The Battle of Lissa had ended, but it had little impact on Ernst.
Besides stepping up the supply of materials to both warring sides, Ernst now focused most on accelerating immigration from the Far East and Europe.
Although the Binhai District had cleared its land, such a vast expanse lacked sufficient manpower for development. Apart from the few newly established outposts with a small population, the broad lands in between lay abandoned and fallow.
To absorb more immigrants, Ernst sent orders to the East African colony. This time, they were to accelerate immigration. Whether by trickery or force, they had to bring in more people from the Far East.
July 4, 1866. Jiaozhou Bay.
A Dutch fleet that had passed through East Africa docked at Jiaozhou Bay. Unlike before, the personnel responsible for the Hohenzollern Conglomerate's immigration affairs had returned with some Chinese who had already lived in the East African colony for a long time.
They were the earliest batch of Chinese immigrants to reach the East African colony.
Before heading to the East African colony, most of them had been yellow-faced and emaciated, unable even to afford a mouthful of food and on the verge of starving to death. When the Germans recruited workers, they had set sail without much hesitation.
After nearly a year of recuperation in East Africa, they were no longer as thin as before. Their faces glowed with health, their bodies were sturdy, and their eyes in particular revealed a pride difficult to describe.
They had once again set foot on the soil of their homeland, yet they were no longer people of their old country. They were now registered Germans, carrying household registrations from the East African colony.
Unlike before, perhaps they would once have feared the local officials and dignitaries. Now, with the Germans backing them, they instead had confidence.
At that moment, they carried rifles and followed the Germans as they negotiated with Qing China's officials.
Germany had not yet unified, so the Hohenzollern Conglomerate could not fly the banner of the German Empire. Thus, to intimidate these Qing China officials who bullied the weak and feared the strong, these East African Chinese immigrants bearing a mission all carried weapons.
Having received training from German instructors, the Chinese immigrant army responsible for negotiating with foreigners at Jiaozhou Bay looked quite impressive.
Although their weapons were already outdated muzzle-loading flintlocks, on a global scale only the Prussian Army had currently begun large-scale replacement with breech-loading flintlocks. Moreover, these rifles were not secondhand goods retired by Prussia, but new weapons produced by the Hechingen Arms Factory.
Paired with custom-made, brightly colored Prussian military uniforms, they were practically Prussia's East African division. In the eyes of the Manchu Qing Dynasty diplomats who had come to negotiate, they truly had something to them. Compared to Qing China's army at the time, they were simply disciplined troops with the bearing of the imperial army.
This Manchu Qing Dynasty official was a port administrator at Jiaozhou Bay. He had previously known that a so-called "German merchant caravan" had arrived here to conduct trade.
Because Britain and France, as well as the Dutch and Portuguese, had caused such turmoil over the past few years, Qing China officials did not dare offend European merchants or even ordinary Europeans too severely.
What if it sparked a diplomatic incident and gave those foreign barbarians an excuse to declare war? Would the old Emperor spare them?
A few years earlier, foreigners had fought their way from the sea into the Forbidden City. Jiaozhou Bay was far less secure than the Emperor's palace, and the cannons on foreign warships alone would be enough to make them drink a bitter cup.
Therefore, Qing China officials had usually turned a blind eye to the Hohenzollern Conglomerate's activities, terrified of provoking trouble.
The way of officialdom lay in adaptability: seek no merit, only avoid fault. Qing China officials would even lend the Hohenzollern Conglomerate's staff a hand from time to time, fearing that the foreigners might make trouble.
But today was different. No matter how incompetent or weak they were, they could not simply turn a blind eye. The foreigners coming ashore today had brought an army of over a hundred men. What were they trying to do?
After receiving a report from informants at the docks, the port administration did not dare delay and immediately reported to the yamen. Jiaozhou Port's highest-ranking official did not dare show his face, so he sent his deputy, Wang Qiangui, to investigate.
Wang Qiangui cursed his mother inwardly, but he did not dare oppose his superior. After summoning several constables, he went to the docks to assess the situation.
"Mr. Anthony! May I ask what your company intends to do?" Wang Qiangui probed cautiously.
Anthony, a Hohenzollern Conglomerate employee, grabbed Wang Qiangui, whose face was full of distaste even as he pretended to be flattered, and said, "Hahaha, Wang, you came at just the right time. This is our company's private armed force. They have come mainly to assist our company's recruitment work throughout northern China!"
"Mr. Anthony, although we are both 'friendly nations,' we have our own difficulties. After all, your country's army would put our government's higher-ups in a difficult position!"
Wang Qiangui saw through the "plot" of these Prussian barbarians at a glance. They were obviously an army, yet they called themselves a private armed force? Could a bunch of household retainers possibly display such uniforms, such bearing, such spirit?
On the matter of spirit, Wang Qiangui truly had not guessed wrong. Many immigrants in the East African colony had seen blood. After all, the natives would not obediently submit; they still had to take the initiative and strike first.
When selecting the Chinese immigrant army, the colony also prioritized immigrants who had already lived in the colony for some time.
Besides being physically stronger after a period of recuperation, the main reason was that the colony's upper ranks were rather cautious toward new immigrants, while these old immigrants had been tested by time and were "their own people."
Although the Chinese immigrant army said nothing and stood neatly behind Anthony, Wang Qiangui still sensed a faint, intermittent killing intent.
Anthony explained, "Wang, I understand your concerns, but we Germans have come with goodwill. We heard that your country has a large population, especially many idle people, so we have come to recruit workers as usual! After all, you do not need those people incapable of finding employment, while we need people to develop land. If you send your excess population to Germany, would that not reduce your hidden troubles as well?"
Wang Qiangui was not worried about that at all. Employment? Population surplus? What did he know about such things? He merely scraped out a living in the yamen, at most reading the Four Books and Five Classics and looking over official gazettes.
"Mr. Anthony, it is not that I wish to make things difficult for your country, but this army is difficult to handle! If your soldiers suffer some mishap at the hands of our unruly commoners, I will not be able to keep my official hat! My whole family depends on it for food! Sir, please be understanding, will you?"
Seeing that Wang Qiangui would yield neither to soft nor hard tactics, Anthony grew angry. So I gave you face for nothing, did I?
"Wang, I am now giving you a solemn warning. If you cannot agree to our demands, then prepare for war!" Anthony opened with a threat of war, though in truth he only meant to scare Wang Qiangui. Aside from the soldiers before him made up of Chinese immigrants, Anthony could not mobilize a single additional man.
Yet even so, Wang Qiangui lost his nerve. He hurriedly said, "Mr. Anthony! Do not get agitated, do not get agitated. Matters are not so serious. It is simply that this official's rank is low and authority slight, so I cannot make such decisions. Please wait a moment. I will notify my superior at once. I absolutely will not keep you waiting long!"
As he spoke, Wang Qiangui instructed his men to remain there, then ran toward the yamen in a cloud of dust.
"My lord, my lord, you must make a decision! If those Prussian barbarians truly start making trouble, will the Emperor spare us?"
"Tell this official Prussia's background in detail, then I shall think of a solution!" said the fat, big-eared official.
Despising this useless superior in his heart, Wang Qiangui said, "My lord, these Prussian barbarians are also considered a powerful nation in Europe, second only to Britain, France, Russia, and Austria. I have heard that Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, and Prussia belong to the same tier..."
After listening for quite a while, the superior understood one thing: they could not defeat them.
"What is the purpose of their visit?"
Uh...
Wang Qiangui still said, "Same as before, they say they are recruiting workers to labor overseas."
"If that is so, what are you afraid of? How much are a few unruly commoners worth? Send them away first. Remember to send people to watch them. They must not be allowed to come to the yamen. If they truly are recruiting workers, then officials elsewhere should be the ones worried. If they are not recruiting workers but have some other intention, do not meddle so long as it is not too serious. If they head for the yamen... report it promptly. Then this official shall return to the capital and seek some assistance. Until then, you may temporarily preside over affairs in this official's place."
And so, the colony's immigrant army and the liaison office staff responsible for recruitment swaggered toward the interior. The yamen along the route all dared not obstruct them, and even assisted their recruitment work inland.
After all, they only wanted mud-legged peasants. They were not worth much.
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