February 3, 1872.
Harare, Zimbabwe.
Ernst led his command staff toward the front. As they passed through Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe in his previous life, he happened to see tobacco planted in the fields, lush and green, brimming with vigorous life.
Ernst had been traveling nonstop these past few days, so he planned to rest here for a while and inspect the development work in Zimbabwe along the way.
Leaka, the mayor of Harare Town, respectfully introduced it. "Your Highness, this is the tobacco-growing area the Hohenzollern Tobacco Company planned for Zimbabwe this year. We have expanded the scale of planting across Zimbabwe this year. In time, the Hohenzollern Tobacco Company's production base will be moved entirely from northern East Africa to Zambia and Zimbabwe, especially Zimbabwe, which will be dedicated to producing premium tobacco."
Seeing his policies implemented so well, Ernst was greatly gratified. Among Zimbabwe's most famous crops, tobacco certainly had to rank among them.
In his previous life, Zimbabwe had been a major tobacco exporter. Zimbabweans once said, "Tobacco means to Zimbabwe what gold means to South Africa—if Johannesburg is a capital forged by gold mines, then Harare has undoubtedly basked in tobacco's glow."
Ernst was no stranger to Zimbabwean tobacco leaves, because during a business trip to Zimbabwe in his previous life, he had met a friend from Far East Tobacco Company.
Ernst himself had found it difficult to understand why Far East Tobacco Company bid for tobacco in Zimbabwe. He had always believed that the Far East was a major tobacco producer—did it still need to import the stuff?
The most absurd part was not the importation, but that Zimbabwean tobacco had to be auctioned. At the Harare tobacco auction, buyers from various countries bid against one another, and the highest bidder won.
Only