As March arrived, North Great Lakes Province in East Africa entered the rainy season. Torrential rain suddenly poured down, nourishing the lush rice shoots in the paddies. Neat fields, rivers, ponds, and lakes lay interwoven across the land, presenting a scene brimming with vitality.
Security personnel held up a black umbrella, carefully attending to the Emperor of the Empire at his side, while Ernst wore a raincoat as he inspected the current state of agricultural development in the Great Lakes Region.
The rain was not light at the time, so even with an umbrella overhead, plenty of raindrops still splashed onto the hood of the raincoat before streaming down from its brim.
The officials of North Great Lakes Province also eagerly introduced His Majesty the Emperor to the province's current agricultural situation.
Senior official Manfred, like Ernst, wore a black raincoat and stood beside an irrigation ditch at the edge of the fields, on a farm road compacted from crushed stone, gravel, and earth.
Braving the wind and rain, Manfred spoke to Ernst in the calmest and loudest voice he could manage. "Your Majesty, the arrival of this year's rains has been roughly in line with the predictions of our provincial meteorological department. If nothing unexpected happens, this should be another bumper year."
Ernst nodded. "Agricultural development in the Great Lakes Region directly determines the state of agricultural development across the country. Favorable winds and timely rains are naturally the best outcome. The food produced by the entire Great Lakes Region is the empire people's iron rice bowl."
In fact, the climate of the Great Lakes Region was one of the most stable among East Africa's main agricultural areas. There were two rainy seasons each year, with precipitation distributed relatively evenly. Moreover, because it lay close to the Congo Basin,