Chapter 196 Railway

"Why, you also want to get involved in this industry?" asked Prince Karl Anton.

"That's not the case. I mainly want to test the waters in the colony." Ernst said directly without hiding anything.

"I'm afraid this matter is a bit difficult to handle!" Prince Karl Anton said without hesitation, "Although I am optimistic about your talent in business, I'm afraid it will be difficult for you to make a profit from this matter!"

According to Prince Karl Anton, if the colony is used to pay compensation, why come here?

"Uncle Carl, when I say test the waters, I mean only building a short distance. I don't mean to roll it out on a large scale in East Africa," said Ernst.

"That's not right! If you are just building it for fun, there is no need to ask me! You can just go to a German railway company and they should be able to start construction right away! And I believe that with your status, no one would dare to cheat you." Prince Karl Anton said.

In the eyes of Prince Karl Anton, Ernst is now a great nobleman and capitalist in Germany. This configuration has created an invincible golden body.

Moreover, Ernst also said that he wanted to test the waters. No blind Deutsche Railway Company would offend a future prince and business tycoon for such a small benefit.

"The truth is, Uncle Karl, I am also eyeing the railway market, but I also know that railways are different from what I did before.

Railway technology is now very mature and the threshold is very high. The most important thing is that there are many railway companies in Germany, and entering directly now would definitely be a thankless task.

But I am optimistic about the future development of railways. The lack of opportunities now does not mean there will be no opportunities in the future. The problem is that if there are opportunities in the future, we must be able to grasp them, so I want to make some arrangements in advance. "Ernst said.

"I think I understand what you mean! You really want to do this business now, but you are not optimistic about the market prospects in the near future. So you don't want to enter the market on a large scale. Instead, you want to start with a smaller scale and accumulate experience to prepare for the future. Is that what you mean?" asked Prince Karl Anton.

“Uncle Carl, this is exactly what I wanted to express, and I have another purpose. As you know, I don’t have any big business in East Africa. In fact, I just organize immigrants to go there to farm, so the commodity transportation in East Africa is mainly bulk commodities such as food and timber.

These goods are huge and clumsy, but if they cannot be shipped to Europe, it would be a real loss. I can only rely on this little food and supplies to make some money back from my colonies.

However, the transportation conditions in East Africa are the biggest obstacle to transporting these things. Take the rivers in East Africa for example, there is not a single continuous river that flows directly from the plateau mountains to the coast, with only a few hundred kilometers of navigable conditions.

Water transport is not feasible, so I thought of railways, but the cost of railways is too high, and I have to experiment in East Africa before I can make up my mind to promote it. "Ernst said.

After listening to this, Prince Karl Anton thought for a while and asked, "I have a question. You see, the main industry in East Africa is agriculture, right? On a large scale, agriculture is indeed very profitable, but you are shipping grain from East Africa to Europe, the shipping cost is not small, and you have to face competition from grain producers such as Germany, Hungary, France, and Tsarist Russia. Can you really make money?

And I heard from your father that you have to pay for the cost of bringing in immigrants from outside instead of using local natives, which is another expense, so where is the profit point of this East African colony?"

In fact, Prince Karl Anton knew that overseas colonies were very profitable, otherwise how could the British become the overlord of the ocean with the help of that island?

But as a genuine old German Junker, Prince Karl Anton was not very clear about the operation of overseas colonies.

After all, Austria was the only country in the entire German region that had experience with this, but later on, the results were obvious: all Austrian attempts had failed.

In the past few decades, the European continent has been in turmoil. First, Napoleon stirred up the situation, then the Crimean War broke out, later Prussia fought two wars with Denmark, and finally fought a war with the Austrian Empire.

Everyone's attention is focused on the European continent, and this is naturally the case with the old politician Prince Karl Anton. However, Prince Constantine of Hechingen recently sailed to East Africa, which aroused Prince Karl Anton's strong interest in the East African colony.

Unfortunately, Constantine had already gone to East Africa, so Prince Karl Anton simply asked Ernst.

“Uncle Carl, the East African colonies are a long-term business. It is hard to tell whether they are good or bad at the moment. After all, the East African colonies are just scraps that the great powers have not taken a fancy to. They do not have any particularly outstanding advantages. In the early stage, they are basically pure investment, and ordinary people can’t handle it at all.

So when I was running the East African colony, I never thought about whether he could make a profit, but tried to make him lose less.

Although grain is not profitable, it is abundant in quantity, which is also an advantage of the small number of colonies in East Africa as the land area is large enough.

Although it cannot be sold at a high price, the production cost in East Africa is low. The land is ready and just needs to be developed. As for the immigrants, we only need to pay for their shipping fees and food and clothing, so there will be plenty of cheap labor.

It is indeed unrealistic to make money from the East African colonies now, but it may be possible in the future, but the overseas risks are also high, so they offset each other.

However, setting up a factory in Europe is definitely a sure-win business with high profits," Ernst said.

In fact, the East African colonies can now ensure a balance between income and expenditure and even have a slight surplus. After all, East Africa mainly makes money from cash crops, and East Africa's market is not only in Europe, but also includes North Africa, the Middle East and other regions.

It’s not that Ernst was hiding his intentions. It was indeed very risky to develop colonies in this era, and Ernst took advantage of the situation and chose a good time and a good place.

"So that's it! It seems that developing overseas is indeed not easy. I'm just curious, so I asked." Prince Carl Anton said.

"Uncle Carl, there are actually good places overseas, but those places have long been divided up by those maritime countries," said Ernst.

"Okay, let's stop talking about this! Let's continue talking about the railway! If you have any plans, just tell me directly, don't beat around the bush." ​​Prince Karl Anton said.

"Uncle Carl, since that's the case, I'll be frank. I actually want to directly acquire a railway company. It doesn't have to be too large, but it must have construction experience. But after all, I'm not from that circle and I don't know much about the tricks involved, so I came to you to find out about the situation." Ernst said.

The railway in Germany is developing rapidly, with many large and small companies gathering here. Some are practical, while others are full of nonsense.

Although Ernst is also a capitalist, he operates in a different field. If he enters the field rashly, the other party may not dare to cheat him. Railways are one of Germany's pillar industries, and the power of those people is not much weaker than Ernst, and their relationship with the government is even closer.

Naturally, in business, the fewer competitors the better, and a businessman with strong financial resources like Ernst would definitely attract attention if he entered the railway industry.

Ernst had no intention of getting into trouble with these people. To be honest, the fundamental reason why he wanted to squeeze into this industry was to accumulate relevant technology and experience for East Africa.

Moreover, the railway market is in a very good situation now, but it will not be like this in the future. It will be the right time for Ernst to enter in a big way when the whole market is in mourning.

(End of this chapter)