During the Boer War, Britain successively mobilized troops from Canada, Australia, and India to participate in the war, although the participating troops did not perform well during the Boer War, but this still reflected the institutional advantages of the British Commonwealth.

It was only after the Natal rebellion that London really began to value the military potential of southern Africa, when it was not yet self-governing, and at a time when the British Parliament was considering the need to send troops to southern Africa again, southern Africa had already quelled the rebellion on its own, and from then on, Roque really came into the sight of the War Department.

In many foreign conflicts that followed, the southern African troops performed well, and even the German troops, which defeated France and won the title of "the world's first army", were defeated in front of the southern African troops, which led to the military aid provided by the Congress to southern Africa.

Since the previous year, the British government has given an interest-free loan of 5 million pounds a year to southern Africa to maintain its military strength so that it can be reinforced in time when the British mainland needs it.

Although this money is nominally an "interest-free loan", in fact it does not need to be repaid by Southern Africa, and so far Southern Africa has not repaid a cent, and after Roque agreed to jointly improve the bomber with the War Department, the British government has announced that it will forgive the first two years of 10 million in Southern Africa.

According to the rules, when the money reaches the federal government, Ade will definitely pluck the goose, and finally give about 3 million pounds to the War Department.

Three million pounds sounds like a lot, but it is a drop in the bucket for the Ministry of Defence, and the 80,000 professional soldiers in Southern Africa need about 20 million rand a year to maintain this standing army, which is really overwhelming the federal government.

Now the Ministry of Defense is still going to set up a navy and an air force, and Ade is noncommittal, anyway, there is so much money, no matter how the Ministry of Defense tosses, it is impossible for the federal government to increase military spending.

Hopkins came to Roque mainly to discuss how the military expenditure should be apportioned.

"The federal government's military spending has accounted for 20 percent of the federal government's total expenditure, and now the federal government's fiscal situation has been in a state of deficit, and other departments have more or less opinions, and the prime minister is also very difficult." Hopkins can understand Ade's distress, the federal government is now also picking up the east wall to make up the west wall, otherwise it would not even have to pick up a layer of military spending from London, there is really no way, so the appearance is so ugly.

"If it really doesn't work, then we can only disarm, the northern division of Rhodesia has to deal with the threat from Tanganyika, and the first cavalry division has to deal with the threat from southwest Africa, these two forces can't be cut, so the two divisions of Cape and Natal will be cut." Roque didn't want to make trouble for Ade, but the navy needed more warships, and the air force needed more aircraft, and these two pieces couldn't be saved.

Having said that, Roque still complained to the federal government: "As for defense spending as a percentage of government spending, 20 percent is nothing at all, and Germany's military spending already accounts for more than 50 percent of Germany's total spending. ”

At the moment of the arms race, it is not only southern Africa that is under great pressure, all countries are tightening their belts and gritting their teeth, the financial situation of southern Africa is not good, and the financial situation of southwest Africa and Tanganyika is also not good, but even southwest Africa and Tanganyika are expanding their armaments, and what reason is there for southern Africa to slack off.

"Come on, Locke, we will not directly face the threat of the German mainland, our threat comes from Southwest Africa and Tanganyika, and even these two regions will not pose much of a threat to us, if a war really breaks out, the mercenaries of the Umbrella Company can defeat the German army in these two regions." Hopkins is also an expert, his thinking may be a little rigid, but his eyesight is still there.

"That's the world's largest army—" Roque strategically valued the enemy.

Hopkins didn't speak, and looked at Roque with disgust.

This meaning is also obvious, the world's first army in southern Africa can only be suppressed in a state of strategic defense, and now Roque still has the face to say such things, even if Roque wants to emphasize the voice of the Ministry of Defense in the federal government, this appearance is a bit ugly.

There are some things that you don't need to say too clearly: the federal government's annual income is only that small, the Ministry of National Defense has more funds, and other departments certainly have less funds, and education, public health, construction, agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and sideline fisheries, and so on, are all big money-eaters.

"It's okay, it's really not good, we can still find a loan from the RAND Bank." Roque doesn't have to worry, with the RAND Bank as the backing, it is trivial to buy a few warships.

"The RAND Bank is now the largest creditor of the federal government, and our Ministry of Defense owes the RAND Bank a lot of money, how are you going to pay it back?" Hopkins doesn't think it's a big deal to see the excitement, the Ministry of Defense now owes nearly 15 million rand to the RAND Bank, and this money must not be repaid.

"What else? I can't be in the Ministry of Defense for the rest of my life, and of course I will be the next Minister of Defense. "Roque is right, they all say that the predecessors planted trees and the later people enjoy the shade, and the situation in southern Africa is actually more often the predecessors digging pits and the descendants suffer.

"The Ministry of Defense now owes so much money, who would dare to be the Minister of Defense?" Hopkins really can't think of anyone who has such an iron head, Roque is in the Department of Defense, and the Rand Bank is asking for it, and when Roque is not in the Department of Defense, then I'm afraid that whoever is the Secretary of Defense will have to face the mess left by the Department of Defense at that time.

Roque smiled but didn't say anything.

Hopkins immediately woke up, and then he became angry, isn't there a human head, now Hopkins is the secretary of defense, so this money is owed during the Hopkins administration, and Roark is only the executor.

"No one dares to be right, you can be a defense minister for life, for life." Roque laughed, this is the rhythm that will pit Hopkins for the rest of his life.

"Hmph, I'm only going to be this one." Hopkins is not in a hurry, and after this term is over, Hopkins will resign anyway.

The Federal Government was established in 1907 and under the Constitution, the term of office of the Prime Minister is five years, after which the Prime Minister is elected and then the Prime Minister appoints the members of the Cabinet.

The appointment of the prime minister can be accepted or not, and Hopkins wants to resign very easily, just not accept the appointment.

"What are your plans for retirement?" Roque is not in a hurry, and after Hopkins leaves office, Roque is the most suitable person for defense secretary.

"When you retire, of course, you have to rest." Hopkins didn't have much to pursue, even if he retired, Hopkins could enjoy the treatment of a marshal, and his status was still guaranteed.

Roque was about to help Hopkins plan his retirement when Zach quietly came over and handed Roque a note.

The contents of the note made Roque's head go big as a bucket, and there was a car accident in Cecil Rhodes Square, which was committed by a major in the Ministry of Defense.

If it's someone else, it's just a matter of dealing with it according to the law, what to do, but this major is called Bright Hopkins, which is very troublesome.

Bright Hopkins is Hopkins' son, Henry's eldest brother, Lacey's brother, this eldest brother is also a talent, according to Chinese standards, eating, drinking, prostituting and gambling are all evil, Hopkins has no choice but to take Bright Hopkins with him, otherwise he would not be a major by now.

Just now, Major Bright Hopkins drank a lot of alcohol at the Oak Bar next to Cecil Rhodes Square, and then drove into Cecil Rhodes Square and crashed into the Cecil Rhodes statue in the center of the square, injuring a total of four citizens and a police officer in the process.

Without saying a word, Roque handed the note to Hopkins.

Hopkins also didn't say a word after reading it, and his expression was ugly as if the king had just died.

Fortunately, no one is seriously injured or killed, injuries are easy to handle, they should be treated, and they should be compensated, and Hopkins is also rich and doesn't care about this little money.

The point is to crash the statue of Cecil Rhodes, which is very troublesome, and Xiao Si doesn't know how to be angry after knowing about it.

"You go to clean up the aftermath, I'll go find Cecil." Roque took the initiative to divide the work, and Xiao Si is now in Little Rock.

"Thank you-" Hopkins finally breathed a sigh of relief, don't look at Hopkins' high status, Xiao Si's status is not low, if Xiao Si doesn't give face, Hopkins can't do anything.

He has countless industries in Southern Africa, and the same is true in Nyasaland, where he is called Lionburg in his annex in Little Rock, which is about the same size as Roque's Eagle Fort.

When he saw Xiao Si, Roque knew the seriousness of the matter.

"It's a pity that the whole statue was completely destroyed, and there was no possibility of repair, but it is said that Major Bright Hopkins was driving very fast at that time, so why was he not killed?" Xiao Si was very regretful, and the hatred revealed in his words was simply monstrous.

"Cecil, Field Marshal Hopkins will re-erect a statue of Mr. Cecil Rhodes in the same place, the new statue will be taller and larger than the previous one, in order to prevent similar incidents in the future, the base of the statue will also be increased and heightened, Bright Hopkins is now being treated, his injuries are very serious, I don't know if he can live, even if he recovers and is discharged from the hospital, he will be arrested by the police station." Roque could understand Xiao Si's feelings.

"No, it's a statue of my father, I'll do it myself—" Xiao Si said in a cold tone.

"Don't be like this Cecil, Bright Hopkins is also my subordinate, or Lacey's brother-" Roark is really worried about Bright Hopkins' safety, the best thing to do now is to send Bright Hopkins away immediately, if Bright Hopkins stays in Southern Africa, then sooner or later Xiao Si will take Bright Hopkins' life.

"What if it's you?" Xiao Si seemed to be smiling.

"I'll ask Marshal Hopkins to make the statue a little bigger." Roque is the right color, this is not the most hateful way, but it is the most suitable way.