Chapter 206 "Collecting Rags"
Constantine and Maximilian I chatted for a long time. In a word, whether they wanted money or not, they could talk about anything except money.
Faced with the shameless Prince Constantine, East Africa's first naval commander could only return without success. Not only did he fail to get support, but he had to invest a lot of resources himself.
Ernst, who Constantine said was short of money recently, was conducting an inspection in the Ruhr area of Prussia.
……
Thick smoke filled the sky, and dark clouds pressed over the sky.
This is what Ernst saw in the cities of the Ruhr area. The Ruhr area is rich in coal resources but lacks iron ore.
Fortunately, the transportation here is extremely convenient. The Rhine, Ruhr, and Lippe rivers converge, the river network is dense, and river transportation is developed. At the same time, Prussia has built many railways, and with the help of the Customs Union, it can basically cover the entire German region.
“The environment is really nice!” Ernst said sincerely.
"Your Highness, I think the environment here is far worse than in Berlin. The air in Berlin is not so polluted." said the accompanying manager of the Hechingen Bank.
"I'm talking about the industrial environment, not the natural environment. Remember, we are not here for tourism, but to inspect local industrial equipment and factories."
"By the way, how about your local research? How's that going?" Ernst asked.
“Your Highness, we have visited two-thirds of local companies and factories. Many companies and factories are currently expanding. The German market has been booming in recent years, so they are also busy producing and expanding production capacity.
Many machinery and equipment are sold out by related companies and factories before they leave the factory, and the price of machinery is also very high.
But there are also advantages. In order to improve production efficiency, some large companies and small workshops. We are stepping up efforts to eliminate old machines and equipment. Although these equipment are a bit outdated, they are cheap and available in large quantities. If your highness does not have high requirements for mechanical equipment, our suggestion is to purchase these second-hand equipment. "
"My requirements are not too high, but you can't take it lightly. If you buy a pile of scrap metal, I will be really angry!" Ernst said.
On this trip, Ernst was nominally here for inspection, but in fact he was here to collect rags. This can be regarded as an old tradition of the Hechingen Consortium.
I originally collected second-hand military uniforms and weapons from the Prussian Army, and now I am purchasing second-hand industrial equipment from Prussia.
These obsolete industrial equipment really have no good place to go in Prussia, but placing them in East Africa is definitely a powerful tool to increase production capacity in East Africa.
The poor city of Mbeya still uses a large number of "laborers", using simple tools such as hoes and shovels, to produce coal for East Africa by carrying it on their shoulders.
"Labor" is also a resource. If they can be liberated from coal mines, East Africa can devote more manpower to other projects.
“Your Highness, don’t worry, we have hired a group of professionals this time to conduct professional inspections of the equipment in advance to assess whether it has the conditions for continued use.
At the same time, we will actively By cooperating with large companies such as Krupp, the quality of the equipment they have eliminated should be more reliable.”
Professionals are also needed to pick up junk, otherwise Ernst will just cry if he really buys a pile of scrap metal. .
Even if it is tattered, the value will not be low, because Ernst’s purchase this time is very large, otherwise he would not have asked the manager of the Hechingen Bank to accompany him. According to political and economic standards, East Africa is a properly feudal agricultural country, but feudalism and agriculture do not mean that there is no industry.
Now that even the Qing government and Japan are engaged in industrial construction, East Africa cannot naturally lag behind others.
However, the two countries in the Far East have too strong foundations. Japan, for example, has a relatively long history and a very dense population. It has everything it needs, but it is just lagging behind the times. East Africa is nothing more than a land comparison. Japan is a bit bigger and doesn't really seem to have any advantages in other areas. It does have a lot of minerals, but they have to be developed first.
And Japan's current reform is not too difficult. After all, the Japanese have a way of enduring humiliation and bearing heavy burdens. As long as they are willing to give the green light to Britain and the United States, Britain and the United States are also willing to support Japan.
Japan has also done this in history. Just for the construction of railways from Tokyo to Osaka, Yokohama and Hyogo, the Meiji government issued 1 million pounds of bonds in the UK using all Japanese customs taxes as collateral.
Moreover, supporting Japan can control the Far East and Tsarist Russia. Strategically, Britain and the United States also need a stronger Japan.
East Africa does not have this condition. Now East Africa has not introduced foreign investment, and it cannot do so, not to mention the United Kingdom and the United States, even Prussia and Austria.
That is not to introduce foreign investment, but to kill the royal family of Hechingen. After all, East Africa has basically no value for cooperation and utilization by various countries.
On the contrary, it is a potential competitor. After all, there is no greedy Tsarist Russia next to East Africa. East Africa itself is the "African Tsarist Russia".
So all trade in East Africa is run only through the Hechingen Consortium. The data is in its own hands and will not be published to avoid attracting the attention of other countries.
The disadvantage is that there is a huge funding gap, and the construction of East Africa is completely dependent on the Hechingen Consortium. This is why Ernst chose agriculture as a foothold in East Africa.
Agricultural investment is small, and the speed of withdrawing funds is not too slow. It is not very profitable, but the people are retained.
“This time we will focus on mining and iron-making equipment and strive to build a primary industrial city in East Africa.” Ernst said.
Ernst is talking about the city of Mbeya, which is located deep in the hinterland of East Africa. It has good resource conditions, including coal and iron resources, and the climate is suitable for industry. However, the transportation conditions are not very good, but East Africa’s industrial products It must be for personal use, just digest it internally, there is no need to export it.
“Your Highness, it is not difficult to provide corresponding mechanical equipment, but the problem of mechanical equipment without professional workers is not easy to solve.”
"Don't worry about this. I will naturally have a solution when the time comes, so you don't have to worry about it."
The solution Ernst said is to "pay to go to work". Ernst planned to come from the Far East Select a group of immigrants to "intern" in the Ruhr area, pay their own wages, let them enter the factories in the Ruhr area to gain experience for a period of time, and then send them directly to East Africa.
Ernst can still afford this amount of money. To be honest, how much salary are you going to pay to immigrants from the Far East? It is enough to maintain food and clothing, and Ernst will not pay for a cent more.
And the German factory owners have no reason to refuse. If they work for you "for free" for a period of time, just tell them whether you want to use it or not!
This solves the problem of workers in the most basic industries. Even the low-end ones are those who do heavy and tiring work without technical content. They are "laborers". The high-end ones are recruited from Europe with huge sums of money and are not needed. If it is too high-end, only average technicians will be needed, that is, those second-hand machines will be inspected at any time to ensure the normal operation of the equipment.
This rag collection event caused quite a sensation. The entire Ruhr area was the target of the Hechingen Consortium, because the industrial equipment here is the most complete and the city is dense, so it will not be everywhere in Germany.
And once the equipment is obtained, it can be dismantled into parts and transported directly to the federal port of North Germany via river and railway for shipment to East Africa, which is very convenient.
(End of this chapter)