Chapter 97: Daily Life
Ernst didn't concern himself with the lives of the natives on East African soil. As a colonizer, one must be cold-blooded—otherwise, what's the point? Better to end it early than be driven mad by the dark side of the world.
Among Western colonizers, Ernst was practically a saint. At least he wasn't like some countries, committing truly twisted atrocities against the native population...
Adhering to a "don't think about it, pretend it didn't happen" mindset, Ernst never dwelled on the consequences. As long as the East African colony fulfilled his objectives, extinction and the like didn't matter. The colony hadn't done the killing directly—so it didn't count.
Juggling governance in East Africa with business operations across Europe, Ernst was usually busy.
But today, he stole a moment of leisure to sit with his father, Prince Konstantin, enjoying afternoon tea in the garden.
Ernst sipped authentic East Asian green tea.
At the time, there were only a few common beverages. Ernst couldn't get used to coffee and only drank it when visiting others or hosting guests.
Prince Konstantin, on the other hand, enjoyed coffee.
He wasn't surprised by his son's preference for tea—after all, the British were fond of it, and Dutch merchants had long been selling tea in the German states.
Ernst's own fleet brought tea from the Far East—specific premium varieties he selected himself, purchased by Hohenzollern staff directly from the tea regions.
He didn't make things difficult for his agents.
Since the Consortium operated mostly in the north, most tea came from areas near northern China, such as Lu'an Gua Pian and Xinyang Maojian.
Tea from Jiangsu and Zhejiang was also good, but better known to foreigners (especially overseas Chinese traders in Southeast Asia) and in high demand among local elites—making most of the tea on the market counterfeit. Westerners like Ernst's men were easily scammed.
It was safer to buy directly at the source, especially in inland regions where foreign presence was rare and local officials were more cautious—willing to offer convenience.
"Ernst, how's your East African colony doing these days? You haven't mentioned it in a while," Prince Konstantin asked, sipping his coffee.
"Father, everything's under control. Since the telegraph line was completed, I now receive updates from East Africa the same day. Immigration is steadily increasing—if all goes well, we'll hit 500,000 by year's end," Ernst replied.
Leaning back in his chair, Konstantin looked slightly surprised. "Hasn't the East African colony only been running for less than two years? And you've already recruited that many? Even Hohenzollern and its surrounding villages don't total more than a few tens of thousands!"
"Father, you need to understand one thing: East Africa's current territory is double that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. But its population is only about one percent of Austria-Hungary's 33 million. So half a million immigrants is still far from enough," Ernst explained.
"All that land already developed?" Konstantin asked in amazement.
When Ernst first mentioned developing East Africa, Konstantin hadn't taken it seriously—figuring his son just needed a pet project. Whether it succeeded or failed didn't matter.
He hadn't expected Ernst to do so well.
The promises had been fulfilled: a company and bank were established, and they had become top-tier players in Europe.
Konstantin also remembered when Ernst bought Alaska. A frozen wasteland, he'd thought. Let the boy spend his money...
East Africa, though, was Ernst's true focus—and to think he had pulled it off without state backing was impressive.
"Five hundred thousand people, 1.2 million square kilometers of land—pretty good! Württemberg and Baden together barely have 2 million residents," said Konstantin, comparing to the regions surrounding Hohenzollern.
"How many of those immigrants are German?" he asked.
"Just over ten thousand. Mostly Germans from within Austria-Hungary. About 50,000–60,000 others are from different ethnic groups in the empire. Recently, I brought in some people from Paraguay too," Ernst said.
"Still not enough Germans," Konstantin remarked. "Actually, I have something to tell you. These past years, the south's grain harvests haven't been great. Many people have been forced to leave home in search of work. I didn't realize until recently, when I returned to Hohenzollern, and my steward told me this year's yields were lower. Same goes for Württemberg, Baden, Bavaria, and the surrounding areas. This is an opportunity. I'll talk to the nobles and see if they can help direct people your way."
Ernst lit up with excitement.
He'd been busy commuting between Berlin and Vienna, completely unaware of the situation back home. If not for his father's visit, he might have missed the chance.
"Father, that would be a huge help. Just let your old friends know—I'll take however many migrants you can get. East Africa has room for them all," Ernst said enthusiastically.
These were exactly the high-quality migrants Ernst wanted: ethnic Germans, farmers, modest education levels (southern Germany's compulsory education lagged behind the north).
Southwest Germany had long been a major source of overseas German migrants—regularly making up more than 30% of all German emigration.
If used well, they could increase East Africa's pure German population by over 100,000 (since many Austro-Hungarian Germans were "branded" Germans only).
Combined with reeducating Paraguayan children, Ernst could shift cultural identity within a generation.
Soon, the German population could rival the number of Chinese immigrants. (Children from Chinese-European marriages were considered mixed, not part of the Chinese community.)
While many so-called "Germans" might be imposters now, in two or three generations they'd be indistinguishable from native Germans.
After all, even aristocratic families like the Hohenzollerns kept detailed family trees, but ordinary Westerners lacked strong clan concepts.
In contrast, in the Far East, even those without the means to write genealogies maintained clan bonds—wealthy or respected relatives would help document lineage. So in a way, every Chinese person could claim noble descent.
In the West, the line between nobility and commoner was clear.
True nobles were acknowledged by other nobles. Commoners didn't care about ancestry—and even if they did, they couldn't change it.
So in East Africa, just two or three generations of basic education would erase memory of ancestry.
Most would remember only their grandfather, the original migrant.
Since literacy was low among farmers of this era, most family history was passed on orally.
Without written records, gaps were inevitable.
Through East Africa's educational system, Ernst could indoctrinate the next generation early.
In time, whatever he said would be truth—building a new people from scratch wasn't out of the question.
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