African Entrepreneurship Records

  Chapter 3 in Berlin

   June 1863, University of Berlin.

  As the son of a top-level nobleman, Ernst borrowed his father's relationship to listen here.

  Recently, Ernst's itinerary is relatively intensive, but he mainly studies economic principles. Other courses are mainly noble etiquette, morphology, and even religious classes, which are undertaken by Ernst's tutor.

   Those who came out with Ernst included his tutor Richard and his servant Tom.

   Prior to this, Richard had been undertaking Ernst's early education career.

  The group first set off from Hechingen to Stuttgart, and finally transferred to Berlin via Bavaria.

   Along the way, I wasted a lot of time because I had to visit acquaintances with aristocrats. It took nearly half a month to arrive in Berlin.

   Fortunately, the second half of the trip was mainly by rail transportation, avoiding some unnecessary banquets and social activities.

  After arriving in Berlin, as a member of the Hohenzollern family, it is natural to visit the Prussian royal family first. Ernst met his uncle William I.

   In fact, Ernst met King William I when he was a child, but he was very young at that time, could not remember clearly, and he had not yet awakened the memory of his previous life.

As for why there is an intersection, we have to talk about the unique status of Hexingen. As the birthplace of the Hohenzollern family, Hexingen is the birthplace of the Hohenzollern family. Emperor Luo elected the emperor and strengthened the Prussian Kingdom today, but the blood relationship cannot be overthrown, and the ancestors of the Prussian royal family also went out from Hechingen.

The old castle where I lived was actually jointly funded and built with the Prussian royal family, but my family has lived in Hechingen for generations and has never left, and the Hohenzollern family of Brandenburg cannot leave Prussia. The rural development of central Berlin to Hechingen is only because of the particularity of the ancestral land that the Brandenburg royal family will fund the repair of Hechingen Hohenzollern Castle, which is the face of the family.

  Hohenzollern Castle was actually an early military fortress, which was later destroyed in the war. The current Hohenzollern Castle is a newly rebuilt new building.

  Sometimes the Hohenzollern family of Brandenburg will return to Hexingen to visit. The last time the Prussian royal family sent people there, the new Prussian Hohenzollern province formed by Hexingen and Sigmaringen was merged into the Kingdom of Prussia. Ernst was born not long ago, so he naturally couldn't recognize the visiting Prussian prince.

  King William I first asked about the recent situation of Prince Constantine, and then learned why Ernst came to Berlin. When he learned that Ernst was here for a study tour.

  William I was very happy. The Prussian royal family has always attached great importance to education. This is a century-old plan that is valued by the Kingdom of Prussia just like the military.

   Now that Ernst chose Berlin as the first stop of his study tour, William I was still very happy, which also proves the development of education in Prussia in recent years.

  Finally, William I welcomed Ernst, and at the same time promised that he could come to the palace for help in case of trouble.

   Ernst expressed his gratitude, and at the same time met other members of the Hohenzollern family, Crown Prince Frederick and the little guy who will stir up the world in the future William II.

  When he first came to Berlin, Ernst often had to attend gatherings among nobles, which was Ernst's only social activity.

  Most of the rest of the time is spent in school or in sports training. It is difficult to guarantee the level of medical care in this era, so Ernst attaches great importance to health.

  In addition to basic strength training, there is also equestrianism, and of course gun shooting. Ernst had contact with these basic military education before, and for the Prussian nobles, this was the foundation of his life.

Ernst also made many friends at the University of Berlin. Although he struggled in his studies and compared with these talented classmates, he was very dull, but Ernst had a good attitude and did not seek to compare his IQ with these monsters. .

   There are also some noble children similar to Ernst who go to school here, but they are all older, but the slightly mature Ernst can also chat with them.

  There are a lot of dignitaries in the University of Berlin, but that’s the case in Germany. The nobles are more interested in military academies, and there are competitors like the University of Göttingen and the University of Bonn.

  …

   "Okay, that's all for today's class, get out of class is over!" The professor said seriously.

  The professor put away the teaching aids expressionlessly, and left work without hesitation.

   Ernst rubbed his eyes with a tired face, packed up the notes and books on the desk, put them in the handbag, got up and was about to leave.

  Suddenly a voice came from behind: "Ernst! Where are you going to play after school?" Classmate Garrett elbowed Ernst who was about to walk away.

   "Of course I'm going home, Garrett." Ernst replied.

  Garrett pretended to be surprised and asked: "Aren't you going to the banquet tonight? I heard that Karl organized it, and there will be many ladies present!"

"Garrett, I'm still young, don't try to spoil me, and there have been too many banquets and salons recently, I still want to rest for a while." Ernst said with a chuckle, and pushed Carrie with his arm special shoulders.

   "You bastard, you have more nasty jokes than I do, I think you are just superficial." Garrett danced and used funny moves to "expose" the hypocritical Ernst.

  …

   During the fight, Ernst left the school and left the school gate, while Tom was already waiting by the side.

   "Tom, go to the studio today!" Ernst ordered Tom.

   "Yes, sir."

  The carriage slowly left the school gate, shuttled through the streets of Berlin, turning corners, and stopped in front of a blacksmith's shop after a while.

   Ernst pushed open the door and walked into the room. The room was full of sundries, most of which were tools, hammers, axes... thrown on the ground at will.

  The furnace is burning, the room is full of the smell of charcoal fire, and there is still molten iron splashing from the furnace.

  The blacksmith shop, of course, is now the studio that Ernst mentioned. It was rented by Ernst. In addition to the original blacksmith, he also employs a junior high school student of science and engineering. Ernst interrupts Pete, a junior, who is filling the stove.

   "Peter, is the thing done?" Ernst asked naturally.

   "Boss, it's done, see if it looks like this!" After finishing speaking, he found a wooden box from the counter behind him.

  Open the lid on the box, and take out a metal object from inside, a copper handle with a thin iron sheet sandwiched between two thick iron sheets on it. This is a T-shaped razor.

  As a time traveler, the top priority is of course making money. Although Ernst was born a nobleman, money is always in short supply. Not to mention other things, the status of a nobleman is not safe. The German Empire was defeated and even the emperor would step down and flee abroad.

As an aristocrat in a small place, although he has a high status (Hechingen was a marquis before it was annexed, Constantine was a marquis, and now he is the prince of Prussia, with the same status as a prince), the Hohenzollern province sounds tall, but in fact It is not as large as the county where I was in the previous life, and the population is not even 100,000.

   A place as big as a palm is not the only one of its own, and Sigmaringen next door is obviously more prosperous than its own.

  Through historical experience, it is better to use the current aristocratic status to make more money. Even if the empire dies in the future, you can still live and work in peace and will not be down.

  Of course, these are long-term things, Ernst is not too eager, more to complete a bold idea in Ernst's own heart in his previous life.

   Once a person reaches a certain position, ambition will follow, and Ernst is naturally the same.

   Ernst, who understands the future situation, is naturally not optimistic about the future of the European continent. Not to mention, there is a series of wars in which Prussia unifies Germany right now, and when he gets old, there will be two world wars.

If you insist on staying in Germany in the future, the demise of the German Empire alone will affect you. At that time, the German nobles will be lambs to be slaughtered, and they may be deprived of wealth by the great powers and the republic government, so we must arrange the way out in advance .

Europe is by no means a good place. There are turbulent winds and clouds on this continent, and there are many great powers. Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and Austria-Hungary are all crowded here. , the best years in Germany.

  Where does Ernst want to go? Here I have to advance to work place, Tanzania.

  When learning about the history of East Africa in his previous life, Ernst always felt a lot of emotion. As the most valuable colony of Germany, German East Africa was simply the chosen place.

  It's a pity that Germany was the last stud, and German East Africa didn't come to rush to develop, and the empire died. Of course, it was also related to the German government's lack of attention at that time.

  At present, no country in Europe pays attention to East Africa. The British and French colonies are vast, and Germany has not yet been unified. Only the Portuguese have some strongholds on the coast of East Africa. However, except for the plains along the coast of Mozambique, the Portuguese have not penetrated into the interior of East Africa.

  In the previous life, the Germans invaded East Africa and did not meet any decent resisters. The only ones who left their names were the indigenous tribes in Africa.

  These aborigines are still living in the primitive tribal society, which can be thought of the barbarism of East Africa.

  But for Ernst, barbarism is a good thing. As long as East Africa is slowly developed through immigration, and then the natives in the primitive social system are transferred away, won’t they be able to easily establish a country in the future?

  First of all, there are no decent resources in East Africa (developed late.), Few colonists pay attention.

  Secondly, East Africa has a small population and is not as densely populated as the Philippines in East Asia. The colonists cannot squeeze out human value, which also means that the native population is small. Easy to drive away and can avoid a repeat of the events in South Africa.

  Finally, the agricultural conditions in East Africa are good, the land is open and valuable for reclamation, and other conditions are not bad.

  In Ernst's eyes, as long as he can obtain the management rights of East Africa, he can establish an independent kingdom as his future retreat.

  This kingdom may be inconspicuous in the world, but after the wave of African independence, the country you build will definitely be able to beat the surrounding indigenous countries.

  Of course, the premise is that they are not as stupid as the Boers. They want both, and finally leave the country.

   It's not that Ernst despises it, even a pig may be better than those African "benevolent kings" in later generations.

  As for why Ernst felt that he could start a business in distant Africa, apart from his own optimism about Africa’s environmental resources, he also had a “benevolent king” like Leopold II of Belgium as an example.

  Before the big powers set their sights on the African continent, create an established fact, and finally pull the banner of Germany, win over Austria-Hungary and Germany, and then lay a foundation for the Hohenzollern family overseas.

  Of course, the real problem of all these fantasies is to make money. Ernst can't even get the initial capital for colonization now, so he naturally has to use his decades of life experience to make money.

That's right, the T-shaped razor in front of you is the first step. At this time, people still use that kind of straight-handled razor. Ernst is still young, not at the age of unshaven, but seeing this straight-handled razor The knife also feels pain in the face.

   Fortunately, in my previous life, I have seen Grandpa's old-fashioned razor, which was invented by American Gillette.

   Ernst only remembered a rough idea of ​​this kind of razor, so after coming to Berlin, he asked Pete to reproduce it through sketches, and now it seems that the initial form has been completed.

   "Peter, it's a good job. If this razor is mass-produced, how difficult do you think it is?"

  Peter looked solemn, and answered Ernst cautiously.

   "Boss, look!" As he said, he removed the blade of the razor, pinched the two ends of the blade and snapped it off, "click", the blade snapped off.

  The strength of this thin blade is too low to be used at all. If the strength problem of the blade cannot be solved, it is impossible to sell it.

   Ernst pondered for a moment and asked, "Is there a solution?"

  Peter said: "Maybe metallurgists have a way and can ask for help. Another way is through trial and error."

   "Well, well, on the one hand, you continue to experiment to find a solution. As for the experts, I will find a way." Ernst decided to use both hands to solve this problem as soon as possible.

  (end of this chapter)