African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 22: Chapter 18 Oceanic Trade_2

”Unlike India, which is an ancient civilization with a long history, East Africa has only one civilization: Aksum.” As he spoke, he marked the Ethiopian region on the map with a cross.

”The sphere of influence of Aksum is in northern East Africa; I will not interfere there. The only real threat to us in all of East Africa comes from the various colonial teams and the Zanzibar Sultanate.” As he spoke, he circled Zanzibar and the Portuguese colony, Mozambique, on the map.

”These colonial teams are not a concern; most are small groups engaged in slave hunting and ivory hunting. As long as it happens before the European countries take notice of this place, we can use various means to clear the field ahead of time.”

Ernst continued, ”The Zanzibar Sultanate has a population of hundreds of thousands; it’s an Arab nation, so it’s not a big threat. Our first colonization team has already successfully landed.”

”As for the Portuguese, they have been in decline for some time; their control over various colonies is not as strong as before. However, Mozambique is a threat, and we must be cautious with the local colonial government,” Ernst said, with a serious expression.

”However, the Portuguese are not very concerned with other parts of East Africa; they mainly operate near the coast, which gives me room to maneuver.”

Ernst further stated, ”I plan to first send people to establish many bases in the East African interior, focusing between Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika, and Lake Malawi.” As he spoke, he sketched out the areas between the three lakes with a pen.

”Once we immigrate tens of thousands of people, this place can be completely brought under the control of our Hohenzollern family.”

Prince Constantine asked upon hearing this, ”Where will you find so many people? This is more than the entire population of Heixinggen?”

Ernst replied, ”Here!”

The pencil in his hand pointed directly at the Qing Country in East Asia.

Prince Constantine frowned and asked, ”If you want to achieve this target through foreigners, why choose to go so far? Why not use the local natives?”

”Father, this question is easy to answer. The Qing Country is the most populous nation in the world; they have an excess of labor resources, and the common people live quite harshly. Every year, many people go overseas to seek a living because of famine and war. But to the local African natives, we are invaders, and they won’t willingly accept our rule. So we bring in people from the Qing Country, and these Qing people arrive in a strange place and can only depend on us for survival.”

”Then why not bring in population from the German regions?” Constantine asked.

”I would like to do that too, Father, but the cost of importing a population from Germany is too high. Just bringing in the first colonization team required me to hire them with a large sum of money, whereas people from the Qing Country can work for us as long as they have food, which is a matter of cost.”

Ernst continued, ”Moreover, now that the civil war in America has ended, most Germans choose to develop the mature living and working conditions there. If you talk to Germans about going to Africa, they might become fearful upon hearing about Africa.”

Due to past cultural views, Africa represents rampant wild animals and various tropical diseases in Europe, resulting in Europeans only establishing colony bases along the African coast and not daring to penetrate deeper, which creates opportunities for Ernst.

”How do you control the Qing people, knowing that a large number will lead to chaos?” Constantine said.

”The current idea is to cultivate our own talent, which is the original intention behind setting up the Heixinggen Military Academy. The source of students will be from the Qing Country. We will instill ideas in them so they obey management and later assist Germans in Africa with the governance of Qing migrants. After developing land in East Africa with Qing Country immigrants, we will stop importing from the Qing Country, instead attracting population from Germany and Europe. Subsequently, the Heixinggen Financial Group will establish an initial industrial system in East Africa, finally driving away the local natives so that we can establish a nation similar to Brazil and the United States.”

Hearing Ernst’s idea, Prince Constantine’s mind was restless; it’s a large project, but there might truly be a theoretical space for operation.

If Ernst succeeds, it would mean reestablishing a country for the Hohenzollern family overseas, a new nation comparable in scale to Germany, primarily led by the Hohenzollern family. Such territorial expansion made Prince Constantine’s heartbeat faster.

”Well, since you have your own ideas, I support you. Firstly, I have connections and relationships in Germany, so you can go ahead and do it!” Constantine said calmly, suppressing his inner excitement.

...

Jiaozhou Bay.

German Commercial Liaison Office, a new liaison office under the Prussian flag. There is also one in Zhuhai, but Ernst specifically emphasized establishing one in the north, directly choosing Jiaozhou Bay.

The German Commercial Liaison Office in Jiaozhou Bay, besides promoting products from the Heixinggen Financial Group in northern Qing Country, also has a special task: selecting five hundred healthy young boys from especially the area along the Jishui River and taking them back to Germany.

The standard is no disease, no cultural education received, and most importantly, they must be from poor peasant families.

This is Ernst’s chosen source of students. In these parts of Qing Country, clan groups easily bind together, forming a factor of instability for governance, especially in southern regions where clan forces are widespread. Thus, Ernst does not recruit from the south.

As for why it’s from along the Jishui River, that’s because it’s Ernst’s hometown in his previous life. In this era, there is no standard Mandarin, and dialects are widespread. Ernst does not want to have subordinates speaking languages he cannot understand; if it’s hometown dialect, he can comprehend roughly, particularly since northern language is more uniform than southern.

Ernst set up the Heixinggen Military Academy intending to personally assume the role of principal, possibly even teaching. The language must be unified; otherwise, if these young boys can’t understand Ernst’s words, it would be embarrassing, giving them three years to learn German. Afterwards, Ernst will no longer need to personally monitor and manage.

The Jiaozhou Bay German Commercial Liaison Office simultaneously bears the tasks of recruiting workers to East Africa and engaging in bulk commodity trade. Aside from Ernst’s own products, Ernst has actually united with some merchants from Berlin to reach a cooperation agreement, jointly using this opportunity to expand markets for Germany in the Far East.

Products like cigarettes and kerosene lighters have already begun to be favored by those dignitaries and nobles in the Far East market, whereas the Heixinggen Financial Group takes advantage of low-cost raw materials from the Far East and the population needed for East Africa and transports them back using Dutch ships.

The Dutch have also added China’s specialties, silk and ceramics, tea being a large quantity.

Through this voyage of trade, Ernst initially established trade routes between Europe, East Africa, and the Far East. Although he relied on the Dutch’s power, he also cultivated the experiences of German personnel on board.

After the Suez Canal opens in the future, and the Venetian fleet is formed, it will be possible to establish a commercial route completely dominated by Germans.

This commercial route mainly involves exporting industrial products from Europe, selling in the Far East, recruiting population from the Far East to develop East Africa, and then transporting the agricultural produce and minerals developed in East Africa back to Europe.

Of course, in the initial phase, the Heixinggen Financial Group still operates this route at a loss, as East Africa is currently barren. Only when the population is in place can there be output of produce, and simultaneously, the Far East market has not been fully opened, with business from two commercial liaison offices still restricted to coastal areas, while the investment in advertisement and personnel salaries costs money. Ernst can only rely on profitable industries in mainland Europe to support his colonial activities.

However, this process might take several years. The good news is that Berlin Energy Power Company has made significant breakthroughs, and Ernst’s cash cow is about to increase again. Coupled with the rising reputation of the Heixinggen Development Bank in the German region, Ernst’s financial resources are more abundant than before; surely, the banking industry is truly a wealth generator and industry incubator.