Chapter 363: One Million Mu of Rubber Forest

“Hoo…Hoo…Hoo…”

White steam spurted out from the cylinder under the car, like a cloud of thick smoke hitting both sides of the rails. Some parts of the locomotive began to operate, making ticking and wheezing sounds... As the last pressure was released, the chimney, which had just been emitting wisps of green smoke, instantly spewed out violent and thick black smoke.

A huge cloud of white steam rose into the sky from the chimney, followed by a clear whistle sound, "Woo. Woo... Woo. Woo... Woo. Woo..." like the scream of a monster.

The people guarding both sides of the railway were awakened by the deafening sound. The front of the train exhausted the air for the last time, the wheels started to turn, and the chimney was fully powered up. With a "whoosh" sound, streams of black smoke were pushed out of the towering black chimney.

"Clang... clang... clang..." The Constantine started moving on the rails, and the huge steel wheels pressed against the rails, making a loud noise.

The train left Dar es Salaam Railway Station and continued to accelerate towards the First Town Railway Station.

"Your Majesty, the maximum speed of the Constantine can reach 57 kilometers per hour, but for the stability and comfort of this train, we will drive at 40 kilometers per hour towards the first town." The technician in the carriage introduced to Constantine.

Constantine checked the time on his watch and said, "Does that mean we can be back in the First Town in an hour and a half?"

"Yes, sire."

The carriage Constantine was riding in was specially made in Austria. Its interior decoration was quite luxurious and basically the same as other European monarchs. The highlight was the lamps installed throughout the carriage and the coffee maker newly produced by the Hechingen Daily Necessities Company installed in the water room. All of them were powered by electricity and a small internal combustion engine. When this carriage was manufactured, the Austrian craftsmen thought it was a special train for the Habsburg royal family.

The train sped across the East African plains, with the scenery on both sides rapidly receding outside the window. When passing near the village, the farmers of East Africa stopped to watch.

"Morse, look, there's a huge monster running on that railway thing..."

This was the first time that many East Africans had seen a train, even Austrian immigrants were no exception. Immigrants arriving in East Africa must have taken a big ship, but not necessarily a train. Even if there was a train station in Trieste, they might not have personally come into contact with it.

The train passing through the countryside did give most residents along the route a sense of shock, but in the future they would become numb to the trains running past them almost every day. Now for most people it is a completely exciting feeling. Even Africa has trains, so is Africa still Africa!

This impact was enormous and completely changed the image and status of the East African Kingdom in the hearts of the residents. Most of the people who came to East Africa were desperate and wanted to make a living. The various rumors about Africa in Europe were stereotypes in the hearts of European immigrants. Now this stereotype has been broken by the train. It is not that the African continent is not good, but a problem of the people.

In comparison, immigrants from the Far East were better off. At least before the East African Kingdom recruited people, they didn't even know the existence of Africa. Those with some knowledge might have heard of vassal states such as Korea, Japan, and Annan. For places farther away, they might have heard of Siam, India, etc. For places like Africa, only sailors who had been on the sea for many years, pirate merchants, Far Eastern officials, and very knowledgeable people might have known about it.

…

Hesse and Mitumba provinces are mainly located between Lake Solon (Lake Tanganyika) and the Congo River, with the Mitumba Mountains running through the two provinces.

The two provinces were incorporated into the East African Kingdom not too late, half a year earlier than Zambia and the plateaus to the west, but the total population of the two provinces was only more than 70,000, less than the city of Dar es Salaam. This was not because the conditions here were not good, but because Zimbabwe and Zambia had a higher priority than this place.

For example, the most developed Katanga Province (part) in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the past, and South Kivu Province and North Kivu Province (all) are within the scope of these two provinces.

The economy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo cannot be described as bad in the entire African region, but extremely poor. Although it is rich in mineral resources, its development level is far behind that of Tanzania, which is separated by a lake. Even a small agricultural country like Rwanda, which has no resources at all, has long occupied its territory. Rwanda mainly covets Congo's rich mineral resources, and this area is exactly the junction of the current Hesse Province and Mitumba Province in East Africa.

Not only that, Uganda, Burundi, Chad, Namibia... all have ambitions towards Congo. In other words, they can slap Congo in the face even if the dogs come.

Of course, this is also related to the terrain of Congo. The Congo Basin in the middle and the endless rainforest are like a large no-man's land, while Kinshasa, the capital of Congo, is in a small corner in the southwest. Coupled with backward transportation and execution, it basically has little control over the territory to the east.

In the past, most of Congo's mineral resources are now concentrated in the territory of the East African Kingdom, the most famous of which is the copper mine on the Katanga Plateau.

Hesse and Mitumba are also regions with extremely rich mineral resources. However, given the current transportation conditions and population size of the two provinces, it is unknown when these mineral resources can be developed.

Since mineral resources cannot be developed, the economic development of the two provinces has returned to the old path of the East African Kingdom and developed agricultural resources.

In order to make full use of the population, climate and terrain of the two provinces, Ernst decided to build the largest rubber plantation in the East African Kingdom.

Long before, East Africa had already planted rubber trees near the Great Lakes region, but the scale was not large, at least Ernst felt it was not large enough, so starting this year, Ernst planned to expand the rubber planting area in Hesse and Mitumba provinces.

The most suitable places for growing rubber trees in the East African Kingdom are here and the southern part of the Ethiopian Plateau, and the area near the Mitumba Mountains is clearly more advantageous than the southern part of the Ethiopian Plateau.

It is close to the Congo Basin and is also the windward slope of the Atlantic Ocean's water vapor, with the most abundant precipitation resources. At the same time, the equator passes through the region, and the temperature is much higher than that of the Ethiopian Plateau (mainly affected by the altitude).

Rubber trees are most afraid of drought and cold, which is why most areas of the East African Plateau are not suitable for rubber planting. Precipitation is the main factor, and the most suitable range for rubber planting in the world is approximately between 17 degrees north and south latitude.

In the past, there was only one special place, that is, the Far East, where rubber trees were successfully planted on a large scale in the area between 18 and 24 degrees north latitude, overturning the myth of rubber planting as a "forbidden zone".

Among the areas in East Africa where rubber can be grown, the conditions in Hesse are the most favorable because the terrain here is the lowest, the northern end is already part of the Congo Basin, the terrain is mainly plains, and there are large tracts of rainforest, which are very suitable for rubber planting.

According to the rubber planting experience accumulated in East Africa, if all the population in Hesse and Mitumba provinces were used to plant rubber, the maximum area could reach two million acres.

This is an ideal situation, so Ernst halved the task and planned to open up one million acres of rubber plantations in the two provinces first.

This task is definitely achievable. On average, one person only needs to take care of 14 acres of rubber forest, about 400 to 600 trees. And Ernst does not need them to participate in food production. Given the current state of food surplus in East Africa, the food can be supplied by the neighboring Great Lakes region.

The market for rubber is huge. There is no need to worry about planting more trees, as they are just a bunch of trees. It takes at least six years for rubber trees to mature. If you plan ahead now, you can save a lot of trouble in the future. It is better to let the trees wait for the market than to let the market wait for the trees.

(End of this chapter)