African Entrepreneurship Record

Speaking of which, the Mangjing Highway is not just a simple road; it is also equipped with a telegraph line set up by the postal department, marking the end of the era without telegraphs in Southwest Africa.

The main means of communication along the coast of Southwest Africa such as Whale Bay Port previously relied on postal department ships. Even the nearest New Hamburg Port City is three thousand kilometers away, and there’s the risk of interception by the British Royal Navy from Cape Town in between.

Therefore, this land telegraph line is extremely important. Once operational, any disturbances along the Southwest African coast can be promptly reported to the Central Government, allowing them to react accordingly.

Southwest Africa currently holds little value, but if someone takes a risk and lands along the coast, a surprise attack on the interior of East Africa is not impossible.

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Recently, Ernst finally managed to deal with most of the work accumulated over the past six months, so with rare leisure, he decided to visit the Guard Division’s weapons testing ground.

The Guard Division is deployed across the entire Central Province. Due to the special nature of the garrison troops, they have always maintained top-notch standards in terms of weapons and equipment.

The weapons testing ground for the Guard Division is built on Kedunda Mountain on the left bank of the small Rhine River. Kedunda Mountain is actually a region of plains and hills, and the name is inherited from the indigenous people.

This place is a straight-line distance of over eighty kilometers from First Town, mainly relying on the water transport of the small Rhine to connect with First Town, so transportation is relatively convenient.

After the transformation of the small Rhine River, most of the channels are already navigable. Of course, the upper waterfall section certainly cannot be directly traversed. However, East Africa specifically built a canal for this, which is also a major reason why the Central Canal was divided into three sections at the time, allowing circumvention.

Otherwise, relying solely on the small Rhine, it would be impossible to reach the upstream regions directly through its primitive channels. Of course, since the Guard Division’s weapons testing ground is not far from First Town, it does not require bypassing through the canal.

Ernst took a Guard Division warship and arrived here in two hours. Upon landing at the dock, he could see a road extending toward a cluster of buildings.

At the roadside was a sign that read, ”Military Area, No Entry,” which was naturally intended for ordinary people to prevent them from mistakenly entering. However, no one would deliberately visit the Kedunda Mountain weapons testing ground.

Although there are boats passing on the small Rhine River, their destinations are downstream at First Town or Bajamojo, primarily transporting grain and not stopping at the Kedunda Mountain weapons testing ground.

”The total area of our Kedunda Mountain weapons testing ground is sixty-one square kilometers. The buildings in front of us and those at the back are part of the newly constructed ’Military Vehicle Research Institute’ located in the southeast of the testing ground, dedicated to researching the application of internal combustion vehicles in the military,” introduced by the person in charge of the testing ground, Marvinius, to Ernst.

Upon landing from Kedunda Mountain’s dock, the first building he saw, a row of small bungalows, was the so-called Military Vehicle Research Institute, which seemed quite simple, and more importantly, there wasn’t a single vehicle in sight.

So Ernst asked, ”Why is there not a single vehicle in this Military Vehicle Research Institute? What are you researching without vehicles?”

Guard Division staff officer Laird said, ”Your Highness, the Military Vehicle Research Institute is currently in its initial phase and does not yet have formal models or products. In this area, car companies have more research than we do, so our Guard Division is collaborating on related projects with Heixinggen Energy Power Company. Some experiments, considering military confidentiality, must be conducted independently.”

”What about your test products?”

”Report to Your Highness, the Crown Prince. We have two prototype vehicles, both purchased from the Heixinggen Energy Power Company’s car factory in Dar es Salaam. However, vehicles are a completely new thing, and besides the two technicians, our personnel do not understand much about the principles and mechanical functions involved. Hence, these two vehicles are currently dismantled in the warehouse for study,” Marvinius explained.

Laird also explained on the side, ”The military’s research institute cannot naturally be compared to automotive companies that have honed their craft over a decade. Just the engine research of Heixinggen Energy Power Company is at the world’s leading level, and the military cannot even gather relevant R&D personnel. Therefore, initial reliance on companies is inevitable. Of course, our Guard Division places great emphasis on the prospects of automotive applications in the military and aims to progress significantly.”

Currently, there are three state-run automobile factories in East Africa, located respectively in Dar es Salaam, Mbeya, and Harare.

All rely on technical support from Heixinggen Energy Power Company. The factory constructions in the three state-run automobile factories were only completed this March, with an expected production capacity of over thirty vehicles per year, which frankly can be described as slightly larger car workshops.

However, this is understandable. Back in the previous life, even the United States, which had the most developed automotive industry by the end of the 19th century, only reached an annual production scale of a few thousand vehicles.

The global automotive industry is entirely new, so the production capacity of East Africa’s thirty vehicles is already considered substantial.

The limited production of automobiles in East Africa has already made it the world’s second-largest automotive industry distribution area, only behind the German region. Of course, besides the three state-run automobile factories, Heixinggen Energy Power Company has also constructed three factories in Mombasa, Dar es Salaam, and Harare. Therefore, East Africa’s automotive industry currently has a hybrid public-private structure.

The automotive factories of Heixinggen Energy Power Company mainly aim at export issues, assembling and producing in East Africa before exporting to other countries,

”We are currently collaborating with two car companies in Dar es Salaam. Last year, we purchased two experimental vehicle models from Heixinggen Energy Power Company, and the technicians were also hired from Heixinggen Energy Power Company, with only two in total. Therefore, the role of the military vehicle research institute is currently very limited.”

The startup of enterprises is difficult enough, let alone the military’s military vehicle research institute. The Guard Division’s military vehicle research institute can now be considered a ”small office” founded by Heixinggen Energy Power Company, albeit with ownership by the Guard Division.

”The Ministry of Defense also has related projects, but they mainly collaborate with several state-run automobile factories, allowing the enterprises to undertake related research directly.”

State-run automobile factories are also government assets, so the Ministry of Defense uses them without psychological burden. Moreover, automobiles from state-run factories will naturally prioritize the military, as they aren’t entirely for profit, and the military can take more orders domestically.

In recent years, the East African military, apart from the naval expansion being relatively extravagant, has seen no significant changes in the army, with even a bit of streamlining in numbers. This has enabled East Africa to invest more sufficiently in R&D funding for weapons and equipment.

Ernst had an idea of the composition of this military vehicle research institute; it was still somewhat of a prototype at this stage. This is understandable since the automobile has existed for such a short time, and personnel more familiar with cars might only number a few hundred, most of whom work in the European portion of Heixinggen Energy Power Company.

Other countries also have imitators, but so far, the market still only has finished products for sale from Heixinggen Energy Power Company.

Thus, starting from scratch is considerably challenging for the East African military, although they are already much ahead of other countries, who perhaps have not even seen samples.

Subsequently, Ernst did not take much interest here, but he did offer some encouragement: ”I hope you can achieve results sooner. The impact of the automotive industry on the military is tremendous, akin to the railway. Taking the first step means taking a hundred fewer steps in the future, and your task is to widen that gap.”

After all, the subordinates are motivated, so Ernst didn’t criticize, and given its experimental nature, if things didn’t work out, there would still be car companies to back them up.