Chapter 311 The Idea of ​​the Kingdom of Italy

Most of the official medical personnel that already exist in East Africa come from the East. Only Constantine brought a team of private doctors from Germany. There are some "doctors" from Europe among other immigrants, but most of these people are unconventional and use the old Western medicine of the Middle Ages. After all, they come from rural areas, and most of them still rely on the inheritance of their ancestors. They often use axes and scissors to cut open people's stomachs without disinfection. Who can stand this?

Doctors are still the scarcest profession in East Africa. Most patients still rely on fate. Many people have their own folk remedies. They don’t know whether they work or not, but they just try them. Fortunately, people in this era are accustomed to this.

There are a total of 108 official clinics built in East Africa, no hospitals, 285 registered doctors, and a snake venom research institute, which is considered the pinnacle of medical care in East Africa.

Overall, East Africa is extremely short of medical resources. Fortunately, East Africa is very suitable for herbal medicine cultivation, and some of the traditions among the indigenous people have been mastered by East Africans.

For example, after being bitten by a black mamba, the natives of East Africa will find a strange-looking plant from the surrounding area, mash it into a plaster, apply it to the wound, and then wait for death.

Although this matter is a bit ridiculous, the natives believe it firmly. This shows that the natives also have their own medicine, which can at least serve as psychological comfort.

Of course, these are failed cases. There are also many successful ones. Most of them are prescriptions that can reduce inflammation, stop bleeding and relieve pain. After all, the indigenous people have been fighting wits and ferocity with the beasts of East Africa for thousands of years, and it is inevitable to suffer minor injuries. Therefore, they have summarized a set of systematic medical experience. In essence, it is still in the state of being separated from witch doctors, but some results can always be achieved by accident.

…

After Austria took Venice, it immediately launched the final cleansing of the region. A large number of intellectuals, businessmen, and nobles fled to the Kingdom of Sardinia. Compared with Hungary in the east of Lombardy, Austria's food was the opposite and more beautiful.

Lombardy, as the richest region in Italy, made Hungarian nobles reap the benefits. Although they knew that Austrians were using Hungary as a shield, if Italians wanted to recover lost territory, they had to attack Lombardy first. However, Hungary did not care. What level are you, Italy? No matter how bad Hungary is, it is still a member of the great powers, with a strong motherland behind it.

Although Austria also expelled the Italians, most of them had a stable destination because East Africa took over. Hungary was not so polite to Lombardy. It directly expelled the Italians from its territory according to the agreement, and then migrated a large number of Hungarians from the mainland of the empire to achieve the goal of taking over the old territory. This time the Hungarian government did its best. After all, Lombardy alone could accommodate many of its own noble children.

The actions of Austria and Hungary directly led to the emergence of a large number of refugee groups in the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Papal States, and Naples was also affected.

At this time, the East African Kingdom can appear as a good guy. As a major agricultural country, East Africa's food production capacity is far in excess. Even if it exports a large amount every year, there is still surplus.

After all, East Africa cannot act recklessly in the European grain market. Cutting off someone's financial resources is like killing their parents. East Africa can only try to develop some differentiated products to expand grain sales, just like the food processing industry under Hei Xingen.

This time in Italy, there is no need to worry so much. Hundreds of thousands of refugees have poured in, and all Italian countries have been affected. If the food problem of these people is not solved, it will cost lives.

Florence.

Since the failure of the war, Emmanuel II has been gloomy all day long and has looked much older. This time, the Kingdom of Italy lost both its wife and its soldiers, and nearly half of its territory was lost, which returned the Kingdom of Italy to its original state. However, the more this time, the more the Kingdom of Italy depends on himself, so he has to continue to support it.

Emmanuel II asked the Minister of Agriculture with a worried look on his face: "Has the food problem not been solved yet?"

The Minister of Agriculture said helplessly: "This time we lost a lot of land in the Po River Plain and the grain-producing areas in southern Italy. In addition, the kingdom's grain output was already far lower than that of other European countries, and now it is even more difficult to sustain."

King Emmanuel II: "Can the Ministry of Foreign Affairs think of a way to seek help from other countries?"

Foreign Minister: "Your Majesty, the Spanish royal family is willing to give us some free aid, but that is just a drop in the bucket. Spain's internal situation is not good, and Prince Amadeo can't do anything. Germany and France have reduced grain production due to the war, so that now the price of grain in the whole of Europe has risen."

King Emmanuel II: "Is there no solution? You know, hundreds of thousands of refugees in Lombardy and Venice have no food to eat, and they will eventually point their spearheads at the government."

Foreign Minister: "Your Majesty, there is actually good news. The Kingdom of East Africa is willing to sell us a large amount of food at a low price, but mainly rice and corn."

King Emmanuel II: "The Kingdom of East Africa? The country that was established last year?"

Foreign Secretary: "Exactly, Your Majesty. The Kingdom of East Africa is a country created in East Africa by Constantine, Prince of Hechingen of Prussia."

King Emmanuel II said, "This East African Kingdom hasn't been around for long, has it? Do they have the ability to bear such a large amount of grain exports?"

The Foreign Minister said: "Your Majesty, you may not know that the grain trade volume between East Africa and us has been growing steadily in recent years. Before the establishment of the East African Kingdom, the East African colonies have always been a grain export region."

King Emmanuel II: "This East African Kingdom is in Africa, right? Is Africa so rich?"

The Foreign Minister said: "Africa has poor climate conditions and is plagued by diseases, but there should be no shortage of land. After all, the African continent is vast, and it was originally a place where black slaves were produced, so there is no shortage of labor. This is probably why the East African Kingdom became a grain exporter as soon as it was established."

King Emmanuel II: "You mean that the Kingdom of East Africa exploited the indigenous people of East Africa to develop the land and grow a lot of food, thus creating huge wealth for the Kingdom of East Africa?"

Foreign Minister: "I think it should be like this. Black people eat less, work more, are strong and healthy, and don't ask for money. It's hard for Prince Constantine not to get rich."

Emmanuel II immediately became interested: "What do you think about us opening a colony in Africa to solve Italy's food problem?"

The foreign minister was not optimistic: "Developing overseas colonies is one solution, but Italy lacks experience in this area, and our finances are also a big problem right now."

When it comes to financial issues, Emmanuel II was also in a dilemma. The Italian government itself owed Britain a large debt. If Britain was not afraid that Italy could not repay the debt, it would not care about the life and death of the Italians, mediate the war, and try to maintain the continued existence of the main body of Italy. Even the newly restored Kingdom of Naples was forced to inherit part of the debt owed by the Kingdom of Sardinia and repay the British.

In addition, in this war, Italy also lost Venice and one-third of Lombardy, which are important financial and taxation centers. In comparison, the Kingdom of Naples is not so important. Although Naples has a large area and a large population, its economy is not good. Although it pays a lot of taxes, the Kingdom of Italy's financial expenditure here is greater. Getting rid of this burden now may not be a bad thing.

King Emmanuel II: "In this case, we should spend our money where it counts. We should start by importing food from East Africa. As long as the price is low enough, don't worry about rice or corn. The most important thing is to appease the refugees. As for opening up colonies, we can do that after we recover."

The Kingdom of Italy had no choice but to colonize overseas. Italy's conditions in this regard were not bad, and it was not completely without experience. The Mediterranean was also a sea, and Sardinia and Sicily were both ruled by sea routes. It was just a matter of going further this time and colonizing more distant places. It was impossible to support such a large population relying on the mainland.

(End of this chapter)