After the whole family reached an agreement, the next thing became much easier. Ernst went to Svit to inform him about the matter and prepare for the wedding. Svit's family was also knocked unconscious by the sudden falling pie. Only then did Svit realize that his cabbage had been eaten by... Crown Prince.
"Your Highness, why didn't I find out? They have been secretly dating for several years. I didn't even know it. They did a good job of keeping it secret." Svit said a little depressed.
Ernst also had the same idea. If he hadn't pushed for marriage, he, an old father, wouldn't have known about his son's underground love affair.
But he still said, "Don't have any psychological burden. Two people actually like each other, so let's help them. After all, the trend of free love in society is becoming more and more prosperous now, and it is no longer the same as in the Middle Ages."
Svit frowned and said, "Your Highness, I am mainly worried that this will affect the overall situation of the country. After all, royal marriage can gain a lot of benefits for East Africa."
Ernst: "My opinion on this point is that it has little impact. Marriage of nobles is an important part of European diplomacy, but East Africa is not Europe after all. East Africa is isolated overseas, and its ties with Europe are not very close. It can be said to be its own system, so royal marriages do not have to strictly follow European traditions."
"Furthermore, as East Africa is a country of immigrants from many sources, if Friedrich can marry a person with the Far East Empire immigrant ancestry, it will be greatly beneficial to the integration of our East African people."
Hearing what Ernst said, Svit also thought it made sense. Of course, Svit still felt a little complicated. After all, this matter was related to his family. If Friedrich's marriage partner was other nobles in East Africa, then Svit probably wouldn't think too much about it.
In fact, Ernst has other plans in mind, that is, in the future Rhine Royal Family will also need the cooperation of local political forces. European aristocrats may not have this effect. Assuming that the First World War is the same as in the previous life, then this period of time may be the last glory of the European continent nobles, and the nobles who have lost their power are just a name.
"It should be sooner rather than later. Wait until the end of this year and take advantage of the New Year to hold a wedding for the two of you!" Ernst said with finality.
Ernst also wants to have a grandson as soon as possible, and Friedrich is not young anymore, so the wedding should be put on the agenda as soon as possible.
Svit will naturally not object to Ernst's decision. Although his mentality is very complicated, he knows Friedrich Crown Prince well, and if others know this news, they will only envy him.
After confirming Friedrich's marriage, Ernst turned into a workaholic again and devoted himself to East African government affairs.
"Your Highness, this is the latest feedback from the railway system. In addition to the current railway construction situation being implemented step by step according to First Five-Year Plan, our domestic internal combustion engine locomotives are also stepping up production to improve the needs of our country's railway and transportation industry."
Research on internal combustion engine trains in East Africa dates back quite early, and samples were even produced in the 1980s. However, the real technological breakthrough for internal combustion locomotives was not achieved until the 1990s.
Generally, internal combustion engine locomotives can be divided into three categories according to their transmission forms, namely mechanical transmission, hydraulic transmission, and electric transmission.
Mechanical transmission diesel locomotives use internal combustion engines as power, but this type of internal combustion engine locomotives are only rarely used on low-power local railways and industrial and mining locomotives. Early hydraulic transmission diesel locomotives were driven by connecting rods similar to steam locomotives.
As for electric transmission, it was the main application form of internal combustion locomotives in previous generations. The role of the internal combustion engine is to provide electricity to the locomotive, and then use electric energy as a power source. Electric transmission is also the current mainstream development direction of internal combustion engine locomotives in East Africa.
This type of diesel locomotive has become relatively mature in East Africa, especially after East African railway and the electric power industry achieved rapid development in the 1990s. Electrically driven diesel locomotives officially achieved mass production in 1895.
Of course, old-fashioned steam locomotives have not been eliminated. The main reason is that the localization of steam locomotives in East Africa has been less than 20 years ago, so the previous production was relatively limited. In addition, East African railway was built too fast, and the gap for locomotives is getting bigger and bigger. So now the East African railway system is facing the situation of more roads and fewer vehicles.
In addition, Ernst has gone through the era of information explosion in later generations, so it is clearer that although old-fashioned steam locomotives have gradually been unable to meet the needs of other aspects of the economy and society with the development of time, old-fashioned steam locomotives have a simple structure, are stable and reliable, and are important strategic materials. After the land and the country's railway system are damaged by war, or in the case of extreme natural disasters, old-timers often need to come to the rescue.
In addition, the old-fashioned steam locomotives in East Africa have just been expanded for a few years, so it is impossible to tear them down and start over. Instead, they must increase their production efforts.
Moreover, the standards adopted by the East African railway system are different from those of other countries, which requires East Africa to produce more steam locomotives as a strategic reserve in the future.
So Ernst said, "Promoting the development of diesel locomotives is a need for economic development, but steam locomotives are equally important. Now East African railway's transportation capacity is limited by the number of locomotives, so both diesel locomotives and steam locomotives must be vigorously developed."
In fact, steam locomotives are not backward. They are still the main force in the railway systems of various countries around the world. Although other countries also produce diesel locomotives, they are extremely rare and the technology is immature. Therefore, continuing to produce steam locomotives will not have much impact on the economy of East Africa.
"According to His Highness's request, we Ministry of Railways plan to increase the production of diesel locomotives to about 40% during the First Five-Year Plan period, while the original production of steam locomotives will remain unchanged. This will not have a big impact on the original production of steam locomotives." Andre said, "In addition to locomotive production, the current problem of the railway system lies in the lack of information exchange and material allocation. This requires rectification of the entire system, especially the establishment of more marshalling yards, and coordination with various departments and enterprises to improve railway transportation efficiency."
After all, railways are not as flexible as roads, especially since railway routes and times are fixed, which makes it easy for trains to run empty and increase railway operating costs if information is not processed properly.
There are also changes in regional freight volume and improper railway use application and review processes, which can easily lead to the inability to fully release railway transport capacity.
In the past, East African railway developed roughly, so these problems were not obvious. However, during First Five-Year Plan, the East African railway construction plan was not aggressive, so there was more time and energy to sort out and solve various problems in the original East African railway system.
Ernst also supports this. Refined railway management is an inevitable trend in the development of railway transportation. Ernst does not want the decline of the United States railway system in the previous life to happen to East Africa.
In fact, a large part of the reason for the decline of the United States railway was improper management. From the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century, the United States railway system could be said to have grown wildly. After the development of highways, aviation and other forms of transportation, adjustments could not be made in time, making the United States railway system inevitably enter a period of decline.
It is true that the development of aviation and road transportation has put some pressure on railways, but this problem does not occur in Europe and Far East Empire. Especially the previous European railways were built no later than United States, and the development of other forms of transportation is not lagging behind either. However, European countries, including Germany, France, Spain and other countries, are continuing to develop in the railway field, so the decline of railways is obviously not only caused by competition from other modes of transportation.