The increase in immigrants undoubtedly gave the East African colony greater potential for development. However, population growth also made the colony harder to govern, especially given the East African colony's current chaotic administrative planning, which further increased the difficulty of administration.
This situation forced Ernst to systematically redraw the East African colony's governing institutions and establish a new administrative system. Only under new administrative divisions could colonial data be better compiled and plans implemented according to specific circumstances.
Take Binhai District, for example. Once its land and population had reached a certain scale, Ernst had improvised and established it as the highest-level administrative unit in the East African colony.
The Lake Tanganyika Region and the Great Lakes Region had been established in imitation of Binhai District, but when they were created, they were only the size of a single town in Binhai District.
At the time, there had been very few colonial outposts and immigrants, making them easy to count and manage.
Now that the population had reached a certain scale and some areas had already developed, Binhai District alone was larger than all the other East African colonies combined.
Within Binhai District, this vast expanse had already formed a three-tier administrative structure. At the top was Binhai District, with its capital in First Town, which was also home to the colony's highest governing authority.
Below that were small towns such as First Town and Second Town, where the population was relatively concentrated.
Below small towns like First Town and Second Town were the newly established villages, scattered around the six towns.
In the other regions, aside from the ill-fitting Lake Tanganyika Region and Great Lakes Region, there were scattered outposts such as Karonga and Mbeya. Yet in essence, they were on the same level as the former three.
In short, the East African colony's administration was currently rather chaotic, and its names had been assigned quite casually as well.
After Ernst spent a long while drawing on the map with pencil and ruler, a preliminary administrative division plan for the East African colony was born.
First came the East African colony's highest administrative hub, the East African Colonial Government, which would remain in First Town. First Town was separated from Binhai District, and Second Town was also placed under First Town.
Next, the East African colony's provincial-level administrative divisions, also called major regions, were divided into ten parts.
The former Binhai District was renamed the Upper Coastal Region, with its administrative offices located in Third Town, Kitonga.
Directly below the Upper Coastal Region would naturally be two newly planned regions: the Middle Coastal Region, with its capital in the Rusenbelt area along the Rufiji River, and the Lower Coastal Region, with its capital at Roenroda.
These three Coastal Regions stretched from north to south, lined up beside the Sultanate of Zanzibar. Their northern end reached into Kenya, while their southern end bordered Portuguese territory.
To the west of the Upper Coastal Region, the Northern Plateau Region was established, with its capital at Karatu.
To the west of the Middle Coastal Region, the Central Plateau Region was established, with its capital at Dodoma.
To the west of the Lower Coastal Region, the East Lake Malawi Region was established, with its capital at Songea.
North of Lake Malawi, the Upper Lake Malawi Region was established, with its capital at Mbeya.
Then, around the Great Lake, Lake Victoria, the East African colony established the Great Lakes Region, with its capital at Mwanza.
East of Lake Tanganyika, the Lake Tanganyika District was established, with its capital at Kigoma.
Between the Lake Tanganyika District and the Central Plateau Region, the Great Plains Region was established, with its capital at Tabora.
Thus, the East African colony's ten major region-level administrative divisions were complete.
They were: the Upper Coastal Region (Third Town), Middle Coastal Region (Rusenbelt), Lower Coastal Region (Roenroda), East Lake Malawi Region (Songea), Upper Lake Malawi Region (Mbeya), Central Plateau Region (Dodoma), Northern Plateau Region (Karatu), Great Plains Region (Tabora), Great Lakes Region (Mwanza), and Lake Tanganyika District (Kigoma).
Next came urban administrative divisions. Aside from the capitals of each major region, some places suitable for population concentration would also be designated as cities. For example, Karonga on the shores of Lake Malawi could only be separately designated as a city, since Mbeya already served as the capital of the Upper Lake Malawi Region.
Lastly came the most basic units: villages, or natural villages. They were generally centered around nearby cities and towns, which would administer them on their behalf.
The East African colony currently had no county-level administrative units. In their place were municipalities similar to those in the German territories, while the colony's major regions were modeled after the states of the future German Federation.
This administrative division design would serve as a transitional administrative plan. In the future, the East African colony would change as it expanded beyond Tanganyika.
Among them, the Middle Coastal Region, Lower Coastal Region, and East Lake Malawi Region had not yet been brought under actual control. This would become one of the East African colony's next expansion targets.
Two kilometers north of Manda Town in the new Upper Coastal Region stood the newly established Longka Village, which fell under Manda Town's administration.
This village was currently the northernmost settlement in the Upper Coastal Region. It had more than four hundred villagers, including a five-man colonial security squad formed by Chinese immigrants, stationed there to guard against raids from northern indigenous tribes.
Although the East African colony had already carried out one expulsion operation in the Upper Coastal Region, manpower shortages had prevented it from thoroughly encircling and wiping out the surrounding tribes. Therefore, tribal raids remained possible.
After all, although the East African colony had driven them into the surrounding areas, they had consequently lost the land and environment on which they depended for survival.
If they could not find new resources to make a living, some indigenous people might take desperate risks and enter the Upper Coastal Region.
For the safety of these immigrants, the East African colony assigned village security squads of five or six men to every village. Their leaders were Germans, who also served as village chiefs, responsible for arranging daily production and ensuring village security.
Liu Damao was an honest, plainspoken farmer from North China. He had originally owned two or three mu of land in his old village, and in good years, he could still get enough to eat.
That year, drought struck his homeland, and the wheat harvest was almost completely lost. Left with no alternative, Liu Damao could only borrow grain from the landlord's family. Although this temporarily met his most basic needs, Liu Damao could not repay the grain, and the Zhou landlord's family took away his only two or three mu of land.
By chance, Zhang Gensheng, a fellow villager, returned from the East African colony to recruit people to reclaim land there. With no road ahead and no path behind, Liu Damao signed up.
And so, Liu Damao had no choice but to travel to the East African colony to earn a living. Upon arriving in the East African colony, he first went to First Town.
After registering, he was assigned to Longka Village. Following several days of travel, he and his companions arrived in Manda Town under the escort of the colonial security squad, where they received basic living supplies and production tools.
When Liu Damao first arrived at Longka Village, he felt that the environment was fairly good. The terrain was open and the vegetation lush, yet such fine land had been left abandoned.
Longka Village lay in the Tanga Region of future Tanzania, where natural conditions were exceptionally favorable for agricultural development.
Under the leadership of the German village chief, Liu Damao and the other villagers began developing the land around Longka Village.
They built canals along the river, erected waterwheels, and drew river water onto the shore. They plowed the land along these canals, and plot after plot of farmland was opened up.
The soil had accumulated over countless centuries, and no one had ever developed this land, so it was extremely fertile. The crops grew exceptionally well.
The East African colony covered Liu Damao and the others' food, clothing, shelter, and transportation, so they had no worries hanging over their heads. However, they had to work punctually every day and complete their planned production quotas.
For example, there was a minimum amount of land each person had to develop every day. If they failed to complete their work, their food rations would be reduced, and those who lagged behind would be punished. Germans were responsible for supervision, while the Chinese security forces under them patrolled the immigrants' work.
The Chinese security forces in the village received their weapons and ammunition from Manda Town. They were responsible for the village's vigilance, and if enemies were discovered, the German village chief would temporarily issue ammunition to them.
There were more than a hundred small villages like Longka Village throughout the new Upper Coastal Region, administered by four towns.
The reason small towns like Manda Town had somewhat denser populations was that their geographic locations were more advantageous. Most were close to abundant water sources, so their production conditions were better than those of the small villages.
Within the East African colony, some cities and towns also lay on vital transportation routes connecting the entire colony, and thus were not greatly affected by the natural environment.
Just as the Upper Coastal Region was carrying out agricultural development with great fanfare, an East African colonial exploration team had already begun heading south. Their destination was the Middle Coastal Region and Lower Coastal Region marked on the map.
At first, the East African colony's expansion had mainly focused on developing the western interior. As a result, it had neglected the southern areas near the Sultanate of Zanzibar, concentrating instead on important cities and regions such as future Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika, Lake Malawi, and Dodoma, the future capital of Tanzania.
The colony's energy had been scattered, and the southern part of the former Binhai District had instead been overlooked. Now, Ernst's newly planned administrative divisions for the East African colony had brought southern Tanzania back into focus, and the colony began advancing south.