The town of Phoenix is unusually quiet in the afternoon, without the hustle and bustle of Pretoria or the desertion of Bloemfontein, and the occasional motorcycle speeding through the streets always attracts the shouts of women on both sides of the street.

"There don't seem to be many people here, are all the houses here inhabited?" Louis Botha was a little surprised that the situation in Phoenix was completely different from the small town in Orange.

In Louis Botha's impression, a thriving town must be full of the smell of fireworks in the parents, the ground must be overflowing with sewage, the town should have children playing and chasing, wild dogs are fat and strong, and the taverns are full of people 24 hours a day.

There are no taverns in Phoenix Town at all, the streets are clean and there seems to be no dust, there are no clothes to be seen drying in the houses on both sides of the road, not even wild dogs and wild cats, and the occasional people walking through the streets are in a hurry, and they don't seem to notice the warm sunshine and cool breeze at all.

"Nobody is normal, Nyasaland has the best public education in southern Africa, 98 percent of school-age children are enrolled, children should be in school now, only on weekends there will be school buses to send them back, as for adults, they should all work on farms and only have weekends off." Carlos knew that the University of Nyasaland was not an ivory tower, and there were internships when graduating from various majors.

"Only robots can do that." Swift was clearly not convinced.

Louis Botha's eyes were also suspicious, not only about the school enrollment rate, according to Louis Botha's understanding of Nyasaland, the farms in Nyasaland are basically owned by Roque, so the Chinese in Phoenix Town are all workers of the Nyasaland Agricultural Company, and the workers generally do not have such labor enthusiasm.

"They are not robots, if you know their life in Qingguo, you will know why they work so hard, they don't want to go back to the old life, as long as they give them a glimmer of hope, they will do their best to give you the greatest reward." Carlos has a personal experience, and Swift probably won't understand.

Before the destruction of the state established by the Boers, the Boers were also colonizers in southern Africa, and there were countless Africans for the Boers to enslave, so the word "effort" did not exist in the Boer dictionary at all, and when the Boer state existed, even the farmers in the most remote areas did not need to work hard to live a leisurely life.

Relatively speaking, after the Qing Chinese came to southern Africa, they really worked hard all the time, and Nyasaland once set a record of one man and four horses cultivating twenty acres of land in one day, which is simply a myth for the Boers, even if they give the Boers a tractor, they can't do this.

The national farms in Nyasaland are not strictly state farms.

Specifically, the farms in Nyasaland are all operated by the Nyasaland Agricultural Company contracted to the Chinese in Nyasaland, and the agricultural company will provide the farmers with free agricultural tools, seeds, fertilizers, and technical guidance in the first year of the land contract, and stipulate the types of crops to be grown on the farm, and then purchase them at a fixed price, and all the money obtained from the sale of the crops will go to the farmer.

In Nyasaland, on average, every farmer can lease at least 100 acres of land from the Nyasaland Agricultural Company, and the cost of leasing land is very low, only about ten rand per year for 100 acres, and this money is not needed, but as the income of the Nyasaland government, the Nyasaland government can get about 500,000 rand a year for this alone, which greatly relieves the financial pressure of the Nyasaland government.

It is important to know that the main revenue of the Nyasasa government is corporate taxes, and agricultural taxes account for only a small part, so the Nyasasa government has the ability to establish compulsory education covering the whole state.

and free medical care, which may be the first of its kind in the world.

"Find a place to settle lunch first." Louis Botha was feeling a little hungry at this time, and lunch was not served on the train.

There is only one inn in Phoenix, including a restaurant, and the sign of the inn is in Chinese characters, which Louis Botha did not recognize.

Walking into the restaurant, the menu was still full of Chinese characters, which made Louis Botha unbearable.

"It's still southern Africa, why are there such square words everywhere?" Swift was also very dissatisfied.

"Chinese is the official language of Nyasaland." Carlos was so proud on this issue that he did not notice Swift's disrespect for the Chinese language: "Not only in Nyasaland, but also in the Transvaal and Rhodesia, Bechuana, Chinese is also the official language. ”

When the federal government was first established, only English and Boer were the official languages of Southern Africa.

As for the states, only the Transvaal and Nyasaland adopted Chinese as the official language at that time, which did not conflict with the Southern African Constitution, and was a decision of the Transvaal and Nyasaland governments, and the federal government had no right to interfere.

With the increasing number of Chinese in southern Africa, Rhodesia and Bechuana have also adopted Chinese as the official language, so far four of the ten states in southern Africa have adopted Chinese as the official language, and the call for Chinese as the official language of the federal government is also getting louder and louder.

"Well, I don't disagree with the fact that Chinese is the official language of Nyasaland, but at least English and Boer should be used on the menu, right?" Swift did not dare to question the status of the Chinese language in Nyasaland, which might lead to a fire.

"Do you want to order?" The boss of the five big and three rough was impatient, he didn't even know English, and if it weren't for Carlos's presence, it was estimated that the meal would have been difficult.

"Please wait—" Carlos politely said.

"Hey—why isn't there Boolean on this?" Swift asked the shopkeeper directly.

"What is Boolean?" Despite Carlos' translation, the shopkeeper was confused.

"Boolean—the lingua franca of the federal government—" Carlos explained with difficulty, and it took a long time for the shopkeeper to understand what a lingua franca was.

"What does that have to do with us in Nyasaland?" The shopkeeper has a lot of problems, and it's really not to find fault, he really doesn't understand.

"Since your restaurant is in Southern Africa, you should follow the rules of Southern Africa." Louis Botha patiently explained that he was not going to turn his face because of this.

"You are now in Nyasaland, you should abide by our rules in Nyasaland!" The shopkeeper is stubborn.

"Bastard!" Swift took the case.

"You're the third level of the bastard's family - get out, I'm not in your business, get out of my shop!" It's amazing, the owner of the swear talk shop can understand it right away.

And it's not just verbal, the shopkeeper went back to the counter and pulled out a shot gun that was extremely powerful at close range.

"Stop!"

"Put the gun down!"

"Are you crazy?" Everyone, including Louis Botha, was shocked, and at such a close distance, if the shopkeeper fired, there was no way to avoid it.

"Wife, blow the whistle!" The shopkeeper yelled, the posture of holding the gun was very standard, the first time to push the bullet to load, and very careful to hide behind the counter.

Tick –

Immediately there was a sharp whistle in the back kitchen.

Phoenix Town, which was originally quiet and peaceful, suddenly boiled, as if there were countless footsteps rushing over in all directions, everyone carrying shotguns in their hands, and some people actually led hounds.

"What's going on?"

Seeing the sheriff wearing a police badge and a casual outfit, Carlos finally saw reinforcements.

"Sir, we are the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture, and this is Mr. Louis Botha, Minister of Agriculture." Carlos identified himself as soon as he came up, knowing that it would not be peaceful to come to Nyasaland this time, but he didn't expect to be forced to be exposed so soon.

"Minister—who is the most official with our lord?" The meaty-faced sheriff doesn't look like a good citizen either.

"It's all the same—" Carlos laughed, and in detail, it seemed that Louis Botha was the bigger official, and Roque was only the deputy minister.

"Lao Liang, that bastard scolded me and didn't let me write our words on the menu." At this time, the shopkeeper was full of the wisdom of the small citizens.

"No, no, no, just a reminder, of course, you can write Chinese characters on the menu, but you should also write English and Boolean." Carlos corrected that in Nyasaland he was not allowed to use Chinese characters, and I am afraid that the minister would not be able to do anything.

"Misunderstanding, it's all gone, put the gun down, it's okay, it's just a little misunderstanding-" Lao Liang is quiet, if this matter is big, it seems that everyone's face is not good-looking.

At least Louis Botha's face is ugly right now.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Minister, Lao Sun has just arrived in Nyasaland for a short time, and he doesn't know our rules here—" Lao Liang gave a color to a young man beside him, and the young man left immediately.

Louis Botha didn't speak, and even if he stopped him, he couldn't stop the report.

"Grab something to eat, where's your mayor here?" Louis Botha is not in the mood to worry about the shopkeeper, even if this matter is caused by Roque, it is estimated that Roque will not punish the shopkeeper.

Roque's shorts are well known in southern Africa.

"Mr. Minister, the mayor of the town will pick up people from Little Rock, and he will probably come back tomorrow." Lao Liang smiled all over his face, but that's all, he didn't bend his waist much, and he obviously didn't have much respect for the minister: "Old Sun, go get something to eat, what, this gentleman, is our minister taboo?" Lao Sun is a native of Sichuan and Shu, and the dishes he makes are very spicy, and he can ignite his stomach when he eats it——"

"Less chili—" Carlos laughed and was speechless at the well-cooked sheriff.

However, Carlos still underestimated the meaning of "less chili peppers" in Sichuan cuisine, and when the dishes were served, looking at the few pieces of meat hidden in the red plate of chili peppers, Carlos, Louis Botha, and Swift were dumbfounded.

"I didn't put much, not spicy, not spicy at all!" Lao Sun also swore an oath, completely ignoring Carlos's green face.

It's really not spicy for Sichuan cuisine.

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