Brewster prepared a sumptuous dinner for Roque, roast whole sheep, braised fish, stewed goose in an iron pot, and of course, roast beef with potatoes.

To Roque's relief, all the ingredients came from Brewster's farm, including dessert and fruit after the meal.

"How's your income now?" Roque still misses these old brothers, they are Roque's most loyal supporters.

"Last year I earned 2,500 rand on my farm, and that's not counting the children's income, it looks like a lot, but in fact there is not much left, the second son bought a car last year, the third son is going to buy a house in Los Angeles, and this year he is going to get married, and he is a doctor at the Nyasaland State Hospital." Brewster is still very proud, 2,500 rand a year, and Roque's salary as Minister of Defense is so much.

Just the salary.

It seems that 2,500 rand a year is quite a lot, but in fact, Brewster's family has more than a dozen people, and the average is not much, and it is the level of the middle class, which is far from being called rich.

"Brewster, if Bechuana implements a national farm, will it be considered to join?" Xiao Si has never forgotten the national farm that Louis Botha once proposed, and the national farm in southern Africa has begun to be implemented in Victoria and Dias, and the effect is still very good.

Compared to independently operated farms, the national farms in Victoria and Diaz mainly grow cash crops, employing African workers to work on the farms, and the annual profits have now exceeded one million rand, and are still increasing rapidly.

However, there is a huge disagreement in the federal government of southern Africa about the concept of national farms, and many people, including Roque, believe that if the popularization of national farms is implemented, then some new problems will arise.

Of course, the advantage of southern Africa is that the workers employed on the farms in the southern African countries are not southern Africans, but African-American workers in the surrounding countries and regions of southern Africa, so the national farms in southern Africa are not the big pot rice and iron rice bowl in Roque's memory, and the drought and flood harvest guarantee does not exist, and workers who do not work hard will be deported from the domestic service contract at any time.

"Is it mandatory?" Brewster was visibly nervous, his eyes widening like brass bells.

"Of course not, voluntarily join, after joining, the vast majority of the farm's income will still be yours, and the company that takes over the farm will take a part of the income as a management fee." Although the South African company has been dissolved, the Rhodes family's advantage in the field of farm goods is still unshakable.

"Then I'm going to think about it, in fact, I enjoy my life now, my dream is to have a big flock of sheep of my own, every day I lead the sheepdog to graze, take the fishing rod on the weekends, and have a barbecue in the courtyard with my family in the evening—" Brewster was suspicious, he was now rich and carefree, and he did not want to change his current state.

"To do this, it's enough to leave a few dozen acres, but you have 5,000 acres—" Xiao Si was still very generous and did not force it.

Brewster's farm employs hundreds of African-American workers all year round and uses a lot of large agricultural machinery to ensure the basic operation of the farm.

5,000 acres, or almost 30,000 acres, would not have been able to fully exploit the farm if the Brewster family had not been hired.

"You should know that you are not fully developing the farm now, our farm in Victoria, in the future, the average annual profit of an acre will be more than ten rand, you are only how much, half a rand, it is a waste to give you such a large farm." You're welcome, Brewster's management of the farm is not scientific, and Victoria's national farm has the Department of Agronomy of the University of Nyasaland as a technical guide.

"With Cecil, whether Brewster wants to join the national farm or not is all voluntary, you can't force him-" Roque does not object to Xiao Si starting a national farm, but also guarantees Brewster's interests, which is the real reason why Roque's prestige in southern Africa is unmatched.

"Sir, if you want me to join, then I'll join." Brewster obeyed Roque's arrangement and gave Roque all his trust.

"It doesn't matter, if you join or not, you have to ask yourself, no one can force you-" Roque said this to Brewster, but also to Xiao Si.

The farmers in Bechuana, who are only a small percentage white, and more than 60 percent are Chinese, Roque will not allow anyone to harm the interests of the Chinese.

Not even Xiao Si.

"Locke, you describe me as a slave owner." Xiao Si was dissatisfied, and Roque's words were all warnings to Xiao Si, and Xiao Si certainly understood.

"Don't doubt, be confident, and remove the 'and'." Roque does not give face to Xiao Si, and Henry and Xiao Si are the only two slave owners in southern Africa.

Of course, if Henry and Smalls are in the top two, Roque will definitely be in third.

Leaving Brewster's farm, Roque and Smalls continued west in a car.

The city of Rhodes is located on the border between Bechuana and the Transvaal, and the surrounding farms are relatively well developed and in good condition.

Leaving the city of Rhodes to the west, the environment on both sides of the road is gradually desolate, large areas of land are in an undeveloped state, the soil is badly exposed, and the bush is overgrown.

Of course, the current situation of desertification is not serious, but if it is not treated, the situation will only deteriorate step by step, and eventually develop to the point of no return.

"We are working together with the government of Bechuana to grow cash crops here and manage them by special personnel, and the University of Rhodesia is cultivating cash crops suitable for growing here according to the climate and environment, but this will take a process and will not see results in a short period of time." Xiao Si still attaches great importance to the state of Bechuana, and much of the land here belongs to the Bechuana Agricultural Company, which was jointly founded by Roque and Xiao Si.

Southern African universities are still very pragmatic, the federal government at all levels attaches great importance to agriculture, and the major universities in southern Africa have also opened agriculture-related courses, and universities are also trying to organize forces to conduct scientific research while teaching, and these scientific acts are very purposeful, such as the research of the University of Rhodesia, which is funded by Bechuana Agriculture.

"Cecil, do a good job, it's a good thing that will go down through the ages, we'll all be gone in a hundred years, but people will still remember what we did." Roque has never been a selfish person, not to mention that planting trees is beneficial in the present generation, at least it is also for future generations.

To put it mildly, those people who talk about "what will be the flood after I die" all day long, people can't find you, you can find your son and your grandson, and the father and son will pay their debts to find out.

"Less Locke, I'm not as noble as you, I'm doing this to make money." Xiao Si is duplicitous, and money has lost its meaning to Xiao Si and Roque.

Roque now understands the richest men who "don't care" about money, and it's not that they really don't care, but that money is no longer important to them, and when people say those words, they are pursuing something other than money.

To put it bluntly, after the basic needs of life are satisfied, people begin to pursue a higher level of satisfaction.

There's nothing wrong with that, it's like sleeping in your own home with or without clothes, it doesn't matter if you wear it or not, but when you leave the house, it's better to wear one, even if it's pajamas—

Roque smiled and didn't speak, Xiao Si didn't know another time and space, the final fate of old Cecil Rhodes.

If he knew, I'm afraid Xiao Si would not think so.

Back in the car, Xiao Si was still complaining, this time it was the Cape state government.

"Compared with Bechuana, the Cape state government is a bunch of old antiques, they are rotten from top to bottom, pedantic, stubborn, many white farmers in Cape still stick to the previous way of running their farms, ignoring the development and progress of technology, the Cape state government is actually considering economic subsidies for those poor farmers, if I want me to say, those poor farms should be nationalized-" Xiao Si has a deep grudge against the Cape, thinking that the old Cecil Rhodes was in the Cape Fa's home, It also contributed greatly to the expansion of the Cape colony, and as a result, it now seems that the Cape was the first to forget Cecil Rhodes Sr., much to the discomfort of Si.

"You go and buy it and give the farmers a price they can't refuse." Roque also has an opinion about the Cape, and if Roque is a representative of the conservative wing in southern Africa, then the Cape is simply stubborn.

"I can't refuse yet, I want to be beautiful, wouldn't it be better for me to wait for them to go bankrupt before coming forward?" Xiao Si waited for the low price to buy the bottom, and those white farmers deserved it.

Roque didn't speak, it was not easy to bankrupt those white farmers, and the federal government of Southern Africa was still implementing the previous tax scheme, and the tax rate levied on farms was not high, and it was difficult for even poorly managed farms to go bankrupt.

The reason why Roque came to Bechuana was also to inspect Bechuana's farm and accumulate more first-hand information.

When the information is complete, Roque will push Congress to discuss more taxes on farms, and then some farmers who can get by will have a hard time, and the federal government will have the right to confiscate the farms.

Of course, this proposal must be careful, if it is not done, the federal government will lose the support of farmers, which is unacceptable to Roque.

After returning to Pretoria, Roque went to Ida for this question.

As the Treasurer, Ida has the most say on the issue of taxes.