Konstantin and Massimiliano I talked for a long time, in a word, if you want money, you can talk about everything except money.

In the face of the cheeky Prince Constantine, the first naval commander in East Africa could only return in vain, not only did he not get support, but he had to take a lot of resources himself.

And Ernst, who Konstantin said was short of money recently, was on an expedition in the Ruhr area of Prussia.

……

Thick smoke and black clouds overshadowed the sky.

This is what Ernst saw in the city of the Ruhr region, which is rich in coal but lacks iron ore.

Fortunately, the transportation here is very convenient, the Rhine, the Ruhr, and the Lipper River meet, the river network is dense, the river transportation is developed, and Prussia has built a lot of railways, with the help of the Customs Union can basically cover the entire German region.

"The environment is really nice!" Ernst said from the bottom of his heart.

"Your Highness, I think the environment here is far worse than Berlin, and the air in Berlin is not so dirty." Said the manager of the Heixingen Bank, who accompanied him.

"I'm talking about the industrial environment, not the natural environment, remember that we are not here for tourism, but to inspect local industrial equipment and factories."

"By the way, how are you doing with your local research?" Ernst asked.

"Your Highness, we visited two-thirds of the local enterprises and factories, many of which are currently expanding, and the German market has been very prosperous in recent years, so they are also busy with production and expanding production capacity.

Many machinery and equipment were snapped up by related enterprises and factories before leaving the factory, and the price of machinery was also very high.

However, there are also benefits, some large enterprises and small workshops, in order to improve production efficiency, are stepping up the elimination of old machines and equipment, although these equipment is a little old, but the price is also cheap, and the amount is very large, if Your Highness you do not have high requirements for machinery and equipment, our advice is to buy these second-hand equipment or better. ”

"My requirements are not too high, but you can't take it lightly, if you buy a pile of scrap metal, I'll be really angry!" Ernst said.

On this trip, Ernst was nominally here to investigate, but in fact he came to collect the rags, which is also the old tradition of the Heixingen consortium.

At the beginning, it received second-hand military uniforms and second-hand weapons from the Prussian Army, and now it buys second-hand industrial equipment from Prussia.

These obsolete industrial equipment really have no good place to go in Prussia, but they can definitely be placed in East Africa to increase the production capacity of East Africa.

The poor city of Mbeya still uses a large number of "labourers", using simple tools such as hoes and shovels, to produce coal for East Africa on their shoulders.

"Labor" is also a resource, and if some of them can be freed from the coal mines, East Africa will be able to devote more manpower to other projects.

"Your Highness, rest assured, we have hired a group of professionals this time, and we will conduct a professional inspection of the equipment in advance to assess whether it has the conditions for continued use.

At the same time, we will actively cooperate with large enterprises such as Krupp, and the equipment they have eliminated should be of more reliable quality. ”

It also takes professionals to pick up the rags, otherwise if you really buy a pile of scrap metal, Ernst can only cry.

Even if it is tattered, the value will not be low, because Ernst has purchased a very large amount this time, otherwise he would not have been accompanied by the manager of the Hexingen Bank.

According to political and economic standards, East Africa is a proper 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 naturally cannot afford to be left behind.

However, the two countries in the Far East are too strong, take Japan as an example, the history is relatively long, the population is very dense, there should be everything, but it is just behind the times, East Africa is nothing more than a little larger than Japan, and other things don't seem to have any advantages, there are a lot of minerals, but they must be developed first.

Moreover, Japan's current reform is not too difficult, after all, the Japanese have a way of enduring humiliation and burden, 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.

Historically, Japan did the same, building a railway from Tokyo to Osaka, Yokohama, and Hyogo, and the Meiji government issued a £1 million bond in Britain against nationwide customs revenues.

Moreover, supporting Japan can contain the Far East and Tsarist Russia, and strategically Britain and the United States also need a stronger Japan.

There is no such condition in East Africa, and now East Africa has not introduced foreign investment, and it cannot do so, let alone Britain and the United States, even Prussia and Austria.

That is not to introduce foreign investment, but to the life of the Heixingen royal family, after all, East Africa has basically no value for cooperation and utilization for countries.

On the contrary, it is a potential competitor, after all, there is no insatiable Tsarist Russia next to East Africa, and East Africa itself is "African Tsarist Russia".

Therefore, all trade in East Africa is only run by the Hexingen consortium, and the data is in their own hands, and it will not be published to avoid attracting the attention of other countries.

The disadvantage is not without it, that is, there is a large funding gap, and the construction of East Africa is completely dependent on the Hexingen Foundation, which is why Ernst chose agriculture as a foothold in East Africa.

The investment in agriculture is small, and the speed of recovering funds is not slow, and it is not very profitable to make money, but people are retained.

"This time, we need to focus on mining and ironmaking equipment, and strive to complete the construction of a primary industrial city in East Africa." Ernst said.

What Ernst is talking about is the city of Mbeya, which is located deep in the hinterland of East Africa, with good resource conditions, coal and iron resources, and a climate suitable for industry, but the transportation conditions are not very good, but the industrial products of East Africa must be for their own use, and they can be digested internally, and they do not need to be exported.

"Your Highness, the corresponding machinery and equipment are not difficult, but it is not easy to solve the problem of machinery and equipment without professional workers."

"You can rest assured about this, I will naturally have a way to solve it later, so you don't have to worry about it."

Ernst was going to send a group of immigrants from the Far East to the Ruhr area for "internships", pay their own salaries, and let them work in factories in the Ruhr area for a period of time to gain experience, and then send them directly to East Africa.

Ernst still paid for this money, and to be honest, how much salary are you prepared to pay to Far Eastern immigrants? It is enough to maintain food and clothing, and Ernst does not pay any more.

And the German factory owners have no reason to refuse, they will give you a part-time job for "free", you just say you don't need it!

In this way, it solves the most basic industrial workers, and then the low-end is those who have no technical content of heavy work, tired work, on the "labor", and the high-end ones are recruited from Europe with heavy money, and they do not use too high-end, average level of technical personnel, that is, to overhaul those second-hand machines at any time to ensure the normal operation of the equipment.

The campaign was a sensation, and the entire Ruhr area was the target of the Heischingen consortium, because it was the most industrially equipped and the city was so dense that it did not run all over Germany.

In addition, after the equipment is in hand, the parts can be disassembled and shipped directly to the North German federal port for shipment to East Africa by river and rail, which is very convenient.

(End of chapter)