African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 145: Chapter 135: Patch

East Africa is isolated overseas, far from Germany.

It is clear that the current core interest of the Heixinggen royal family still lies in Germany’s homeland, and the East African colony can only be considered a major investment project for the Heixinggen royal family.

Although Ernst strategically chose the future of the Heixinggen royal family to be in East Africa, there is no urgent need to go there at present.

Because in the eyes of any colonial country, the East African colony is still a long-term project, and even the first phase has not been completed yet.

The East African colony heavily relies on the Heixinggen consortium for support; without the Heixinggen royal family, its development would immediately stagnate.

For instance, without the Heixinggen royal family as a central regulator, the weapons, technology, and population of Germany and Austria-Hungary can’t even envision an East African colony.

Although Ernst is not physically in East Africa, all power in East Africa is in his hands, with strict limitations placed on the authority of all officials there.

East Africa employs a mercenary system, essentially a corporate structure, with the main project currently being agriculture, so calling it an agricultural development company under Heixinggen is not far-fetched.

The officials there are merely employees of Heixinggen, especially those in the army, the earliest German individuals who have contracts with Heixinggen.

In other words, these individuals have weaknesses in the hands of the Heixinggen royal family; you can rest assured about the use of authority in East Africa, but your family’s details are recorded in the Heixinggen consortium’s files, and attempting to advantage the Hohenzollern family’s land in Prussia and Germany is not easy.

Additionally, these German mercenaries occupying various ruling levels in the colony are retired veterans from the Prussian army.

To put it bluntly, they are elder individuals forced out by the military, working in East Africa for Ernst out of necessity.

Once they have earned enough money, they won’t want to stay in East Africa, considering they also wish to enjoy their retirement, and East Africa is clearly not a place for that.

East Africa’s medical conditions are rudimentary, not to mention the lack of entertaining places; most importantly, their families are absent.

Unlike lower-tier immigrants — Far East and Austria-Hungary, Southern German... immigrants left for a living, having mentally prepared to die away from home, although some hope to return in glory, most aim to survive.

German mercenaries from the beginning aim to earn money through colonial activities; regardless, they are always Germans (referring to the unified term for current German states) rather than East Africans.

Thus, after earning enough money, naturally, they wish to return to Germany and enjoy life, so their power is temporary, especially when locked within cages.

The Heixinggen consortium’s permanent directors in East Africa are mainly for audit purposes, strictly controlling resource allocation and expenditures, while supervising officials’ adherence to Ernst’s commands in East Africa.

Despite limited numbers, directors stationed in East Africa hold high positions; Von der Leyen represents them, forming East Africa’s three driving forces alongside Arman, military commander, and Chinese strategist Sivert.

In Ernst’s valued East African military, the staff is the secondary force, consisting of Heixinggen Military Academy cadets, initially Chinese students, now incorporating German students.

Heixinggen Military Academy is essentially where Ernst raises a private army; all students undergo indoctrination, considering Heixinggen royal family their faith, making Ernst confident in using them to supervise various East African forces.

Each East African official is paired with a Heixinggen Military Academy student as an assistant, implementing this structure from the central government to rural villages.

Any action in East Africa requires a joint meeting of these three groups, reporting to Ernst, who makes the final decision.

This process undoubtedly results in low administrative efficiency in East Africa but is very prudent since the interests of the three bodies can’t be reconciled.

Fortunately, East Africa is entirely an agricultural colony; the daily affairs are tedious, simply farming, farming, farming...

Occasionally clashing with native tribes, the colony’s villages can decide internally, only reports involving native states, Arab powers, and other colonizers need to escalate.

However, East African colonial powers have already surveyed nearby forces thoroughly, knowing whom not to provoke, realizing only Portuguese and British forces hold real threats.

Even so, the East African colony maintains a notably cautious approach; like with the British, East Africa remains cordial with Zanzibar Sultanate, not just dealing with natives but avoiding British intervention, allowing the sultanate’s core to persist.

At the East African and Mozambique border, the colony consistently exercises restraint, never initiating conflict.

Whether British or Portuguese, including natives, the East African colony handles them carefully.

Take Zambia in the southwest, the East Africans have long been capable of expanding there; even if they enter Zambia, other colonial powers won’t find out.

East Africa, nonetheless, hasn’t acted; things must be done gradually, without sufficient immigration, there’s no rush for expansion.

Naturally, Ernst isn’t reluctant to oversee East Africa personally but currently can’t spare himself or see a necessity to do so.

Prince Constantine is old (67 years), and Ernst can’t rest easy leaving his elderly father alone in Europe (historically, Prince Constantine died on September 3, 1869).

Simultaneously, Heixinggen royal family’s greatest asset is the Heixinggen consortium, whose main operations are entirely based in Europe.

Ernst can’t easily entrust Heixinggen’s European affairs to others; losing the consortium means developing the East African colony is impossible, regardless of his skills.

From its inception, the East African colony has been gradually erected by the Heixinggen consortium; necessary funds, ships for immigrants, early-stage provisions, colonial weapons, salaries for officials—all provided by the Heixinggen consortium.

To resolve this issue, the sole method is redirecting the Heixinggen consortium’s focus toward East Africa.

Yet, with current East African conditions, supporting itself is challenging, let alone sustaining the consortium, Ernst’s expectations are modest, aiming for East Africa to establish an initial industrial foundation before relocating the consortium there.

For instance, resolving the East African colony’s coal issue requires railway construction; coal primarily exists in the southwest, necessitating transportation to coastal areas, admittedly suggesting local factories could suffice?

The problem is, factories in this era employ cumbersome machinery; shipping inland calls for railways and given Heixinggen consortium’s primary operations in Europe, inland goods and supplies must rely on railway exports.

Currently, building a railway into the inland poses considerable difficulty in East Africa, though leveraging the colony’s entire resources and consortium’s support achieves it, at exceedingly high costs.

Ernst understands railway significance but recognizes this isn’t the time for construction, planning for a future opportunity to strategize East Africa’s railway development.

Besides railways, ironworks, cement factories... these are essential, otherwise, Heixinggen consortium can’t operate without resources; importing everything is unsustainable.

Despite this, East Africa’s current agricultural scale struggles to support industrial development; like cotton, a light industrial raw material, sparsely cultivated, expansion risks catching certain countries’ attention, as textiles are pillar industries for several industrialized nations.

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In summary, East Africa faces numerous paths ahead; presently, the colony is no more than an appendage to Heixinggen consortium, allowing Ernst to influence German regional politics, sway European public opinion, and control East African industrial development through the consortium.

Although East African colony holds importance in Ernst’s heart, reality dictates it pales compared to the Heixinggen consortium.

Put differently, losing East Africa means Ernst can leverage Heixinggen consortium to establish anew elsewhere; losing the consortium means Ernst loses everything.

Clearly, Ernst’s long-term plan involves merging Heixinggen consortium with the East African colony, but the timing isn’t right; the colony’s development remains insufficient to justify staking everything on it.