In Berlin

June 1863, Berlin University.

As the son of a top noble, Ernst was allowed to audit classes here through his father's connections.

Ernst's schedule had been quite packed recently, but his studies mainly focused on economic principles. Other courses, such as noble etiquette, deportment, and even religion, were handled by his private tutor.

Accompanying Ernst were his tutor, Richard, and his servant, Tom.

Richard had been responsible for Ernst's early education until this point.

The group first traveled from Hechingen to Stuttgart, and then took a train through Bavaria to Berlin.

The journey was significantly delayed by visits to acquaintances among the nobility, taking nearly half a month to reach Berlin.

Fortunately, the latter half of the journey was primarily by rail, avoiding unnecessary banquets and social events.

Upon arriving in Berlin, as a member of the Hohenzollern family, Ernst naturally had to pay a visit to the Prussian royal family. Ernst met his uncle, King Wilhelm I.

Ernst had actually met King Wilhelm I as a child, but he was very young then, his memories were unclear, and he hadn't awakened his past life memories yet.

As for how they came to interact, it was due to Hechingen's unique status. Hechingen was the ancestral home of the Hohenzollern family. Even though the Hohenzollern family of the Brandenburg line had become so prominent, serving as Prince-Electors of the Holy Roman Empire and building the current Kingdom of Prussia, blood ties couldn't be severed. The ancestors of the Prussian royal family had also originated from Hechingen.

The ancestral castle where his family lived was actually jointly funded and built with the Prussian royal family. However, his branch of the family had resided in Hechingen for generations and never left. The Hohenzollern family of the Brandenburg line couldn't leave the center of Prussian power, Berlin, to develop in a rural place like Hechingen. It was only because of the ancestral land's special significance that the Brandenburg royal family contributed to the renovation of Hechingen's Hohenzollern Castle; it was a matter of family honor.

Hohenzollern Castle was originally an early military fortress that was later destroyed in wars. The current Hohenzollern Castle was a newly rebuilt structure.

Occasionally, the Brandenburg Hohenzollern family would return to Hechingen for visits. The last time the Prussian royal family sent representatives, it was to incorporate the newly formed Prussian Hohenzollern Province, comprising Hechingen and Sigmaringen, into the Kingdom of Prussia. At that time, Ernst was newly born and naturally couldn't recognize the Prussian prince who visited.

King Wilhelm I first inquired about Prince Constantin's recent condition, then learned the reason for Ernst's visit to Berlin. Upon hearing that Ernst was there for his studies.

King Wilhelm I was very pleased. The Prussian royal family had always placed great importance on education, considering it a century-long endeavor on par with the military.

Ernst's choice to begin his studies in Berlin made King Wilhelm I even happier, as it indirectly demonstrated the development of Prussia's education system in recent years.

Finally, King Wilhelm I welcomed Ernst and assured him that he could seek help at the royal palace if he encountered any trouble.

Ernst expressed his gratitude and also met other members of the Hohenzollern family, Crown Prince Frederick and the young Wilhelm II, who would later stir up world affairs.

Upon his arrival in Berlin, Ernst frequently attended gatherings of nobles, which were his only social activities.

He spent most of his other time at school or engaged in physical training. Medical standards were not guaranteed in this era, so Ernst placed great importance on his health.

In addition to basic strength training, he also practiced horsemanship and, of course, firearms shooting. Ernst had prior experience with these fundamental military educations, which were considered essential for Prussian nobles.

At Berlin University, Ernst made many friends. Although he struggled with his studies and felt dull compared to his genius classmates, Ernst had a good attitude and didn't compare his intelligence to theirs.

There were also some noble youths similar to Ernst attending the university, but they were generally older. However, the slightly more mature Ernst got along well with them.

Berlin University had many influential figures, but in Germany, it was just one of many. Nobles were more inclined towards military academies, as well as rival universities like Göttingen and Bonn.

"Alright, that's all for today's lesson. Class dismissed!" the professor announced sternly.

The professor expressionlessly packed up his teaching materials and left without hesitation.

Ernst, looking exhausted, rubbed his eyes, tidied his notes and books on the desk, placed them in his satchel, and stood up to leave.

Suddenly, a voice called out from behind him, "Ernst! Where are you going after class?" His classmate Garrett nudged Ernst with his elbow as he was about to leave.

"Home, of course, Garrett," Ernst replied.

Garrett feigned surprise, asking, "Aren't you going to the banquet tonight? I heard Karl organized it, and there will be many ladies!"

"Garrett, I'm still young. Don't try to corrupt me. Besides, there have been too many banquets and salons lately. I just want to rest for a while," Ernst said with a chuckle, nudging Garrett's shoulder with his own.

"You scoundrel, you tell more risqué jokes than I do. I think you're just pretending to be proper," Garrett exclaimed, using exaggerated gestures to "expose" the hypocritical Ernst.

Amidst their playful banter, Ernst left the school. Outside the gate, Tom was already waiting.

"Tom, we're going to the workshop today!" Ernst instructed.

"Yes, young master."

The carriage slowly pulled away from the school gate, weaving through the streets of Berlin. After some time, it stopped in front of a blacksmith's shop.

Ernst pushed open the door and entered. The room was cluttered with various items, mostly tools like hammers and axes, scattered on the floor.

A furnace burned with flames, filling the room with the smell of charcoal. Solidified molten iron splattered near the furnace.

The blacksmith's shop, which Ernst now called his workshop, was a place he rented. Besides the original blacksmith, he had also hired a junior high school student with a knack for science and engineering. Ernst interrupted Peter, the junior high student, who was adding fuel to the furnace.

"Peter, is it ready?" Ernst asked casually.

"Boss, it's done. See if this is what you wanted!" He then retrieved a wooden box from a counter behind him.

He opened the lid of the box and took out a metal object: a copper handle with thin iron sheets sandwiched between two thicker ones. It was a T-shaped razor.

As a transmigator, Ernst's top priority was to make money. Although Ernst was born a noble, money was always in short supply. Not to mention other things, his noble status wasn't secure. In his past life, Germany lost the war, and even the emperor had to abdicate and flee abroad.

As a noble from a small region, although his status was high (Hechingen was a principality before its annexation, and Constantin was a Prince, now equivalent to a feudal lord), the Hohenzollern Province, despite its grand name, was smaller than the county he lived in during his past life, with a population of less than a hundred thousand.

In such a small territory, his family wasn't the sole dominant power; the neighboring Sigmaringen was clearly more prosperous than his own.

Drawing on historical experience, it was better to use his current noble status to accumulate wealth. Even if the empire collapsed in the future, he would have a place to settle and wouldn't fall into destitution.

Of course, these were distant matters, and Ernst wasn't overly anxious. More importantly, he wanted to fulfill a bold idea from his past life.

As a person reaches a certain status, ambition follows, and Ernst was no exception.

Knowing the future situation, Ernst naturally didn't have a good outlook for the continent's future. Not to mention the distant future, there were already the Prussian wars to unify Germany, and when he got older, there would be two World Wars.

If he insisted on staying in Germany in the future, the demise of the German Empire alone would affect him. By then, German nobles would be like lambs to the slaughter, and no matter how much wealth they possessed, it could be confiscated by the great powers and the republican government. Therefore, he had to arrange a fallback plan in advance.

Europe was by no means a good place. This continent was full of turmoil, with great powers standing side by side. Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and Austria-Hungary were all crammed here. With the future interference of the US and the Soviet Union, Europe had no future. The present was actually the best era for Europe and the best era for Germany.

So, where did Ernst want to go? This brings us to his workplace in his previous life: Tanzania.

When Ernst learned about East African history in his previous life, he often felt a lot of emotion. As Germany's most valuable colony, German East Africa was simply a divinely chosen land.

Unfortunately, Germany went all-in at the end, and German East Africa wasn't even developed before the empire collapsed. Of course, this was also related to the lack of attention from the German government at the time.

Currently, no country in Europe was paying attention to East Africa. Britain and France had vast colonial territories, and Germany had not yet unified. Only the Portuguese had a few scattered outposts along the East African coast, but apart from the plains along the coast of Mozambique, the Portuguese had not ventured deep into the East African interior.

In his previous life, when the Germans invaded East Africa, they didn't encounter any decent resistance. The only ones who left a name were the indigenous tribes of Africa.

These indigenous people were still living in a primitive tribal society, which spoke volumes about the wildness of East Africa.

However, for Ernst, wildness was a good thing. As long as he could develop East Africa through immigration and use various means to relocate the indigenous people living in primitive social systems, couldn't he easily establish a country in the future?

Firstly, East Africa lacked any decent resources (developed late), so few colonists paid attention to it.

Secondly, East Africa had a small population. Unlike the densely populated Philippines in East Asia, colonists couldn't extract much value from the labor force. This also meant a small native population, making them easy to displace and avoiding a repeat of the South African incident.

Lastly, East Africa had good agricultural conditions, vast open land, and was worth cultivating. Other conditions were also not bad.

In Ernst's eyes, as long as he could obtain the administrative rights to East Africa, he could establish an independent kingdom as his future retreat.

This kingdom might be insignificant on a global scale, but after the wave of African independence in the future, the country he built would definitely be able to crush the surrounding indigenous nations.

Of course, the premise was not to make foolish mistakes like the Boers, wanting everything and ending up leaving the country.

It wasn't that Ernst was looking down on them; even a pig could do a better job than those African "benevolent rulers" in later generations.

As for why Ernst believed he could establish a foundation in distant Africa, besides his own optimism about Africa's environment and resources, he also had "benevolent rulers" like Leopold II of Belgium as role models.

Before the great powers set their sights on the African continent, he would create a fait accompli. By then, he could rally Austria-Hungary and Germany under the banner of the German Empire and establish a foundation for the Hohenzollern family overseas.

Of course, the practical problem with all these fantasies was money. Ernst couldn't even afford the initial funds for colonization now, so he had to use his decades of life experience to make money.

That's right, this T-shaped razor in front of him was the first step. At this time, people were still using those straight-handled razors. Ernst was still young and not yet at the age where his beard grew wildly, but even seeing these straight-handled razors made his face ache.

Fortunately, in his previous life, he had seen his grandfather's old-fashioned razor, invented by the American Gillette.

Ernst only remembered the general details of this type of razor. So, after coming to Berlin, he used sketches to have Peter replicate it. Now, it seemed the initial form was complete.

"Peter, you've done a great job. If this razor were to be mass-produced, how difficult do you think it would be?"

Peter's expression was solemn, and he answered Ernst cautiously.

"Boss, look!" As he spoke, he removed the blade from the razor, pinched both ends of the blade, and bent it. With a "snap," the blade broke.

The strength of this thin blade was too low; it was completely unusable. If the problem of the blade's strength couldn't be solved, it would be impossible to sell.

Ernst pondered for a moment and asked, "Are there any solutions?"

Peter replied, "Perhaps metallurgical experts have a solution; we could seek their help. Another method is through repeated experimentation."

"Okay, fine. On one hand, you continue to experiment and find a solution. As for the experts, I'll find a way." Ernst decided to tackle both aspects to resolve this issue as quickly as possible.