African Entrepreneurship Records

 Chapter 415 In Trieste

The construction of the New Hamburg Port is even more difficult than the original construction of the Mtwara Port in East Africa. Not only is it far away from East Africa, it lacks relevant population and industrial support, but the project volume is also much larger than that of the Mtwara Port. Therefore, the New Hamburg Port Priority should be given to the construction of military ports.

While preparing to build the new Hamburg Port in East Africa, Archduke Ferdinand also arrived in Austria and landed at the Port of Trieste with ease.

In the Royal Shipyard, Ferdinand asked with interest: "Is that giant ironclad ship Austria's new main battleship? What is its approximate tonnage? How does it compare to the Lissa?"

The engineer said a little discouraged: "It would be great if it was really a battleship of the Austrian Navy, but according to the navy, they have no new shipbuilding plan. This ship was ordered from abroad. I don't know which country it is." Yes, this ship has a displacement of more than 200 tons more than the Lisa, and it is also more technologically advanced than the Lisa."

Archduke Ferdinand: "Didn't Austria recapture Venice? Now control of the Adriatic Sea has returned to Austria. The results of this naval battle are no worse than the last Battle of Lisa. Why is there no plan to build new warships?"

The engineer said: "Well, just because the battle was better than last time, the navy captured a lot of ships from the former Italian Adriatic Fleet. In addition to being distributed to the Papal State and the Kingdom of Naples, the rest were all incorporated into the empire. Naval sequence, this led the Hungarian Parliament to believe that the navy no longer needed new ships, so they rejected the funding. Not only that, they also demanded a reduction in naval funding. Fortunately, General Tegetthov argued hard and the tragedy was avoided."

Archduke Ferdinand sighed a little: "Is the life of the Imperial Navy so bad now? Not even as good as when I was the commander of the Navy?"

The engineer said with a smile: "Actually, since the end of our last war with Prussia, the imperial power has been divided into two. Any expenditure needs to be negotiated by Austria and Hungary. It has no impact on the economy. However, for industries like the military industry that require financial support, there is no benefit at all. In fact, not only the navy, but also the army is having a hard time. You must know that the national defense pressure on our country’s land is not small. They even Everyone has objections to military expenditures, so naturally the navy doesn’t need to raise objections.”

Archduke Ferdinand said at this time: "Well, it seems that the internal contradictions in the empire have become more acute. Franz is really not easy."

The engineer said: "Your Majesty the Grand Duke, I also think that this contradiction has continued and it is not good for Austria. The empire's decision-making efficiency is inherently lower than that of other countries. It has been even more so since the implementation of the dual system. This generation is still It’s easy to say, everyone knows the truth of living under one roof, and the next generation may not be able to hold it down at all.”

Archduke Ferdinand: "Then what do you think the empire should do now?"

Engineer: "There are only two ways. The first is to sit back and wait for the conflict to break out completely. The second is to directly expose the conflict and carry out reforms in advance. However, neither of these two methods is a good idea. The first is to chronically Death, the second method is likely to cause the empire to die prematurely."

Archduke Ferdinand did not think so. After staying in East Africa for a long time, the style of the East African government also profoundly affected Archduke Ferdinand.

"Actually, for me, method two can still be tried. Sometimes a fight can solve many problems. As for the problem of losing control, unless it is foreign interference, but in the current environment on the European continent, the probability of this happening is OK. can be ignored."

Engineer: "Hahaha, only you, the Grand Duke, have the confidence to say this. We don't dare to think so."

From the engineer's point of view, Archduke Ferdinand could stand and talk without pain. Hungary's importance to the empire was self-evident. Without Hungary, the empire was nothing.

If Archduke Ferdinand knew the engineer's thoughts, he would probably be unconvinced. If a civil war did break out, Austria would not be the loser.

 At present, the Austrian army and the army, under the leadership of Albrecht, are relatively strong in martial virtue. In addition, Austria's natural terrain suppresses Hungary. If the Hungarian nobles really make trouble, they will definitely not get any favors. If Archduke Ferdinand were to take over this country, he would rather fight this war. Anyway, Hungary is very large, and when the time comes, he can directly split it up or even kick it out.

But Archduke Ferdinand just thought about it, and I'm afraid it wouldn't be much better if he were in Franz's position. But this is a much bigger change than before. In the past, Archduke Ferdinand acted as a peacemaker and compromiser in Austria and Mexico.

It turned out later that kindness will only be regarded as weakness, and careerists don't care whether you are really kind or not. If you reach that position, you are destined to be an enemy.

Of course, the most important thing is that Archduke Ferdinand witnessed Ernst's method of treating the indigenous people in East Africa, and he realized that no one in this world is indispensable, such as the African indigenous people. Ernst's job was to retain The earth leaves no one behind, and the same is true, and the Hungarians may not be that important to Austria.

“Okay, let’s not talk about this anymore. I would like to know if there is any space left in the shipyard recently?” Archduke Ferdinand began to talk about business. Engineer: "Speaking of vacancies, there really aren't any. Although the navy has no orders, there are quite a few orders for civilian merchant ships!"

Archduke Ferdinand: "There is not a single vacancy! Why is the civilian ship business so booming recently?"

Engineer: "That's right. The main reason is that the economy is so good now and maritime transportation is developing rapidly. Especially after the opening of the Suez Canal, the old fleets on the Mediterranean coast have come back to life, so now they are rushing to build new ships."

Archduke Ferdinand asked: "How long will it take for you to vacate your position?"

The engineer replied comfortably: "In our factory's case, it should be two years later."

 “Two years later!”

"Yes, there is a group of Austrian businessmen who have purchased several ships recently. I heard that they want to participate in the Far East trade, but I am not optimistic about their decision. After all, the Hechingen Ocean Trading Company is the real wealthy one. I heard that they want to participate in the Far East trade. In recent years, most of the business from the Far East to the German region has been monopolized by the merchant ships of the Hechingen Ocean Trading Company."

Ferdinand had a headache: "Is the situation in other shipyards the same as yours?"

“Absolutely. Since Italy was defeated, most of the business has been monopolized by us and the French shipyards. If you don’t have high technical requirements, you can also go to Italy. After all, although Italy is not a good country, its shipbuilding industry is still good.”

 Because of the two failures in the Sea of ​​Trieste, the Italian shipbuilding industry has indeed been questioned to some extent. Of course, the most important reason is that due to the war, the economy of the Kingdom of Italy suffered huge losses, and the restoration of the Kingdom of Naples also divided many industries.

“Does that mean it’s also feasible to go to Italy?”

“It’s hard to say. I heard that they have a serious brain drain. Many technical personnel have gone abroad. Our shipyard has several technical personnel from Italy. Many shipyards there have gone bankrupt.”

Archduke Ferdinand also knew about this. Bagamoyo Shipyard hired many Italians at that time.

From this point of view, Archduke Ferdinand really couldn't think of where to go to solve the problem of warship procurement. The main reason why he came to the Royal Austrian Shipyard was to do more whoring for free and reduce costs, so as to save the navy more expenses, but he also had to Only if there is a chance.

As a last resort, Archduke Ferdinand had no choice but to contact Ernst in East Africa through the dedicated telephone line installed at Ernst's residence in Trieste to explain the situation.

Ernst: "There is no need to rush this matter. We can wait until their giant ironclad ship is completed before ordering it. It will be around March next year."

Archduke Ferdinand: "Ernst, how do you know that there is an ironclad in the Royal Shipyard of Trieste?"

Ernst quickly explained: "Well, after all, my company has a lot of business dealings with the Royal Shipyard, so it is normal to know about it. I knew this before I came to East Africa."

 (End of this chapter)