Chapter 505: Acceleration
East Africa did have its own waterworks experts, but they were few in number and not as technically skilled as those from Germany and Austria-Hungary. With this influx of talent, however, nationwide hydraulic infrastructure projects could now proceed more smoothly.
"Your Highness! Isn't your plan a bit... ambitious? East Africa is enormous. If you intend to construct hydraulic systems across all these areas in such a short time—can your nation even handle that?"
The German experts were understandably skeptical. The circles Ernst casually drew on the map covered more area than Germany and Austria combined—these were all designated agricultural zones.
Ernst calmly explained, "You need not worry about that. Our labor supply is more than sufficient to support long-term, large-scale infrastructure work."
"Hmm… Your Highness, if I may ask—are East African citizens really that resilient?"
Ernst replied, "I think you misunderstand. In Africa, the cheapest labor is Black labor. The bulk of this construction workforce will be Black workers. So don't worry—just focus on the job."
After hearing that, the German engineers rolled their eyes and muttered internally: So he's a slave trader after all.
Ernst had no idea what they were thinking—and even if he had, he wouldn't have cared. If being called names was the price of building a better East Africa, so be it.
Besides, large-scale public works were often judged harshly. Take China's Grand Canal from the Sui and Tang dynasties: Emperor Yang of Sui is remembered as a tyrant, and the canal project did exhaust the people—but that very canal earned him recognition as one of China's greatest rulers.
Ernst wasn't trying to build a 2,000-kilometer canal. His goal was purely to boost agricultural production.
That said, the German engineers weren't wrong to call East Africa a "slave state." Germany and Austria-Hungary had never had many overseas colonies. Even if they wanted to run a slave empire, they never got the chance.
After arranging for the engineers, Ernst—the largest slaveholder in the world—turned to another pressing issue: what to do with the Black army units raised during the East Africa–Portugal War.
The war had lasted about six months, and by the end of it, East Africa had trained more than 90,000 Black soldiers.
These were unstable elements, and Ernst's original plan had been to ship them off to the Americas. But when it came time to act, there was a hitch.
"Your Highness, these men have learned a bit of German through training. If the Americans notice, it could be a problem."
"Would the Americans really care? Knowing a few words of German isn't a giveaway."
"The concern is our clients—many are German-American farmers in the western U.S. Some of them noticed the last batch we sent over had a bit of a German accent. They let it slide, but this group received military training and knows some tactical phrases. That could be harder to hide…"
Ernst nodded. "That's a fair point. I suppose we'll need to culturally recondition them."
The aide looked puzzled. "Your Highness, what do you have in mind?"
"Don't break up the Black army yet. Get them an English teacher. One month of lessons before shipping them to America. From now on, all slaves headed to the U.S. will go through the same training."
"Uh… Your Highness, isn't that a bit—devious?"
"Heh. Make sure the first phrase they learn is: MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN," Ernst said with a twisted grin.
His aide gave him a strange look. What the hell does 'make America great again' even mean?
Still, the logic made sense. America's rapid rise had been closely tied to Black labor. In that sense, yes—Black people had helped build America. East Africa wasn't much different. Without the contributions of its Black laborers, it would never have developed this quickly.
Seeing his aide lost in thought, Ernst added, "Blacks are a valuable resource—but resources only have value in the right place. Misplaced, even diamonds are just trash. Their highest value is in America."
The aide wasn't sure what Ernst meant, but one word stuck out: "trash."
In this era, Black Africans were indeed considered prime labor assets. They had been commodified, and compared to other races, their cost-effectiveness was unparalleled. Colonial powers scrambled to get more. Only countries like East Africa and Argentina treated surplus Black populations as a burden.
French colonies in West Africa, for instance, still relied heavily on imported labor for plantation work. That's why an internal slave route now existed across Africa—Black East Africans were transported west via regimes like Msiri's, then sold to French plantation owners.
"We're going to support America's westward expansion. I hear their frontier is short on manpower. Let's fix that—with cheap, high-quality labor. Someday, Americans will owe me a thank-you," Ernst said slyly.
Of course, America alone couldn't absorb them all. South American countries were also key slave markets for East Africa. Ernst hoped this would further accelerate the global racial melting pot.
If American farmers bought fewer machines and more slaves, that was a win for East Africa. Ernst was even willing to lose money shipping them overseas if it meant slowing U.S. modernization.
His goal? Raise the Black population in the U.S. to 20%.
In East Africa, that would be a modest goal—Blacks made up 40–50% of the population there. But in 1879, Blacks accounted for about 15% of the U.S. population. To hit 20%, Ernst would need to send another three million Blacks across the Atlantic.
That would push the U.S. Black population past ten million. Given the U.S. population was between 50 and 60 million, it would bring both nations to parity in Black numbers.
Ernst's plan was to use Black labor to slow America's rise—and hopefully reduce European migration to the U.S. After all, U.S. Blacks had no right to education. They would remain stuck in low-tier labor forever.
As long as the U.S. didn't take an "Indian policy" approach to its Black population, Ernst believed America would evolve just as he hoped—perhaps even more aggressively than in his previous life.
With that in mind, Ernst ordered, "Withdraw 20% of the ships from our Far East immigration lines. Redirect them to the Americas. Let's help speed up America's development."
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