Chapter 1194: Chapter 203: Industrial Shock
This capital input will naturally have an adverse effect on the development of the Far East Empire, but East Africa has no psychological burden about it. After all, if East Africa didn’t do it, the United States and Japan, as well as England and France after the war, would.
So in Ernst’s view, rather than let other great powers benefit, it’s better to benefit East Africa. At the current stage, the Far East Empire doesn’t have a better choice. At least with East Africa, they won’t get too cheated and can actually gain more advantages.
For example, when exporting tungsten ore from the Far East Empire to Germany, if relying solely on itself, it would undoubtedly be sanctioned by England and France, and this market wouldn’t be accessible. However, with East Africa’s channel, this part of the German market can be smoothly engaged.
Moreover, East Africa can go a step further, first transporting these tungsten ores back to East African territories for processing and purification, and then selling them to Germany and other countries at a higher price. This way, both East Africa and the Far East Empire can profit.
After all, the Far East Empire currently lacks the relevant technology and can only export raw materials. Thus, the Far East Empire is definitely not losing out, but rather benefiting more from the market expansion.
And this isn’t entirely a bad thing for Germany; although East Africa made a margin, what Germany lacks most now is time and resources.
East Africa handled the processing and production, allowing Germany to allocate more workers to military production. Moreover, East Africa’s supply of goods enables Germany to obtain more strategic materials.
In summary, East Africa, the Far East Empire, and Germany all win significantly. This is the essence of trade at its core—exchanging what you lack; everyone gets what they want.
...
Let’s shift our focus back to the European battlefield.
Kemelxi, an obscure French village that serves as the front line between Germany and France. At this moment, the exhausted troops of both sides are holed up in trenches, having become extremely numb to the war.
In the German army’s trenches, smoke wafts around as a few soldiers enjoyably puff away.
Conrad: "Indeed, East African cigarettes have the most pleasant taste. If I survive the war, I’ll definitely switch all my rations to East African products."
Ever since the outbreak of the war, tobacco has become hard currency in the army, particularly for a great power like Germany, which completely relies on imports for tobacco.
Before the war, Germany had strict control over tobacco and alcohol for revenue purposes, but with the war’s onset, the German government could no longer afford such measures. This material directly affects soldiers’ battle performance, so as long as it can be transported in, all is well, forcing the German government to make concessions to East Africa and the US and other neutral countries.
Before the war, East Africa was already Germany’s largest source of tobacco, and even more so after the war started. With concessions from the German government, East African tobacco companies significantly increased their exports to Germany, ensuring the German army’s daily needs on the front lines.
It’s not just the military; workers in factories at home also need more stimulants, and tobacco and alcohol naturally become even more precious.
Conrad’s comrade Hans took a puff and sighed: "Who knows when the war will end? Production back home must have been severely affected. Many of our military supplies are imported from East Africa, and increasingly more so. Previously, canned goods sent to the front lines even had their labels changed, but they don’t even bother with such superficial efforts now."
Conrad said: "It’s not surprising at all. There is a significant shortage of manpower at home. Last month, I was still manufacturing military helmets in the factory, so you can guess why I ended up on the front line?"
Undoubtedly, the factory Conrad used to work at was a veritable German domestic military industrial enterprise, considering that military helmets are a crucial strategic material. Typically, personnel like Conrad involved in military production wouldn’t be sent to the front lines, given that military factories are no less critical to the German army than the battlefield.
So, Conrad’s words naturally drew curiosity from his comrades, prompting Hans to ask: "Why?"
Conrad smiled helplessly: "It’s because of East Africa that I lost my previous job and ended up on the front lines. You guys should know about our country’s latest Staelheim M16 helmet."
Another comrade, Green, said: "I’ve seen it. The 24th Division got a batch of them, and they’re quite unlike our traditional pointed helmets."
Conrad nodded: "That’s right. The 24th Division is equipped with our domestically produced new steel helmet. Since the outbreak of war, you should have experienced the drawbacks of traditional pointed helmets, especially in trench warfare."
"Traditional pointed helmets have almost no advantages aside from looking good and being comfortable. Moreover, looking good and being comfortable aren’t advantages."
"This means more complex production processes and high material costs. My previous factory produced traditional pointed helmets, and their comfort is compromised at the expense of safety. Of course, we underestimated the intensity of the war and the changes in battlefield conditions."
"Trench warfare demands higher protective requirements for helmets, and our latest Staelheim M16 helmets can effectively block shrapnel, soil, and stones—those battlefield threats—and ensure soldiers’ safety."
"But the Staelheim M16 helmet also has significant drawbacks; production capacity can’t keep up, and its design has major flaws, making it heavy and uncomfortable to wear."
Hans asked: "But what does this have to do with your unemployment?"
Conrad said helplessly: "On one hand, producing new helmets no longer requires a tailor like me. On the other hand, East African-imported military helmets reduce our urgent need for steel helmet production."
"You probably don’t know, but in the field of military helmet production, the East African Defense Army had already fully equipped with steel helmets in the previous century."
Many Germans naturally don’t know this, as East Africa, for many, is a legendary country—let alone the equipment of the East African Defense Army. Only someone like Conrad, who worked in helmet production, had encountered the East African steel helmet before the war.
"Our factory’s designers actually saw East Africa’s steel helmets and mocked them as crude, useless things, merely burdening East African soldiers and far inferior to our traditional German pointed helmets."
"But facts have proven that East Africans have foresight. I bet that designer can no longer boast about that."
"Of course, this is clearly not good news for me either. East Africa has been producing and designing steel helmets for more than ten years, placing them at the forefront in terms of design and production worldwide."
"Therefore, the Defense Ministry decided to make a significant purchase of East African steel helmets, directly using them as protective gear for our army. Thus, under the combined assault of our country’s new military helmets and East African-imported steel helmets, I became unemployed!"
"Furthermore, my tailoring skills didn’t come into use either. Now the country prefers to procure finished textiles from East Africa. Many uniforms are directly manufactured in East Africa and then brought to Germany for the army."
In other words, Germany has outsourced many production activities directly to East Africa, such as the textile industry mentioned by Conrad.
Textiles were originally a huge industry with many workers, but Germany lacks cotton domestically. With the outbreak of war, many German textile enterprises suffered negatively.
Germany needed many soldiers, given the immense pressure of two-front warfare. Thus, many male textile workers were enlisted. Although there are more women in textiles and males are scarce, for Germany now, "even a small mosquito is meat."
Germany has abandoned numerous industrial productions, turning rejected industries into direct imports of finished goods from East Africa.
For example, Conrad’s original job was significantly affected. East Africa’s helmet production capacity is quite large, given the considerable size of the East African Defense Army. If they fully power up to support Germany, they can meet significant German army demands, so Conrad’s former factory ceased production and shifted to other military goods as a result.
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