After the whole family reached a consensus, the matter became much easier. Ernst specifically approached Sivert to inform him about it and to prepare for the wedding arrangements. The Sivert family was overwhelmed by the unexpected news. It was at this moment that Sivert realized his little cabbage had been... devoured by the Crown Prince.

"Your Highness, how could I not have noticed! They've been secretly in love for years, and I didn't know. Their confidentiality work was impeccable," Sivert said with some frustration.

Ernst had the same thought. If it weren't for the pressure to get married, even he, as the old father, would not have known about his son's secret romance.

Nevertheless, he said, "You don't need to bear any burden. If the two of them are indeed in love, let's fulfill their wishes. After all, the trend of free love in society is becoming increasingly flourishing; it is no longer the Middle Ages and before."

Sivert furrowed his brow and said, "Your Highness, my main concern is that this might affect the state's affairs. After all, a royal marriage can secure quite a few benefits for East Africa."

Ernst: "In my view, the impact would be minimal. Noble marriages are an important part of European diplomacy, but East Africa, after all, is not Europe. We in East Africa are isolated overseas, our contact with Europe is not very close, and we can be said to have our own system, so royal marriages don't have to strictly follow European traditions."

"Furthermore, we in East Africa are a nation of diverse immigrant origins. If Friedrich can marry someone with Far East Empire immigrant heritage, it would be greatly beneficial for the fusion of our East African people."

Hearing this from Ernst, Sivert also found it reasonable. Of course, Sivert still felt a bit conflicted inside, since this matter concerned his own family. If Friedrich's prospective spouse were other East African nobles, Sivert probably wouldn't think much of it.

In fact, Ernst had other plans in mind: that is, the future Rhein Royal Family will also need to cooperate with domestic political forces. European nobility may not achieve this effect. Assuming history unfolds as it did in past lives, this period might be the last glory for European aristocrats. Once they lose power, nobility would just be a title.

"The sooner the better. By the end of this year, taking advantage of the New Year, let's hold the wedding for the two of them!" Ernst concluded decisively.

Ernst also wanted to become a grandfather sooner. Considering Friedrich was not young anymore, it was better to bring the wedding forward on the schedule.

Sivert naturally wouldn't oppose Ernst's decision. Although his feelings were complicated, he was familiar with Crown Prince Friedrich, and if others knew about this news, they would likely only envy him.

....

After finalizing Friedrich's marriage, Ernst once again transformed into a workaholic, diving into East African government affairs.

"Your Highness, this is the latest feedback from the railway system. Besides the railway construction progressing according to the Plan, our domestically-produced internal combustion locomotive engines are also intensively in production to meet the needs of our railway and transportation industry."

East Africa had started researching internal combustion trains quite early, even having prototypes in the 1880s. However, the real technological breakthrough for internal combustion locomotives occurred in the 1890s.

Generally, internal combustion locomotives, based on the form of transmission, can be divided into three main types: mechanical transmission, hydraulic transmission, and electric transmission.

Mechanical transmission internal combustion locomotives use internal combustion engines as power but are rarely used except in small-scale local railways and industrial locomotives. Early hydraulic transmission internal combustion locomotives adopted a linkage drive similar to steam locomotives.

As for electric transmission, which is the main application form of internal combustion locomotives in past lives, the internal combustion engine's role is to provide electricity for the locomotive, using electric power as the driving source. Electric transmission is currently the main development direction for East Africa's internal combustion locomotives.

This type of internal combustion locomotive is relatively mature in East Africa, especially after the rapid development of East African railways and the electricity industry in the 1990s. Electric transmission internal combustion locomotives began large-scale production in 1895.

Of course, old-fashioned steam locomotives have not been phased out. Mainly because East Africa only achieved steam locomotive localization less than twenty years ago, so previous production was limited. Coupled with the rapid construction of East African railways, the demand for locomotives has instead increased, leading to a situation where East Africa's railway system has many lines but few locomotives.

Moreover, Ernst, informed by the information explosion era, knows clearly that while old-fashioned steam locomotives gradually cannot meet the needs of economic and other societal demands over time, their simple structure and reliable stability make them important strategic materials. In cases where national territory and domestic railway systems are damaged by war or extreme natural disasters, the predecessors are often needed to come to the rescue.

Plus, East Africa's recently expanded old-style steam locomotives were completed not long ago, so it's impossible to start over from scratch. Instead, production needs to be intensified.

Additionally, the standards used by the East African railway system differ from other countries, which requires East Africa to produce more steam locomotives as future strategic reserves.

Therefore, Ernst said: "Promoting the development of internal combustion locomotives is an economic need, but steam locomotives are equally important. Currently, East Africa's railway capacity is limited by the number of locomotives, so both internal combustion and steam locomotives should be vigorously developed."

In reality, steam locomotives are not exactly outdated; they are still the mainstay of railway systems worldwide. Although other countries also produce internal combustion locomotives, their numbers are extremely few and the technology is immature. Therefore, continued production of steam locomotives does not significantly affect East Africa's economy.

"As per Your Highness's request, our Ministry of Railways plans to increase the production of internal combustion locomotives to around 40% of previous levels during the Plan period, while maintaining existing steam locomotive production. This would not significantly impact steam locomotive production," Andre said. "In addition to locomotive production, the current issue in the railway system is the lack of information exchange and material coordination. This requires a total system overhaul, notably establishing more marshalling yards and coordination among various departments and enterprises to improve rail transport efficiency."

Railways, after all, aren't as flexible as roads, especially since railway routes and schedules are fixed. This makes them prone to running empty trains if information is mismanaged, increasing operational costs.

Moreover, changes in regional freight volume and improper application and approval processes for railway use can easily result in an inability to fully exploit railway capacity.

In the past, East Africa's railway development was rugged, thus these issues were less noticeable. However, during the Plan period, East Africa's railway construction plan is not overly aggressive, providing more time and energy to address and solve the existing railway system issues in East Africa.

Ernst supported this approach, acknowledging that fine management of railways is an inevitable trend in the development of rail transport. Ernst does not wish for East Africa to experience the decline of the United States' railway system from previous times. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

The decline of the American railway was largely due to poor management. From the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries, the American railway system grew wildly without proper adjustment as road and air transport developed, leading it into an inevitable decline.

Indeed, the development of air and road transport put some pressure on railways. However, Europe and the Far East Empire did not experience this problem. Notably, European railways in past lives weren't built any later than those in America, and their other forms of transport weren't less developed. Yet, European countries like Germany, France, and Spain continued to advance in railways, indicating that railway decline wasn't solely due to competition from other transport means.