Ernst tried his best to change Rudolph's fate, because he was really curious about the future, anyway, how Rudolph changed would not have much impact on his plan to develop East Africa, and its specific effect would not be apparent until after World War I.

In a previous life, someone said that the Austro-Hungarian Empire was Franz's empire alone, which is really very reasonable, and the establishment and demise of this empire are closely related to Franz.

Anyway, there could be no future for Austria-Hungary, and as far as the dualist system of government was concerned, Franz could control it, and it was only a matter of time before they were separated.

……

Camel bells were heard in the distance, and a camel caravan appeared on the horizon of Kenya, and the number was not very large, about twenty or so.

The camel leading the way, walking gracefully on the sandy ground, the people sitting on it swayed forward and backward rhythmically with the camel step by step.

He wears a Mexican-style straw hat and a special light yellow Prussian military uniform, carrying a Prussian Delesa rifle on his back.

The soldiers on the camels who followed them in the second position also carried a lion flag of the Heshingen royal family, which indicates that this was a regular armed force of the East African colonies.

The militia did not have access to the most advanced Delese rifles, and they still used front-loading flintlock pistols that were loaded with gunpowder from the front.

And the light yellow military uniform was also rare in Africa, which was specially tendered by Ernst's factory in Germany, where the Prussian army, which had always been active in Europe, was not equipped with such clothing for the tropical desert environment.

Africa is already hot, and most areas are very sunny due to the highland terrain, especially in the desert areas of northern Kenya.

Therefore, straw hats are currently being purchased more and more by East Africa, which is also a characteristic of East Africa, with many people wearing straw hats in the fields, villages and cities, military and government agencies.

At present, straw hats in East Africa are mainly ordered from the Far East, and straw hats are difficult to produce mechanically, and it is time-consuming and laborious to rely on manual labor.

Therefore, the straw hats in East Africa are mainly imported, and Mexico is also available, where human resources are also abundant, but they cannot be compared with the Far East, so the price of the Far East straw hats is cheaper.

However, the style of the Far Eastern straw hat was too monotonous, and Ernst personally did not like this style, so Ernst asked the style of the Mexican straw hat to be offered to the merchants of the Far East to buy according to the style.

Of course, there are people in the East African Far East immigrants who can weave straw hats, but at most they are idle time, and they make it up for their own use, which is a very test of patience, and it is not cost-effective for immigrants who have been able to eat and drink enough, and even some immigrants do not care about the scorching sun in Africa, after all, they used to face the loess and turn their backs to the sky, and they are used to the feeling of the scorching sun.

It is the color of the clothes and the blessing of the straw hat that this camel team in East Africa, from a distance, has a taste of the western part of the Americas, the difference is that the western North American is cowboys, riding horses, while this team is riding camels.

The caravan consisted of Germans, Austrian-Hungarians (overlapping with Germans) and Chinese, well in line with the demographic composition of the current East African colonies.

They are wandering through the border between Somalia and Kenya, the border guards.

Of course, there is no clear border between Somalia and Kenya now, because the East African colonies patrol the surrounding area mainly desert and grassland, and there are basically not many people, let alone national power.

At present, Somalia is a hodgepodge, with a lot of indigenous tribes and Arabs, and the colonizers of Somalia in the previous life were mainly British, French and Italian.

The only people who are really active in Somalia are the British, and they are mainly active in the Somaliland region (along the coast of the Gulf of Aden) in northwestern Somalia.

France occupies only a small area, and it is still next to the British. (mainly Djibouti 1859)

The Italians had not yet arrived (1889), so the vast areas of central and southern Somalia were effectively borderless land in the eyes of Europeans (ignoring the indigenous people).

If it weren't for the fact that East Africa was focused on northern Kenya and northwestern East Africa, Ernst would not have minded taking a large chunk of Somali land.

However, Somalia should not be taken lightly, especially Mogadishu, an important port city on the coast of the Indian Ocean, with a long history, where Zheng He once visited (called Mugu Dushu).

So unlike the indigenous people in the interior of Africa who have never seen the world, Somalia is deeply influenced by Arab civilization, and its strength is at least on the same level as Zanzibar.

The last time there was a battle in Zanzibar, it was dramatic, and the fact that the Primorsky was not far from Dar es Salaam at that time was ready to support the fighting also gave the army confidence.

And North Kenya, which borders Somalia, has not yet developed a colony in East Africa, and there are not many people, so Ernst naturally will not take the risk of attacking Somalia.

Don't steal the chicken and make it a shame to be as embarrassed as the Italians did with Ethiopia.

And unlike the Italians, who simply wanted to colonize East Africa, the Italians needed local natives as labor to create value for Italy.

In East Africa, for the sake of the stability of future rule, the local population needs to be cleaned, so the resistance in Somalia will be stronger.

In the past, Mogadishu was a place where Americans were all sinking in the sand, and without a force of a few thousand men, Ernst did not plan to do anything to Somalia.

So what's the point of the East African colonies patrolling the borders of Somalia and Kenya?

This is to talk about the policy of the East African colonies, and to put it mildly, it is a routine to shut down the door and beat the dog, since it wants to do something against the indigenous people of northern Kenya, it is natural to cut them off from the outside world.

At the same time, it is necessary to prevent the infiltration of indigenous people from outside the territory of the East African colonies.

You know, there are many tribes in Africa, they don't have any concept of territory, where there is water and grass, they go hunting and grazing.

If East Africa cleans up the native natives on the front foot, and lets the indigenous tribes outside the country sneak in on the back foot, it will not be in vain!

In particular, northern Kenya and Somalia have a more arid climate, and many tribes are nomadic herders.

So the task of the East African Border Patrol is to forcibly separate the Somali tribes from Kenya and expel the Somalis from the border zone.

The temporary border between Kenya and Somalia is dominated by desert and grassland, and the best means of transportation in the desert is camels.

The East African colonies still had a very early encounter with camels, because there were many in Zanzibar, and every group of East African immigrants who came ashore could see camels in coastal cities such as Dar es Salaam.

Therefore, the history of the East African colonial government using camels to form cavalry is not too late, and after receiving a part of the camels in Zanzibar, a camel cavalry of more than 200 people was established.

Now this cavalry unit is all active in northern Kenya, which was also a camel country in its previous life, with more than 3 million camels, second only to Sudan and Somalia.

It was certainly not possible for the East African colonies to keep so many camels in Kenya, and the range of camels was most suitable for deserts, and not very flexible in other regions (mainly because other animals were more advantageous).

At present, only northern Kenya is suitable for large-scale camel breeding in the East African colonies, but there are also many pastures in northern Kenya, and the area is far above the desert, so it can be used for large-scale cattle breeding and horses.

……

Hans Barker was the leader of the caravan, a native of Austria-Hungary and an Austrian-German with strong roots.

So, it goes without saying why Hans Barker can be the captain of a patrol.

In East Africa, in fact, the most wary of it is not the Chinese at all, but Serbian and other immigrants who believe in Orthodox Christianity.

In the minds of Europeans, in this era it is very much believed that civilization is hierarchical, and the only thing in the world today that can compete with traditional Europe is Tsarist Russia.

Heresy is often more abhorrent than pagans, and the Orthodox Church is bad because of the struggle for orthodoxy with the traditional European churches, even Protestants.

The Chinese have no faith (ancestor worship does not count), but rather the main goal of the East African Germans, but the main goal of the mission.

Although there are no churches in East Africa, many believers (especially Catholics in Austria) are keen to introduce their religion to the Chinese.

Serbia and other Orthodox Christians are different, if they are not more honest (after all, they are all peasants, they are all objects of former rule, and they are also the lowest status in Austria-Hungary, they are used to it), it is estimated that they can fight with Catholicism, Protestantism, etc.

Germany and other Europeans are not without criticism of the Chinese, such as those duplicity (pragmatism) who open their mouths to one God and close their mouths to God, which makes Europeans feel that the Chinese are not very religious.

As for those who have the same faith as the Arab region, it is not for nothing, the forest is big, there are all kinds of birds, especially many immigrants from the Ottoman Empire who fled to the territory of Austria-Hungary, and were recruited into East Africa by the East African colonies, but the number is scarce, and no one has been seen standing up and saying that they are from the Arab Church.

Of course, these are all trivialities, after all, life and work are very busy, everyone has no culture, and their mouths are stupid, so they have no time to target each other.

Hans Barker found a shady spot behind the camel, put on the mat, took the jug and took a sip.

The rest of the team also got off the camel and took a break from the team.

"Heinz, how far do we have to go? to get to Divo," asked Hans Barker.

"Almost, about thirteen miles to go, an hour ago we just passed the dry riverbed marked on the map." Heinz replied.

"That's good, let's rest and ten minutes before we go!" As he spoke, Hans Buck pulled out a box of blue cornflower cigarettes from his pocket.

I pulled it all the way, lit the fire, and smoked it with a comfortable face.

The blue cornflower was the national flower of Germany in the past life, and the homeland of the cornflower, which symbolizes happiness, is in Europe.

So Heixingen Tobacco launched this cigarette to sell in Germany, iris in France, sunflowers in Tsarist Russia, and edelweiss in Austria......

This series of cigarettes, which are marked by the famous flowers of various countries, has also become the national flower series.

And East Africa, naturally, cigarettes are provided by tobacco factories in Germany, mainly for the army and the government, of course, ordinary people can also spend money to buy, East Africa is paid locally, relatively meager, but East Africa happens to be equivalent to a desert entertainment industry, so many people spend that salary on tobacco, at first only Austro-Hungarian immigrants smoked, and later some Chinese also learned.

And the free time for work and war can indeed relieve emotions very well.

(End of chapter)