Recaps

Ernst oversaw the rapid development of Second Town, where Chinese immigrants began cultivating Indica rice near the Little Rhine River. As newcomer Li Tiezhu learned from Uncle Jiaxiang that hard work could earn the workers meat, the immigrants grew more eager to work.

• Ernst considered Chinese immigrants unlikely to rebel and regarded the captured natives as the greater security concern.
• Second Town developed quickly, and its settlers planted Indica rice using water drawn from the Little Rhine River.
• Li Tiezhu asked Uncle Jiaxiang whether the Kielman masters could be trusted.
• Uncle Jiaxiang reassured Li Tiezhu by comparing their new life favorably with their hardship as tenant farmers in Great Qing.
• After hearing that diligent workers could earn meat, Li Tiezhu and the nearby immigrants worked harder on the irrigation channel.

Ernst used a map of the East African interior to plan an expansion centered on major lakes and inland strongholds. He ordered Tom to send the plan and weapons to the colony and organize settlers and troops to establish control.

• Ernst renamed several lakes on the map, including Lake Victoria as Great Lake, Lake Albert as Lake Frederick, Lake Edward as Lake Constantin, Lake Tanganyika as Lake Solen, and Lake Nyasa as Lake Malawi.
• Ernst marked six strongholds near Mwanza, Kigoma, Karonga, Dodoma, Tabora, and Mbeya, planning to expand across the region between Great Lake, Lake Solen, and Lake Malawi.
• Ernst told Tom to send copies of the plans to the East African colony and organize six hundred Chinese immigrants into six musket groups to secure the strongholds.
• Ernst ordered five hundred early immigrants to be relocated to each stronghold and instructed Germans to manage the weapons' ammunition.
• Ernst directed Tom to appoint trusted company employees, preferably Berlin locals with families, to share administrative authority and maintain public order.

Under Ernst’s orders, the East African colony organized its first Chinese army to secure routes and establish new outposts. Zhou Wei and Andre prepared the Fourth Squad for its mission to the Kigoma region, and five days later six teams set out to conquer East Africa.

• First Town registered recruits, including Wang Tiegen, and issued them uniforms, muskets, and numbered cards.
• Andre introduced the East Africa Vanguard Fourth Squad and announced its mission to open land in the Kigoma region.
• Zhou Wei addressed the recruits, imposed military discipline, and ordered them to assemble for three days of training.
• Zhou Wei discussed the colony and the students’ prospects with Wang Mingdong and Gao Youming in their dormitory.
• Five days later, six equipped colonial teams swore their oaths and set out across East Africa.

Heavy rains halted the East African advance party’s march inland, forcing Andre and Zhou Wei to rest and protect their supplies. After a pause, the party resumed its difficult journey toward Lake Tanganyika.

• Torrential rains flooded the land and forced the advance party to stop on high ground.
• Zhou Wei supervised the men as they stored food and ammunition above the wet ground, and Andre agreed to rest for a day.
• Andre recalled serving in the European war against Napoleon and praised Zhou Wei and the Chinese settlers for their discipline and diligence.
• Zhou Wei said he was a German citizen and shared Lord Ernst’s belief that anyone devoted to Germany could be a true German.
• Zhou Wei inspected the sentries through the rainy night while the rest of the party slept.
• On the third day, the advance party resumed its muddy march toward Lake Tanganyika.

The First Team of the East African Advance Corps reached Dodoma and began clearing land and preparing a camp, while Ernst considered the region’s sparse population and his plans for East Africa. The immigrants settled in for the night under strict sanitation rules as construction continued.

• The First Team began building its camp near Dodoma while the other teams were still traveling.
• The soldiers set fires across the land, and more than five hundred immigrants turned the ash-covered soil.
• Nearby tribes watched the unfamiliar newcomers cautiously, while the First Team avoided confrontation and focused on camp construction.
• Ernst reflected on Dodoma’s strategic value, East Africa’s population, and his long-term plans to relocate natives and integrate immigrants.
• The commander enforced Ernst’s sanitation rules, and the immigrants rested on crude beds after a day of labor.

The Sixth Company defeated the Leta tribe after its chief, Haru, led a direct charge against their firearms. The company occupied the tribe’s village, while the scattered Leta fled toward Zimbabwe.

• Haru rallied the Leta warriors and marched to confront the Sixth Company, mistaking their muskets for spears.
• Yuri arranged his men in firing ranks as the Leta charged, and volleys wounded Haru and brought down dozens of warriors.
• The Leta force panicked under continued fire, and Yuri led the Sixth Company in pursuit.
• By dusk, the Leta had suffered more than three hundred dead and wounded, and the Sixth Company had captured sixty-two people, including Haru.
• Yuri drove the leaderless Leta away toward Zimbabwe and occupied their village for the night.

Prince Constantin celebrated the early completion of Hohenzollern Castle, where members of the Hohenzollern family gathered amid Prussia’s preparations for war. Ernst discussed his East African colony with Leopold and Crown Prince Frederick, who affirmed Prussia’s mission to unify the German territories.

• Ernst accelerated Hohenzollern Castle’s reconstruction and bought ownership rights from Prussia, raising the Hechingen branch’s share to fifty percent.
• Prince Constantin, Crown Prince Frederick, Prince Karl Anton, Leopold, and other Hohenzollern relatives attended the castle’s completion ceremony.
• Ernst reassured Leopold that Karl could handle the unstable situation in Romania and described his East African colony as a small agricultural venture.
• Frederick lamented that European powers had claimed most overseas colonies, and Ernst argued that Germany first needed to unify its territories.
• Frederick declared that the House of Hohenzollern had a duty to unify Germany, signaling Prussia’s resolve to confront Austria.

Ernst visited Berlin Electric Company and saw that Carl von Linde had developed a working electric lamp, though its short lifespan and inadequate vacuum technology remained obstacles. Ernst brought Linde to Lenoir and his researchers, who devised a promising improvement and agreed to collaborate on testing it.

• Ernst returned to Berlin and found Carl von Linde working in the laboratory at Berlin Electric Company.
• Carl von Linde showed Ernst a handmade electric lamp that produced light but could remain lit for only about six hours.
• Carl von Linde explained that inadequate vacuum technology was limiting the lamp, so Ernst proposed asking the machinery specialists at Berlin Energy Power Company for help.
• Ernst and Carl von Linde met Lenoir, who reviewed Linde's blueprints and identified materials research as the key to improving the vacuum technology.
• Lenoir, Linde, Benz, and the other researchers discussed and refined a solution, then agreed to collaborate on at least three months of experiments and jointly file a patent owned by Hechingen Bank.

In May 1866, Ernst attended a class reunion and caught up with Garrett, who had joined the army. Meanwhile, Wilhelm I ordered Prussia’s final preparations for war against Austria, and Prussian mobilization accelerated ahead of Austria’s and Italy’s.

• Ernst attended his class reunion at a grand Berlin hotel and met Garrett, now a staff officer in the 23rd Infantry Regiment.
• Garrett asked Ernst for military information and joked that Ernst had built a successful business while he remained a poor student.
• Wilhelm I, Bismarck, and Moltke reviewed Prussia’s preparations and agreed to focus first on Austria and keep the southern German states neutral.
• Wilhelm I appointed Moltke Commander-in-Chief, ordered Prussia into a state of war, and demanded the early training of reservists and expanded military transport.
• Prussia sent its new corps west, summoned reservists, increased railway traffic, and expanded telegraph lines as Austria and Italy also prepared for war.

Immigrants at Dar es Salaam Port unloaded horses from Russia and cattle from the Netherlands and herded them to a new livestock farm near First Town. As they settled the animals, they discussed their improved lives in Africa and hoped to choose their futures after completing their twenty-year contracts.

• Immigrants and colonial officials gathered at Dar es Salaam Port, where Dutch ships arrived carrying horses and cattle.
• The immigrants unloaded the livestock and drove them toward First Town while Dehr tested a Russian horse in the open grounds.
• Ernst’s plans for animal husbandry were explained, including his purchase of Russian horses and Dutch cattle to provide animal power for the colony.
• The immigrants built a camp and fenced pasture between First Town and Third Town, where officials assigned people to care for the animals.
• The immigrants recalled the hardship they had escaped in Qing China and discussed Pierce Lee’s explanation that they could decide whether to stay or return after twenty years of work.

The East African colony established Binhai District and sent a 2,321-man force to drive indigenous tribes from its territory. As the operation proceeded, Ernst worried about the influence of Chinese-speaking military academy students and planned to add European orphans to the academy to supervise and balance them.

• The colony established Binhai District around six towns and organized a two-thousand-man army to clear indigenous tribes from the area.
• Luo Xia led 2,321 soldiers in the district operation, and troops at Manda drove fleeing indigenous people north.
• Ernst recognized that Hechingen Military Academy students had considerable influence over the Chinese soldiers and worried they might form a separate faction.
• Ernst planned to recruit European orphans, teach them German and Chinese, and educate them alongside Chinese students to monitor the colonial army.

The chapter recounts the opening of the 1866 Prussian-Austrian War, focusing on Prussia’s rapid mobilization, railway advantages, and victory over Austria at Königgrätz. Austria also fought Italy, while the war ended with mixed results across the other German states.

• On June 14, Prussia declared war on Austria and swiftly occupied the governments and railway hubs of small northern German states that supported Austria.
• Prussia used universal conscription, nearby military districts, and an extensive railway network to mobilize and concentrate its forces faster than Austria.
• On June 23, Prussian forces advanced to the Zawidów–Zittau line, and the armies fought at the Battle of Traun on June 26.
• On July 3, Moltke’s Prussian forces defeated Ludwig von Benedek’s Austrian army at Königgrätz, inflicting far heavier casualties despite Austria’s numerical advantage.
• Hanover defeated Prussia at Langensalza before surrendering, while Prussia fought Bavaria along the Main and besieged Würzburg.
• Austria defeated Italy at Custoza on June 24 and at the naval Battle of Lissa on July 20.

The East African colony expanded cultivation in the Binhai District, relying on horses, rivers, and a stable agricultural calendar while new immigrants arrived. Manda’s farms and sisal hills were taking shape as the colony continued to grow in relative peace.

• The East African Colony Coastal District drove out most natives, freed some with their weapons, and expected their displacement to spark conflicts with neighboring tribes.
• The colony prioritized rice near the humid coast, wheat and millet in drier western regions, and expanded sisal and clove cultivation.
• Ernst chose horse plowing for the colony, using horses for farming, transport, communications, and exploration.
• Immigrants settled around Manda as fields were plowed and planted, river water was diverted into rice paddies, and sisal covered nearby hills.
• Northern immigration to East Africa increased amid unrest in East Asia, while Ernst preferred immigrants who did not organize into rival groups.
• The peaceful colony expanded house construction, farmland, canals, roads, and livestock raising while Prussia and Austria fought in Europe.

The Italian fleet’s attack on Lissa was broken by Tegetthoff’s Austro-Hungarian fleet, which relieved the island and sank the ironclad Italy. The chapter ends by describing the battle’s influence on naval tactics and ironclad warfare.

• Persano led the Italian fleet in repeated attacks on Lissa, but Austrian defenders repelled the landings and damaged Italian ships.
• Tegetthoff sailed from Pola to relieve Lissa and arranged his fleet in three V-shaped columns.
• Persano moved his flag to Affondatore, creating a gap in the Italian formation that Tegetthoff exploited by charging through it.
• Ferdinand Max rammed Italy, which lost control, capsized, and sank; the Italian fleet then withdrew.
• Tegetthoff returned as a national hero, while Persano was relieved of command after the war.

Ernst sent East African immigrants back to Jiaozhou Bay as an armed recruitment force, and their confident arrival alarmed Qing officials. After the local authorities chose not to resist them, the group traveled inland to recruit workers with official assistance.

• Ernst ordered the East African colony to accelerate immigration from the Far East and Europe, using whatever means necessary to bring in more people.
• On July 4, 1866, Anthony and more than a hundred Chinese immigrants from East Africa arrived at Jiaozhou Bay armed and dressed in Prussian-style uniforms.
• Wang Qiangui questioned Anthony about the armed group, and Anthony warned that the company would prepare for war if its recruitment demands were rejected.
• Wang Qiangui's superior concluded that Qing officials could not defeat the foreigners and ordered his deputy to let them proceed while avoiding trouble.
• The immigrant army and Hohenzollern Conglomerate staff traveled inland, while local yamen officials refrained from obstructing them and helped with recruitment.

Wang Dazhi returned to Mopan Village from East Africa to recruit Chinese immigrants, boasting about his improved life and the colony’s opportunities. The villagers became eager to join him and spread his recruitment pitch throughout the village.

• East African officials sent Wang Dazhi back to Qing China to recruit immigrants, while Ernst planned to reserve land grants for future military service.
• Wang Dazhi arrived in Mopan Village with armed soldiers and used a loudspeaker to reassure the frightened villagers.
• Wang Dazhi told Old Xu and other villagers that he had become a deputy squad leader and described the meals, pay, clothing, and work he received in East Africa.
• Wang Dazhi acknowledged that East Africa had few women but promised prospects for marriage and urged villagers to join him.
• Old Xu and the others eagerly agreed to recruit villagers, then went door to door spreading increasingly extravagant stories about East Africa.

Recruiters such as Zhang Gensheng persuaded tens of thousands of Chinese people to immigrate to the East African colony, where the new arrivals expanded settlement and cultivation in Binhai District. By the end of October 1866, the colony controlled key areas in Tanganyika and had grown to more than 97,000 people, though native tribes still occupied vast lands between its settlements.

• Zhang Gensheng returned to his drought-stricken hometown, and his healthy appearance and account of East Africa persuaded more than a thousand villagers to register for immigration.
• Jiaozhou Bay staff sent grain and medicine to manage the arrivals, while the colony arranged more ships and Ernst purchased additional grain for its stores.
• More than 50,000 immigrants arrived over the next three months, filling Binhai District and prompting the Dutch to run ships in three rotations between Dar es Salaam and East Asia.
• Colonial officials dispersed immigrants from different regions among new villages, distributed farming tools, and sent them to reclaim land and build roads across Binhai District.
• By the end of October 1866, the East African colony's population exceeded 97,000 and it controlled key sites in Tanganyika, while millions of natives remained outside its settlements.

Ernst reorganized the East African colony into a government, ten major regions, cities, and villages, while setting southern expansion as a future goal. In the newly designated Upper Coastal Region, settlers developed Longka Village as an exploration team began heading south toward lands the colony had not yet controlled.

• Ernst separated First Town and Second Town from Binhai District and divided the colony into ten major regions with planned capitals.
• The colony designated cities and villages as lower administrative units and identified the Middle Coastal, Lower Coastal, and East Lake Malawi Regions as expansion targets.
• Liu Damao arrived at Longka Village after losing his farmland in North China and began clearing fields with the other settlers under German supervision.
• The colony stationed small security squads in villages such as Longka to guard against raids by displaced indigenous tribes.
• An East African exploration team set out south toward the planned Middle Coastal and Lower Coastal Regions.

After Prussia's victory over Austria, Ernst attended the royal celebration and saw the Hohenzollern Conglomerate benefit from Prussia's rising influence. As Ernst mingled with nobles and expanded Hohenzollern Development Bank's reach, Constantin decided it was time to find him a marriage match.

• Prussia and Austria signed an armistice, ending the Seven Weeks' War and establishing Prussian dominance in the German territories.
• King Wilhelm I celebrated Prussia's victory at a royal palace banquet attended by Constantin, Ernst, Bismarck, Moltke, and other nobles and soldiers.
• Ernst met noble acquaintances at the banquet and attracted interest because of his wealth and status.
• Nobles borrowed from Hohenzollern Development Bank, and some introduced its deposit services to people in their territories.
• Constantin watched Ernst interact with the nobles and decided to seek a marriage match for his son.

Roenroda was established as the capital of the sparsely populated Lower Coastal Region, where officials Thomas and Li Wenhua organized its settlement and development. After the colonial security forces drove out three nearby tribes, the settlers began building a fortified village and testing tobacco cultivation.

• The first immigrants arrived in Roenroda on October 7, 1866, bringing its population to more than six hundred.
• Thomas became Roenroda's highest administrative official, with Li Wenhua serving as his deputy and helping carry out colonial policies.
• Thomas and Li Wenhua led two hundred security troops to drive out the Chigugu, Muvina, and Lindi tribes near Roenroda.
• The security forces cleared nearby wild animals, joined the immigrants, and began guarding the new village's watchtowers, trenches, fences, and drawbridges.
• The settlers planted rice as their main crop and began testing tobacco as a cash crop for the Hohenzollern Tobacco Company.

Ernst oversaw the launch of five ocean-going ships and began organizing a trading fleet to carry supplies to East Africa and the Far East. He left Erik to recruit sailors and seek more ships while the fleet began sea trials in the Adriatic.

• Ernst attended the launch of five wooden sailing ships fitted with steam power and questioned the shipyard staff about their safety.
• Ernst told Erik to recruit experienced sailors and arrange transport of machinery to East Africa.
• Prince Constantin reviewed marriage prospects and narrowed his choices to three families, planning to decide after Ernst returned.
• Ernst registered the five ships under Hechingen Overseas Trading Company and told Erik to look for secondhand vessels to expand the fleet.
• The five ships began sea trials in the Adriatic, with Ernst aboard one of them.

Ernst’s father, Prince Constantin, urged him to consider marriage and presented three royal candidates, including Princess Karina of the House of Habsburg. The chapter left Ernst surprised to learn that Empress Dowager Sophie had selected him as a possible husband for Karina because of his ability, character, and status.

• Prince Constantin told Ernst that it was time to plan his marriage and showed him documents for Princess Heidi of Sweden, Princess Martha of Russia, and Princess Karina of Austria.
• Constantin explained that he had checked the candidates’ family medical histories and wanted a healthy match for Ernst.
• Ernst discovered that Princess Karina was Maximilian I’s daughter and had been raised by Empress Dowager Sophie.
• Constantin said Sophie chose Ernst for Karina because she valued his ability, character, and standing among European nobles.

Ernst agreed to an engagement with Princess Karina to strengthen his influence in Austria-Hungary and protect his plans for East Africa. After the families announced the engagement, Ernst began considering a risky plan to rescue his future father-in-law, Maximilian I, from Mexico.

• Ernst told Prince Constantin that marrying Princess Karina would help secure the family's industries and trade routes across Greater Germany.
• Empress Dowager Sophie chose Ernst as Karina's future husband, and Franz approved despite reservations about Ernst's status.
• Constantin traveled to Vienna, where the families agreed to an engagement and arranged for Ernst and Karina to marry when he was in his twenties.
• On November 3, 1866, Ernst and Karina attended their engagement ceremony and exchanged tokens of affection.
• Ernst considered sending students from Hechingen Academy into Mexico in disguise to rescue Maximilian I before his expected execution.

Ernst’s East African colony faced rampant mosquitoes and infectious disease, especially malaria, so he enforced sanitation rules, cultivated medicinal plants, and relied on isolation to protect immigrants. The chapter left inland settlements responsible for preventing outbreaks despite their limited supplies and medical care.

• The chapter described Mwanza and Lake Victoria as a fertile, humid region where mosquitoes and tropical diseases threatened settlers.
• Ernst’s previous experience contracting malaria made disease prevention a priority as the East African colony expanded inland.
• The colonial administration controlled water pollution, cleared mosquito habitats, released larva-eating fish, and cultivated cinchona and other medicinal plants.
• Ernst provided quinine and other remedies where possible, while patients with suspected infections were isolated.
• Colonial officials enforced strict rules for waste disposal, food, and sanitation, keeping disease levels comparatively low.

Ernst established schools in Hechingen and the East African colony to educate Chinese and German children, prepare future specialists, and spread German literacy and colonial values. In First Town, immigrant families adapted schooling and their new surroundings while Chinese and German settlers built a largely harmonious community.

• Hechingen Cultural School opened for Chinese and local children, while Hechingen Military Academy continued training recruits bound for East Africa.
• Ernst arranged for promising Cultural School pupils to continue into German secondary schools and universities, while less successful students could work in factories, teach, or join the military academy.
• The colony opened its first German primary school in First Town and required Chinese immigrants there to send their children to classes taught by military-academy graduates.
• Children studied German, arithmetic, and loyalty to the sovereign for half a day, while their families used spare land to grow vegetables and raise poultry for extra income.
• Chinese immigrants and German settlers exchanged agricultural knowledge and generally got along, despite differences in education, wages, and attitudes toward personal space.