CHAPTER 549: CHAPTER 227 SPY

First Town Train Station.

"Woo..." A long whistle sounded, and a luxurious train slowly entered the platform. The train station was already on lockdown due to advance notice.

This was the second time the First Town train station had been on lockdown. The last time was because of Constantine’s visit to East Africa, so the passengers on the train were obviously important figures.

As the train stopped steadily in front of the platform, the police officers personally opened the car door, and a group of people got off the train. However, the highlight of the event was an elderly man in good spirits—Prince Karl Anton.

"Play the music!" Following the order from the conductor of the East African military band, the national anthem of East Africa started. The East African military band was no longer a makeshift band, so the imposing music began with rhythm, without the mistakes that happened during the last reception of Prince Constantine.

Looking at the luxuriously built First Town Train Station, Karl Anton was rather dazed. The impact was quite significant for him, as the Heixinggen royal family had never had this kind of face in Europe before. Now he was convinced that the Heixinggen royal family had truly developed!

In fact, from the moment he landed in Dar es Salaam, Karl Anton realized what a vast realm the Heixinggen royal family had achieved in Africa.

Dar es Salaam could be considered a medium to large city in Europe. The two principalities of Heixinggen and Sigmaringen combined could not compare to Dar es Salaam, which was just a tiny part of the East African map.

And from Dar es Salaam to First Town, Karl Anton witnessed the scenes of East African villages. As the earliest developed area in East Africa, the rural areas of Central Province were no different from most areas in Europe and even matched or surpassed the average level of Germany.

German agriculture was considered quite top-notch in Europe at the time, with Junker landlords investing heavily in agriculture. The level of agriculture in Central Province, East Africa, was also top-notch.

Especially in terms of water conservancy facilities, crisscrossing rivers and canals and numerous lakes and reservoirs made Central Province a veritable land of fish and rice.

At the same time, the rural construction in Central Province was also quite reasonable. The fields, villages, houses were orderly, the planning was tidy, rural roads were smooth and developed, and herds of cattle and sheep, as well as transportation like ox and horse carts, were developed.

One can see a country’s level of development from the countryside. It is evident that the rural construction of East Africa (Central Province) was among the more developed in agriculture globally.

As the most developed province in East Africa, Central Province’s area is about 180,000 square kilometers, which is larger than many medium-sized European countries. After the agricultural development of Central Province, it can reach the level of a general European country.

The area of Central Province alone is almost twice that of Portugal, but the population in Central Province is not as large as Portugal’s, so it’s no wonder Portugal is losing to East Africa. The strength of Central Province alone can compare with mainland Portugal, and Mozambique as a colony cannot compete with East Africa.

Except for a few top-ranked powers, most countries in the world were still relying on agriculture. The level of agricultural development determined the wealth of most countries, which was particularly typical in Argentina and the United States. India’s agriculture, under British construction, was fairly impressive, but profits were mostly taken by the British and Indian royalty, making life difficult for the lower class.

The agricultural development in Germany and Austria-Hungary was quite advanced, but Germany has limited land and a large population, so under the trend of rapid population growth, many people had to leave home to find opportunities for survival, which was also the greatest support for East Africa’s rapidly growing population.

As for the population of East Africa, although it reached over thirty million, this population scale also allowed Ernst to understand why there were records of strong Han and flourishing Tang periods in the Far East, especially during the Tang Dynasty where there were records of no one picking up lost items and doors not needing to be closed at night.

East Africa was in a similar state, of course, East Africa and the Tang Dynasty had a big difference in that East Africa was a slave-state. The existence of slavery made life in East Africa quite comfortable, something the citizens of the ancient Roman Empire might deeply resonate with.

Of course, East African citizens were not particularly enlightened but simply had nowhere to spend their money. The regions bordering East Africa were generally far behind, so theft, robbery, and other crimes found no market in East Africa, as there was no place to dispose of stolen goods.

However, East Africa was not without problems. In fact, there was economic crime in open areas. As long as there was interaction with the world, someone would be bribed.

The open areas were frequent areas for intelligence personnel from Britain and Portugal. Generally, they interacted with East African civilians or local officials through spending money, using bribery to buy East African citizens.

And since the open areas were ports, there were many ships from various countries, providing opportunities for traitors, who sold East African national intelligence, to escape East Africa.

Last year, the East African police cracked four espionage cases in Dar es Salaam and Mombasa, most of which involved white people.

This was not surprising since whites had wider contact with the world than the Chinese, especially in Europe, where countries were densely populated.

East Africa could satisfy most people’s basic needs, but some people pursued wealth, and it was evident that East Africa did not offer as many opportunities as America.

However, Britain and Portugal could provide them opportunities to leave East Africa and even offer them nationalities, so they could both make money and escape, leading some to take the risk.

Of course, British and Portuguese intelligence personnel also had setbacks when encountering vigilant East African civilians, who might turn them in, thus leading East Africa to discover some betrayers.

As for foreign spies, there wasn’t much that could be done to sanction them. Most of them operated on a mobile basis, staying briefly as merchants or seamen in the open areas. Even if caught, there were measures to protect them, so long as they denied engaging in espionage activities and lacked evidence, East Africa couldn’t prosecute them.

These people were very cunning, obtaining intelligence through cash transactions and only giving verbal promises to traitors, so East Africa could only better manage its own fools.

The reason for saying this is because the British weren’t doing charity. They mostly wouldn’t fulfill promises, or at least not all promises, and most of their contacts were with ordinary East Africans, not high-ranking officials, making it hard to get valuable intelligence.

In this situation, the vast majority of East African traitors could only get a small amount of cash, and as for nationality, that was a pipe dream. Once on a pirate ship, they might even get thrown overboard by the British midway, returning the money to British hands for the next transaction.

In short, smart people generally don’t get tricked, while fools might get tricked but are of no use. Without use, Britain doesn’t keep them, leaving them as shark food in the sea as their best fate.

East Africa’s intelligence work was difficult, a consensus among British intelligence personnel, as East Africa was too closed. Even East African citizens in open areas were strictly managed, possibly more so than inland East Africans.

In this respect, East Africa was somewhat similar to North Korea in the previous generation. North Korea’s state-run hotels that entertained foreign tourists had staff who were strictly managed, and the same was true for East Africa, where staff in open areas underwent daily rigorous checks.