While the government and the opposition were speculating, the major newspapers in the north and south simultaneously published an edict that the Qing Empire, as a civilized power, would guarantee the personal safety, personal freedom, and property safety of all foreigners in our country under any circumstances. Fastest updates

At the same time, a notice was posted at the local yamen of all treaty ports, saying that in order to maintain local tranquility and avoid diplomatic conflicts, assemblies and processions would not be approved for the time being, and police forces would be dispatched to strengthen patrols, and all foreign-related cases would be dealt with severely, quickly, and severely.

In everyone's opinion, this is undoubtedly a tactful way for the imperial court to show its attitude to avoid war! And the notices posted at various treaty ports also illustrate Yuanqi's attitude, and it is clear that this is not only the attitude of the imperial court, but also the attitude of Yuanqi.

Yuan Qi, who has always been tough on the outside world, actually gave in to the strength of England, and for a time the government and the opposition were talking about it, and the dispute between the main battle and the war avoidance, which had been debated in the newspapers during this time, also showed a one-sided trend.

Affected by this, the stock market, which has been tumbling endlessly for some time, quickly stopped falling and rebounded, and the tense atmosphere at the treaty ports also dissipated, and the merchants, factory owners, and technicians who were eager to withdraw to the country, as well as the British foreign teachers hired by various schools, and the British scientific research personnel of various research institutes, all settled down and were no longer in a hurry to evacuate for the time being.

However, the envoy to China, Wei Tuma, did not believe that Yuan Qi would give up the gold mines of the Transvaal so easily, and he knew very well that unless Yuan Qi gave up the implementation of the gold standard, it would be impossible to give up the gold mines of the Transvaal, of course, this attitude of the Qing State was enough to minimize the economic losses caused by the war between the two countries.

He immediately drafted a telegram that the Qing Dynasty would not necessarily abandon the gold mines in South Africa, but that this move would help safeguard the economic and commercial interests of the two countries, and hoped that the empire would follow suit and effectively protect the personal safety, personal freedom, and property safety of the Chinese in the country and the colonies.

Port of Maputo, South Africa.

In just a few months, the fortifications in the southern part of the port of Maputo had been completed, with enclosed forts made of reinforced concrete scattered across the fortified positions, and soldiers busily erecting layers of barbed wire around the perimeter of the trenches.

Under the afterglow of the setting sun, Xiao Mingliang slowly scanned the entire defensive position with a telescope with a somewhat complicated expression, although the time was a little rushed, but the entire fortifications were built in a decent manner, however, he was still a little worried, after all, it was too long to hold on.

If the British were to attack Maputo first, they would need to hold out for four or five months, and even if they could delay for three months, they would need to hold out for at least a month or two.

Putting down the binoculars, Xiao Mingliang glanced at Tang Zaosheng and said, "I'll lead the fleet back, and Maputo will be handed over to you." ”

"Commander, rest assured." Tang Zaosheng saluted with a solemn expression: "The department will do its best to defend Maputo!" ”

Xiao Mingliang shook his head slowly, "You can hit the British army to the maximum extent, and if you can't hold it, you can retreat, once the British Navy blocks Maputo Bay, Maputo will lose its due value, there is no need to defend it, but before retreating, all artillery must be blown up, and the technology of China's artillery is something that the Europeans have not yet mastered." ”

"Commander, rest assured." Tang Zaosheng hurriedly said: "My subordinates guarantee that not a single artillery piece or artillery will fall into the hands of the British." ”

Along with the departure of the Nanyang Fleet, there was a supply fleet and a large number of merchant ships, which had been overcrowded and the bustling Maputo was deserted from time to time, but the road construction project was not affected in the slightest, and the carriages and ox carts transporting various materials were still in an endless stream.

However, the local indigenous people are not well informed, the language is not understood, and the response is also slow, and there are tens of thousands of Qing soldiers stationed in the Qing army camp, they are not aware of the imminent war, and they are still immersed in the sudden happy life, and the arrival of the Qing people not only provides them with countless opportunities but also brings rich materials.

Transvaal Capital, Pretoria.

Vice President Boggs walked quickly into the office of President Martinas Pretorius and said eagerly: "The Qing fleet and all the merchant ships have all evacuated Maputo!" ”

Little Pretorius was shocked, after England declared war on the Transvaal, the Qing navy withdrew from Maputo, what does this mean? He said in a deep voice: "Reliable information? ”

Boggs said: "How can something go wrong with such a big thing? ”

"Maputo still has Qing troops stationed?"

"Yes, there are about 10,000 army troops." Boggs said: "The withdrawal of the Qing Navy is enough to illustrate a problem, the Qing Navy is not the opponent of the British Navy!" In this war, the Qing Kingdom will definitely lose! ”

After a slight groan, little Pretorius said: "The Qing people are not stupid, they know that they will be defeated, and they still have so many army left?" Maputo had 10,000, Bedi had 6,000 stationed, and 6,000 ....... outside the city. ”

Boggs said in a deep voice: "The Qing people clearly want to fight a land war, as long as the British blockade Maputo and cut off the logistics supply of the Qing army, the Qing army will not have any chance of winning this war." ”

"There's no need to worry." Little Pretorius said disapprovingly: "This is not a matter we should be concerned about, as long as we do not enter the war, even if the British win, it will be nothing more than surrender, and there is nothing to lose." ”

Seeing that the other party was determined to stand on the side of the Qing State, Boggs was speechless to the extreme, and was silent for a long time before he said: "If we really wait until the British win before surrendering, we can't guarantee our due rights, we must take advantage of this opportunity to ask the Qing people for a large number of weapons and ammunition, train their own army, no matter who wins the final victory, we have bargaining chips in our hands." ”

"That's a good idea." Little Pretorius nodded, "Gold mines are both wealth and evil, and it is indeed necessary for us to form and train our own army!" ”

Lang Lacht Farm.

The threat of war seemed to have had no effect on this rich gold place, which in a matter of months had already been set up with tents, the roar of steam engines echoing across the land, and the crushing machines roaring day and night, beating piles of ore into powder.

Hordes of black slaves were busy in the mines, hauling ore or hauling ore powder to blend with mercury in mixers.

Feng Zicai, who had never seen gold mining, watched with great interest how to extract gold from stone surrounded by a large number of people, although England had declared war on the Transvaal, and war was imminent, but he was not worried at all, maybe the English Navy could show off its might on the sea, but when it came to land warfare, he didn't take the English Army into account at all.

Not to mention England, even the German Army, which fought France powerlessly in the Franco-Prussian War, he didn't pay attention to it, in his opinion, there is no army that can be the opponent of the Qing Army!

Watching the ore being crushed into powder and then poured into a blender to be heated with mercury, he said with great interest: "This is amalgam alchemy?" ”

"Back to the general." Jiang Qinghao, who was in charge of the mining area, hurriedly replied: "Mercury can fuse the invisible gold into it, which takes a long time to process, generally about ten days, after full fusion, the mercury containing gold is heated and distilled, the mercury evaporates, and the rest is gold."

This method is more advanced than the method of washing the ore powder with water to obtain gold, which can extract the gold in the ore to the maximum extent possible, and also saves water, where the water is not sufficient and must be saved. ”

Feng Zicai nodded and said, "How much does it cost to mine with a machine?" ”

For gold mining, Jiang Qinghao can be said to be familiar with it, and he waved his hand to retreat from everyone, and then he said softly: "Because it is a black slave, the cost is very low, the cost of a ton of ore is about three grams of gold, this mining area is a rare rich mine, a ton of ore can refine three hundred grams of gold." ”

100 times the profit! Feng Zicai's heart couldn't help jumping, and he said softly: "How much gold can be mined this year?" ”

After hesitating, Jiang Qinghao said: "Only this mining area that the general has seen can process fifty tons of ore a day, and in a year, it should be five tons of gold, and if there are more slaves, the output should be even higher........" ”

"Five tons?" Feng Zicai said in surprise, he never thought that gold was calculated in tons, gold was rarely seen on the market in the Qing Dynasty, and silver was calculated in yuan, and he really had no concept of five tons of gold in his mind for a while.

Jiang Qinghao knew that ordinary people didn't have this concept, so he hurriedly explained: "More than 160,000 ounces, almost 170,000 taels, equivalent to less than 4 million taels of silver." ”

How can this mining area have such a high income in a year? There are five such mines in the Transvaal! Feng Zicai couldn't help but secretly speak, no wonder the big shopkeeper did not hesitate to make a big move, this is too profitable!

"General." A guard stepped forward quickly and reported: "President Transvaal asks to see you." ”

Chased here? Feng Zicai frowned and said, "Prepare the horse." ”

Jiang Qinghao said: "General, it doesn't hurt to let him in, even insiders can't see the output of gold, let him see the situation of machine operation to mine gold........." ”

"You're trying to make him understand that the gold mines here can't be mined by man?" Feng Zicai said: "Then invite him directly over." As he spoke, he smiled and said, "The cable telegraph has been connected, and the output will be reported to the chief treasurer immediately." ”

Although little Pretorius knew that the gold mine had been started here, it was the first time to enter the mining area, he was not surprised by the large number of black slaves in the mining area, during this time the Qing army had taken a lot of black slaves, he felt strange that those black slaves were wearing orange overalls, and they all wore gloves and shoes on their feet, compared to the black slaves on the Boer farms, the black slaves here were treated too well?

What shocked him even more was the machines, he didn't expect that the Qing people would use so many machines to mine gold, what made him uncomfortable was that the roar of the machine was a little loud, and his ears hurt a little, seeing that the stones were easily broken into small pieces and then beaten into powder, he couldn't help but secretly sigh, these machines are too powerful, but he heard that the stones here are hard and not easy to crush.

When he came to the mixer and looked at the mud-like mineral powder inside, he couldn't help but wonder secretly, what kind of alchemy is this? Feng Zicai hurriedly greeted him and laughed loudly: "How did Your Excellency the President chase him to the mine?" Let's go to the tent and talk. ”

Leaving the construction site, the roar of the machine became smaller and smaller, and when he entered the tent, little Pretorius said with emotion: "Today is an eye-opener, this kind of machine mining is not comparable to human mining at all." He didn't ask about the gold production, he didn't have time to care about it at the moment, and he knew that the other party wouldn't tell the truth.

"The gold mines here are only suitable for machine mining." Jiang Qinghao poured a cup of cold water for the two and the interpreter as he spoke, and the other party did not continue to ask about the gold mine, and immediately retreated with interest, and little Pretorius said: "Your country's naval fleet has evacuated Maputo?" ”

"It's not an evacuation, it's an escort of the merchant fleet back." Feng Zicai said: "The main thing is to release the British Navy to attack our country's fleet. ”

For this explanation, little Pretorius naturally did not believe it, he smiled, and said: "England has declared war on our country, and our country intends to formally form an army, hoping to buy corresponding weapons and ammunition from your country, of course, you can only borrow money. ”

Feng Zicai smiled when he heard this, "Didn't you deliver 2,000 rifles and a batch of ammunition to your country?" ”

"We need 8,000 rifles, plus artillery." Little Pretorius said: "We intend to form a regular army of 8,000 men, and since England has declared war on us, we cannot stay out of it, and we hope to fight the British together with your army." ”

Eight thousand people are really not much, Feng Zicai didn't pay attention to these Boers at all, and groaned slightly, before he said: "We welcome your country's ability to cooperate against the British army, but we don't have any surplus weapons reserves in South Africa, and we need to transfer them from China, and I will truthfully convey your request to China." ”

Dispatch from domestic? Little Pretorius secretly slandered to himself, the British fleet has already gone south, and it is estimated that Maputo will soon be blocked, how can it be transported? He pondered and said, "Can you borrow two thousand branches of ...... first, or one thousand." ”

Are you kidding? Feng Zicai secretly laughed in his heart, not to mention that they were equipped with the latest semi-automatic rifles, and it was impossible to give them to the other party, now in this situation, it is still difficult to determine whether the other party will firmly join forces with them to fight against the British army, how can it be possible to continue to provide weapons at this time?

He shook his head slowly and said, "It's not that I don't borrow, it's really not superfluous." After a pause, he continued: "However, I can guarantee that the weapons of the captured British troops, including artillery, will be given priority to you. ”

The standard rifle of the British army is no different from the rifle given by the Qing people, and little Pretorius wants the new semi-automatic rifle equipped by the Qing army, but the other party can't force it if he doesn't give it, besides, it's better than nothing, he immediately smiled and said: "That's okay, my country will do our best to help your army fight against the British army." ”