African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 973 Preparations
After each department reported their situation, Ernst and his subordinates continued to talk about some old issues. After determining the future development direction, the East African government was not actually too confused in the economic field. It only needed to continue to follow the development path of the 1990s and continuously promote the development of its industry and agriculture.

In addition to economic issues, Ernst then began to introduce the key tasks for 1900. He said: "At present, our country meets the standards of a major country in terms of territory, population, industrial level and other important indicators. Now the relocation of the capital to East Africa has been basically completed. Therefore, in order to further enhance the political and diplomatic influence of East Africa, the kingdom is obviously no longer in line with the current status of East African countries. Therefore, according to the original plan, our country's political system should also be upgraded by one level, so that the empire is more in line with the current national strength level of East Africa."

No one present was surprised by Ernst's words. After all, Ernst had expressed similar ideas when the capital was moved a year ago.

Siwei Te said: "Among the current world powers, except for Spain, other monarchies are called empires, such as the British Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Tsarist Russia, and the German Empire. So I agree with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's idea of ​​upgrading East Africa to an empire."

Ernst also said: "Of course, the transformation of the kingdom and the empire does not have much practical impact on us in East Africa, so there is no need for overly extravagant and complicated ceremonies. The government should come up with a charter and there should be a reasonable range for how to hold this ceremony."

After Ernst finished speaking, everyone started a heated discussion. After all, what Ernst said was simple, but this was a major issue concerning the state system of East Africa.

Of course, most people would definitely support the upgrade of the kingdom to an empire. After all, an empire is more prestigious than a kingdom. As East Africa is a "new" continent, everyone is also unhappy that East Africa, as a kingdom, is under Europe. This can be seen from the overthrown Brazilian Empire and the Mexican Empire once ruled by Archduke Ferdinand.

"Your Highness, I don't know how to choose the time. If it is arranged this year, it would be good. After all, it is a new century. But it is already February. If it is arranged this year, I am afraid that the time is a bit rushed."

Ernst said: "I have already said that the ceremony does not need to be too complicated. Everything can be kept simple. There is no need to invite too many outsiders. People from our government, all walks of life in East African society, and diplomats from various countries in East Africa are enough."

Ernst did not intend to invite too many European nobles to East Africa to participate in the ceremony of establishing the East African empire. If he invited the "old European" nobles to East Africa, they would probably say that East Africa was a monkey in human clothing.

The arrogance of European nobles is no joke. If you ask them to recognize an African empire, I'm afraid there will be more people who laugh at them than those who are sincere.

"Of course, we can still invite people from some friendly countries," Ernst added.

It is impossible not to allow any European nobles to come. For example, Leopold of Sigmaringen must attend. In fact, Leopold is already considered a non-Emirati as he has replaced Prince Karl as the permanent ruler of Chad. Other nobles from Austria-Hungary, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, and France who have close ties with the Hechingen royal family must also be invited.

"If there are not many people involved, then the work we face will be relatively less, so I plan to hold the Imperial Ceremony and the Coronation Ceremony on May 1st of this year," said Ernst.

This means there are only more than two months to prepare, which is too tight for government officials.

Someone asked, "Your Highness, the short time may not be conducive to our arrangements. After all, even if the empire establishment and coronation ceremony are simple, they are still quite solemn. We cannot make a decision lightly."

Ernst had already made plans. He said, "I have my own ideas for this imperial ceremony. We don't need to follow European traditions. After all, East Africa itself is a new country, not a traditional country. Before us, there has never been such a powerful country on the African continent."

"So in terms of ceremony and procedure, we in East Africa don't have to care too much about the opinions of foreigners. In essence, the transition from a kingdom to an empire is an opportunity to promote our national prestige. So we might as well just hold a military parade for this ceremony to showcase the East African army to diplomats from other countries." Ernst had long been itching to hold a military parade. When the East African Kingdom was founded, there was no grand ceremony, just to save it up for now.

"The military parade draws a group of elite soldiers from various military units across the country and displays some advanced weapons, which provides external deterrence and internal national pride."

At this point, Ernst suddenly thought that since external deterrence was to be given, it would be natural to invite personnel from countries that did not have good relations with East Africa to participate. However, Ernst rejected this point. This would cause trouble for himself and the hostile forces. After all, East Africa reported the Imperial Ceremony. If the enemy was invited, it would inevitably increase their vigilance against East Africa, so it is better to treat it with a normal attitude.

Moreover, the main purpose of this imperial ceremony was not to show off one's strength, but because the timing was very good, otherwise Ernst would not have dragged it until 1900.

If Ernst wanted to, he could have reported it ten years ago, especially after the end of the South African War, when East Asia officially joined the ranks of the great powers.

One of the reasons why Ernst did not do so at the time was to avoid provoking Britain and Portugal, the two losers in the war.

East Africa is naturally not afraid of Britain, but Britain can cause trouble for East Africa, which is not in line with Ernst's national policy of keeping a low profile.

Therefore, even for imperial ceremonies and coronation ceremonies, East Africa should keep a low profile as much as possible to reduce the related heat in the international community.

Before East Africa rises completely, it is better to show off less. At present, East Africa has no capital to show off. After all, there are still four countries ahead of East Africa: Britain, France, Germany and the United States.

After the end of the next decade, that is, the tenth anniversary of the founding of the country, when East Africa's industry and military have risen, it would be great to carry out another deterrent. At that time, it would be close to the point of war, which would be conducive to ensuring the security of East Africa.

Thinking of this, Ernst said: "This promotion ceremony to the Empire should become a convention. After that, our country will establish May 1900, 5 as the National Day, and hold a military parade every ten years. The new name of the country will be the Rhine Empire. As for the national emblem, flag, and national anthem, there is no need to change..."

The founding day that Ernst was referring to was naturally the founding day of the Rhine Empire, not the current East African (Hechingen) Kingdom. In fact, the establishment of the East African Kingdom was quite sloppy, so much so that East Africa did not have a statutory national day at all. Now some of this regret has been made up for.

At the same time, apart from changing the country's name, there were almost no other major changes in this founding ceremony. The national flag, national emblem, and national anthem were retained as they were, which represented the inheritance and upgrading relationship between the Principality of Hechingen, the Kingdom of Hechingen and the Rhine Empire.

With Ernst's comprehensive plagiarism of the great Eastern powers in his previous life, the specific procedures of this imperial ceremony and coronation ceremony in East Africa were also determined by the East African government. Subsequently, the East African government and the military began preparations, including the layout of the Rhine City, inviting personnel, military rehearsals, and so on.

(End of this chapter)