Chapter 92: Poaching

South America, Paraguay.

Allied occupation areas (Triple Alliance in South America).

Devin Gearhart watched George Swinding emerge from the village with a large group of children.

"Mr. Swindling, if God knew about your good deeds, he would definitely reward you with good health and your company's prosperous business," said Devon Gearhart.

George Swinding said, "General Gearhart, you are joking. We just don't want to see these children suffer. War has nothing to do with these innocent children."

"As a soldier, my duty is to obey. Although there is no distinction between good and evil in this war, I am a participant in it after all. Their parents may be innocent people who died in the war, but I can't do anything about it. The condemnation of my conscience makes me support your company's work even more." Gearhart said.

Gearhart, an officer on the Argentine side in the Paraguayan War, is currently resting in Paraguay.

George is an employee of the Hexingen Group. This time he is on a business trip to South America to take in orphans caused by the war.

The population problem has always been the biggest problem facing the East African colonies, but there is no rush to solve the population problem in the East African colonies.

Otherwise, the problem would have been solved long ago by introducing a large number of garbage people. There is no need to introduce them at all, the local indigenous people would be enough.

The problem is that this is certainly not what Ernst wanted. What Ernst wanted was stable and easy-to-govern immigrants.

The Far East has always been the main force of immigration to East Africa, but Ernst's strict restrictions have resulted in the number of Far Eastern immigrants to East Africa not reflecting the population size of the Far East at all.

On the one hand, in order to culturally assimilate the immigrants in the East African colonies, Ernst introduced a large number of illiterate people.

On the other hand, Ernst also had to balance the population sizes of all parties and not allow any one of them to have an absolute advantage.

For example, regarding the recent immigration from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Ernst was somewhat worried because too many Yugoslavs were being introduced, mostly Croats and Serbs, especially the Serbs whose numbers were on a rapid upward trend.

So Ernst tried every possible way to obtain more sources of immigrants.

Those who set their minds to it will not be disappointed.

This opportunity came at an unexpected moment.

Coincidentally, Ernst suddenly discovered an insignificant piece of news while reading the newspaper recently.

The content of the news happened in South America. At that time, there was not much news about South America in Europe.

What is it about? It is the most tragic war in South American history, the Paraguayan War.

How brutal this war is!

According to statistics, the population of Paraguay was 525,000 in 1865, but only 221,079 people were left in 1871. Among them, there were 106,254 women, 86,079 children, and only 28,746 adult men.

This war completely exhausted Paraguay's potential, leaving behind a large number of widows and orphans, and also created Paraguay's unique polygamy system in the past.

Now, the war is not over yet, but Paraguay is already powerless to turn the tide. More than half of its 10,000-strong army are elderly and children.

The enemies faced by the Paraguayans included not only the alliance of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, but also the financial backers behind the three countries, the British.

Just this year, the Triple Alliance has just expanded its army, and Paraguay will face an even more brutal situation, this is what the newspapers say.

When Ernst thought of the severely unbalanced population ratio in Paraguay after the war, he thought, wasn’t this exactly the opposite of the East African colonies?

Paraguay has more girls than boys, while the East African colonies currently have more boys than girls.

Putting aside this issue, Ernst was also envious of the orphans created by the war.

Although they are young, there is more room for transforming their thoughts and culture.

Moreover, most Paraguayans are of Hispanic descent, which is just right for balancing the colonial population. They are mainly women and children, and are definitely high-quality immigrants.

So Ernst began to work on the plan of going to South America to pull people in. By using money to pave the way, the Hechingen Consortium quickly contacted Argentine government officials.

The Heixingen Foundation, unable to bear the loss of so many orphans in the war, plans to adopt these children who have lost their loved ones in the war.

Not only that, single women who lost their husbands in the war can also move to East Africa with their children.

Now most of the men in Paraguay have been conscripted and died in the war, leaving behind a large number of single-parent families.

These single-parent families are the main force of the current population in Paraguay, and most of them are women who have lost their husbands and have children.

There are also some single women who have not even gotten married, and the young and middle-aged men in Paraguay have almost been consumed by the war.

This is not nonsense. Most of the men in Paraguay who have not run away are in the army, and the age range for recruiting soldiers is gradually expanding.

From white-haired old men to underage children, they can be seen in the Paraguayan army.

At the end of the war, even children as young as seven or eight years old and female soldiers could be seen in the army.

Currently, Paraguay's ruler Francisco Lopez is still alive and continues to resist, so the Paraguayan government authorities still exist.

Ernst's recruitment of orphans and people from Paraguay will undoubtedly make things worse for Paraguay's future.

Paraguay, which was experiencing a war and had already seen a significant population decline, could not withstand Ernst's poaching.

Without population, how will Paraguay continue to develop after the war ends? Ernst has no control over the life and death of the Paraguayan government.

As long as we can attract this group of immigrants, it will contribute to the development of the East African colonies and consolidate the ruling foundation of the East African colonies.

With so many single women, or forced single women, some with children, life would certainly be difficult even though the East African colonies promised to provide subsidies and free education.

And these people are not machines, they also have to solve their own emotional problems. Ernst is not talking nonsense, those single men from the Far East are really hungry and will not be picky about food, they don't mind marrying with children.

Many of them don't care at all about adopting children who were married off a few years ago. After all, families in the Far East will raise as many children as they can, and it is very common for a family to have seven or eight.

Chinese immigrants are influenced by traditional ideas and believe that as long as they can leave descendants, they have fulfilled the mission entrusted by their ancestors. Adopting the children of their ex-husband is not a big deal as they can continue to have their own children.

It doesn’t matter what Ernst thinks, because no one can guess his thoughts anyway. As for the fact that there are smart people in the Paraguayan government who can see through his plan, that doesn’t matter either.

Paraguay is now in a difficult situation, so Ernst has no intention of talking to Francisco López at all. He simply bribes the officials of the Triple Alliance who are fighting against Paraguay. He can move as many people as he wants.

…

Gearhart asked, "Excuse me, but do you really plan to adopt so many orphans? This is not just dozens or hundreds, there could be tens of thousands in Paraguay!"

George said, "You are worrying too much about this. The boss of our company is a noble of the Kingdom of Prussia, a prince of the Hohenzollern Hechingen family. His reputation is absolutely reliable. You should know that he often recruits orphans from the Far East and Germany and sponsors their schooling. The future of these children is bright."

(End of this chapter)