Chapter 241 Hechingen enters

Naturally, borrowing money is not so simple. If you want to maximize your interests in the Franco-Prussian War, you must also make political demands.

As a South German state, Hechingen is also obliged to participate in the entry. Although Hechingen is Prussian territory, the name of the Hechingen royal family can still be borrowed.

"Uncle William, Hechingen, as a member of Germany, is also obliged to participate in Prussia's resistance war against France."

Um! William I didn't understand. What did Ernst mean by this? The company's money has been loaned out, but the Hechingen royal family still wants to contribute.

"Although Hechingen is now an indivisible territory of Prussia, our East African Kingdom, as a member of the German State, is also obliged to contribute."

"Well, your East African Kingdom is also planning to join the war!" William I seemed to have heard a big joke. Although the East African Kingdom was a recognized German country on the day it was established, everyone just had fun with the geographical location of East Africa. Don’t really think of Africa as Europe!

"No, Hechingen entered the war as a German state."

"Ernst, with all due respect, Hechingen is now only a nominal German prince. We, Prussia, will do it for us..."

Suddenly, William I paused. He suddenly thought that Hechingen had indeed become a part of Prussia, but there were indeed a group of people with good military qualities inside, and Prussia had no right to requisition them.

Prussia has long implemented a compulsory military service system, but the conscripts can only be forcibly recruited from Prussian citizens. However, the students at the military academy in Hechingen were originally called "Far Eastern students" by Ernst, so they are not Prussian citizens. , and later the East African Kingdom was established, these students from the Far East naturally became citizens of the East African Kingdom.

In fact, Prussia has long been paying attention to the Hechingen Military Academy. After all, recruitment is one of Prussia's most important tasks, and the Hechingen Military Academy is actually an irregular military academy registered in Prussia, that is, the Pheasant School.

At first, the Prussian government did not pay much attention to the pheasant school run by Prince Constantine. After all, Hechingen was a big place with a small population, so what fun could be done.

But they did not expect that this pheasant school did not enroll students in Prussia at all, but instead recruited a large number of so-called "foreign students" from the Far East.

This is nothing. It is a pheasant university, but the students are still from the world's "famous" country in the Far East. Prussia's impression of the Far East is just like what its minister to the Far East saw in Zhili, which is comparable to the Ottoman Empire in the south.

But later, when the Austro-Prussian War broke out, Prussia changed its mind. The local recruitment department in Hechingen mentioned in a report to the central government: Its trainees have good obedience and strong discipline. If you visit its exercises, your military quality can be compared with Compared to the general Prussian army.

In fact, they wanted to recruit a large number of students (compared to the Hechingen area) to be used as cannon fodder. Naturally, they were rejected by the Hechingen royal family at the time. These were "foreign students", not Prussian citizens, and there was a shortage of manpower in East Africa at the time. , Hechingen Military Academy all had crash courses, and they had to be sent to East Africa, so the matter was dropped.

Later, William I began to pay attention to the Hechingen Military Academy, and then we have to talk about the Berlin Military Academy.

Prince Constantine relied on his connections to force two of the best students from the Hechingen Military Academy to study there. At that time, there were only three talents that Ernst valued, and the current Chief of Staff of the Army of the East African Kingdom, Sweite, was one of them. , because Ernst needs someone with outstanding ability to go to East Africa to check and balance the mercenary faction and the consortium faction for him.

The remaining two, who were also one-in-a-million talents, were sent by Ernst to the Berlin Military Academy for further studies.

Is it related to the household? So one can imagine their early life after going to the Berlin Military Academy, but soon the Berlin Military Academy was shocked by their learning ability.

At the Berlin Military Academy, the top military school in the Kingdom of Prussia, the two of them ranked among the best every time. Because they both came from the Hechingen Military Academy, they were called the "Hechingen duo" by students and teachers.

The two heroes performed well, and they were from the Far East. They were also students from the Hechingen Military Academy, a pheasant school. In addition, they used the back door to naturally bring traffic, which led to William I also hearing about it.

He also met the two men at the Berlin Military Academy. They were indeed the best among men. The fame of the two heroes also brought the Hechingen Military Academy to a small reputation in Prussia, which changed the impression of some Prussian people on the Far East. The people of the Far East are not bad, and they have so many talents, but they only blossomed in Prussia. This shows that it is not that the quality of its citizens is weak, but that the government is stupid and deliberately suppresses talents. In other words, our Prussian education is strong.

William I, who had a good impression of the Hechingen Military Academy, asked: "Why don't you participate in the war in the name of the Kingdom of East Africa, but in the name of the Prince of Hechingen?"

"Although East Africa is also a German country, it is located overseas, and Hechingen is a traditional South German state. If a war breaks out between France and Prussia, it will inevitably affect South Germany, and naturally it will participate in the war in the name of Hechingen."

Ernst's explanation is actually to separate the East African Kingdom. The East African Kingdom cannot be at odds with France. After all, it will be the same in the future. But the East African Kingdom wants to get some of the benefits. What to do? Naturally, the trumpet is online. Use Hechingen to get the benefits and then transfer them to the East African Kingdom.

This procedure is so important. If East Africa directly declares war on France, France will inevitably be in trouble in Africa and East Africa in the future.

But Hechingen is different, because Hechingen is really part of Prussia now. No matter how much profit Hechingen gets, the French will also settle the account on Prussia.

"What do you want?" William I asked.

After all, the Hechingen royal family must have taken the initiative to participate in the war because they wanted some benefits.

"Uncle William, it's actually not that difficult. You also know the geographical location of East Africa. We just want to get a French island in the East African waters."

"Island?"

"Yes, this island is part of the Comoros Islands. It is now a French colony and is called Mayotte. For East Africa, the location of this island is very critical, but it is of little use to France because France is in the west. There are other islands in the Indian Ocean and if the kingdom can defeat France we hope to be able to negotiate for Mayotte.”

This request is indeed not high. I have never heard of an island. William I thought, and if an island can be exchanged for the Hechingen Military Academy to join the battlefield, it will be a good deal. For Prussia, the more troops the better. After all, the opponent is France, the "number one army power in Europe". .

"Yes, if Hechingen participates in the war, we will hand over the ownership of this island to the Hechingen royal family after the war."

"By the way, Uncle William, although Hechingen is participating in the war, I hope that the command of this army will be given to cousin Leopold." Ernst said.

"Of course there is no problem!" In William I's opinion, this was not a requirement.

But this was very important to Ernst. The Hechingen Military Academy was his "Whampoa" and he was not really going to be cannon fodder for Prussia.

In this Franco-Prussian War, we can also take advantage of the situation to see what the capabilities of the Hechingen Military Academy are, and at the same time give these students experience. The battlefield is where soldiers grow, and military academies cannot cultivate real military strategists.

The enemies East Africa will face in the future cannot always be indigenous, so it is important for the students of the Hechingen Military Academy to go through war experience. After all, in the future, East Africa will build an East African military system based on them.

Leopold was one of the triggers of the Franco-Prussian War. His Spanish throne was disturbed by the French. Therefore, Leopold still holds an important position in the Prussian army. In the future, he will probably only inherit his father's legacy.

Prince Karl was the original Commander-in-Chief of the Prussian Army, and he had great power in the army, so Leopold rose through the ranks in the Prussian Army. In addition, his younger brother Carol I went to Romania, so in the future Leopold's status in the Prussian Army would be at least It can also be ranked in the top ten.

Ernst felt relieved when he handed over the students from the Hechingen Military Academy to Leopold. After all, they were all his own.