African Entrepreneurship Records

  Chapter 115 After Christmas

  Christmas in 1867, if you want to say which country had the happiest time, it must be Prussia. Throughout 1867, the economy of the North German Federation led by Prussia ushered in a big growth in the second half of the year.

  The establishment of the North German Confederation connected the entire north of Germany into one piece, and the most important industrial area in western Prussia and the political center in the east were connected by railways.

  Unified transportation and tariffs within the Federation have greatly reduced the cost of transportation of goods and raw materials in North Germany.

  As long as it is a relatively large-scale factory and enterprise, all of them have benefited from this wave of unified dividends.

   Ernst's Hechingen Consortium is naturally the most supportive among them, except for the Prussian emerging economic field and Siemens and other companies to form the German locomotive.

  In the field of traditional economy, the Hechingen Consortium relied on creation and invention to seize territory. For example, in terms of daily necessities, Hechingen products accounted for 15% of the German (including the Austro-Hungarian Empire) market.

   That is, those heavy industries such as steel, coal, machine tools... are firmly in the hands of traditional German industrial and commercial giants.

  In the financial field, Hechingen Bank, relying on the many companies under the Hechingen Consortium, and the investment in companies in the emerging fields of the second industrial revolution with the help of Ernst's previous life memory, has successively completed catching up with some traditional commercial banks.

   Currently sits firmly in the third place in the German region. In the German region, Hechingen is geographically located in South Germany, but politically, it belongs to the North German Federation and has a close relationship with the royal family of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Coupled with the help of nobles from all over the country, it is difficult not to develop and grow.

  So the Hechingen Bank’s business development in the entire German region is very smooth. Large and small banks are spread throughout Germany, from the Baltic Sea coast to the south to Trieste on the Adriatic Sea coast.

  At the same time, Hehingen Bank carried out banking business in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev and other big cities on the grounds that it was convenient to repay the funds obtained from the sale of the Alaska region by Tsarist Russia.

   Tsarist Russia is a very large market. Although the Russians welcome other European companies to invest in Russia, Ernst still chooses to be safe.

   Only set up business points in a few key cities. The investment environment in big cities is always much better than those in local places, especially the credit of local Russian bureaucrats, which is not credible at all.

  If it is the German region, as the Hohenzollern family of Ernst, it can also obtain the recognition and help of the nobles in the German region.

  But in Russia, except for some big nobles (who have cooperative relations), who knows the princes of the small country of Hexingen.

  In addition to Tsarist Russia, Hechingen Bank has carried out business activities in other countries, such as Britain, France, the United States, the Netherlands, and Nordic countries with mature market rules.

  In the field of economics, Prussia and Ernst have achieved good results, and the same is true in other aspects.

  For example, in terms of military affairs, successive victories over Denmark and Austria, coupled with the victory of Prussia before Ernst awakened, the confidence of the Prussian army is unprecedentedly high.

  Especially in the second half of this year (1867), the "North German Federal Constitution" came into effect, and the North German Federal Republic was a new political entity.

   Its territory covers two-fifths of the entire German region, with 340,000 square kilometers of land.

  The population accounted for two-thirds of the entire German population, growing to more than 24 million people.

  As a comparison, the area of ​​the French mainland is only 550,000 square kilometers, and the population of the French mainland at this time is only more than 36 million. Considering the level of industrialization of the two countries, Prussia already has the strength to confront France.

  In addition to the innovation of weapons and equipment, industrial production bonuses, the application of inventions such as railways and telegraphs in the military field, and the advancement of Prussian military reforms (especially the reserve and general staff systems).

  North German Confederation, in essence, has crossed the threshold of European powers and has become a new European power. Its status is only behind Britain, France, Russia and Austria, but considering the previous combat effectiveness of Prussia and Austria, it is hard to say who will be ranked fourth.

  Of course, Ernst has already placed the North German Federation in the fourth place in the world. It is really difficult for the bulk of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to give Ernst confidence, that is, the size still looks very bluffing.

  …

  In any case, the North German Federation (Prussia) is having a good time this year, from top to bottom.

  In South Germany, the lives of ordinary people are very unsatisfactory, and the impact of food shortages is still great. Fortunately, the East African colony has given these people a way to survive.

  However, there is a good saying, if it is not desperate, who would want to leave their hometown!

  In this wave, the South German region, the issue of the whereabouts of immigrants, the East African colonies have already defeated the United States, and the vast majority of immigrants have chosen to go to East Africa.

   It's not that the conditions in the United States are not good, but that German immigrants are unwilling to take risks. After going to North America, everything is unknown.

   When they arrived in East Africa, it was clear that they still farmed for the nobles. The farmers in South Germany did not understand the capitalists in the United States, but they still believed in the nobles in the German region.

  Especially Ernst is still a local aristocrat in South Germany, and the worst conditions in East Africa are no worse than those in South Germany, but who knows how Americans will treat him when he goes to the United States.

  After Christmas, South German immigration to East Africa reached a small peak. Many young people who went to East Africa to make a living, bid farewell to their parents, elder brothers and other family members, and boarded the carriage hired by the Hechingen Consortium.

  In many villages throughout southern Germany, temporary carriages hired by the Hexingen Consortium can be seen. The all-inclusive freight is a promise of the East African colony.

  These immigrants will be gathered nearby, sent to the nearest train station, and sent to the seaport city according to prior arrangements.

  At present, German immigrants have a two-day route. One is to go north along the railway, and take a ship from Hechingen in the seaports of the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, or a hired Dutch ship to East Africa.

   All the way is a unified transfer in Bavaria, go south along the railway, go directly to Trieste through the railway in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and then take Hechingen's own ship together with the Austro-Hungarian immigrants to East Africa.

  These two routes have their own advantages and disadvantages, but the difference in distance is not too much, and they both need to make a large circle along the west coast of Africa.

  For this wave of immigration, the Hexingen Consortium paid a large amount of freight, but as long as it can supplement the German population in East Africa, paying more money is not a big deal at all.

  Anyway, when these immigrants arrived in East Africa, they still had to continue to create value for Ernst. It’s just that the time for the investment to take effect was relatively slow, so Ernst couldn’t lose money no matter what.

  While staring at the immigration task, Ernst was not idle. Many employees in Berlin are currently on vacation for a few days, and there are company executives watching, so there is not much major event.

   And Ernst happened to be in Hechingen, so he happened to pay attention to the students in the Hechingen Military Academy and Cultural School.

  These students are all orphans with no roots and no family. Ernst is their only relative, so Ernst ordered his servants to prepare gifts and prepare to inspect the two schools.

  (end of this chapter)