Chapter 844 Rudolph

As early as two months before the signing of the treaty, Caprivi had returned to Germany. After all, as the chancellor of the empire, it was impossible for him to stay abroad for too long, especially since East Africa was too far away from Germany.

For example, when European leaders travel abroad, they usually stay within Europe, which is not too far away. It is the same as Confucius's travels around the countries, where he actually stayed in the Central Plains.

Many European countries are actually at the same level as provinces or cities in East Africa. Of course, there are also large countries like Tsarist Russia with an exaggerated land area, and colonial countries like Britain and France with huge overseas colonies.

After signing a cooperation agreement with Germany, East Africa once again turned its attention to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The development of East Africa cannot be separated from the support of Austria, especially in recent years, the cooperation between the two countries has been going on for many years.

Of course, as I said before, Austria is not equal to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which is the only pity, but Austria played a significant role in the construction of the coastal areas of East Africa.

At that time, East Africa opened up the northern industrial belt to cooperate with Austria, but the results were not significant. It was mainly relying on East Africa's own accumulation to barely support the development of the northern industrial belt. Austrian investment was mainly concentrated in Mombasa, and did not go deep into the interior. Of course, this was also related to East Africa's policies and the basic conditions of the northern industrial belt.

The Northern Industrial Belt has never been a resource-rich region, but that was in the past. Since the expansion of the Northern Railway, resources from northern East Africa can be continuously transported directly to Mombasa through the Northern Railway. This is also the main reason why Mombasa can be on par with Dar es Salaam.

Moreover, Mombasa is closer to the international market, which to some extent makes up for the gap with Dar es Salaam.

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The Austrian government attaches great importance to the invitation from East Africa. After all, East Africa is no longer a weak country. Since the South African War, no country dares to underestimate the potential of East Africa. Therefore, the victory of the South African War not only promoted the geopolitical security of East Africa, but also comprehensively enhanced the international status of East Africa.

In early 1892, Crown Prince Rudolf of the Austro-Hungarian Empire came to East Africa to negotiate cooperation on behalf of the Austrian government.

"Rudolph, you seem to have matured a lot over the years. How is your relationship with your family now?"

As soon as they met, Ernst couldn't help but care about the situation of this little brother. After all, Ernst had been away from Europe for so many years, and he didn't know whether Rudolf had returned to the historical track.

Rudolf smiled bitterly and said, "Brother-in-law, don't mention this. I said in the letter that the great emperor doesn't think highly of me at all. Now our families basically live separately."

Ernst saw Rudolf's complaints but had no good solution. After all, this was Rudolf's family affair. Ernst could only act as a channel for Rudolf's emotions and try to help the future master of the Austro-Hungarian Empire avoid detours.

Ernst comforted him, "Your father is a stubborn person, and his thinking is always old-fashioned. But this is not a bad thing for the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After all, governing an empire that is always on the brink of division is really frustrating."

As he grew older, Rudolf could understand Franz's difficulties, but the gap between father and son had already been established, so it was difficult to change this situation.

Rudolf said, "I understand why my father did this, but it's mainly because there are too many troubles in the palace, especially the uncontrollable fate. It's not like you in East Africa, where you have the final say and can do whatever you want."

"You can't govern a country as you please. As for destiny, it is an obligation for the nobles. As long as you relax your mind, there is nothing to complain about. After all, we are born with corresponding rights." Ernst said.

Of course, Ernst could understand what happened to Rudolf, but now that Rudolf could stand in front of him intact, Ernst was already quite satisfied.

Historically, it was at the end of 1888 that Rudolf, who suffered a mental breakdown due to the failure of "love", chose to commit suicide. Now it is 1892, Rudolf is still alive, and history has completely changed. I don't know whether it will be a blessing or a curse for the future of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

However, in Ernst's opinion, this is a good thing. After all, Rudolf is already in his thirties. He will be completely mature in a few years. After all, there is an old saying that a man is free from doubts at forty. Rudolf's character can always be smoothed out, and Ernst speculates that Rudolf will most likely become a person like Franz in the future.

After reminiscing about the past, Ernst no longer cared about Rudolf's psychological problems. After all, he had to slowly explore this path on his own, and others could not help him much. At least now Rudolf did not know his mistress from his previous life, and she was still alive. This was the biggest change.

"This cooperation is because Germany has already reached an economic agreement with East Africa. After all, we cannot favor one over the other. In the past ten years, although we have cooperated with Austria for a long time, it has not been more in-depth. Now you also know that we have acquired a lot of new territories. For the development of these territories, we need Austria's help."

Cooperation with the Austro-Hungarian Empire naturally requires the Mozambique region. East Africa’s own capabilities are ultimately limited, so it must rely on external forces. Moreover, there is no economic crisis to help this time, so it can only find more partners.

Rudolf asked: "We would like to deepen cooperation with East Africa, but the problem is that East Africa is too closed. Many companies' operations in East Africa are not going smoothly. The laws and regulations are too strict, and the cost of hiring is even comparable to that in Europe."

In this respect, East Africa is quite similar to India in its previous life, that is, the management of foreign investment is very strict, which undoubtedly restricts the development of East Africa.

Of course, Ernst did not intend to solve this problem now, because the 19th century was a time of great contention. Not to mention East Africa, except for Britain, the economic systems of all countries were actually the same.

Especially after the economic crisis in the 1970s, various forms of trade protectionism prevailed, so East Africa's policy of isolation did not seem out of place in this international environment.

Even Britain, which advocates free trade, has become somewhat passive after being severely beaten by Germany and the United States. Of course, in backward areas and colonies, free trade is still the mainstream promoted by Britain.

The scale of local monopoly enterprises in East Africa is very large. In fact, this is the same as in Germany and the United States. However, as a non-free market country, East Africa does it more thoroughly.

"The system in East Africa is indeed difficult to change, and the laws are meant to protect the interests of its own citizens, but we also have a basis for cooperation. To a certain extent, we can give Austro-Hungarian investment companies preferential conditions for five years, including tax exemptions, factory construction expenses, etc." Ernst said.

The reason why Ernst was so generous was naturally because there were too many black people in East Africa and they were difficult to deal with, so he simply continued to exploit their surplus value.

Moreover, East Africa is now in urgent need of developing its coastal areas. After seizing Mozambique and Angola, East Africa's coastline has doubled, and nearly three-quarters of the coastline has not been effectively utilized and developed.

Let Germany and Austria build factories on the coast of East Africa first. East Africa can collect less taxes and add more cheap indigenous labor. This will speed up the construction of the coast of Mozambique and Angola.

For the East African governments, this is just a matter of making less money. Tax revenue is dispensable for East Africa for the time being. After all, there should not be too many companies that can invest in East Africa. After all, East Africa's reputation is not very good. If it were not for the size and market reasons, it might not be that attractive.

(End of this chapter)