"Knock knock......" There was a knock on the door.

"Please come in!" A voice came from the study.

Tom walked into the room with two telegrams, Ernst was dealing with the documents of East Africa, as the crown prince of East Africa, naturally he couldn't let his old father suffer, so many affairs were completely handled by Ernst and then let Constantine directly implement them, so that Ernst could not make up his mind about things Ernst could also discuss with Constantine.

"Your Highness, a telegram has just been sent from the Hamburg and Trieste branches that all the idle ships under the Heshingen ocean-going fleet have been vacated, but I am afraid that such a small number of ships will not be able to complete the task you have assigned."

"I also know this, how many boats have they prepared?"

"There are 64 ships in total, and the rest have to take on other businesses, such as the recent export of grain and commodities to Marseille, so this ship transfer has actually affected the overall operation of the company."

"Well, you go and contact our old friends first, those Dutch shipowners, the immigrants from the North Germany region will let them be in charge for the time being, they are no strangers to the route, the other fleets in Trieste contacted by the Austrian and Italian immigrants, they should be able to share some, after the opening of the Suez Canal, it is not too difficult for these ships from the Mediterranean Sea to go to East Africa, as long as the price is negotiated, it should be no problem. There is also the transportation of our goods, and the part of the transportation of Marseille is to find the Italians! And if that's not enough to think of a way from other countries, Greece, Spain can do it! ”

There is a shortage of ships, if it is still possible in the Far East, Europe around the Mediterranean and a large number of so-called maritime powers in Northern Europe, especially Italy and Greece, the freight rate is cheap and the number is enough.

In the past, the Suez Canal was not opened, and the countries engaged in ocean trade were mainly concentrated on the Atlantic coast, mainly Anglo-Dutch and Portuguese France, and Ernst chose to cooperate with the Dutch, only the Dutch had the smallest political attributes, money in place, and few things, and they also had trade activities as far as Japan and Korea, which were in line with the Ernst migration route.

After the opening of the Suez Canal, Ernst had more options, and Austro-Hungarian merchant ships and warships could enter the Indian Ocean directly through Suez.

As far as Ernst knew, Franz's smuggling of army weapons into Rome was done by hired Italian ships.

As for why Ernst knew, it was out of curiosity, and he also wanted to know how Austria-Hungary could send the weapons and equipment of the entire army to Rome.

After all, Rome could be on the west coast of Italy, surrounded by the current Kingdom of Italy, and Austria-Hungary must have its own channels for sending weapons.

As the initiator of this matter, Ernst went directly to ask Franz, and Franz did not hide it, and the solution was very unpretentious, that is, to find an Italian merchant ship to negotiate a price, and leave the rest to the Italians themselves.

Ernst said that he had learned, and at the same time analyzed East Africa to avoid such loopholes, but East Africa, which is in a state of "closed country", does not seem to have this kind of problem, and the closed country is a one-way valve, only flowing in and not out, although there are two free trade ports, but that is a place for ships from various countries to stop, is to prevent falling into the truth, the British at sea often run into porcelain everywhere under the banner of free trade, so they left Mombasa and Dar es Salaam two free ports.

Now that the Suez Canal has opened, basically all European ships are queuing in the Red Sea, and the East African coast, which Europeans see as "lacking markets and resources", has declined, and only East Africa and Arabs still roam this sea.

……

Under the nose of the Kingdom of Italy, the Austro-Hungarian Empire to support the Papal States had all the troops and weapons and equipment, waiting for Italy to take the bait.

So from August, Hashingen's ships began to take to the skies in preparation for the "likely" existence of mass Italian immigrants, or war refugees.

In fact, in June, the Hashingen fleet was already quietly preparing in Germany, and with the declaration of war in France, the German-French border, and even the inhabitants of Alsace and Lorraine in France, some of them took a ride on East African migrants to East Africa.

Alsace and Lorraine, the former homeland of the HRE, were inhabited by Germans who were essentially Germans under French rule, speaking High German (in fact, speaking South German dialects), and coincidentally the Heshingen royal family, like the Uttar states of Prussia and the North German Confederation, which belonged to Low German.

At the same time, South Germany and Alsace and Lorraine and Austria-Hungary were all Catholic regions, so the cultural differences between North and South Germany were still quite large, which is why South Germany naturally preferred Austria (Austrian German evolved from the Bavarian dialect).

From the East African colony to the Kingdom of East Africa, in the past three years, the surplus population in South Germany has been almost absorbed by East Africa, plus this war, the population of Baden and Württemberg in the south may usher in a negative growth, and the specific situation of Bavaria is not easy to say, and it is estimated that it is about the same.

The dominant position of South German immigrants and Austro-Hungarian immigrants among the purely German population, coupled with the fact that the Heixingen royal family itself came from the South German region, so the overall cultural attributes of East Africa are more biased towards South Germany.

In this way, the half-dead Austro-Hungarian Empire had limited ability to intervene overseas and did not have the will to do so, and Prussia was too strong, so it was more reassuring to choose Austria-Hungary to cooperate.

East Africa is only separated from Austria-Hungary by Egypt, which is close to 3 million square kilometers, except for the Mediterranean Sea, so theoretically Austria-Hungary can take care of the little brother of East Africa, not far away, not close, and the location is just right.

Ernst had already prepared the place for Italian immigrants, and a large amount of land in Zambia needed to be filled with population, and there was no need to be too picky, and the new towns were directly built in places inhabited by indigenous people.

The environment is not too bad in the places where settlements are formed, and the local "labor force" can be fully utilized to develop new land.

The Italian immigrants were to be scattered in the provinces of Zambia along with the Far East immigrants and the German immigrants, and at the same time some of the residents from the east were to direct their agricultural production and work.

East Africa is a typical tropical plateau agriculture, its experience, climate and the Far East, Europe are different, the early development of East African agriculture on the one hand to learn from the experience of indigenous agriculture, on the other hand from South America and Mexico to find "professional" guidance, after three years of exploration to have the current East African model, so these new immigrants also need the help and guidance of old immigrants.

The climatic conditions in Zambia are no different from those of the East African Plateau, with the same precipitation and latitude (although Zambia is landlocked), so there is no problem at all to follow the East African Plateau model.

……

"Tom, there is one more thing, Marseille is a little cleaner, we are only responsible for the import of raw materials and the production of goods, and the rest can be done by the Medina family, in non-German areas our aim is to have money for everyone to earn together, not to meddle directly in politics, just let our allies do this."

"Yes, Your Highness, I will investigate carefully, and there will be no mistakes."

For the Medina family and other friendly forces of the Heshingen royal family, it is natural to need support, this Franco-Prussian War is an opportunity, Ernst knew that France was going to lose, but not completely lost, at least the French people did not surrender, and the Medina family could accumulate their prestige in the south of France with the help of this war, anyway, Prussia would fight at most near Paris, and the Count Medina could unscrupulously express his "patriotic" feelings in the rear and win the favor of the French people.

(End of chapter)