At the end of 1898, with the relocation of the capital underway, it was finally time for the royal family members to move inland.

"Now, Rhein City already has a population of sixty thousand citizens, various infrastructure is basically complete, and once the Central Government and the royal family relocate there, we can guarantee that there won't be major errors."

"However, there are also some details to pay special attention to. First, this relocation may temporarily affect the railway systems to some extent, and, secondly, after the relocation, all government departments and citizens nationwide need to adapt," the subordinate reported to Ernst.

Ernst said, "In that case, first confirm with all levels of government, departments, and the national populace that Rhein City officially becomes the new capital of East Africa, and make sure to establish this through newspapers, wireless radio broadcasts, etc."

In fact, the news that East Africa wanted to relocate the capital had already been disclosed beforehand, but this news was only circulated internally within the government. This time, the accurate news of East Africa's capital relocation was completely confirmed, making it easier for East African citizens to know that the capital had changed to Rhein City.

"As for the relocation of the royal family and the Central Government, it needs to be arranged reasonably. It would be better for the royal family and key government officials to head to Rhein City before Christmas to facilitate next year's work."

As the royal family members set out for Rhein City, East Africa's capital relocation work officially entered its final stages. On December 7, Constantine first traveled to Rhein City.

And two days later, other main royal family members, including Ernst, formally boarded the special train heading towards Rhein City.

On the train, from the perspective of Ernst's family, everything on both sides of the railway quickly retreated backward, and First Town City gradually began to blur. This city, which had served as East Africa's political center for over a decade, had formally been stripped of the title of East African capital.

Now, First Town City, just like its change in status, was extremely desolate. With the construction of Rhein City, many of the first batch of Rhein City citizens came from First Town, and this population migration will continue for some time until most people move to Rhein City.

Therefore, the current First Town City already looks somewhat dilapidated, with the population in the city center feeling visibly smaller than before. Without the capital status, First Town City is just an inconspicuous small town on the Central Railway line.

"Daddy, are we leaving First Town City for good now?" Princess Lina asked Ernst.

"Indeed! We are about to move to a new city to live. Its climate conditions are more favorable than those of First Town City, and it is located at the heart of our country." Ernst replied following his daughter's words.

"Is it the heart of the big lion?"

"Yes, that's right, the heart of the big lion."

What the father and daughter referred to as the "lion" was actually related to East Africa's official explanation of the shape of its territory, just like the Far East Empire's "Begonia in Autumn" and future generations' "Rooster" emblem.

As for how East Africa's territory ties in with the "lion," there is indeed some reasoning behind it. After 1890, East Africa's territorial expansion was basically completed.

And the lion on the East African flag is the same standing lion image commonly seen on European flags, and the outline of East Africa's territory is somewhat similar to it. Moreover, lions are the most representative animal in East Africa, so the concept of the "lion" fits the image of East Africa.

According to the East African Government's explanation of the East African map, the northern Ethiopian Highlands of East Africa's territory serve as the lion's crown since traditional European lions are depicted wearing crowns.

The Congo River, the largest river in East Africa, stretches out as the East African "lion's" arm, with its head being the East African Plateau, the main body being the central plateau (regions like Zimbabwe, Zambia), and the two legs respectively being the central plateau of southwestern Africa and the southern African Plateau in the southeast. Meanwhile, Madagascar Island serves precisely as the lion's tail.

Overall, the territory of East Africa is a relatively abstract pattern, and its connection to the lion might seem somewhat forced. But if you adopt the East African Government's setting, it is somewhat acceptable, especially as Madagascar Island on East African territory plays the role of a "finishing touch." Without Madagascar Island, the lion's tail would indeed be hard to find.

Without adopting East African Government's official setting, the average person would not be able to connect the East African map with the lion.

In reality, among the great powers, England also uses the lion as a totem, with the animals on the British coat of arms representing three lions for England and a unicorn for Scotland, while Northern Ireland is rather special, represented not by an animal but by a harp, along with other symbolic elements.

Compared to England, East Africa has consistently used the lion as its totem, with relatively simple elements. Apart from East Africa and England, Germany, Russia, the Austria-Hungary Empire, and the United States are typically represented by the "eagle," with Germany, Austria, and Russia all having a double-headed eagle. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

In the past, the French coat of arms also included the "eagle" element, but now the government has changed its totem to an axe.

Of course, many countries do not have a clearly defined "coat of arms," such as the United States and France, while the coats of arms of other great powers are actually evolved from royal (imperial) family symbols.

And the "lion" of East Africa, at least from the perspective of the map, is more convincing than other countries. In the past, Russia's territory indeed matched the double-headed eagle setting, but now Tsarist Russia's territory is much larger than Russia's, and the shape isn't like two "eagle heads." As for other countries, there's even less to say.

...

Three days later, Ernst's family and the East African Central Government formally arrived in Rhein City, this new city, where the western part of Rhein City was still under construction, but this would not hinder East African Government's administrative affairs.

The unfinished areas are mainly the residential and industrial zones in the southwest, while administrative areas were already completed.

Moreover, with the current population of Rhein City, it's not yet possible to effectively fill the developed city areas. Just the built-up areas can accommodate a population of three hundred thousand, so even if all of First Town City's population were moved over, it would only take up half.

Of course, as the new political center of East Africa, meeting the population demands of Rhein City is quite simple. After all, even if Rhein City initially reaches a scale of fifty thousand people, it would still rank third among East African cities, smaller than Dar es Salaam and Mombasa.

In fact, if it wasn't for the need to develop the inland and achieve relative balanced development in other areas, Dar es Salaam City and Mombasa would have the capacity to become large cities with populations comparable to Europe and America.

Naturally, the development of other coastal cities in East Africa is not weak, cities like Luanda, Cabinda, Bela, and New Hamburg Port have certain competitiveness.

And inland cities such as Mbeya, Harare, and New Frankfurt City are already mature and developed cities. If East Africa were to switch to a "Free Market" economy at this time, it wouldn't result in massive population loss from the central-western region in the short term.

However, while East African cities have fairly balanced development, there is still a significant gap according to regional differences, especially in the western area, where apart from a few cities, it falls far short in competing with the central and eastern regions.

As the train arrived at the station, Ernst's family could finally observe their new residence directly. This was Ernst's first time in Rhein City, and Constantine, who had already arrived a step earlier, was waiting at the station for Ernst and his family's arrival.

"Ernst, the inland climate is indeed more pleasant than the coast; I feel completely refreshed since arriving in Rhein City," Constantine said.

At this time, it was the summer in the Southern Hemisphere, so First Town City, located along the coast, was quite hot, with daytime temperatures reaching over thirty degrees. Meanwhile, Rhein City was situated on the plateau, where the daytime temperature was only in the early twenties, making it indeed more comfortable than the coast.