The Times described it in the next day's paper: When Nicholas Beard had finished questioning Leander, Lieutenant Colonel Ferdinand was as pitiful as a little sheep ravaged by a hundred bulls.

This description was a bit excessive, and Lieutenant Colonel Ferdinand at the time was not yet completely desperate, as he had two witnesses who had not yet appeared in court.

The second witness to appear in court was Ronald, a Briton who was working for the colonial government of Mauritius at the time.

After appearing in court, Ronald first made a statement as required by the judge, confirming that everything he said was true and not false.

In the process, there was a little commotion in the auditorium.

Ronald, who was taking the oath, noticed several special guests in the gallery, including his immediate superiors when he worked in Mauritius, officials from the British Colonial Office, and Ronald's son, Mesefield.

Behind Masefield sat two big men with meaty faces, one of whom was a famous villain from Ronald's small town.

Later, when questioned by Lieutenant Colonel Ferdinand, Ronald's behavior was extremely abnormal.

"—Adan did pay a thousand pounds for the Chagos Islands, when the Adan Company had not yet been established, and was in the personal account of Lord Nyasaland - a thousand pounds does not seem like much now, but for the Chagos Islands at that time, a thousand pounds was already a very good price, and this price was acceptable to everyone at the time—" Ronald struggled as he answered the question, and now Lieutenant Colonel Ferdinand finally realized the seriousness of the matter.

"Find out who you are, you're representing the Chagos Archipelago, and you're responsible for what you say—" Lieutenant Colonel Ferdinand snapped.

"No, Your Excellency, the prosecution counsel is threatening his witnesses—" Nicholas Beard's objection provoked a burst of laughter from the auditorium and the jury, and Sir Arabella frowned and tapped the gavel in his hand.

"The objection is valid, and the prosecution's lawyer can continue to ask questions, but must not ask questions that are not relevant to the case." Sir Arabella reminded Lieutenant Colonel Ferdinand.

"I'm done with my question." Lieutenant Colonel Ferdinand did not show a high level of professionalism.

At least not to the level of being representative of the Admiralty.

It was Nicholas Beard's turn, and Nicholas Beard asked only a few simple questions.

"Mr. Ronald, can you describe the specific circumstances of the Chagos Archipelago when Lord Nyasaland purchased the Chagos Archipelago." Nicholas Beard came prepared, with three assistants sitting in the assistant's seat behind him, and the entire legal department of Adan Company outside the courtroom, and he was indeed more prepared than Lieutenant Colonel Ferdinand.

"Sorry sir, I don't know the specifics of the Chagos Islands-" Ronald's words caused an uproar, which was unbelievable, Ronald was working in Mauritius at the time, and the Chagos Islands were under the jurisdiction of Mauritius: "-This is not surprising, the Chagos Islands are 2100 kilometers from Mauritius, and I have been working in Mauritius for 12 years when Lord Nyasaland bought the Chagos Islands, and in these 12 years, the Chagos Islands have never paid even a single pound in taxes, On the contrary, Mauritius pays about £1,800 a year for the Chagos Islands, including the salaries of 12 people who work in the Chagos Islands, a job that no one wants to do, because the Chagos Islands are far from the mainland, isolated, have no recreational facilities, are inaccessible, and the Chagos Islands staff refer to the job as self-exile. ”

"Then that means that Lord Nyasaland bought the Chagos Archipelago without any compulsion—" Nicholas Beard reasonably reasoned.

"How could it be an act of persecution, we were even very happy at the time, finally someone was willing to take over the Chagos Archipelago, at least we could save 1,800 pounds a year, you know that the Mauritian government does not have a lot of money." Ronald's evidence is in Adan's favor, but Nicholas Beard doesn't think it's enough.

"Your Excellency, I ask my witness, Huang Liang, to testify in court, and he can testify to the situation in the Chagos Archipelago at that time." Nicholas Beard asked the judge to allow Huang Liang to appear in court, and Ronald was not aware of the situation in the Chagos Islands and could not give the jury a full understanding of how much money Roque had invested in the Adan Islands.

"Against Your Excellency, I have one witness who has not appeared in court." Lieutenant Colonel Ferdinand objected, and he vaguely felt that after Huang Liang's appearance, his third witness might not have to appear in court.

"The objection is invalid, Mr. Nicholas Beard, you can have your witnesses appear in court, and I would like to know now the specifics of the Chagos Archipelago." Sir Arabella was impartial, and the Admiralty was not easy to mess with, but the aristocracy as a whole was even more difficult to mess with.

Don't underestimate the short ten days, many things can happen.

Huang Liang just arrived in London two days ago, the London winter in March is gradually gone, spring is coming, and the impact of the American flu is gradually reducing, but Huang Liang still does not dare to be careless, he still wears a thick mask when he appears in court, and only takes off the mask when he takes the oath.

Just after Huang Liang took off his mask, the expressions of many people in the courtroom were a little complicated.

Huang Liang is Chinese.

But Huang Liang, a Chinese, except for black hair and yellow skin, has no different characteristics from an Englishman who often goes in and out of high society, well-dressed, clean and tidy, standing in the courtroom without being arrogant or humble, and his eyes are not evasive or wandering when he looks at people.

"I came to Zhenghe Island in 1910, when Zhenghe Island was still called Diego Garcia, and I remember very well that the first half of my arrival in Diego Garcia was spent in tents - the conditions of Diego Garcia were very difficult, there was nothing on the island except coconut trees, and we tried to teach those descendants of Africans and Indians to build houses and make them accept a more civilized life, but they showed great discomfort, even though we had built toilets in all corners of the island, they still preferred to defecate in the open - It wasn't until half a year later that everyone on the island except me moved into the house, and I moved into the office that had been built half a year earlier—" As Huang Liang said this, there was sporadic applause from the auditorium and the jury, and everyone hoped that the colonial officials of the empire would be as conscientious, responsible, and compassionate as Huang Liang.

"Thank you – thank you very much – the first days were always the hardest, we didn't have clean drinking water, all the food and building materials had to come all the way from southern Africa, only one boat arrived in the Chagos archipelago a week, and along with food and building materials, we also sent more new immigrants with their families, some died after arriving in Diego Garcia, some died from mosquito bites, some died at sea – but we overcame them one by one, Now there are 3,156 inhabitants of Zhenghe Island, we have built hospitals, we have built schools, we have built supply bases, we have improved port facilities, we have supplied passing ships, since 1916, we have not asked the Lord for even a penny, I have brought some photos, you can clearly see the progress of Diego Garcia over the years. "Huang Liang also came prepared, and no matter how gorgeous the rhetoric is, it is not as convincing as the real photos.

This time there was no need to ask Sir Arabella for instructions, and the person who came out with the picture was not a bailiff, but four children who were also from Zheng He Island, they were drawn from Zheng He Island Primary School, a Chinese boy and three white girls.

The four children, all under the age of ten, the youngest of whom wore an ankle-high white dress, was so happy when she went to court that she accidentally stepped on her skirt and was about to fall.

In the exclamation of everyone, the only boy threw away the photo in his hand in a hurry and hugged the little girl with a frightened face.

This little accident immediately got warm applause, only by caring at all times can there be such a quick response, the two older girls reacted a little slowly, but it was also the first time to comfort the little girl who wanted to cry and was embarrassed, this scene is indeed very loving.

The photos brought by the four children should have been taken in the same place, and the place where they were taken should be somewhere in the central lagoon of Zhenghe Island, probably taken while standing on a boat.

In the first photo, Zhenghe Island is desolate, with almost no man-made structures on the land, tall coconut trees looming in the distance, and a few dilapidated fishing boats docked along the coast, which is supposed to be what Diego Garcia looked like when Roque first bought the Chagos Archipelago.

In the center of the second photo is a huge freighter, many people are unloading through the gangway, some people look like women, there is a large tent on the shore next to it, and a few half-old children are fishing with a circle net on the sea, and two children on the shore are walking in the direction of the tent with coconuts on their heads.

The third photograph is a little further back, with four ships docked at the dock in the center of the picture, and the port office building further afield, where several shirtless workers are building a road with stones tied to ropes, one of whom is Huang Liang.

The last photo was taken not long ago, the photo is already a well-equipped, busy modern port, the center of the port is still the port work building, both sides of the building have been filled with buildings, there are no children fishing with trap nets on the beach, but a chair for people to rest, there are seagulls flying above the photo, and below the seagulls are several children in uniform uniforms, they are all carrying school bags, it seems that they have just finished school.

Without opening the mouth, the changes reflected in the four photographs are enough to make a lot of changes.