Chapter 277: A Strategy of "Emptying the Cage and Replacing the Bird"
First Town, Svet Palace
Ahlmann was reporting the latest war developments to Constantino: "Your Majesty, both the southern and northern fronts have basically concluded. In the south, we've advanced up to the northern bank of the Limpopo River; in the north, the local tribes have mostly withdrawn on their own."
Constantino paused in writing with his steel pen. "I see. How about the western front?"
"It's still progressing. Due to the many rivers in that region, it hasn't quite ended, but we're close. We're already nearing the Kwango River basin."
Constantino stood and looked at the East African map displayed behind him.
(Map)
"In no time, this war will end. Hard to say how Europe's wars will play out—France is all but finished, Italy's still holding on, but once it's all over, Europe will surely be even more turbulent," Constantino lamented.
Though Europe was a battlefield of constant strife, Constantino was used to it—he'd never known a truly peaceful Europe in his lifetime. Compared to that, the East African territory looked so pleasing to the eye, all a possession of the House of Hohenzollern.
…
Kingdom of Italy
With the Italian Navy having surrendered, 50,000 Austro-Hungarian troops sailed easily to Italy's eastern coast aboard transport ships. Then, working with the Papal army, they cut Italy in two—Naples and Sicily were severed from the north by land.
Before long, Naples's Restoration faction rose in rebellion, led by Francis II, the last monarch of the Two Sicilies. Following its annexation into the newly unified Italy, Francis II had fled to Rome, so naturally Austria-Hungary would never let such a valuable pawn go to waste.
Meanwhile, Austria-Hungary took furious revenge on the non-noble bourgeoisie within Italian territory. One should recall that, before the Kingdom of Italy existed, Austria in one form or another had directly or indirectly ruled much of Italy. If it weren't for local collaborators, the Kingdom of Sardinia wouldn't have found it so easy to unify Italy.
Under Austria-Hungary's orchestration, the Kingdom of Naples was restored first. Those old Austrian allies reemerged to retake the helm of government. Although this "Kingdom of Naples" now faced an uncertain future, Austria-Hungary didn't care. Franz only wanted Naples to be independent—so long as Italy wasn't unified, everything else was small potatoes.
It wasn't that Franz was petty, but Austria-Hungary was not the old Austrian Empire. Now, all Franz wanted was to swallow up Venice and reshape it as part of the German region.
That half-baked idea had been proposed by Ernst just two days earlier.
"Austria must not lose Venice. Its importance is tied to Austria's future. With internal troubles from Hungary the turncoat, plus numerous other restless ethnic minorities, the empire risks disintegration at any moment. Strengthening Austria's own power is essential," Ernst had declared to Franz upon returning from Hechingen to Schönbrunn Palace. "While the war is on, seize Venice, figure out how to reduce the local Italian population, and then bring in German settlers, preventing any future movement for Venetian independence."
"That's easy to say, but if I had enough Germans, the Austrian Empire wouldn't be in this fix to begin with," Franz fumed. "You offering to send me your East African Germans? Everyone knows the structure: we can talk about solutions, but it's brutally tough in practice. Austria-Hungary's German population keeps draining away—where am I supposed to find enough for Venice?"
"It's because there are too many Hungarians and Slavs, crowding out German job opportunities. Austria is relatively developed, so as soon as those jobs are filled, regular Germans seek opportunities elsewhere," Ernst noted. "Italy's going to lose, so while they're down, hurry and remove the Italians from rural Venice. East Africa can 'take one for the team' and help Austria with this. In return, after the war, you can repay us with machinery. Then, once it's over, you can give those lands to Austrian soldiers. More Germans means fewer chances of Venice becoming independent again. That's up to you, anyway."
Ernst was basically playing Franz like a fiddle—"emptying Venice" to develop East Africa, claiming to do Austria a "favor."
"You—never mind," Franz sighed. "But you're not wrong: Venice's population is indeed an asset, but only if they're Germans. For us, Italians are more like a liability."
"Right. So let East Africa handle relocating them," Ernst replied candidly. "As for whether they turn out to be slaves, we can talk about that—but if they accept East Africa's values, they become part of us (German). If not, they'll be eliminated."
"Wait, you're not planning to turn them into slaves, are you?" Franz asked suspiciously.
"Of course not. But East Africa has an industry in urgent need of Venetian industrial workers—so we can use these people," Ernst said. Asked which industry, he explained: "Our textile sector. Most East African migrants are out in the fields. We barely have anyone for industrial development, so we need a batch of skilled laborers."
Ernst had always wanted to push textile manufacturing in Africa. But since East Africa's population was precious for occupying the territory, most immigrants were sent farming or into the army. So he now spied an opportunity to seize manpower from Venice. He wouldn't dare do that to France, but Italy was an easier target.
Venice had roughly a million inhabitants including the countryside. Ernst wasn't greedy—he could swallow around 400,000 or so. Including the Italians who had immigrated to East Africa before, that would make around half a million in total. Not too big a burden for East Africa's four million population to absorb. Subtract those who'd farm new land, and the rest of the city dwellers could form two industrial cities. Actually, Ernst and Franz had omitted one further industry: shipbuilding. East Africa had left its ocean underutilized for too long. So fish-rich waters near Somalia were going to waste.
"Textiles aren't so easy," Franz cautioned. "Where will you get raw materials? Though if you want to try, be my guest."
For East Africa, raw materials weren't a big issue. They had already started harvesting cotton, and Ernst intended to expand cotton planting as well. Lack of manpower and equipment, yes—but he planned to "borrow" those straight out of Venice.
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