Chapter 101 Recruiting people
Prince Constantine was worthy of being a prominent figure in southern Germany. He gained the support of the southern states just by communicating with the nobles from various places.
For the South German nobles, it was actually a good thing to immigrate overseas. The South German region was mainly based on agricultural cultivation, and farmers were a group with a high fertility rate.
In addition, the land in South Germany is fertile, and the living standards of farmers are acceptable. In normal years, they are allowed to live freely, but when there is a famine, it is not possible.
South Germany has a high population density, and the aristocratic territory itself has no shortage of people. Naturally, it cannot control the life and death of those victims. The land is in the hands of the aristocrats anyway. If you don't cultivate the land, you will have people.
The industrial level of the South German region is not high (compared to Prussia and Austria) and cannot absorb the remaining population.
Therefore, unemployed farmers can only find their own way out. Previously, most farmers in South Germany went to the United States.
This is not because the conditions in the United States are so good, but because German immigrants really have nowhere to go. European countries reject immigrants because of religion, population and other reasons, and the United Kingdom deceived many Germans into going to North America in order to develop North America.
Of these Germans who went to the Americas, it is not ruled out that a few people can make a difference, but the lives of more people have not improved much. Moreover, the earlier the German immigrants, the more difficult the living conditions were. Many German immigrants became so-called " "Indentured slaves" had a higher status than black slaves.
However, due to historical inertia and the United States' increasingly improving attitude toward immigrants (even black slaves have been emancipated), going to the United States for development is still the first choice for German immigrants.
Especially recently, Prussia has basically stabilized and controlled the North German region, so North German immigration abroad has been significantly reduced.
The south has not yet been controlled by Prussia, and coupled with the food harvest, immigration has not decreased but increased (1866 to 1869 was a peak of southern German immigration. Data source network.)
But the situation on the American side has improved again. After the Civil War, the United States began to develop into the western interior again, and the demand for immigrants increased.
So Ernst is now trying to steal people from the Americans, and the chance of success this time is absolutely high.
In the past, the German region did not have its own colonies overseas. (Prussia and Austria and other countries tried, but most of them were voluntary actions by businessmen, so they failed.) Immigrants from the German region naturally had no choice but to go to the British colonies to survive.
Now the East African colonies are colonies developed by the Germans themselves (Hechingen is a German vassal state. After it was merged into Prussia, its nominal status was retained and it participated in Prussian politics as a vassal state.), and its area is vast and has also been initially developed. The conditions are not bad, giving German immigrants a new option.
This is not the most important thing. The most important advantage is that Hechingen itself is one of the local leaders in the South German region. It is connected with the nobles in the South German region and they are all of its own people.
As for the residents of South Germany, they were all subjects of the nobility. The serfdom system had only been abolished not long ago (for example, Bavaria abolished serfdom in 1808), and the nobility still had a profound influence on the local farmers.
Therefore, as long as it obtains the support of nobles from various places, Hechingen can obtain a large number of immigrants who originally went to the United States in history.
Historically, German immigrants to the United States were not interested in politics, which was similar to the Far East immigrant group, which made Ernst's operation easier.
Of course, it is impossible to eat all these immigrants. After all, some people may choose to go to the United States to join relatives and friends. After all, such people are in the minority, and Ernst does not care.
…
Kingdom of Württemberg.
A group of people are surrounding the recruitment office of the Hechingen Consortium. The place is very simple, just a platform built in the village.
Most of the people who came to inquire were ragged German farmers.
"Sir, I have never heard of this East African colony. Is it reliable for us to live and work there?" Oruch Reis, a farmer from the Kingdom of Württemberg, and Eric Knight, a staff member of the Hechingen Consortium said.
"You can rest assured that the East African colony is an overseas territory developed by the Germans themselves. It is larger than the two German regions. Now there are more than one million Germans living there, mainly because the former recruits were Austrians. Residents of the Hungarian Empire, so it’s normal that you haven’t heard of them.” Eric Knight exaggerated. He boasted that all the people in the East African colonies (including the indigenous people) were Germans, and deceived this group of people to go to East Africa with peace of mind. .
"Uh... how much is more than one million? Sir, if you haven't read a book, you can only count to ten with one hand! Can you give us an analogy?" A farmer asked in embarrassment.
Eric Knight suddenly felt embarrassed, but for the sake of performance, he still said kindly: "Your village, on the map of the Kingdom of Württemberg, is about the size of a grain of wheat thrown into a pond. There are hundreds of villages like yours in the Kingdom of Württemberg, and the combined population of all the villages and cities in the entire Kingdom of Württemberg is the same as the population of the East African colonies."
"Ah! There are so many people in East Africa, just like the entire kingdom, why do they still recruit us for development?" A farmer asked in confusion.
Good guy, what I said before was in vain. Eric Knight had nothing to do. The knowledge level of the villagers in this village was too low and they could not understand what he said at all. However, Eric Knight did not give up. Only with low knowledge level could he Is it easy to deceive? It's just a waste of words.
"This is different. Let me draw it on the ground for you."
Eric Knight found a branch, squatted on the ground, and cleared a clearing.
"This is the Kingdom of Württemberg." He said using a branch to draw a small circle on the ground as big as a thumbnail.
"And this is the East African colony." Eric Knight stretched out his arm and drew a large circle with a diameter of one meter. "Look, this is the difference in area between Württemberg and the East African colony. So, your village and Württemberg are different. Compared with the land of the Kingdom of Württemberg, it is the difference in land size between the Kingdom of Württemberg and the East African colonies.”
"Look, the East African Colony has such a large land and has the same population as such a small Württemberg. That's why the East African Colony needs to recruit people to develop it!" Eric Knight said to the villagers.
"What does East Africa look like? Is it the same as Württemberg? Is the land there fertile? How is the rain?" asked a villager.
"It's about East Africa! It's almost the same as ours, neither hot nor cold. The land is also very flat. The precipitation is about the same as here. There are also many rivers, which is very suitable for growing crops. Of course, there are some shortcomings, that is, there are too few people and more wild animals. But don’t worry, everyone, the East African colonial government will organize troops to clean up the wild beasts before arranging for everyone to develop the land, and there will be no problem with safety." Eric Knight said half-truthfully.
In fact, the Germans who immigrated to the East African colonies basically will not go to those desolate places.
In order to balance the Chinese immigrants, Ernst must have divided the German immigrants into existing colonial cities and settlements.
Therefore, the best thing for German immigrants is to be assigned to mature villages, and there is no chance of settling in separate groups.
After all, if East Africa wants to assimilate Chinese culture and achieve Germanization, it cannot allow Chinatowns to exist like later generations in Southeast Asia.
If you all live together, you don't need to communicate with other ethnic groups, so how can you integrate with each other?
As for why Eric Knight deceived these villagers, it was actually to dispel their concerns.
After all, if you want to praise East Africa like flowers, all its advantages will definitely arouse the vigilance of the villagers. Only by telling the shortcomings of East Africa can we dispel their suspicions without scaring away these villagers.
The beasts are a good excuse. There is indeed a certain danger, and it also proves that there are indeed a lot of wastelands in East Africa. And the East African colonial government sent troops to clean up, which can reassure these villagers subconsciously. After all, how can the beasts defeat them? Gun army.