Chapter 310 Aid to Africa
It is impossible for all these weapons to be produced in one place, Mbeya. If that were the case, Mbeya would have too many industries compared to other cities in East Africa. Industrial enrichment will inevitably lead to the birth of big cities.
As a transportation hub connecting Lake Solon (Lake Tanganyika) and Lake Malawi, Tanganyika and Zambia, Mbeya has a high ceiling for development. Local resources are abundant, especially mineral resources. Even if Mbeya itself has no resources, it can integrate the resources of the Lake Malawi region and Zambia with convenient transportation. In addition, the local climate is livable and it has the natural foundation of a big city.
It is undeniable that big cities have many advantages, especially in terms of industrial collaboration, but Ernst himself does not like big cities.
Cities with too many people are actually not livable, while cities with too few people will lead to insufficient resource utilization or be insufficient to support the development of some industries.
In his previous life, Ernst defined a world-class city as one with an urban population of over five million. Now the entire East African population has not even reached five million, so it is a bit of an unnecessary worry.
However, the population of East Africa is growing very fast. Even if we calculate based on the normal growth rate of Africa in the past, by the 21st century, the population in the eastern plateau region alone will exceed 100 million. In the future, East Africa will be able to produce cities with a population of five million.
Therefore, Ernst's arrangement for the city of Mbeya is to coordinate the common development of surrounding areas. The city of Mbeya should give full play to its function as a transportation hub city as much as possible. It should not only assume the function of the overall transportation hub of East African countries, but also benefit the entire South Salzburg Province and the western part of the Sea-Lake Province from the transportation dividend.
We should fully mobilize the development of the entire Lake Malawi Industrial Zone, rather than focusing on one city. To put it bluntly, we should promote the cluster development of small and medium-sized cities in the Lake Malawi Industrial Zone.
In this way, the region's future population and industries will not all be concentrated in Mbeya City, while at the same time facilitating industrial collaboration. Of course, the premise is to improve local transportation construction.
…
Far East.
For the aging empire in the Far East, something really strange happened today. Richard, the ambassador of the East African Kingdom to the Far East, asked the Qing government to learn the "advanced" medical skills of the Far East, and at the same time hoped that the Qing government would send medical personnel to "assist" the East African Kingdom.
Inside the Forbidden City.
Yixin: "Your Majesty, yesterday Ambassador Richard of the Kingdom of East Africa in Afrika asked for medical assistance from our Celestial Empire. He said that the people of Africa are in distress, wild beasts are rampant, droughts and floods are endless, plagues are everywhere, starvation is everywhere, there are lives lost, and the country is in danger of collapse. So he asked the Celestial Empire's doctors to go to East Africa to fight the plague, and he also wanted to send officials and students to China to learn Celestial Empire medicine to avoid the danger of national destruction."
Yi Xin was one of the three ministers of the Zongli Yamen, which was the "Ministry of Foreign Affairs" established in the late Qing Dynasty. Therefore, when Richard conveyed the political wishes of the East African government to the Far East government, it was generally handled by Yi Xin first.
Tongzhi instantly became interested when he heard this. He had never heard of Western barbarians admiring the Celestial Empire. The high-level officials of the Far Eastern Empire had long been beaten by Britain and France and had lost their temper. Britain and France have always been overbearing in their actions, so naturally they would not give the East any good face, let alone Eastern culture.
Tongzhi: "Is this East Africa the new country that established an embassy in the court last year?"
Yixin: “Exactly.”
Tongzhi: "These Western countries have always been arrogant, despised education, and did not worship saints. Suddenly they are humbly asking for advice. Is there some conspiracy?"
Yi Xin: "I hope your Majesty knows that this East African Kingdom is somewhat different from the Western countries. It is located in the west of the Lesser Western Ocean (Indian Ocean), and was established as a country in place of the original Muciwa (Somalia) and Manbasa (Kenya). This place was conquered by the fleet of Zheng He in the previous dynasty, and it is not the location of the authentic Western countries. The ruler of this country is a Prussian prince from the West, who traveled across the ocean to establish a country."
Tongzhi: "Oh! So this East African Kingdom is a country established overseas by the Prince of the Kingdom of Prussia?"
Yi Xin: "That's right. Prussia is a Western military power and has envoys stationed in the Celestial Empire."
To be honest, Yi Xin is quite embarrassed in this regard. He himself is a prince of the Qing Dynasty, and his status can be compared to Constantine. Isn't this Prussian prince putting himself on the fire by establishing a country overseas?
Tongzhi didn't know Yixin's thoughts and said, "I know Prussia is a small country in the east of France. I heard that its people are good at fighting and all the people are soldiers. It's no wonder that the Prince of Prussia is also good at fighting."
Coincidentally, at this time, Prussia had defeated France, and the news of the unification of Germany had not yet reached the Far East, so Emperor Tongzhi and his ministers still believed that Prussia was a precarious small country around France. After all, everyone had heard of Napoleon's statement.
Tongzhi once said: "Why does this East African kingdom not ask Prussia for help but ask us for help instead?
Yi Xin: "As I said before, Prussia is militaristic and uses the power of a small country to support the army of a big country. Naturally, the economy is in decline and people's livelihood is in trouble. How can it support overseas areas?"
Tongzhi: "That's true, but East Africa has inherited some of Prussia's true teachings, so it's impossible for them to live so badly!"
What Yi Xin said just now was too horrible. There were wild beasts, droughts, floods, and plagues. East Africa will be doomed sooner or later!
Yi Xin explained: "The land of the East African Kingdom was originally a barren land with little civilization. Its monarch was originally a warrior and certainly did not know how to govern the country. Therefore, he admired the prosperity of the Celestial Empire's culture, which was very different from the Western barbarians such as Britain and France."
In other words, East Africa was originally a barren land, a wasteland in terms of culture and heritage. In addition, Constantine was a military man who was not good at management. East Africa was not the orthodox Western barbarian, so it was understandable that they learned from us.
I have to say that Yi Xin does know something. Even Europeans may not know so much about East Africa.
The summary is good. Although it is somewhat biased, it objectively describes the situation before the establishment of the East African Kingdom as a whole. However, forget about admiring the Celestial Empire. Ernst came here to get something for free, so he specifically asked Richard to save some face.
Richard was originally a businessman, so he was naturally well-versed in speaking differently to different people and telling different stories to different people. He even pretended that the African continent would be destroyed sooner or later and asked the Qing Dynasty to help them.
Tongzhi was very pleased after hearing this. The current Far Eastern Empire was really the most aggrieved. Ten years ago, the British and French allied forces approached the capital, and Xianfeng scared away Rehe, shattering the last vanity of the Qing Dynasty, which led to the smooth development of the Westernization Movement.
At this time, if any country comes to flatter the "Celestial Empire" rulers, who have lost their dignity, can regain some sense of superiority.
Although this East African Kingdom is not a genuine Western Yi, it is also half Western Yi. If the East African Kingdom learns from itself, it is equivalent to Western countries learning from itself.
Tongzhi: "Since the Kingdom of East Africa has asked the Celestial Empire for help, we cannot lose the Celestial Empire's generosity. We will allow the Kingdom of East Africa to send its officials and students to study in the Imperial Hospital. At the same time, we will recruit 100 doctors from the public to save the suffering land of East Africa and publicize the Celestial Empire's great grace."
Tongzhi was generous and took the initiative to provide medical assistance to East Africa without any profit-seeking scheme. With the official endorsement of the Qing government, the East African Kingdom was not polite. While cooperating with the Far East officials, it also vigorously absorbed medical experience from the Far East folk and recruited civilian medical talents.
Although the medical system in the Far East is not very developed now, it is almost the same as that in the rest of the world. In particular, the Far East has a large population and there are always medical personnel who are not doing well. Under Ernst's instruction, the East African Embassy first recruited medical talents from the public, and then requested the Qing government to screen these doctors to prevent them from using crooked means to cheat in East Africa.
This aid to Africa was a face-saving project for the Qing government, so they did not dare to be careless. If they really brought swindlers to Africa and killed people, and the news spread in East Africa, how would the Qing Dynasty survive in the international arena?
(End of this chapter)
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