Native to England, shorthorn cattle were bred in the 18th century by crossing Tiz River cattle and Durham cattle with Dutch medium breeds.

Although the history of the emergence of shorthorn cattle is not long, but the speed of promotion is very fast, this kind of cattle was originally raised as dairy cows, but people soon found that the meat quality of shorthorn cattle is also good, so shorthorn cattle are also raised as beef cattle, this kind of cattle has good precociousness, outstanding meat performance, strong ability to use roughage, fast weight gain, more meat, delicate meat, 17 months can gain weight to 500 kg, slaughter rate of more than 65%.

Compared to other breeds known for their meat, the meat quality of the shorthorn is not very good, but in 1901 there were not many options to choose from, so the shorthorn was the best choice.

As for merino sheep, this is the best sheep in the world, according to the use can be divided into wool, wool and meat and hair 3 types, Johannesburg has a clear rainy season and dry season, very suitable for raising merino sheep, if you can carry out large-scale breeding, the future wool will become another economic pillar of Johannesburg in addition to gold.

The point is, sooner or later, the gold will be mined, but the sheep can be kept all the time, so Roque values the farm more than the gold mine.

"Buck, spread the word among the miners, and help anyone if they want to be farmers." Roque reiterated the issue, with Hawley's Jewel in front, Roque believed that those Chinese with active minds would soon follow suit.

"Yes, there were miners who took out loans to buy land last month, and this month is not even halfway through, there are already more than 30 miners who want to take out loans, in principle, the amount of loans given by the mine to each miner does not exceed 100 pounds, but some miners are united to guarantee each other's loans, so the mine has issued more than 4,000 loans this month." Buck is also full of confidence, this loan is not directly paid, in order to prevent the miners from absconding with the money, all of them are converted into land, or various farm tools, livestock, and fertilizer.

"Hehe, I also lent a lot here, and a few people asked me to borrow money to buy livestock, and I gave them the livestock directly, and paid back two of them." Hawley also has a hand in business, and this business is basically profitable.

Both shorthorn and merino sheep are relatively able to give birth, shorthorn cattle mature early, reaching maturity in eight months, and theoretically doubling the number of cattle in a year.

Merino sheep are more able to give birth, the ewes mature in six to eight months, 18 months of early mating, the reproductive rate of adult ewes is 110% to 125%, and the survival rate of lambs is more than 95%, which is theoretically almost a tripling in two years, considering that there is more than one sheep per litter, so the flock reproduces faster.

"Buck, find a way to buy sheep, buy as much as possible, Zulu people don't have enough to go to Australia, and by May next year, there will be at least 1,000 Chinese farmers in Johannesburg." Now that the British have begun to negotiate with the Boers, God knows when the negotiations will end, and Roque will expand the base of the Chinese as much as possible before the negotiations are over.

On January 1 of this year, Australia was transformed into a colony, and the six colonial regions were unified to form the Australian Federation, and the first constitution was adopted.

Australia's autonomy marks the gradual disintegration of Britain's global colonial system, and after peace negotiations, the four Cape colonies will also form a unified South African Federation, and Roque wants to strive for a better social status for Chinese Americans at least in the Transvaal before the establishment of the South African Federation.

Relying on Roque's efforts alone, his influence on the Transvaal is minimal, so Roque wants to strive for more Chinese Americans to obtain the status of free people, and win the right to vote for them, only with the right to vote, the Chinese can be regarded as gaining a firm foothold in the Transvaal.

"A thousand—" Buck grimaced.

In fact, according to the current situation, in the next three or five years, or ten or eight years, Buck is sure to support more farmers, and even exceed Roque's requirements.

To Barker's surprise, Roque's steps are too big, and there will be more than a year until May next year, and it will be difficult to support a thousand farmers in such a short time.

"Yes, a thousand, support as many farmers as possible in the form of loans, help them gain a foothold in Johannesburg, even if they can't recoup their investment in a short period of time, and as long as the farm is there, don't be afraid that they won't recover their costs." Roque knew the dangers of pulling out the seedlings, but Roque didn't have the time.

If the situation allows, Roque prefers to slowly try to raise these miners with gold mines, attract the families of miners to immigrate to Johannesburg, and then strengthen the education of the next generation of Chinese, then in a decade or two, Roque can also see fruitful results.

The problem is that Roque does not have one or two decades to waste, and twenty years later, the British are gradually declining in South Africa, and the Boers are making a comeback, and even the situation of the British will become more and more difficult at that time, not to mention the Chinese.

"Director, is there something wrong?" Buck noticed Roque's anxiety and immediately became worried.

The number of Chinese in Johannesburg is increasing, and Roque is the undisputed standard-bearer, don't look at the prospects of the Chinese in Johannesburg now, but if there is an accident with Roque himself, then the Chinese in Johannesburg are all rootless.

"It's okay, just do your own thing." Roque understated, although it was very stressful, but it was not without benefits.

Alfred Milner and Henry have already returned to the Transvaal, and in half a month at most they will be back in Pretoria.

Roque didn't get the baron he wanted, just a slave baron.

Considering Roque's complexion, it is already good from the baron.

Although the Baron is not a nobleman, the title of "Baron" can also be hereditary, and then Roque will become "Sir Locke", although the spelling of "Sir Knight" is the same as "Sir", but the meaning is completely different.

Becoming a Baron means that even Baron Philip in front of Roque will call Roque "Sir Locke" instead of the former "Director Locke".

Compared with Roque's merits, a "Cong Baron" is definitely not enough to praise, but considering Roque's skin color, "Cong Baron" is already the extreme, if it weren't for the 10,000 pounds that Roque gave Winston, there should not even be a "Cong Baron", at most he would be a knight.

The status of a knight is similar to that of a "subordinate baron", and there is no fief, but the title cannot be hereditary, and after becoming a knight, he is also eligible to be called "Sir", anyway, the spelling is the same as "sir".

With the title of "from the baron", for Roque, the biggest significance is that Roque finally has a certain ability to protect himself, and he does not have to rely on the Matilda family in everything, in front of ordinary officials, as long as the other party does not have a title, Roque does not need to be inferior, similar to Baron Mahanles's "interrogation" of Roque in the morning, and it will not happen again in the future.

By the way, in addition to Roque, more than a dozen people in Cape were knighted, and Alfred Milner and Henry were all made barons, which also means that Henry is no longer bound by the family.

After becoming a baron, Henry had set himself on his own.

Before Alfred Milner and Henry returned to Pretoria, Roque began to buy land around Johannesburg, ideally buying all the vacant land around Johannesburg, so that when the Boers had their homes after the war, they would find that they had no place to stand, and reality would force them to leave Johannesburg to make room for the Chinese.

Baron Philip was very much in favor of Roque's behavior.

At present, Johannesburg is still in a state of military control, and the Johannesburg city government has not yet taken over the jurisdiction of Johannesburg, so the city government has no source of tax revenue.

With the cooperation of the city government, Roque bought the farm at a fast pace, and in just one week, most of the land between Johannesburg and Pretoria was bought out by Roque, except for one farm called "Kruger".

Kryugel Farm is about 5,000 acres, which is about 20 square kilometers when converted into metric.

Sounds big, doesn't it?

In fact, it is not big, before the outbreak of the Second Boer War, almost any farm in the Transvaal Republic was so large.

"The farmer of Kryuger Farm is a Boer, and he is definitely a stubborn fellow, and I sent for him, and as soon as I made my intentions, he blasted him away with a shotgun, and his dog bit our horse, which was too much—" Christian was indignant, he had been so proud of the spring breeze lately that he had rarely touched a nail.

Christian is now the largest builder in the Transvaal, and the Pretoria City Council, the Governor's Palace, as well as the Johannesburg City Hall and the Mayor's Residence, were all built by Christian, and he now has more than 20,000 Zulu and Boer workers under his command.

"So tough?" Roque couldn't believe it, it was not common for Boers to be so arrogant these days.

Looking at the name of the farm again, Roque suddenly seemed to realize something.

The president of the Transvaal Republic was Paul Kryuegel.

It is no wonder that the Kryugel Farm has survived until now, and presumably those guerrillas would have been ten miles away from the Kryugel Farm when they attacked the expeditionary force, so that the expeditionary force would have no reason to confiscate the Kryugel farm.

Thinking about this relationship, Roque didn't talk nonsense, and went directly to Marcos Lloyd.

Marcos Lloyd was the head of the Royal Canadian Mission, and after Lynn's incident, Roque and Marcos Lloyd had a good relationship, and now, Roque needs Marcos Lloyd's help.