May 7, 1873.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, who had not yet been in East Africa, was about to return to Europe, and the merchant ship Ernst was on this time was the "Lion", and the entire fleet was converted from armed merchant ships.

By the way, he took a battalion of the Wang Family Guards Division to Austria, and the next role of this battalion was equivalent to a guard of honor, which was an elite of talents after being selected from the Guards Division.

Not to mention their military literacy, they are the best in appearance and figure, good horses with good saddles, and East Africa has specially prepared the best tailors for them, handmade high-quality military uniforms.

The battalion sent by the Guards Division was actually 3,000 men, mainly infantry and cavalry, but there was no need for Ernst to take his horses to Austria, so he could consult with the Austrian Army and borrow their horses.

Before parting, Konstantin said with some regret: "I won't go to Vienna this time, but we can't lose the face of the Heixingen royal family, this is also a good opportunity to promote East Africa, at least let the Austrians know that our East Africa is not a weak country, as for spending more money is unavoidable, you don't want to pick and search." ”

"Don't worry! Father, in addition to business negotiations, the most important thing in this trip to Vienna is to marry Karina, after all, it is a major marriage event, and I personally will not be perfunctory. Ernst agreed.

Ernst has always spent money very reasonably, or rather without pomp and circumstance, and this is what Konstantin is more worried about.

In normal times, of course, there is no problem in this way, a calculating inheritance and a loser's heir, of course, the former is more reassuring, but the European aristocracy is the most about comparison and face, and Ernst's character is obviously out of place in the aristocracy.

In this regard, Konstantin had some misunderstandings with Ernst, who did not spend money on searching, but paid attention to the use of good steel on the blade, and East Africa was Ernst's blade.

If East Africa develops, even if Ernst wears tattered clothes, then the European aristocracy must "respect" themselves, which is the confidence brought by national strength, so instead of holding gatherings in Europe and making contacts, Ernst is more willing to spend money on improving the national strength of East Africa.

And Ernst's social circle, in fact, is more Prussian royalty, Sigmaringen royal family (including Romania), Austrian royalty, Swedish royal family, such top aristocratic circles, generally talk about topics that can be measured by money (super rich are counted separately).

Konstantin: "Well, I'm just reminding you, after all, I really can't get out of Vienna when you get married this time, I'm just a little worried." ”

Constantine and Ernst always had to have one of them stay in East Africa, so Constantine could not go to Vienna to attend his son's wedding, and the matter was mainly operated by Archduke Ferdinand (Massimiliano I).

So this wedding is also divided into two parts, one in Austria and the other in East Africa, in fact, it will be held twice, and the first town has already arranged the wedding of the crown prince on the work schedule.

......With the crisp whistle of the "Lion", the state delegation of the Kingdom of East Africa officially left for Austria.

The state delegation, rather than the family group, was due to Ernst's other tasks, which he had to spend in Europe for at least half a year, and the wedding was scheduled for the end of the year.

Before his marriage, Ernst was mainly responsible for digging the East African Kingdom for the rags in Europe, including all types of factories and equipment needed in East Africa, as well as steel and other materials for the construction of the East African Railway.

With the outbreak of the economic crisis, a large number of factories in Germany went bankrupt, production machines were piled up in warehouses and factories, no one cared about them, and prices plummeted. In particular, steel, coal, and railway enterprises suffered the most serious losses, which are what the East African kingdom needs the most.

At the turn of spring and summer, the Somali cold current began to form and continued to strengthen, and the surface water off the coast of East Africa flowed from low to high latitudes, that is, the equator to the north, plus the trade wind belt to the north.

So the journey from East Africa to the Red Sea was so smooth sailing that Ernst's journey was greatly shortened, and only a few days later Ernst's fleet sailed from Dar es Salaam to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea behind are relatively closed because they are relatively closed, and there are no strong winds and waves, and the journey is relatively smooth.

May 22, 1873.

The East African fleet arrived in Trieste.

Back to Trieste, Ernst sighed a little, the current Trieste is obviously a lot more depressed than last year, the flow is not as good as before, it seems that Austria's economic situation is very bad.

As Ernst and the Heshingen consortium took the lead in the dumping war, a large number of goods poured into the market, speeding up the transmission of the economic crisis of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to the surrounding countries.

Although the economic crisis of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was the first to erupt, because the 19th century was not as closely connected as the 21st century, the world market had not yet taken shape, and when a crisis broke out in one country, it did not affect other countries for a short time.

Before the economic crisis of 1873, the economic crisis even broke out only in a certain country, which was generally Britain, after 1873, the economic crisis began to rage throughout the world, and at the beginning of the 20th century, when the world market was finally formed, the most powerful and profound economic crisis in the history of capitalism broke out in 1929. The world's solution to the economic crisis of 1929 was the outbreak of two world wars, World War I and World War II.

In 1873, the countries of the world were obviously not so extreme, because the world economy was not so close, and now the solution was to increase tariffs, create tariff barriers, and protect the capital of all countries.

At the same time, there are still a large number of backward regions in the world that have not been developed, or have not been controlled by foreign powers, and these regions are good places to pass on the crisis.

However, the great powers have not yet gone that far, or have not reacted, and the social problems caused by the economic crisis have held back most of the efforts of governments.

In detail, it is necessary to rectify the respective financial markets, eliminate small and medium-sized enterprises with weak competitiveness and serious problems, and nationalize the railways. In the end, it is to solve the problem of employment.

Because of the dumping of goods in Germany and Austria, European countries have now begun to impose high tariffs, only Britain is a little wavering, after all, Britain is in a special situation, Britain has been in a position of economic superiority in the past, so the group advocating a free economy has a great influence.

At present, the United States, Russia, Germany, France, Austria and other countries have carried out industrialization one after another, and European countries have not relied on Britain to develop their own industries as in the past, so Britain's overproduction is more serious than before, making the crisis profound and long-term.

When the East African fleet arrived at the port of Trieste, even a single army disembarked from the ship went unnoticed, except for a few Austrian officers who had come to make contacts.

"His Highness Ernst! Welcome to Austria! ”

"Well, hello."

Ernst only greeted them copatively, but focused his attention on the port of Trieste.

There were several long queues at the port of Trieste for unemployed workers, all looking for jobs, and Ernst noticed that his own company or institution was hiring.

Because the sign at the end of the long line reads: "East African Railway Company, recruiting 250 people, railway workers are preferred." ”

"Hexingen Tobacco Company (Trieste), 12 employees, no educational requirements."

"East African Immigration Agency, Immigration East Africa solves employment problems, away from the risk of unemployment, family immigration is preferred."

Ernst asked several Austrian officers: "Is the economic situation in Austria as depressed as Trieste?" ”

"Well, in fact, we don't feel it obviously, we usually stay in the army, and if we weren't in charge of receiving you today, I'm afraid we wouldn't be out of the barracks."

Ernst said: "All right! The next question is mainly to arrange for the people I will bring, part of which is the East African Army, and this time I will take them to Vienna, and you will need to arrange a special train. ”

"This is also the purpose of our coming here, the superiors have arranged the route in advance, and now the pressure on the railway is not as great as before, so this matter is still very easy to solve."

This is inevitable, in addition to the economic depression that led to a significant decrease in the flow of people and passengers on the railway, the main reason is that Venice diverts part of the traffic of Trieste. In the past two years, Austria has also built two railways to connect and control Venice, thanks to the boom in the construction of railways, which were completed before the economic crisis.

This threatens Trieste's status as Austria's largest port, but the loss of a large number of talents and industries in Venice makes it basically impossible for Venice to regain Trieste.

(End of chapter)