Chapter 373: Fifty Steps Laughing at a Hundred Steps
Taking the First Railway to reach Soga doesn't take long. Ernst and his group arrived before nightfall. Soga remains under construction; the southern part of the city is complete, and the National Library is situated in the south-central area.
The Soga National Library is even larger in scale than Austria's Habsburg Royal Library, the biggest in the German region. It also features the Baroque style and covers five hectares, with a total building area of 39,500 square meters. The thirty thousand sets of books Ernst brought wouldn't even fill a gap in its shelves.
Ernst places great importance on Soga's planning. Currently, the three cities of Central Province—First Town, Dar es Salaam, and Bagamoyo—form a kind of triangle, but on the map, Dar es Salaam sits somewhat south of Bagamoyo and First Town. As a result, looking west from Dar es Salaam feels empty.
First Town is the political and cultural center of East Africa; Dar es Salaam is the economic center of Central Province; Bagamoyo is East Africa's shipbuilding center. Each has its specialty. Ernst feels Central Province still lacks a hub of research and development, which is the fundamental reason for building Soga City.
Even though Soga City isn't immediately useful, constructing it now means East Africa won't be scrambling to build such a place in the future. Although East Africa's education system hasn't caught up, an economic crisis is on the horizon, and Ernst believes East Africa can attract some talents during the downturn.
Soga's role will be to accommodate those talented individuals. Ernst believes scientific and technological progress thrives when concentrated in one place. Scientists and inventors living in the same city can communicate regularly, spark inspiration, and correct each other's mistakes.
Hence, Soga is being constructed to the highest standards, on par with First Town. The idea is to make people who come to East Africa in the future feel at home.
First is the living environment. Soga can be called a garden city, with many parks scattered around. Thanks to its tropical climate, flowers bloom all year, and greenery abounds.
There's nothing special about the weather beyond its consistency—it has no winter, staying between spring and summer. There's a rainy season with the possibility of heavy downpours, but the drainage system is excellent, and the city is close to the ocean, so there's no major concern.
The roads are built to the highest specifications. Currently, they're made of brick and stone but are as wide as modern roads, with greenery in between. It's a massive undertaking but will make it easier to switch to asphalt in the future. There are main roads, designated walking paths, and even a lane reserved for motorcycles. The workers don't actually know the purpose of that extra lane—while walking lanes make sense, that "motorcycle lane" is beyond what most European cities would consider.
Road design in Europe now is quite rudimentary. There's usually just one road where pedestrians, horse-drawn carriages, and livestock all share the space without strict separation. Streets aren't very wide. Even in Paris or London, you wouldn't find such grand boulevards. From the viewpoint of city planners, the scale of Soga's streets is extravagant, which is why some call Soga City "Ernst's big toy."
Also, Soga City is well-placed for bringing talents together. After the railway opens, it'll be under half an hour from Dar es Salaam, letting people travel easily between East Africa and Europe.
This is crucial. If talents don't come from within East Africa itself, they'll need to travel worldwide, including returning home to visit family, engaging in academic exchanges, or leaving once they find another position. Ernst can't just tie them down with a rope.
During an economic crisis, jobs are scarce, so such people may come to East Africa out of necessity. But whether they stay depends on East Africa's sincerity, since Africa's reputation is that of an underdeveloped place. Talented people tend to flow toward developed regions.
Ernst thinks a good real-life example is how Hefei kept the University of Science and Technology in his previous life. That was very important. Given the Far East's overall distribution of universities in the past life, a province like Anhui had few advantages—nearby Nanjing was designed to be the central hub for the region's educational resources, just like how Xi'an or Wuhan function in their own regions.
Ernst is pleased with Soga's urban development. It's a major milestone. He asked his subordinates, "If you had the choice to live in Soga, would you consider it?"
They replied, "Your Highness, if we look purely at environment and transportation, I doubt you could find a city in Europe or anywhere else much better than Soga. But whether people settle here depends primarily on jobs—no work means no income, which means no one will stay. Next are the physical facilities. Soga does well in that regard, maybe even too well, but wider roads aren't necessarily a bad thing. Then comes the climate; Soga is fine there, too. Finally, people consider commercial atmosphere, safety, entertainment, local community, and urban culture."
Ernst was satisfied with this answer, then asked, "So do you see any weaknesses in Soga?"
"It's hard to say right now because the city is still empty. We'll only see its true state after people move in and live here. But Your Highness, I don't really understand your ultimate goal in building this city."
Ernst replied, "You'll understand in a couple of years. Let's just say Soga City will be of great use to East Africa. As for your comment about things being 'too extravagant,' I'd remind you that cities develop rapidly. Right now, Soga may seem ahead of its time, but in the future, that might not be the case. Look at Paris: many Parisians once thought Emperor Napoleon III's grand building projects were all for show. In part they were, but now Paris is a global model of urban redevelopment. I suspect in another twenty or thirty years, some North American cities might surpass Paris. Setting a high starting point for Soga isn't an issue."
"That's true, Your Highness. After all, the local African natives can't use up all the resources anyway. Launching big projects isn't a problem. Plus, this isn't Europe. European cities were built long ago, and any major renovation involves a lot of complications. But East Africa is a blank canvas—any idea can become reality here."
Constructing Soga City required a lot of labor from the natives. This city rose from bare ground in a very short time, which was even harder than renovating Dar es Salaam, where they at least kept some existing buildings, including the old Zanzibar palace turned luxury hotel. But Soga was built entirely from scratch.
Thinking of this, Ernst felt a slight pang of guilt. In Europe, he could overlook it, but now that he's here in Africa, he feels a bit sentimental. He forced himself to quell his sympathy.
Ernst said, "East African development depends on the natives. Using their labor properly is crucial for us. There's no need to wipe them out like the Americans did to the Indians. Once their indenture period is up, we should find a suitable next step for them. After all, they've worked here for so many years, whether farming, working on construction sites, digging canals, or building roads. They've learned at least some basic survival skills for modern society, so when they leave East Africa, they should still be able to get by with a few fellow workers."
"Your Highness, you're too kind. But that's what sets us Germans apart from those beasts in North America," one man said proudly.
Proud of what? It's like the proverb "Fifty steps laughing at a hundred steps." At least East Africa is stepping less, Ernst thought, but he kept silent. Times are what they are. Even if East Africa is only fifty steps behind instead of a hundred, that's still better than the Americans. Better to leave it at that.
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