Ivory

Selling naval vessels was, in truth, no different from disposing of scrap copper and rotten iron, except that even scrap copper and rotten iron were highly valuable in this era.

Let alone ironclads equipped with weapons systems—they could be called the most advanced technological weapons of this age, on the same level as aircraft carriers in his previous life.

After Archduke Ferdinand arranged the naval matters, Von der Leyen began reporting to Ernst on East Africa's ivory business from the previous year.

"East Africa's ivory trade has always been thriving. Last year's ivory transaction volume exceeded forty thousand tusks, of which we have more than twenty thousand in storage. In other words, in 1884, roughly more than ten thousand elephants died beneath the guns of East African hunters."

The ivory trade had always been one of East Africa's most prosperous businesses. When Europeans first began colonizing Africa, they were after three things: gold, ivory, and Black slaves. That was why names such as the Gold Coast and Ivory Coast existed. In truth, a "Black Coast" should have existed as well, but Europeans and Americans still needed to erect a memorial arch for chastity.

"How much ivory remains in our stockpile?" Ernst asked.

"More than two million tusks. At the current annual export volume, it will be enough for us to export for over a hundred years."

Over the past twenty years, more than three million elephants had been hunted and killed in East Africa alone, an average slaughter of over one hundred thousand elephants every year. Yet East Africa's wild elephant population still remained at no fewer than six million. East Africa had no relevant statistical data, so its precise numbers were difficult to determine.

In the Early 19th century, the entire African elephant population across Africa should have exceeded