the port of Dar es Salaam continued their journey to East Asia after replenishing water and supplies.

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Heixinggen.

Returning to Europe, a new building was being constructed in Heixinggen, not far from outside the city, turning it into a large construction site.

”Ernst, are you planning to open a factory in Heixinggen?” Prince Constantine asked.

After the war ended, Prince Constantine retired from the Prussian General Staff in Berlin and returned to Heixinggen.

Much to his surprise, after visiting Venice for a short time, Ernst returned home and asked for a piece of land from him.

Initially, Prince Constantine thought Ernst wanted to take over his business and develop in the field of agriculture. Although he himself did not partake in labor, a landlord must know accounting, right?

Prince Constantine thought Ernst was going to use the land to conduct crop experiments because Ernst had mentioned setting up a large farm in East Africa some time ago.

Unexpectedly, after just a few days, his field was bulldozed! Stacked atop were bricks, soil, sand, and cement Ernst had ordered, and the misjudged Prince Constantine had to inquire personally.

”Father, I want to build a school here,” Ernst said, satisfied as he looked at the building taking shape in front of him.

Hearing this, Prince Constantine was even more puzzled. Building a school in Heixinggen—wasn’t this nonsense?

It wasn’t without reason that Prince Constantine was confused. Heixinggen had no shortage of schools. After all, Prussia had long implemented mandatory education, and the children in Heixinggen all had access to schools. Surely Ernst couldn’t conjure students out of thin air, making it impossible to start an elementary school. But Heixinggen already had a secondary school established during the time of Marquis Frederick.

The number of students eligible for secondary school in Heixinggen each year was quite small. Most would enter society after primary school since secondary education was expensive, with some returning to farm work at home or seeking apprenticeship opportunities in cities.

Those who could attend secondary school annually numbered only a hundred or so, reaching two to three hundred in good years and even less than eighty in bad years.

Therefore, Prince Constantine couldn’t determine what kind of school Ernst intended to establish and asked, ”To my knowledge, the education market in Heixinggen is saturated. Surely, you don’t plan to squander your resources, do you?”

After years of interaction, Prince Constantine discovered that his son wouldn’t wake up early without the promise of benefit, increasingly resembling a businessman. Fortunately, Ernst was too successful at present. So, Constantine didn’t oppose Ernst’s ideas for development, yet he knew Ernst never engaged in losing propositions.

”Father, I want to build a military academy in Heixinggen to cultivate talent for the family,” Ernst explained to Constantine.

Upon hearing the phrase ”military academy,” Prince Constantine’s eyelids twitched and he immediately asked Ernst.

”What are you trying to do? Establishing a military academy must be reported to the government, right? You’re not pursuing a military career, so isn’t establishing a military academy unnecessary? If you had informed me in advance, getting some position in the military could still be arranged.”

Constantine said in confusion, ”Besides, even if you were to build a military academy, wouldn’t it be better to do so in a big city? Without military collaboration, who would come to a place as rural as Heixinggen?”

Ernst understood Prince Constantine’s misunderstanding and began to outline his idea: ”Father, you misunderstood. I do intend to establish a military academy, but this one is unrelated to Prussia. It’s for preparing for the East African development. The so-called military academy isn’t what you’re thinking.”

Constantine certainly understood by now. This wasn’t any formal institution—it was clearly to train the colonization team. However, Constantine’s doubts only deepened.

”Even if you’re developing East Africa, isn’t it unnecessary to train so-called talent just for this purpose? You could simply establish a colonization team or hire a group of mercenaries, right?”

Colonial force was indispensable, especially during these times, but it was the government military, business liaisons, and mercenary organizations that handled such matters. Constantine had never heard of founding a school specifically for colonial activities, especially a military type.

”Father, this ties into my vision for East Africa. The future East African territory may be larger than all of Germany, so preparing military talent ahead of time is essential. With such vast land, if we monopolize it, others will surely covet it.”

Larger than Germany? Prince Constantine dared not imagine—was his son’s head not functioning properly? It seemed overly ambitious.

Constantine was familiar with Africa, but he hadn’t specifically studied it, so he grabbed Ernst’s hand to head back home.

”Come on, let’s study it back home.”

Soon, a world map was spread out in front of Constantine, and he pointed at Tanzania on the map, ”Is it here?”

”Yes, Father,” Ernst began drawing on the map with a pen, quickly forming a circle on it.

This circle included the future territories of Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, and southern Kenya.

”This is my preliminary idea. Other European countries haven’t noticed this yet. I plan to use the Heixinggen consortium to bring this area under our Hohenzollern family’s control, similar to the British East India Company,” Ernst revealed his ambition for the first time.