African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1101 East African Infiltration into Bosnia

The situation in the entire Bosnia region is similar to that in Sarajevo. Bosnia can be said to be a natural arena for Croats, Serbs and Ottomans.

Later, when the Austro-Hungarian Empire occupied the area, it was naturally not all smooth sailing. The remnants of the Ottoman Empire and the infiltration of foreign forces such as Serbia made the local investment situation extremely bad.

Therefore, the Hexingen Consortium and the East African government behind it had no choice but to adjust their strategy and choose the relatively easy-to-control southwestern region of Bosnia as the main infiltration area.

As a German country, East Africa naturally did not trust the Ottoman remnants and the Serbs who had revived with extreme nationalism. Therefore, the Hechingen Consortium colluded with the Austro-Hungarian military at the time to drive the Ottoman remnants and Serbian immigrants centered on Mostar to places such as Sarajevo in the inland Bosnia.

This is also the main reason why the residents of the lower Neretva River Valley are mainly Chinese and Croatians. Of course, in the official statement of the lower Neretva River Valley, there are definitely no so-called "Chinese". These Chinese are all Germans who have been Germanized, including Croatians and Serbs in the country.

As for the real Germans, there were still a certain number of Germans in the local upper class, such as officials and officers of the Austro-Hungarian government.

For example, Kerlev, the general manager of the Mostar Hydropower Station Company, is a typical East African German. Although the Austro-Hungarian Empire controlled the local military and administrative power, the economy of the lower Neretva River valley could be said to be completely controlled by the Hechingen Consortium supported by East Africa.

This was also a tacit understanding between the East African and Austro-Hungarian governments. The Austro-Hungarian Empire's investment in Bosnia was concentrated in the north or key areas such as Sarajevo, while the sparsely populated lower Neretva River valley area was not within the Austro-Hungarian Empire's governance capabilities at all.

Even after the Austro-Hungarian Empire occupied Bosnia, there was only one company of Austro-Hungarian troops stationed in Mostar. Apart from Mostar's slight military role, the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not care about the local area at all.

At that time, the Austro-Hungarian Empire would never have imagined that East Africa would be so crazy as to directly introduce nearly 100,000 immigrants from the Far East Empire to settle in the lower valley of the Neretva River.

Today, the number of Chinese immigrants in the lower Neretva River valley has more than quadrupled, becoming the dominant ethnic group there, adding fuel to the ethnic hodgepodge of the Balkan Peninsula.

Now that the matter is done, the Austro-Hungarian government has simply accepted the reality. This does not cause any psychological burden to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a multi-ethnic country without a dominant ethnic group. It can be considered a professional match. After all, the Austro-Hungarian Empire's rule over the Bosnia region was already a mess.

East Africa's actions in the local area actually consolidated the Austro-Hungarian Empire's control over the Bosnia region. After all, the characteristics of the Far East immigrants determined that they were much easier to govern than the Serbs and the remnants of the Ottoman Empire.

Moreover, the lower Neretva River valley area, with the support of East African capital and the backing of the large East African market, developed rapidly in industry and agriculture, becoming one of the fastest-growing regions in the southern Austro-Hungarian Empire and an important source of finance for the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Bosnia, which further reassured the Habsburgs.

The port city of Ploče and the city of Mostar also quickly became emerging industrial cities in the southern part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. East African capital built textile, food processing, aluminum smelting and other industries here. The city of Mostar had become an important aluminum product production center in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Aluminum smelters are big electricity consumers, which is also the main reason for the construction of the Mostar Hydropower Station. After the Mostar Hydropower Station is completed, it will further enhance the local industrial capacity.

The Port of Ploče has become an important seaport in Bosnia due to its port advantages, and together with the city of Mostar, it forms a twin city in the lower valley of the Neretva River.

After all, if Bosnia's inland areas, including the most important city Sarajevo, want to go to the sea, they have to go through Mostar and Ploče. The Hechingen Consortium has revitalized the economy of the entire southwestern Bosnia through railway and road construction, and even formed a siphon effect on Sarajevo. …

Kerlev continued his speech at the completion ceremony: "As a typical mountain city, Mostar has not been easy to develop. Through the efforts of people from all walks of life in the lower Neretva River Valley, we are committed to building Mostar into a pearl on the Balkan Peninsula."

"The completion of the Mostar Hydropower Station has basically solved the problem of power shortage in the region. Nowadays, factories and urban development cannot be separated from sufficient power supply. The Mostar Hydropower Station will play a huge role in promoting industries including electrolytic aluminum and textiles."

Mostar has rich bauxite resources, and East Africa is an industrial power that masters the electrolytic aluminum technology. Coupled with East Africa's rich experience in hydropower construction in the past half century, it is difficult for Mostar not to develop. It can be said that it has gathered the right time, place and people. This is incompatible with the chaos in inland Bosnia.

After his speech, Kerlev had a warm conversation with the Mostar city officials appointed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

To be honest, with the intentional support of East Africa, the lower Neretva River valley area is considered an economically developed area within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This is also a good place for Austro-Hungarian officials to gain experience. After all, they do not need to invest too much, and East Africa will feed them.

This also means that East African expatriates in the lower Neretva River valley are warmly welcomed by the local government. Of course, the East African capital groups that control the local economy actually hold the local voice.

As long as the officials appointed by the Austro-Hungarian government did not deliberately make trouble, the Hexingen Consortium was willing to give them some face. For example, the first mayor of Mostar was a complete good-for-nothing and an aristocrat with high ambitions. In the end, the Hexingen Consortium used public opinion and its control over the local area to drive that ignorant second-generation noble back to Vienna.

To put it bluntly, the lower valley of the Neretva River is actually a colony of East Africa within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and this de facto colony is an area that the Austro-Hungarian Empire had to pay attention to in order to stabilize Bosnia.

The lower Neretva River Valley, with a population of 630,000, was not only the most important source of tax revenue for the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Bosnia, but also an important source of troops for the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Bosnia, as well as a German-speaking enclave in the south of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

It is obvious that the Austro-Hungarian Empire was unable to unify its own language, especially in Bosnia, where, apart from the remnants of the Ottoman Empire, there were only Slavs. On the contrary, the lower Neretva River valley, supported by East Africa, became the only region that achieved complete German education.

The army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was mainly composed of local people. For example, Austria, Bohemia, and Hungary all had their own armies, and this tradition was no exception in Bosnia.

The three traditional groups in Bosnia, Ottomans, Croats and Serbs, did not speak German and were quite resistant to the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This led the Austro-Hungarian Empire to focus its main conscription efforts on the lower valley of the Neretva River starting in the 1990s.

With no language barriers, significantly stronger organizational skills than the other three ethnic groups and high obedience, the Chinese became the best source of soldiers for the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Bosnia.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire only needed to send a few high-ranking officers to organize a very combat-effective army, which also made the Habsburg family understand the main reason why East Africa recruited a large number of immigrants from the Far East Empire.

The immigrants from the Far Eastern Empire were not only hardworking, but also had no obvious political demands and were highly obedient and organized. If Hungary had this awareness, the Austrian Empire would not have been replaced by the current dual system.

(End of this chapter)