Chapter 97 Daily Life

Ernst has no right to care about the lives of the indigenous people in East Africa. As a colonizer, he should be heartless. Otherwise, it would be pointless. It would be better for him to end his life as soon as possible. Otherwise, there are so many dark sides in this world that he would be angry to death.

As a Western colonizer, Ernst was a complete white lotus among his peers. After all, he was not as perverted as some countries that used the indigenous people's...

Based on the principle that if you don't think about it, it's as if it never happened, Ernst never thought about the consequences in this regard. As long as the East African colonies completed the tasks according to their own goals, as for extinction, it didn't count since the East African colonies didn't do it themselves.

On the one hand, he was in charge of the political affairs of the East African colonies, and on the other hand, he was taking care of the company's business in Europe. Ernst was busy most of the time.

I had a half day off today and spent afternoon tea with the old man in the garden.

Ernst drank authentic oriental green tea. There were only a few common beverages in that era. Ernst was not used to coffee anyway, and he would only taste it when visiting others or entertaining guests.

Prince Constantine actually likes drinking coffee, and he is not surprised that his son likes oriental tea. After all, the British like to drink tea very much, and there is also tea sold by the Dutch in Germany, so this drink is not rare.

Ernst's own fleet would also bring some tea from the Far East, all of which were famous teas designated by Ernst himself, and would be purchased personally by Far East staff who would go to the tea-growing areas.

Ernst did not make things difficult for the staff. After all, the business of the Heixinggen Consortium was mainly in the north, so most of them went to the tea-growing areas near North China to purchase tea, such as Lu'an Guapian and Xinyang Maojian...

The tea from Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions is also good, but foreigners know a lot about it (overseas Chinese businessmen in Southeast Asia), and it is well-known. There is also fierce competition among local dignitaries (high consumption in wealthy areas). Given the pitiful production volume, it is certain that most of the tea circulating on the market are counterfeit goods, especially Westerners like the staff of the Heixinggen Group, who are the easiest to be fooled.

It is more reliable to go to the tea-growing areas and buy spot goods directly. Moreover, the inland tea-growing areas are not like the coastal and southern areas, where foreigners are more common. Local officials always have to be cautious and give convenience to the staff of the Heixinggen Group.

"Ernst, how is your East African colony going recently? I haven't heard you mention it for a long time!" Prince Constantine asked, holding a coffee cup.

"Father, everything is under control now. Since the telegraph lines were laid, I can now process information sent from East Africa on the same day. The number of immigrants is also increasing steadily. If nothing unexpected happens, it will be possible to reach a scale of 500,000 by the end of the year." Ernst said to Prince Constantine.

Prince Constantine leaned back in his chair and said with a little surprise: "The East African colony has not been opened for two years! You have recruited so many people. The entire Hexingen and the countryside are probably only a few tens of thousands!"

"Father, you must first understand one concept. The area of ​​the East African colonies is currently twice the size of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, while the population of the East African colonies is only one percent of the population of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (the population of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was more than 33 million in 1870). Therefore, this amount of immigration is not enough." Ernst and Constantine said.

"Has so much land been developed in East Africa?" Constantine was a little surprised.

When Ernst told me about developing the East African colony, I didn't take it seriously at all. After all, it's not a bad thing for a child to have his own ideas, and it doesn't matter whether they succeed or not.

He didn't expect his son to be so outstanding. The original promise was basically fulfilled. He opened a company and a bank, and even became one of the top companies in European countries.

Constantine knew that Alaska was purchased with money, but it was just a land of ice and snow, so there was nothing much to say. He just thought that his son was stupid and had a lot of money.

Constantine knew that Ernst valued the land in East Africa the most, but he did not expect that he could actually accomplish it on his own (without the endorsement and support of any national power).

"A population of 500,000 and an area of ​​1.2 million square kilometers, that's pretty good! Württemberg and Baden together have a population of just over 2 million (the Hohenzollern province to which Hechingen belongs is sandwiched between the two, so Constantine compared the two). 500,000 is not too few." Prince Constantine calculated.

"How many Germans are there among the immigrant population?" asked Prince Constantine.

"There are probably close to 10,000 people, mainly German immigrants in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In addition, there are 50,000 to 60,000 people of other nationalities in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Recently, I also recruited some people from Paraguay." Ernst said.

"There are still fewer Germans. I just happen to have a piece of news to tell you. In recent years, due to the reduction in grain production in the south (Germany), many people have been forced to leave their homes and go out to make a living. I didn't notice it before because of the war. Later, I went home (Hechingen) for a while. The housekeeper told me that the grain output of the territory this year is indeed less than in previous years. Württemberg, Baden, Bavaria and other regions are similar. This is an opportunity. I will talk to them (the nobles in southern Germany) and ask them to guide you and make things convenient for you." Constantine said calmly.

Hearing this, Ernst was overjoyed. He had been traveling between Berlin and Vienna recently and had not paid attention to the situation in his hometown. If his father had not come to Berlin for business, he would have missed this opportunity.

"Father, you've been a real help. When the time comes, you can talk to your old friends and tell them that I can take as many immigrants as they want. There are plenty of places in East Africa," Ernst said excitedly.

These were definitely high-quality immigrants who completely met all of Ernst's requirements for immigrants. They were Germans, and farmers at that, with a not-so-high level of education (compulsory education in southern Germany was not as universal as in northern Germany).

The southwest region has always been an important area for German overseas immigrants, accounting for more than 30% all year round.

If we can make good use of these immigrants, we can at least increase the pure German population in East Africa by hundreds of thousands (currently many Austro-Hungarian immigrants in the East African colonies are branded Germans).

With the education of Paraguayan children, their identity recognition can be changed in this generation, and the German population can barely be equal to the Chinese immigrants (Chinese and white people who marry are automatically classified as mixed-race people and are not counted as Chinese).

Although there are many counterfeit Germans, after two or three generations they are all native Germans. The West naturally also has families, such as the Hohenzollern family to which Ernst belongs. Every branch can be clearly traced, which is no different from the East.

But ordinary people in the West do not have the concept of clan as that of Oriental people. For example, in the Far East and the South, ordinary people do not have the ability and financial resources to compile a family tree, but most of them live together in families. The rich and prestigious people in the family will organize together to continue writing the family tree, so most Oriental people are descendants of aristocrats.

In the West, the boundaries between nobility and commoners are clear, and only when nobility recognize each other are they considered true nobility. Therefore, commoners don't care about their own background at all, and even if they do, they are powerless to change it.

Therefore, when these immigrants arrive in East Africa, after only two or three generations of education, they no longer remember who their ancestors were. At most, they can only remember the grandfathers of the first generation of immigrants.

After all, given the low cultural level of farmers at that time, many records were based on memory rather than writing, which resulted in gaps in the records.

At that time, relying on the colonial education system, the children of immigrants were indoctrinated with ideas from an early age. By then, whatever Ernst said would be the truth, and it would not be impossible to recreate a nation.

(End of this chapter)