Chapter 890 Railway Construction
The outbreak of war in the Far East is, after all, a trivial matter for East Africa, and it is even difficult to attract the attention of its own citizens. After all, East Africa now mainly focuses on domestic construction and has no intention of intervening in international affairs.
September 1894.
City of New Frankfort.
"This railway goes to the southeast. According to the superior department, it seems that a new city is to be built southeast of New Frankfurt City and northeast of Kabwe. Now this newly opened railway branch line is based on the New Frankfurt City Railway , and then connect to the national railway network," railway worker Hans said to his fellow workers.
The efficiency of the East African government is still good. As the location of Rhine City was selected, the construction of the railway to Rhine City began immediately, and Hans and others were railway workers on this railway line.
"There is nothing surprising about this. A large number of new cities are built in East Africa every year. Take our province of Hohenzollern as an example. There are quite a few cities that have suddenly popped up in recent years." Lavis replied .
Many cities in the Hohenzollern Province suddenly emerged due to mineral resources or railways, especially the northern copper belt and the central railway line, so now a new city has emerged around New Frankfurt. For Lavis Nothing surprising.
"Hey, you don't understand this. If it's just a new city, it certainly doesn't deserve my attention. But I heard from Director Valeni that this new city is likely to become our new capital in the future, replacing the current one. The first town," Hans said to Lavis and others.
Lavis: "How did you get the information from Director Valeni? And since he knows this information, why didn't it be publicized openly?"
Hans: "Didn't I drink with Director Valeni a while ago? He said it to himself when he was drunk. I didn't think much about it at the time. After all, the First Town seems to have no problem as the capital. How could it be possible to move the capital? ! It didn’t take long for Director Valeni’s words to come true, especially for this railway, but Director Valeni mentioned it emphatically.”
At this time, Director Valeni came out of nowhere and said, "Hans, what are you talking about?"
Everyone also thought that what Hans said made sense, but Lavis asked: "But isn't this unnecessary? The capital can be placed in New Frankfurt, and building a new city seems a bit wasteful. ”
"Although the location of the first town is good, close to the sea and there are railways, it is too far to the east. East Africa is a big country, bigger than more than a dozen Germany, so the location of the first town is not suitable for the whole of East Africa. , that is naturally too remote.”
Hans raised the corner of his mouth and said: "The knowledge here is huge. You all know that the capital of any country should be a place with nationwide transportation. Isn't there a proverb that says all roads lead to Rome? So? This capital must choose the area with the most convenient transportation in East Africa.”
Regarding this point, Hans explained: "This is not a contradiction. The first town was not placed in the more prosperous city of Dar es Salaam, but was built fifty kilometers west of Dar es Salaam. left and right areas, so our future new capital may also take this approach.”
"The situation around New Frankfurt is different. Although this is not only the geographical center of East Africa, but will also become the future economic center of our country. To give you the simplest example, if the central government is placed here, it can better control the country. Various regions, especially the core areas of my country’s main plateaus.”
Another colleague of his, Bell, interrupted at this time: "Hans, what's the point of this railway?"
Hans's face stiffened and he quickly said: "We were just discussing the railway. After all, Director Valeni, you also said that we should pay special attention to this railway, so we were just talking about work."
"Oh, that's it. You'd better not be petty. This railway is very important. There can be no quality defects at all, so pay attention during construction and report any problems in time. Otherwise, it will be troublesome if problems arise later. "Director Valeni, we are tired of hearing these words. Don't worry, we will always remember them." Lavis and others agreed.
The more this happened, the more uneasy Valeni became. He said directly: "The importance of this railway is higher than any railway we have built before, so it must be treated ten times or hundreds of times more seriously than usual. , otherwise when the time comes you go in and use the sewing machine, I won’t take advantage of you.”
Hearing what Valeni said, everyone was shocked. If you step on a sewing machine, you will go to jail. Of course, in East Africa, you can also do heavy manual labor such as mining.
“Director Valeni, did you get any news? Just now we told Hans that this railway will lead to the new capital of East Africa in the future.”
Valeni frowned and said, "Well, Hans, where did you get the news?"
Being called out suddenly, Hans said with some trepidation: "Director, you forgot, you told me this when you were drinking last month."
Valeni scratched his head: "Really! What else did I say when I was drunk?"
Hans: "It was mainly about the Rhine and so on. I was drunk at the time so I don't remember much."
Valeni then remembered how the news leaked. It seemed that it would be better to drink less alcohol in the future. He did not expect that he would tell the truth after drinking. If any secrets were really exposed, it would be too social.
"Don't pay too much attention to the capital and so on. I haven't even mentioned the horoscope yet! I only got the gossip from my friends, but one thing is for sure, that is, the superiors do not pay much attention to this city. Low, so you should be serious when working, especially when spying on black people.”
When it comes to black people, Valeni has more to say: "The construction of a section of the railway we were responsible for two years ago almost caused an accident because of the carelessness of black people. So you must pay close attention to the work of black people and repeatedly inspect the section they are constructing. At least three times a day to ensure the quality of the project.”
There are a large number of black workers in the East African railway system. Although they have made important contributions to the construction of East African railways, they are obviously not able to become excellent industrial workers due to lack of cognition and culture.
However, the East African government knows this very well. The East African government has no intention of training black people into excellent industrial workers. As for black people now working in various industries in East Africa, they are completely reluctant to part with these cheap labor forces.
However, in the railway sector, the proportion of black workers has actually been decreasing. In the past, the railways were full of blacks and East African supervisors, but now the number of blacks has dropped to less than 30%.
Of course, the proportion in mines, plantations, etc. is slightly higher. Now the main work has begun to be completed by East Africans themselves. After all, the number of East African citizens has already exceeded the number of black slaves by about two to three times. At the same time, this is also the beginning of the East African government. Adapt in advance to the social effects of reducing black slaves.
“Black people generally don’t pay much attention, or lack basic knowledge, so you must keep an eye on me, otherwise in addition to trouble, you will definitely be blamed when the time comes.” Valeni continued to emphasize.
“Don’t worry, supervisor, we will keep an eye on it, and we will definitely complete some key work ourselves, so as to ensure efficiency and project quality at the same time.” Lavis said in a timely manner.
(End of this chapter)