Chapter 635: Within 33650,000
"The relevant industries of Kisan can also be considered in advance. The entire Hesse Province is mainly centered around rubber and mining industries, while Kisan also has cotton planting and primary textile industries."
In fact, there are many crops that can be grown near Kisang City. The annual precipitation here reaches 1,700 mm. It is located on the edge of the rainforest and the water and heat conditions are very excellent, otherwise the provincial capital would not be chosen here.
However, Ernst's choice of the provincial capital must have been based on his past life experience. In his past life, Kisan was the temporary capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with a population of 680,000. The entire jurisdiction has a population of over 1.6 million. In addition, it is located in the center of the entire African continent, so it is called "the most isolated city in the world."
This indirectly shows that Kisangani's external exchanges were not smooth in its previous life, which was mainly reflected in the traffic problem. However, Kisangani was able to develop into a city with a population of more than 600,000, and it is located in the impoverished Democratic Republic of the Congo, which shows that its foundation is still solid. Because it served as a temporary capital, Kisangani has many universities and institutions.
The city of Kisan under the rule of East Africa is naturally not as glorious as in the previous life, but the transportation is much better than that of Kisan in the previous life. This is due to the result of East Africa's vigorous construction of roads in the Hesse Province.
East Africa's obsession with infrastructure is incomparable to that of African countries in the past. The city of Kissan is a beneficiary of the road hardening project currently being implemented in the province of Hesse.
Bamir: "The industrial base of the entire Hesse province is very weak, and the railway lines we have planned in the past are very different. The difficulty of the projects along the route has increased significantly, so we should use the resources of Hesse province as much as possible, which can save a lot of time and engineering work."
Many railways have been built in East Africa, but most of them are built in plateau areas. The plateau areas of East Africa, not to mention the cool and mild climate, the construction difficulty is not too great. In addition to the high altitude, the plateau of East Africa is still flat, and because of the savanna, it is more suitable for development. Therefore, the Hesse Railway is a very challenging task for Bamir.
"We need to take notice of this matter with the Hesse provincial government. After we hand over our drawings to them, we'll ask them to plan the quarry and logging site based on the route of the railway. The cement plant can also be expanded. There are three cement plants in Kissan. The Hesse province is now increasing its cement production capacity on a large scale. I heard that they are carrying out road hardening projects, which will facilitate railway construction." Christian analyzed.
Bamir: "Well, there is also the issue of steel. It just so happens that the steel production capacity in Matabele Province is relatively sufficient. It is not far from Mbeya City. Through the Central Railway, the steel can be transported to Lubumbashi first, and then processed on site. Then, the track can be laid northward along the line."
Hesse can still solve the cement problem on its own, but for steel it must rely on support from other provinces, because the distribution of iron ore in East Africa is very limited. This is not to say that Hesse does not have iron ore, but that the number of iron ore in Hesse is small, the scale is small, and the value of development and utilization is not high. It may be considered in the future when technology advances.
Christian: "We don't have to worry about the raw materials. What we really need to solve is the railway construction problem. This time the railway will pass through the rainforest area, and the number of casualties will be astronomical, especially when dealing with diseases such as malaria. Therefore, quinine should be prepared in advance, and mosquito repellents should also be purchased in large quantities."
In the past, some people have studied that the legendary miasma in the south of the Far East Empire is actually malaria, which is the biggest problem encountered in the development of the south. Malaria is mainly transmitted by mosquitoes.
Human activities can effectively suppress the living space of mosquitoes, insects, snakes and ants. This is particularly evident in cities. In fact, East Africa, like the Far East and Southeast, has long been no different from other regions in the world in its developed areas.
However, in places like Hesse, we have to be more cautious, so more preparatory work needs to be done.
As for the casualties that the Hessian Railway might face this time, Ernst had anticipated it. The more famous death railways in his previous life, the Thai-Burma Railway, were built with human lives, with a death toll of no less than 250,000. The project, which had been planned for six years, was completed in just 15 months, with an average of more than 600 lives lost per kilometer.
The Thai-Burma Railway project was done by the Japanese, so it was no exception. Survivor Roy Armstrong recalled this experience: I didn't know how to build the railway, but I never thought of using a basket and a shovel.
Sometimes they could only rest for two hours a day. As the workload increased, the death rate of prisoners of war and laborers continued to increase, and the workload assigned to each person continued to increase. Some people once worked for 133 consecutive days.
They were only given a standard amount of rice every day, which was filled with maggots and worms. Occasionally, the Japanese would bring in a buffalo and cut the best meat for the Japanese officers and guards. The remaining bones were not enough to feed thousands of mouths, so they would put some meat in the soup depending on their mood. They tried every possible way to get enough food. If a hapless python ran into the prisoner-of-war camp, it was doomed to be unable to escape.
East Africa would definitely not be as sick and deadly as Japan. At least the food for slaves in East Africa was better than that in some countries in the Far East, and the combination was more reasonable.
At the same time, slaves in East Africa were managed in a militarized manner, and their sanitary conditions were higher than those of the workers and prisoners of war who built the Thai-Burma Railway.
As the saying goes, if you harm others, you will eventually harm yourself. Slaves do not pay attention to hygiene issues. If they are infected with diseases, it is very likely that they will spread to East African managers, thus threatening the country's epidemic prevention work.
Bamir: "We should prepare more steam pumps, and the fuel problem must also be solved. There are many swamps in the entire Hesse Province, especially in the north, and the waterlogging is quite serious. In addition to improving the tools, the project must also consider drainage, especially drainage channels, culverts, and material bearing capacity."
Christian: "This involves some special sections of road. We must consider the mudslides and landslides caused by heavy rain or floods, so road protection facilities must also be considered. Some sections of road must eliminate risks in advance, so more explosives must be applied for."
Although East Africa still uses a large number of slaves, the use of slaves also carries risks, and East Africa will sooner or later become a normal country, so the related slavery system will eventually be eliminated. The way to replace slaves is to vigorously improve East Africa's technological level and productivity.
Currently, East Africa's gunpowder production capacity has been increased, thanks to the development of East Africa's defense industry, so the country has become more generous in the use of gunpowder. Ten years ago, East Africa still needed to import a large amount, but now it can produce it on its own.
Similarly, East Africa can now produce steam engines. The first domestically produced steam engine in East Africa was produced in 1870 after the full set of technology was introduced from Germany.
It is still the era of steam engines, and steam pumps are mass-produced in East Africa and used in many mines and irrigation projects. Of course, more advanced internal combustion engine water pumps are also used, but they are still in the popularization stage.
In addition, many tools have also been domestically produced. With the support of East Africa's excess steel production capacity, production efficiency has been greatly improved.
All these provided conditions for the construction of the railway in Hesse Province. However, the railway still cannot get rid of the consumption of manpower. Ernst believed that controlling the number of casualties within 50,000 was a reasonable range.
(End of this chapter)
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