Chapter 186: The "Three-Line" Plan
March 11, 1869.
Once again, professional cable-laying ships appeared in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. For people along the Mediterranean coast, this was nothing new. In recent years, as various countries placed increasing importance on telegraphy, any nation or company with sufficient capability was laying undersea telegraph lines.
This time, one cable-laying ship from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and another from Germany began operations in the Mediterranean and Red Sea, respectively. From Trieste in Austro-Hungary to Egypt, and then from Egypt to East Africa, the work of laying cables at sea had started once more.
It was a project to lay a second line, after all. Maintaining communication between East Africa and Europe with only a single cable was risky. Plans for laying a second line had long been on Ernst's desk—ever since the first cable from East Africa to Europe was installed. But due to limited funds at the time, it hadn't been carried out simultaneously.
Later, the first cable continued to operate in good condition. Since it was used exclusively for government purposes, rather than for civilian communication, the workload was light. Hence the second line had been delayed for quite a while, or one could say Ernst had almost forgotten about it.
Now, however, since his father was about to set out for East Africa, regular communication between them was essential. To guard against unforeseen incidents, Ernst decided to restart the cable-laying effort.
After all, undersea cables are relatively fragile, so installing a second line serves as an insurance policy. Even if the main line has issues, they can switch to the backup line right away.
East Africa, First Town.
"This is a document from His Highness. Please notify the inland governments in advance so they can prepare accordingly." Von der Leyen handed out the documents concerning East Africa's telegraph line extension to everyone in the meeting room.
"That's quite a workload!" one of the officials remarked after reading.
"Not necessarily. Though the route extends over four thousand kilometers, we can simply put up telegraph poles along the highways. Each local government along the way only needs to handle its own segment," Von der Leyen said.
"That's true enough. We can get the timber for poles from local sources, and we just need to prepare relay stations in advance so we can later install generators."
What everyone was discussing was the land portion of the telegraph extension plan. As early as last year, the East African colony had installed a telegraph line stretching from Mombasa to Dar es Salaam, then on to First Town. So the officials in First Town were no strangers to telegraph technology. After all, the undersea cable only reached Mombasa, and Dar es Salaam and First Town still lay some distance away. They couldn't rely on courier horses for critical communications.
For now, East Africa still relied mainly on horses to deliver messages, having established post offices in each city, which together formed a postal network. Currently, telegraph service existed only in First Town, Dar es Salaam, and Mombasa.
"This time, the work to extend telegraph lines will split into two major routes plus a few smaller branches. One route begins in Mombasa, one in First Town.
The Mombasa route goes through Nairobi and then reaches Kisumu, ultimately arriving at the new northwestern city of Kampala. In Nairobi, a branch extends north to Omo Ratte Town above Lake Turkana, so that if anything happens up north, we can relay the news here in a timely manner.
The First Town route uses Dodoma as a midpoint, continuing south all the way to Mbeya City, and heading north through Mwanza, extending west to Bujumbura on the northern shore of Lake Soren (Tanganyika). That way, the government can stay informed about events to the west," Technical Director Kane concluded.
Not long before, Mbeya's government had sent Merck and Becker to the Yeke Kingdom to negotiate, but they had yet to return. Hence nobody knew that Msiri had already sold the Yeke Kingdom to the East African colony. In this new plan, the First Town route's western endpoint was still Mbeya.
Thus, the East Africa–Europe undersea cable, the First Town route, and the Mombasa route formed Ernst's newly proposed telecommunications project in East Africa, which he referred to as the "Three-Line" Plan. These routes would largely cover East Africa's main directions of interest, with the exception of the southern region. There were no plans for a line to the south, as Portugal's influence was separated from East Africa by the Rovuma River, presenting little defensive pressure, and most of the region on the Portuguese side was home to indigenous tribes. The two colonies did not actually share a border. East Africa effectively assigned those indigenous tribes to Portugal's sphere of influence as a gesture of goodwill. Should the two colonies truly share a direct boundary, minor conflicts would be inevitable.
Up to now, the East African colony's expansions had been remarkably smooth—certainly not all by peaceful negotiations like Becker's. Moreover, Becker's success hinged on East Africa's strength. Msiri, after all, was a mere slave trader, no saint. He sold the Yeke Kingdom at an extremely low price because he knew East Africa was endlessly greedy, much like himself, but that he couldn't defeat them. Besides, once the slave trade became a one-sided arrangement favoring East Africa, Msiri gained nothing. The Yeke Kingdom, which served as a coalition of interests, was tottering. Selling it to the East Africans seemed the best option.
Its deal with the Yeke Kingdom showed the East African colony's imperialistic behavior. Placed among European nations, East Africa might only be a source of amusement, but to African peoples, it was an insurmountable peak.
Currently, East Africa's main direction of expansion was south-central Africa, so a telegraph line to Mbeya was necessary. The Bujumbura segment would handle communications with the Mitumba Mountains, where East Africa was actively infiltrating. Kampala served as a hub for communication in the northwest region of the Great Lakes. Omo Ratte Town oversaw the Omo River valley, given its proximity to the Abyssinian Empire, and would remain under close watch. It also kept tabs on developments in the Egypt-Sudan region.
These key areas under East Africa's watch would be able to connect directly with the central government through the "Three-Line" Plan, allowing Ernst to remain updated on what was happening at any time.
Aside from those regions, only Mozambique in the south and Somalia in the north lay outside the plan's scope. Portugal was discussed above, and as for Somalia, it was truly negligible. The desert at the boundary between East Africa and Somalia provided a natural geographic barrier, and the Geledi Sultanate in Somalia was too weak and sparsely populated to be of concern. East Africa leaving them alone was already a blessing to them.
And so, work began at once. With earliest notice going to First Town and Mombasa, their respective governments set about organizing personnel to install the telegraph poles. They used local resources for the poles, as East Africa's forests at that time had a massive coverage rate—over 40 percent—and lumber was cheap, costing virtually nothing. The colony's population was too small to cut wood faster than the forests regrew.
By uniformly performing simple processing on the timber and adding wooden wedges at the top as mounting points for the telegraph wire, they had what they needed. Once Europe shipped in telegraph cables, generators, and other materials, the lines could be fixed atop the poles. At intervals, a small station would be set up for maintenance and inspection, so workers could catch problems early and keep the lines functioning smoothly.
Some buildings would serve as station houses to power the entire telegraph system, using high-powered DC generators imported from Siemens. The bulk of the "Three-Line" Plan's expenses came from acquiring equipment such as generators.
With Prince Constantin traveling to East Africa, Ernst decided to complete both the new land telegraph lines and the undersea cable at once.
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