Chapter 375: Security Situation in the First Town
After staying in Soga City for two days, Ernst finally arrived at the First Town City. This time, Constantine led his ministers to greet him personally.
Seeing his old father who was safe and even doing well in Africa, Ernst instantly felt a sense of belonging: "Dad!"
Constantine: "Ernst, you are finally here!"
Ernst: "Father, how are you doing in Africa?"
Constantine: "It's OK. Apart from not being able to see my old friends in Europe, there isn't much difference."
Ernst: "That's good. I was worried that you wouldn't be able to adapt to the environment in East Africa."
Although the climate in East Africa is good and can even be said to be very livable, the problem of acclimatization is a difficult problem to solve even in later generations.
Ernst had experienced this in his previous life. As a native northerner, he went to the south to attend college. The first month was a life-and-death experience for him. Ernst, who seldom got sick, caught colds and fevers constantly. Later, after getting used to living in the south, Ernst realized that this might be what the ancients called "inadaptability to the local climate and water". When he thought about the humidity in the south, he knew that might be the problem.
However, the experience in the south was not a bad thing for Ernst. Frequent travel between the north and the south made Ernst not feel any difficulty when he went to work in East Africa in the future. Compared with the climate difference between the far east, the north and the south, the climate of East Africa is nothing.
In my previous life, what I was most worried about in Africa were diseases and wars. Fortunately, the overall situation in East Africa is relatively stable in Africa. Diseases are hard to prevent. Most Africans scoff at hygiene and science, which makes them carriers of many diseases, especially AIDS. If you can't control your pants in Africa, you may be infected at any time.
But now, thanks to Ernst's measures, disease in East Africa has been reduced to a very low level, even more livable than traditionally livable places such as Europe and Asia.
In fact, this is also the law of history. In the beginning, the most suitable places for humans to live were Egypt, Babylon, the Indus River, the Yellow River, and other agricultural areas with slightly dry climates, loose soil, and easy access to irrigation water.
When productivity increased relatively, human habitable areas began to expand to humid areas, and Europe, the Ganges Plain, and the Yangtze River Basin were all developed.
In the industrial age, the habitable area for humans expanded to the frigid zone. The Ruhr area in Germany, Russia, Northeast China, Canada, and the Great Lakes region are all places with high latitudes.
In the 21st century, humans began to move towards the tropics. Brazil, Southeast Asia, and Africa began to develop, and traditional countries also developed towards the south. The Great Lakes region of the United States became the Rust Belt, the Northeast declined, the Ruhr region declined, and the Russian population was lost from Siberia...
In general, the trend is for humans to expand from the equator to the polar regions, and then flow back to the equator. Of course, the most habitable areas for humans are still probably the middle and low latitudes in the north and south.
Africa's unique plateau terrain makes East Africa a livable area that is rarely traveled in the tropics, and Ernst only accelerated this process.
So Ernst is more worried that Constantine will not be able to adapt to the water and soil conditions in East Africa. At present, it seems that most people can adapt, which is a good thing for East Africa.
Other important East African officials also came forward to pay their respects. In fact, the East African high-level officials were not unfamiliar with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, who had been remotely commanding from Europe for many years. They could be divided into three categories: the first was mercenaries. Ernst had met them once in Europe; the second was students of the Hechingen Military Academy, who were Ernst's direct line; and the third was employees of the Hechingen Consortium.
Except for the mercenaries who had relatively few direct communications with Ernst, the other groups were familiar with Ernst, and the mercenary group was originally a minority. After Ernst communicated with the East African monarchs and ministers one by one, he moved into the Sweet Palace.
The old butler, Kainuo, asked about his son's condition: "Your Highness, I wonder how Tom is doing in Europe?"
Ernst: "Uncle Keno, don't worry. Tom has always been my right-hand man. Now he is supervising the operation of the consortium in Europe for me."
Kaino: "That's good. I've always been worried that he would cause you trouble."
Ernst: "Of course not. Tom is half my brother, so it's my duty to take care of him."
Hearing Ernst say this, Keno felt relieved. Serving the Hechingen royal family was the responsibility of his family from generation to generation, and it was also a stable job.
Then, under Keno's arrangement, Ernst's "treasures" and luggage were registered and placed in the Schweizer Palace in an orderly manner.
The Schloss Schloss is not much bigger than the Hohenzollern Castle built on the mountain, and the overall style is quite similar. It looks more like a military fortress, which shows that it has not forgotten its original intention.
However, the Witte Palace did not fit the image of a political center in Ernst's mind. After all, this was not the Middle Ages, and monarchs of all sizes lived in castles to guard against possible wars at any time.
The Qivit Palace was originally built taking into account that the First Town City was not far from the sea, so safety had to be a concern. The capital in the world that is most similar to the First Town City should be Beijing in the Far East.
Peking had Tianjin for sea defense, and with the Shandong Peninsula and Liaodong Peninsula on both ends of the Bohai Sea, it could clamp down on the invading enemy at any time. Such a situation was quite favorable for the defense of Peking. However, the Far East Navy was weak and the land warfare was also ineffective, making such a good natural geographical defense line useless.
The first town is on the southeast bank of the Little Rhine River, with Bagamoyo and Dar es Salaam forming a horn with each other in the east. If the enemy wants to attack the first town, it must first capture any one of the two cities.
But this is also quite difficult, because the military control of Zanzibar Island is in the hands of East Africa, and the strait between Zanzibar Island and the mainland of East Africa is less than 50 kilometers away.
The coastal defense artillery deployed by the East African Kingdom on both sides of the strait can just block the entire strait, making it impossible to enter the strait. Attacking Bagamoyo and Dar es Salaam is just empty talk. In addition, the main base of the East African Navy is in Bagamoyo, and it can counterattack at any time. Under such a situation, it is basically impossible for ordinary people to rely on the navy to land around the first town.
With the improvement of the offshore defense system originally designed by Ernst, the coast of East Africa, especially the area around the Central Province, can be described as impregnable. As long as the East African defenders do not make stupid mistakes, it is basically impossible to attack the first town or city from the sea according to the level of warfare at that time. Of course, it is still possible if the world's number one navy like Britain puts all its assets into it.
This shows the importance of Zanzibar Island. Without Zanzibar Island, East Africa would never be able to achieve this. Therefore, Zanzibar Island must be included in the territory of East Africa in the future.
There are not many concerns about the security of the First Town City, but it can only be the temporary capital of East Africa. This is the result of the continuous expansion of the East African Kingdom. If East Africa only controls the land of the East African Federation in the previous life (Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi), then there is no big problem in making the capital the First Town City.
However, the East African Kingdom has expanded across the border to Central Africa, South Africa, and even the edge of North Africa. In order to maintain national unity and promote national development in the future, East Africa must move its capital, with Zambia and southern Congo being the most likely locations.
East Africa is not like the United States and the Far East, where the economic center is concentrated in the east, and Russia, where the center is concentrated in the west. It is also not as narrow in area as the United Kingdom. Therefore, the future capital of East Africa must be a region that can connect to most parts of East Africa and has convenient transportation. The climate differences in East Africa are not large, and resources are relatively evenly dispersed. The conditions in various regions are not much different. In other words, the east has an ocean advantage, but in the future East Africa is likely to be a two-ocean country. Therefore, it is most appropriate to build the future capital in the geometric center area of East Africa.
(End of this chapter)
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