January 13, 1869.

Vienna.

As soon as the end of the year passed, Ernst left for Austria, which was still cold in January, and the snow in Vienna looked very different.

Office of the Heikingen Foundation, Vienna.

"It's about two miles from the city of Vienna, and it's basically farmland, and it's not very fertile because of the terrain, so it's not very expensive.

The most rare thing is that this is one of the few large open spaces around Vienna, and its owner is Viscount Lexton of Austria, with whom we have negotiated the price, and if we buy it in its entirety, the price will be cheaper. Boone, head of the Vienna-based Heixingen Foundation, pointed to a plot of land on the outskirts of Vienna on the map and was reporting to Ernst.

"How big is the area?" Ernst asked.

"A total of 1.642 thousand acres, enough to build several factories, so there is absolutely no problem in terms of size." Boone said.

"Well, what's the transportation like?" Ernst asked.

"It's less than 20 minutes from the train station and the Danube, and if we can renovate the road, it will definitely be faster, so it's easy to get supplies from here." Boone replied in a flash.

"Very well, go negotiate the price with Viscount Lexton! By the way, ask the people in the neighborhood if they are interested in selling the land, and try to make it bigger, of course, if the land is connected. Ernst made the final decision, essentially declaring that the title to the land had fallen into the hands of the royal family of Heshingen.

In the new year, ERNST plans to spin off food production from the Household Goods Group under the Heixingen consortium and set up a specialized food group.

Previously, because the Heixingen Consortium controlled the small scale of the food processing and manufacturing industry, it was placed under the trusteeship of the daily necessities group.

In 1869, after three years of development, the East African colony was no longer what it used to be, and it could provide enough agricultural raw materials for the Hexingen Consortium.

Most importantly, in 1869, the task of East African immigrants was reduced, which freed up a large surplus of food for export.

In the first three years, East Africa was as many immigrants as possible, and the resettlement of new immigrants needed food, and in order to support the new immigrants, the rations needed by the East African colonies and the Hexingen consortium were jointly advanced, and continued until the land was developed until the harvest.

Fortunately, East Africa has the same temperature throughout the year, and migrants can quickly start production, but in the dry season, migrants will be prioritized near rivers and lakes.

This year, East Africa will no longer seek maximum migration and will be able to export more food.

It is certainly not very profitable to export grain directly, especially now that the whole of Europe is leveling down, production is in order, and Britain, France, Russia, Austria and Prussia are all immersed in development.

Therefore, in order to increase the competitiveness of East African food, ERNST aims to establish a modern food conglomerate in Europe.

Unlike in the past, this time ERNST placed the headquarters of the new company in the territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and for the first time implemented the German-Austrian-African development model of the Heixingen consortium.

Food is an important industry that is no less than the production of daily necessities, and if it can be developed, it will definitely be a heavyweight industry in the territory of the Heixingen Foundation.

To develop the food industry, the Hexingen consortium has the natural advantage of being backed by the East African colonies, having abundant raw materials, and this year it is more financially rich, and the funds used to expand immigration in the past can be invested in new industries.

Coupled with Austria's superior geographical location and stable social order, it is a natural advantage to build a food company in Austria.

Of course, the most important point is to better borrow the resources of Austria-Hungary, which is itself a large agricultural country, and the wine raw materials of the Heshingen company are provided by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Hexingen consortium often sells the grain of the Hungarian region throughout Europe through the supermarket system.

Politically, the Heishingen royal family has a close relationship with the Austrian royal family, and the time and place are on Ernst's side.

The German region also has the above conditions, but Austria has an advantage that Germany cannot match, that is, Austria is on the Mediterranean coast.

By the end of the year, the Suez Canal would allow the goods of the East African colonies to reach Trieste through the Suez Canal, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire would then be the center connecting Germany and the East African colonies.

Moreover, the German region has a high level of industrialization, and this is also the case in the field of food processing, and Austria-Hungary has a relatively large gap in this area, and the Hexingen consortium fills this gap and staggers the competition.

Moreover, Ernst chose this time period to go to Vienna to arrange the construction of the food enterprise, which can be said to be very delicate.

It will take at least a few months from the land acquisition to the completion and commissioning of the factory, and this is only the Vienna area, and the subsequent Trieste will definitely have to build a factory.

Vienna can take advantage of Austria and Hungary's agricultural resources, while Trieste is well connected to East Africa's agricultural resources.

In this way, the ability to resist risks is greatly improved, and the construction schedule of the Trieste plant is scheduled for the second half of the year, which corresponds to the opening of the Suez Canal.

The construction of the Vienna factory in the first half of the year and the Trieste plant in the second half of the year did not have to rush the construction period, and it was just right to wait for the opening of the Suez Canal.

Ernst sat at his table and circled the cities of Hamburg, Berlin, Heshingen, Vienna, Trieste and other cities on the map with a red pencil.

These cities and regions will become the fulcrum of Heixingen Food Enterprises in Europe, just taking into account the entire European region.

The competition in the European food industry is definitely fierce, not only in Europe itself, but also in overseas colonies.

Therefore, Ernst did not have much illusions about profits, and windfall profits must be too likely, so it is good to have a long stream, and the main products in East Africa are large quantities, sufficient quantities, and considerable income.

At the same time, it can also pave the way for the future agricultural products of East Africa, and the food production that can be provided by two million people is definitely considerable.

After all, in this era, the vast majority of countries still rely on agricultural taxes to support their finances, and there is no agricultural tax in East Africa, but more than ninety percent of the profits from agricultural production are in the hands of the Heixingen consortium.

It's just that in the first three years, the investment in the East African colonies was also very large, so the money obtained by the Heixingen consortium was basically invested in the construction of East Africa, and in the first two years, the Heixingen consortium completely did a loss-making business and subsidized a large amount of money to build East Africa, resulting in slow development of enterprises in Europe.

Moreover, the population of East Africa is now close to two million, and only when these two million people are engaged in production activities at the same time, its agricultural profits can be high, that is to say, only a few months later, East Africa can really produce agricultural value on the scale of two million people, after all, agriculture has cycles, and crops need time to grow.

(End of chapter)