October 4, 1872.

King Constantine visited the Third Town, the former colonial capital of East Africa (Upper Primordial District), which was the second largest city in the Primorsky Province after Tanga, the provincial capital and seaport city.

As the Ndebele people were transported from East Africa to the Central Province, the excavation of the Central Canal was also underway for some time, with Canal No. 1, which connects the Lower Rhine and the lower Vami River, progressing the most rapidly.

Canal No. 1 starts in the third town (Kitunga), less than eight kilometres from the first town, and ends in the village of Mwomelo on the Wami River.

Since the adjustment of the administrative division of East Africa, the gap between the third town, which used to be the same level as the first town, has been rapidly widened, and it is likely that it will become a part of the first town in the future like the second town (Rufu).

The same is true for the development of the first town, which is mainly in the west and north, and the city of Dar es Salaam and Bagamoyo are staggered.

"The total length of Canal No. 1 is 44 kilometers, the river channel is 20 meters wide and 6 meters deep, more than 5 million cubic meters of earth and rock need to be cleared, and the total number of workers is 50,000, according to the current construction progress, it should be completed within six months." The head of Canal No. 1 told Konstantin.

Konstantin had no idea about these figures, but he knew that the Suez Canal had been built for ten years, so he asked: "The canal in East Africa is three sections under construction at the same time, and at that time you said that the central canal was about the same length as the Suez Canal after completion, but as far as I know, the Suez Canal took ten years to complete, why does our canal only take a few months?" ”

The engineer replied: "Your Majesty, the length of the Central Canal is only comparable to that of the Suez Canal, but other data is too far behind, in terms of width, our canal width design is twenty meters, and the width of the Suez Canal is more than two hundred meters, which is ten times that of ours, and at the same time, the depth of the Suez Canal is also more than twice that of the Central Canal, so the total amount of soil and rock that needs to be cleaned up in the Suez Canal is at least twenty times more than ours, and this is only the data of Canal No. 1, like Canal No. 2, Canal No. 3, Because of the topography, some concessions must be made, and the width and depth are not up to this standard. ”

This was the case, but Konstantin still thought that the speed of the project was too fast, and he asked: "Will such high-intensity work make the workers unbearable?" ”

"Your Majesty, our team has fully calculated, each laborer needs to complete at least five square meters of soil and stone clearing work every day, which is not difficult for laborers who are proficient in using shovels and hoes to dig soil, some strong laborers can even complete ten square meters of cleaning in a day, and 50,000 people can complete at least 250,000 cubic meters of work in a day."

Konstantin: "Won't they have injuries?" I've heard that many people died in the excavation of the Suez Canal. ”

"Your Majesty, if you have learned in detail about the excavation of the Suez Canal, you will know why.

The construction of the Suez Canal is not at all to treat Egyptian laborers as human beings, but as a one-time consumable, the Suez Canal through the desert terrain, not to mention the unbearable heat, and the extreme shortage of water, a large number of laborers are dying of thirst every day, which is unthinkable to us.

The amount of food provided by the Suez Canal Company every day is not enough for children to satisfy their hunger, and the laborers are starved for a long time and work intensively, if under such conditions, it is strange that the Suez Canal will not be able to build the Suez Canal, and Egypt has paid 120,000 lives for the construction of the Suez Canal, and an average of 783 people die per kilometer. ”

Konstantin: "So what about our conditions in this regard?" ”

Although the canal project was conceived by Konstantin, the specific operation was carried out by Ernst, so Konstantin did not know much about the specific situation of the canal.

"We have enough drinking water, and we use alum in advance to do simple purification of drinking water.

In terms of diet, we also do a good job of distributing food according to the contribution rate, so that even the least contributing indigenous people can get the amount of food they need for the day. ”

Speaking of the engineering staff took Konstantin to see the canteen of the construction site, the canteen is divided into two parts, one is the dining area for East African nationals (mainly overseers), and the other is the dining area for indigenous laborers.

The overseer's canteen has no characteristics, and it is basically the same as the public canteen in East Africa, except that the building conditions are much worse, after all, it is a temporary construction site.

The indigenous canteen is very novel, don't think about the tables, chairs and benches, just a huge venue, and find a place to eat at will.

"What's boiling in this pot?" Konstantin asked, pointing to the mushy stuff in the pot.

Cook: "Tapioca fried rice." ”

"Fried rice!" If he didn't say it, Konstantin thought it was porridge or something, but it smelled good.

Konstantin: "How did you make these things so fragrant?" ”

Cook: "Your Majesty, the main thing is to add a lot of oil to the pot after it is hot, and at the same time add a little spice to give the base taste, use the soaked cassava to pour it in, and finally add salt. ”

"I see! But isn't it a bit too much? "Konstantin is a little distressed, it's all money!

The engineer on the side said: "The food of the indigenous laborers should not be too bad, this is what His Highness Ernst has specially explained, and he has specially instructed that the indigenous people should be made stronger with salt and oil, because these laborers will be sold to other countries in the future." ”

"That's good, make the best use of things, and it's not incomprehensible that the food is good." Konstantin changed his face in an instant, and the pigs had to be fattened before being sold, so the cost of feed was unavoidable.

"That's what they eat every day?"

"Your Majesty, of course not, there are also corn, soybeans, etc., and occasionally a vegetable and fish broth is also provided on weekends."

Some of the indigenous laborers in East Africa do not eat very poorly, and even have a much better standard of living than most countries in the world, as far as the indigenous laborers who dig the Central Canal are concerned, their quality of life is far higher than that of Japanese civilians, as for East African nationals, although their income is not high, but the quality of life can be compared with Britain and the United States.

In fact, the quality of life of the colonists in the colony will not be too bad, take Mozambique next door, the Portuguese will definitely not worry about food, clothing, housing and transportation, they mainly want to make more money, and then go back to the mainland to spend it, although the Kingdom of East Africa has become an independent country, but the black population is too large, and it is essentially a semi-colonial country, and the citizens of the Kingdom of East Africa are also sucking blood on the natives.

Under these conditions, the main reason for the lack of improvement in the East African economy is that there is more long-term investment in East Africa, the input is higher than the output, and the results will take more than a decade to be reflected.

The Central Canal is a typical example, there are not many ships on the entire Lesser Rhine, there is basically zero inland shipping in East Africa, natural rivers are not effectively used, the Central Canal will be idle for at least a few years after it is developed, and the profitability must be considered at least ten years later.

Fortunately, indigenous workers do not need to consider wages, as long as they maintain their basic survival needs, and this part is borne by the East African government, although there is no agricultural tax in East Africa, but the food output is completely distributed by the state, and the arable land resources in East Africa are higher than most countries, so that even if the level of productivity is relatively low, the food production in East Africa is still very considerable, and the government only needs to take out a part to meet the needs of indigenous labor. Stripped of the needs of East African nationals and the basic needs of indigenous labour, the remaining food can still be exported in large quantities.

At present, the international food overcapacity is serious, and under the condition that exports may be blocked, it is impossible for the East African Kingdom to continue to give its citizens a higher standard of distribution, which is easy to feed lazy people and is not conducive to social operation.

So in the future, there will be more and more projects like the Central Canal, and the grain will rot in the warehouse, so it is better to take it out and implement various large projects and infrastructure, which is not easy to achieve in other countries, because under the market economy, the bottom at least enjoys a certain amount of bargaining power, but there are not many bargaining chips.

East Africa, an absolute monarchy that is even more extreme than Prussia, does not need to be considered at all, as long as the size of the army is maintained and the natives are ruled by high pressure at any time, so that East Africa will have a free labor force that will not be exhausted for more than ten years.

(End of chapter)