African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1457 Exploding Gold Coins

When a nascent regime is divided, it basically means that the regime has reached a very dangerous point.

It was in this crisis that Budapest was invaded by war. Before the end of May, the German-Austrian coalition forces were divided into three routes. The northern route went down along the Danube River. The central route started from Dorog and tried to take the highlands in the west of Buda through the mountains. The southern route bypassed Tata Castle and threatened the open areas in the south of Budapest, while preparing to cut off Budapest's connection with the outside world.

The Hungarian government still has about 200,000 troops, while Budapest has only 60,000. However, this situation is much better than that of the Hungarian Labor Party in the previous life, when the total strength of the Hungarian Labor Party was only 50,000.

The extra troops of the Kuhn government were also influenced by his previous agricultural policies and gained a certain degree of support from Hungarian farmers.

As for recruiting more soldiers, it is meaningless for Hungary now. Hungary's industry is too poor. There is only one decent-sized arsenal in Budapest, and because of the early liquidation of the Hungarian Labor Party, the production capacity of this arsenal has not been fully restored.

Therefore, even if more people were recruited, the Hungarian Labor Party did not have enough weapons to arm them. At the same time, because of the Soviet Union's careful thinking, Hungary, which already lacked sufficient military commanders, was further aggravated by the lack of sufficient military commanders. In March of this year, the Soviet Union withdrew part of the military personnel originally promised.

In addition to the feud with Kuhn, the Soviet Union under Joseph's leadership wanted to seek a more stable external environment due to the development of the Soviet economy. Although the Soviet Union's foreign military exports did not stop, it had shifted its focus to Asia to avoid over-stimulating Europe.

Of course, just last month, on April 12, the Soviet Union's investment in the Far Eastern Empire was declared a complete failure. About 20 million rubles and several years of hard work were all wasted because of the betrayal of the Kuomintang leaders.

From this we can see that the Soviet Union was indeed not a country suitable for diplomacy. Many of its foreign policies were not only crude and offensive, but also often backfired.

At present, the Hungarian Labor Party will also be affected for this reason, but unfortunately, the Hungarian Labor Party is deeply influenced by the Soviet Union, and Kuhn's personality and life experience make it impossible for him to truly separate the Hungarian Labor Party from the Soviet Union and thus take the initiative in Hungary's own transformation.

This can be seen from Kuhn's experience in his previous life. After Kuhn's failure in his previous life, he was extradited back to his country by the Soviet Union and eventually died in the great purge.

In other words, the Soviet Union was unreliable, especially the non-independent labor parties under its control. Once they lost its support, even basic national governance would be difficult to maintain. Just like when Eastern Europe underwent drastic changes, no labor party in any country was able to turn the tide, and their performance was even worse than that of some countries in Asia and Latin America.

This also confirms an old Eastern saying: It is better to rely on yourself than on others.

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The East African government also anticipated the dismal fate of the Hungarian Labor Party regime. Ernst told Friedrich: "The Hungarian government has reached the end of its rope. They will not survive this year. Copying the Soviet Union will only lead to death for a backward agricultural country like Hungary."

In response, Friedrich said: "Father, that's great. After all, the existence of the Labor Party, which shakes the order, should not exist in the world."

The Rhine royal family had no good feelings towards either the bourgeois parties or the labor party, especially the latter, as they were the most likely to raise the butcher knife against the feudal forces. Compared with the Tsar's family and the top leaders in Budapest, the treatment of the last emperor of the Far Eastern Empire was considered lucky.

Ernst said: "However, even after Hungary is recovered, Austria will still face many problems. In the past, the issue between them and Hungary was a national issue. After the Hungarian Labor Party's disturbance, the class contradictions within the Austro-Hungarian Empire may be aroused in the future."

As the saying goes, it is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality. Although the Hungarian Labor Party did not rule for a long time, the treatment they gave to the lower-class people in Hungary was very real.

After these people have enjoyed the happy days of being the masters of their country rather than the "slaves" of the Habsburg family, asking them to return to their previous lives would easily trigger new turmoil in Hungary.

In this case, the Hungarian people will compare the future regime that rules Hungary with the Labor Party regime, which is a huge hidden danger for the Habsburg family and the future ruling class of Hungary.

Therefore, Ernst said to Friedrich: "We must definitely learn from the lessons of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and not let their ideas spread in East Africa. Even if they are to be spread, they must be in line with our requirements."

There are more than just bans to stop the spread of an idea, and this can easily arouse rebellion among the people. The more you don't want them to see it, the more they will want to see it secretly.

In comparison, the method of distortion can work wonders. The East African Labour Party is such a pseudo-Labour Party organization born under the manipulation of the Rhine royal family.

There is a saying that goes "There are always great scholars who argue for me", which is based on a similar principle. Just like the famous Confucian work "Spring and Autumn Annals", there are various annotated versions, which realize different interpretations of its content, thereby tampering with its original meaning, or extending the fictitious content to serve politics.

At the end of the last century, the Far Eastern Empire's "A Study of Confucius' Reforms" and "A Study of the New Learning and False Classics" were also books of this nature.

In modern Western society, different understandings of the Bible have promoted social change. For example, Martin Luther, Calvin and others started from this aspect.

Even the most conservative and dogmatic Arabic scriptures can be interpreted differently, giving rise to various sects.

Similarly, the Rhine royal family and the East African government can also distort and tamper with the spread of Labor Party ideas in East Africa, making it difficult for the East African people to distinguish between truth and falsehood. From this perspective, the Rhine royal family can be said to have sinister intentions.

The father and son did not say much on this issue, but instead turned the topic to domestic and foreign countries.

1927 was another turbulent year, especially with various movements on the Eurasian continent, which emerged one after another, including those of a reform and strengthening nature, national independence nature, the Labour Party nature, and the colonies seeking independence, etc.

Friedrich said: "This year we have focused our external work on cultivating overseas markets, especially the construction and expansion of colonies."

"The development trend of the international market is becoming more and more prominent. The industrial recovery and development of various countries are accompanied by the great hidden danger of overcapacity, and tariff wars are becoming more frequent."

"The domestic production cost has been further reduced, but the corresponding profit margin is getting lower and lower. Many enterprises are even operating at a loss. For this reason, they have to lower the market labor price."

"We in East Africa have a minimum wage, so they can't go too far, but most companies in Europe and the United States don't have this concern."

"This has also led to a lot of capital flowing into the European and American markets, which has had a certain negative impact on my country's economic development, but overall, it is still bearable." When a country's economy develops to a certain level, its dependence on foreign capital will also decrease. Now that countries around the world are playing the economic "closed-door policy", the impact on East Africa is not too great.

In the past, East African governments would certainly wish that other countries would invest more in East Africa so as to obtain development factors such as technology, capital, and talent. Now, East African domestic companies, especially large companies, no longer have many shortcomings in terms of capital, technology, and talent.

Coupled with the unremitting efforts of the East African governments to reduce production costs other than labor costs, the competitiveness of East African industry is still relatively strong, and the investment environment is only slightly inferior to that of the United States.

Of course, what the United States and East Africa really envy are countries like Britain and France. Even if they live a life of idleness and waiting for death, their colonies can pay for their local industries.

They only need to ban goods from other countries from entering their colonies, and then they can reap the benefits, even if the quality of the goods is poor and the colonies have no other choice.

This is also an important reason why East Africa has increased its investment in colonies since the Fifth Five-Year Plan. This is actually to cultivate East Africa's future economic reservoir.

Ernst said: "Although the current economic environment appears to be flourishing on the surface, huge waves are actually brewing, and the bubble in the international market may be punctured at any time."

"In other words, we need to be prepared to deal with an unprecedented economic crisis and increase East Africa's ability to survive this economic crisis."

"It will take some time for the colonial market to grow. The most urgent task is to increase the introduction of immigrants, especially to the colonies in various Pacific regions, and relax immigration standards."

"Some non-core assets in the hands of the royal consortium should be sold off as soon as possible, and at the same time, domestic enterprises, especially those with good operating conditions, independent innovation capabilities, and key technologies, should be strengthened and investigated in advance."

"Because once the crisis breaks out, we can only prioritize the survival of high-quality companies. This is the key to whether East Africa can move forward after the crisis."

"As for the stock and bond markets, we should try to guide them towards real industry and release some positive news and policies, so that even if the economic bubble bursts in the future, we will not gain nothing."

Even if the real economy encounters an economic crisis, it will always leave behind a corpse, while if the service industry explodes, the wealth will evaporate without even a trace of ash. Therefore, the lesser of two evils is the former, which is more useful. Even if the real estate market collapses, those houses may at least be used in the future.

Crown Prince Friedrich's expression also turned serious. He said, "At present, the empire has been accumulating funds and relaxing the market investment environment, guiding foreign and private capital to increase domestic investment."

"The streamlining of the royal family and state-owned enterprises is also accelerating, so that if an economic crisis really breaks out, we won't be in a rush."

East African state-owned enterprises and royal enterprises are one of the important guarantees for the future "bottom line" of the national economy. However, facing the economic crisis, no one knows in which direction the final outcome will develop. East Africa can only make various preparations at the government level.

Generally speaking, the Rhine royal family has already laid hidden cards both inside and outside East Africa. Once the economic crisis breaks out completely, these hidden cards will be able to play their role, thus ensuring that East Africa survives the economic crisis.

If it cannot survive, East Africa will have only two options. The first is to explode on the spot like Tsarist Russia and redistribute social wealth. The second is to start a war and divert the conflict.

Both situations are uncontrollable, especially the first one, which is obviously the most unacceptable to the current government.

As for the second option, if it fails, it will fall into an irretrievable situation like Germany in its previous life. As for the good development of Germany in its previous life, it was only because the United States relaxed its economic restrictions on it, and even supported its development at a specific stage because of the need to restrict Europe.

The outcome of the defeated country depends on the attitude of the victorious country. At least at the moment of its defeat, its fate is completely controlled by the victorious country.

If a big country like East Africa is defeated in the war, there is no doubt that other countries will not give East Africa even the slightest chance to turn things around, just like what happened to Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Therefore, even if it has to launch a war, East Africa will only enter the battlefield when the war is completely controllable. Before that, East Africa must ensure that its economic and social order does not collapse prematurely.

Ernst said: "Internationally, we can also reach some consensus with countries such as Germany and the United States to further expand the scope of the world's free market."

The reason why Germany is placed before the United States is that Germany is facing the tariff war in today's world, and it is more anxious than any other country. East Africa and the United States at least have size and scale, and even have a certain base of colonies.

As the world's third largest industrial country, Germany is very short of raw materials and markets. If it were just economic competition, then Germany would naturally have no problem. But the reality is that the world's raw materials and markets are determined by politics and military.

Take India for example. They may not listen to the Germans, but they absolutely dare not disobey the British because the British are the masters of the Indians at the moment.

Therefore, if the British did not allow India to buy and sell German goods, then the Indians had to comply, and in this way Britain achieved a monopoly over the Indian economy.

If Germany wanted to enter the Indian market, there was only one way, which was to send warships to India and defeat the British troops stationed in India.

This is something that may happen in extreme circumstances, but it is obviously not the time for countries to fight each other yet. Therefore, the best approach for developing countries such as Germany, East Africa, and the United States is to temporarily unite and break the monopoly of traditional colonial empires such as Britain and France on most of the world market.

A typical example is the "Open Door" policy proposed by the United States in its Far East Empire at the end of the last century, which was intended to forcibly snatch food from the mouths of countries such as Britain and France.

To put it bluntly, it was threatening and blackmailing countries such as Britain and France. At that time, the United States was already very powerful, but Britain and France monopolized most of the Far East market, so the United States demanded "shared market."

This is very instructive for the current East Africa. Not only East Africa, but also the United States and Germany have this demand. We can reach a certain consensus and thus explode the "gold coins" of those traditional colonial powers.

(End of this chapter)