Reborn South Africa as a police officer

Chapter 566

Even if Rock is not for the British Empire, but only for the Chinese in Nyasaland, he will stick to the line of strengthening the army.

The army is the basis for the Chinese to settle down in southern Africa. Without the army, the prosperity of Nyasaland is just a castle in the air, without any guarantee, not to mention the Germans, the British and Boers in southern Africa, can take The living space of the Chinese is squeezed to nothing.

Although Roque has his own plans, in this regard, Roque and the British government have the same fundamental interests. Roque hopes that the British government can gradually loosen southern Africa, and he does not want the United Kingdom to consume too much in the world war. Southern Africa is now It has not replaced the power of the United States, and a strong Britain is more in the interests of southern Africa than the United States.

The Earl of Selborne stayed in southern Africa for a week. During this week, the Earl of Selborne inspected the First Division and the Second Division, as well as the Fawalt Steel Works.

Compared with Nyasaland Arsenal, Earl Selborne is more interested in Fawalt Steel Works. After all, shipbuilding requires a lot of steel, and British steel is imported from the colonies. The British government did not pay attention to Fawalt before. The scale of the steel plant. After Earl Selborne inspected the Fawalt Steel Plant, he immediately signed a purchase and sale contract with Henry on behalf of the British government. Starting next year, the Fawalt Steel Plant will export [-] tons of crude oil to the UK mainland steel.

It will not be next year either. When the Earl of Selborne and Henry signed the contract, it was already January 1908. After the contract was signed, the Earl of Selborne left southern Africa and returned to the British mainland.

Rock still did not forget to remind Henry that no matter how high the price Earl Selborne offered Henry, Fawalt Steel Works must first ensure the supply of steel in Nyasaland, and the rest of the production can be supplied to the British mainland.

"Don't worry, I'm going to expand the scale of the Fawalt Iron and Steel Plant again, and try to double the annual output from the current 50 tons to 100 million tons. Otherwise, even Nyasaland will not be able to meet the current output." Henry is also ambitious, and it seems that Earl Selborne should have given Henry some promises.

Steel production can fully reflect the industrial level of southern Africa.

Last year, the steel output of the United States exceeded 2300 million tons, that of the United Kingdom was 660 million tons, that of Germany was 1200 million tons, and that of southern Africa was only 50 tons, which was stronger than that of Japan, which was 13 tons.

The increase in Japan's steel output is due to the victory of the Russo-Japanese War. Before the Russo-Japanese War, Japan's steel output was only [-] tons. After the Russo-Japanese War, Japan seized Russia's interests in the Qing Dynasty, and its steel output was only a few It has doubled in a year.

The iron and steel industry in southern Africa still has great potential to be tapped. There are iron ore distributions in Cape and Transvaal. The total reserves are about 23 billion tons, accounting for 40.00% of Africa's iron ore reserves.

Although the profit margin of iron mines is definitely not as good as that of gold mines, the overall profit is still very good because of the large scale and high output of iron mines.

The key is that the cost is low. The workers used by the Fawalt Steel Plant are all Africans. Although the slave trade has been legally banned in southern Africa, Henry can still get enough workers. In Natal, there are at least ten "labor service companies" The company" is working for Henry.

"You'd better be careful, don't make such a big show, and be careful of being targeted." Rock reminded Henry that after the establishment of the federal government, whites, including Boers, could move freely in southern Africa. The situation of the Fawalt Steel Plant If it gets out, it will definitely be used by someone with a heart.

According to the information obtained by Rock, since the Natal rebellion, the total number of Africans in southern Africa has been decreasing year by year. Infrastructure, as well as the mines in the Transvaal also contributed.

Of course, the specific figures are unknown to Rock, and the federal government will certainly not conduct statistics in this regard, let alone report them in newspapers, and only pay attention to Africans in southern Africa if there is a hole in their head.

"Hehe, so what!" Henry was very domineering, and in this regard, Henry was still very sure.

Rock stopped. Since Henry is so confident, Rock stopped talking nonsense.

The Earl of Selborne was still very efficient. After returning to the UK, he quickly gave Southern Africa an interest-free loan of 500 million pounds in the name of the Imperial Bank.

It is an interest-free loan in name, but in fact there are no additional conditions and no loan period. It depends on the mood of the federal government if Ade is willing to repay.

Adelaide's life during this time is also very tight. If you are not in charge of your family, you don't know how expensive it is. In the past, southern Africa was a British colony, and all the funds needed to maintain the government were paid by London. Therefore, the four colonial governments in southern Africa spent money generously. Very well, anyway, if you have no money, you can ask London for it.

Now that southern Africa is self-governing and the federal government has been established, the British government finally got rid of the big burden of southern Africa.

Without the support of London, Ade finally felt the pain of Louis Botha and Jan Smolts before. It is hard for a smart woman to live without rice, and without money, it is really difficult to move an inch.

The loan from the Imperial Bank was transferred to the account of the federal government under such circumstances, so when Rock went to Adelaide, Adelaide wanted to deduct part of it for the federal government's expenses.

"Stop talking nonsense. Earl Selborne doesn't know how much it costs to form a division. I definitely know. What's more, the third and fourth divisions are just reorganized, not newly built. You don't even need to buy weapons and equipment. The old weapons It can still be used if you make do with it, even if you want to supplement the first division and the second division, it will be enough to give you 100 million—" Ade has also learned to be a rascal now. Can speak out.

It's really that people's hearts are not old.

"One million is definitely not enough. The first division and the second division now only have 100 people combined, and the force gap is more than half. I plan to add 5000 professional soldiers within half a month. You know the concept of professional soldiers Is it? The cost is much higher than that of conscripts." Rock was ready to pluck his feathers, but he didn't know that Ade was so ruthless.

This is no longer plucking the geese, but eating all the geese, leaving a mouthful of soup for Roque, who will definitely not accept it.

"Okay, you can give them all. From then on, the Ministry of National Defense will raise the military expenses of the first and second divisions by yourself." Ade also has a desperate account. Compared with the cost of forming an army, the funds needed for maintenance are more.

"Then the first division and the second division are considered to be the troops of the federal government, or Nyasaland's troops?" Roque immediately turned black, because money was involved, and Roque wanted to strive for the best interests.

"You can do whatever you want." Ade played a rogue unscrupulously. Nyasaland is located at the northernmost tip of southern Africa and is facing pressure from Tanganyika. Only when the Germans break through Nyasaland will they threaten the rest of southern Africa.

"150 million!" Rock made a condition.

With a smile on Ade's face, he immediately realized that something was wrong. Rock should not be so easy to talk to.

"The federal government can keep 150 million, and the rest must be allocated to the Ministry of Defense." Sure enough!

"Don't even think about it, I'll give you 150 million from the Ministry of Defense. This is the bottom line." Ade didn't talk nonsense, and if Rock talked nonsense, he wouldn't even have this point.

Rock stared at Ade for a long time, and finally swallowed his breath.

When walking out of Ader's office, Roque happened to meet Bob Giles, the federal government's treasurer.

During Adelaide's tenure in the Transvaal, Bob Giles was the Minister of Finance of the Transvaal. Now that Adelaide is the Prime Minister of Southern Africa, Bob Giles' status has also risen.

"My lord, good day—" Bob Giles greeted Rock casually, and then hurried to see Ade.

"Wait, Bob, the money hasn't been spent yet, right?" Rock wanted to start with Bob.

"It's true that I didn't have time to spend it, but Locke, it's impossible to give all the money to your Ministry of Defense. Government employees have to pay salaries, the prime minister wants to implement a compulsory education system, and the Legislative Council office building in Bloemfontein has not yet been repaired. It costs money everywhere--" Bob Giles didn't give Rock a chance to speak, and finally found someone to confide in, full of bitterness.

If Bob Giles didn't mention Bloemfontein, then Roque would be in a better mood. Now that Ade is going to use the money to repair the Legislative Council office building, Roque will immediately get angry and turn around. Just go to Hopkins' office.

Hopkins, as the Minister of Defense, actually uses the same office building as Adelaide. To be honest, Rock can understand Adelaide's difficulties. For southern Africa, Adelaide is also doing his best, but Roque just doesn't want to give the money to Bull people.

"The prime minister wants to use the money London gave us to repair the office building for the Bloemfontein Legislative Council? This is simply too much!" Hopkins finally had something to do, and immediately rushed to Adelaide angrily.

Rock is not in a hurry right now, and is sitting leisurely on the sofa in Hopkins' office drinking tea.

A minister has to act like a minister and doesn't care about anything, so it's better to let the big guy be the minister of defense.

At least a big guy doesn't need that much salary. Hopkins, the Minister of Defense, has an annual salary of about [-] pounds, which is about the same as that of the British Minister of Defense.

It is said that although Roque's annual salary as Deputy Minister is [-] pounds, but Roque also serves as Deputy Minister of Justice and Commander-in-Chief of the National Defense Forces, so Roque receives three salaries alone, and the annual salary is actually higher than that of Hopkins. More.

Of course, Roque doesn't care about his annual salary. Anyway, Roque hardly needs any money. The Rand Bank directly transfers Roque's annual salary to Phyllis's account, and Roque doesn't care about it. Subsidize the family.

(End of this chapter)