"At present, China's railways are big but not strong, many cutting-edge technologies still need to rely on foreign countries, of course, the Ministry of Railways is actively promoting the cultivation of China's railway talents, and overcome various technical problems, it is estimated that it will only take 20 to 30 years to catch up with the international level." Andrei said.

Ernst: "Technology is a process of accumulation, not overnight, this matter must be done steadily, there is no shortcut, and at the same time I hope that the railway department will do the same, and the subordinate units sometimes do not try to save trouble, the concept of making is better than buying is absolutely not good, and it is fundamentally based on itself." ”

Of course, Ernst said that in fact, in the 19th century, buying was the fastest way to break through the technical barriers, otherwise East Africa would not have developed today.

Of course, buying is also a technical job, you must understand technology, otherwise you will be fooled, and you can only waste time and money in vain.

In addition to buying technology, the way to obtain technology is "copycats", which are the "magic weapons" for the rapid development of the industrial field in East Africa.

"Today's uneven distribution of railways is a great obstacle to the construction of our country, especially the new land area, and the reconstruction of the railway network, which is one of the priorities for the next ten years." Ernst said.

"Our country has a short history and a weak foundation, so it has a short time to develop railways, and according to the development of foreign railways, it is estimated that in the next ten years, East Africa should build at least 40,000 kilometers of railways to barely meet the demand."

An additional 40,000 kilometers is 60,000 kilometers, which is about the same as 2,000 kilometers of railways built by parents every year.

East Africa has a small background, has a lot of lessons to make up, and spends a lot of money, so it can't rush for quick success in railway construction.

Of course, this is also related to the current world economic situation, the rapid development of railways in the seventies is a good opportunity to meet the economic crisis, the world's steel overcapacity.

Of course, Ernst tended to be conservative in setting this goal, after all, since the end of the war in South Africa, the pressure on East Africa's defense has plummeted, and military spending has shrunk.

Military spending has never been a small amount, for example, the Japanese Government invests more than 60 percent of its annual income in naval construction in order to develop its navy, making it the poorest militaristic country in the world at present.

The same is true of Germany, now the tonnage of the German Navy has climbed to 190,000 tons, in the early eighties, the two countries were still at the same level, now Germany is about twice as large as East Africa, and the German Army is also maintained at about 400,000 all year round, Wilhelm II will expand the German Army this year, which is exactly twice that of East Africa.

Of course, Germany is also helpless, the standing army of France next door has exceeded 500,000, and there is still the behemoth of Tsarist Russia in the east of Germany, so the German army is barely enough to double the size.

The tonnage of the East African Navy has now declined to just over 90,000 tons, 30,000 tons less than in the 80s, and the army has been reduced to more than 200,000 after the South African War.

However, compared with the decline in the number of people, military spending in East Africa has not decreased much, but it is mainly used to improve the level of military industry and improve the quality of the army.

For Ernst, disarmament is for the healthy development of the army, not for the sake of self-defeat, and if Ernst wishes, the East African Defense Forces can be as bad as the US Army.

The U.S. Army has only 30,000 active troops and 130,000 reinforced reserves, and of course, there is really no need for a large army for Americans.

The tonnage of the U.S. Navy has increased to 240,000 tons, only behind Britain and France, and ahead of Germany, which is a typical "small army, big navy" pattern.

For the size of the US Navy, East Africa can only envy points, after all, in 1890, the United States had already surpassed Britain to become the world's largest industrial country.

Compared with the economic strength of the United States, its navy is actually not too "luxurious", for example, the world's second navy, the French navy has a tonnage of more than 320,000 tons.

The tonnage of the British Navy is more than 600,000 tons, and from the tonnage of the navy, we can also see where the confidence of Britain and France to dominate the world pattern comes from.

Even if France loses in the Franco-Prussian War, it is nothing more than losing the status of the hegemon of the European continent and cannot change the strength of France as the second most powerful country in the world.

In fact, the tonnage of the Tsarist Russian Navy is not small, and it should be close to France, but Tsarist Russia, like Germany, is geographically limited, and the main Baltic Fleet and the German Navy are circling in the Baltic Sea.

All in all, in the 19th century, investment in the military was a huge burden for all countries, although not as extreme as Japan's, and it also had an impact on economic development.

Maintaining a military size in East Africa will also drag down the economy, but it is within the acceptable range, and it is necessary, after all, there are still 20 million black people in the country, and the lack of sufficient military suppression will inevitably have a bad impact on East African society.

On the other hand, the economic value that 20 million blacks can create can definitely feed back to the East African economy, which is very cost-effective, which is equivalent to blacks sharing the military expenditure of East Africa.

You must know that the population of Japan is only 30 million, and the value that 20 million blacks can create is far above that of Japan, after all, East Africa is not a resource-poor country like Japan, even if the black people are low-productivity, they can break through their original productivity level under the whip of East Africa.

Nowhere is this more evident than in agriculture and mining, but when it comes to infrastructure, blacks have also made a big contribution, but the value is not well understood.

"Railways and roads can drive the rapid development of industries such as steel, so the construction of railways should be increasing every year to meet the needs of East Africa's development, and in the future, East Africa will have to build at least a number of national railway trunk lines, interwoven into a national railway network," said Ernst. ”

"For example, South West Africa, although it seems to have little value now, is large in area and rich in resources underneath, so even South Africa will build at least one trunk railway to connect Walvis Bay Port with the mainland."

"The Southern Central Railway extends to Bloemfontein and the Kimberley, and to the West Kalahari Basin and north of the Orange River to Appleington, a southwest-northeast railway line is also needed, which is of great significance for safeguarding national security."

"The Azande Plateau in the north, the Great Lakes region, and Somalia all need to be built on railways, and the railway network in the central and eastern regions should also be improved, and the central and eastern regions have been developed, and the urban population is large, and a denser railway network is needed to promote sustainable economic development."

"Finally, in the eastern coastal region, many countries will build railways along the coast, and the eastern plain region of East Africa also needs a north-south coastal railway to promote the development and linkage of coastal urban economies."

The coastline of the eastern coast of East Africa is more than 5,000 kilometers long, and it will take at least 4,000 kilometers to build a railway along the coastline, so Ernst's idea is a huge project.

Moreover, the coastal railway will be built in the east, and the same will certainly be true in the west in the future, even if the natural environment in southwest Africa is harsh, the railway line along the Atlantic Ocean in the west will not be less than 1,000 kilometers.

In response to Ernst's words, East African officials have no doubt that East Africa will be able to complete it, because the construction capacity of railways is an incremental process, just like the explosive growth of railways in the United States, which has been the history of recent decades.

East Africa is larger and more populous than the United States, and it is far more dependent on railroads than the United States, which has an endless central plain and a well-developed water transportation network.

And this is what East Africa lacks, so East Africa's emphasis on railways is more prominent, and on this basis, it is reasonable that East African railways must at least reach the same level as the United States in the future.

(End of chapter)

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