African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 474: Chapter 152 Friedrich

When asked which group was most enraged by the Heixinggen Consortium’s investment in the Austria-Hungary Empire, the answer was the Jewish financiers, particularly the Rothschild Family.

There is a saying in the Austria-Hungary Empire: ”Austria has an Emperor Ferdinand and a King Solomon.” In 1848, Solomon referred to the Rothschild Family, which had completely controlled the economy and finance of the Austrian Empire at that time.

The Austrian government was extremely reliant on Jewish capital, but all of this changed with the rise of the Heixinggen Consortium. The two sides engaged in fierce competition over the financial sector in the German region. With the effects of the economic crisis, the current dominance had shifted to the Heixinggen Consortium’s hands.

The economic crisis was uncontrollable, so even the experienced Rothschild Family could not avoid losses. Generally speaking, when faced with substantial capital, they could recoup losses through bargain purchases and eventually profit, but this time they encountered the capital-abundant Heixinggen Consortium.

The Heixinggen Consortium, leveraging the substantial funds accumulated before the economic crisis, acquired businesses massively during the economic crisis, especially in the emerging industrial sectors. After all, Ernst knew the economic crisis of 1873 lasted too long, and the prospects for traditional industry were not clear.

At the same time, the construction of the East Africa railway greatly helped the Austrian government maintain stability, which was better than the Jewish capital’s disgraceful conduct during the economic crisis.

Furthermore, with the favoritism from the Habsburg family and other nobles towards the Heixinggen Consortium, the Heixinggen Consortium successfully ousted the Jewish financiers to become the largest capital group in the Austria-Hungary Empire.

However, Jewish capital still held a dominant position in countries like Britain, America, and France. The Heixinggen Consortium only had the upper hand in the German region, and there were many factions within the Jewish capital itself, so they had no way to handle the Heixinggen Consortium.

In reality, Jewish capital is not as powerful as people imagine. More often, European countries treat Jews as cash dispensers, no matter how strong the capital is, it still cannot compete against the guns held by the European aristocratic groups.

If the Jewish community truly wants to control the discourse of the world, it will only have a chance if the United States becomes the world’s overlord; otherwise, they won’t have any chance at all.

In fact, European literary figures have already described the true nature of Jews with incisive precision: for instance, ”Shylock” in Shakespeare’s ”The Merchant of Venice,” and ”Old Goranger” in Balzac’s ”Eugénie Grandet.”

Authors like Shakespeare and Balzac, regardless of their stance, were literary masters capable of uncovering human nature through social phenomena, so their depiction of Jewish merchants aligns well with social realities.

Of course, this criticism is primarily aimed at those unscrupulous Jewish profiteers. However, most Jews are profiteers, but aside from the merchant group, Ernst’s evaluation of Jews is very positive, especially those who are thinkers and scientists. Facts have proven that Jews are indeed effective when their intellect is used in other fields, but when applied to commerce and politics, it becomes underhanded and illicit.

This shows that Jews are more suited for scientific and theoretical research, given their level of education is undoubtedly the highest in the world currently.

Ernst believes that if Black people received a complete education, many ”geniuses” who illuminate human history could emerge, but they simply haven’t been given the opportunity. Human intelligence certainly shows variance, but this variance is present in all of humanity, rather than being divided by ethnicity and race.

If we really categorize by such criteria, Jews are just an ”inferior race” in Adolf’s words, not much better than Black people.

In more traditional countries, Jews actually can’t form a substantial climate, but the United States happens to be the least traditional country. Without the two World Wars, the discourse power of European aristocrats wouldn’t have dwindled, and perhaps the prevalent anti-Semitic social attitude in Europe wouldn’t have changed much.

In Ernst’s view, although economics is the foundation of politics, politics clearly outweighs economics. Ernst is most familiar with this situation: in a past life, the wealthy seemed very powerful, but they had no advantage whatsoever before ”nobility.”

Except in American-style democratic countries, where top-level designs are held by a group of businessmen, American politicians are heavily restricted, and strong presidents like Roosevelt could only appear once, while figures like Lincoln and Kennedy are the norm.

...

1877.

The Sweet Palace in March was in full bloom.

The Sweet Palace combined the features of Hohenzollern Castle and Mei Quan Palace, so its construction possessed both the solemnity of Hohenzollern Castle and the spaciousness of Mei Quan Palace.

Inside the palace, the family was gathered around a new life—Ernst’s first son was born.

”Little baby, look at your mother!” Ernst smiled foolishly while holding the little prince in front of Karina. The little prince couldn’t open his eyes yet, and Ernst planted a kiss on Karina’s forehead: ”Dear, you’ve done well!”

Karina lay weakly on the bed, but with a gentle smile on her face: ”Our baby, our little baby.”

Ernst clasped his wife’s hand and joked: ”He was born destined to become the future Grand Chief of East Africa.”

Off to the side, Constantine and Ferdinand were already displeased: ”What Grand Chief of East Africa? Let this grandfather hold him first.”

In the end, Constantine took the lead to embrace his grandson, all the while grumbling: ”My grandson is a Hohenzollern (Heixinggen) family heir, the pride of the Germans, how can he be compared to those African savages? The name ’East African Kingdom’ is too unpleasant; better find some time to change it!”

Constantine, who adored his grandson, wasn’t willing to let his grandson bear the title of African Chief. He was willing to take on a bit of pain as a ruler of Eastern Africa, but not for his grandson.

Ernst acquiesced and said: ”Change it, but wait a couple of years first. I think 1880 would be more suitable for a change of the country name.”

Grand Duke Ferdinand inquired: ”Why 1880?”

”Because according to my plans, in 1880, our East African Kingdom is about to be founded!”

”Founded?”

Ernst nodded and said: ”Currently, the East African Kingdom has actually always implemented an isolationist policy. It’s just that I’ve never explicitly stated it. We virtually have no interactions with other nations, especially minimal civil exchanges. This is because in the past, we as a weak colony in East Africa needed time to develop, staying out of the major powers’ radar. But with Europe’s increasing focus on Africa, and as East Africa’s scale increases, the foundational conditions for continued concealment are no longer present.”

Grand Duke Ferdinand said: ”An interesting perspective!”

Ernst’s approach indeed differed from the mainstream thought processes of European nobility, also explaining the peculiarities in a series of Eastern African policies.

”Enough of the political talk at a time like this! Let’s hurry and give our little baby a name!” Constantine said somewhat discontentedly.

So the family began discussing what to name the little prince, though choosing a name was relatively complex.

”Let’s call him Friedrich!” Constantine finally decided.

”Friedrich?”

”Yes, our ancestor Friedrich III bore the name Hohen in front of the Soron family, which allowed the later Hohenzollern family to flourish in Europe. I also hope little Friedrich will take the Hohenzollern family to new heights in the future!”

In 1185, Carter Count Friedrich III married Sophia, daughter of Conrad II, Count Nuremberg. In 1192, Conrad II died without heirs, and Friedrich III inherited the Countship of Nuremberg. After ruling the Countships of Soron and Nuremberg, his power greatly increased, leading the Soron family to bear the title ”Hohen,” meaning ”noble,” and they became the Hohenzollern family.

Ernst agreed with the name Friedrich as well since in his memory, those named Friedrich generally had good talents. As for the high rate of name duplication, there wasn’t much to do about it, as European name duplication rates all exceed one hundred percent.

Friedrich, known as Frederick in German, means ”peace, ruler,” so those who used to be called Friedrich generally belonged to the affluent or high-status groups.

To celebrate the prince’s birth, East Africa took a seven-day holiday, and every city in East Africa held celebrations to bless the little prince. As soon as little Friedrich was born, he was adored by the nation’s people.

To commemorate the birth of little Friedrich, Ernst ordered a top-class ironclad ship from the Austria-Hungary Empire, naming it Friedrich.