African Entrepreneurship Record

After two days, Tirpitz and his party finally arrived at Rhein City. Beyond Mbeya, all the way to Rhein City, they hadn’t seen another large city like Mbeya City, but the agricultural development in the middle region, which was the eastern part of the former Zambian territory, was quite good.

”This is Rhein City, our new capital in East Africa. Due to its recent relocation, the city population and industry are relatively lacking, making the whole city seem quite spacious,” Aaron explained to the Germans.

”I can see that the building density is far less than in Mbeya and Dar es Salaam City, but the city framework is vast. Just from the road network construction, it’s apparent East Africa has high hopes for Rhein City, and there are quite a few railroads.”

At this moment, Tirpitz and others were approaching Rhein City station by train. As the capital city of East Africa, naturally it wouldn’t fall short of a central rail hub like New Frankfurt City. The closer they got to Rhein City station, the more rail lines they could visibly see increase, and two main rail lines gradually converged with the railway line on which Tirpitz and his party were traveling.

”The railway plan for Rhein City is likely the nationwide rail hub for East Africa, situated right at the heart of East Africa’s geography and economy,” Tirpitz remarked.

Aaron explained, ”It still takes time to form the rail hub. Currently, one of the three lines is not yet completed, and only the segment from Rhein City eastward is finished, which accounts for only about one-third of the entire railway.”

Now, the railways of Rhein City have already been separated from the Central Railway, so there’s no need to transfer through New Frankfurt City. This also means that Tirpitz and his party didn’t have the opportunity to observe the situation in New Frankfurt.

As the new capital of East Africa, the urban layout and style of Rhein City is completely different from First Town City, Dar es Salaam City, Dodoma, Mbeya, and other East African cities that Tirpitz had seen.

This presents a trend: the closer one gets to the East African inland region, the more distinct its architectural style from Germany it becomes.

Early East African cities completely imitated European architectural style, but as East Africa developed, a nascent local architectural style also gradually formed, and due to later development than coastal areas, inland city styles became more daring and open.

When it comes to Rhein City, this architectural characteristic reached its most significant expression. Although the overall core still resembles Europe, it incorporates a lot of simplified industrial design elements.

Paired with East Africa’s usual exaggerated roads and greenery construction, Rhein City as a whole exhibits a vibrant energy of a burgeoning city.

Tirpitz and his entourage finally disembarked at Rhein City station, which left an impression of grandeur. The scale of this station should rank among the top globally, differing from the stations Tirpitz had previously seen in Mbeya and Dar es Salaam City.

Then, under the arrangement of the East African Government, the German Navy delegation officially visited the political center of East Africa, and Ernst, who was busy dealing with a large number of accumulated official duties due to the relocation of the capital, took the time to meet with Tirpitz, who was considered a rather famous figure in his previous life.

”Count Tirpitz, welcome to East Africa,”

”Thank you, His Highness, for taking the time to meet us,” Despite Tirpitz’s older age, he showed a certain amount of reverence towards Ernst.

Even setting aside Ernst’s numerous titles and identities in East Africa, the Heixinggen Royal Family is quite prestigious in Europe, especially in the German Region.

”It is an honor for East Africa that Count Tirpitz, as the newly appointed German Minister of the Navy, chose us as the first stop. I believe that in the future, Germany and East Africa can work together in the maritime domain to play a greater role,” Ernst set the tone.

Regarding the German Navy proactively seeking cooperation with East Africa, Ernst naturally wouldn’t refuse. Although the East African Navy is already mature, there is still a significant quality gap compared to Europe.

The early development of the East African Navy was dependent on the support of the Austria-Hungary Navy, but the Austria-Hungary Navy was never particularly prominent in Europe, especially in comparison with Western European and Northern European countries, being at a middle-to-lower level among the major powers, which inevitably meant the East African Navy had many subjects to learn.

Though the German Navy developed later and Germany wasn’t a traditional naval powerhouse, Germany is currently a world center for technology and academia, with industrial strength and cutting-edge technology on par with the United States.

In the late 19th century and early 20th century, world navies were in an era of great transformation, especially with the revival of battleships, making the German Navy one of the new forces likely to lead world navy development in the short term.

Even though Germany lost World War I in the previous life, from start to finish, the performance of the German Navy was commendable, particularly the German warships which in terms of quality and stability were no less than British warships.

Against the backdrop of the East African Navy’s temporary status quo, the pressure on East African coastal defense is actually increasing, especially after East Africa gained a western coastline capable of large-scale development and construction, making the available scale of the East African Navy more stretched.

If, at this moment, cooperation with navies from Germany and other countries could be achieved, it would undoubtedly reduce East Africa’s military pressure during special periods.

Although Ernst emphasized that economic development is the primary task for East Africa at the moment, it doesn’t mean he has ignored potential war risks.

After confirming Ernst’s supportive attitude, Tirpitz was naturally delighted. With Ernst’s endorsement, the general direction of naval cooperation between the two countries was cemented.

Of course, Germany and East Africa each have their own interests and strategic considerations, so divergences won’t be few, but these differences are merely conceptual, not hindering collaboration between the two navies.

Tirpitz and William II are undoubtedly proponents of long-range navy policies, aligned with Germany’s world policy, seeking to exert the influence of the German Navy globally.

Meanwhile, the East African Navy currently still adheres to near-coast defense as the mainstream policy direction, even though East Africa has numerous colonies and economic spheres worldwide.

The stark differences in naval development strategy between the two are bound to influence cooperation, primarily in terms of ideological conflicts.

Regarding the economic spheres of East Africa, Germany and East Africa also hold disagreements, especially in attitudes towards the Far East Empire, where the focus undisputedly lies in the two economic cooperation zones of East Africa in the Far East, especially the core Jiaozhou Port.

With East African capital-led development, Jiaozhou has undoubtedly become a more alluring lure than it was in previous eras, eye-catching to every country. In the previous life, Germany took notice of Jiaozhou, let alone now with East African-backed development.

Ernst would never relinquish control over Jiaozhou, which serves as a communication window and a vital economic channel between East Africa and the Far East Empire.

To attract East Africa, the German Navy delegation led by Tirpitz naturally wouldn’t forcibly seize anything, but one thing was certain: Germany wouldn’t idly watch other major powers partition the Far East Empire market.

Although Jiaozhou is nominally a joint interest area involving East Africa, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and other German countries, the leadership of the region has consistently been in East African hands.

Hence, for Germany to possess a German-led core port in the Far East Empire, they would either need to develop elsewhere or seize from British or French control. The latter is clearly unrealistic, so Germany would likely carve out a new area outside the spheres of other countries as its commercial outpost in the Far East.

In this regard, Ernst can’t assist, as East Africa would never stand in opposition to Germany, nor does it have any reason to meddle in German national policy. Ensuring the independence of Jiaozhou is, in fact, already a great help to the Far East Empire, even though due to various reasons, East Africa inevitably engages in cultural and economic infiltration in Jiaozhou. Nevertheless, the Far East Empire retains certain leadership rights, unlike other ports that are completely at the beck and call of other major powers.