Chapter 363 Million acres of rubber forest

"Huh...huh...huh..."

White water vapor spurted out from the cylinder at the bottom of the car, hitting both sides of the rails like a thick smoke. Some parts of the locomotive started to operate, making a ticking sound, wheezing... As the last pressure was released, the engine that had just returned The chimney, which was emitting wisps of green smoke, instantly erupted into violent and thick black smoke.

A huge puff of white steam rose into the sky from the chimney, followed by a crisp whistle, "Woo. Woo... Woo. Woo... Woo. Woo..." like the scream of a monster.

People guarding both sides of the railway were awakened by the deafening sound. The front of the train was exhausted for the last time, the wheels began to rotate, and the chimney was fully exerted. With the sound of "whooshing", streams of black smoke were pushed out of the tall black chimney.

"Kuang cut... kuang cut... kuang cut..." The Constantine moved on the rails, and the huge steel hub pressed against the rails and made a huge sound.

The train left the Dar es Salaam Railway Station and continued to accelerate towards the First Town Railway Station.

"Your Majesty, the Constantine's top speed can reach fifty-seven kilometers per hour, but for the stability and comfort of this train, we will drive towards the first town at a distance of forty kilometers per hour." Carriage The technical staff introduced to Constantine.

Constantine checked the time on his watch and said, "Does that mean we can return to the first town in one and a half hours?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The carriage that Constantine rode in was specially customized in Austria. The interior decoration was quite luxurious and was basically the same as that of other European monarchs. The highlights were the lamps equipped throughout the carriage and the latest coffee stove produced by the Hechingen Daily Necessities Company installed in the drinking room. , are all powered by electricity, powered by a small internal combustion engine. So much so that when this carriage left the factory, Austrian craftsmen thought it was a special train for the Habsburg royal family.

The train was speeding through the wilderness of East Africa, and the scenery on both sides was rapidly receding outside the windows. It attracted the farmers in East Africa to stop and watch as it passed near the village.

"Morse, look, there's a huge monster running on that thing called the railway..."

This is the first time many East Africans have seen a train, even Austrian immigrants are no exception. Immigrants arriving in East Africa must have taken a big ship, but not necessarily a train. Even if there is a train station in Trieste, they may not have seen it in person. Pass.

The train passing through the countryside did give a shocking feeling to most residents along the line, but in the future they would also become numb to the trains passing in front of them almost every day. Nowadays, for most people, it is a completely exciting feeling. Even Africa has trains, so is Africa still Africa?

This impact is huge and has completely changed the image and status of the East African Kingdom in the hearts of the residents. Most of the people who come to East Africa are desperate and want to live in East Africa. Various rumors about Africa in the European continent are in the hearts of European immigrants. The stereotype of Africa is now broken by Breaking the Train. It is not that the continent of Africa is not good, but the problem of people.

In comparison, immigrants from the Far East are better. At least before the East African Kingdom recruits people, they don't know the existence of Africa at all. Those who are a little knowledgeable may have heard of North Korea, Japan, Annan and other dependent countries, and no matter how far away they are, they have heard of Siam. , Tianzhu, etc., like Africa, only sailors, pirate merchants, Far Eastern officials and very knowledgeable people who have been on the sea all year round may know about it.

…

Hesse and Mitumba Provinces are mainly located between Lake Solon (Lake Tanganyika) and the Congo River. The Mitumba Mountains cross the two provinces.

These two provinces were included in the Kingdom of East Africa not too late, half a year earlier than Zambia and the plateaus in the west. However, the total population of the two provinces only reached more than 70,000, which was not as much as the city of Dar es Salaam. This is not because the conditions here are not good, but because Zimbabwe and Zambia have higher priorities than here.

Like the most developed province of Katanga (part) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the previous life, South Kivu and North Kivu (all) are within the scope of these two provinces.

The economy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo cannot be described as poor in the entire African region, but extremely poor. Although it is rich in mineral resources, its development level is ten blocks behind even Tanzania across the lake, and even Rwanda. A small purely agricultural country without any resources can occupy its territory for a long time. Rwanda mainly covets Congo's rich mineral resources, and this area is the junction of Hesse and Mitumba provinces in East Africa today.

Not only that, Uganda, Burundi, Chad, Namibia... all have ambitions towards Congo. In other words, if a dog comes, it can slap Congo twice.

Of course, this is also related to the topography of the Congo. The Congo Basin in the middle, the endless rainforest is like a large no-man’s land, and Kinshasa, the capital of Congo, is in a small corner in the southwest. Coupled with backward transportation and execution, it is difficult for The country in the east basically does not have much control ability.

In the previous life, most of Congo's mineral resources are now concentrated in the territory of the East African Kingdom. The most famous one is the copper mine on the Katanga Plateau.

Hesse and Mitumba provinces are also extremely rich in mineral resources. However, given the current traffic conditions and population size of the two provinces, it is unknown when these mineral resources will be able to be developed.

Mineral resources cannot be developed, so the economic development of the two provinces has returned to the old path of the East African Kingdom, developing agricultural resources.

In order to make full use of the population, climate, and terrain of the two provinces, Ernst decided to build the largest rubber plantation in the East African Kingdom there.

Rubber trees have been planted near the Great Lakes region in East Africa long ago, but the scale was not large, at least Ernst felt it was not too big, so starting this year, Ernst plans to expand rubber planting in Hesse and Mitumba provinces area.

The most suitable places for planting rubber trees in the East African Kingdom are here and the southern Ethiopian Plateau, and the area near the Mitumba Mountains has obvious advantages over the southern Ethiopian Plateau.

It is close to the Congo Basin and is also the windward slope of the Atlantic Ocean, with the richest precipitation resources. At the same time, the equator passes through the area, and the temperature is much higher than that of the Ethiopian Plateau (mainly affected by altitude).

Rubber trees are most afraid of drought and cold, which is why most areas of the East African Plateau are not suitable for rubber planting. Precipitation is the main factor. At the same time, the most suitable range for rubber planting in the world is approximately between 17 degrees north and south latitude.

In the past life, there was only one place that was special, and that was the successful planting of rubber trees on a large scale in the Far East between 18 and 24 degrees north latitude, overturning the myth of the "forbidden zone" for rubber planting.

Among the areas in East Africa where rubber can be grown, Hesse Province has the most advantageous conditions because it has the lowest terrain and its northern end is already part of the Congo Basin. It is dominated by plain terrain and has large areas of rainforest, making it very suitable for rubber planting.

Based on the rubber planting experience accumulated in East Africa, if all the population in Hesse and Mitumba provinces were used to plant rubber, the maximum could reach two million acres.

This was an ideal situation, so Ernst halved the task and planned to open up one million acres of rubber plantations in the two provinces.

This task is absolutely achievable. On average, one person can only take care of 14 acres of rubber forest and about 400 to 600 trees. And Ernst does not need them to participate in food production. In the current state of food surplus in East Africa, , just supply it from the Great Lakes District next door.

The market for rubber is huge. No matter how much you plant, don’t be afraid. It’s just a bunch of trees anyway, and the maturity period of rubber trees takes at least six years. Planning in advance now will save a lot of trouble in the future. It’s better to let the trees wait for the market. , and don’t let the market wait for trees.