Chapter 186 "Third Front" Program
March 11, 1869.
Professional cable-laying vessels once again appeared on the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. For people on the Mediterranean coast, it is no surprise. In recent years, as countries have paid more and more attention to the role of telegraphs, capable countries and companies are all on the bottom of the sea. Laying of telegraph lines.
And this time the ships laying cables at sea came from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the other from Germany, and they started work in the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea respectively.
From Trieste in the Austro-Hungarian Empire to Egypt, and from Egypt to East Africa, another cable laying work began.
This time it is the laying of double lines. After all, it is not safe to maintain the connection between East Africa and Europe with a single cable.
The plan of laying double lines has long been lying on Ernst's desk. There was a plan when laying the first cable from East Africa to Europe, but due to the limitation of funds at that time, it was not implemented together.
Later, the first cable has been in good working condition. After all, the entire line is not used for civil affairs. It belongs to the government special line in East Africa, and the workload is not heavy. The second line has not started for a long time, or Ernst Almost forgot about the plan.
Now, Dad is going to East Africa, and the communication between father and son is essential. In order to prevent accidents, Ernst decided to restart the cable laying work.
Submarine cables are relatively fragile things, so laying double lines is equivalent to installing insurance. Even if an accident occurs on the common line, the backup line can be activated immediately.
East Africa, the first town.
"This is a document from His Royal Highness. Now go ahead and send a letter to the governments along the inland route to make them ready." Von der Leyen handed the document about the laying of telegraph lines in East Africa to everyone in the conference room.
"This is really a lot of work!" The officials in the conference room said after reading the documents.
"It's not too difficult. Although the entire project line is more than 4,000 kilometers long, we only need to erect utility poles along both sides of the road, and the local governments along the way only need to be responsible for the work within their jurisdiction." Feng De Lane said.
"That's true. You can use local materials for the utility poles, and you need to prepare the machine room in advance to facilitate the subsequent installation of the generator."
What everyone is discussing is the land part of the telegraph line construction plan. As early as last year, the East African colony set up a land telegraph line from Mombasa to Dar es Salaam and then to the first town.
So the telegraph is not unfamiliar to the officials of the First Town. After all, the submarine cable only goes to Mombasa, which is some distance from Dar es Salaam and the First Town. It is impossible to rely on the stagecoach to deliver the news.
In East Africa, at present, horses are the main way to transmit messages. Post offices are set up in various cities, and a communication network is formed through post offices. Telegraphs are only available in the first town, Dar es Salaam and Mombasa.
"The erection of the telegraph line will be divided into two main lines and several branch lines, one originating from Mombasa and the other originating from the first town.
The Mombasa line passes through Nairobi, then arrives at Kisumu, and finally arrives at the northwest new city of Kampala. At the same time, Nairobi diverges a branch line to the north to the town of Omorat above Lake Turkana, so that there is nothing wrong with the north. Can be conveyed to us in time.
The first town line, with Dodoma as a transfer station, the southern line ends at Mbeya City, and the northern line goes north through Mwanza, and then goes west to the shore of Solon (Tanganyika) Lake. Bujumbura, so that the government can keep abreast of news from the west. "Technical Director Kane made a summary.
Above, the East Africa-Europe Haiti cable line, the first town line, and the Mombasa line are the latest communication projects in East Africa designed by Ernst this time, and they were also named "Three Lines" by Ernst.
It basically covers the main directions of East Africa. Only the south has no line construction plan, because the south and the Portuguese forces are separated by the Ruvuma River, and the defensive pressure is relatively small, and the Portuguese side is mainly lived by indigenous tribes, two colonies Not really bordering.
East Africa classified these indigenous tribes into the Portuguese sphere of influence, which can be regarded as an expression of goodwill to the Portuguese. If the two colonies are really next to each other, it must be inevitable.
So far, the expansion activities of the East African colonies have been quite smooth, and naturally they did not rely on Becker's peaceful negotiation method to win.
Moreover, Becker's success depends on the strength of East Africa. Msiri is a slave trader, not a good man and a believer. The reason why he sold the Kingdom of Yeke to East Africa at a very low price is that he knows that East Africa is really greedy, and he has nothing to do with himself. It is a kind of people.
But I still can’t beat the opponent, and since the slave trade became a unilateral demand in East Africa, Msiri can’t get anything, and the interest group of the Yeke Kingdom has begun to falter, so it’s better to sell it to the East Africans.
The deal with the Yeke Kingdom embodies the imperialist style of East Africa. Putting East Africa in Europe will probably make other countries happy, but it is an insurmountable mountain in front of the African natives.
Currently, the main direction of expansion in East Africa is Central and South Africa, so it is necessary to lay a telegraph line to Dambeya.
The Bujumbura region is responsible for liaison with the infiltrating Mitumba Mountains region in East Africa.
Kampala is responsible for the exchange of information for the Northwest Region of the Great Lakes Region.
Omorat Town is in charge of the Omo River Basin. After all, it is very close to the Abyssinian Empire, so we must pay attention to it. At the same time, we can monitor the movements of the Sudanese region of Egypt.
The above-mentioned key areas in East Africa can be directly contacted with the central government of East Africa through the "Three-Line" plan, and Ernst can also keep abreast of the trends in East Africa at any time.
In addition to the above areas, only Mozambique in the south and Somalia in the north are not covered by this plan. The Portuguese have already said it, and Somalia is not worth mentioning at all.
The border between Somalia and East Africa is dominated by deserts, which is a natural geographical barrier. Moreover, the Grady Sultanate in the direction of Somalia is too weak and has a small population. It is thankful that East Africa does not trouble him.
Just do it, and soon, the first town and the Mombasa government who got the news first began to organize personnel to erect the poles needed for the telegraph line.
Telephone poles are all made from local materials. The forest coverage in East Africa is quite terrifying in this era, reaching more than 40%. The wood is quite cheap, and there is basically no cost. With such a small population in East Africa, the speed of felling cannot keep up with its growth speed. .
After simple processing of these woods, add wooden wedges on top to serve as fulcrums for subsequent fixing of wires.
Follow-up, as long as European wires, generators, iron wire and other materials are transported, the lines can be fixed above, and a small maintenance and inspection point will be built at intervals, so that workers can find problems early and maintain the smoothness of the lines.
Some buildings are computer rooms, which are used to supply power to the entire telegraph line system. The generators are high-power DC generators imported from Siemens. A large part of the "Three-line" plan is spent on generators and other equipment.
Taking advantage of the opportunity of Prince Constantine going to East Africa, Ernst directly put the land telegraph line in East Africa and the submarine line in place in one step.
(end of this chapter)