Regarding the colonial taxes, the British government actually took not much, and most of the part taken was used to pay for the maintenance of the colonial government and garrisons.

What really makes Roque depressed is that the British government controls the right to mint pounds, even if the RAND Bank has more gold, it is impossible to convert the gold into pounds in time, if the Transvaal is autonomous, then the Transvaal government can decide its own currency, which is how the "rand" in South Africa came from in history.

Rand, in fact, is "Rand", from this point you can see the significance of the Rand Gold Mine to Southern Africa, now the Rand Gold Mine is basically controlled in the hands of the Johannesburg Mining Alliance, another time and space because of the death of Cecil Rhodes, resulting in the fall of the power of the Mining Alliance, this time and space do not have to worry about this, Xiao Si and Roque teamed up, basically firmly controlled the Mining Alliance, and no one wanted to take the Mining Alliance away.

In the evening, Philip hosted a welcome dinner for Joseph Chamberlain at his residence, where Roque met Louis Botha and Jan Smuts.

Louis Botha and Jan Smoltz came to Johannesburg to learn from their experience, and like the Liberal Party in Johannesburg, the People's Party founded by Louis Botha and Jan Smoltz also had a huge advantage in Orange, although there were other political parties in Orange, but none of them could shake the position of the People's Party in Orange.

"Thank you very much, Minister Smoths, and all Johannesburgers owe it to you." Originally, in Roque's prediction, the democratic representative system would not be implemented until 1906, and the efforts of Yang Shi Mozi advanced the implementation of the democratic representative system by a year and a half.

At least in Johannesburg.

"You're welcome, I'm not doing this for Johannesburg, I'm doing it for Southern Africa." Jan Smoz's expression was cold, and he probably didn't feel good in his heart, probably Yang Smozi didn't expect that he was running around London, but he let Johannesburg pick peaches.

Roque was not embarrassed, and continued to greet Louis Botha, next to Xiao Si, Henry, and Owen were all smiling, if it wasn't for the inappropriate occasion, these people would probably have raised their glasses to celebrate.

"Congratulations, Sir, Johannesburg and the town of Ziwei are indeed impressive." Louis Botha has a good attitude, at least in terms of economic development and urban construction, and Louis Botha is quite impressed with Roque.

In fact, on the battlefield, Louis Botha did not take advantage of Roque either, and almost became Roque's prisoner.

These are all in the past, and the current Roque and Louis Botha are not actually enemies, on the contrary, they have a common enemy is the British government, so both Roque and Louis Botha can put themselves in the right position.

As for the others -

It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter.

"Orange is not bad, in fact, Orange also has very good conditions, Christian Exploration Company has found some mineral deposits in Orange, if the Orange government agrees, I think our Johannesburg Mining Alliance is very willing to invest in Orange." Roque showed favor that the Boers were okay to fight, and that they were all laymen when they opened mines, and that there were many mineral deposits in Orange, but they were all in an undeveloped state.

The key is that there is no technology and no money, and it still takes a lot of costs to develop mineral resources, otherwise there would not be so many gold diggers who have discovered gold mines, but they can only sell gold mines to large enterprises, and only large enterprises have the ability to develop them, including the Orange government.

In southern Africa, there is no such thing as a public-owned economy, and the government does not participate in the operation, but only maintains the general environment, which protects the interests of the private economy to the greatest extent, but loses its dominance over the economy.

In other words, as in the case of the Transvaal and Orange, even if a new mine is discovered in the country, the government is unlikely to invest.

If you don't invest, it means that there is no profit, there is no ability to improve infrastructure, improve hardware and software facilities, and all the profits generated by the mine are taken by big enterprises and big capitalists, and there are very few benefits that really fall on ordinary people.

There is no way around this, after all, capitalists are not philanthropists.

So don't preach the benefits of the private economy, just look at Russia in the 21st century, once the private economy is popular, then the whole country will be controlled by capital, and then the interests will be damaged by ordinary people.

"The mineral resources in our territory will naturally be exploited by us Orange people." Before Louis Botha could respond, Jan Smuts interjected.

Roque smiled indifferently and didn't speak, Xiao Si, Henry and Owen didn't care, this kind of thing is not just talking, you have to invest real money in the net to see the effect, not to mention whether the Orange government has this capital, even if it does, at the level of Louis Botha and Jan Smozi, it is likely to lose money if you really want to open a mine.

It's like everyone is Roque.

"It's very welcome, and I think we'll have a great time working together." Louis Botha pretended not to hear Jan Smotz's words, and Roque was not defenseless, although he said just now that there were mines in Orange, but he didn't mention a word about what mines or where, and the Orange government would have to do it on its own, and I am afraid that the exploration costs would not be affordable.

"First of all, I think we should talk about democratic representation." After all, Roque still couldn't hold his breath and was not in the mood to go around in circles with Louis Botha.

"Of course, of course, this is our common wish." Louis Botha spoke in front of Jan Smoltz and did not let Jan Smoltz interject.

Then Roque and Louis Botha went to the balcony.

After all, there were still many people in the hall.

There was a little breeze on the balcony and it was winter in Johannesburg in August and it was still a bit cool at night.

Roarke was unaware that his attention was on the upcoming election.

"The Liberals will definitely win the election, and even when the Transvaal elections begin, the Liberals will still win, the key question is, what to do after win-" Roque said here and looked at Louis Botha with sharp eyes, and his tone immediately became stern: "We are not enemies now, we should cooperate for a win-win situation, the fate of southern Africa should be in our own hands, not the MPs in London, democratic representation is only the beginning, definitely not the end, I hope we can reach a consensus on this issue, Instead of going it alone, as it is now. ”

Roque put it bluntly, almost saying that southern Africa should be autonomous.

Louis Botha did not speak, leaning on the railing and smoking a cigar desperately, probably a little fierce in his inner struggle.

Roque is not in a hurry, anyway, the bait has already been laid, whether to bite the hook or not to look at Louis Botha, Louis Botha should be more anxious than Roque, which can be seen from Jan Smoth's early lobbying in London.

"Lord, do you think it is possible for us to form a unified Southern African Autonomous Union?" Louis Botha finally got the bait.

"Why can't it be? Canada and Australia are already self-governing, and the profits that southern Africa now generates cannot make up for the expenses incurred to maintain the government in southern Africa, and London will certainly not be able to bear it if it continues in the long run. Roque valued Jan Smoltz's lobbying skills, and if Jan Smoltz could continue to go to London to get more loans, then London would avoid it sooner or later.

After the establishment of the Transvaal and Orange Provisional Governments, in order to support the Transvaal and Orange Provisional Governments, the British government even reparations and appropriations, plus loans to the Transvaal and Orange Provisional Governments, have exceeded 50 million pounds, which itself has almost reached the limit, if the Transvaal and Orange Provisional Governments are still unable to take care of their own profits and losses in a short period of time, then London will definitely abandon the Transvaal and Orange Provisional Governments.

That's what Roque thinks, since the British government has reached its limit, and Jan Smoth's lobbying ability is still so good, then let Jan Smozi continue to go to London, of course it is good to get more loans, and it doesn't matter if you can't get it, just let the London MPs be afraid of Jan Smoth.

"Oh, let's talk about it, let's go lobby London, and then you Johannesburg pick up the bargain." Louis Botha really didn't like this unequal exchange, but sadly, Orange didn't have much leverage right now.

Roque didn't speak, just looked at Louis Botha and smiled, although Roque desperately wanted the Transvaal to be autonomous, but Orange's needs in this regard were more urgent than the Transvaal, so Roque had time now.

By the time Roque and Louis Bothavan Lake Hall had become a sea of joy, Governor Ade had arrived in Johannesburg from Pretoria for a welcome dinner for Joseph Chamberlain.

Philip delivered a speech as the host, and Joseph Chamberlain thanked him as the guest of honor, and the atmosphere was very warm.

Yang Shi Mozi was drinking in a corner of the hall, the enthusiasm here had nothing to do with Yang Shi Mozi, he exuded the temperament of no one to enter, and there was no one within a radius of three meters.

Seeing Roque coming back, Xiao Si leaned over quietly.

Roque nodded to Xiao Si, then raised the wine glass in his hand to sign.

Xiao Si almost looked up to the sky and smiled, picked up the cup in his hand and drank it all.

The first dance of the evening was performed by Philip and Phyllis, and for physical reasons, Philip chose a court dance with little movement.

The band's music was melodious, and people gathered around the dance floor to applaud rhythmically, and Phyllis laughed so much that she danced and searched the crowd for Roque.

As a result, Philip was not satisfied.

On August 1, the elections officially began, and as the first pilot in the Transvaal and Orange, the elections in Johannesburg attracted the attention of all of Southern Africa.