In fact, Vienna also widened the Danube when East Africa governed the Lesser Rhine, but compared with East Africa's governance for governance's sake, Vienna's reason was more special, that is, for the 1873 World Expo held in Vienna, so it was a political achievement project.

The World Expo started in May, but Ernst didn't go to join in the fun, on the one hand, he had a lot of schedules, and on the other hand, the Vienna World Expo was too chaotic.

Although Ernst had not participated in it before, the World Expo was a showcase for the world's commodities, so the Heixingen Foundation was actively involved.

The exhibits of the Heixingen Foundation are divided into three categories: "European scientific and industrial products, East African specialties, and goods of the Heixingen Foundation's participation in the Far East's trade with Europe." ”

Technology and industrial products are the products of various companies under the Heixingen consortium, mainly in three aspects: electric power, light industry, and medicine.

East African specialties are mainly concentrated in East Africa's cash crops, which are high-quality industries in East Africa, such as cereal agriculture and dairy agriculture are strong industries in Europe and the United States.

Therefore, under the influence of the economic crisis, East Africa's commodity grain exports to Europe have almost come to a standstill, and only the Middle East and North Africa and other regions that are not suitable for agricultural development continue to retain advantages.

On the other hand, tropical cash crops are completely different, if you only talk about cash crops, the United States is not bad, but after all, most of the United States belongs to the cold temperate zone, some subtropical climate, and the tropics are not at all (Hawaii has not yet been annexed).

If it is possible, this place in Hawaii, of course, Ernst has also had ideas, but it is only for a moment, this place is not like Alaska, a land of ice and snow, and it is also in the center of the North Pacific, the strategic position is too prominent, not to mention the United States, even Japan, Canada, the Far Eastern Empire, Britain, and Tsarist Russia will not be able to turn in East Africa.

East Africa can blockade Alaska and slow down Alaska's development, but it is impossible to use the same tactic against Hawaii, which is a foothold for passing ships, and there is no way to avoid it. However, sometimes it's okay to think about it, and there is no missing piece of meat.

In addition, East Africa's main competitor in tropical cash crops is the Caribbean islands, whose main development area is the sugar industry. For a variety of reasons, Western colonizers paid significantly more attention to the Caribbean coast than to South America, as in Haiti and Cuba.

South America is a bit of a point, Ernst thinks it may be because the South American suzerainty is relatively poor, and the South American countries are stronger after independence, such as Brazil and Argentina, which are quite large in area, and the population is not small, and it is not easy to control.

The Caribbean Sea has the advantage of fertile land, abundant rainfall, and its location on the main transportation route between North and South America, not far from Europe.

The advantage of the East African Kingdom over the Caribbean Sea is that it is close to the two markets of Europe, especially Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and at the same time, it has higher organizational capacity and production efficiency, a larger land area, and the planting industry pays attention to planning and gives full play to its own advantages.

At the same time, the geographical environment of East Africa is also more diverse than that of the Caribbean, with tropical rainforest climate, savannah climate, tropical desert climate, alpine plateau climate and other tropical climate types, and the tropical savannah climate is very different internally, divided into plateau climate type (East African Plateau), plain climate type (East African coastal plain), rainy climate (Great Lakes region), low rainfall climate (South Africa), double rainy season climate, single rainy season climate, long rainy season climate, short rainy season climate.

Therefore, although East Africa is dominated by a savannah climate, it is subdivided from the level of temperature and precipitation, resulting in a wide variety of savannah regions in the East African Kingdom, providing more abundant space for the development of different crops.

At the Vienna World Expo, the main East African specialties launched by the Heixingen Foundation include sisal, cloves, Somali bananas, mosquito coils (pyrethrum), bamboo, East African gum (gum arabic), tea, coffee, East African rubber and other 237 kinds of tropical cash crops grown on a large scale.

At the same time, there are more than 40 kinds of animal specialties such as horn specimens of East African bighorn cattle (Vatusi longhorn), lion skins, ivory, crocodile skins, etc. African teak, African neem, African red walnut and other seventeen kinds of high-quality wood carving craft samples.

There were also some interesting scenes at the fair:

"Why does your so-called East African rubber look exactly like our Brazilian exhibits?"

"Don't you spew blood, this is a rubber tree species that our company has dug up in the Kingdom of East Africa. It is an excellent native rubber tree species found deep into the heart of Africa. ”

Under the skeptical gaze of the Brazilian exhibitors, the employees of Hexingen said righteously: "Africa is an unexplored continent, and it is not surprising to discover anything." ”

Others don't care whether the rubber tree species in East Africa are stolen or not, they ask the price directly, and whoever is cheaper will buy whomever it is, although the rubber cultivation in East Africa started late, but the planting volume is larger than that of Brazil, so it is very competitive.

In the banana exhibition area.

In order to compete viciously, the Hexingen consortium specifically compared bananas from the Americas with those of East Africa, so that everyone could taste the difference between the two bananas and clearly mark the origin of both bananas.

"The skin is thin and the meat is thick, big and sweet, leading the peers."

"The high-quality irrigation of the Shabelle River, which originates in the Ethiopian Plateau, is fed by 12 hours of sunshine, carefully cared for by farmers, and one-on-one tutoring for a single tree, resulting in better quality, sweeter taste and more abundant aroma."

Faced with hostile competition from Somali bananas in East Africa, the Caribbean, especially the Boston Fruit Company in the United States, was not convinced.

"You must have selected the best products in the Caribbean to compare with the best quality bananas, and we are not convinced!"

"Accept it or not, speak with facts, only after everyone has tasted it, can you feel who is the king of the bananas!"

"Then we can't compare with the samples you provide, with the bananas we brought from the origin, we are completely sure of winning."

So with the support of the people who eat melons, the banana competition was opened on the spot.

"Somali bananas from East Africa on the left and bananas from the Caribbean on the right.

So a tasting meeting began, and the employees of Heixinggen also prepared drinking water for everyone to rinse their mouths and prevent smelling.

"Well, both bananas taste good overall, but I personally think Somali bananas are sweeter."

"Regardless of the sweetness, I think Somali bananas look better just by the color and freshness."

Finally, there is the comment of the heavyweight, Carol I, who came from Romania to attend the meeting, after carefully tasting two bananas, said: "Unselfishly, Somali bananas are victorious." ”

It is true that there are many kings who came to this World Fair, such as William I, Alexander II, Francesco II of the Kingdom of Naples, etc., Carol I really just happened to come to see the excitement and then participated in the event. Although he was a relative, Ernst did not ask Carol I to be a trustee for the purpose of selling bananas.

As a result, at this World Expo, Somali bananas were named "the sweetest banana in the world". Out of jealousy of the development of the United States over the years, the British newspaper sourly slandered: "American banana products, just like American industrial products, are developed by plagiarism and shoddy ......" fully demonstrates the old father's concern for the rebellious son.

(End of chapter)