Chapter 241 White Chief and Cotton
After Franz's inquiry, he learned that the chiefs who were let go did not fulfill their promises. They took advantage of the opportunity to help build the port and intended to wipe out the Austrian troops staying in Togo.
Of course, the attempt of these indigenous advance troops to sneak in with their sidearms was immediately seen through by the Austrian soldiers, so the chiefs who were hiding behind and observing simply showed their true colors. They directly sent out large troops, trying to break through the Austrians with their superiority in strength. defense.
It's just that the indigenous people who have not experienced it personally know nothing about the terror of naval guns. In the baptism of gunfire from eight battleships, solid iron balls flew all over the sky, and everything they passed was a bloody mess.
What's even more funny is that the natives did not choose to escape, but directly surrendered by offering their chief's head. So far, the seven tribes in southern Togo have all surrendered, and they unanimously demanded that a white man be their chief.
"Surrender to the enemy on the battlefield?" Friedrich thought it was ridiculous.
"No? This is called a battlefield uprising. To be more precise, it means turning from darkness to light." Franz corrected.
"Then this pier was made by indigenous people?" Friedrich was a little unbelievable.
"Yes, Archduke Friedrich. Colonel Morrison supervised those built by the indigenous people." said Captain Parrish, who was in charge of staying behind.
"The quality of this project is acceptable. Well, for the sake of your serious work, Morrison, you can stay and be their chief." Friedrich said half-jokingly.
Morrison studied architecture in college, but his father hoped that his second son would have a better future, so he sent him to the Navy.
Morrison is a typical Austrian who is not doing his job properly. A naval captain who doesn't want to be a chief is not a good architect.
The talents of this group of people are all mixed up, just like Austria, a land-power country, has never lacked naval warfare geniuses. The river navy violently defeated the Barbary pirates who were rampant in Europe, but the regular knights could not defeat the peasants who rebelled against Hussein.
"Okay, Archduke Friedrich, I will follow your orders and build this into the best port in West Africa!" Morrison saluted Friedrich with a very solemn military salute.
"I" Friedrich didn't want to take on such a huge pot, but his words were interrupted by Franz.
"Congratulations, Mr. Morrison. You have finally found a career you are willing to devote your life to."
"I will use my actions to prove that your decision is correct." Morrison solemnly vowed again.
"Has the mastermind been found out?" Franz was actually quite curious as to who was behind the scenes.
Morrison and Parrish shook their heads. The indigenous people could not explain at all. They only knew that this attack was discussed by the chiefs before.
However, during that war, almost all the people who knew the secret died. Later, in order to eliminate the influence left by the chiefs, all those who had supported them were crucified.
The tribes in southern Togo are very weak. Years of slave-catching wars, coupled with several recent wars, have reduced the indigenous population in southern Togo to less than 50,000.
After the protection agreement in Togo was completed, Franz's trip to West Africa was considered a successful conclusion.
If all went well, six months later Austria would receive its first shipment of cotton from the colonies.
The importance of cotton is actually far beyond most people's imagination.
Cotton not only supports the textile industry of this era, but will also play an immeasurable role in the medical, military and people's livelihood fields in the future.
The textile industry during this period has become the most important industry. The amount of cotton processed by a country can directly reflect the strength of that country.
What do those black slaves grow in the plantation economy that you think is evil? That’s right, besides sucrose, it’s cotton!
At this time, the cane sugar business was no longer what it used to be. According to Americans, this was an era of black and white (black represented opium, and white represented cotton.)
Historically, in 1840, the Austrian Empire produced 1 million cotton spindles, France 3 million spindles, the United Kingdom 15 million spindles, and the German states 1.2 million cotton spindles, of which Saxony produced 600,000 cotton spindles.
This is why Saxony, which only has one-third of its original territory, still dares to challenge Prussia.
At this time (the world line in the book), the number of cotton cloth produced by the Austrian Empire reached 1.5 million spindles, because the textile industry was supported by cotton from Mexico, and at the same time it opened up the German and Italian markets.
France's cotton production reached 3.6 million spindles. Although it suffered heavy losses in Egypt, it unexpectedly gained access to Texas cotton production areas. A large amount of cheap cotton poured into France, which promoted the development of the textile industry.
In fact, at this time, Austria's industrial capabilities were not weaker than France's. In terms of machinery manufacturing alone, it ranked first in Europe. Even Saxony (the German states and Italian states also used Austrian looms, but the amount was not large). The textile machines used are all produced in Austria.
But the Austrian Empire only produced 1.5 million spindles of cotton cloth, either because there was not enough cotton.
Britain and France consumed 84% of the cotton shipped to Europe, and the rest of Europe could only eat the leftover leftovers from Britain and France.
At this time, the largest cotton supplier in the world is the United States. It is actually a puppet of the British. It may conspire with it at any time to raise cotton prices and impose sanctions on a certain country, or even directly cut off supply. This kind of feeling of being stuck is quite unpleasant. .
During the same period, the combined cotton production of Brazil and Mexico was approximately 3% of the U.S. production. In these two countries, Mexico has been in war for years, coupled with the lack of human resources, small planting area, market and many other reasons, the combination of which has prevented its cotton industry from forming a large scale.
Although Brazil is a slave plantation economy like the United States, its cotton yield is very low due to management problems.
Moreover, the local manor owners in Brazil are very lazy or abnormal. For example, Franz has been frantically importing rubber from them many times. However, his rate of expansion of production capacity still cannot keep up with demand. He would even rather send slave workers to pick wild rubber. Unwilling to expand production capacity.
Egypt was once close to 10% of the United States, but due to the war and the loss of power of the Ali government, cotton cultivation suffered a major blow.
Local farmers do not believe in cotton or currency. They believe in edible grains. As a result, large cotton fields became food bases, which made the French feel very helpless, but it had little impact on the British because they did not rely on Egyptian cotton.
At the same time, there is no excellent cotton producing area in the whole of Europe. Only a small area in southern Spain and some areas in southern Greece are suitable for cotton growth. Not only is the yield low, but the quality is poor, which is completely different from the long-staple cotton grown in Africa.
Cotton can not only be made into cotton cloth, but also a strategic material.
Nitrocellulose is an important raw material for the famous smokeless gunpowder in the future. Nitrocellulose with low nitrogen content is used to make spray paint, artificial leather, film, plastic, ink, etc.
Everyone must be aware of the value of smokeless gunpowder. It is the second most widely used explosive after black gunpowder. Without it, modern warfare would not even be possible.
Any powerful country has a strong demand for high-quality cotton, and it cannot continue the war without it.
With the development of modern medicine and the popularization of the concept of disinfection and sterilization, the consumption of cotton in medical treatment will also increase exponentially.
The development of light industry is also inseparable from cotton
The low cotton yield in modern Africa is due to many reasons such as low investment, small planting area, lack of basic water conservancy facilities, neglected management, and deterioration of varieties. It is not that this land is not suitable for growing cotton.
If the Austrian Empire wanted to become a real power, it had to break through the limitations of cotton, so the colonial plan in West Africa was necessary.
Thanks to book friend 202210140011311291 for the reward. Today’s hunting trip in Africa is over, and I will write about Europe tomorrow.