Chapter 217: Chapter 205: Changing Cards
August.
The sea breeze blowing from the southeast brought a heavy rain, which continued for three consecutive days, making the streets of the entire city wet and slippery.
Especially in places without paved roads, it became extremely muddy, and anyone walking through would find their shoes covered with thick mud.
After the rain cleared, the streets became bustling with pedestrians again, with carriages moving about, creating chaos. Such scenes are rare in East Africa, and perhaps only the development zones of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa could compare.
Because East African cities have dedicated police to maintain order, they used to be soldiers, but after reform, some city soldiers transitioned to police roles.
Thus, the order in Eastern Africa is quite good, even in rural areas, which also have security personnel. Currently, there has been no change in rural security personnel, so they have become a special existence.
The main issue is the insufficient number of people, with only a few individuals in each village, subject to the jurisdiction of the nearest town or city police station.
Ships docked as usual, and a large group of merchants and dock gangs began competing for business. The merchants mainly handled cargo, while the gangs were self-organized groups of dock workers, mostly from the same village.
The dock presented a lively scene, but who could have imagined such prosperity here three years ago, thought Richard from the German Commercial Liaison Office.
Three years ago, when I arrived here, it was still a small town, with a sparse population, incomplete port facilities, and many "traditional" buildings, with mud houses and grass-thatched roofs.
The only thing unchanged was probably the residents here, who still appeared sallow and thin. It was evident that most were malnourished.
Indeed, this place is not East Africa but Jiaozhou in the Far East.
Jiaozhou is a transit port for East African and Far Eastern immigration. Immigrants from the North China region would all converge here before being sent to East Africa.
Of course, some people from the northwest would start from here too, but they are few. The furthest the East African authorities can influence is reaching Henan within the borders.
Currently, the southern transit port is in Shanghai, where the Heixinggen Consortium has minimal influence and has to vie with the British and Americans to engage in immigration business.
It must be said that the Germans are somewhat inept in spreading rumors, far inferior to the Americans. Even though many conditions in East Africa are "substantiated," many people are still fooled into going to the United States to work on railroads.
This year, the Pacific Railroad in America was completed, and only the Chinese who worked on it know the stories of blood and tears beneath the ground.
This is something the local Chinese are unaware of, and Ernst cannot unveil this deception since the United States is not the American Empire yet, but its threat to East Africa cannot be ignored.
Especially in these Far Eastern territories, unless the Heixinggen Consortium wishes to give up, abandoning this source of immigrants and market.
If it were a unified Germany doing this, perhaps America would be nothing more than a bluster.
Getting back on track, discussing Jiaozhou again, its status is not high in the Far East. Before the arrival of the Heixinggen Consortium, it was merely the size of a small town.
After the Opium War, Western Barbarians used their powerful battleships to forcibly open the doors of the Far East, and Western merchants flocked to various parts of the eastern coast.
Originally, Jiaozhou was just a few small fishing villages, but its geographical location and natural conditions were relatively advantageous, so some Western merchants did business here.
But it wasn’t until 1865 that the Qing Government established checkpoints here to manage maritime transport and collect taxes, indicating that Jiaozhou was not yet highly valued by the Qing Government.
It should be noted, this place was to become the most lively economic port in Shandong and even the northern regions in later generations. But now, it’s Yantai, a British trade port.
Before the arrival of the Heixinggen Consortium, Jiaozhou was merely a subsidiary of Yantai’s eastern customs office.
The Heixinggen Consortium, besides engaging in immigration here, has also begun doing business. Its company’s industrial products are indispensable, and East Africa’s rice and other agricultural products are mainly exported here.
The competitiveness lies chiefly in being cheap. The immigrant ships returning from East Africa would load a batch of goods to be transported here.
Meanwhile, Heixinggen has set up several small factories here, mainly textile factories, but they are too small to form a climate.
The reason for choosing here is simple: neither East Africa nor Germany is suitable for a textile industry presently. East Africa lacks manpower, and although labor is almost "infinite," expecting Black people to handle intricate textile work is purely wishful thinking.
And though Germany developed its textile industry, the results were unsatisfactory. Since someone had tested the waters, Ernst naturally wouldn’t repeat the mistake.
Relying on Heixinggen Consortium and East African trade goods, Jiaozhou’s economy developed rapidly, especially noticeable were the tariffs’ quick rise, attracting the Qing Government’s attention. Jiaozhou was then separated from Yantai’s eastern customs for independent management, giving local bureaucrats a step up in status.
...
As Richard was reminiscing, the plaque of the German Commercial Liaison Office had already been taken down, and a brand new plaque of the Heixinggen Far East Commercial Liaison Office was replaced.
"Mr. Richard, why is your sign changing?" asked a Qing Government official responsible for liaising with the Heixinggen Consortium.
"Well, Mr. Wang, we received notifications from above that we no longer needed the previous sign."
"I understand Germany, but does this Heixinggen mean the same as the Heixinggen Bank established the year before last?"
"That’s right, Heixinggen is a state in Germany, so this change does not mean much to you. Besides, the main traders in Jiaozhou are from the Heixinggen Consortium."
Wang Enke was utterly confused by Richard’s words and asked, "Heixinggen Consortium?"
"The Heixinggen Consortium is one of Germany’s most competent companies, and you can understand it this way."
"Then where did Germany go?"
"Of course, Germany exists, but we are now not only representing Germany in our trade with you, so the previous name is no longer used."
"Mr. Richard, may I ask which other parties your company represents?" Wang Enke immediately asked.
The notion was somewhat intimidating: not only representing Germany, suggesting other countries or regions were also involved.
"Heixinggen East African Royal Territory."
"This?"
"A new country."
"Where is East Africa?"
"On the east coast of Africa, Africa is a continent. You can imagine it as a place even larger than your Great Qing."
"Is East Africa so big?"
"I said it’s Africa. East Africa is just a significant emerging nation there, just like your Qing Country is an essential nation on the Eurasian continent. And East Africa’s full name is Heixinggen East African Royal Territory."
...
Although the German Commercial Liaison Office was renamed the Heixinggen Commercial Liaison Office, its functions did not change at all.
The renaming was a political signal following the Heixinggen Royal family’s migration to East Africa. East Africa mainly engages in trade with the Far East now, and in the future, after founding the nation, it will undoubtedly send diplomatic personnel.
By that time, it wouldn’t be appropriate to be under the German name. Those unaware might even think Heixinggen united Germany! (Haha).
Apart from the Heixinggen Consortium and East African commercial personnel in Jiaozhou, there are naturally other German states’ merchants and a few priests.
Before Prussia completed its unification, its international influence didn’t extend here, so naturally, there was no problem representing Germany with the Heixinggen Consortium in Jiaozhou.
Indeed, this is the case. Presently, the main body of German trade activities with the Far East is the Heixinggen Consortium, and other German merchants naturally rally under Heixinggen.
Many negotiations are handled by the former "German Commercial Liaison Office," given that the Heixinggen Consortium is an armed commercial group overseas, with merchant ships equipped with cannons being quite persuasive.
However, due to Ernst’s presence, everyone naturally coexists peacefully as long as their immigration work isn’t hindered. You don’t need to support, but you shouldn’t oppose it. For the Far Eastern authorities, this is entirely a trivial issue or not a problem. Even if I let you freely recruit people, it couldn’t match the population growth rate of the Great Qing.
As for other matters, after having seen the brutality of the British and French, the Heixinggen Consortium is practically the conscience among the Western Barbarians, and it would be even better without carrying guns.
Regarding this, Ernst remarked that if you don’t trust my conscience, I wouldn’t trust your integrity either!