African Entrepreneurship Record

Talking back to the trading market in Badele Town, when Bubuya Weiss and Odley Kevin had a big fight on their way back to the Abyssinian Empire.

However, a group of Negmot caravans slowly entered the town of Badele, and the company commander of the border guard stationed in the town of Badele, Lawrence, greeted them warmly.

Lowens: "Mr. Ya'an Reed, you came really early today!"

Ya'an Reed: "Hahaha, Mr. Lowens, you're welcome. The weather is nice today. I think this indicates that our cooperation can reach a new level."

Unlike other caravans that rushed to the town of Badele early to "rush to buy", the Ya'an Rid caravan obviously arrived much later. However, East Africa's attitude towards the Ya'an Rid caravan was obviously different. Even the border guards took the initiative to say hello to it. .

Lowens: "Mr. Yaan Reed, as far as I know, a new batch of firearms arrived today. In the morning, a batch of firearms were purchased in advance from your capital Tigray and Amhara region. But don't worry, we all have good things." It’s reserved.”

Ya'an Reed heard the exclusive information provided by Lowens and hurriedly expressed his gratitude: "Thank you for the information, my friend. These northerners are too ambitious. They have obviously monopolized the empire's arms business in the east, and they still want to do it in the east." The South is really greedy to have a hand in this."

Yaan Reed refuted the immoral behavior of his colleagues. Before the opening of the market in East Africa, the trading activities of the Abyssinian Empire were concentrated on the Red Sea coast. Cities such as Negmut in the inland south naturally could not enjoy these dividends. As for There are actually trade routes in the north, but the relationship between Egypt and the Abyssinian Empire in the north is extremely poor, and the trade volume between the two is very small.

Lowens: "Mr. Yaan Reed, don't be angry. There is endless business. Besides, we in East Africa are on the side of your Negmot. With the support of East Africa, sooner or later you will be able to compete with those big forces. "

Just as the British supported Johannes IV, the Kingdom of East Africa was also looking for representatives of its own interests within the Abyssinian Empire, and the local forces in the south of the Abyssinian Empire, headed by Negmot City, were drawn to East Africa. object.

The southern part of the Abyssinian Empire was far less developed than the north, and far inferior to the eastern part. It was a low-key existence in the empire, but now it is better. The British broke the entire Abyssinian Empire into pieces in the first battle. Now the Abyssinian Empire is The local forces in the Byssinian Empire were divided by warlords, and the various forces in southern Abyssinia were also eyeing the imperial throne for their own interests. They supported the former southern commander of the empire, Nat Hogg, as the spokesperson.

Speaking of Nathog, he is quite dramatic. He is also a son of a large family from the Tigray region. He was sent to the south by the former emperor Theodore II of the Abyssinian Empire. He was the general appointed by Theodore II to prepare for East Africa. , but after Theodore II was defeated and committed suicide, the empire fell into pieces. With the recommendation of various forces in the south, Nat Hogg also became one of the strong contenders for the emperor of the empire.

As for why the southern forces elected Nat Hogg as their representative, it was because of his status as a descendant of the Solomon family. The Solomon family is equivalent to the royal family of the current Abyssinian Empire and is more easily accepted by the whole country.

The supporters behind the various forces in the south were the Kingdom of East Africa, which meant that Nathogg went from being a general guarding against the invasion of the Kingdom of East Africa to becoming one of the contenders for the pinnacle of power of the Abyssinian Empire with the support of East Africa.

…

Under the personal guidance of Lowens, Yaan Reed's people came to the specialized arms store in Bodelai Town again. Unlike the previous treatment of Boubua Weiss and Oudley Kevin, they came to the backyard of the arms store, which had long been Neatly stacked boxes of munitions.

Lowens found a crowbar and opened a box himself. The green-painted wooden box still had a strong smell. From the smell, he knew that this batch of goods was "new". After opening it, there were shiny flintlock guns. Putting them neatly in the straw, Lowens took out one and handed it to Yaan Reed.

Lowens: "This is the M1809 muzzle-loading smoothbore rifle that was installed by the Prussian regular army at that time. It can be said to be prestigious in Europe. You can see that these parts still maintain their luster and their reliability is still trustworthy."

Lowens himself was a little embarrassed when he said that. Such old antiques could be turned out and sold, which is really difficult for the East African government.

Prussia did not have many of these rifles at the time, because the Prussian army was restricted to a very small scale by France during Napoleon's reign. The fact that such antiques can be found in East Africa only shows that they are really cheap, basically based on scrap metal. The price was collected from Prussian arms warehouses.

After serving in the hands of East African militias for several more years, these guns can be said to be over fifty years old, much older than Lowens.

Obviously, the old guns in front of me look pretty good. They were refurbished and repainted at the East African Arsenal.

Although his family knew his own family, Lowens still said shamelessly: "It may be a little long, but the advantage is stability. After all, the Prussian army, as a powerful force in Europe, has very high requirements for the production of its own weapons, and they are unified. It’s standard, easy to replace parts and maintain, and it’s definitely much better than the weapons we sell to northerners.”

The rifles of the Abyssinian Empire came from a mixed bag. They were basically old antiques sold by various countries. The quality was uneven, and some were even bad. Those in East Africa that were refurbished before sale were even rarer.

So Ya'an Reed was very satisfied with the appearance of this batch of firearms. He asked: "Mr. Lowens, can I check the other boxes?"

Lowens: "Of course no problem!" He said and handed over the crowbar in his hand.

After all, he had only opened one box, and Yaan Reid did not dare to be careless. If this box was specially prepared by East Africa, it would be a big loss.

Obviously, as Ya'an Reed randomly inspected several boxes, they were all of the same quality. He said with satisfaction: "Mr. Lowens, I am very satisfied with this batch of goods, but in the end I have to put it into practice!"

Lowens: "You can go to our border guard's shooting range in the countryside. The terrain there is very open."

Finally, Yaan Reed personally tested the power of these rifles on the outskirts of Bedelai, reaching the upper-middle level of the firearms unit of the Abyssinian Empire Army.

Yaan Reed: "We are very satisfied, we can pay the bill now, gold and silver coins or livestock!"

Lowens: "Anything is fine, my friends, you can use whatever is convenient for you!"

Finally, Yaan Reed exchanged the last batch of Ottoman silver coins in his hand at the Bank of Hechingen. These silver coins were obtained when he was doing business with Ottoman merchants on the Red Sea coast, but now Egypt is at war with Abyssinia. The trade between the two countries was almost interrupted, and the Ottoman silver coins depreciated seriously in Abyssinia, so Yaanrid was eager to get rid of them.

It doesn't matter in East Africa. These Ottoman silver coins can still be returned to the Ottoman Empire after being taken to the Sultanate of Zanzibar. After all, Abyssinia is a landlocked country, and East Africa is not.

At the same time, this also meant that the Ottoman Empire's financial influence in the Abyssinian Empire collapsed, and the takeover was hard currencies such as pounds, francs and financial bonds issued by the Bank of Hechingen in East Africa.

After all, the Abyssinian Empire is a big country with a population of nearly 10 million. The temptation of this market is not small. At the same time, the Abyssinian Empire is not the kind of West African natives in East Africa who only have "gold" and can still trade. Value, poor guy with almost no purchasing power.

East Africa is also eager to replace the antique guns on hand. With the installation of the Dresser rifle production line, East Africa is about to bid farewell to front-loaded flintlock guns completely, and the war-torn Abyssinian Empire is a good successor.