What Walz meant was the submarine cable from the Southern Ryukyu Islands to Fuzhou. The straight-line distance from Miyako Island to Fuzhou was nearly seven hundred kilometers, so both the workload and material consumption would be enormous. Dar es Salaam City State Cable Factory No. 1 therefore had a heavy assignment.
Mori said, "Submarine cables certainly aren't simple, and their quality requirements are higher. The sea is complicated, after all; ordinary cables can't withstand it. But give us some rough figures and let us know what we're dealing with, so our factory can be mentally prepared. How long will this Far Eastern submarine cable be?"
Walz said, "Oh, it's no secret. Didn't East Africa have a conflict with Japan in the Far East some time ago? It was over a cluster of islands in the Pacific Ocean on the map. I heard our navy even fought a battle there. That makes it our territory, but it's far too distant from East Africa, so the authorities will certainly have to solve the communication problem there."
Upon hearing this, Mori more or less understood. Though Mori had come from the German countryside, he had read no small number of books. By this era's standards of education, he was one who knew astronomy above and geography below.
This was no exaggeration. The most basic books Mori could access in the East African forces were East African textbooks, and East African textbooks covered both history and geography.
Mori said, "If the Southern Ryukyu Islands are to be connected by telegraph, it certainly won't be a small project. As far as I know, this island chain lies at least several hundred kilometers from the Far Eastern mainland. I'll get a ruler later and estimate exactly how far it is from the mainland, so we can