Constantin chose to return after spending only half a day in Third Town. Third Town was very close to First Town, so Constantin returned to First Town that very evening without wasting much time.
By then, Ernst had also returned to First Town from Nairobi. Having made a small profit in the Americas, Ernst intended to give the East African Army a modest upgrade.
First, the Dreyse rifles in the army would be phased out. The Dreyse rifle had already been proven comprehensively outdated during the Franco-Prussian War, and Prussia began seeking a new rifle after the war.
Much as in history, the Mauser rifle also entered the bidding this time. The sample rifle and ammunition system provided by the Mauser 1871 rifle won the comparative trials against Bavaria's M1869 Wurff-Pfeil rifle, Switzerland's Martini rifle, and the Wetterli rifle.
On December 2, 1871, Prussia ordered 2,500 rifles for trial use. On March 22, 1872, King Wilhelm I approved the mass production of the Model 1871 rifle. However, the order was not given to Mauser Company, but to other manufacturers with superior equipment and production capacity.
Although it had not secured a major order, there was no need to worry. It could use the opportunity to establish a brand-new production line in East Africa, first meeting the needs of the East African Army.
The second issue was troop reductions. This time, Ernst planned to further cut the army's numbers. At present, he had no intention of continuing military expansion abroad, so there was no need to retain so many troops as before.
The East African Army currently numbered more than 200,000 men. After discussions between Ernst and the Ministry of Defense, they concluded that the Kingdom of East Africa faced little military threat on land at present and only needed to