African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1181 Industrial Impact
This kind of capital inflow will naturally have an adverse impact on the development of the Far East Empire, but East Africa has no psychological burden. After all, if East Africa does not do it, the United States and Japan, as well as Britain and France that make a comeback after the war, will do it.

Therefore, in Ernst's view, it is better to give East Africa a bargain than to give it to other powers. At this stage, the Far Eastern Empire does not have any better choice. At least by cooperating with East Africa, East Africa will not be too unfair, but can get more benefits.

For example, if the Far Eastern Empire exported tungsten ore to Germany on its own, it would definitely be sanctioned by Britain and France, and it would not be able to obtain this part of the market. However, with the East African channel, it could smoothly take over this part of the German market.

Moreover, East Africa can go a step further. It can first transport the tungsten ores back to East Africa for processing and purification, and then sell them to Germany and other countries at a higher price. In this way, both East Africa and the Far East Empire can make money.

After all, the Far Eastern Empire currently does not have the relevant technology and can only export raw materials, so the Far Eastern Empire is definitely not at a disadvantage. On the contrary, it earns more because of the expansion of the market.

This is not actually a completely bad thing for Germany. Although East Africa made a profit from the price difference, what Germany lacks most now is time and resources.

If East Africa engages in processing and production, Germany can devote more workers to military production, and the supply of materials from East Africa will also allow Germany to obtain more strategic materials.

In summary, East Africa, the Far East Empire and Germany all won. This is actually the original essence of trade, that is, exchanging what they have and what they don’t, and everyone gets what they want.

……

Let’s turn our attention back to the European battlefield.

Kemmerch, an unknown small village in France, is also the front line of the confrontation between Germany and France. At this time, the exhausted armies of both sides are hiding in the trenches, and the soldiers on both sides are extremely numb to the war.

The German trenches were filled with smoke and several soldiers were puffing away with a look of enjoyment.

Conrad: "As expected, East African cigarettes have the most comfortable taste. If I am still alive after the war, I will definitely replace all my rations with East African cigarettes."

Since the outbreak of the war, tobacco has become hard currency in the army, especially for Germany, a big country that relies entirely on imports for tobacco.

Before the war, Germany had very strict controls on tobacco and alcohol in order to obtain more tax revenue. However, after the outbreak of the war, the German government could no longer care about so much. It believed that as long as these materials, which were directly related to the combat effectiveness of the soldiers, could be transported in, everything would be fine. As a result, the German government had to make concessions to neutral countries such as East Africa and the United States.

Before the war, East Africa was Germany's largest source of tobacco, and this was even more so after the war. In addition to the concessions made by the German government, East African tobacco companies exported to Germany with great efforts, ensuring the daily needs of the German front line.

It's not only about the army, but also the workers in the factories in the rear need more mental stimulants, so tobacco and alcohol naturally become more precious.

After taking a sip, Conrad's comrade Hans sighed, "I don't know when the war will end. Domestic production must have been greatly affected. Many of our military supplies are imported from East Africa, and the number is increasing. In the past, canned goods arriving at the front would have their labels changed, but now they are too lazy to do such superficial work."

Conrad said: "This is not surprising at all. There is a severe shortage of manpower in the country right now. Last month I was still making military helmets in the factory. Guess why I was pulled to the front line?"

There is no doubt that the factory where Conrad worked before was a veritable German domestic military enterprise. After all, military helmets are very important strategic materials. Generally speaking, military production personnel like Conrad will not be sent to the front line. After all, the importance of military factories to the German troops on the front line is no less than that of the battlefield.

So Conrad's words naturally aroused the curiosity of his comrades. Hans asked, "Why?"

Conrad smiled helplessly: "It was because of East Africa that I lost my last job and was sent to the front line. You should know about the Stalheim M16 helmet that our country has newly developed."

Another comrade, Green, said, "I've seen them. The 24th Division received a batch of them before. They are very different from our pointed helmets." Conrad nodded and said, "Yes, the th Division is equipped with our domestically produced new steel helmets. Since the outbreak of the war, you should have experienced the disadvantages of traditional pointed helmets, especially in trench warfare."

"Traditional peaked helmets have almost no advantages other than good looks and comfort, and to go a step further, good looks and comfort are not advantages either."

"This means a more complex production process and high material costs. The factory I worked in before produced traditional pointed helmets, and their comfort was sacrificed at the cost of safety. Of course, we underestimated the intensity of the war and the changes in the battlefield situation."

"Trench warfare places higher demands on the protective function of helmets, and our newly developed Stalheim M16 helmet can effectively resist shrapnel, mud and stones, these threats on the battlefield, and ensure the safety of soldiers."

"But the Stalheim M16 helmet also has some obvious shortcomings. On the one hand, the production volume cannot keep up. On the other hand, its design has major flaws. It is very bulky and very uncomfortable to carry that piece of iron."

Hans asked, "But what does this have to do with your unemployment?"

Conrad said helplessly: "On the one hand, the production of new helmets no longer requires tailors like me. On the other hand, the military helmets imported from East Africa make the production of steel helmets in our country no longer so urgent."

"You probably don't know that in the field of military helmet production, the East African National Defense Force had already replaced all its helmets with steel helmets as early as the last century."

Many Germans were naturally unaware of this. After all, East Africa was just a legendary country for many Germans, not to mention the equipment of the East African Wehrmacht. Only people like Conrad who were engaged in helmet production had come into contact with the actual East African helmets before the war.

"In fact, our factory's designers have seen East African steel helmets. At that time, they ridiculed the East Africans' steel helmets as crudely made and completely meaningless on the battlefield. Instead, they would increase the burden on East African soldiers and were far inferior to our traditional German peaked helmets."

"But it turns out that East Africans are very foresighted. I think the designer will never make such a bold statement again."

"Of course, this is obviously not good news for me. East Africa has been producing and designing helmets for more than ten years, so their design and production are at the forefront of the world."

"So the Ministry of National Defense also decided to purchase East African helmets on a large scale to directly use as protective gear for our army. Just like that, under the joint encirclement of the new military helmets of our country and the imported helmets from East Africa, I lost my job!"

"And my skills as a tailor are not in use. China is more inclined to purchase textile products from East Africa. Nowadays, many military uniforms are directly produced in East Africa and then shipped to Germany for supply to the army."

In other words, Germany has outsourced many production activities directly to East Africa, such as the textile industry mentioned by Conrad.

The textile industry is a large industry with a large number of workers, but Germany lacks cotton. Once the war begins, many German textile companies are negatively affected.

Germany needed a large number of soldiers. After all, Germany was under great pressure of fighting on two fronts, so many male textile workers were conscripted into the army. Although there were more female workers in the textile industry and male workers were only a minority, for Germany today, every little bit counts.

Germany has abandoned many industrial productions and switched to importing finished products directly from East Africa.

For example, Conrad's original job was greatly affected. The production capacity of steel helmets in East Africa is still very large. After all, the scale of the East African Defense Force is not small. If it works at full capacity to fully support Germany, it can meet the considerable needs of the German army. Therefore, Conrad's original factory stopped production directly under this impact and turned to the production of other military products.

(End of this chapter)