Chapter 207 Changing Cards
August.
The sea breeze blowing from the southeast brought heavy rain, which lasted for three days, making the streets of the entire city wet.
Especially in places where there are no roads, it is extremely muddy. When you walk over, your shoes will be covered with thick mud.
After the rain started to clear up, the streets became bustling with pedestrians, cars and horses passing through, and chaos. This is a scene rarely seen in East Africa. It is probably comparable to the development zones in Dar es Salaam and Mombasa.
Because cities in East Africa will have specialized police to maintain order. They used to be soldiers, but after the reform, some soldiers in the cities became police officers.
Therefore, the order in East Africa is quite good, even in the countryside. There are also security personnel in the countryside. Currently, the security personnel in the countryside have not changed, so they have become a special existence.
The main reason is that there are too few people, there are only a few people in a village, and they are under the jurisdiction of the police stations in towns or nearby cities.
The ships entered the port as usual, and a large number of merchants and gangs at the dock began to compete for business. The merchants mainly received the goods, and the gangs refer to the factions formed by the dock personnel, most of whom were from the same village.
There is a lively scene on the pier, but who would have thought that there would be such a prosperous scene three years ago, Richard from the German Business Liaison Office thought.
I came here three years ago. It was still a small town with a small population, incomplete port facilities, and very "quaint" buildings. There were many mud houses with grass roofs.
The only thing that hasn't changed is that the residents here still look sallow and thin. It's obvious that most of them are malnourished.
That’s right, this is not East Africa, but Jiaozhou in the Far East.
Jiaozhou is a transit port for immigrants from East Africa and the Far East. Immigrants from North China will eventually be gathered here and transported to East Africa.
Of course, some people in the northwest will set out from here, but the number is very small. The farthest the East African official can reach is Henan.
The current transit port in the south is Shanghai, where the Hechingen Consortium has very little influence. Even in the immigration business, it has to compete with Britain and the United States for food.
I have to say here that the Germans are a bit stupid, and they are definitely not as good as Americans in spreading rumors. Even though many conditions in East Africa are "real", many people are still deceived into working as railroad workers in the United States.
Just in the first half of this year, the Pacific Railway in the United States was completed. Only the underground Chinese know how much history of blood and tears it contains.
These are things that the local Chinese do not know, but Ernst has no way to expose this scam. The United States is not an American emperor now, and the threat to East Africa cannot be ignored.
Especially in the Far East, unless the Hechingen Consortium doesn't want to do anything anymore and abandon this source of immigrants and market.
If a reunified Germany were to do this, the United States would probably just give up.
Let's go ahead and talk about Jiaozhou. Jiaozhou's status in the Far East is not high. Before the arrival of the Heixinggen Consortium, it was only a small town.
After the Opium War, the Western barbarians relied on their strong ships and cannons to open the door to the Far East, and Western merchants also poured into the eastern coast.
Originally, Jiaozhou was just a few small fishing villages, but its geographical location and natural conditions are relatively superior, so there are a few Western businessmen doing business here.
However, it was not until 1865 that the Qing government set up checkpoints here to manage shipping and collect taxes. This shows that Jiaozhou's importance to the Qing government was still insufficient.
This will be the most economically dynamic and important port in Shandong and even the north in later generations, right now! It is Yantai, which was a treaty port for the British.
Before the arrival of the Hexingen Consortium, Jiaozhou was just a branch of Yantai East Customs.
The Hechingen Consortium, in addition to engaging in immigration here, has now also started doing business. The industrial products of its own company are indispensable. At the same time, agricultural products such as rice from East Africa are also mainly exported here.
In terms of competitiveness, the main reason is that it is cheap. The immigrant ships that set sail from East Africa and return will pick up a large amount of goods in East Africa and transport them here.
At the same time, Hechingen also opened several small factories here, mainly textile factories, but the scale was too small to be successful.
The reason for choosing this place is very simple. Neither East Africa nor Germany is currently suitable for the textile industry. East Africa has a shortage of manpower. Although "labor" is almost "infinite", it is simply fantastic to expect black people to engage in such fine work as textiles.
Germany had developed the textile industry, but the effect was not very good. Since someone had tried the water, Ernst would naturally not make the same mistake again.
Relying on the commodity trade between the Hechingen Consortium and East Africa, Jiaozhou's economy developed rapidly, especially the rapid increase in tariff revenue, which attracted the attention of the Qing government and separated it from Yantai East Customs and managed it separately. As a result, local bureaucrats have risen to a higher level.
…
Just when Richard was struck by the scene, the plaque of the German Commercial Liaison Office had been removed and a brand new plaque of the Hechingen Far East Commercial Liaison Office had been replaced.
"Mr. Richard, why did you change your brand?" asked a Qing government official responsible for contacting the Hechingen Consortium.
"That's right, Mr. Wang, we have received notice from above that we will not use the previous brand in the future."
"I know about Deutsche, but does this Hechingen have the same meaning as the Hechingen Bank that was built the year before last?"
"Yes, Hechingen is a German state, so this change will not be big for you, and the people who come to Jiaozhou to do business are mainly people from our Hechingen consortium."
Wang Enke was completely confused by Richard's words. He asked: "Heixingen Consortium?"
"The Hechingen Consortium is one of the most powerful companies in Germany. You can understand it that way."
"Where did Germany go?"
"Of course Germany exists, but now we are not just trading with you on behalf of Germany, so the previous name is no longer needed."
"Mr. Richard, may I ask, who else does your company represent?" Wang Enke asked quickly.
The main reason is that it is a bit scary. It not only represents Germany, but also other countries or regions.
"The East African Crown Land of Hechingen."
"this?"
"A new country."
“Where is East Africa?”
"On the east coast of Africa, Africa is a big continent. You can imagine a place bigger than your Qing Dynasty."
“Is East Africa so big?”
"I said it's Africa, but East Africa is just an important emerging country above, just like your Qing Dynasty is an important country on the Eurasian continent, and the full name of East Africa is Hechingen East African Royal Territory."
…
Although the Deutsche Business Liaison Office was changed to the Hechingen Business Liaison Office, there was no change in its functions.
The name change is a political signal after the Hechingen royal family moved to East Africa. Now East Africa mainly engages in trade in the Far East, and diplomats will definitely be stationed after the founding of the country in the future.
At that time, it was not good to still use the name of Germany. Those who didn’t know better thought that Hechingen unified Germany! (happy).
In addition to business personnel from the Hechingen Consortium and East Africa, there are naturally businessmen from other German states in Jiaozhou, as well as some missionaries.
Before Prussia has completed its unification, international influence cannot radiate here, so the Hechingen Consortium will naturally have no problem representing Germany in Jiaozhou.
This is also true. The main body of Germany's trade activities with the Far East is the Hechingen Consortium, and other German businessmen naturally unite under the Hechingen banner.
Many negotiation issues are handled by the original "German Commercial Liaison Office". After all, the Hechingen Consortium is an armed merchant group overseas, and merchant ships equipped with artillery are still very convincing.
However, because of Ernst, everyone will naturally live in peace, as long as it does not hinder their immigration work. You may not support it, but you cannot oppose it. This is a completely insignificant problem for the Far East authorities, or It's not a problem. Even if I let you pull people in, I still can't keep up with the growth rate of the Qing population.
As for the rest, they are accustomed to the cruelty of Britain and France. The Heixinggen Consortium is simply the conscience of Xiyili. It would be better if they could not carry guns.
In this regard, Ernst said, "You don't trust my conscience, but I don't trust your moral integrity either!"