Just as Moore was overjoyed by the opportunity to talk to Marcus Beaufort on an equal footing, the miners were undoubtedly apprehensive when they went on strike.

Before that, there had never been a workers' movement in southern Africa, and the miners did not know the bottom line of the government and management, did not know whether their demands would be met, and only a few dozen people actually went on strike, and the vast majority of the miners were actually coerced.

In this case, it would be self-deception to say how tenacious the resistance of these miners was, as soon as the army's armored vehicles crashed through the gates of the Marcellus gold mine, the miners scattered in a crowd, and there was no bloodshed at all.

At Roque's behest, when the newspapers in Britain poured dirty water on Roque and the federal government of Southern Africa, the South African newspapers led by the "Times" also began to fight back, and the Anglo-American mining company was pulled out for public display, and Ernest Oppenheimer's own information was published in detail in the newspaper by the "Times", and people noticed that Ernest Oppenheimer was originally a Jew born in Germany.

In the context of the arms race, as long as the news related to Germany will immediately cause an uproar in Britain, there is no need to emphasize how important Johannesburg's gold is, and the smuggling behavior of the Anglo-American mining companies is simply digging into the corner of the British Empire, which is tolerable and intolerable.

Overnight, all the newspapers in Britain against Rock and Southern Africa died down, leaving only Orange's newspaper office jumping up and down.

But Orange's newspapers simply can't get out of Orange, so their influence is still limited.

On August 15, in the face of strong opposition from Anglo-American Mining Co., the Johannesburg Mining Union held a public auction of seven gold mines, including three gold mines owned by Anglo-American Mining Co., and of course Marcellus Gold Mine, where the riots took place.

After the end of the Boer War, this was the first public auction of gold mines on such a large scale in Johannesburg, which attracted the attention of one can imagine, and before the auction, Roque received news that a number of American consortia and British nobles would send people to participate.

The auction was held at the City Hall of the City of Johannesburg.

At 10 o'clock in the morning, those who have registered in advance to participate in the auction will start entering.

There are a lot of raw faces, some of whom have never seen before, and needless to say, these are the agents of buyers who don't want to show their faces.

Before half past ten, the town hall was packed, and the mining alliance did not expect so many people to participate, and a lot of chairs were added temporarily.

"With so many people participating, it is estimated that the price of the gold mine will soar to an unacceptable level." Sidney Milner and Roque sat in a separate corner on the second floor, seeing so many people in the venue, Sidney Milner was really worried, he had been staying in Johannesburg for half a month, for this batch of gold mines.

"Don't worry, what's yours is yours." Roque doesn't worry, the more people, the better.

"Of course you're not afraid." Sidney Milner is also rich now, but it is estimated that it will be enough to take out hundreds of thousands of rand at once.

The variables of public auction are still a bit big, many nobles in Britain have existed for hundreds or even thousands of years, and the accumulated wealth is unfathomable.

Sidney Milner's money, most of which is not visible, if Sidney Milner really spends thousands of dollars, it will definitely have a serious impact on Ade.

"Don't worry, are you sure it's Marcellus?" Roque had already planned that it would not be difficult to cheat in such a thing as an auction.

"Marcellus will do it—" Sidney Milner was sane.

Among the seven gold mines, the best gold mine is obviously the Ignati Woods gold mine of the Anglo-American Mining Company, although on the surface the Ignati Woods gold mine production is not high, in fact, anyone with a discerning eye knows that if the production is not high, the Ignati Woods gold mine will not be so large-scale.

Since everyone knows that the Ignati Woods gold mine is highly prolific, the Ignati Woods gold mine will definitely be in the spotlight, so Sidney Milner has made a smart choice to avoid the Ignati Woods gold mine.

Relatively speaking, the Marcellus gold mine is actually not bad, in terms of production, the Marcellus gold mine is not much worse than the Ignati Woods gold mine, but because the Marcellus gold mine has just broken out of strike, it is estimated that it will take a while to resume production, and there will be hidden dangers in the future, so the Marcellus gold mine has not received much attention, and it can be taken at a relatively low price.

In order to ensure that nothing goes wrong, Roque has also made two preparations to prevent someone from maliciously raising the price.

At 10:45 a.m., Aiden, who was presiding over the auction, appeared with Brad Shelley, the director of the Johannesburg Inland Revenue Commission.

This Brad Shelley is the Brad Shelley of the former Purple Town.

During his tenure as tax collector in Ziwei Township, Brad Shelley did an excellent job and exceeded his deadlines every year, and after Marcus Beaufort succeeded Philip as Mayor of Johannesburg, Brad Shelley became the Commissioner of Inland Revenue in Johannesburg.

In this auction, part of the proceeds will be handed over to the City of Johannesburg, and Brad Shelley appeared at the auction to supervise the entire auction process on behalf of the City of Johannesburg.

"Please be quiet, gentlemen, and we'll get started right away—" Aiden, who was not a qualified auctioneer, came up without even introducing the details of a few gold mines, and immediately entered the process.

In fact, this is fine, the people who came to the auction have already understood the situation in advance, in order to obtain the qualification to enter the venue, each of them paid a deposit of five thousand rand, if they buy the gold mine but regret it, this deposit is not refundable: "Now the auction of the Ignati Woods gold mine, the specific situation must be very clear to you, the reserve price is fifty thousand rand, each increase of one thousand, start now——"

No one spoke.

No one raised a sign either.

"Didn't anyone make an offer? Fifty thousand rand! For the first time - "Aiden doesn't talk nonsense.

"One hundred thousand!"

Someone immediately raised their cards, and they doubled it just at the beginning.

The guy who held the sign is known to many people, and he is the deputy general manager of De Beers Unified Mining Company.

A few who wanted to hold up their cards immediately died down.

In Johannesburg, no one dared to grab the gold mine that De Beers Unified Mining Company wanted.

Both Roque and Sidney Milner looked at Smalls in the opposite corner of the second floor, and Smalls raised their glasses to Roark and Sidney Milner.

"There's too much gold at De Beers Unified Mining, and that's not good, it's bad." Sidney Milner frowned, clearly unwilling to see the power of De Beers Unified Mining expand again.

In fact, the problems of the De Beers Unified Mining Company are far less serious than those of the South African companies.

In Southern Africa, South African companies are a legacy of history, and the whole of Rhodesia is the sphere of influence of South African companies.

Although Rhodesia is now part of Southern Africa, South African companies are still powerful in Rhodesia, even above the Rhodesian state government, and Ade knows this problem, but he will not be able to solve it for a while.

On this issue, Roque also played a very bad role, the situation in Nyasaland is similar to Rhodesia, or even worse, the South African company only has the right to operate in Rhodesia, and Nyasaland is Roque's private property, and Roque and Xiao Si are now so close that Ade does not dare to attack the South African company.

"It's better than being in the hands of the Americans—" Roque still spoke for Xiao Si, who was much better than the mercenary Americans, although he was too selfish many times.

"100,000 for the first time!" Aiden picks up the auction gavel.

"One hundred thousand and one thousand!" Suddenly someone raised the price.

The eyes of the audience were immediately attracted.

It was a young man wearing a cowboy hat and a Henry shirt, which was very eye-catching among the suits and leather shoes.

"One hundred thousand and one thousand, this increase is allowed, right?" The cowboy hat notices the gaze around and repeats in American English.

It dawned on everyone.

The Ignati Woods Gold Mine was previously the property of Anglo-American Mining Company, which has an American consortium background, so it is normal for cowboy hats to appear here.

"Bangbang-" Aiden didn't talk nonsense, and knocked the hammer to call the security guard: "How did such a disheveled person get in?" Get him out of here! ”

The scene was in an uproar, although everyone knew that Aiden was a member of the De Beers Unified Mining Company, but Aiden, as the rotating chairman of the Johannesburg Mining Union, this tendency was too obvious.

Even Sidney Milner was laughing: "Cecil's appearance is so ugly!" ”

Roque also smiled, turned his head to look at Xiao Si again, Xiao Si was still triumphant, and didn't seem to realize that there was anything wrong with this.

"I paid the deposit, I'm your guest, you can't treat me like this." Cowboy hats didn't expect that the British, who have always prided themselves on being gentlemen, would be so simple and rude.

"Sir, you have violated our rules, please leave immediately-" The security guards of the five big and three thick did not give the cowboy hat a chance to correct it.

"I-" The cowboy hat was immediately snatched away by two security guards.

When the venue returned to calm, Aiden's expression was still calm: "Now the auction continues, 100,000 for the first time." ”

There was silence in the venue, some people had angry expressions on their faces, and more people just took it for granted.

Britain is a hierarchical society, and the nouveau riche in the United States cannot understand it.

The reality is so cruel, when the Americans have no money, the British ridicule the Americans as hooligans, thieves, robbers.

Americans finally have money, and the British ridicule the United States as nouveau riche, hillbilly, red-necked.

When the United States rules the world, I believe that the British will still laugh at the Americans.