Just as Prince Constantine thought, from Christmas to New Year, Prussian officers went ho to celebrate the holidays.
Garrett sent a telegram to Ernst, asking him to co to Berlin to hang out.
...
Berlin, the beer hall where Ernst and Garrett often visited during their school days.
"Ernst, I missed you!" Garrett howled at Ernst.
"Stay away from , you look like a madman." Ernst said in disgust.
"Ah, you don’t understand, life in the barracks isn’t fit for humans. I was almost suffocating in there every day, and now that I have a rare opportunity, of course, I need to relax a bit."
"I brought so friends over today, co on, Ernst, I’ll introduce you to them."
They arrived at the table.
"This is Prince Ernst of the Hohenzollern family." Garrett introduced Ernst to his colleagues with great ceremony.
"Hello, Your Highness," several people greeted Ernst.
"Hello to all of you!" Ernst responded.
"These guys are my good friends from the barracks, they all participated in the Prussia and Austria war, back then we were all assistants in the general staff. Of course, our fathers were also comrades fighting in the sa trench." Garrett added.
A group of people, gathered around the table, took their seats.
Garrett called for a few beers, handing out one to each person, and the bartender stood by the side ready to refill as needed.
With a few beers down, the conversation couldn’t be stopped.
"Ernst, you don’t know our new officer, seems to be called Herman, isn’t that right, guys?" Garrett asked the group.
"Yes, Herman, that’s right. I’ve heard he used to be a staff officer in the ninth brigade, and I also heard he was a rascal when he was young, later, caught by his dad and sent to military school for education, then graduated with excellent grades, first served as a battalion commander, then rose through the ranks. It’s said that during the battle with Austria, the unit he was responsible for, despite the heavy bombardnt from Austrian artillery, managed to carve a bloody path through and broke through the Austrian lines. He and his original brigade commander were both real tough guys."
"I’ve heard he’s extrely strict with his subordinates, we’re in for a tough ti this ti!"
"Don’t talk defeatist, conditions in the army are much better now than before, all of you co from families with military backgrounds, you all know what the Prussian military was like."
"That’s true, in past years, those true second-generation aristocrats were harshly suppressed, now the kingdom demands more professional competency otherwise how would we have our opportunity."
That’s indeed right, yet Garrett and others actually co from families that are considered upper-middle class in the whole of Prussia, and they are old Junker families.
Nobility like Ernst who transitioned into business doesn’t fit the mainstream very well, but before aligning with Prussia, the Heixinggen royalty was authentic Southern German aristocracy.
In the previous world, Junkers were more like a proprietary term for Prussia, but in German, Junker ans "landowner’s son", yet the deep impression left by Prussian nobility made Junker beco its unique symbol.
Until after World War II, when the Allies thoroughly eradicated the Junker nobility within Prussia, uprooting them completely. After the war, several victorious countries divided Prussia’s territory among themselves, drove the people off these lands, demolished their hos, even changed place nas, so Junker family’s ancestral graves were dug up, henceforth Junker nobility vanished entirely.
"Ah, let’s not talk about such disturbing things, Ernst, what have you been busy with recently, haven’t heard of any big news from you for a while?" Garrett asked.
As an erging big capitalist, rich and young, Ernst made so na for himself in the whole German region.
Especially during the ti he bought Alaska, many North Germans got to know this big spender, with many dia ridiculing Ernst for being crazy, buying a piece of dead land.
To this Ernst wants to say, with money, willing to buy it and leave it there; even if in the future Ernst cannot keep Alaska, hindering the developnt of other countries is still a good thing, regardless of whether it’s the United States or Russia developing Alaska first, Ernst feels like losing anyway.
This harmful yet futile behavior sohow brings a bit of dark pleasure, of course, if in the future Alaska could be retained, that would be even better.
"I haven’t got any big news, you’re overestimating . Recently, I’ve been very low-key." Ernst said.
In these few months, the East Africa colony indeed was busy digesting without expanding outward, and the Heixinggen consortium was also organizing its business, without much big move.
"Though I’ve heard the old man saying, the military supplies departnt’s procurent of war materiel never decreases but increases, and the biggest source of living goods orders is from the products in your company." Garrett said.
Ernst replied: "Actually not much profit is made, many veteran supplies are provided at cost price, right now Heixinggen company mainly tackles the civilian market."
"No lie about veteran supplies, not making money is also true, but this is part of Ernst’s plan to cultivate users, while also leaving a good impression with the Prussian royalty and governnt."
Prussia implents conscription, so soldiers are recruited from all over the country, once they get used to the convenience of Heixinggen company’s products, they will be walking advertisents in the future.
"At the sa ti maintaining relationships with the governnt is very important, in the future the governnt won’t destroy bridges, so benefits must be thought of to return to the Heixinggen consortium first, like the army’s tobacco business which is very lucrative, has emptied so many soldiers’ wallets."
And there is still a lot of potential to be tapped in the civilian market, currently on the market, the main providers of daily necessities are those small workshops, their production level and Heixinggen company are not on the sa level, in the future there will be more and more cheap and durable Heixinggen products appearing in the market."
"Really? Not making money yet collaborating with the military!" Garrett could hardly believe it.
"Why would I lie to you, do I need to lie? You can ask your father, isn’t the military’s procurent cost clear?" Ernst said.
"You’re impressive!" Garrett nodded, saying to Ernst.
Sacrificing so interest, in exchange for greater interest, for Ernst, it is very worthwhile, unlike so who really rely on plugging connections to get the military’s orders, if the quality of the goods is good that’s fine, if the quality is not good, in a militaristic country like Prussia, getting exposed would be trouble."
Currently in Ernst’s hand the most profitable industry, the first is banking, the second is tobacco, the third is the power company, the fourth is daily necessities production, the fifth is engines...
Tobacco is a purely lucrative industry, and with the expansion of tobacco planting areas in East Africa, future costs will be even lower.
The electricity company is also making plenty with the lighting system, and the derived products are increasing.
As for the potential Berlin Energy Power Company, although Ernst suppressed its product release ti, with a deep understanding of more advanced engines, the company’s improvents on low-performance engines are very proficient.
Currently on the market, the two-stroke engines produced by Berlin Energy Power Company have much higher quality than peers, in fact, this product is already two generations behind inside the company.
But keeping quiet to make a fortune is too enticing, when competitors are about to catch up, Berlin Energy Power could release the leading new products, creating a false impression in the market, which is that Berlin Energy Power’s products have high cost performance, and reliability is the best, it’s expensive but with the brand, you can’t go wrong.
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