Chapter 549 Bicycle Industry
The key contents of East African history classes can be roughly divided into two categories, one is the history of the Far East, and the other is the history of Rome and the Holy Roman Empire.
This is not intentional. The ancient history of the world is, after all, mainly the history of the Eurasian continent, plus North Africa. East Africa certainly will not deliberately preach the history of the Arab region. As for Indian history, just listen to it as a myth.
The history of the Germans is very scarce. They can indeed be linked to the ancient Germanic people, but the ancient Germanic people were pure barbarians to the Romans. And after all, countries such as Britain, France, Germany, and Austria are all related to the ancient Germanic people. After all, the fall of the Western Roman Empire was caused by the ancient Germanic people, so it is better to directly graft the history of the Roman Empire and the history of the Holy Roman Empire.
However, these have nothing to do with East Africa. East Africa just needs the experiences and lessons behind history to prevent the prevalence of historical nihilism or pseudo-history in the future.
Learning from history is not difficult for people in the Far East in the past. They could occasionally refer to it when encountering problems in life. However, it is very difficult for many countries that lack history.
Of course, there are also some countries that deliberately conceal their history and cover up their national crimes. At some point in the future, they will still go down the old path, because their descendants have not accepted the correct historical values, and it is inevitable that they will repeat the same mistakes.
This is also the reason why Ernst will not deny the colonial history of East Africa in the future. Merits are merits, and faults are faults. Anyway, it can give future East Africans enough warnings.
Just like the humiliating history of the Far Eastern Empire in modern times, it is also an important reason why the Far Eastern Empire can shine in the 21st century. At least it makes them know that if they lag behind, they will be beaten.
However, East Africa’s development path is too smooth and it has not encountered any major setbacks. This may also create illusions for the people of East Africa in the future, so it is good to learn from other countries’ historical moments and give them a warning.
Take the Soviet Union for example. In Ernst's view, its early development was too smooth, and once it failed to meet expectations later on, the entire country collapsed.
When the Soviet Union collapsed, it had almost no shortcomings, and even though its economy was bad, it was much better than most countries of the same period. However, it was abandoned by all its citizens. However, it was different in the Far East. The economy of the Far Eastern Empire was so bad at the same time, it was even worse than some African countries, but it survived the most turbulent 1990s.
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"Your Highness, this is a bicycle equipped with the latest hollow rubber tires. With the use of hollow tires, the weight of the bicycle is greatly reduced, and the difficulty of riding is greatly reduced. It is also lighter to use, and most importantly, more comfortable."
The biggest improvement that hollow rubber tires bring to bicycles is comfort. The previous solid tires were fine for riding on the hardened flat roads in East Africa, but after leaving the First Town and Soga City, the road conditions became complicated. According to the road conditions in East Africa, the previous bicycles could even be shaken out with kidney stones.
Amid everyone's surprised expressions, Ernst rode this East African-made big-bar bicycle and rode around the fountain twice.
“It feels good, and its performance can indeed meet basic needs, although it is still very bulky.”
Ernst said that the vehicle was heavy, but in fact it was made of real materials. The sturdiness of the frame made it easy to pull hundreds of kilograms of cargo.
In the past, the pneumatic hollow tire was invented by the Scotsman Jeroba in 1889, but the research on hollow tires in East Africa had already begun as early as 1876.
Today, the East African rubber industry is booming and has replaced Brazil as the world's largest rubber producer, so a lot of effort has been put into research in the application areas of rubber.
Ball bearings, seats, pedals, handlebars, and even rear seats and other important components of bicycles were improved and applied under Ernst's guidance. Hollow tires filled the last gap, and bicycles can be fully promoted in the future.
"The bicycle industry has great prospects in East Africa and is also very important to the world. It has a wide range of applications, so I plan to vigorously support this industry," said Ernst.
In fact, the Hexingen Daily Necessities Company under the Hexingen Group is itself the world's largest bicycle manufacturer. However, in the past, only the rich could enjoy bicycles, and the market was very narrow. Now that it has been completely perfected, it can be promoted to everyone, regardless of gender, age, or rich or poor. Of course, if you are too poor, you definitely cannot afford it, but most of the working class in Europe should be able to buy one if they save up some money.
As for East Africans, if they save enough money they can also own one, and some groups can get one directly, such as the new city of Soga in East Africa.
Of course, this scenario refers to the time after the industrial chain is completed, which may take several years.
Ernst said: "Mbeya, Harare, Bulawayo, Nairobi, Mombasa, Dar es Salaam and Bagamoyo can build factories in advance. These inland cities will mainly supply East Africa, while the port cities will take into account export needs in the future."
Exports are naturally directed to industrially backward countries such as the Arab region and the Far East Empire. As for Europe, the Hechingen Consortium can expand its bicycle factory in Germany.
Ernst's move this time is indeed a big one. The seven cities represent the seven previous bicycle factories. The production of bicycle parts is related to many related industries, such as chains, hollow steel pipes, tires, etc., which all require investment and design, so it is necessary to build a large number of factories and enterprises.
You should know that in the 1980s, the Far Eastern Empire had only more than 60 bicycle manufacturing companies. Of course, these manufacturing companies must be large in scale, and East Africa naturally has to follow the path of large factories.
The bicycle industry is currently still dominated by small workshops. For products with low demand, most of them are made by hand, and many parts are manufactured by themselves. This is why the Heixingen Daily Necessities Company can become the world's largest bicycle manufacturer.
The investment is huge, but once the construction is completed, East Africa will be able to make the money back in the future thanks to the production cost advantage and market acceptance. In Ernst's impression, bicycles have always been a hot-selling product.
"The military can also order a batch of them. I think bicycles will have a lot of application scenarios in the military."
Military applications? Is it for sending letters or transporting supplies, or conducting reconnaissance?
People of this era did not know how the army would use bicycles, so both of the above speculations are certainly possible, but horses were fully capable of doing the job in East Africa.
Ernst mainly believed that bicycles could be used to build a rapid reaction force, especially in areas with complex terrain, such as Southeast Asia.
The most famous bicycle unit is the Japanese Silver Wheel Unit during World War II. Due to the rainforest climate and muddy roads in Southeast Asia, it is difficult for tanks and vehicles to move, so the Japanese army equipped some offensive units with bicycles to pursue the retreating Allied forces. Bicycles played a very good role in the attack on the Malay Peninsula and were even nicknamed the "Blitzkrieg of the East."
East Africa is a tropical country and has island territories in the South Pacific such as the Lan Fang Overseas Province. Therefore, Ernst feels that bicycle troops can play a big role in tropical rainforest areas in the South Pacific. This coincides with the East African troops' policy of focusing on combat training in tropical climate areas such as tropical rainforests.
"The military may have some special needs for bicycles, and this aspect can also be studied, such as folding bicycles, or tricycles with cargo boxes. Not only the military, but also the civilian population may have such needs."
Ernst suddenly thought of a three-wheeled bicycle, or even a donkey (a three-wheeled bicycle with the carriage in front), which could be used to transport goods.
Although two-wheeled bicycles like the one used by Odebiao can also carry a lot of goods, three-wheeled vehicles are more widely used. Even in the 21st century, they are still a very common means of street transportation in the Far East, but many of them have been replaced by electric three-wheeled vehicles.
(End of this chapter)
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