African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 105: Chapter 100 Recruitment

Prince Constantine, without doubt, is a notable figure in the southern territories of the German lands. Just a simple exchange with the major nobles across regions, and he gained the support of the southern states.

For the Southern German nobility, emigrating overseas is actually a good thing. The Southern German region mainly relies on agriculture, and farmers are a highly fertile group.

Moreover, the land in Southern Germany is fertile, and the farmers’ living standards are decent. In normal years, they can freely have children, but when a disaster strikes, it’s a different story.

And given that Southern Germany already has a high population density, the nobles’ territories themselves are not lacking in population. Naturally, the nobles don’t care about the lives of those affected by disasters. After all, the land is in the hands of the nobles. If you don’t farm, someone else will.

In addition, the industrial level in Southern Germany is not high (compared to Prussia and Austria), unable to absorb the excess population.

Thus, unemployed farmers had to find their own way out. Previously, most Southern German farmers went to America.

This wasn’t because the conditions in America were particularly favorable, but because German emigrants truly had nowhere else to go. European countries, due to reasons such as religion and population, were resistant to immigrants, while the British had initially enticed many Germans to North America to develop the area.

Among these Germans who went to America, a few managed to rise to prominence, but for most, their lives did not see much improvement. Especially in the early days, the living conditions of German emigrants were very harsh. Many Germans who arrived in America became so-called ”indentured servants,” their status barely above that of Black slaves.

However, due to historical inertia and the increasingly welcoming attitude of America towards immigrants (even the Black slaves were liberated), going to America for development remained the first choice for German emigrants.

Especially recently, as Prussia has stabilized and gained control over the North German region, emigration from North Germany has significantly decreased.

In contrast, the southern region has not yet fallen under Prussian control, and with poor harvests, emigration has increased rather than decreased (1866 to 1869 was a peak period for Southern German emigration. Source: Internet).

But the situation in America has improved again—with the end of the Civil War, America began its westward development, increasing its demand for immigrants.

Hence, Ernst’s mission now is to ”steal” people from the Americans, and the chances of success are definitely high this time.

Previously, the German regions had no colonies of their own overseas (both Prussia and Austria had made attempts, but these were mostly spontaneous actions by merchants, leading to failures). So German emigrants naturally could only survive in British colonies.

Now, the East African colony is a colony developed by the Germans themselves (Heixinggen is a Vassal State of the German lands, and after being incorporated into Prussia, it nominally retained its status and participated in Prussian politics as a vassal), and it has a vast area that has undergone preliminary development. The conditions are not bad, providing German emigrants with a new option.

This isn’t the main point; the primary advantage is that Heixinggen itself is one of the local powers in the Southern German region, interconnected with the Southern German nobility, all being one of their own.

And the residents of Southern Germany are all subjects of the nobility, and the peasant slave system was only abolished not long ago (for instance, Bavaria abolished peasant slavery in 1808), so the nobility’s influence on the local farmers is still profound.

Therefore, as long as the support of the local nobles is secured, Heixinggen can gain a large number of emigrants who historically went to America.

And historically, German emigrants to America showed little interest in politics, a trait that resembles that of the Far East migrant groups, which only makes it more convenient for Ernst to manage.

Of course, swallowing all these emigrants is impossible, since some may choose to go to America to join relatives and friends, but such people are the minority, and Ernst doesn’t mind.

...

Kingdom of Württemberg.

A group of people gathered around the recruitment station of the Heixinggen Consortium, which is quite simple, just a platform set up in the village.

Most of those who came to inquire were ragged German farmers.

”Sir, we have never heard of this East African colony. Is it reliable for us to live and work there?” asked a Württemberg farmer, Oruch Res, to the staff member of the Heixinggen Consortium, Eric Knight.

”Rest assured, the East African colony is a territory developed by us Germans overseas, covering an area larger than two German regions combined, and already home to over one million Germans. Previously, most of the recruits were residents from the Austria-Hungary Empire, which is why you haven’t heard of it,” Eric Knight exaggerated. He glorified the entire East African colony’s population (including the natives) as Germans to convince this group to move to East Africa with peace of mind.

”Uh... how much is over a million? Sir, I haven’t gone to school, so I can count only to ten! Could you possibly give us an analogy?” asked one farmer embarrassingly.

Eric Knight felt a wave of awkwardness, but for the sake of his performance, he cheerfully said, ”Your village, on the map of the Kingdom of Württemberg, is just as big as a grain of wheat tossed into a pond. And there are hundreds of thousands of villages like yours in the Kingdom of Württemberg. The entire population of all villages and cities in Württemberg is about the same as that of the East African colony.”

”Wow! With so many people in East Africa, the same as the whole kingdom, why are they still recruiting us for development?” a farmer asked puzzledly.

Goodness, my words were for nothing, thought Eric Knight. There was no helping it, the villagers’ knowledge level was too low to comprehend his words. Yet, Eric Knight did not give up, as it’s actually easier to bluff those with a low level of knowledge; it just takes a bit more explanation.

”This is different, how about this, let me draw it for you on the ground.”

Eric Knight found a twig and squatted down to clear a space on the ground.

”Here’s the Kingdom of Württemberg.” He said as he drew a small circle the size of a thumbnail.

”And this is the East African colony.” Eric Knight stretched out his arms to draw a circle with a diameter of a meter, ”You see, this is the size difference between Württemberg and the East African colony. That way, the size of your village compared to the land of Württemberg is like the size of Württemberg compared to the land of the East African colony.”

”You see, the land in the East African colony is this big, yet the population is the same as that of the tiny Württemberg. That’s why the East African colony is recruiting people to develop it!” Eric Knight explained to the villagers.

”What does East Africa look like? Is it like Württemberg, is the land there fertile, how’s the rainfall?” some villagers asked.

”East Africa! It’s somewhat similar to here, not too cold or too hot, and the land is quite flat. The precipitation is somewhat similar to ours, and there are many rivers, great for growing crops. Of course, it has some drawbacks — there aren’t many people, and there are more wild beasts. But don’t worry, the East African colonial government will organize an army to clear the beasts before arranging for you to develop the land. Safety is assured,” Eric Knight said, half-truthfully.

In reality, current German emigrants to the East African colony would typically not go to those barren places.

Ernst, to balance the Chinese immigrants, would surely distribute the German emigrants into the existing colonial cities and settlements.

Therefore, even the worst situation for German emigrants would be to be assigned to well-developed villages, with no chance of forming independent communities.

After all, to integrate East African and Chinese culture, achieving Germanization, they couldn’t allow Chinatowns to exist like in later Southeast Asia.

If they all lived together, there would be no need to interact with other ethnic groups, and how would they integrate among each other?

As for why Eric Knight needed to deceive these villagers, it was actually to alleviate their concerns.

After all, if East Africa were praised too highly, it would surely arouse the villagers’ suspicion. Only by mentioning East Africa’s drawbacks could their doubts be dispelled without scaring them away as well.

And the wild beasts made for a great excuse, posing indeed some degree of danger, while also proving East Africa indeed had a lot of wasteland. Saying the East African colonial government would send troops for clearing could further assure the villagers subconsciously, as wild beasts definitely couldn’t fight against armed troops.