Having said that, the Mangjing Highway was not just a road, it was also equipped with a telegraph line for the postal department, which also ended the history of Southwest Africa without telegraphs.

Mainly along the coast of southwest Africa, such as Walvis Bay, communications had previously relied on ships of the Ministry of Posts, and even the nearest port of New Hamburg was 3,000 kilometers away, and there was a risk of being cut off by the British Royal Navy in Cape Town.

Therefore, this land telegraph line is particularly important, after the opening, the future of the southwest African coast of the wind and grass, can be earlier so that the central government can be reminded, and then respond.

Southwest Africa is of little value at the moment, but in the event of a dangerous move, it is not impossible to attack the hinterland of East Africa after landing along the coast.

……

Recently, Ernst finally managed to deal with the work he had saved for most of the year, and it was rare to have a leisure, so he went to the weapons and equipment test site of the Guards Division to have a look.

The Guards Division is deployed throughout the territory of the Central Province, and because of the special nature of the garrison, it has always maintained a first-class level in weapons and equipment.

The Guards Division's weapons and equipment test site was built on the left bank of the Lower Rhine on the Kildonda Mountain, which is actually a plain and hilly terrain, and the name was inherited from the natives.

It is more than 80 kilometers away from the first town in a straight line, and mainly relies on the water transportation of the Little Rhine to connect with the first town, so the transportation is quite convenient.

After the transformation of the Lower Rhine, most of the river channel has become navigable, of course, the waterfall area upstream is certainly not passable, but East Africa has built a canal, which is also an important reason why the central canal was divided into three sections at that time, so it can be bypassed.

Otherwise, relying only on the Little Rhine, there is no need to go directly to the upstream area through its primitive channel, of course, the weapons and equipment test site of the Guards Division is not far from the first town, so there is no need to detour through the canal.

Ernst arrived two hours later aboard the Guards Division, and disembarked at the pier where he could see a road leading towards a built-up area.

There is a sign on the side of the road: "Military area, no traffic", this is of course for ordinary people to see, to prevent accidental entry, but no one from the Kedundarshan weapons and equipment test site will deliberately come here.

Although there are ships passing by on the Lower Rhine, their destination is the first town downstream or Bagamoyo, and they are mainly used to transport grain, and do not stop at the Kedundarshan weapons and equipment test site.

"The total area of our Kedundarshan weapons and equipment test site is 61 square kilometers, and the building in front of us and behind it are all newly built 'Military Vehicle Research Institute' in the southeast of the test site, which is specially used to study the application of internal combustion engine vehicles to the army." Marvensius, the head of the proving ground, told Ernst.

After coming ashore from the dock at Gidundarshan, the first building I saw, a row of small bungalows, the so-called Military Vehicle Research Institute, looked very shabby, and most importantly, not even a single car was seen.

So Ernst asked, "Why don't you see a single car in this military vehicle research institute, and what are you studying without a vehicle?" ”

Laird, staff officer of the Guards Division: "Your Highness, the Military Vehicle Research Institute is currently in its infancy, and there are no formal samples and products yet, and this car-making company has more research than us, so our Guards Division has relevant cooperation projects with Heixingen Energy Power Company, and some of the tests, considering the need for military secrecy, we can only conduct separate tests." ”

"What about your experiments?"

"Report to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, we have two prototype cars, both of which were purchased from the Dar es Salaam Automobile Plant of Hexingen Energy Power Company, but the car is a brand new thing, and the principle of it, as well as the role of machinery, our people, except for two technicians, no one else knows very well, so these two cars are now being disassembled and studied by us in the warehouse." Marvensius introduced.

Laird also explained on the side: "Now the military's research institute, naturally can not be compared with the ten years of grinding a sword of automobile companies, Heixingen Energy Power Company is just an engine research, is the world's leading level, and the military even the relevant R & D personnel are not together, so the early dependence on the enterprise is inevitable, of course, our guard division also attaches great importance to the application prospects of automobiles in the military, so we want to be very advanced and make achievements." ”

There are now three state-owned car factories in East Africa, in Dar es Salaam, Mbeya and finally Harare.

All rely on the technical support provided by Heixingen Energy Power Company, and the three state-owned automobile factories have just completed the construction of the plant in March this year, and the estimated production capacity is more than 30 vehicles a Chinese New Year's Eve.

However, it is easy to understand that in the previous life, until the end of the 19th century, the United States, where the automobile industry was the most developed, had an annual output of several thousand vehicles a year.

Now the world's automobile industry is new, so the production capacity of 30 cars at the East African state-owned automobile plant is already very large.

East Africa has such a limited number of car production, but it is already the world's second largest automotive industry distribution area after Germany, of course, in addition to the three state-owned car factories, Hahinden Energy Power has also built three factories in Mombasa, Dar es Salaam and Harare, so the pattern of the East African automotive industry is currently half public and half private.

The car plant of Hexingen Energy Power Co., Ltd., mainly considering the issue of export, assembles and produces in East Africa, and then exports to other countries.

"We are now working with two car companies in Dar es Salaam, and last year we purchased two test models from Hexingen Energy Power, and the technicians were also hired from Hexingen Energy Power, and there are only two people in total, so now the role of the Military Vehicle Research Institute is very limited."

Even the enterprise has such a difficult start, not to mention the military's military vehicle research institute, and now the military vehicle research institute of the Guards Division can be said to be completely a "small office" established by the Heixingen Energy Power Company, but the ownership is in the Guards Division.

"The Ministry of Defense also has related projects, but they mainly cooperate with a few state-owned automobile factories, and the relevant research is directly undertaken by the company."

The state-owned automobile factory is also a government asset, so the Ministry of Defense has no psychological burden on it, and the cars of the state-owned automobile factory will definitely give priority to the military, because it is not entirely for profit, and the military must be able to eat more orders in China.

In recent years, the East African army, except for the exaggerated expansion of the navy, has not changed much, and even the number of troops has been reduced, which has made East Africa more adequate to invest in research and development of weapons and equipment.

Ernst probably also knew the composition of this military vehicle research institute, and it was still a good thing so far, but it is no wonder that the car has been around for such a short time, and there are probably only 100 technicians who know more about cars, and most of them are still working in the European part of Hexingen Energy Power.

Naturally, there are imitators in other countries, but so far, only Heixingen Energy Power has finished products for sale on the market.

So starting from scratch, this step is quite difficult for the East African military, but it is already much stronger than other countries, and they may not even have seen a sample.

Later, Ernst didn't have much interest here, but he still encouraged him: "I hope you can make achievements as soon as possible, the impact of the automobile industry on the military is huge, just like the railway, one step ahead, which means a hundred steps less in the future, and your task is to increase this gap." ”

After all, his subordinates are motivated, so Ernst did not criticize, and it is experimental in nature, and there may be car companies to cover it.

(End of chapter)