Chapter 277: Changing the Cage and Replacing the Bird
The first town, the Palace of Svet.
Yarman reported the latest war situation to Constantine: "Your Majesty, the wars on both the southern and northern fronts have almost been completed. The southern front has successfully advanced to the north bank of the Limpopo River, and the natives on the northern front have basically evacuated on their own."
Constantine paused with the pen in his hand and said, "Well, how is the Western Front going?"
"We are still advancing in the west. Because there are many rivers, we haven't finished yet, but we are almost there. We are almost at the Kuango River Basin."
Constantine stood up and looked at the map of East Africa behind him.
(picture)
"The war will be over soon, but I don't know how the war in Europe will develop. The French are doomed, and the Italians are still holding on. However, even if the war is over, the future of Europe is bound to be even more turbulent." Constantine sighed.
Although Europe was in a state of bitter fighting, Constantine was no longer surprised. He had never seen a European war stop in his life. The East African map in front of him looked so pleasing to the eye. It was all the property of the Hohenzollern family.
…
Kingdom of Italy.
After the surrender of the Italian Kingdom Navy, the 50,000-strong Austro-Hungarian Army easily reached the east coast of the Italian Kingdom on troop transport ships.
Subsequently, with the cooperation of the Papal Army, the territory of the Kingdom of Italy was directly cut off by the Allied Forces, and Naples and Sicily were cut off from the northern land.
The restoration organization in Naples immediately launched a rebellion, led by Francesco II, the last monarch of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
After Italy unified the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Francesco II went into exile in Rome. Naturally, the Austro-Hungarian Empire would not give up such a good chess piece.
At the same time, the Austro-Hungarian Empire launched a frenzied revenge against the non-aristocratic bourgeoisie in Italy. It can be said that before the emergence of the Kingdom of Italy, most of Italy was under the direct or indirect rule of the Austrian Empire. Without the support of these people, the Kingdom of Sardinia would not have been able to easily unify Italy.
Under the planning of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Kingdom of Naples was the first to be restored, and those former allies of the Austro-Hungarian Empire also came back and began to take over the government.
The future of the restored Kingdom of Naples was indeed worrying, but it didn't matter to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Now, as long as Franz wanted Naples to regain its independence, it would be a small problem as long as Italy was not unified.
It’s not that Franz was stingy, but the Austro-Hungarian Empire was not the Austrian Empire after all. Now Franz just wanted to swallow up Venice and transform it into a German region.
This bad idea was proposed by Ernst just two days ago.
"Austria cannot lose Venice. The importance of Venice is related to the future of Austria. With the rebellious Hungary and a group of separatist forces from other ethnic groups ready to make moves, the Austro-Hungarian Empire is at risk of disintegration at any time, so Austria must strengthen its own strength." Ernst, who had just returned to Schönbrunn Palace from Hechingen, said to Franz.
"We can take advantage of this war to seize Venice, find a way to weaken the Italian population, and then inject German immigrants into the area. This will greatly ease Venice's trend of regaining independence in the future."
"That's true, but if I had so many Germans, the Austrian Empire wouldn't be what it is today. Can you give me some of the German immigrants in East Africa?" Franz was a little angry. Ernst was talking without any hesitation. Everyone knew the idea of disintegration, but it was extremely difficult to solve the problem.
Germans leave the Austro-Hungarian Empire every year. Where can we find so many Germans to replenish Venice's blood?
"The population of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is flowing out. Isn't it because Hungarians and Slavs are too fertile? The more people there are, the fewer job opportunities there are for Germans. Austria's economy is relatively developed. Once job opportunities are squeezed, ordinary Germans will naturally look for a way out." Ernst said, "The Kingdom of Italy is doomed to lose this war. We should quickly transport the Italians in the countryside of Venice. We in East Africa will suffer a little loss, so we can help Austria to complete it. We can use machines to compensate afterwards. After the war, Austria can distribute these lands to soldiers. Austrian soldiers with land will naturally increase the number of Germans. Anyway, the final result depends on your choice."
Ernst's calculations hit Franz in the face. East Africa was going to drain Venice to develop East Africa, and he even called it helping Austria.
"You, forget it, but what you said does make sense. The large population of Venice is a wealth, but since they are not Germans, they are a debt to the empire." Franz said, "But can East Africa absorb so many Italians? Aren't you afraid that they will cause trouble for you if they go to East Africa?"
"Haha, do you really want them to travel in Africa? Once they go to Africa, they will be helpless." Ernst said coldly.
"You don't want to turn them into slaves, do you?" Franz asked doubtfully.
"Of course not, but there is an industry in East Africa that urgently needs industrial workers from Venice to help complete it, so we need this group of people." Ernst said frankly. As for whether they are slaves, we need to talk about it. If they accept East African values, they are naturally our own people (Germans). If they do not accept it, they are the objects of elimination.
"What industry?" Franz asked curiously.
"Of course it's the textile industry. Most immigrants from East Africa go to farm, and their industrial sector is basically zero, so we need a group of skilled workers."
Ernst actually always wanted to develop the textile industry in Africa, but population was precious to East Africa. In order to effectively occupy East Africa, most of the immigrants were arranged to farm and join the army.
Taking this opportunity to plunder the population from Venice can effectively alleviate the population shortage problem in East Africa. Ernst naturally dare not stroke the French tiger's whiskers, but he has the courage to pull the wool of Italy.
The population of Venice area and rural areas is close to one million. Ernst is not greedy and has the ability to take in about 400,000 people in one go. Together with the Italians who immigrated to East Africa before, the maximum number of people is about 500,000, which is not too difficult for East Africa with a population of nearly four million.
Excluding those responsible for reclaiming wasteland and cultivating the land, the remaining urban immigrants could directly build two industrial cities in East Africa. In fact, Ernst and Franz omitted one industry, which is shipbuilding.
The waters of East Africa have been wasted, which is really not a solution. A large amount of marine fishery resources are wasted. You know, the waters near Somalia are a world-famous seasonal fishing ground.
"It's not easy to engage in the textile industry. Raw materials are a problem. But since you want to try, you can give it a try," said Franz.
Raw materials are a small problem for East Africa. The cotton fields in East Africa have begun to be harvested, and Ernst also plans to expand the cotton planting area on this basis.
As for other problems, they now only lacked manpower and equipment, both of which Ernst planned to get for free directly from Venice.
(End of this chapter)
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