Chapter 621 Take a piece of the pie

Chapter 621 Take a piece of the pie

Out of respect for the Hawaiian royal family, Friedrich chose to visit the palace.

In fact, Kamehameha III waited outside the temporary camp of the Austrian army for a long time, but he was politely invited back by the Austrian diplomats.

When Friedrich's team arrived in front of the Hawaiian Palace, Kamehameha III and the queen had been waiting at the door for a long time.

After a brief and solemn ceremony, Friedrich arrived at the palace, accompanied by a team of guards and two diplomats.

First, diplomatic relations were established in a routine manner, and then Friedrich got straight to the point and talked about Fanar.

"The thirty-year land development agreement signed between our businessmen and your subjects has just been in the past two years. Your subjects have subleased the land to others and refused to compensate. I hope you can exercise the power in your hands fairly. .”

Kamehameha III was stunned. He did not expect that the common people in his country were so fierce. They dared to set traps for people whom he did not dare to offend.

"Well, in order to show my friendship to the Austrian Empire, I, Kamehameha III, officially grant your country consular jurisdiction on Hawaiian soil. What do you think?"

Friedrich and the other two diplomats were confused. They actually thought of a bunch of ways to make him submit. It seemed that the other party was familiar with the road and willing to cooperate, which seemed to save a lot of trouble.

The entire negotiation was within Franz's plan. A slap in the face would give him a sweet date, so as to form a virtuous circle.

The Austrian Empire immediately proposed the development of Pearl Harbor, which was located on the island of Huwa and was named after its abundant pearls.

It’s just that the fishing efficiency of fishermen is too low, and King Kamehameha III cannot benefit from it due to the special circumstances of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

So when the Austrians made this suggestion, Kamehameha III's eyes immediately lit up, because the financial situation of the Hawaiian Kingdom was really poor.

Especially after the land was distributed to the people, the country's tax revenue almost collapsed. Almost all government revenue came from taxes on the royal family's own land and ports.

Franz targeted this weakness. The financial revenue of the entire Kingdom of Hawaii was less than 50,000 US dollars, and the annual turnover of the Hawaiian pearl trade was more than 150,000 US dollars.

How could this not make Kamehameha III jealous? The Austrian Empire promised that as long as the latter contracted Pearl Bay, the former would get a profit of US$50,000 per year without spending a penny.

That would double the national finances. Kamehameha III immediately grabbed Friedrich's hand with red eyes and wanted to kneel down and worship him.

You must know that mining pearls in this era requires a lot of manpower, and in order to protect your own interests and prevent others from illegally mining, this is not a small expense.

Then there is the transportation and sale of pearls. Hawaiians cannot afford these things. The reality is that everyone can dig them themselves, so who will buy them?

Since Hawaii is a small country in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, if you want to sell it, you must cross the vast ocean.

This was almost impossible in the eyes of the Hawaiians at that time. In fact, when the Europeans first came across the ocean, the local indigenous people regarded it as a god.

Moreover, maritime transportation has a long period of cyclicality and uncertainty. If the ship capsizes, you will lose all your money, or if the market is not good, you will lose everything.

These risks were unbearable by Kamehameha III and any Hawaiian. If his advisers had not explained it to him, he would not even have known that those small pearls could sell for such high prices on the other side of the ocean. price.

Therefore, Kamehameha III was very satisfied with the Austrian side's proposal at this time, and even felt a little guilty, but this emotion soon disappeared because the Austrian side put forward new conditions.

The Austrian Empire wanted to nominate a customs general, and Franz, like other Westerners, needed a share of Hawaii's government.

Although the position of the General Director of Customs is much weaker than the positions of the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Justice in terms of power, in a primitive government like the Kingdom of Hawaii, the General Director of Customs does not have a small say.

Of course, the great powers at this time had not noticed this, and Kamehameha III readily agreed to this seemingly insignificant position.

At this time, Kamehameha III could not imagine that the future of his kingdom would depend on this institution.

As for the development of Pearl Bay, pearl fishing was just a cover. Franz's purpose was to control Pearl Harbor, a precious naval base in the Pacific.

Pearl Harbor stretches out like an eagle's talons to the interior of Hawaii. It is located at the lowest point of the plain between the Kolau Mountains and the Waianae Mountains on the south coast of Oahu, adjacent to the only deep-water port of Honolulu. It is also one of the largest and best safe anchoring ports in the North Pacific islands.

The factual basis is that it is now one of the most important ports in the United States in the Pacific.

Of course, even if Austria only develops pearls, it can still make money. At this time, the decline in pearl mining on Hawaii Island is actually related to the epidemic of plague on the island.

However, these germs can only infect local indigenous people and have little impact on Westerners and Easterners. Franz can use Nanming's laborers to mine pearls, which can be regarded as finding another way for them to get rich.

In addition, the mining efficiency of Nanming workers is much higher than that of indigenous people. They are also easier to train and will not remove pearls too roughly, resulting in a decrease in quality.

In addition to mining, Austria also has artificial breeding technology, which can also increase production. Moreover, Hawaiian pearls are of good quality and highly recognized by the market. They are not difficult-to-sell goods as unscrupulous merchants say.

At the same time, Franz also has enough funds to eat the goods and ensure that they are sold at their due value.

The first Customs Director-General was still given to Thomas Faneuil. After all, what matters is not who does it, but which country the position belongs to.

After leaving the palace, Friedrich led his troops to find the indigenous family, but the other party did not seem to intend to communicate, and shot an accompanying officer with a bow and arrow.

Friedrich was not the kind of character who would not fight back or retaliate. He immediately ordered a counterattack and the bloody battle lasted all day and night.

The fighting power of the Polynesians was not overwhelming. They killed and injured a total of twenty Austrian soldiers. This made Friedrich very angry. You must know that the ones he brought were all the best of the best, but they were actually killed by a group of indigenous people. So many were killed and wounded.

Fortunately, the two adjutants dissuaded the Archduke in time from escalating the incident further, but this also forced Friedrich to consider the horror of jungle warfare.

He had always been lucky enough to think that the British on Kalimantan were trash, and that they were completely wiped out due to negligence. Franz's speculation about jungle warfare was nothing more than alarmist.

But after calming down, Friedrich began to think about the matter again, but soon he came to another conclusion.

"Since jungle combat is so scary, wouldn't it be better to be the ambush party yourself?"