When World War I broke out, all the participating countries believed that the war would end quickly, and that their military industrial strength would be enough to cope with the attrition of the war.

A year later, the belligerents were surprised to find that the end of the war was far away, and the various materials that the belligerents had hoarded before the war had been exhausted, and there were shortages of food, medicine, weapons, clothing, and even soldiers, so the United States became the savior of Europe.

During the war, the Entente ordered more than $15 billion in supplies from the United States, and all American businesses involved in the war supply made great strides, and by the end of the war in 1918, the United States had 21,000 millionaires.

Although the war benefited many, the real winners were the arms dealers, and DuPont produced 40 percent of the ammunition for the Allies during the war, and its stock price soared from $20 at the outbreak of the war to $1,000.

What Roque hopes is to become a "sponsor" of the British government through the relationship of the British government when the UK needs overseas supplements.

There is no need to completely kick DuPont out of the game, as long as a part of DuPont's orders can be divided, it will be enough for the Nyasaland Arsenal to eat and drink.

The same is true in other aspects, during the war, Europe needs not only weapons, medicines, food, and even daily necessities, which will become scarce materials during the war, what Roque is now doing in Johannesburg and Nyasaland is to prepare for becoming a supplier to the Entente, not a supplier of one aspect, but a supplier of all aspects, as long as Nyasaland and Yuehanesburg can produce, Roque will increase investment.

Thanks to free trade, Johannesburg and Nyasaland do not need to face technical barriers, as long as Roque is willing to pay for it, he can buy all the advanced technology smoothly, which will provide enough impetus for the industrial development of Johannesburg and Nyasaland.

The next day, the jury held a fourth collegiate discussion on the crimes of Austin Pence and the other three, and if there is still no final conclusion this time, then the trial of Austin Pence and the other three will be handed over to the justice.

Before the collegial meeting began, Roque had a brief exchange with Louis Botha.

"Lord, Austin Pence and the other three must be punished, and I cannot trade the collective interests of the Boers." Louis Botha would also have rejected Roque's terms.

As soon as the trial began, Roque hoped that Louis Botha and Jan Smuts would give up their hatred, and for this reason, for humanitarian reasons, Roque was willing to compensate the Boers who had died in the conflict, even those who had been injured in the conflict, even if that compensation now seemed to be in the hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The communication did not go well, and Louis Botha and Jan Smoltz knew very well that if they gave up the pursuit of Austin Pence and the other three, they would lose their support among the Boers, which was absolutely unacceptable to Louis Botha and Jan Smoltz.

"Louis, this is not an exchange, you should know what kind of conflict will be caused if those Boers are allowed to enter Johannesburg, maybe the consequences will be more serious than now, if you insist on punishing Austin Pence and them, then it will cause a confrontation between Johannesburg and Bloemfontein, you have to think about it carefully." Roque was very dissatisfied, and at the same time a little impatient, the reason why Louis Botha and Jan Smoltz were so stubborn was that the conditions were not negotiated.

In fact, Louis Botha and Jan Smuts were not obsessed, and they could not hold Austin Pence and the other three responsible, but on the condition that Johannesburg pay high compensation to the Boers killed and injured in the conflict, which could be as much as millions of pounds.

This condition, neither Roque nor Philip, was unacceptable, and even Ade began to be disgusted by the greed of the Boers.

"Sir, the people of Johannesburg are as British as the Bloemfonteins." Louis Botha didn't seem to care about Roque's threat, and his eyes flickered a little when he looked at Roque.

"Don't tell me this, I'm telling you now, if you don't give up the investigation, from now on, Johannesburg will sever any cooperation with Bloemfontein, and our previous cooperation will also be null and void, consider your Excellency the Mayor, you may be very idle now, but we are very busy and do not have much time to spend here." Roque is resolute, if Louis Botha is obsessed, then Roque doesn't have time to go around in circles with Louis Botha and likes to play word games, right? You like intrigues, don't you?

.

"What do you mean, Lord?" Louis Botha's face changed dramatically, and if what Roque said was true, then Bloemfontein could not bear the consequences.

"That's what you think, if you insist on the trial of Austin Pence, then you will pay the loan yourself, not a penny in Johannesburg will help, and those potatoes that are destined for Bloemfontein, so to speak, if you insist, I would rather bury those potatoes back in the ground than send them to Bloemfontein." Roque finally metamorphosed into a capitalist who would rather pour milk into the river than give it to those who really need it.

"The two simply don't mix." Louis Botha didn't expect Roque to be so open to menace.

"But it seems to me that this is the same thing, the results of the investigation are already there, it was you Boers who caused this conflict, if you want to hold accountable, then you might as well go and hold James Herzog and De Witt accountable, I heard that you also held a funeral for James Herzog and de Witt the other day, why, do you still think they are heroes? Should you be treated like a hero? Roque's patience was exhausted, and even the little affection he had for Louis Botha disappeared without a trace.

If Louis Botha could forget about hatred and focus all his energy on rebuilding, then Roque could still work with the Boers.

Now that the Boers have become a cancer, they do not produce, they do not work hard to save themselves, they wait all day for the appropriation of London and the rescue of Johannesburg, Roque does not know why the Boers have fallen to such an extent, and he does not want to know, since the Boers are willing to fall, then let them sink in hell.

"Sir, James Herzog and De Witt are meritorious to the peace, and you must not insult them." Louis Botha was outraged, for the Boers, James Herzog and De Witt were indeed heroes.

At least that's what most Boers think.

"Well, I insulted them, I apologize, you put Austin Pence to a public trial first, right? Okay, then let Austin Pence go to public trial. "Roque is no longer talking nonsense, when it comes to the public trial, although Roque's side cannot interfere, the Boer side has also lost its role, and the only one who can play a role at that time -

Hehe.

Abandoning communication with Louis Botha, Roque went directly to Philip and asked Philip not to participate in the next trial.

"Why?" Philip also thought that Roque had given up his efforts.

"I'm going to get ready for Phyllis's wedding—" Roque had a good reason, and Philip immediately smiled.

"Go, go, I'll tell you over there, Governor." Philip urged.

Roarke has a relationship with Austin Pence, but Philip doesn't, so Philip doesn't care if Austin Pence lives or dies.

Leaving the Palace of Justice, Roque went straight to Justice Duke Cowper.

"Sir, I'm sorting out the files related to Austin Pence and them, and it doesn't seem to be good for Austin Pence, even if they escape the death penalty, I'm afraid prison will be inevitable." Duke Cooper told the truth and didn't dare to promise Roque his innocence.

"It doesn't matter, if you go to jail, you will go to jail, as long as you don't die." Roque doesn't force it, as long as people don't die, Roque can figure it out.

To put it bluntly, it was a matter of money, and Roque tried to use money to buy Louis Botha and Jan Smoth, but Louis Botta and Jan Smolz opened their mouths and put forward conditions that Roque could not accept.

Na Roque simply took the money that was intended to be used to buy Louis Botha and Jan Smut to buy the judge, and Roque could not refuse Roque's kindness except for Boers with ulterior motives.

Louis Botha and Jan Smuts do have reasons why they can't back down, if Austin Pence and they escape punishment, then it means that from now on, the survival status of the Boers cannot be guaranteed, after all, it was Austin Pence who ordered the Boers to shoot, if such behavior will not be punished, then the Boers will have no dignity in the future.

Roque doesn't care how important the dignity of the Boers is, Austin Pence they prevented the Boers from entering Johannesburg and made a great contribution to Johannesburg, Roque can't ignore this, all Johannesburgers should be grateful to Austin Pence and them, so—

Louis Botha and Jan Smozi wanted Austin Pence to die, and Roque wanted Austin Pence to live.

"Then there is no problem, if you are just serving your sentence, there are many options, the prison in Pretoria has been built, I suggest the Lord you can go and find them a better cell." Duke Cowper was very happy this time, Roque's generosity was famous in the Transvaal, Duke Cooper helped Roque, and Roque would naturally be rewarded.

Roque finally understood this time why the conditions in European prisons were so good, the prison and police station in Pretoria had not been separated, Henry's people were in charge of guarding the prison, and Roque couldn't get Austin Pence and them out of prison, but it was still possible to make them comfortable in prison.

It's not that there is no way to get people out of prison, there are many legal loopholes in this era, Dr. Jameson, who should have been in prison, is preparing to run for prime minister in Cape Town, and when the limelight passes, it will be easy for Roque to get Austin Pence and them out of prison, just make an excuse.

Not surprisingly, the fourth collegial meeting did not reach any consensus in the end, and the case was then transferred to the justices for trial.

As for the public trial that Louis Botha and Jan Smoltz wanted, Ade did not approve it, and the trial of the chief justice would also be held behind closed doors.

Ade is not stupid, the best way to deal with this matter now is to cool it down, and stop hyping up the heat and making people slowly forget about it.

The public trial will not do the government any good, but will expose the contradictions between the Transvaal and Orange, and the whole world will pay attention to this small trial, and no matter what the outcome of the public trial, the British Empire will become the laughing stock of the whole world.

Roque wanted to stay in Pretoria for a few more days, but on the night of the failure of the collegiate agreement, Roque received bad news that someone in Johannesburg had died of illness, most likely due to the plague.

Plague!

For Roque, the plague seemed to be dispensable, because the plague had been largely eradicated in the twenty-first century, so Roque was not impressed.

But for the people of 1902, the plague was equivalent to a death notice, and the plague also had a name called the Black Death, and when you hear this name, you should understand the destructive power of the plague.

In the mid-14th century, the plague spread across the continent, killing nearly 30 million people in Europe within three years.

Over the next three years, the plague continued to ravage the continent, killing nearly one-third to one-half of the population in Russia.

If you count the several plague outbreaks in the next 300 years, nearly half of the people in Europe died because of the plague, and nearly 300 million people lost their lives worldwide.

In 1348, the German chronicler Lübeck recorded 90,000 deaths, with the highest daily death toll being 1,500.

Therefore, someone died of the plague in Johannesburg, which immediately attracted everyone's attention.

"Locke, are you sure?" After receiving the report, Ade immediately determined the authenticity of the plague.

"I am very sure that there is a hospital and a biological laboratory in Ziwei Town, and Professor Abu of the laboratory personally examined the deceased and determined that the cause of death was plague." Roque was also in a heavy mood, wondering if Johannesburg would be able to survive this.

In terms of hygiene, Johannesburg doesn't know how much better it is than Pretoria, so if someone died of the plague in Johannesburg, Pretoria would certainly not be spared.

In this case, the outbreak in Orange should have been more serious, but it was only because Orange lacked sufficient medical personnel that it was not determined that it was a plague outbreak.

"From now on, stop all work, all officials must return to the precinct immediately, the precinct must be thoroughly screened, hurry, move, if there is a large outbreak of the plague, then the Transvaal and Orange are all finished!" Ade was hoarse, and the fear of the plague had seeped into his bones.

Then return to the precinct, where Roque left Pretoria on the same train with Philip, Louis Botha and Jan Smuts.

On the train, Louis Botha approached Roque for medical assistance from Johannesburg.

Roque, of course, refused without hesitation.

Now that you think about it, do you want someone?

It's late!