Chapter 241 Hei Xinggen Enters
Of course, it is not so easy to lend money. If you want to maximize your interests in the Franco-Prussian War, you also have to make political demands.
As a southern German state, Hechingen was also obliged to participate. Although Hechingen was Prussian territory, the name of the Hechingen royal family could still be borrowed.
"Uncle William, as a member of Germany, Hechingen is also obliged to participate in Prussia's war of resistance against France."
Hmm! William I was a little confused. What did Ernst mean by this? The company's money had been borrowed, so how could the Hechingen royal family still contribute?
"Although Hechingen is now an integral part of Prussia, as a member of the German state, our Kingdom of East Africa also has an obligation to contribute."
"Well, your East African Kingdom is also planning to join the war!" William I seemed to have heard a huge joke. Although the East African Kingdom was a recognized German country on the day it was established, due to the geographical location of East Africa, everyone was just having fun and would not really regard Africa as Europe!
"No, Hechingen is participating in the war as a German state."
"Ernst, forgive me for being blunt, but Hechingen is now only a nominal German prince, and we Prussia will take over..."
Suddenly, William I paused. It suddenly occurred to him that Hechingen had indeed become a part of Prussia, but there were indeed a group of people with good military qualities in it, and Prussia had no right to requisition them.
Prussia had already implemented compulsory military service a long time ago, but conscripts could only be forcibly recruited from citizens within Prussia. However, the students at the military academy in Hechingen were initially the so-called "Far Eastern students" created by Ernst, so they were not Prussian citizens. Later, when the Kingdom of East Africa was established, these Far Eastern students naturally became citizens of the Kingdom of East Africa.
In fact, Prussia had long been paying attention to the Hechingen Military Academy. After all, conscription was the task that Prussia attached the most importance to, and the Hechingen Military Academy was actually an informal military academy registered in Prussia, that is, a fake school.
At first, the Prussian government did not take this fake school run by Prince Constantine seriously. After all, Hexingen was a small place with a small population, so what could it do?
But they didn't expect that this fake school did not recruit students from Prussia, but instead brought a large number of so-called "international students" from the Far East.
This is nothing. It is a fake university, but its students are from the world's "famous" big country in the Far East. Prussia's impression of the Far East is just like what its ambassador to the Far East saw in Zhili, which is similar to the Ottoman Empire in the south.
However, later, when the Austro-Prussian War broke out, Prussia changed its mind. The local conscription department in Hechingen mentioned in a report to the central government that its cadets were obedient and disciplined, and that their military qualities were comparable to those of the general Prussian army.
In fact, they just wanted to pull a large number of students (compared to the Hechingen area) to be cannon fodder, which was naturally rejected by the Hechingen royal family at the time. These were "international students" rather than Prussian citizens. Moreover, East Africa was short of manpower at the time, and the Hechingen Military Academy was full of crash courses, and they had to be sent to East Africa, so the matter was left unresolved.
Later, William I began to pay attention to the Hechingen Military Academy, which brings us to the Berlin Military Academy.
Prince Constantine used his connections to force two of the best students from the Hechingen Military Academy to study there. At that time, there were only three talents that Ernst valued, and the current Chief of Staff of the East African Kingdom Army, Stuart, was one of them. Ernst needed a person with outstanding abilities to go to East Africa to balance the mercenary faction and the consortium faction for him.
The remaining two, also rare talents, were sent by Ernst to study at the Berlin Military Academy.
They were related! So one can imagine their early life after they went to the Berlin Military Academy, but the Berlin Military Academy was soon shocked by their learning ability.
At the Berlin Military Academy, the top military academy in the Kingdom of Prussia, the two men always ranked among the top in their grades. Because they both came from the Hechingen Military Academy, they were called the "Hechingen Duo" by students and teachers.
The two heroes performed well. Moreover, they came from the Far East and were students of the Hechingen Military Academy, a fake school. With the help of connections, they naturally attracted traffic, which led to William I also hearing about them.
He also met the two men at the Berlin Military Academy. They were indeed outstanding. The fame of the two heroes brought a little reputation to the Hechingen Military Academy in Prussia, changing the impression of some people in Prussia on the Far East. People in the Far East are not bad, there are so many talents, and they only blossomed in Prussia. It can be seen that it is not that the quality of their people is weak, but that the government is stupid and deliberately suppresses talents. In other words, our Prussian education is strong.
William I, who had a good impression of the Hechingen Military Academy, asked: "Why don't you fight in the name of the Kingdom of East Africa, but in the name of the Principality of Hechingen?"
"Although East Africa is also a German country, it is located overseas, and Hechingen is a traditional southern German state. If a war breaks out between Prussia and France, it will inevitably affect southern Germany, and naturally Hechingen will have to participate in the war in the name of Germany."
Ernst's explanation was actually to separate the East African Kingdom. The East African Kingdom could not be at odds with France, after all, they would meet each other sooner or later. But the East African Kingdom wanted to get some of the benefits, so what to do? The natural thing was to go online with a small account, use Hei Xingen to get the benefits, and then transfer them to the East African Kingdom.
This procedure is very important. If East Africa directly declares war on France, France will inevitably be in trouble in Africa and East Africa in the future.
But it is different with Hechingen, because now Hechingen is really a part of Prussia, and no matter how much benefit Hechingen gets, the French will also blame Prussia.
"What are your demands?" asked William I.
After all, there is no gain without pain. The Heixingen royal family took the initiative to join the war, which must be because they want some benefits.
"Uncle William, it's not a difficult task. You also know the geographical location of East Africa. We just want to get a small island owned by the French in the East African waters."
"Island?"
"Yes, this island is part of the Comoros Islands and is now a French colony called Mayotte. The location of this island is critical to East Africa, but it is of little use to France because France has other islands in the western Indian Ocean. If the kingdom can defeat France, we hope to obtain Mayotte through negotiations."
This request is indeed not high. An island is something that has never been heard of. William I thought that if an island could be exchanged for the Hechingen Military Academy to join the battlefield, it would be a good deal. For Prussia, the more troops the better, after all, the opponent is France, "the strongest army in Europe".
"Yes, if Hechingen joins the war, we will hand over the ownership of this island to the Hechingen royal family after the war."
"By the way, Uncle William, although Hechingen will participate in the war, I hope to give the command of this army to cousin Leopold." Ernst said.
"Of course no problem!" This was not even a request in William I's view.
But this was very important to Ernst. The Hechingen Military Academy was his own "Huangpu", not a place where he would really be cannon fodder for Prussia.
This Franco-Prussian War can also be used as an opportunity to test the capabilities of the Hechingen Military Academy and at the same time provide experience for these students. The battlefield is where soldiers grow, and military academies cannot train true military strategists.
The enemies that East Africa will face in the future will not always be indigenous people, so it is important to let the students of the Hexingen Military Academy experience war. After all, the future of East Africa will be based on them to build the East African military system.
Leopold was one of the triggers of the Franco-Prussian War. His Spanish throne was lost to the French, so Leopold still held an important position in the Prussian army. It is estimated that he will have to follow in his father's footsteps in the future.
Prince Karl was originally the commander-in-chief of the Prussian Army and had great power in the army, so Leopold was also promoted in the Prussian army. In addition, his younger brother Carol I went to Romania, so in the future Leopold's position in the Prussian army will at least be ranked in the top ten.
Ernst felt relieved to hand over the students of the Hechingen Military Academy to Leopold, after all, they were all his own people.
(End of this chapter)
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