"Knock, knock, knock..." The sound of knocking on the door echoed.

"Come in!" A voice called from inside the study.

Tom walked into the room with two telegrams. Ernst was handling documents related to East Africa. As the Crown Prince of East Africa, naturally, he couldn't let his elderly father suffer, so many affairs were fully managed by Ernst and then directly implemented by Constantine. This way, Ernst could also discuss uncertain matters with Constantine.

"Your Highness, telegrams have just arrived from the branches in Hamburg and Trieste. Currently, all idle ships under the Heixinggen Fleet have been cleared, but I'm afraid such a small number of ships cannot accomplish the tasks you have assigned."

"I am aware of that as well. How many ships have they prepared?"

"A total of sixty-four. The rest have to undertake other responsibilities, such as the recent exports of grain and goods to Marseille, so this ship redeployment has actually affected the company's overall operations."

"Hmm, first try to contact our old friends, those Dutch shipowners. Let's have them temporarily handle the immigration from the North German region. They're not unfamiliar with the routes. For the immigration from Austria and Italy, contact the other fleets in Trieste. They should also be able to share some of the burden. With the Suez Canal open, it's not too difficult for these Mediterranean-experienced vessels to reach East Africa. As long as the price is right, there shouldn't be a problem. As for our cargo transportation, let the Italians handle the shipment to Marseille. If it's still not enough, think of other countries, Greece and Spain are options too!"

Shortage of ships might be more plausible in the Far East, but not in Europe around the Mediterranean and Northern Europe, which boasts numerous so-called maritime powers, especially Italy and Greece, offering cheap freight rates and a sufficient number of ships.

Before the Suez Canal opened, countries engaging in ocean-going trade mainly concentrated along the Atlantic coast, primarily the British, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, and French. Ernst chose to collaborate with the Dutch because they had the least political affiliations, and once the money was in place, there were fewer complications. Moreover, they extended their trade activities to Japan and Korea, aligning with Ernst's immigration route.

With the opening of the Suez Canal, Ernst had more choices. Merchant ships and warships of the Austro-Hungarian Empire could now use the Canal to directly enter the Indian Ocean.

As Ernst knew, the weapons smuggled to the Roman army by Franz were transported using Italian vessels.

Regarding how Ernst knew, it was out of curiosity. He wanted to understand how the Austro-Hungarian Empire transported an entire army's weapons and equipment to Rome.

After all, Rome is on the west coast of Italy, surrounded by the now Kingdom of Italy. Surely the Austro-Hungarian Empire must have had its own channels for transporting weapons.

As one of the instigators of the affair, Ernst went directly to Franz for answers. Franz didn't conceal anything, explaining that the solution was simply to negotiate a good price with Italian merchant ships and leave the rest for the Italians to handle themselves.

Ernst expressed that he had learned from this, and he analyzed East Africa to avoid such loopholes. However, East Africa, with its semi-closed state, seemed not to have this issue. A closed-door policy functions like a one-way valve, allowing only inflow and not outflow. Although there are two free trade ports, they serve as rest stops for ships from various countries to prevent leaving any handle to be criticized. The British at sea often flaunt the banner of free trade to stir trouble, which is why Mombasa and Dar es Salaam remain as free ports.

Now that the Suez Canal is open, almost every European ship queues up in the Red Sea. In the eyes of Europeans, the East African coast, "lacking markets and resources," has declined, with only East Africans and Arabs still wandering these waters.

...

Under the very nose of the Kingdom of Italy, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had fully equipped the army supporting the Pope Country in Rome, just waiting for Italy to take the bait.

Therefore, since August, the ships of Heixinggen have been cleared to prepare for the possible large-scale immigration from Italy, or rather, war refugees.

In fact, by June, the Heixinggen fleet had already quietly started preparations in the German regions; as France declared war, some residents from the German-French border, and even from within France—Alsace and Lorraine—in part took advantage of the East African immigration routes to move eastward to East Africa.

As erstwhile territories of the Holy Roman Empire, most residents of Alsace and Lorraine are essentially Germans under French rule, speaking High German (which is actually the Southern German dialect). Coincidentally, the Heixinggen royal family speaks the same, unlike those northern states within Prussia and the North German Federation, who speak Low German.

Simultaneously, with Southern Germany, Alsace and Lorraine, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire all being Catholic regions, there remains a significant cultural difference between Southern and Northern Germany, which is why Southern Germany naturally leans toward Austria (as Austrian German evolved and developed from the Bavarian dialect).

From East African colonies to the Kingdom of East Africa, over these three years, the surplus population of the originally Southern German regions has been almost absorbed by East Africa. Plus, with this war, the southern regions of Baden and Württemberg might experience a population decline, although the exact situation in Bavaria is uncertain.

The principal presence of Southern German immigrants and Austro-Hungarian immigrants among the pure German populace, along with the fact that the Heixinggen royal family comes from Southern Germany, means East Africa's cultural attributes increasingly lean toward Southern Germany.

This might as well be beneficial, as the half-hearted Austro-Hungarian Empire has limited overseas intervention capability, nor does it wish to. Prussia is too dominant, making partnership with the Austro-Hungarian Empire a safer bet.

East Africa is, practically, just a stone's throw from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, save for the Mediterranean; separated by a mere nearly three million square kilometers of Egypt, meaning in theory, the Austro-Hungarian Empire can look after its little brother, East Africa, from a conveniently close yet non-intrusive distance.

And Ernst has already prepared a place for the Italian immigrants. The vast lands in the Zambia region need populations to fill. No need to be too picky about the place—directly establish new towns where indigenous people congregate.

The places where settlements form generally have decent surroundings and can fully avail of the local "labor force" to develop the new lands.

Italian immigrants, along with immigrants from the Far East and German immigrants, will be spread across various provinces in Zambia, while relocating some residents from the east to instruct them in agriculture and labor.

East Africa is a typical tropical highland agriculture terrain, different in experience, climate, and crops compared to both the Far East and Europe. Early development of East African agriculture was partly by learning from indigenous farming practices and partly by finding "specialists" from South America and Mexico to guide them. It took three years of exploration to establish the current East African model, so these new immigrants also require support and guidance from the older immigrants.

Zambia's climatic conditions are identical to the East African highland, with similar rainfall and latitude (despite its inland location), so developing along the East African highland model poses no problem whatsoever.

...

"Tom, there's one more thing. Keep things clean on the Marseille side. We focus solely on raw material input and product manufacturing. Leave the rest to the Medina family to handle. In non-German regions, our policy is to make money together and not meddle directly in politics. Let our allies handle that."

"Yes, Your Highness, I will ensure a thorough inspection to avoid any mistakes."

In support of friendly forces like the Medina family within the Heixinggen royal influence, naturally, there's a need to foster them. The Franco-Prussian War presents an opportunity. Ernst knows France will lose but not lose completely, at least not with the French people surrendering. The Medina family can leverage this war to build its prestige in southern France. After all, Prussia will reach only near Paris, allowing Count Medina to express his "patriotism" in the rear and gain French public affection.