Chapter 940: Capital relocation work begins
East Africa was digging a hole on one side, but it could not care about the situation in Spain and the United States on the other side, because there were more important things to do in East Africa now.
April 1, 1898.
The East African government officially passed the draft of moving the capital to Rhine City. Moving the capital is obviously a complex and huge project, but fortunately, the first town city was not designed as a big city from the beginning. There are not many people and industries. In addition, it is close to Dar es Salaam, so except for the political status, other aspects are not prominent, which also provides convenience for the East African government.
This is easy to understand. For example, the capital of the Far East Empire in the previous life had a registered population of more than 10 million. If a decision is made to move the capital to East Africa, there will be more than 10 million opponents. Just thinking about it is also a headache.
However, it must be admitted that the location of the capital of the Far East Empire is indeed good, that is, the lack of naval strength in modern times, the Bohai Bay is vulnerable to foreign invasion, the population is too concentrated in later generations, and water shortages, there are almost no shortcomings in other aspects.
"The process of relocating the capital this time is divided into three steps. The first step is for each government department to set up a framework in Rhine City in advance. The second step is for some government agencies to move to Rhine City for office. Before 1900, Rhine City will become the new political center of East Africa."
For the relocation of the capital to Rhine City, most people have no objection. After all, the first town city is not a priority option, and the new capital Rhine City has greatly surpassed the first town city in terms of planning in all aspects. Although the scale of Rhine City is still comparable to other cities, its potential is huge.
After the official start of the relocation of the capital, the trains on the Central Railway increased their workload again, and a large number of archives and equipment began to be moved to Rhine City in a steady stream.
At this time, the railway framework of Rhine City is basically complete. It is no longer necessary to transfer from New Frankfurt City to Rhine City from the first town city. Although New Frankfurt City is still the most important railway hub, the transportation of Rhine City is also self-contained.
In fact, the railways of Rhine City and New Frankfurt City form a dual core in the national railway network, but the railways of Rhine City are used by the government, military and other departments first, while New Frankfurt City focuses on more economical cargo transportation.
…
Rhine City.
National Library of East Africa.
The original national library is located in the First Town City. Of course, in terms of scale, the largest library in East Africa is in Soga City.
"The National Library of Rhine will replace the original National Library of First Town, and the First Town Library will be used as a branch library. The books of the new National Library mainly come from the National Library of First Town and the Soga City Library, and will be expanded on this basis. According to the latest plan, the collection of this library will reach 5 million books, including other document collections, becoming a new knowledge and cultural resort in East Africa."
"With our library as the center, there are as many as 13 colleges and universities and scientific research institutions designed nearby. This will become an important place for talent and cultural exchanges across East Africa in the future."
The director of the National Library, Krohn, feels happy about his future. After all, he loves reading. At this time, the new National Library of East Africa is at the top level in the world in terms of scale and collection.
Books were relatively valuable items in the 19th century. In order to ensure the safety of books, some libraries would even use special chains and shells to lock books on cabinets to prevent them from being stolen.
In the early days, East Africa was obviously unable to build a library with a collection of more than 5 million books. It was not for other reasons, but mainly because East Africa was "short of books" at that time.
The number of books in the new national library is only a first-stage goal. The number of books in large libraries in later generations is often tens of millions or even hundreds of millions. Therefore, Ernst used this as a reference and invested more in the Rhine National Library. In the future, at least 20 million books will be collected here, which also makes the scale of the new national library extremely large, and it has laid a power system and a more advanced and complete fire protection system.
The architectural style of the Rhine National Library is also very different from the traditional library style. It pays more attention to practicality and improves the reading experience, while Europe and the United States emphasize the palace-like artistic style, which is more solemn and solemn.
Therefore, the East African National Library can be said to be the most modern building in East Africa at present, breaking the tradition.
Of course, the new East African National Library has just started, and the total number of books is only more than 200,000. Subsequent books need to be moved from the east or other regions.
The National Library is just a microcosm of the Rhine City. Many national service agency buildings have landed in the Rhine City in recent years, including the Royal Palace, the Parliament Building, the Supreme Court, the government office building, the embassy, the hospital, etc.
At present, the overall core framework of Rhine City is designed for 500,000 people, and a large amount of development space is reserved on the periphery. According to the current construction progress, it is equivalent to the size of two first towns.
After all, the total population of the first town is less than 200,000, only 170,000. If the initial construction is completed, Rhine City will be close to three times the size of the first town.
In other words, the scale of Rhine City can now accommodate the entire first town, which is also the basic condition for the formal implementation of the relocation of the capital.
However, because Rhine City has a small population now, the entire city seems very empty and has no breath of life except for the huge number of construction workers.
...
"Father, when the relocation is completed, I plan to upgrade Dongfang from a kingdom to an empire. At that time, you, the king, can become a real emperor."
In the Sweet Palace, Ernst told Constantine his idea directly. This idea had actually been buried in Ernst's heart ten years ago, but at that time, East Africa was weak and did not have the conditions.
Constantine said: "In fact, in my opinion, the king and emperor are just empty names. Adding a title does not seem to have much impact. Moreover, if the procedure is too complicated, I am afraid that my body will not be able to bear it."
In Constantine's mind, he is very satisfied now that he can become the king of a powerful country. As for the title of emperor, he does not care too much. After all, the Queen of England becomes the Queen, which is just a little better, and the traditional coronation ceremony is extremely complicated, so the elderly Constantine does not want to suffer this.
Ernst persuaded him, "Father, actually, this time the kingdom becomes an empire, and there are other meanings. My idea is to divide East African history into two periods through this change of state system. In the early days, we established the Kingdom of Hexingen, which was mixed with a lot of colonial history, and this opportunity happened to separate it from the previous period."
"Secondly, although you are old, you are still strong, so take this opportunity to let you experience the fun of being an emperor. As for the coronation ceremony, it is naturally in accordance with our own rules in East Africa. There is no need to imitate Europe. We can simplify the ceremony."
Ernst's remarks are very unorthodox, but Ernst is just a fake "Christian". He can't even remember the contents of the Bible, so this operation is commonplace for him.
And East Africa is different from Europe. Even if East Africa follows European rules, it is just a warm face to a cold buttock, and it will not please, so it is better to follow your own ideas.
Ernst said: "If we really follow the European tradition, East Africa will never become an empire. After all, there can only be one emperor in Europe. Now Germany, Tsarist Russia, and even Austria and Napoleon of France all call themselves emperors, but their emperor is Caesar. We in East Africa are in Africa, and naturally have different national conditions and interests from Europe."