Reborn South Africa as a police officer

Chapter 285

Before having independent design capabilities, reverse imitation is a good idea, and there is nothing to be ashamed about. Before gaining the right to speak, Germany and the United States have done this kind of thing. If Nyasaland has a strong military industry in the future, It is also entirely possible to blame those countries that are trying to catch up from the height of moral standards.

Being in the British colonial system, Roque can easily obtain the most advanced technology in the world, and can hire the best engineers in the world. Just buy a piece of tofu and kill him.

In Johannesburg, Stoudemire's job is to eat, drink and have fun. When he is free, he will follow Rock to see some weird new gadgets, such as the motorcycles that Bobby Holt and the others fiddled with. Stoudemire is very interesting. interest.

After getting to know Bobby Holt and the others, Stoudemire excitedly came to Rock: "Lock, the things those young people are tinkering with are very interesting. If you don't like them, give them to them." I'm all right, I'll give them a place in Salisbury, and they can do whatever they want."

"Who told you that I don't like them?" Rock was really curious, not knowing what gave Stoudemire this illusion.

"Didn't you drive them out of Bigwig Town—" Xiaosi thought he could catch a leak, but when he heard Roque's words, he was immediately disappointed.

"It's not to drive them out of Bigwig Town, but to build them a new factory outside Bigwig Town. The production of motorcycles is too noisy and pollutes the environment. They must stay away from the crowd." Rock explained patiently, watching Lai Stoudemire is not stupid, he can see the prospect of motorcycles.

This is for sure. Although Stoudemire is a bit naive, his vision is not bad after all. Don't forget that Stoudemire bought the first car in the Transvaal.

"Really, I thought I could take them to Salisbury." Siu Si fell down on the sofa and didn't want to talk.

"If you have this time, you might as well go and see our steel factory and copper mine." Rock can't leave now, otherwise Rock can live on the construction site.

The construction of heavy industry is based on a year, and it is useless for Rock to worry.

Fortunately, under the guidance of free trade, Nyasaland does not lack industrial raw materials. Whether it is special steel or various chemical raw materials, as long as Rock is willing to pay, they can buy them from Europe. This is also the Nyasaland arsenal. The reason why you can start working now.

When it comes to steel plants and copper mines, the progress is actually quite good. Rock only approves the project, regardless of the specific affairs, and Henry and Stoudemire are responsible for the construction of the plant.

In this regard, Henry and Stoudemire have an advantage that Rock does not have. The workers who build the factory are all Zulu people. If it is Rock, they probably won’t be able to spare their lives. Henry and Stoudemire have no concerns about this. Give the work to Christian, and Christian subcontracts the work to the construction team below. The supervisors and workers of the construction team are all Zulus. Those supervisors treat Zulu workers very harshly, and they are more ruthless than white people. , so the progress is very fast, the steel plant is now under intensive construction, the copper mine in Nyasara has begun to produce ore, and the new smelter has also begun to set up projects.

"I regret it now. The report of the Christian Exploration Company shows that the copper reserves in Nyasaland may be hundreds of millions of tons. Should you say something?" Stoudemire regretted thinking of the copper mines in Nyasaland Unexpectedly, the reserves of hundreds of millions of tons of copper are among the best among the proven copper mines in the world, but Stoudemire gave it directly to Rock. Thinking of this fact, Stoudemire felt very heartbroken.

"Come on, there are more copper mines in the Congo Free State. Don't worry, those copper mines will be ours sooner or later." Rock is really not in a hurry. The copper mine reserves in Nyasaland are not hundreds of millions of tons, but At least 12 billion tons. If Stoudemire knew the news, he would probably die of heartache.

Of course, this information is only known to Roque now, and Roque has banned Christian Exploration Company from conducting any form of exploration in Nyasaland. This information may only be known to Roque in the future.

Relatively speaking, the Congo Free State is also rich in copper mines, and Leopold II does not seem to have noticed this.

Compared with mining, Leopold II was more willing to grow rubber. In 1896, Leopold II passed a secret decree to designate 11.2 square miles of land in the Congo Free State as royal territory. Within ten years, 11354 tons of rubber were produced in this territory, making a profit of 1500 million US dollars.

"It's not easy. Leopold II is expanding his army. Now there are more than 1 people. It may not be easy to deal with Leopold II." Stoudemire was a little worried.

What happened to the Portuguese in Portuguese East Africa sounded the alarm to all African colonists. The big countries like Britain, France and Germany can still sit still, but small countries like Belgium and Portugal are sitting on pins and needles.

Compared with Portugal, Belgium's national power is weaker, and the Congo Free State is still the private territory of Leopold II, so Leopold II began to form an army in the Congo Free State to prevent the Congo Free State from appearing similar to Portuguese East Africa. tragedy.

"Hehe, ignore him. Look at the army formed by Leopold II. The officers are white, and the soldiers are all Africans from the Congo Free State. Do you think that if we send the Yao people to the Congo Free State, those The army composed of Africans will listen to Leopold II, or will they listen to the Yao people?" Rock laughed, Leopold II thought he was smart, and Rock would see how he would die in the future.

The tragedy of Leopold II lies in the small country with few people. Not to mention the weak national power of Belgium, the number of citizens is not large. In the entire Congo Free State, there were only 1904 white officials in 1424, of which only 900 were Belgians. Such a small number of people , it is impossible to effectively rule the Congo Free State with an area of ​​234 million square kilometers.

Therefore, the means by which Leopold II maintained his rule were mercenaries and concessions.

Mercenaries are easy to understand. Although European white mercenaries are easy to use, they are expensive and cannot be maintained for a long time, so Leopold II had to form a colonial army dominated by Africans.

The concession system is also a helpless move. In 1884, European countries held the Berlin Conference to carve up Africa. Leopold II took advantage of the contradictions among the great powers to conduct side deals and won over 15 countries including Britain, France and Germany. agreed, the Congo region was placed under his personal ownership, known as the Congo Free State.

After the establishment of the Congo Free State, through a series of administrative orders, Leopold II nationalized all the land in the Congo Free State, and then leased large tracts of land together with the monopoly rights of the land to private operators. In 1891, the private monopoly Consortiums poured into the Congo Free State one after another, and Katanga Company, Antwerp Company, Kasai Company, and Imbi Rubber Company successively obtained large concessions.

Relying on mercenaries and concessions, Leopold II was barely able to maintain his dictatorship in the Congo Free State.

However, Leopold II's rule over the Congo Free State was not strong. In the original history, the Africans in the Congo Free State had not even had time to resist, and Leopold II lost ownership of the Congo Free State In 1908, the Congo Free State was nationalized by Belgium and became the Belgian Congo.

In this time and space, Roque will definitely not wait until 1908. As long as the Portuguese in Portuguese East Africa surrender, Roque will turn his target to the Congo Free State. At that time, the soldiers trained by Leopold II will become subversive The sword of Leopold II's reign.

"Lock, don't wait any longer, send people there now." Stoudemire couldn't wait to watch the excitement.

"Don't worry, conquer the Portuguese first, and then go to toss the Belgians." Rock has a plan. He can't make too many enemies at the same time, and he can't let the enemy take precautions against Nyasaland. The enemies must be eliminated one by one. , The rice should be eaten one bite at a time.

"Hmph, I don't know what year and month it will be." Stoudemire was a little disappointed, and really wanted to see what Africa would look like after the completion of the "Two C Plans" as soon as possible.

In fact, there is no need to wait for "that year and that month". After the Yao people in Portuguese East Africa crossed the Zambezi River, they made rapid progress. It took only three days to cross the important city of Beira in the central part of Portuguese East Africa and continue to move south.

In early October, the Yao people besieged the southern city of Chigubo in Portuguese East Africa. The Portuguese finally admitted that the situation in Portuguese East Africa had completely collapsed and asked the British government to intervene.

This time it was not Stoudemire who received the telegram, but Rock received the telegram, which was sent by Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain himself.

Joseph Chamberlain hoped that Rock would intervene in the name of Baron Nyasaland to bring the two parties to the negotiating table to discuss whether it was possible to directly end the war.

Rock laughed out loud after receiving the telegram. Joseph Chamberlain was also considered interesting. This allowed Rock to be both an athlete and a referee. The end of the Portuguese had arrived.

After receiving the telegram, Roque immediately sent a telegram to Nyasaland and Lorenzo Marquez, hoping that the Yao people and the Portuguese could negotiate in Johannesburg.

The Yao people responded quickly, and immediately sent a delegation headed by Zha Zha after receiving the telegram, but the Portuguese delegation was delayed.

Rock contracted the Jinshan Hotel, and arranged the Yao people and the Portuguese in the Jinshan Hotel.

On the night of arriving in Johannesburg, Zha Zha secretly came to Bigwig Town.

"My lord, your faithful servant Zha Zha pays you the utmost respect, you are like a mountain god in the sky—" Zha Zha spoke incoherently after seeing Rock.

"Stop!" Rock stopped in time. This kind of commercial bragging is meaningless. It is serious to discuss a plan to kill the Portuguese as soon as possible.

"What requirements do you have?" Rock still asked Zha Zha's request first. Although this is not important, the process that should be followed still needs to be followed.

"My lord, listen to you. Whatever you ask us, we will ask for." Zha Zha is very obedient, so Rock is embarrassed to be too stupid.

"Two options. The first one is to completely drive the Portuguese out of Portuguese East Africa. However, the war may be protracted. The Portuguese will definitely not be reconciled to failure. They will mobilize troops from the mainland and continue the war—the second one, Divide Portuguese East Africa into three, establish the Mweni Matapa Kingdom dominated by the Yao people in the north, maintain the Portuguese rule in the south, and separate the Portuguese and the Yao people in the central area. Settle the controversy." Rock let Zha Zha choose himself.

From Roque's standpoint, Roque would definitely be willing to let Zha Zha choose the second one.

The second option, the isolation zone in the central part was prepared by Roque for Nyasaland. If the Yao people and the Portuguese agree to the second option, then the northern part of Portuguese East Africa will become the territory of the Yao people. Whatever the Yao people do toss.

If you choose the second option, the Portuguese can still maintain their rule in the southern part of Portuguese East Africa. Although the Portuguese suffered heavy losses, they did not fail completely. area, and there will be no threat from the Yao people in the future.

For Nyasaland, through the exclusion zone in the middle of Portuguese East Africa, Nyasaland can obtain the seaport it has dreamed of. For this reason, even if Roque pays a part of the economic price, Roque will not hesitate.

"Lord, I listen to you. You let Zha Zha choose whichever one you want, Zha Zha will choose." Zha Zha went on the road very quickly, without thinking about which of these two plans is more beneficial to the Yao people.

Five months ago, any one of these two plans was Zhaza's dream, so now Zhaza really has no objection, any of the plans is beyond Zhaza's previous imagination.

"Well, in order to quell the war as soon as possible, we choose the second one." Rock is very satisfied with Zhaza's attitude, as long as Zhaza keeps going, Rock will give Zhaza more benefits.

"Okay, my lord, we need more rifles, more grenades, more mines now—" Zhazha suddenly became excited.

Rock wondered, this is going to be negotiated, why do we need so many weapons?

By the way, with regard to grenades and landmines, these two weapons can already be produced in the Nyasaland Arsenal. In fact, the technical content of grenades and landmines is not high. The key is whether the technicians pay attention to them. Landmines are better. European countries Actually don't pay much attention to the grenade.

Rock is well aware of the value of grenades, so at the beginning of the establishment of Nyasaland Arsenal, Rock ordered Nyasaland Arsenal to include grenades as a key research object.

"We need more weapons to drive the Portuguese out of our land and establish the great Mweni Matapa Kingdom—" Zhaza continued to be excited.

Rock was almost dizzy with anger, what he said just now was in vain, and Zha Zha didn't listen at all.

"Shut up, let's talk about the Mweni Matapa Kingdom later, end the war now, and after the war is over, if you still don't want to let the Portuguese go, then continue at that time." Haikou, the resentment towards Haikou has already moved the world.

The value of an unrestricted sea estuary to Nyasaland cannot be overstated. Rock's ideal estuary is the Zambezi River Basin. As long as the Zambezi River Basin is in hand, then when the time comes Saran will really enter a period of rapid development.

(End of this chapter)