June 14, 1869.
Prince Constantin presided over the East African colony's first military conference.
The officers and staff led by Yalman and Svit sat on opposite sides of the conference table. As Yalman was relatively advanced in years, his physical strength and energy had steadily declined.
Though Yalman was only in his fifties, he had suffered untold hardships on the European battlefield. Constantin had also served in the Prussian Army, but their circumstances had been worlds apart—one had been on the front lines, the other in the rear. Thus, Yalman, in his fifties, looked even older than Constantin, who was nearly seventy.
Yet the more Yalman was like this, the more Ernst valued him, and the more at ease he was about leaving the East African Army in his hands.
The worse his health became, the smaller his ambitions grew. Yalman was indeed such a man. He himself did not know how many good years he had left, and muddling along in the East African Army on the strength of his seniority and rank while collecting a pension was not a bad prospect.
Thus, Svit had carried out the previous expansion plan against the Yeke Kingdom, and this time, the military's work report was likewise delivered by the young and vigorous Svit.
"By March of this year, the East African royal territories had a standing army of ninety-eight thousand men. Aside from field units, there were also garrisons in various cities and river-and-lake forces. For the time being, they were divided into eight military regions according to direction and location.
The three eastern military regions contained a total of twenty-three thousand men. The five coastal ports and two islands were key defensive points. This also included coastal defense troops equipped with various artillery pieces, making them the strongest force in