African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 122: Chapter 117: Beer Tavern Gathering

Just as Prince Constantine thought, from Christmas to New Year, Prussian officers went home to celebrate the holidays.

Garrett sent a telegram to Ernst, asking him to come to Berlin to hang out.

...

Berlin, the beer hall where Ernst and Garrett often visited during their school days.

”Ernst, I missed you!” Garrett howled at Ernst.

”Stay away from me, you look like a madman.” Ernst said in disgust.

”Ah, you don’t understand, life in the barracks isn’t fit for humans. I was almost suffocating in there every day, and now that I have a rare opportunity, of course, I need to relax a bit.”

”I brought some friends over today, come on, Ernst, I’ll introduce you to them.”

They arrived at the table.

”This is Prince Ernst of the Hohenzollern family.” Garrett introduced Ernst to his colleagues with great ceremony.

”Hello, Your Highness,” several people greeted Ernst.

”Hello to all of you!” Ernst responded.

”These guys are my good friends from the barracks, they all participated in the Prussia and Austria war, back then we were all assistants in the general staff. Of course, our fathers were also comrades fighting in the same trench.” Garrett added.

A group of people, gathered around the table, took their seats.

Garrett called for a few beers, handing out one to each person, and the bartender stood by the side ready to refill as needed.

With a few beers down, the conversation couldn’t be stopped.

”Ernst, you don’t know our new officer, seems to be called Herman, isn’t that right, guys?” Garrett asked the group.

”Yes, Herman, that’s right. I’ve heard he used to be a staff officer in the ninth brigade, and I also heard he was a rascal when he was young, later, caught by his dad and sent to military school for education, then graduated with excellent grades, first served as a battalion commander, then rose through the ranks. It’s said that during the battle with Austria, the unit he was responsible for, despite the heavy bombardment from Austrian artillery, managed to carve a bloody path through and broke through the Austrian lines. He and his original brigade commander were both real tough guys.”

”I’ve heard he’s extremely strict with his subordinates, we’re in for a tough time this time!”

”Don’t talk defeatist, conditions in the army are much better now than before, all of you come from families with military backgrounds, you all know what the Prussian military was like.”

”That’s true, in past years, those true second-generation aristocrats were harshly suppressed, now the kingdom demands more professional competency otherwise how would we have our opportunity.”

That’s indeed right, yet Garrett and others actually come from families that are considered upper-middle class in the whole of Prussia, and they are old Junker families.

Nobility like Ernst who transitioned into business doesn’t fit the mainstream very well, but before aligning with Prussia, the Heixinggen royalty was authentic Southern German aristocracy.

In the previous world, Junkers were more like a proprietary term for Prussia, but in German, Junker means ”landowner’s son”, yet the deep impression left by Prussian nobility made Junker become its unique symbol.

Until after World War II, when the Allies thoroughly eradicated the Junker nobility within Prussia, uprooting them completely. After the war, several victorious countries divided Prussia’s territory among themselves, drove the people off these lands, demolished their homes, even changed place names, some Junker family’s ancestral graves were dug up, henceforth Junker nobility vanished entirely.

”Ah, let’s not talk about such disturbing things, Ernst, what have you been busy with recently, haven’t heard of any big news from you for a while?” Garrett asked.

As an emerging big capitalist, rich and young, Ernst made some name for himself in the whole German region.

Especially during the time he bought Alaska, many North Germans got to know this big spender, with many media ridiculing Ernst for being crazy, buying a piece of dead land.

To this Ernst wants to say, with money, willing to buy it and leave it there; even if in the future Ernst cannot keep Alaska, hindering the development of other countries is still a good thing, regardless of whether it’s the United States or Russia developing Alaska first, Ernst feels like losing anyway.

This harmful yet futile behavior somehow brings a bit of dark pleasure, of course, if in the future Alaska could be retained, that would be even better.

”I haven’t got any big news, you’re overestimating me. Recently, I’ve been very low-key.” Ernst said.

In these few months, the East Africa colony indeed was busy digesting without expanding outward, and the Heixinggen consortium was also organizing its business, without much big move.

”Though I’ve heard the old man saying, the military supplies department’s procurement of war materiel never decreases but increases, and the biggest source of living goods orders is from the products in your company.” Garrett said.

Ernst replied: ”Actually not much profit is made, many veteran supplies are provided at cost price, right now Heixinggen company mainly tackles the civilian market.”

”No lie about veteran supplies, not making money is also true, but this is part of Ernst’s plan to cultivate users, while also leaving a good impression with the Prussian royalty and government.”

Prussia implements conscription, so soldiers are recruited from all over the country, once they get used to the convenience of Heixinggen company’s products, they will be walking advertisements in the future.

”At the same time maintaining relationships with the government is very important, in the future the government won’t destroy bridges, some benefits must be thought of to return to the Heixinggen consortium first, like the army’s tobacco business which is very lucrative, has emptied so many soldiers’ wallets.”

And there is still a lot of potential to be tapped in the civilian market, currently on the market, the main providers of daily necessities are those small workshops, their production level and Heixinggen company are not on the same level, in the future there will be more and more cheap and durable Heixinggen products appearing in the market.”

”Really? Not making money yet collaborating with the military!” Garrett could hardly believe it.

”Why would I lie to you, do I need to lie? You can ask your father, isn’t the military’s procurement cost clear?” Ernst said.

”You’re impressive!” Garrett nodded, saying to Ernst.

Sacrificing some interest, in exchange for greater interest, for Ernst, it is very worthwhile, unlike some who really rely on plugging connections to get the military’s orders, if the quality of the goods is good that’s fine, if the quality is not good, in a militaristic country like Prussia, getting exposed would be trouble.”

Currently in Ernst’s hand the most profitable industry, the first is banking, the second is tobacco, the third is the power company, the fourth is daily necessities production, the fifth is engines...

Tobacco is a purely lucrative industry, and with the expansion of tobacco planting areas in East Africa, future costs will be even lower.

The electricity company is also making plenty with the lighting system, and the derived products are increasing.

As for the potential Berlin Energy Power Company, although Ernst suppressed its product release time, with a deep understanding of more advanced engines, the company’s improvements on low-performance engines are very proficient.

Currently on the market, the two-stroke engines produced by Berlin Energy Power Company have much higher quality than peers, in fact, this product is already two generations behind inside the company.

But keeping quiet to make a fortune is too enticing, when competitors are about to catch up, Berlin Energy Power could release the leading new products, creating a false impression in the market, which is that Berlin Energy Power’s products have high cost performance, and reliability is the best, it’s expensive but with the brand, you can’t go wrong.