Reborn South Africa as a police officer

Chapter 260 Assets

After Rock came to Johannesburg, there was a constant exchange of telegrams with Ada, and the contact was never interrupted.

Ada's lighter business is getting better and better. As the expeditionary forces returned to their respective countries, lighters also spread all over the world with the expeditionary forces. Don't underestimate this small lighter. From its birth to now, it has brought more than 50 cigarettes to Ada. A profit of ten thousand pounds is more profitable than Rock's gold mine.

The accumulation of wealth has not brought Ada much sense of security. Perhaps only in the dead of night, Ada will think whether it is worth it.

Of course Roque would not object to Ida coming to Johannesburg. Even from an economic point of view, Johannesburg's prospects are far better than Cape Town's.

After the opening of the Suez Canal, the value of Cape Town plummeted. Only those giant ships that were too large to pass through the Suez Canal would bypass the African continent via Cape Town. However, limited by the current technical conditions, the number of such giant ships is very small. Therefore, the status of Cape Town as a transshipment port is continuously declining.

Johannesburg is different. Johannesburg, which has the Rand Gold Mine, has a bright future. Because of Rock’s intervention, Johannesburg’s economy is diversifying. Gold mines are no longer the only economic pillar of Johannesburg. The future textile industry and agriculture will also bring huge benefits to Johannesburg. Wealth, after the war, many people of insight are concentrated in Johannesburg, and Ada is certainly no exception.

It’s not right, because Ada’s destination is not Johannesburg, but Pretoria. Ada bought a piece of land in Pretoria and built a castle-like building as her own in Pretoria. s home.

The entire building is made of white marble, and its grandeur is comparable to that of Adelaide's Palace of Justice. It took a year to complete the entire building, and the people of Pretoria thought it belonged to a certain prince and nobleman. Unexpectedly, it was built by Ada.

That's right, Ada is a nobleman herself.

It has been more than a year since Rock and Ada met last time. Rock has kept himself clean this year, and Ada curled up beside Rock like a kitten.

Rock knows that this is just an illusion. Ada is a strong and independent woman. Even if she loves Rock to the bottom of her heart, Ada will not open her heart easily. During the period of separation from Rock, Ada is also clean and self-conscious. It's impossible for people to know that there are a lot of crazy bees and butterflies around Ada, and Rock has seen them in Cape Town before.

"I know about you and your little girlfriend. I don't want to destroy the relationship between you, and I don't want to change our relationship. That's fine." Ada's attitude was very clear.

"Can you stop talking about this at this time." Rock still didn't like it a little, feeling a little betrayed by Ada.

"Hmph——" Ada hummed in satisfaction: "Are Orientals very loyal to their feelings? Our situation is normal in England, and it's even more normal in France."

"Oh, polygamy is still practiced in the Qing Dynasty." Of course, Rock would not admit defeat, saying that the Chinese were all like innocent little virgins.

In fact, in this regard, the East and the West are almost the same. Britain and France are definitely the hardest hit areas in this regard. Although Britain and France are both monogamous, in the circle of nobles, this kind of lover relationship is simply not too much. For example, King Edward of England now VII, this one is romantic and suave, with many lovers.

It is unbelievable that many British nobles knew that their wives had an affair with the king, but they let it go.

In contrast, the relationship between Roque and Ada is too normal. Phyllis also knows the relationship between Roque and Ada, but Phyllis has never mentioned Ada in front of Roque.

"Will you marry many wives in the future?" Ada seemed careless.

"Let's wait and see, we are here in Pretoria, not Paris or London." Rock can't make promises now. In fact, according to African traditions, men here can also marry many wives, until the 21st century. That's right.

So those women who have fantasies about Africans should be careful. Maybe the dark horse prince in your mind has ten or eight children in distant Africa, and two or three wives, four or five mothers, and even his father is Not even my own father.

"Get up, and tell me about your business plan." When it comes to business, Ada is immediately refreshed, pulling Rock to get up.

"Wait a little longer, talk about it tomorrow—" Rock pulled Aida back again—

-

After lunch the next morning, Rock and Ada were finally able to talk about money calmly.

"I now have a gold mine in Johannesburg—" Rock was full of confidence, and the Far West Rand Gold Mine would definitely be sold.

"Let's not talk about the gold mine, this is for your little girlfriend." Ada was very generous.

"Are you sure? My gold mine is the largest gold mine in Rand—" Rock didn't believe that Ada could be so generous.

"How big?"

"It's hard to say, but it should be enough for us to mine for many years. The proven reserves are 3.5 million ounces." Rock really didn't know how much the Far West Rand gold mine had. The Sealand gold mines are still being mined.

There is no need to explore this. When Rock crossed, 3.5 million ounces of gold in Far West Rand had been mined, and production continued.

"How much?" Ada felt like going crazy.

"3.5 million ounces, not all of them, but the proven reserves." Rock answered honestly. To be honest, Ada is an expert in the field of development and management that Rock is good at, and Rock feels ashamed.

In Cape Town, Ada has fully proved her management skills. Whether it is the Table Mountain Bar, Oak Town, or the lighter business, Ada is well-managed. After the signing of the "Peace Agreement", many people in Cape Town It is telling that none of the Boers in Oaktown chose to leave the Cape for Orange.

"Does anyone else know?" Ada immediately noticed the crux of the problem.

"I don't know, only you and I know about this reserve now." Rock was very proud. The Rock Gold Mine was the most correct thing Rock did when he came to this world.

"Nice job!" Ada didn't seem to understand Rock's meaning correctly.

To determine the gold reserves, it is necessary to hire professionals to explore, so under normal circumstances, it is impossible for only Rock and Ada to know the reserves of gold mines.

But since Roque said so, in Ada's understanding, Roque should have used some special methods to seal this secret.

As for what the "special method" is, Ada is not interested in asking. For Ada, this is what a man should do.

"In addition to the Locke gold mine, the Matilda gold mine also has half of me." Rock confessed to Ada. In this world, Ada is one of Rock's most trusted people.

Of course, there are still many people worthy of Rock's trust.For example, Buck, Anton, Phyllis, Henry, Stoudemire, etc., they are all worthy of Roque's trust, because their current relationship with Roque is all prosperity and damage.

"Leave the Matilda gold mine to your little girlfriend. The Rock gold mine must be handled with care. If the news gets out, you will become the center of the vortex." Ada really considered the issue wholeheartedly from Rock's point of view.

"Don't worry, the Locke Gold Mine is mine from top to bottom. On the surface, the output of the Locke Gold Mine is not impressive. The gold that doesn't need to be sold is stored in the basement of the Locke Gold Mine. Now the gold in the basement It has exceeded 50 tons—" Rock is really not short of money, 700 tons of gold is worth about 700 million pounds, even at the current land price, [-] million pounds can cost the entire Transvaal and Orange farms Buy them all.

"Well, gold is part of it, what else?" Ada found a piece of paper and recorded it with a pencil, feeling that Rock's property could no longer be calculated by oral calculation.

"I still have about a hundred thousand acres of farms in Johannesburg, which are between Johannesburg and Pretoria, the best farms around Johannesburg, but it doesn't matter because in Nyasaland, I have About 7.7 square miles—" Rock dropped another bombshell.

"Ten thousand?" Ada frowned, feeling that the unit "ten thousand" was beyond her comprehension.

"Yes, 7.7 square miles, I am secretly funding the Yao people in Portuguese East Africa. If the Yao people can drive the Portuguese out of Portuguese East Africa, then the Zambezi River Valley in Portuguese East Africa will become Nyasaland Part of it." Rock's ideals are very ambitious, and the mere 7.7 square miles certainly cannot satisfy Rock's ambitions.

"God, return to the Zambezi River Valley, do you think London will tolerate such a thing?" Ada felt like going crazy again. Rock's strength had already surpassed the general business category, and Ada didn't even know how to manage it.

Yes, Rock invited Ada to the Transvaal in the name of managing assets for Rock, otherwise Ada probably wouldn't have left Cape Town.

Ada was indeed full of confidence before she came. After all, pioneering and conservative are two different things. Many people are good at pioneering, but not good at management, like Cecil Rhodes, that is a good example.

Before coming to the Transvaal, although Ada knew that Rock was outstanding, she didn't think there was any comparison between Rock and Cecil Rhodes.

Now Ada found out that she was wrong. Roque might not be as famous as Cecil Rhodes now, but at Roque's age, Cecil Rhodes definitely did not have Roque's current achievements.

"I talked about Nyasaland with Colonial Minister Joseph Chamberlain. Although the minister did not express support, he did not express opposition. I think the minister also wants to try another possibility. After all, he wants to complete it through conventional means. The 'two-C plan' is no longer possible, so we have to use some unconventional means." Rock revealed his plan.

Ada's eyes are confused. In business, Ada's talent is visible to the naked eye, but in military affairs and politics——

Well, the vast majority of women are bad at these things.

"It's not impossible. Think about the South African company." Roque used the South African company as a killer weapon. Compared with the South African company, Nyasaland is really nothing.

In this era, South African companies were not alone, such as Mozambique Company, Niassa Company and Zambezia Company in Portuguese East Africa. These companies controlled two-thirds of the territory of Portuguese East Africa, and they were equally powerful.

"Okay, let's put Nyasaland's question on hold first, what are you going to do with the farm in Transvaal?" This is Ada's strengths, Ada will never intervene in work beyond her ability.

"Let's develop slowly. Now the Chinese in the Transvaal are either working in the gold mines and Crocodile Bay Reservoir, or own their own farms. It will not be too late to develop these farms after the Crocodile Bay Reservoir is completed." Rock is really busy However, the main reason is that there is no one.

"It's not only the Chinese who can farm, they can hire Zulus and Boers—" Ada is very good at this, and there is no need for Rock to worry: "You don't need to manage the farm, let me manage it, and There is a Locke gold mine with nearly 5000 workers, and with this little output every month, are the Chinese stupider than the Zulus?"

This is a bit harsh, but Rock is hard to explain. He can't honestly admit that Rock is using gold mines to temper the martial spirit of the Chinese.

Speaking of the martial spirit, this is another tragedy.

The Chinese definitely do not lack the spirit of admiring martial arts. In the Qing Dynasty, martial arts was a common practice among the people. No matter the family was rich or poor, they would learn to use both hands to keep fit. Rock's father was a boxer in the past, so he was no stranger to this situation.

The problem is that for some reason, many Chinese, even if they have the ability to resist, will restrain their hands and feet when encountering danger, and dare not resist. Unless their lives are in danger, the Chinese will give it a go. The Chinese on weekdays seem a little cowardly .

Roque wants to reshape the martial spirit of the Chinese. The "martial" here is not to be brave and ruthless, but to dare to fight when encountering injustice, and to actively strive for one's own power. This is Roque's real purpose.

"You still have to be careful when hiring Zulus. I don't want too many Zulus on the farm." Rock once again emphasized his attitude towards the Zulus.

"I know, I know, don't worry, when the farm is built, I will drive all those Zulus away." Ada knew that Rock hated the Zulus, and she must have only borrowed Zulu labor for a short period of time. Once on track, Ada knew what to do.

"Okay, then the agricultural cooperative is next." Rock put the agricultural cooperative at the end. This part is actually what Rock most values ​​and needs Ada the most.

"What is an agricultural cooperative?" Ada didn't understand the concept of an agricultural cooperative.

"Agricultural cooperatives are mutual aid organizations. At this stage, agricultural cooperatives are limited to organizing farmers for agricultural cooperation. In the future, the coverage of agricultural cooperatives will continue to expand. Now agricultural cooperatives have begun to provide some financial services to farmers around Johannesburg. Already." Rock explained in as much detail as possible, but the explanation was still not enough.

"Finance—a bank?" Ada's comprehension ability is super strong.

almost.

(End of this chapter)