African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 567: Chapter 245: The Struggle Behind Dongyou

Morgville doesn’t have time to listen to these compliments; he still has a lot to take care of. After all, Glucegen City is considered a new district, and there are too many issues to resolve.

After two months of preparation, the East African Navy is finally ready with its supplies and is set to sail to the South Ryukyu Islands.

”Father-in-law, why are you going out to sea again this time? You have many people under your command now; there’s no need for you to do everything personally. The sea is dangerous. What if something happens to you? How could I explain this to Karina?”

”Exactly, father, listen to Ernst and stay behind. You are the Navy Commander, so you should stay on the mainland to oversee things. The South Ryukyu Islands aren’t an important place, and there’s no need for you to go personally. Besides, mom and I both want you to stay safe.” Karina said coquettishly on the side.

”Uh... isn’t it because I see how much Ernst values the South Ryukyu Islands that I’ve decided to go personally for him?”

As soon as Grand Duke Ferdinand finished speaking, Karina cast a ”fierce” glance at her husband, as if to say, ”This is all your doing!”

Ernst quickly shirked off responsibility: ”Father-in-law, you can’t blame me. Who said I value the South Ryukyu Islands so much? This archipelago is just the icing on the cake for me, not something I must have. I wouldn’t be heartbroken even if it disappeared tomorrow.”

Ferdinand gave Ernst a skeptical look and said, ”If you don’t value it, why prepare so much material, including several heavy cannons, just for a few worthless islands? Even Mayotte (one of the Comoros Islands, East African territory) didn’t receive such treatment back then, did it?”

Ernst: ”Oh, just because of these, you think I value the South Ryukyu Islands?”

”Isn’t it obvious? The weapons and supplies you’ve prepared clearly indicate a plan to occupy the South Ryukyu Islands long-term, and the level of provision is quite high, even higher than the Lan Fang overseas province,” Ferdinand countered.

”Father-in-law, this is actually a misunderstanding. The reason I’ve prepared so many things for the South Ryukyu Islands has nothing to do with their importance. Turning them into an East African stronghold in the Pacific was entirely incidental.”

Ferdinand was full of disbelief. Who are you trying to fool? Whether something is valued can be seen from actions. Even if Ernst truly doesn’t value it, the Far East Empire and Japan, who are interested in the South Ryukyu Islands, will certainly think Ernst does. With warships and stationed troops, who’s being fooled here!

”Ugh, father-in-law, don’t give me that look. I’m really not fooling you. In my strategic map, the South Ryukyu Islands are just a dispensable point; they’re so far from East Africa and have zero economic value for us. Strategically, they’re not significant either. That position is nothing but trouble, a thankless effort.”

”You know it’s a thankless effort, which makes it even clearer that you have ideas about the South Ryukyu Islands. Take East Africa, for instance. Colonizing East Africa back then was also a thankless effort, but you did it anyway. Now East Africa is developing so rapidly, and you’ve profited massively.”

”How can the South Ryukyu Islands be compared to East Africa? They are not on the same level at all. The gap is too significant. Just in terms of area, East Africa has over ten million square kilometers; even if it were all barren land, it would still be valuable. Mining a bit would basically be enough to break even. The South Ryukyu Islands simply lack everything—land, population, resources, economic, and military value... nothing that commands respect.”

Grand Duke Ferdinand: ”Since you say so, why station troops in the South Ryukyu Islands, almost on par with the Lan Fang overseas province?”

”Father-in-law, I stationed troops in the South Ryukyu Islands to guard against petty people. Although the South Ryukyu Islands have no value, since I’ve already taken them, I can’t just let them go. It’s like having a piece of bread in my hand. Even if I have plenty of lavish meals every day and don’t need this piece of bread, if a beggar wants to eat it, I might not want it, but he can’t steal or rob it. Otherwise, I’ll break his teeth.”

Grand Duke Ferdinand stared suspiciously at his son-in-law: ”The petty people and beggars you’re referring to aren’t Japan, are they?”

”Haha, father-in-law, you know me well.”

”Why do you have such an attitude toward Japan?” Grand Duke Ferdinand asked. Karina was also curious to know.

Both actually had a pretty good impression of Japan due to a misunderstanding: loving someone for their connections. In East Africa, everyone knew that the crown prince was very friendly to the Far East, which naturally included the German people of East Africa.

The Far East in Europe is a vast concept, encompassing the Far East Empire, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan. As for Mongolia within the five East Asian countries, it’s still part of the Far East Empire now, and with Ernst’s involvement, who knows what the future holds?

”Japan is an extremely radical country. Don’t be deceived by their current facade; they’re actually harboring a belly full of bad intentions. The Far East Empire should feel this most deeply. In short, they’re a pack of white-eyed wolves akin to the Jews. Although the Japanese and Jews employ different methods, they ultimately end up the same,” Ernst explained to his wife and father-in-law.

This statement was quite venomous at the time. The Jews were notorious during this era. Unlike the previous life where Western countries behaved subserviently before Jewish influence, the Jews now held sway over American power and controlled world public opinion. In ”democratic” countries, public opinion is hugely influential, as it affects power dynamics.

In capitalist countries, Jews engaged in industries that maximized their influence and power since they represented the most powerful financial groups in the West, and they were transnational organizations. However, such influence didn’t work in the Arab world or the Far East Empire, where local forces dared to beat the Jews to a pulp.

Europeans had also dug their own grave with policies akin to agrarian primacy suppressing commerce, much like the Far East Empire. Therefore, Jews could only engage in industries that European nobility disregarded—business.

As the capitalist era dawned and commerce thrived, Jewish power naturally expanded. The freer and more democratic a country became, the less it could extricate itself from Jewish control.

As someone reborn into this world, Ernst was one of the obstacles to the Jewish financial consortiums, as he himself was engaged in commerce. The rise of the Heixinggen Consortium directly struck the Rothschild family’s nest in the German region.

The Rothschild family was powerless against the Heixinggen Consortium because Ernst himself was part of the German aristocracy. The German nobility was happy to see Ernst, one of their own, restraining the Jews in the financial sector. Their focus was on controlling the military, so they relied on Jewish financial support but also looked down on them.

Although Ernst couldn’t completely eradicate the Jewish financial groups, he could restrain them, which was seen as favorable by the ruling class nobility.

Of course, this was only in the German region. Now the Jews’ stronghold was in Britain and America. As for the German attitude toward Jews, Adolf from the previous life had already given the answer.

Japanese industrial and commercial capital originated in Britain, with much of Britain’s capital coming from Jewish merchants. So, in the East Japan conflict, Jews inevitably played a significant role behind the scenes.

And it’s not just Japan. Competition with Jewish capital existed even in the Far East Empire, only that East Africa and the Far East Empire were in a semi-cooperative relationship and focused on industrial investment. Jewish capital in the Far East mainly relied on British national power, competing with establishments like HSBC and German merchant groups, especially in the financial sector where Heixinggen Bank was a direct competitor to other foreign establishments.

Ernst held disdain for the Qing Government, but there was one aspect he appreciated: its emphasis on industry, particularly heavy and military industrial investment, which was much better than the comprador collaborator democratic government in the previous life that crippled national capital and industry.

Although the Qing Government fell due to incompetence, it did leave behind some foundation, especially in the military industry, unlike certain governments that, before their demise, plundered the treasury and all foreign reserves, relying on four billion people’s savings over decades, yet in tiny territories, developed less than Japan and South Korea. Ernst would certainly spit on such governments.