Chapter 426 Return to Europe
May 7, 1873.
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, who has not yet warmed up in East Africa, is about to return to Europe. The merchant ship Ernst is taking this time is the "Lion". The entire fleet is converted from armed merchant ships.
By the way, he took a battalion of the Royal Guards Division to Austria. The role of this battalion in the future was equivalent to that of a guard of honor. All of their members were elites selected from the Royal Guards Division.
Not to mention their military qualities, they all have the best looks and figures, good horses with good saddles, and East Africa has specially prepared for them the best tailors and high-quality handmade military uniforms.
The battalion sent by the Guards Division actually consisted of 3,000 people, mainly infantry and cavalry. However, Ernst did not need to bring horses to Austria. He could just negotiate with the Austrian Army and borrow their horses.
Before leaving, Constantine said with some regret: "I will not go to Vienna this time, but we cannot lose face for the Hechingen royal family. This is also a good opportunity to promote East Africa. At least we need to let the Austrians know that we are not a weak country in East Africa. As for spending more money, it is inevitable. Don't be stingy."
"Don't worry! Father, in addition to business negotiations, the most important thing for this trip to Vienna is to marry Karina. After all, marriage is a major event, and I personally will not be perfunctory about it." Ernst agreed readily.
Ernst has always been very reasonable in spending money, or in other words, he is not ostentatious and is more pragmatic, which is also what Constantine is more worried about.
Under normal circumstances, this would certainly not be a problem. Between a thrifty heir and a spendthrift heir, of course the former is more reassuring. However, European aristocrats are the most concerned with comparison and face. Ernst's personality is obviously out of place among the aristocrats.
In this regard, Constantine had some misunderstandings about Ernst. Ernst was not stingy with his money, but he insisted on using good steel on the blade, and East Africa was Ernst's blade.
If East Africa developed, even if Ernst was dressed in rags, the European nobles would have to "respect" him. This was the confidence brought by national strength. So compared to holding parties and making connections in Europe, Ernst would rather spend money on improving the national strength of East Africa.
Moreover, Ernst's social circle actually consists more of the Prussian royal family, the Sigmaringen royal family (including Romania), the Austrian royal family, and the Swedish royal family. In these top aristocratic circles, the topics discussed generally cannot be measured by money (except for the super rich).
Constantine: "Okay, I'm just reminding you. After all, I really can't get away to go to Vienna when you get married this time, so I'm a little worried."
One of Constantine and Ernst had to stay in East Africa, so Constantine could not go to Vienna to attend his son's wedding. This matter was mainly handled by Archduke Ferdinand (Maximilian I).
So this wedding is divided into two parts, one in Austria and the other in East Africa. In fact, it is held twice. The first town has already arranged the Crown Prince’s wedding on the work schedule.
"Woo..." With the crisp whistle of the "Lion", the state visiting delegation of the Kingdom of East Africa officially departed for Austria.
It was a state visit delegation, not a wedding delegation, because Ernst had other tasks. He would stay in Europe for at least half a year this time, and the wedding would be scheduled at the end of the year.
Before getting married, Ernst was mainly responsible for scavenging for scraps in Europe for the East African Kingdom, including various types of factories and equipment needed in East Africa, as well as steel and other materials needed for the construction of East African railways.
With the outbreak of the economic crisis, a large number of factories in the German region went bankrupt, and production machines were piled up in warehouses and factories, with no one interested in buying them, and prices plummeted. In particular, steel, coal, and railway companies suffered the most serious losses, as these were the most needed by the East African Kingdom.
At the turn of spring and summer, the Somali cold current began to form and continued to strengthen. The surface sea water along the coast of East Africa flowed from low latitudes to high latitudes, that is, northward from the equator, and the trade wind belt moved northward.
Therefore, it was a smooth journey from East Africa to the Red Sea, which greatly shortened Ernst's journey. Just a few days later, Ernst's fleet sailed from Dar es Salaam to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea were relatively closed, so there were no strong winds and waves, and the journey was relatively smooth.
May 22, 1873.
The East African fleet arrives in Trieste.
Back in Trieste, Ernst felt a little emotional. Trieste is obviously much more desolate than last year, and the traffic is not as good as before. It seems that Austria's economic situation is very bad.
As Ernst led the Hechingen Consortium to launch a dumping war, a large number of goods flooded into the market, accelerating the transmission of the Austro-Hungarian economic crisis to neighboring countries.
It was more intense than any other crisis in history. There was no intervention by Ernst. The Austro-Hungarian economic crisis was the first to break out. However, because the 19th century was not as closely connected as the 21st century and the world market had not yet taken shape, when the crisis broke out in one country it would not affect other countries in a short period of time.
Before the economic crisis of 1873, economic crises only broke out in a certain country, which was usually Britain. After 1873, economic crises began to rage throughout the world. When the world market was finally formed in the early 20th century, the most powerful and profound economic crisis in the history of capitalism broke out in 1929. The world's solution to the economic crisis in 1929 was to launch two world wars, World War I and World War II.
In 1873, countries around the world obviously did not need to be so extreme because the world economy was not yet so closely connected. Now the solution for countries is to increase tariffs, create tariff barriers, and protect their capital.
At the same time, there are a large number of backward areas in the world that have not yet been developed or controlled by the great powers. These areas are good places to transfer crises.
However, the great powers have not yet reached that stage, or have not yet reacted, and the social problems caused by the economic crisis have occupied most of the attention of governments.
Specifically, it means rectifying the financial markets, eliminating small and medium-sized enterprises with weak competitiveness and serious problems, nationalizing railways, etc. In the final analysis, it means solving the employment problem.
Because of the dumping of goods from Germany and Austria, European countries have now begun to impose high tariffs. Only the UK is somewhat hesitant. After all, the UK's situation is special. In the past, the UK has always been in an economic surplus position, so the group advocating a free economy has a great influence.
Now the United States, Russia, Germany, France, Austria and other countries have begun industrialization, and European countries no longer rely on Britain to develop their own industries as they did in the past. Therefore, Britain's overproduction is more serious than before, making the crisis profound and long-term.
After the East African fleet arrived at the port of Trieste, even though an army disembarked from the ship, it did not attract anyone's attention, except for a few Austrian officers who came to contact them.
"Your Highness Ernst! Welcome to Austria!"
"Well, hello."
Ernst merely greeted them perfunctorily, but his attention was focused on the port of Trieste.
There were several long queues at the port of Trieste, all of them unemployed workers looking for job opportunities. Ernst noticed that it was their own companies or institutions that were recruiting.
Because the sign at the end of the long line read: "East African Railway Company, recruiting 250 people, railway workers are preferred."
"Hexingen Tobacco Company (Trieste), 12 employees, no educational requirements."
"East African Immigration Agency, immigration to East Africa solves employment problems and avoids unemployment risks, family immigration is given priority."
Ernst asked several Austrian officers: "Is the current economic situation in Austria as depressed as that in Trieste?"
"Well, actually we don't feel it very much. We usually stay in the army. If we weren't responsible for receiving you today, I'm afraid we wouldn't leave the barracks."
Ernst said, "Okay! The next step is to arrange the people I bring with me. Some of them are the East African Army. This time I will take them to Vienna, and I need you to arrange a special train."
"This is also the purpose of our coming here. The superiors have arranged the route in advance. Now the pressure on the railway is not as great as before, so this matter is still easy to solve."
This is inevitable. In addition to the economic depression that led to a sharp drop in railway passenger traffic, the main reason is that Venice diverted part of Trieste's traffic. In the past two years, taking advantage of the railway construction boom, Austria also built two railways to connect and control Venice. Fortunately, the railway was completed before the economic crisis.
This has posed a certain threat to Trieste's position as Austria's largest port. However, the large outflow of talent and industry from Venice has made it basically impossible for Venice to surpass Trieste again.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com