African Entrepreneurship Record

East Africa is busy digging on one side, but on the other side, it can’t pay attention to the situation in Spain and the United States, because there are more important matters to attend to domestically.

April 1, 1898.

The East African Government officially passed the proposal to move the capital to Rhein City. Relocating the capital is undoubtedly a complex and large-scale project. Fortunately, from the beginning, First Town City was not designed as a major city. It has a small population and industry, and is close to Dar es Salaam City, so apart from its political status, it is not prominent in other respects, which provides convenience for the East African Government.

This is quite understandable. Like the capital of the Far East Empire in a previous life, which had a registered population of over ten million. If a decision like moving the capital in East Africa were to be made, there would be more than ten million opponents, which is overwhelming just to think about.

However, it must be acknowledged that the location of the Far East Empire’s capital was indeed excellent. It was only due to the lack of modern naval strength that the Bohai Bay was vulnerable to foreign invasion, and later, the population became too concentrated, leading to water shortages. Aside from these, there were hardly any shortcomings.

”The process of relocating the capital will be divided into three steps. First, various government departments will send part of their personnel to Rhein City in advance to set up the framework. The second step will involve some government agencies completely moving to Rhein City for office work. By 1900, Rhein City will have fully become the new political center of East Africa.”

There are practically no objections to relocating the capital to Rhein City. After all, First Town City is indeed not the top priority, and whether in terms of overall planning or development potential, the new capital, Rhein City, far exceeds First Town City. Although currently, its scale is still relatively small compared to other cities, its potential is immense.

With the official start of the relocation, the workload of trains on the Central Railway has increased once again; a large number of documents and equipment are being continuously transported to Rhein City.

At this time, the railway framework of Rhein City is basically complete. It is no longer necessary to transfer through New Frankfurt City when traveling from First Town City to Rhein City. Although New Frankfurt City is still the most important railway hub, Rhein City’s transportation system also forms its own network.

In fact, the railways of Rhein City and New Frankfurt City form a dual core in the national railway network. However, the railway in Rhein City prioritizes use by the government and military, while New Frankfurt City focuses more on economic freight transport.

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Rhein City.

East African National Library.

The original National Library was located in First Town City, but in terms of scale, East Africa’s largest library is in Soga City.

”The Rhein City National Library will replace the former First Town City National Library, while the First Town City Library will serve as a branch. The new National Library’s collection will mainly come from the First Town City National Library and the Soga City Library. Additionally, it will expand its collection, with plans to hold a collection of 5 million volumes, including other documentary collections, becoming a new center of knowledge and culture in East Africa.”

”Centered on our library, there are already plans for the construction of 13 higher education and research institutions nearby. This will become an important venue for talents and cultural exchanges throughout the whole of East Africa in the future.”

The library director, Kron, feels fortunate about his future. After all, he loves reading, and now, the new East African National Library is among the world’s top in scale and collection volume.

Books were relatively precious items in the 19th century. Some libraries, to ensure the safety of the books, even used special chains and cases to lock books in cabinets to prevent theft.

In the early days, East Africa was evidently unable to construct a library that could house more than 5 million books. This wasn’t due to other reasons but mainly because East Africa was ”lacking books” at the time.

The book collection of the new National Library, with 5 million volumes as its initial goal, is modest compared to the millions or even hundreds of millions held by future large libraries. Hence, Ernst uses this as a reference, investing heavily in the Rhein City National Library, aiming for at least a 20 million volume collection in the future. This makes the new National Library extremely large in scale, with electrical and advanced fire prevention systems installed.

The architectural style of the Rhein City National Library is also distinctly different from traditional library styles, focusing more on practicality and enhancing the reading experience, whereas in Europe and America, the architectural styles emphasize a more palatial artistic form, appearing more solemn and majestic.

Therefore, the East African National Library can be said to be the most modern-style building in East Africa, breaking with tradition.

Of course, the new East African National Library is just beginning, with only over 200,000 volumes in its collection currently. More books need to be transported from the east or other regions later on.

The National Library is merely a microcosm of Rhein City, with many national service facilities’ buildings being established in Rhein City over the past few years, including the palace, Congress Hall, Supreme Court, government office buildings, embassies, hospitals, etc.

Rhein City’s overall core framework is designed to accommodate 500,000 people, and much space has been reserved for future development. With the current construction progress, its scale is equivalent to that of two First Town Cities.

After all, the total population of First Town City is less than 200,000, only 170,000. Once the initial construction is complete, Rhein City will be about three times the size of First Town City.

In other words, the current scale of Rhein City is already sufficient to accommodate the entire population of First Town City, which is the foundational condition for the official launching of the relocation.

However, since Rhein City now has a small population, apart from the large number of construction workers, the entire city seems rather empty and devoid of a living atmosphere.

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”Father, once the relocation is complete, I plan to officially elevate East Africa from a kingdom to an empire, so that you, as king, can truly become an emperor.”

In the Sweet Palace, Ernst directly informed Constantine of his idea. In fact, this idea had been buried in Ernst’s heart ten years ago, but back then, East Africa’s national power was weak and did not have the conditions to do so.

Constantine said, ”Actually, in my view, the titles of king and emperor are merely honorary. Adding a title doesn’t seem to have much impact, and if the procedures are too complicated, I’m afraid my health may not withstand it.”

In Constantine’s mind, being the king of a powerful country is already quite satisfying. As for the title of emperor, he doesn’t care much. After all, turning a British queen into an empress only sounds better, and traditional coronation ceremonies are extremely complex. Therefore, the elderly Constantine isn’t keen on going through such an ordeal.

Ernst persuaded, ”Father, in reality, this time changing our status from a kingdom to an empire carries other significance. My idea is to use this opportunity to divide East African history into two phases. Initially, when we founded the Heixinggen Kingdom, it was intertwined with a lot of colonial history, and this opportunity is perfect to separate ourselves from that.”

”Secondly, although you are aging, you are still in good health. So, take this opportunity to experience the joy of being an emperor. As for the coronation ceremony, it will naturally follow our East African customs, without imitating Europe. We can simplify the ceremony.”

Ernst’s remarks were quite unconventional, but Ernst himself is only a fake ”Christian”; he can’t even recall the content of the Bible, so these kinds of actions are routine for him.

Moreover, East Africa is different from Europe. Even if East Africa follows European customs, it is akin to warmly welcoming a cold reception, receiving no favor. Therefore, it’s better to follow their own ideas.

So Ernst said, ”If we truly followed European traditions, East Africa couldn’t possibly become an empire. After all, Europe can only have one emperor at a time. Now Germany, Tsarist Russia, even Austria, and previously France’s Napoleon all call themselves emperor, but their emperor is Caesar. We in East Africa, located in Africa, are naturally situated differently from Europe in terms of national interests.”