Chapter 1 Crossing
February 24, 1862, Germany.
Late at night, the drunken stars emitted a faint light in the black and cold sky.
The perspective turned to the south of Germany, and the branches and leaves of the street trees in the ancient city of Heixingen blowing in the cold wind in the early winter.
The rotten wood-colored streetlights are connected into light and shadows, illuminating the street made of dark cyan slate. The pedestrians on the street are lonely, and the empty sound of the darkness comes from the black alley.
Through the intertwined house windows on both sides of the street, it seems that you can hear people whispering.
It is time for the citizens of Heixinggen to enjoy dinner. The light and shadow of candlelight swayed freely in the dark wooden window frame like a natural dancer.
Walking along the road and slowly leaving the block, a road to the outside of the city suddenly opened up. Along the low ramp, a luxurious carriage slowly drove out of the city and followed the road to the distant hills, on which stood a solemn castle.
Soon, the carriage drove to the gate of the castle. The armed guards saw the visitor clearly and opened the gate. The carriage slowly drove into the castle.
The carriage was not sit anyone else, but the ruler of the Heisingen region, Prince Constantine of the Kingdom of Prussia.
Heixingen was originally a small country in southeastern Germany, the birthplace of the Hohenzollern family, and now it is part of the Hohenzollern province of Prussia.
The decision maker who pushed Heichingen to join the Kingdom of Prussia was Prince Constantine, whose full name was Constantine von Hohenzollern.
Prince Constantine, who had been working hard for a day, finally returned home and was about to return to his room to rest.
Suddenly, a rapid footsteps came from the corridor, and it was the old housekeeper Kaino.
"Sir, it's not good. It's a big deal!" Keno reported to Constantine in panic.
"What's going on, Kaino, don't worry, say it slowly?" Constantine said calmly and naturally.
"Today, His Royal Highness suddenly fainted while riding a horse. Now the doctor is diagnosing. Sir, go and have a look!" Kaino quickly explained.
Hearing that his son had an accident, Constantine's superior's majesty couldn't stand it. Regardless of his fatigue, he followed the housekeeper to his son's bedroom.
The servants were waiting in front of the door and did not dare to take a breath, carefully waiting for the arrival of the old master.
Constantine couldn't say anything, so he pushed open the bedroom door and walked in. His son Ernst was lying in bed.
Looking at Ernst, who had been "awakened" in front of him, Constantine's heart was relieved. Looking at the doctor waiting beside him, Constantine asked, "Doctor, how's the situation?"
The doctor did not dare to neglect and replied respectfully, "Your Excellency, the prince is not serious at present, but the cause of the fainting is not certain. It is very likely that it is caused by excessive fatigue. We'd better ask His Royal Highness later."
Constantine carefully came to the hospital bed, held his son's childish hand and asked, "Ernest, how do you feel?"
...
Ernst felt that his whole body was ignorant and a little dull. Suddenly, when he heard someone asking, he didn't dare to show too deliberately. He whispered, "Well, I feel a little confused, and now I'm still a little unconscious."
"Then do you remember who I am?" Prince Constantine asked eagerly.
"Of course, father, it may be the sequela of my fainting. There should be no big problem."
Constantine turned his head to see the doctor, and the doctor quickly replied, "Don't worry too much, Prince. The prince's physical condition has been checked before. He is very healthy. You can rest for a while, and then observe. If there is any situation, I will follow up the treatment in time."
Looking at the already dark sky outside the window, Prince Constantine thought for a moment and said, "Well, all right, you all go down!" Let the prince have a good rest.
Everyone quietly left the room. The old housekeeper closed the door when he left. Prince Constantine, who was relieved, found that he was in a cold sweat behind him. Prince Constantine put his hand on his chest and said devoutly, "Thank you for your protection!"
Prince Ernst, as the only seed of the Hexing root of the Hohenzollern family, has been Constantine's heart since childhood.
Constantine had this child when he was 50 years old. Shortly after Ernst was born, his wife O'Jenny de Boarnet died of a cold infection, so Prince Constantine particularly cherished Prince Ernst.
Of course, Constantine has no children in history. From the moment Ernst was born, the timeline of history has changed, and new branches have been opened from the main branch.
At this moment, Ernst did not dare to breathe for a moment. He lay in bed and became an ostrich, because only he knew that he was actually a time traveler. Today, I suddenly awakened the memory of my previous life, so I fainted. In my previous life, I was a "motherlander". I was not only a ox or a horse, but also a dead person. Occasionally, I read some novels to relieve boredom and vent my emotions in the group.
Of course, Ernst has been here for 12 years, and I didn't know that I was a traveler until today. Is this a new life? It feels like a dreamie of Zhou Mengdie.
Fortunately, the knowledge and common sense learned in the previous life can't deceive you, plus the supporting evidence of historical events, such as the dead, the Napoleon the Great of the Miston Continent, the loose German Confededece, the still developing Prussia, the majestic Austrian Empire, and my identity as a member of the Hohenzollern family...
Speaking of the Hohenzollern family, it is very famous, but there is still some difference between the Ernst family and the famous Hohenzollen in the Prussianburg. My family is the young branch of Hohenzollern, located in the southwestern part of Germany in the previous life, next to the Sigmalingen branch of the Hohenzollern family. Hexingen, where he lives, belongs to the Schwaben branch, and this Sig-Maringen happens to be understood in Ernst's shallow knowledge.
Historically, he has planned the throne of Spain and the emperor of Romania in the future. In this way, except for his own, they are all prominent families who have left a name in history books.
If you want to ask why there is nothing wrong with Hexingen Hohenzolen, um... Because Hexingen in history is extinct, but the arrival of Ernst has changed history.
While Ernst was still sorting out his brain circuits and memories, Constantine had come to his senses and began to ask, "Do you feel better?" Ernst.
"Yes, father, I want to sleep and I can be alive again." Ernst responded easily.
"It's okay. You will inherit the title in the future. Don't be under too much pressure. It doesn't matter if you live a muddle-headed life. I don't want you to make progress, but you must grow up healthily. You should pay more attention to rest and eat more healthy food. Don't learn from those prodigals and dandys too much indulge. ..."
Barbara said a lot, and then Constantine gave up. He tocked the Ernst quilt, told him to have a good rest, and called the servant if he had something to do. Then he got up and left the room.
The candlelight flashed faintly, illuminating the dark wall, and the room fell into silence.
Ernst curled up in the quilt, made his body warmer, and began to sort out his thoughts.
Speaking of which, Ernst in his previous life did a promising job and was sent by the company to Africa as an engineering consultant. His days in Africa were boring, and he often migrated with the construction site.
In my previous life, my place of work was basically isolated from the wilderness. The power was often cut off, and sometimes there was a supply shortage. Fortunately, the salary was not over.
The days in Africa have greatly changed Ernst's perception. Ernst worked in Tanzania, a distant African country in his previous life.
The days of working in Tanzania gave Ernst a new understanding of Africa. Before going to Africa in person, he was influenced by the media and news. In Ernst's impression, Africa was synonymous with backwardness, poverty, harsh natural conditions and turbulence.
But really working and living there, Ernst overturned his previous ideas, and most of the information on the Internet was generalized.
In terms of the environment alone, the temperature and precipitation conditions in Tanzania are better than the North China Plain in my hometown.
Originally, it was known that Africa was unbearable heat, with huge tropical rainforests, endless savannahs, and huge deserts in the Sahara reflected in Ernst's mind, but in Tanzania, Ernst found that the temperature here was between more than ten degrees and thirty degrees, which was not cold or hot. Every year, the rainy season is also full of precipitation, and the rain and heat conditions are excellent.
Tanzania is a small country in unknown. For work reasons, Ernst began to be familiar with it. Through the information inquiry on the Internet and comparison with the actual situation, he will find that the country is unexpected.
Although it is located in the tropics, it has become a livable place because of the plateau terrain, similar to the Brazilian plateau.
The land is flat, the vegetation is dense, and the savannas are in the majority, which has also changed my perception, because the grasslands in Africa have conflicted with the grasslands of their traditional understanding.
Before he saw the savanna with his own eyes, Ernst naturally imagined the grasslands of the world as the Mongolian grasslands.
But in Africa, Ernst saw a different scenery. The savanna can be said to be a unique landscape combining trees and grasslands, which looks very pleasing to the eye. The water and heat conditions far exceed that of the Mongolian grassland. From childhood to the great history, the Mongolian region has been described as a bitter cold place in the north of the country, while the savannas in Africa. But it is a real natural paradise.
Farmers here can generally have a good harvest, and it is based on rough planting methods. The biggest distress of local farmers may be that water irrigation is relatively difficult, lack of water conservancy projects and basic farmland irrigation systems.
The living standards of the locals are not too bad, and the rough lifestyle can also make poor Africans happy.
Because of its location in the savannah, fruits and meat can be supplemented to a certain extent, and the rough economic form of small farmers is a little higher than that of the farmers' living standard at the end of the ancient East Asian dynasty.
Of course, life attitude is also an important factor. In the colonial history of nearly a hundred years, it has been pulled from the primitive hunting lifestyle to modern society by Westerners.
The concept of Africans has not changed in time, and it is difficult to reflect the complex, delicate and natural survival pattern of East Asians in Africa.
Industrial conditions also have a major feature in Africa. The mineral resources here are not as superior as those mentioned on the Internet, just taking Tanzania as an example.
This is a country for mining and export, but many major mineral resources are actually not as rich as expected. There are coal, iron, copper and oil, but compared with those real resource countries, there are not many.
Many resources are not among the best in the world, but the extremely low level of industrialization has caused the wealth of mining resources.
In my impression, East Asia is a poor mining country, which is actually related to the high industrialization of East Asia, but compared with the actual mineral resources reserves, Tanzania is the younger brother.
In terms of single-cond coal and iron oil, East Asia has world-class large mines, and the least oil also has several famous large oil fields.
Tanzania was also an oil-poor country before the discovery of oil on the east coast. But Tanzania is not a small country in people's traditional perception.
In terms of land area, 940,000 square kilometers is almost one-tenth of East Asia, but the deserts in the northwest of East Asia alone account for nearly a quarter of the area. There are also high-alpine plateaus that are too high to develop, countless mountains, and only the east has considerable agricultural development conditions.
Tanzania is mainly a plateau, but the plateau is not too high at sea level, the terrain is relatively flat, and the equator is interspersed, the temperature is appropriate, and the precipitation is moderate. On the contrary, it has created a well-known agricultural country in Africa. Tanzania's comprehensive natural agricultural conditions are estimated to be second only to Nigeria in Africa.
In terms of population, Tanzania is also a large international standard population, with a population of 50 million and is still growing rapidly. However, there are still many unreclaimed land in Tanzania, and the fishery resources have not been fully developed, and the population limit is more than that.
As for industrial conditions, although mineral resources are not very abundant, it depends on who to compare with, at least a group of small and medium-sized countries in Europe are beyond the reach of. It is completely enough to meet the requirements of primary industrialization. Africa's overall mineral resources are not abundant on all continents. The resources are concentrated in South Africa and West Africa, as well as North Africa, where oil resources are unique. Tanzania's mineral resources are also medium-sized in Africa.
Tanzania is also not bad in terms of transportation. Located on the traditional commercial waterway of the Indian Ocean, Dar es Salaam is one of the few well-known ports in Africa. Before the opening of the Suez Canal, it was an important world-class business node and the pearl of the Indian Ocean. The historical oping Omani Empire established a semicon here - Sanjbah. The kingdom.
From this, it can be seen that Tanzania's conditions are not bad in all aspects, so why is the level of development so low?
Before Ernst went to work in Africa, influenced by the traditional media, he believed that there was only one reason for poverty in Africa. Africans were lazy and depended on the weather.
But after coming to Africa, Ernst found that this idea was one-sided, which was a kind of appearance.
Many factors are the source of poverty in Africa. Before the arrival of the colonists, the overall level of civilization on the African continent was very low. The isolation of the Sahara Desert led to most parts of southern Africa as civilized deserts. Only Ethiopia in West Africa and East Africa developed an independent civilization and was greatly influenced by the Arabs. Ring.
The Bantu people in West Africa were the first to develop to the south, but the Bantu people only developed the civilized characteristics of the early country. The technical level was extremely low. They migrated to the south through the Congo rainforest and the wild beast-ripes of the Central African savannah. The expansion of the Omani Empire in the Middle East was also limited to the island of Zanzibar and the coast of East Africa, and the civilization did not expand inland into Africa.
In Central and South Africa, there is a widespread tribal social form dominated by hunting. The tribes on the Mongolian grassland have been influenced by the Central Plains culture and have developed political power. But in Africa, it is the desert of the regime. Native natives live a life of fighting against beasts.
The arrival of the Westerners has pulled this area with primitive tribes as the main form into the system of modern society.
According to Ernst's own experience, this destructive way is difficult to integrate the local indigenous people into modern social forms. For example, the western mountainous areas of the East Asian Tianfu Kingdom were still slavery when the Republic was founded, and it was difficult to change some of the habits of the locals after nearly a hundred years of integration and support.
What's more, the Westerners and social forms that are not from poverty alleviation are not as good as the primitive tribal society of slavery in Africa.
In fact, the tribal system was already a very advanced system for Africans at that time.
At that time, there were still the most basic forms of families and villages in many parts of Africa. How to put it, the lions on the African grassland also took this kind of family as a form of existence!
Therefore, the starting point of African civilization is very low, almost nothing, and it maintains the same level as prehistoric civilization.
Africa was forced to embark on the road of civilization in the gunfire of Westerners, which was also the reason for the continuous war in Africa after independence.
Of course, there is no impact of large-scale war in Tanzania, and the overall stability of modern Tanzania is among the best in African countries.
However, Tanzanians lack experience in governing countries. There is no history to see. The starting point is low, and the social solidification has caused little overall progress. Although there is also some development, it is insignificant compared with the whole world, just like the East Asia and the Middle East in later generations far beyond Africa.
But compared with African countries, Tanzania can be said to be one of the most successful countries in Africa.
Ernst couldn't help sighing when he recalled his previous life experience. Working from an area with complete infrastructure to an area with basically no infrastructure was a disaster. Later, Ernst gradually adapted to that kind of life.
Of course, now is not the time to recall my previous life. I have traveled through history and returned to modern Europe. The new life waved to me again, and I am about to find my place in the torrent of history.