The black brothers wore dark blue overalls and dark blue soft-brimmed caps, sweating profusely as they shoveled coal. The coals shoveled to the conveyor belt were broken, pressed into coal particles, and pressed into pulverized coal. The pulverized coal was sent to the power plant's inlet and blown into the furnace by a large fan to provide heat to the equipment.
This was not in East Africa, but in German-controlled Africa. The history of Germany to Cameroon and Togo was earlier than the Min dynasty's arrival in East Africa. Sudan's alfalfa became the Min dynasty's cash cow in a very short period of time. The whole of Europe thought, "If you can do it, so can I." If the Chinese could run Europe well, why couldn't they?! However, only the inflexible Germans persisted. They didn't even have to go through Cameroon, Togo, and Namibia to find iron and coal mines. The Germans immediately began to develop these resources.
Cameroon and Togo were both relatively decent local lords who signed a "protection" agreement with Germany. With these relatively civilized social foundations, the local area had their own railway network and agricultural system by 1900.
Small trains near the port spewed smoke as the carriages were filled with steel rails and sent to the port's cargo ships. The war in South America temporarily paused, and the southward migration of the United States left a terrible memory for the South American countries. They had to import a large amount of equipment that could speed up their country's industrialization. The initial ambitions of the Germans in Africa led them to build steel plants and related industries without considering the factors of market access. Things were unpredictable. When the German African colonies no longer needed to continue building railways, steel rails found a new market. South American countries didn't have much money, so they directly used cheap food to pay for goods. As a food importer, Germany could only accept it.
In addition to steel rails, the ships also shipped products from Krupp's African arsenal. Rifles, pistols, artillery, anything that could be exchanged, the Germans were not picky. Krupp Shipyard also had a shipyard in Africa where workers were building ships.
The fleet of African-made ships would leave the port loaded with goods and split into two groups, one heading west to South America, and the other heading north back to Germany. The northbound fleet was loaded with rubber, sugar, cocoa, coffee, cotton, palm oil, canned sardines, and even paper. If Germany didn't have these urgently needed materials, the fleet would try to fill it with aluminum ingots and rebar for construction.
The German central government would not pay money to the colonies for these things that were shipped away. In the eyes of the Germans, they were the ones who invested in the factories, provided the technology, and even provided the local railway system, social system, and education. The black people who used to gather food now had to rely on farming to make a living. Not charging them anything was already a great favor.
When the fleet reached the waters north of the Strait of Gibraltar, they would probably encounter huge oil tankers. These ships all entered the Mediterranean Sea through the New Suez Canal in China. They had a capacity of 20,000 tons and could transport more than 10,000 tons of oil at a time to the German dock. The African convoys sometimes unloaded their cargoes at Hamburg, and sometimes crossed the Kiel Canal and unloaded their cargoes at the ports of the North Sea.
In 1902, the Keele Canal began to widen. The Germans were extremely proud of their Kiel Canal. When they participated in the Olympics, they proudly visited the Grand Canal. After seeing the cement embankments of the Min dynasty and the dredging boats, the Germans stopped commenting. The 98.26-kilometer long canal had to be deepened and widened to a depth of 11 meters, which was enough for large ships to pass through. The rebar from Africa was unloaded, inspected, and then sent to the construction site. The fleet waited for a few days, loaded with many gadgets produced by Germany, and then embarked on the return journey.
William II and his court officials knew that the German shipyard in Africa could already produce ships with a displacement of 3,000 tons, but it was impossible for them to care about such trivial matters as where the ships produced by the African shipyard sailed. For example, the German ambassador to the Min dynasty said that the current chairman of the Min dynasty, Yao Bang, had a good impression of Germany, and it was possible for Germany to visit the new battleships of the Min dynasty.
After Germany and the Osman Empire got closer, they were finally able to visit the old warships purchased by the Osman Empire from the Min dynasty. Those "old" Chinese warships still gave the German naval engineers great inspiration. If they could visit the latest battleships of China, the German naval engineers firmly believed that with Germany's strong reverse engineering ability, the German navy could make a leap through the imitation model.
The other major events were not easy to say. The Austrian government and the Bank of Europe of the Min dynasty had discussed cooperation. The two sides jointly built an oil refinery in Croatia, Austria. The distance of the oil from the Middle East to Croatia was much closer than to the German port. The oil refining technology of the Min dynasty was the best in the world, and Austria could completely get rid of its dependence on Germany for oil. Although Germany had been shouting that getting rid of Austria meant getting rid of a burden. But the 800 years of Hapsburg was still a flag of Germany. Austria, which was at a disadvantage, had its own breakthrough. It was inevitable that William II and his ministers were a little unhappy.
As for the news that Hungary opened up an oil field in June 1902, it was bad news for William II. Although these oil fields could make Austria's oil supply more stable and even supplement Germany's demand when needed.
Then the emperor said that he would go to Austria to meet his cousin and have a discussion with the Austrian crown prince about the current situation in Europe. Of course, the German ministers would not object. Keeping the emperor in Berlin would only add to the chaos. It seemed to be a good thing for everyone to let the emperor and his silly cousin stay in Austria and talk nonsense.
The German fleet at sea, of course, did not know about the emperor's trip. They went all the way south and encountered the British fleet. These British and German fleets went their separate ways when they reached Gibraltar. They went east into the Mediterranean Sea and then passed through the Suez Canal into the Indian Ocean. Finally, they transported the goods to the British colony of India.
The German fleet returned to the African port and unloaded the large amount of goods on board. Many of the large items turned out to be products such as radios and phonographs. In the past few years, large European companies began to use the patent of the Min dynasty's vacuum tube. Products such as radios and phonographs began to explode. According to Germany's copycat tradition, the cost of these things was kept to a minimum. Even rich black people in Cameroon and Togo could afford it, provided that these people lived in cities with electricity.
Some of the things shipped on the ship were awards issued to the governors and staff of the colonies in Cameroon and other places. These people's achievements in Africa were extraordinary. The annual output of millions of tons of steel made these colonies an important part of the German economy. The German colonial governor, who received the award, was very happy. He sent a telegram back to the German central government and asked them to thank Marx Weber. Mr. Weber. It was the scholar's management ideas and positioning of the African colonies that allowed the German colonial officials to find a direction.
The German central government sighed at these telegrams because Mr. Weber himself was on the blacklist of the German Ministry of the Interior. Weber's former study under Engels was already a major black mark on Weber. In the colonial proposal, Weber's practical basis was actually "land nationalization." If this was still within the tolerance of the Ministry of the Interior, Weber's visit to Hungary gave the Ministry of the Interior a feeling that it was a bit over the line. Hungary was an evil socialist country, a country that openly shouted for equality and carried out violent revolutions. The last country in Europe that shouted like this was France during the French Revolution. Then European countries formed several rounds of anti-French alliances and finally overthrew France. Now Hungary was not besieged only because of the support of the big countries. It was hard to believe that Mr. Weber, who was praised, would have an anti-land nationalization policy.
Mr. Weber did not know that he was being targeted by the Ministry of the Interior. When Uncle En died, he was one of the undertakers. The Hungarian Revolution actually succeeded in a few years, which surprised Weber. The shocked German academic community organized an investigation. Professor Weber and a group of German professors who were very interested in Hungary went together.
The professors were professors after all. Their first destination was not Hungary, but the Suez Canal. The existence of the two Suez Canals is significant in itself. With the recommendation letter written by Uncle En, Professor Weber was granted an interview by the Min dynasty.
The canal area was a military area. The east side of the Suez Canal was the area where the British army was stationed. The west side of the New Suez Canal was controlled by the Min dynasty army. The professors were very impressed by the size of the New Suez Canal. The wide river allowed two large ships to travel side by side. The merchant fleet was like vehicles on the road, each occupying half of the channel, slowly moving forward under the guidance of the ships. The British Suez Canal was also busy, but limited by the width of the channel, it was obviously not as efficient.
The military stationed areas on the outskirts of the two Suez Canals were patrolling back and forth, giving people a tense feeling. The land between the two canals was a different story. The Ming dynasty and the British garrison looked like they were living in harmony. It was a reflection of the spirit. The soldiers had a very peaceful view of the border. It could be seen that the Chinese army was repairing the border fence, the British army was helping, or the other way around.
About a quarter of the British army was made up of Egyptians, and more than 80% of the Min dynasty army was made up of black security forces of the East African Administrative Region. It could be seen that the two countries were using local resources.
The professors each had their own views. Professor Weber believed that the Min dynasty adopted a peaceful foreign policy, and one of the pillars supporting this policy was to maintain a good relationship with the British. At the same time, as much as possible, they used the local forces that were close to the Min dynasty. A large proportion of the professors focused their understanding on the collusion between the Min dynasty and the British, the two most powerful empires.
Among the people who traveled with them, there were students who were actually members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. They scribbled down the professors' views.
After seeing the key points of controlling the eastern side of the Mediterranean, the interviewers went north to Cyprus. This was the bridgehead of the Min dynasty in the Mediterranean. Before the ships reached the coast, they saw the Min dynasty fleet patrolling around Cyprus. Although the scholars were not shipbuilding experts, and most of them did not have professional science and engineering backgrounds, just by looking at the elegant appearance of the Min dynasty warships and the natural trajectory of the sea, they could feel that these warships should have a very strong combat power.
This fleet was made up of three warships that weighed more than a thousand tons. The German naval personnel in the crowd of experts could see more. Comparing the smoke coming out of the warships' funnels with the speed of the warships, the German naval personnel wanted to immediately find out what the power system of these warships looked like. If a huge battleship wanted to cross the ocean, it must have such a power source.
However, the patrolling fleet did not give the German naval personnel a chance. It could be seen that the observers on the ship used binoculars to observe the civilian ship, and then the patrolling fleet continued to move forward.
When they arrived in Cyprus, the German scholars visited this real socialist nest. Unlike the dignitaries or muscular athletes, the scholars did not have the opportunity to take advantage of the Olympics to visit the Min dynasty. Of course, they were very serious about going to Cyprus to see what the advanced stage of the socialist system looked like.
There were a lot of livestock on Cyprus. The blood of creatures like sheep was high in salt, so they could tolerate the high salinity of the island. Cyprus was more than nine thousand square kilometers, so Li Man could see a lot of cattle on the ranch. The driver was a young Greek woman. She wore a dark blue worker's uniform, which gave off a very masculine feeling. However, the girl did not wear a dark blue cap. The cap was tucked behind the wide cloth belt around her waist. While driving, she tied a square red silk scarf on her head and wore a pair of black sunglasses.
The group of German scholars could not stand such a natural and valiant look. In their opinion, this kind of outfit was too frivolous. It was as frivolous as the tail of the scarf flying behind the girl's head when a convertible truck was driving. However, scholars were scholars after all. At least they knew to keep their mouths shut when they didn't like it.
After arriving at the farm, the scholars saw that the people driving the tractors were girls. The people operating the milking machines to milk the cows or goats were girls. Some of the people riding horses or motorcycles to patrol the farm were also girls. Even the men who were supposed to be gathered in places where physical labor was intensive, such as the fodder yard, where forklifts were used to transport fodder, were actually girls. The places where the men showed their strengths were mainly in the work that had to be done by manpower, such as nailing stakes and building fences.
Professor Weber quickly discovered a pattern. It turned out that Cyprus had already eliminated animal power, and the use of agricultural machinery gave the girls ample room to do their work. Most of the cattle on the farm were beef cattle. Their life path was to eat and drink, grow fat as quickly as possible, and then be sent to the slaughterhouse. The cattle were no longer required to pull the cart and plow the land. After visiting the slaughterhouse, the group of professors found that the slaughterhouse was ruled by men. Although the accountant in the slaughterhouse was a girl, the girls still did not rule the slaughterhouse.
"If Germany became like this, the entire countryside and slaughterhouses would be occupied by women, right?" Someone couldn't help but speak in a low voice in the group of professors. Some of the professors naturally scoffed, but they were all professors from the city. As long as the professors had a little experience in the countryside, they would face this statement seriously.
The Greek girls on Cyprus might be frivolous in the eyes of the Germans, but the old scholars also felt the soft beauty of women that was rarely seen in Germany from the slender and light Mediterranean girls. Uncle Ma and Uncle En once ungracefully mocked the German Dragoon Lady. In terms of height and sturdiness, the Greek men on Cyprus were far inferior. If the German countryside was mechanized to the extent of Cyprus, the presence of men would no longer affect the farm work. As for the slaughterhouse, the group of professors were more inclined to believe the possibility of the German Dragoon Lady killing cows with her bare hands. If the Dragoon Lady had a sledgehammer in her hand, the professors would probably be scared and scatter.
The imagination of the Dragoon Lady ruling the countryside was so realistic that the professors didn't dare to talk nonsense. The hidden officials in the group were not of high birth, and the nobles wouldn't run over to do lowly work like surveillance. The watchers were also rendered speechless by that kind of imagination, because many of their mothers were members of the Dragon Cavalry.
After a long silence, someone changed the question, "Women can hold up half the sky. It seems that socialism is for real."
'Women can hold up half the sky' was first introduced into Europe as proof of the sins of the socialist system. At that time, most people in Europe were criticizing the Min dynasty's rebellious land nationalization policy. In Europe, those who relied on their own farming to support themselves were widows. One of the supporting measures of the Min dynasty's land nationalization policy was that women owned land and supported themselves by farming. Therefore, there was a period of time when the Min dynasty was criticized. One of the two main arguments was that the Min dynasty implemented an 'artificial widow policy', and the other was naturally 'communist wife-killing'.
After a moment of silence, a professor retorted angrily, "That's only because the Min dynasty's industrial level was high. If Germany also had such technology, our countryside would be better than the Min dynasty. "
Professor Weber did not participate in the discussion of these issues. He felt that it was degrading to say these things. The rapid development of the Min dynasty was less than half a century ago. Sixty years ago, the United Kingdom invaded China and forced China to sign the Treaty of Nanjing. The process of the rise of the Min dynasty was synchronized with the process of the strengthening of land ownership, which was enough to prove a lot of things.
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