To be honest, whether Herman is considered a German celebrity, he certainly is, but it's still a bit of a stretch. He is more like a local celebrity, and given the size of the Heixinggen Principality, he should be a county-level celebrity. If it weren't for the name of a Vassal State, most Germans wouldn't know much about him. But it doesn't matter, after all, he's Ernst's grandfather. Family has to support each other. It's not just about naming; in the future, biographies and various cultural works will be produced to beautify the history of the Heixinggen royal family.

"Ernst, while the shipbuilding industry is sluggish now, I think the plan you made earlier is still too conservative. For example, this pseudo seven-thousand-ton ironclad ship would have been exorbitantly priced before, but now I've acquired it at the manufacturing price of a five-thousand-ton ship, so I suggest you buy two more of them."

"Father-in-law, as I said before, the budget remains the same. If you have the ability to purchase a few more ships based on my initial procurement plan, I won't oppose it. You assess this matter yourself. Our East African navy still has a lot of areas to address, such as troop transports, supply ships, escorts, and training ships—it's all critically lacking. We need to procure ships according to the national conditions and actual needs of East Africa, rather than for appearance or face.

"Increasing the budget a little is not a big issue. You must realize that although the East African coastline is only a bit over two thousand kilometers, the range we need to cover is not limited to this. Once we occupy New Hamburg Bay in South Africa, our navy actually has a foothold in the south. Combined with the previous Comoros Islands, the sea area we effectively need to control extends from East Africa all the way to South Africa, covering the entire Mozambique Channel. This means the north-south length of the sea area East Africa has to govern exceeds four thousand kilometers.

Grand Duke Ferdinand directly ignored the Mozambique in the middle. If it were said like this before, Grand Duke Ferdinand would definitely have to deliberate, because back then the East African navy was just an empty shell. Now, haven't the times changed! Once the East African navy's ship acquisition plan is completed, its status as the overlord of the Western Indian Ocean is assured. Although besides the British and French, there isn't any navy worth noting in the Western Indian Ocean.

"So how much do you plan to add? Also, our East African navy's most fundamental problem is not the lack of strong ships, but the lack of relevant naval talent. Without operators, even the most advanced warships are just big targets on the ocean."

Ernst's words pulled Grand Duke Ferdinand back to reality. A navy is a system, not just about equipment. Wasn't the Kingdom of Italy's navy strong before? Why did they twice suffer defeats at the hands of Austria? Fundamentally, it's still a matter of personnel quality.

After sobering up, Grand Duke Ferdinand considered this carefully: "You're right. It seems our most urgent need is still in personnel training. This matter I need to make some serious planning on how to provide sufficient talent for the East African navy in a relatively short time."

Being overly ambitious isn't necessarily a mistake. In fact, East Africa annexing the Transvaal Republic belongs to the mindset of looking at the pot while eating from the bowl. Zimbabwe hasn't even been digested, yet we initiate another conflict. Fortunately, East Africa gambled and won. The Transvaal Republic hadn't developed into an entity that is adept at guerrilla warfare or strong enough to embarrass a major power, primarily due to too few people who were also concentrated, and the Boers not being united and failing to reach a consensus in the first instance. If this war hadn't been so smooth, not to mention whether we could acquire South Africa, even Zimbabwe might have suffered backlash.

"In this regard, you need to cooperate a bit. We not only need to send naval students to Austria but Germany and the Netherlands could be considered too. If we solely rely on the connections of our Habsburg family to infiltrate the Austrian naval education system, it wouldn't be much anyway. In this aspect, your Hohenzollern family should also contribute. I believe if Constantine intervenes personally, the Prussian navy could also absorb some, even though the Prussian navy is not as impressive as the Austrian one, it still could be foundational for cultivating basic talents."

Ernst nodded and said: "In this aspect, we can discuss with the German and Swedish royal families. Although their navies are not top-tier, they are not bad globally. As for the Netherlands, it might be a bit challenging, but there is a lot to learn from Dutch shipbuilding, and we lack technicians for maintaining warships."

Sending people to the Netherlands to learn shipbuilding is quite reasonable. The Dutch shipbuilding industry has always been strong with a solid foundation; in fact, the Dutch navy is hindered mainly due to funding issues, but in terms of civilian ship technologies, they are also remarkable in Europe.

As for the Austrian naval education system, it's top-notch in Europe, but it cannot fulfill East Africa's needs, or rather, East Africa can't keep up with it.

For example, the Royal Mechanical College is an important training base for Austrian naval talents, but East Africa does not have such academically qualified talent to connect to overseas studies, so East Africa can only try to send candidates to the Royal Navy Academy, Royal Schiffrongen College, Royal Ocean Academy, and secondary naval schools.

The Austrian naval training system is sufficient on its own, but adding East Africa, it's wholly insufficient. Even so, Austria-Hungary also has fast-track naval education, but it involves recruiting middle school students as the base for further training. The number of middle school students cultivated annually in East Africa is tiny and inadequately distributed; becoming a naval officer without a certain cultural foundation is rather challenging.

"Regarding the training of naval talents, in fact, I have an idea. We in East Africa plan to establish a navy school (Ferdinand Naval Academy). The current biggest problem is the lack of faculty, and there is a severe shortage of naval teachers in East Africa. However, it isn't straightforward to poach from Austria, primarily because some Austrian naval school lecturers can't lower themselves to take up positions in East Africa. Therefore, we should seek alternative paths to address this issue, which is to engage in cooperative education with Austrian naval schools. We can have Austrian naval school lecturers concurrently teaching at the Ferdinand Naval Academy. In this aspect, I can personally act as an envoy to negotiate with various Austrian naval schools." Ferdinand proposed.

"Of course, there's no problem. If there are ideas, they should be pursued. We can provide them with the best remuneration in terms of funding." Ernst replied.

It indeed feels burdensome to teach in East Africa, but no one would turn down money. The lecturers and instructors of the Austrian Naval Academy generally aren't short of money; even if the economic downturn has implications, such as possible delays in government grants, it doesn't affect salaries. Originally, they are high-income earners, and if they don't spend lavishly, they certainly have some savings.

Moreover, in cooperative education, East Africa mainly negotiates with the academy, unlike previous direct dialogues with teachers. If the academy agrees, then generally the teachers have to comply with arrangements.

Seeing that it was getting late, Ernst also began bidding farewell to Grand Duke Ferdinand.

"Are you heading straight to Vienna next?"

"Yes, there are still many things to handle. The first stop is far off in Vienna, mainly to discuss railway issues with His Majesty Franz. Once arrangements in Austria are settled, I'll go directly to Germany, where many excellent assets await acquisition."

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