African Entrepreneurship Record

August 20, 1867.

Berlin, Hechingen Arsenal.

"Bangcha...bangcha..."

The worker carefully held the chisel and used the hammer to rhythmically hit the rivets at the machine welding point.

As the hammer fell again and again, the rivets were knocked off, but no big marks were left on the surface of the machine.

Holding a big wrench in his hand, he used hard force to remove the screws, and then other workers sorted the removed rivets and iron filings into wooden barrels.

Professional master craftsmen put the disassembled parts into wooden boxes in fixed positions. These machines were honorably retired from the Hechingen Arsenal not long after they were acquired.

These dismantled machines were originally obtained from the Prussian royal family, along with the old facilities of the arsenal.

When Ernst bought this arsenal, his purpose was not for these machines, but mainly for the workers and technicians in the factory.

So the fate of these machines was decided the moment they were acquired by Ernst.

Of course, in line with the principle of making the best use of everything, these dismantled and outdated machines will be sent to the East African colonies for re-armament and use for repair and processing of parts.

Now that the East African colonies have accumulated and equipped a large number of old-style flintlock muskets, they just need these machines to be put to use.

Those old flintlock guns can still serve in East Africa for at least seven or eight years, and they are enough to deal with the natives of Africa.

The old machines were responsible for the maintenance and parts replacement of these firearms. To be honest, there was no other way. After these machines left Berlin and the Prussian military-industrial system, they could only do these jobs.

The Hechingen Arsenal itself is a semi-finished product processing plant, and many parts have to be ordered from other factories in Prussia.

Therefore, even if this batch of old equipment is reassembled in East Africa, there is no way to put it back into production. However, it is more than enough to complete small tasks such as firearm maintenance and correction.

It's not that Ernst never thought of selling these machines, but unfortunately there are no good buyers. Needless to say, in Europe, with the Austro-Prussian War as an example, countries are looking for ways to improve their equipment and are also facing the elimination of a large number of backward production machines. The problem.

Therefore, it is impossible to sell at a high price. Backward regions such as the Far East and South America have little contact with the authorities, and the shipping cost alone is not a small sum.

As for Africa, the most backward region, the indigenous tribes and small countries in West Africa may need it, but they have no money! In the past, during the slave trade era, they could still exchange black slaves for weapons from European colonists. Now that slavery is banned in Europe and the Americas, slaves are no longer valuable.

Therefore, it is better to let these machines go to the East African colonies to continue to shine, and they can also be sent to East Africa with the help of immigrant ships instead of sending separate ships.

While these old equipment were dismantled, new machines have been installed.

These new machines will be used to produce the Dresser rifles that the Prussian army is equipping. Prussia completed the equipment replacement during the Austro-Prussian War.

After the war, the control of the military industry was naturally relaxed, so Ernst easily obtained new machines.

In addition to providing the new rifles to the Prussian Army, the rest will be used to equip the standing armed forces of the East African colonies.

As part of the Prussian military-industrial system, the main service target of the Hechingen Arsenal is the Prussian Army.

After all, the parts and some technologies needed by the Hechingen arsenal are inseparable from Prussia's support, and if the arsenal wants to make a profit, or at least not lose money, it must serve the entire market.

On the premise of ensuring no loss, the troops in the East African colonies will be replenished with weapons.

There have always been two types of military forces in East Africa: standing armed forces and militia armed forces.

The former are off-duty soldiers who are ready to respond to various crises, while the latter are militiamen who receive military training during the slack season and will only be mobilized when large-scale operations are needed.

Previously, both were equipped with old-style flintlock muskets. Of course, most of the weapons in the East African colonies were second-hand goods eliminated from the Prussian Army. A small amount was produced by the Hechingen Arsenal. After all, the second-hand weapons were large and cheap.

The two are equipped with the same type of weapons, but the difference is that the former is a regular army and has intense military training every day, mainly with live ammunition. The latter had very little live ammunition experience, and aiming empty guns at targets was the mainstream of training. Only during temporary recruitment for clearing local indigenous people, they had enough gunpowder to satisfy their cravings.

As for the Hechingen Arsenal, the newly produced Dresser rifles will be used to arm the standing armed forces of the East African colonies, that is, the off-the-job regular armies. As for the old flintlock muskets, they will all be issued to the militias of the East African colonies.

While the Hechingen Arsenal in Berlin was undergoing equipment upgrades, a branch of the Hechingen Arsenal was also under construction in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Unlike the Hechingen Arsenal in Berlin, which mainly produces rifles, the Hechingen Arsenal in the Austro-Hungarian Empire focuses on imitation and production of light artillery.

The scale of the current branch factory is very small and belongs to the experimental stage, which is better than some manual workshops. However, its main purpose is to provide experience for artillery production in the East African colonies.

Moreover, traditional arsenals have fixed partners. For example, the Hechingen Arsenal in Berlin was originally an industry under the Prussian government. It was just that Ernst acquired and took control of the management rights, so he can continue to obtain the rights after upgrading the equipment. Order to the Prussian Army.

The branch factories in the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not have this treatment. The Hechingen Arsenal branch was located in Trieste. The purpose of this location is self-evident.

It is to facilitate the supply to the East African colonies. East Africa currently does not have the ability to produce weapons and equipment, let alone artillery.

The branch factory is to take advantage of Trieste's convenient shipping conditions (the Suez Canal will be opened in the future) to provide artillery power to the East African colonies.

Currently, the armed forces of the East African colonies still use the most basic firearms, and the only more powerful weapons are grenades and explosive bags.

As for why light artillery is needed, it is to deal with potential threats to Portuguese colonies and at sea.

Even the Sultanate of Zanzibar actually has more than a dozen artillery pieces, mainly inherited from the Oman Empire.

Most of them were in the seaport of the Zanzibar Sultanate. After the East African colonies seized the territory of the Zanzibar mainland, they also collected several old artillery pieces in Dar es Salaam and Mombasa.

The Sultanate of Zanzibar still has artillery to use, not to mention the Portuguese and other maritime colonists next door. This guy is indispensable on their ships.

Therefore, it is better for the East African colonies to equip some artillery. As for the few artillery pieces of the Zanzibar Sultanate, they are not only in disrepair and severely decayed, but also too small in number to be used by the East African colonies.

Therefore, it is necessary to establish a branch factory. As for why not just buy a batch from Europe, the main reason is that the East African colonies are not currently needed. The East African colonies are mainly digesting the territory and will not take the initiative to cause trouble.

There will be no conflict with surrounding forces, and it is just a short-sighted behavior to buy rather than build, and it is a long-term solution to build rather than buy.