Chapter 15 From Amsterdam to Venice

It is June, it is already summer, and the whole of Prussia has not been affected by the war. The streets of Berlin are full of pedestrians, shops and factories are operating normally, and it is a lively scene.

Ernst has been busy with the establishment of the Hechingen Development Bank for two months. Fortunately, it is still very easy to set up a bank in this era, with relatively few barriers and regulations.

After two months of preparations, the Hechingen Development Bank was established. Many company executives under Ernst attended the opening ceremony. After completing the equity confirmation with many factories under Ernst, the Hechingen Consortium Initial shape.

After the establishment of the Hechingen Development Bank, in addition to opening up basic businesses such as savings and loans, the first major move was to invest in the establishment of Berlin Electric Power Company and Berlin Energy Power Company.

This is naturally Ernst's masterpiece. Now the two companies are still empty shells. In order to find managers for the new company, Ernst spent a lot of effort. In addition to visiting various universities, he also conducted interviews with companies in the industry. Examine the job and publish recruitment advertisements in newspapers at the same time, after completing a large amount of screening work.

On July 28, Frenchman Etienne Lenoir became the first general manager of Berlin Energy Power Company. This Etienne Lenoir was the inventor of the first generation internal combustion engine.

Although Lenoir was an important promoter of the development of the internal combustion engine, Lenoir's research consumed a huge amount of financial resources, and no one invested in it, so he was not very wealthy, but lived a life of poverty.

After being invited by Ernst, he readily agreed to Ernst's request, because in addition to offering a generous salary, Ernst also promised to support his research work.

At the same time, a young man named Carl Friedrich Benz, who was about to graduate from school, became Lenoir's assistant.

At this time, Karl Benz was still a student about to graduate from the Karlsruhe Technical College in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

Ernst discovered him in advance and directly asked him to serve as the assistant of the senior Lenoir, skipping his original factory internship career.

Berlin Energy Power Company also invested in the engine patent of a young French man, Alphonse Beau Rocha, and appointed him as a technical consultant. Berlin Energy Power Company took shape initially.

This Alphonse Beau Rorschach is not famous in history, but he was the one who patented the vaporizer patent of Roth August Otto in history.

Ross August Otto was the inventor of the four-stroke engine in history. Ernst originally wanted to find this inventor who influenced the course of human history as a senior executive of the company.

But it was a pity that it was too late. Ross August Otto obtained the patent for the two-stroke engine innovation in 1863, and soon found a partner to fund him, named Eugene. Langen, Eugene Langen is the son of a German sugar businessman and a typical rich second generation. The two jointly established a company that manufactures internal combustion engines.

Now Ross August Otto does not need to find new partners and investors. The factory of the two people has already begun to make a profit.

The newly established Berlin Energy Power Company has also recruited many freshly graduated college students as a talent reserve. College students in this era are genuine elites. With these talents, Berlin Energy Power Company looks impressive.

Ernst's first instruction to the new company was to develop a more advanced four-stroke engine based on Alphonse Bo Rorschach's patent.

Historically, Alphonse Beau Rorschach's patent did not produce any prototypes, so it was forgotten. However, Ernst bought his patent and planned to further improve and develop it.

Coupled with the assistance of Lenoir, a pioneer in the field of internal combustion engines, this goal is not difficult for the new company, and it may even be able to develop a practical four-stroke engine before Ross Auguste Otto.

Lenoir was the first person to invent the internal combustion engine. Although his internal combustion engine was only in its preliminary form and its efficiency was pitifully low, it may be difficult to find a few people in the world who are more familiar with internal combustion engines than Lenoir.

In the future, with Benz, the young man scheduled to take over, Ernst can realize the layout of the automobile industry in advance.

…

On October 3, the young man Carl von Linde was appointed as the first general manager of the Hechingen Development Bank, and the Berlin Electric Company began operations.

Compared to industries such as internal combustion engines, which have steam engines as a foundation, electric power theory has only been recently proposed, and many theories are even immature.

Ernst searched all over Europe before finding a suitable candidate in Carl von Linde, the man who historically invented the refrigeration machine, also known as the refrigerator.

As for talents in other fields of power, it is too difficult to find talents. The most famous Siemens family in Germany is itself a nobleman and is valued by the Prussian government. There is no place for Ernst to put the shovel.

Moreover, Siemens itself is synonymous with cheating. The eponymous figure Ernst only knows about Edison and Tesla in the United States. Of course, those theoretical tycoons Ernst are not counted.

These were geniuses that Ernst had gone to great lengths to find. As a college student majoring in science and engineering, Ernst knew many well-known scientists and inventors in later generations, but some of them had already become famous, or were still somewhere in Europe and the United States. Li Nan has no name, either a child or not born.

After filtering out age and those who don’t need investment cooperation, you still have to find a needle in a haystack all over the world.

Fortunately, these two fields have not yet exploded in great power, and they are the most cutting-edge technologies of this era. Only a few members can engage in related industries and research.

Just look at the list of companies and well-known universities that have made a fortune in these fields and you can still find one or two that stand out.

Regarding the Berlin Electric Power Company, Ernst had no good way to cheat. He could only follow the development of the times and let his people make some small innovations.

In the future, we still have to follow the trend of Siemens and some companies in the United States. After all, you can make some hard money by setting up factories through patent licensing.

…

On October 20, the Congress of Vienna was being held. Ernst came to the Port of Amsterdam in the Netherlands for inspection. This time Ernst’s goal was to find suitable partners to prepare for the development of the Far East market.

As the hometown of the Far East in his previous life, Ernst naturally never forgot it in his heart. Of course, the temptation of interests was also hard to resist. In addition to those resource areas in the contemporary world, there are areas that are coveted by European and American colonists and powers based on their huge population markets. One is India and one is East Asia.

The magical country of India is the lifeblood of Britain, and the Indian brain circuit is so strange that Ernst dare not get involved.

East Asia is different. Ernst dared to pat his chest and say that no one in Europe understands East Asia better than me. Compared with India, a country that kneels on the ground whenever it encounters a strong enemy, East Asians are still somewhat bloody. This makes it difficult for the great powers to fully take root when they open the door to a large country in East Asia.

Even if all the great powers unite, they cannot fully control the situation in East Asia. The forces there are in a mess. Even if you sneak in as a Prussian to make a fortune, it will not be too conspicuous, which is convenient for Ernst to fish in troubled waters.

But it is impossible for Ernst to swim to East Asia by himself, so he needs to find cooperation with the ocean-going commercial fleet. Recently, Ernst has reached an agreement with a number of old Dutch ocean-going trading companies. Ernst will send people to East Asia. Establishing a purely commercial stronghold, the Dutch earned the price difference from the middlemen.

As for the transportation of goods and the transmission of business information in Europe and East Asia, the Dutch can only rely on the Dutch. Compared to a country like the Netherlands, which is based on commerce, the British Ernst is not at ease. You are a German noble. When he went to the UK to cooperate, the British government should pay special attention to it. Ernst didn't want to deal with any officials. That would mean trouble, especially since he didn't have many connections in the UK!

Although the Dutch, who have been sanctioned by the British, cannot compare with the cost and safety of ocean trade compared to the empire on which the sun never sets, they are still more cautious than the British when it comes to destroying signs. After all, the Netherlands can only survive on commercial trade. , credibility is more important in Europe.

Of course, Amsterdam in the Netherlands is only Ernst’s current best choice. In the future, Ernst will shift its focus to ports along the Mediterranean coast.

In a few years, after the Suez Canal was opened, Ernst could use this intelligence advantage to develop his own fleet and routes.

In addition, after the reunification of Germany in the future, commercial trade routes will be able to pass through Austria. Prince Constantine still has some old friends in the Austrian Empire. After all, Hechingen is not far from Austria. From the map alone, Hechingen is closer to Vienna than to Berlin. Being closer also means the route is safer.

Finally, by passing through ports on the Adriatic Sea such as Venice and the Suez Canal, you can avoid detouring most of the western coastline of Africa. The distance to East Asia is directly reduced by half, and the freight is cheaper.

Not to mention these, just say that goods departing from the Netherlands can also be transferred to the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal to reach the destination.

Before Ernst's long-hidden plan begins, Hamburg in Germany is also a transitional option. However, after German reunification, the German region currently lacks experience in ocean-going commerce, and its ship technology is not comparable to that of the Netherlands and Venice.

Therefore, Ernst is not in a hurry to invest in a shipyard in Hamburg. The focus now is Venice. The scale of his industry has not reached the point where he must rely on shipping. After all, he has not yet set foot in bulk commodity trade, so from Berlin to Venice under the Austrian Empire, although it takes Through land transportation, Ernst could also afford the cost.

It won't be too late to build a fleet in Hamburg if you want to trade large-volume commodities in the future.

Therefore, it is time to plan the Mediterranean and visit the locations in advance. After finishing his trip to the Netherlands, Ernst planned to conduct inspections around the Adriatic Sea.