African Entrepreneurship Record

”Your Highness the Crown Prince, how should the benefits from the labor cooperation be distributed?” Von der Leyen asked.

Ernst replied, ”You calculate a reasonable range as the company’s operating expenses, and how much they can take away depends on their own abilities.”

As the organizer, it’s reasonable for East Africa to charge for providing services, after all, expenses for shipping, work arrangements, and related rights protections all need funding as a guarantee.

”Everyone should be registered, one copy for the homeland and one for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, especially record the family and address information. After all, this is working overseas, and communication is not convenient, so it relieves their worries.” Ernst continued.

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As September approached, Ernst began preparing to fulfill his promise to Karina to visit Europe and see her grandmother. The family started packing for the European visit, but the plans were subject to change.

”Ernst, can little Friedrich and Jena go to Austria this time? Grandmother also wants to see her little grandson. She hasn’t seen Friedrich since he was born!” Karina asked her husband, knowing that little Friedrich could not go to Austria.

Jena, the second child of Ernst and Karina, is a princess and only two months old. Because she is too young, Ernst and Karina’s European trip could only be postponed for four months, until February next year.

The safe age for infants on a ship is at least six months, so to be safe, they must wait four more months.

”Karina, it’s not that I don’t want to bring little Friedrich, but you’re aware of the situation with our Heixinggen royal family. Only my father, Friedrich, and I are the male members. We’re really short on manpower, and going to sea carries some risks. So it’s better for little Friedrich to stay in East Africa with my father. Plus, my father, being older, won’t feel lonely having his grandson around.” Ernst explained somewhat helplessly.

He might also want to take the family to Europe to visit relatives, but after all, this era is not like the previous life, with significant issues in transportation and medical care, so it’s better to be cautious.

Of course, the main reason is political. As a monarchy, East Africa’s very existence relies on the royal family, so the royal family must not face any issues, and there must be someone to oversee the homeland, even if only symbolically.

As for the past, East Africa was smaller, and Ernst could influence it from Europe through the Heixinggen conglomerate. Now East Africa is quite different, considered one of the ”great powers.” Naturally, it cannot afford to lend a hand casually anymore.

And as long as the royal bloodline stays in East Africa, the country can continue to run smoothly, which is Ernst’s dedication. Therefore, the eggs cannot be placed in one basket, just like the previous life’s Egyptian plane crash that wiped out a nest of generals in one go.

The only regret is that Friedrich is a bit too young, but having him is better than not. Besides, Constantine is watching, and Ernst has been attentive to his father’s health in recent years, avoiding too much involvement in governance. At least from his complexion, Constantine should live a long time.

For this European trip, by the end of 1881, Ernst did not plan to make any big moves in East Africa, operating step by step, with everything to be discussed upon return.

”Sigh, if only we were still in Europe, visiting relatives would be much more convenient with railways and carriages,” Karina said.

”Haha, if we were there, we wouldn’t have amassed such a large foundation. Europe is still too small, especially between several major powers, with almost no buffer space, constantly facing the threat of war. So East Africa is actually safer,” Ernst said.

Now, except for Britain, the European powers are all adjacent. Spain is next to France, France is next to Germany, Germany is next to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Russian Empire, which isn’t like the former Russia with Eastern European countries separating it from Western Europe. The Franco-German conflict is also very intense, and tensions between Russia and Austria keep escalating, particularly with Britain’s meddling. Although the entire Europe could explode at any moment, the current favorable economic situation and vast overseas colonial opportunities still provide countries with some strategic patience.

As for East Africa holding more than half of Africa, it’s actually not important, because most of the land East Africa occupies was formerly under British, Portuguese, and Belgian influence in previous lifetimes, along with two minor German African colonies.

German East Africa, only Tanganyika, holds a bit of value; German Southwest Africa is merely scrap from the corners.

Portugal and Belgium, for East Africa, are no longer on the same level. In previous lifetimes, they held such vast African colonies more due to luck and connections than strength.

The only entity displeased with East Africa and capable of causing trouble is Britain. However, they missed the best opportunity to intervene in East Africa, otherwise, East Africa wouldn’t have developed inland so easily. Colonies like Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Transvaal, and Bechuanaland can be said to be stolen from Britain by East Africa.

Also, Britain is the world’s top colonial power historically. East Africa carving out a significant portion of territory that should have belonged to Britain doesn’t change this fact, so the impact of East Africa on the world’s pattern is not as significant as imagined.

It can only be said that East Africa has made its place at the table, but it hasn’t altered the strength of the seasoned players at the table. Currently, it is still developing roughly along the trajectory of previous generations. As for major changes, they might not manifest for decades to come.

”Ernst, you’re right. Staying safe and sound is better than anything. Although the conditions in East Africa are somewhat inferior to Europe, it’s far from the wars,” Karina agreed.

Ernst shook his head and said, ”Being far from war is not quite accurate. Our southern region is quite unstable, but these don’t affect the areas we have developed, especially the east and the interior. Overall, there is a risk of war, but it’s controllable.

As for the powder keg in Europe, it needs just a small spark to explode. This is also the advantage of a unified country. The divided state of Europe will inevitably lead to such results, except that with the renewal and iteration of weapons, the intensity of warfare is also increasing. Future wars are likely to be more terrifying.”

Restricted by the era, Karina couldn’t imagine what future warfare would be like. Based on her understanding, it was nothing more than the calibers of artillery growing larger and more numerous, perhaps in the future cannons would replace guns.

Of course, she only thought about it, because the current military development indeed follows that trajectory, with all countries’ armies from land to sea pursuing caliber supremacy.

”Alright, don’t think too much. In any case, our East Africa is likely to remain unaffected unless we get ourselves involved, so these aren’t issues we should concern ourselves with,” Ernst comforted.

Even in the previous world’s wars, mainly Eurasia was affected. As for East Africa and North America, although affected, they remained relatively safe, with only South America possibly remaining untouched, truly perched on the corner.