July 1, 1867.

The Constitution of the North German Confederation came into force.

The significance of this constitution was that Prussia legally dominated the affairs and military and political power of the North German region. It maintained the dominance of Prussia in the Confederation and the supremacy of the Prussian king in the government, and also put on the cloak of democracy.

The North German region became a Prussian fiefdom in legal form, taking advantage of this shareholder wind.

Ernst's Hamburg ocean-going merchant trade fleet was established, which reached eleven ships (before the reunification of Germany, the registered German maritime merchant fleet consisted of only 4,350 sailing ships and 175 steamships. The scale in the whole of North Germany is not small either.

Together with the Mediterranean Sea's ocean-going fleet of Hachingen with Trieste as its home port, the scale of merchant ships under Ernst's name has reached more than 50.

Many of these ships ran from the Far East to East Africa, slowly replacing the hired Dutch merchant ships.

The main task of the newly established Hamburg ocean-going commercial trading fleet was to help Ernst carry some machinery and equipment to East Africa while undertaking the ocean-going trade in Germany.

After all, unlike the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the people at the bottom of the German region have a high level of education and are not easy to fool, so they do not take immigration as their main task.

The scale of the ships under Ernst's name is not small, after all, the bigger the ship is when it comes to the sea, the better.

Among them, Venice's own shipyards build their own ships, which are only in the single digits, and most of them are ships purchased from European countries.

With the introduction of new steamships, especially ironclads, the price of traditional sailing ships has been falling, so Ernst did not have much trouble buying a batch of good quality ocean-going sailing ships.

If you add the ships captured from the Sultanate of Zanzibar, the number of large ships in the hands of Ernst is more than sixty.

Along with the establishment of Hamburg's ocean-going commercial trading fleet, the new Hexingen shipyard (Hamburg) was built.

Eggs could not be put in one basket, so the work on the dismantling of the Venetian Heixingen shipyard began.

At the time of the acquisition of the Martin shipyard, Ernst had added a number of German employees in the name of the owner, who now form the backbone of the Heshingen shipyard (Hamburg).

There are also many Chinese interns among these German employees, most of whom are students at the Heixingen School, who have basically been bought out for the rest of their lives and have to work in this industry until retirement.

The shipbuilding industry has always been an important industrial sector in Europe, and its requirements for the experience and education of its employees are relatively high, so every experienced shipbuilder is an intangible asset.

With the future reunification of Germany and the explosion of the German economy, the size of Hamburg's ocean-going commercial trade fleet in the future will certainly be considerable.

The Hexingen ocean-going fleet in the Austro-Hungarian Empire is actually relatively unprofitable, especially when it goes to East Africa, and all the ships it pulls are immigrants, so they can't make money at all, so they can only rely on the specialties brought back from East Africa when they return to the sea.

The ships on the Far Eastern route were even more miserable, the vast majority of which were mixed with people and goods, and migrants and goods were put together.

Even if it is a chartered Dutch ship, just pulling immigrants, how can there be so much money upside down, or say that it is necessary to pull some goods back to the capital.

The fleet of the Port of Hamburg was to make a profit, and after the reunification of Germany, the number of merchant ships in the entire German region doubled, and it quickly became one of the top powers in the world's ocean-going trade.

The Hamburg ocean-going commercial trade fleet is to take advantage of this shareholder wind to strengthen itself.

For example, the Heixingen consortium, whose companies develop commodity and banking businesses, need to develop the world market.

The transportation of goods and the import of goods in Germany will be good in the future, and even if you are a second-hand trader, it will be very promising.

In addition to making money, the accumulation of experience, technology and talent for the future East African colonies is also one of the reasons.

With the progress of the industrial revolution, the shipbuilding industry is also updating faster and faster, and more and more new technologies are being applied to shipbuilding.

If the future is not to be left behind, it is not possible to rely on the Venetian shipyards alone, the two centers of the Second Industrial Revolution are well known.

One is Germany, the other is the United States, the United States Ernst is not able to intervene, but Germany is the basic plate of Ernst at present.

As a member of the Hohenzollern family, Ernst himself was a member of the ruling class of the German region, and his interests were deeply tied to the German region.

Thanks to the development of science and technology in Germany's Second Industrial Revolution, ERNST was able to reserve technology and talent for the future of East Africa.

Germany is the present, East Africa is the future, and the order cannot be arbitrary, and only under the protection of the Prussian government can the current Heixingen consortium develop and grow.

Only when the future East African colonies were able to resist the frenzy of European countries to divide Africa, did Ernst dare to transfer the main body of industry to East Africa.

Otherwise, the other colonists will be cheapened for nothing, and Ernst will have no place to cry.

Germany was safe as an industrial incubator in East Africa until at least World War I, and Germany is currently in the midst of a technological boom.

High-end technology and talent are not comparable to Venice, as can be seen through the German Navy during the First World War.

Although the German Navy was defeated in the end, how many opponents in the world could wrestle with Britain on the sea?

Only the Americans are not bad, even the French are falling behind in the arms race in the seas.

Therefore, the frenzied expansion of Germany's maritime power after reunification is still backed by a strong education system and the accumulation of technology in the second industrial revolution.

In the future, if the shipbuilding industry in East Africa wants to enjoy this dividend, it can only slowly accumulate in the German region first.

Since East Africa currently does not have the ability and strength to develop the shipbuilding industry in person, it will first work hard in the German region.

East Africa currently has four excellent ports, and with the development of the East African colonies, the demand for cargo transportation is growing.

There are other ports to be developed in the future, such as in Kenya and southern Tanzania, which can make a big difference in the future.

In addition, the large lakes in the interior of East Africa will also need inland lake ships in the future, so it is not wrong to accumulate experience, technology and talent first.

The lakes of East Africa are all big, and water transportation and inland lake fishing are inseparable from the development of ships, especially the large lakes (Lake Victoria), whose shipping value has the potential of at least a quarter of the five great lakes in North America in the future.

And Lake Solon (Lake Tanganyika), and Lake Malawi, Lake Frederik...... There is a demand for surface ships.

These lakes are deeply landlocked, economically and strategically important, and have great potential for the development of surface and underwater vessels for their development.