African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 443: Keep a low profile and bide your time

Ernst and his party landed at the New Port of Dar es Salaam, and then transferred to the train to the First Town. At this time, the First Railway was already quite busy.

As part of the Central Railway, the First Railway is responsible for continuously transporting railway building materials purchased from overseas to the first line of railway construction.

By the way, the New Port District of Dar es Salaam City has been vigorously developed. A series of steel processing plants have been built here, and East Africa's independently built locomotive factories have also been established in the New Port District.

Towering chimneys are rising one after another in Newport, and a large number of industries have provided jobs for many residents. As a result, the prosperity of Newport District is close to that of Dar es Salaam Economic Open Zone. Because the two places are closely connected, some Uninformed merchant ships often mistake the new port for the original Dar es Salaam port. For this reason, the East African Navy has also begun to increase its efforts to guide merchant ships to enter the old port correctly.

Although it can be seen with the naked eye that Xingang is developing well, they cannot really touch the specific data. This is also a way of hindering the spread of information in East Africa.

East Africa has passed the development stage of walking on thin ice, and the next step is to hide one's strength, bide one's time, and make a fortune in silence. Ernst is most familiar with this way of thinking.

“The construction is much more prosperous than when I left!” Ferdinand sighed at the side.

Ernst said from the side: "This is all due to the construction of the Central Railway. There are only three starting points for building the Central Railway, one is the Lake Malawi Industrial Zone, one is the starting point of Dar es Salaam, and the other is The end point is the New Hamburg Port. The construction of the New Hamburg Port will take time, so we can only develop the new port of Es Salaam with good basic conditions first."

There are only two ways to build the steel needed for railway construction. One is to purchase it from abroad, and the other is to produce it in East Africa. Currently, the only two places in East Africa that can independently produce steel are the Lake Malawi Industrial Zone and the Northern Industrial Belt. The Northern Industrial Belt is responsible for the construction of the Northern Railway, while the larger Central Railway can only rely on the Lake Malawi Industrial Zone.

The conditions for the establishment of the Lake Malawi Industrial Zone in East Africa can be said to be extremely poor. This condition mainly refers to transportation conditions.

Large equipment is all pulled by people and horses, and the road conditions in the Lake Malawi Industrial Area are not good. In recent years, East Africa's cement production capacity has increased, and the traffic conditions in the Lake Malawi Industrial Area have begun to improve.

In fact, the Lake Malawi Industrial Zone is considered a strategic industrial zone. At that time, Ernst considered that if the East African coast was lost, the Hechingen royal family could move inland to lead a counterattack.

So although Mbeya City is located deep inland, its development is not inferior to that of the coastal cities of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa, which were cultivated as capitals.

However, with the increase in national power in East Africa, this consideration has now been terminated, but Mbeya's status as the center of heavy industry in East Africa has been established, and will continue to maintain this advantage until the heavy industry in Zimbabwe develops.

 The current development problems in Zimbabwe are similar to the original difficulties in the Lake Malawi Industrial Zone, that is, inconvenient transportation, and it is more serious than the Lake Malawi Industrial Zone. The Lake Malawi Industrial Zone can also reduce part of the distance by relying on shipping on the lower reaches of the Rufuma River. Zimbabwe does not have this condition at all, so without railways, Zimbabwe cannot play its role at all.

Karina, who arrived in East Africa for the first time, said at the side: "It seems that East Africa is developing quite well. In terms of cities, except that there are fewer people, there is actually not much difference from Austria."

"This comparison is actually wrong. Take Vienna, for example, with a population of more than 500,000. It can be compared directly with some small countries. The economic value of Vienna may be higher than the economic value created by the entire East Africa, so we in East Africa It’s still far behind Austria,” Ernst explained at the side.

Ernst's explanation is actually to separate the value created by the Hechingen Consortium in East Africa from East Africa. East Africa with the Hechingen Consortium is equivalent to a cheat. Without the Hechingen Consortium, the East African Kingdom is actually just a seemingly large area. of colonies. "Just have fun! Such a good place has not been targeted by others, which is why you took advantage of it. What do you think would have happened if Austria had avoided competing with Prussia and chosen to develop Africa?" Ferdinand The Grand Duke said suddenly.

"Not so good. If Austria is allowed to develop Africa, I bet that it will only develop to the level of the Portuguese next door. Colonial development requires courage, and if you want to develop Africa to the level of East Africa now, you need not to worry about it in the early stage. Cost investment, the plan to operate at a loss for a long time, and capital investment alone is not enough, and it also requires strong organizational capabilities, which Austria lacks."

“And Austria is not a self-employed person like me. Every move it makes will attract the attention of European countries. If Austria is personally responsible, other countries will not remain indifferent. At least Britain and France will be unable to sit still.”

Ernst claimed to be self-employed, which was actually an exaggeration. However, it was actually the norm in this era for colonial companies and individuals to carry out overseas colonial operations alone.

 For example, many British colonies came from this way. India was developed by the East India Company and then taken over by the British.

 Historically, many German colonies came from this way. The East African colonies and the Southwest African colonies were developed by private companies, then required local protection, and were finally incorporated into the German colonial system.

The biggest difference between Ernst's development of Africa and those colonial businessmen, companies, and teams is that he really developed East Africa as his own industry, and he followed a long-term development route. In this regard, it was Leopold of Belgium. II has some resemblance to Ernst.

However, Leopold II’s ultimate goal was to make money from Africa, which was very different from Ernst’s idea of ​​establishing an independent country. It can only be said that everyone’s pursuit is different.

Of course, this is also related to everyone’s different starting point. From Ernst’s perspective, the Principality of Hechingen is just a small town. Even if Germany did not collapse as it did in history, Ernst would still be a small town in Germany. Mayor, so instead of studying in Germany, it is better to go to Africa. Only Ernst, a person who has lived and worked in Africa, can understand how good the natural conditions in Africa are. This is something that people in this era cannot see. .

For example, if other nobles in Europe were given a choice, they would definitely rather be a noble in Europe than a chief in Africa. Small nobles may have different ideas, but their economic strength cannot compare with big nobles like Ernst.

"Well, no matter what, development in East Africa is better than when I was the emperor in Mexico. Sitting in that position, it seems to be prosperous, but in fact it is just a puppet manipulated by various forces. Even if it wants to make a difference, it is not understood. It has to be obstructed by all parties, and East Africa is like a blank paper, you can doodle whatever you want. Maybe this is the difference between starting a business on your own and working for others." What Archduke Ferdinand said about working for others was actually working for Napoleon. In the third generation, various forces in Mexico also worked.

"That's because the Mexicans are blind. In fact, if the Mexicans don't get rid of their dependence on the United States, the Mexicans will ask for trouble in the future. Now the Americans are still pretending. That's because the forces of Britain, France and other countries have not yet withdrawn from the Americas. Once Britain and France When these forces that balance the United States withdraw, the United States will reveal its claws. By then, the entire America will be nothing more than a plaything of the Americans, and they will not even have a chance to play both sides."

The current reputation of Americans in the Americas is quite good. The Monroe Doctrine sounds so good. The Americas of the Americans have indeed boosted the strength of North and South America. You European colonists should get out of here. When it comes true in the future, they will There will be no chance again.

Of course, Ernst said this to comfort Archduke Ferdinand. Archduke Ferdinand was actually quite capable, but he was too naive and too weak. He really wanted to develop Mexico, but the Mexicans only wanted to fight for power, so the emperor had to be killed first. Go down.

  After all, Mexican politicians think that they can do it if they want to, but Mexicans have proven over hundreds of years that they really can’t do it.

 (End of this chapter)