What was the most profitable thing to do in Germany in 1900? All kinds of industrial and mining enterprises and chemical industries are definitely among them, and Germany, as a late-rise industrial country, has precision instruments, chemical products (such as dyes), and optical equipment at the top level in the world during the same period. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 As for things like electricity and the internal combustion engine, which appeared in the Second Industrial Revolution, it was also an option, but whether it was the application of automobiles or airplanes, it was still a little too early at this point in time in 1900.

And in Germany there is another very profitable business, and it is very suitable for people like Ruprecht, who control a lot of national capital, and that is maritime transportation! It is important to know that until the 21st century, maritime transport is still the most important mode of transporting goods between continents. And even more so now?

Before World War I, the world's first-rate powers had a large enough transport fleet, the first of which was naturally the British Empire, Britain had a total of 8,587 steam-powered ships and 653 sailing ships at the beginning of the war, with a total tonnage of 19.25 million tons, accounting for 40% of the world's total tonnage of merchant ships! Not to be outdone, the Germans have a total tonnage of 7.15 million tons of civilian ships, the second largest in the world, accounting for about 15% of the world's total tonnage. And the third, naturally, is the Americans on the other side of the ocean, who have 2,388 ships with a registered tonnage of 5.46 million tons. It accounts for about 10% of the total tonnage of the world's ships!

Germany is a continental country, every year needs to import a large number of raw materials and grain, at the same time need to export a large number of industrial products, naturally need a large number of freight merchant ships, but at the same time, Germany also has a very huge market in passenger transport, relying on government subsidies and policy support, Germany's passenger transport is also very developed! The famous blue ribbons in history are enough to illustrate this problem!

At the beginning of the war, Germany had 42 fast cruise ships of all kinds, including the largest cruise ships of the era, the Kaiser and the Fatherland, (there was also a cruise ship called Bismarck that was not in service, The two ships were the largest cruise ship in the world with a displacement of 52,000 tons before the French's Normandy cruise ship entered service, and set an excellent record of crossing the Atlantic at a speed of 24.75 knots, although this is still not as high as the Mauritania's high speed of more than 26 knots.

In addition, there are cruise ships of more than 10,000 tons such as Cape Trafalgar (displacement of 18,700 tons), Wilhelm the Great, and Crown Prince Wilhelm, which flood the German maritime transportation industry. Unfortunately, after the outbreak of the war, 11 of these steamers were contacted and detained in American ports, 6 were monitored by the British in other neutral ports, 14 were blocked in German ports, 6 were captured by the British, and only 5 escaped temporarily!

So, as can be seen from these data, the maritime transport industry in Germany was quite developed before World War 1! And the reason for such a developed is because there is a huge market! The huge German transport fleet also went to the world with the strong support of the government, for example, in the history of the Russo-Japanese War, the Russian Second Pacific Fleet was responsible for a lot of coal supply by the German Hamburg shipping company!

Of course, this is the later German merchant fleet, in the current plane, the German merchant fleet is far from reaching the scale of later generations, it can be said that it is on the rise, and the prince controls one of the most efficient shipyards in Germany (Brom-Foss Shipyard), and at the same time runs another of Germany's largest shipyards (Germania Shipyard) If you want to enter this industry, you have an innate advantage!

More importantly, the Wittelsbach family itself represents the Kingdom of Bavaria, and the rapid development of the German shipping industry is inseparable from the support of the government, and as a direct merchant fleet under the royal family, it naturally receives greater support, which is the second advantage.

The third advantage is that the expansion of overseas markets is very convenient! The prince had already received an order to transport supplies for the Russian army in the Far East, and ships were naturally needed to transport these supplies to the Far East, so might the prince choose another shipping company?

Bavaria has succeeded in enclosing land in the two river basins, and if nothing else, the oil in the two river basins can produce at least about 3 million tons per year after development, how can this batch of crude oil be transported back? Naturally, it also depends on its own fleet. There is also a huge market demand for grain exported from farms in Asia Minor and the two river basins, which also need to be shipped back!

Besides, the prince and those bigwigs in the United States, such as Roosevelt and Hay, formed a "deep friendship" in the war between the United States and Japan. Coupled with the large amount of non-ferrous metals and other minerals that Germany imports from the United States every year, these things also have to be transported, so if the conditions are the same, why didn't the prince choose his own transport fleet?

In addition, there is the line of Princess Mary, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire also needs to import a large amount of raw materials, but the shipbuilding and shipping industry of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is not developed. And as an ally and in-law, King Fritz also needs to share some benefits for the prince, right?

"You're going to build a fleet and give me ownership?" Princess Mary said in amazement, because he never imagined that her husband would be so generous.

"It's also for the worst-case scenario." The prince sighed and said: "If we fail, then we will lose everything, the regime, the army, the factories in Germany. Those capitalists under the banner of cooking will plunder everything from us! So we have to be ready. This transport fleet is one of them. ”

"I don't plan to register this shipping company in Germany, but in the United States and Brazil, and the superficial people try to choose people who are not directly related to us, and as for the people who operate in the shadows, I will use another group of reliable people who have not yet been exposed. If one day we lose our authority, then we are at least a rich man. The prince said with a sigh.

"And the person I trust the most can only be you. If I don't give it to you, do I have to give it to someone else? The prince asked rhetorically. After all, in this world, only he and Princess Mary know what kind of crisis they face in the future!

"You're still worried we're going to fail?" The princess said with some uneasiness.

"Even if we don't lose, in the event of a war with Britain, all ships flying the German and Austro-Hungarian flags will be cleaned up by the British Royal Navy in a very short time, or trapped in the harbor, and during this time, because of the war, it is the most developed time for shipping, after all, the British sea lines will be hit, so the merchant shipping companies of other countries will win a glorious period, how can we give up this opportunity?" The prince said with a smile.

The third is more present~~~! Ask for subscription, ask for tips~~~! (To be continued.) )