African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 518: Chapter 196 Acceleration

East Africa has some experts in water management, but they are few in number and not as specialized as those from Germany and Austria-Hungary. Therefore, with the support of these talents, the nationwide water management project in East Africa can be completed more easily.

”Your Highness! Is your plan a bit too ambitious? East Africa is vast, and if you build the water infrastructure according to your requirements, especially within such a short timeframe, can you really withstand the pressure?”

No wonder the German experts were skeptical; the circles Ernst casually drew on the map appeared larger than Germany and Austria-Hungary combined. These areas are the major agricultural zones of East Africa.

Ernst explained: ”You don’t need to worry about that. We have abundant human resources to support such a long-term nationwide project.”

”Hmm! Your Highness, may I ask if the citizens of East Africa really have such a high tolerance?”

Ernst replied: ”You misunderstand; the cheapest labor in Africa is the Black people, who are also the main force in this project. So feel free to proceed.”

After hearing Ernst’s words, the German water experts smirked to themselves: ”So he’s a slave trader!”

Unaware of their silent criticism, Ernst didn’t care even if he knew; as long as East Africa could be better developed, why should he mind carrying this infamy?

Moreover, such endeavors as constructing water management systems can easily have mixed outcomes, just like the Sui-Tang Grand Canal. Everyone agrees Emperor Yang of Sui was a foolish ruler, and the Sui-Tang Grand Canal indeed burdened the people financially, yet the canal alone is enough to make Emperor Yang of Sui a historic monarch.

Ernst didn’t intend to build a super canal over two thousand kilometers long; he was purely focused on improving agricultural production.

However, the Germans weren’t wrong in labeling East Africa as slave traders; as countries with few overseas colonies, Germany and Austria-Hungary didn’t even have the opportunity to be slave traders.

After organizing these experts, Ernst, the world’s largest slave master, began addressing the Black Army cultivated during the previous East-Portuguese War.

Although the East-Portuguese War wasn’t long, it lasted for at least half a year, and by its end, East Africa had trained over ninety thousand Black soldiers.

Facing such instability, Ernst had intended to send them directly to America, but when it came time to execute the plan, he encountered a small problem.

”Your Highness, many of these Black people have learned a few words of German during our training. If the Americans notice, that would be trouble.”

”Do the Americans care about such things? And surely knowing a few words of German wouldn’t get noticed, right?”

”Our main issue is with our client base, many of whom are German-speaking farm owners in the western United States. Previously, they complained about slaves from East Africa carrying a slight German accent, though fortunately, they turned a blind eye. However, this batch of Black people received military training and know some specialized military terms, which might be problematic...”

After listening, Ernst nodded: ”This is indeed an issue; I guess I’ll have to carry out some cultural adaptation with these natives.”

His subordinates were confused by Ernst’s words: ”Your Highness, what are your ideas?”

”Let’s not disperse the Black Corps, find them an English teacher to teach them for a month before sending them to America; this method can work for future slaves confirmed for American shipment.”

”Uh, Your Highness, isn’t your method a bit cheeky?”

”Hehe, remember, the first phrase to teach them is ’MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,’” Ernst said mischievously.

His subordinates listened with a perplexed expression; what is this about making America great again?

Thinking about how to make America great again with Black people from East Africa was puzzling. However, considering America’s rapid development, it’s indeed closely tied to Black people. Saying Black people contribute significantly to America isn’t wrong, and East Africa is no different. Without the efforts of Black people from East Africa, development wouldn’t happen so quickly.

Seeing his subordinates deep in thought, Ernst said: ”Black people are excellent resources, but these resources should be in places where they belong. Placing valuable resources in mismatched locations makes them rubbish, so to maximize their impact, sending them to America is the only way.”

His subordinates were unsure of what Ernst meant by this statement, but their attention lingered on the mention of ’rubbish.’

Black people were indeed considered high-quality labor resources in this era, given their commodification and evident advantages over other races, prompting various colonial powers to keenly introduce them. Only countries like East Africa and Argentina frowned at their large numbers.

The French in West Africa needed abundant labor to develop plantations, so slave trade still existed in Africa. Within Africa, a slave trade route had formed, where East African Black people were traded through West African powers like Mwesili’s regime to be sold to French white plantation owners.

”We need to support America’s Westward Movement a little. I hear the population there is low, so we should send them more labor because it’s affordable and of good quality. In the future, Americans should be grateful to me,” Ernst said with ill intentions.

Of course, America alone couldn’t digest all of them, and South American countries were also major slave markets for East Africa. Ernst envisioned a world where racial integration progressed further.

In Ernst’s view, if American farm owners and entrepreneurs bought fewer modern production tools and more Black people, it would signify East Africa’s victory. Even if it meant losing money annually to export Black people to America, Ernst was willing to do so.

Let’s set a small goal first: increase the proportion of Black people in America to twenty percent. Compared to East Africa, this is indeed a small goal, as the proportion of Black people in East Africa is estimated at forty to fifty percent.

In 1879, the proportion of Black people in America was about fifteen percent. To raise it to twenty percent, at least three million more Black people would need to be sent to America.

Adding three million Black people would likely push America’s Black population past ten million. At that point, America’s total population should be between fifty and sixty million, causing East Africa’s Black population to decrease by one level, potentially balancing the total number of Black people in the two countries.

Ernst envisioned using Black people to stall America’s development, ideally reducing the number of immigrants from Europe to America. Currently, American Black people didn’t have educational rights, meaning they could only work in low-level industries.

As long as America doesn’t treat Black people like Native Americans, Ernst believed America would follow the developmental path he expected, though more intensely than previously.

With this in mind, Ernst instructed: ”This year, reduce our Far East immigration vessels by twenty percent and allocate them to the American immigration transportation line; I want to speed up American development.”