"Whew...... Call...... Whew......"

White water vapor erupted from the cylinders under the locomotive, like a puff of smoke hitting the sides of the tracks, and some parts of the locomotive's nose began to operate, making a ticking sound and whirring...... As the last pressure was released, the chimney, which had just been emitting wisps of green smoke, instantly erupted into a violent and dense black smoke.

A huge white vapor rose from the chimney, followed by a crisp whistle, "Woo. Woo... Woo. Woo... Woo. Whoa...", like a monster's scream.

The people guarding both sides of the railway were awakened by this deafening sound, the last exhaust in front of the front of the locomotive, the wheels began to run, the chimney was completely exerted, and with the sound of "whirring", strands of black smoke were pushed out of the towering black chimney.

"Boom...... Nick ...... ......"The Konstantin moved on the rails, and the huge steel wheels pressed against the rails with a loud noise.

The train left the Dar es Salaam City Railway Station and accelerated towards the First Town City Railway Station.

"Your Majesty, the Konstantin can reach a maximum speed of fifty-seven kilometers per hour, but for the sake of the stability and comfort of this train, we will travel forty kilometers per hour in the direction of the first town." The technician in the carriage introduced Konstantin.

Konstantin looked at the time with his watch and said, "So in an hour and a half we can be back in the first town?" ”

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Konstantin's carriage was specially made in Austria, and the interior decoration was quite luxurious, similar to that of other European monarchs, and the highlight was the lamps and lanterns throughout the carriage, as well as the latest coffee stove produced by the Heixingen Commodity Company installed in the drinking room, all of which were electrically powered by a small internal combustion engine. So much so that when this carriage left the factory, Austrian craftsmen thought it was a special train for the Habsburg royal family.

The train sped through the East African wilderness, with the scenery on both sides reversing in speed outside the window, attracting East African farmers as it passed near the village.

"Morse, look, there's a giant monster running on that thing called the railroad......"

This was the first time many East Africans had seen trains, even Austrian immigrants, who had necessarily been on a big ship but not necessarily on a train, and even if Trieste had a train station, they might not have been in contact with it personally.

The train passing through the countryside did give most of the residents along the line a shocking feeling, but in the future, they will also be numb to the train that rushes in front of them almost every day. Now for most people, it is a completely exciting feeling, even Africa is connected to the train, so Africa is still Africa!

This kind of impact is huge, completely changed the image and status of the East African Kingdom in the hearts of the inhabitants, the vast majority of people come to East Africa are desperate, want to come to East Africa to have food and clothing, and the European continent about Africa various rumors are the stereotype in the hearts of European immigrants, and now this stereotype has been broken by the breaking train, not that the continent of Africa is not good, but the problem of people.

In contrast, the Far East immigrants are a little better, at least before the East African Kingdom recruits, they don't know the existence of Africa at all, and those who have a little insight may have heard of Korea, the Japanese Kingdom, the vassal countries of Annam, and even further away have heard of Siam, Tianzhu, etc., like Africa, only the sailors, pirate merchants, and Far Eastern officials and very knowledgeable people who have been on the sea all year round can only know.

……

The provinces of Hesse and Mitumba, mainly located between Lake Solon (Lake Tanganyika) and the Congo River, are crossed by the Mitumba Mountains.

These two provinces were not incorporated into the Kingdom of East Africa not too late, half a year earlier than Zambia and the highlands to the west, but the combined population of the two provinces reached more than 70,000 people, less than the city of Dar es Salaam. This is not because the conditions are not good, but because Zimbabwe and Zambia are given higher priority.

Like the former Democratic Republic of the Congo's most developed province of Katanga (partial), the provinces of South Kivu and North Kivu (all) are within the boundaries of these two provinces.

The economy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the whole African region cannot be described as poor, but extremely poor, although rich in mineral resources, but in terms of development level, even Tanzania, which is separated by a lake, can throw him ten streets, and even Rwanda, a small country with no resources at all, can occupy its territory for a long time, Rwanda mainly covets the rich mineral resources of the Congo, and this region is the junction of the current Hesse and Mitumba provinces in East Africa.

Not only that, Uganda, Burundi, Chad, Namibia...... They all have ambitions for the Congo, in other words, dogs can slap the Congo twice when they come.

Of course, this is also related to the topography of the Congo, the Congo Basin in the middle, the endless rainforest is like a large no-man's land, and the Congolese capital Kinshasa is in a small corner to the southwest, coupled with backward transportation and execution, basically does not have much control over the eastern territory.

In the past, most of the Congo's mineral resources are now concentrated in the territory of the Kingdom of East Africa, the most famous of which is the copper mines of the Katanga plateau.

The provinces of Hesse and Mitumba are also extremely rich in mineral resources, although it is unknown when these mineral resources will be able to be exploited given the current traffic situation and population size of the two provinces.

Mineral resources could not be developed, so the economic development of the two provinces returned to the old path of the East African kingdom and the development of agricultural resources.

In order to make full use of the population and climate and topography of the two provinces, Ernst decided to build the largest rubber plantation in the Kingdom of East Africa in the region.

Rubber trees have been planted in East Africa for a long time, but not on a large scale, at least not too big for Ernst, so starting this year, Ernst intends to expand rubber cultivation in the provinces of Hesse and Mitumba.

The most suitable places to grow rubber trees in the Kingdom of East Africa are here and in the southern part of the Ethiopian Plateau, and the vicinity of the Mitumba Mountains has a clear advantage over the southern part of the Ethiopian Plateau.

It is located next to the Congo Basin, the windward slope of the Atlantic Ocean, and has the most abundant precipitation resources, while the equator passes through the border, and the temperature is much higher than that of the Ethiopian highlands (mainly due to altitude).

Rubber trees are the most afraid of drought and cold, which is why most of the East African plateau is not suitable for rubber cultivation, among which precipitation is the majority, and the most suitable range for rubber cultivation in the world is about 17 degrees north and south latitude.

In the previous life, there was only one place that was more special, and that was the successful planting of rubber trees in a large area in the region between 18 and 24 degrees north latitude, overturning the myth of "forbidden areas" for rubber cultivation.

Among the regions in East Africa where rubber can be grown, Hesse is the most advantageous, because it has the lowest terrain, and the northern end is already part of the Congo Basin, with a predominantly plain terrain and a large rainforest, which is very suitable for rubber cultivation.

Based on the experience of rubber cultivation in East Africa, the population of Hesse and Mitumba provinces could be used to grow rubber up to 2 million acres.

This was ideal, so Ernst halved the task and planned to open up one million acres of rubber plantations in the two provinces.

This task is absolutely achievable, and one person can take care of an average of 14 acres of rubber plantations, about 400 to 600 trees, and Ernst does not need them to participate in food production, which can be supplied by the Great Lakes region next door in the current state of food surplus in East Africa.

The market for rubber is huge, no matter how much you plant, you are not afraid, anyway, it is a bunch of trees, and the maturity period of rubber trees takes at least six years.

(End of chapter)