African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 101: Chapter 96 Daily Life

Ernst does not care about the life or death of the natives on the East African land. As a colonizer, he should have a heart of stone; otherwise, he might as well end it early, or the dark side of this world would drive him to death.

As a Western colonizer, Ernst is a complete white lotus among his peers, after all, unlike some countries, he doesn’t engage in the perversion of using natives...

By adhering to the principle of not thinking about something, it can be presumed that it has not happened. Ernst never dwells on the consequences, as long as the East African colony completes its tasks according to his objectives. As for extermination, well, since the East African colony didn’t do it personally, it doesn’t count.

On one hand, he manages the affairs of the East African colony; on the other hand, he handles the business in Europe. Ernst is usually quite busy,

but today he managed to steal half a day of leisure, accompanying the old man for afternoon tea in the garden.

Ernst drank authentic Eastern green tea. In this era, common beverages were few, and Ernst couldn’t get used to coffee; he’d only sip some when visiting others or hosting guests.

Prince Constantine, however, liked coffee and wasn’t surprised by his son’s fondness for Eastern tea. After all, the British loved tea, and in the German region, there were Dutch-made teas, making this beverage not uncommon.

Ernst’s own fleet would also bring some tea leaves from the Far East, all designated by Ernst himself, and purchased by local staff directly from tea regions.

Ernst didn’t make it difficult for the stationed staff, as the Heixinggen Consortium’s business currently primarily operates in the north. Thus, they mostly went to tea regions near the North China area to purchase tea leaves, such as Lu’an Melon Seed Tea and Xinyang Maojian...

Tea from the Jiangsu and Zhejiang region was also good, but foreigners knew more about it (Nanyang Overseas Chinese merchants), and its reputation was high. The local nobility and dignitaries competed fiercely (wealthy regions consume high quantities), so with that pitiful output, most of what circulates in the market is likely counterfeit, especially for Westerners like the Heixinggen consortium staff, who are most easily duped.

It’s more reliable to go to the tea districts and buy on the spot. Also, unlike coastal and southern areas where foreigners are more common, the inland tea regions might prompt local officials to be more cautious and accommodate the Heixinggen consortium staff a bit.

”Ernst, how has your East African colony been doing recently? I haven’t heard you mention it for a while!” Prince Constantine asked, holding his coffee cup.

”Father, everything is currently under control. Ever since the telecommunication lines were set up, I can handle the information sent from East Africa on the same day. The immigration is growing steadily; barring any surprises, reaching a scale of five hundred thousand by the end of the year is still achievable,” Ernst replied to Prince Constantine.

Prince Constantine leaned back on the chair, expressing slight astonishment, ”The East African colony hasn’t been opened for even two years, has it? Yet you’ve recruited so many people; even the entire Heixinggen and surrounding villages barely make up more than a few tens of thousands.”

”Father, you need to understand a concept first. The area of the East African colony is currently as large as two Austria-Hungary Empires, while its population is only one percent of Austria-Hungary’s (with more than 33 million people in 1870), so this amount of immigrants is hardly enough,” Ernst explained to Constantine.

”Has so much land in East Africa already been developed?” Constantine was somewhat surprised.

Originally, Ernst had mentioned developing the East African colony, but Constantine hadn’t taken it seriously; as long as the child had his own ideas, it wasn’t a bad thing, and success wasn’t a necessity.

He never expected his son to be so exceptional. The initial pledges were mostly fulfilled, with companies and banks established and ranked among the top in European countries.

Back when Alaska was purchased, Constantine was aware, but it was just snowy terrain, nothing much to say, just assumed his son had money to burn.

As for East Africa, Constantine knew it was what Ernst valued most; to his surprise, Ernst really achieved it through his own efforts (without national backing and support).

”Five hundred thousand people, one million two hundred thousand square kilometers of land, very impressive! Württemberg and Baden combined have just over two million (with the Hohenzollern province under Heixinggen nestled in between them, thus Constantine compared them),” Prince Constantine calculated.

”Among the immigrant population, how many are German?” Prince Constantine asked.

”Close to a little over ten thousand, mainly German immigrants within the Austria-Hungary Empire. Besides that, there are five or six thousand other ethnic groups from Austria-Hungary. Recently, I also recruited some people from Paraguay,” Ernst said.

”There are still too few Germans. Fortunately, I have some news to tell you. In these years, due to reduced grain production in the southern (Germanic) region, many people have been forced to leave their homes to look for a livelihood. I didn’t notice initially because of the war, but later, after spending some time back home (in Heixinggen), the steward told me that indeed, the territory’s grain yield this year is slightly less than previous years; Württemberg, Baden, Bavaria, and other regions are similar. This is an opportunity. I’ll talk to them (the nobles in Southern Germany) and see if they can direct some to you,” Constantine said leisurely.

Upon hearing this, Ernst was overjoyed. Recently, he’s been shuttling back and forth between Berlin and Vienna, neglecting his hometown’s situation. Had it not been for his father coming to Berlin for business, he might have missed this chance.

”Father, you’re really a great help. You can tell your old friends that I can take as many people as this immigration can offer; there’s plenty of space in East Africa to accommodate them,” Ernst said excitedly.

These are perfect immigrants, completely aligning with Ernst’s criteria for emigrants: Germans, farmers, and not highly educated (compulsory education in Southern Germany is not as widespread as in Northern Germany).

The southwestern region has always been a crucial area for German overseas emigration, consistently accounting for over thirty percent.

If this group of immigrants can be utilized well, it can at least boost the purely German population in East Africa by tens of thousands (many Austria-Hungary immigrants in the East African colony are branded as Germans).

Combined with the education of Paraguayan children, it’s entirely possible to change their identity perception in this generation so that the German population can barely match that of the Chinese immigrants (marriages between Chinese and white people automatically classify as mixed-race, not part of the Chinese group).

Though there are many pseudo and inferior Germans, after two or three generations, they will all be genuine German ethnicity. In the West, families are akin to those in the East. For instance, the Hohenzollern family, to which Ernst belongs, can trace its branches clearly, similar to the East.

But ordinary people in the West don’t have the clan concept as Eastern people do. In the Far Eastern south, ordinary people might not have the means and wealth to compile a genealogy, but they often live together as a family, organized by wealthy and reputable members to write family records, so Eastern people are generally noble descendants.

In the West, the distinction between nobles and commoners is clear. Only mutual recognition among nobles makes them truly noble, so commoners don’t bother caring about their lineage, unable to change it even if they did.

So in East Africa, these immigrants, after two or three generations of education, will not know who their ancestors are, at most recalling up to their grandfather’s generation.

In this era, with the educational level of farmers, many recording methods rely on memory rather than writing, leading to a record gap.

At that time, relying on the colonial education system, indoctrinating the children of immigrants since childhood, Ernst could decide what constitutes the truth, perhaps even creating a new nation.