Chapter 518: Step by Step
After introducing the farm and its operations, Kaide looked at the energetic youths before him and thought unkindly to himself, "Youth sure is full of energy—shame they're about to suffer."
Since it was the first day, the Third National Farm had only arranged accommodations and orientation for the students. But starting tomorrow, the real fieldwork would begin.
The next day.
"Today's task is weeding. As you can see, this field is pretty large. According to our usual schedule, no tools other than hoes will be distributed on the first day. See this hoe in my hand? That's all you get."
That said, East African youth weren't completely unfamiliar with farmwork. Some of them helped out at home and handled hoes with ease.
But the fields at the Third National Farm were no small matter. The area was vast, and for the students, this meant a massive workload.
Soon, everyone was swinging their hoes with enthusiasm. Mbeya's high altitude made the weather cooler, so it wasn't too physically taxing—just sunny enough to sting the skin.
As time passed, what started as an exciting "field experience" gradually wore them down. Still, group labor helped them push through the boredom. But when noon came, lunchtime brought its own frustrations.
"Ugh! It's just flatbread and pickles!"
It wasn't that the students were being spoiled. Given East Africa's latitude, temperatures were warm year-round, and with sufficient water, plants grew in both wet and dry seasons.
That meant East Africa had no shortage of vegetables. Even delicate plants like flowers thrived here. While meat might be harder to come by, vegetables were plentiful. And thanks to Chinese immigrants bringing wok cooking, stir-frying had become a staple in East African cuisine.
Ernst had often felt that European food was simple because of their cooking techniques—or lack thereof. Frying, roasting, and stewing were common methods, but apart from frying, the rest were pretty basic. Stir-frying, on the other hand, handled vegetables far more efficiently.
Take India, for example: its mainstream diet involved stewed vegetable mush. Westerners used salads—a workaround for the absence of stir-frying.
Sensing the students' complaints, Kaide spoke up: "This course is meant to teach you the hardship of labor and the value of a meal. Take that field you worked in this morning—after a whole year, the wheat it produces ends up as the flatbread you're holding."
"But Uncle Kaide, East Africa isn't short on food," one student asked.
"That's true, but East Africa is the exception. In many countries, getting enough to eat is a luxury. You should ask your parents—many of them didn't come here for peace or freedom. They came because they were starving. So don't take today's abundance for granted."
Indeed, comparisons made East Africa's quality of life seem even higher. Neighboring regions were still stuck in hunting and gathering.
Kaide continued, "Don't look down on this flatbread and pickle. In some countries, even this would be hard to get. You've been born in good times. I used to survive on cornmeal porridge—and never got full. Some Far East immigrants had it worse—they ate bark and grass roots."
His words made the students thoughtful. Most of their parents had lived through hardship, and many had shared those stories with them.
Of course, when East Africa was first settled, life wasn't easy. There was barely enough food, and disease was rampant. That's why Ernst delayed moving the royal family to East Africa until after it had been developed. But now, after more than a decade of work, the country's productivity had exploded, and so had its living standards.
Seeing the students reflect, Kaide felt gratified. East Africans—at least the common folk—were still a humble people.
As the saying goes: poverty breeds cunning, wealth breeds conscience. In both the West and Far East, the poor had to calculate every penny. But East Africa was different: the poor weren't destitute, and the rich weren't too far removed. Competition wasn't too fierce, so people didn't have to constantly scheme to survive. Society was relatively harmonious.
Of course, this wouldn't last forever. Ernst knew that one day, East Africa would face its own competitiveness and internal rivalries. That was the price of keeping up with the world. But for now, the conditions weren't ready.
East Africa's main population—the first wave of immigrants—were in their prime physically, but had very low educational levels. Even most government officials had humble beginnings.
That's why the nation's policy direction was entirely controlled by the Hechingen royal family—because only they had any experience in governance.
Even so, the Hechingen family had only ever ruled a tiny German state. Managing a giant like East Africa was a whole new challenge.
So the government had to explore and learn. East Africa was still very immature. If it wanted to develop systems capable of self-correction and innovation, it would need open competition.
But Ernst wouldn't allow that—at least not now. This wasn't ancient history. It was the age of imperialism. External threats were greater than internal ones, and he wasn't about to let East Africa destabilize itself and give Britain or others an opening.
That's why East Africa maintained tight control of its military and used it to build the nation. Armies are relatively easy to manage. Still, East Africa wasn't as reliant on the military as Prussia had been. Whenever the military pushed boundaries, Ernst would rein them back in.
It was all done gradually. Ernst kept the army's size within reasonable limits.
In the early days, East Africa was essentially a giant military camp, where the army managed civilians. That shaped its highly centralized state today.
Thus, national policy came from the top down—unlike Britain, France, or the U.S., where things ostensibly worked from the bottom up.
Of course, "democracy" in those countries wasn't as universal as people believed. In Ernst's view, "the people" in Europe more closely resembled Roman citizens—an elite group—not the commoners of society.
Take Britain, for example. After two rounds of reform acts, it wasn't until 1885 that universal male suffrage was mostly achieved—and only because workers had fought long and hard for it.
East Africa didn't need elections. There weren't that many workers, and education levels were still low. People didn't have strong political demands.
And Ernst had no intention of encouraging any. As a noble, he would wait until the time was right. For now, the people only needed to obey.
Still, he understood the flow of history. Had he been born in ancient times, he wouldn't bother with reforms at all. But in this era, East Africa had to move with the times—carefully, and on its own terms.
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