Minister of Commerce of Yuanqi? Little Pretorius, who was in his early fifties, jumped in his heart, although the Transvaal was inland and remote, but as president, he had always kept a high level of concern about the situation in the world, especially in Europe, after all, the biggest threat they faced was England.

He doesn't know much about Yuanqi, but he knows that Yuanqi has a monopoly on financial development and industry in the Qing Dynasty, not only has strong financial resources, but also has a large number of army and navy, and has had wars with Tsarist Russia, Britain and France, and has won, it seems that even England is a little jealous of Yuanqi.

He never dreamed that Yuan Qi would actually send someone to the Transvaal, because of the gold mines in Whitewaterling? Or do you want to come to South Africa for a piece of the pie? He didn't think much about it, and hurriedly got up and hurried to the meeting room, no matter what Yuan Qi's purpose was, Yuan Qi's appearance would not be a bad thing for the Transvaal.

Seeing little Pretorius come in, Foreign Minister Mayer, who was talking to Guan Changhai, hurriedly stood up and introduced the other party, and little Pretorius stretched out his hand with a smile on his face and said: "The Transvaal warmly welcomes the arrival of your Chamber of Commerce." ”

Seeing that he showed his attitude as soon as he came, Guan Changhai secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile: "It is an honor for Yuan Qi to work closely with your country. ”

The gesture of these words was quite low, and the smile on the face of little Billtorius was even bigger, and he hurriedly stretched out his hand to sit down, and as soon as he sat down, Guan Changhai said: "Your Excellency, I must correct one point, I represent not only Yuan Qi, but the Qing Empire, and Yuan Qi's attitude is the attitude of the Qing Empire." If you don't mind, I'd like to talk to you privately. ”

Yuan Qi actually represents the Qing Kingdom? Little Pretorius was overjoyed that he could be recognized or supported by the Qing State, and the Transvaal would undoubtedly add some confidence in the face of aggressive England, Mayer was very knowledgeable, and quickly got up and politely said goodbye.

As soon as Mayer left, Guan Changhai said unabashedly: "We have discovered several gold mines of considerable scale in your country, I think Your Excellency should know what this means. ”

Sure enough, a gold mine was discovered! Little Pretorius was suddenly happy and worried in his heart, the discovery of gold mines in the territory is a good thing, but the Landesvaal country is weak and weak, I am afraid that it will not be able to keep it at all, not to mention that Yuan Qi has preemptively bought all the locations of the gold mines, England will inevitably covet the gold mines, Orange found diamonds, he is worried that England will continue to go north, plus a few large gold mines, he is sure that with the greed of England, it will definitely go north!

Seeing that he was silent, Guan Changhai said slowly: "Our country recognizes the independence and legitimacy of your country, and hopes that your country can unify all the republics formed by the Boers, and if your country needs it, our country can provide your country with a steady stream of arms, and even we can build a railway ....... from Pretoria to the port of Maputo." ”

Building a railway from Pretoria to the port of Maputo? Little Pretorius's heart moved, and he hurriedly asked: "Port of Maputo?" ”

"Portugal has good relations with our country, and we are negotiating the purchase of a site south of the Zambezi River to the port of Maputo," explained Guan Changhai. ”

What would it mean if the Qing occupied the port of Maputo and built a railway from Pretoria to the port of Maputo? Little Pretorius was a little eager in his heart, so that the Transvaal would be enough to break the encirclement of England from the west and south!

After a slight groan, he pondered, "What does your country need?" Monopoly on the rights to mine the Landesvaal gold mine? ”

"In fact, our country has formed a monopoly on the right to mine gold in your country." Guan Changhai said with a smile: "Of course, we will not pay less mining taxes at all, and we can also give your country a large loan to form an army and develop the economy." ”

It's pie in the sky! Now the most urgent need of the Transvaal is money, the financial embarrassment of the new republic is extreme, calm down after joy, little Pretorius gradually became solemn, such a good thing will not fall on Landesva's head out of thin air, the Qing State is so vigorously supported, it can only show one point, what was found in Landesvaal is a huge gold mine!

After thinking for a moment, he spoke: "I'm sorry, I can't answer this matter immediately, we need to discuss, and I ask Mr. Guan to wait for a few days." ”

In the blink of an eye, the Minister of Minerals and the Chief Surveyor reported one after another that no gold mines had been found on all the land purchased by Yuan Qi, and that those lands far away from rivers, beaches, karst caves and other places where gold was produced did not have the conditions for generating gold mines at all.

Are the Qing people lying to him? Little Pretorius felt a little incredible, if there was no gold mine, what was the purpose of the Qing people buying those places at a high price? Puzzled, he decided to come to the door himself to inquire in detail.

After waiting for seven days without news, Guan Changhai was also a little upset, and when he saw little Pretorius coming to the door, he couldn't help but be overjoyed, and after a greeting salute, he entered the house and sat down, he was not too anxious, and immediately chatted around the city of Pretoria.

The other party who saw it did not take the initiative to speak, and little Pytorius had to explain his intention directly, "Are you sure that the enclosed land produces gold?" ”

Hearing this, Guan Changhai couldn't help but smile and said, "Your Excellency the President sent someone to investigate?" ”

"Yes." Nor did Lessor Pretorius deny it, "The people who went to survey reported that there were no gold mines in those places, and that they did not have the conditions to produce them, and I wondered what your country's true intentions were." ”

Guan Changhai couldn't help but laugh secretly, "Your Excellency isn't worried that my country will expand westward based on Maputo and annex your country?" As I have made clear, my country recognizes the independence and legitimacy of your country and prefers all the Boers in South Africa to build a unified and strong state.

Besides, England is constantly expanding northward, and even if our country wants to expand in Africa, it will not annex your country, because that will provoke contradictions with England, Africa is so vast, why did my country choose your country? ”

Hearing this, little Pretorius said bluntly: "This is exactly what I don't understand. ”

"Since our country has no disadvantage to your country, what else is Your Excellency worried about?" Guan Changhai said with a smile: "Let's discuss the matter of gold mining. ”

Little Pretorius looked at him with a puzzled expression, "Is there really a gold mine?" ”

Guan Changhai smiled and said: "At present, all countries in the world pay 10% of the tax when mining gold and silver, which refers to 10% of the net profit. ”

It is impossible to determine whether there is a gold mine or not, so what's the point of talking about paying taxes? Little Pretorius had a somewhat uncertain look on his face, and after a deep groan, he said, "I wonder if there is a gold mine?" ”

"Yes." Guan Changhai said in a deep voice: "The gold mine is underground. So saying, he took out a document and said, "This is a peace treaty drawn up concerning the exploitation of gold in your country, and I must return home as soon as possible, hoping to receive an answer from your country within three days." ”

Gold mines underground? Little Pretorius took the suspicious documents written in Chinese, English and Dutch, and he looked through them slightly and said, "Why is there no mention of building railways, providing loans, arms, etc.?" ”

Guan Changhai said with a smile on his face: "If your country needs, these can be negotiated separately and a contract can be signed, the mining of gold mines is not two or three years, in order to promote the long-term friendly cooperation and development of your two countries, our country will try our best to help, and the promised conditions will not be broken." ”

The railway from Pretoria to the port of Maputo, large loans, arms trade, these conditions are all conditions that the Transvaal cannot refuse, and the little Pretorius and the other big men have no intention of entangling whether the Transvaal has gold mines anymore, and the top priority is to implement these first, even if there is no gold mine for them, there will be no harm to them, for the Transvaal, the current situation is already the worst, and there is nothing to worry about the gold mine at all.

Two days later, the Younger Pretorius replied in the affirmative, signing a peace treaty to give Yuanqi the right to mine the gold mines in the Transvaal, followed by two days to finalize a large loan of five million pounds, including two million pounds for the arms trade, and a draft treaty for the railway from Pretoria to the port of Maputo.

After finalizing this series of peace treaties, Guan Changhai couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and he couldn't wait to embark on the way home early the next morning, leaving Jiang Qinghao and others to continue to explore gold mines in the Transvaal.

On the deck of the battleship in the center, Yi Zhengxing, who had come to Qingdao for the first time, looked at the billowing smoke chimneys on both sides of the strait, and pressed a large area of buildings extending into the distance towards the black, and was speechless for a long time.

He had heard of Qingdao and knew that it was the base of the East China Sea Fleet, and it was also a military base deliberately closed by Yuanqi - the ironclad ship construction base, but he didn't expect the scale of Qingdao to be so large.

After a long time, he said softly: "These factories are all shipyards belonging to Qingdao? ”

"It's not." Yi Zhizu said slowly: "There are many military logistics factories such as yarn factories, cloth factories, quilt factories, shoe factories, tanneries, etc. However, the scale of this shipyard should be the largest in the Qing Dynasty, with five branches, more than 30,000 workers, and 18 large and small docks. ”

Yi Zhengxing listened to it and said to himself, how much money does this cost? Yi Zhizu pointed to the west bank and said, "What is being built there are 'Yuan' class warships of more than 8,000 tons, and four of them are under construction at the same time. ”

Hearing this, Zhao Liewen frowned, he had heard Yi Zhishu say that at present, the ironclad technology of the Qing Dynasty is in the accumulation stage, how can four 'Yuan' class warships be built at the same time at this time, after all, there are already two before.

After a slight groan, he said, "Big boss, South Africa won't go to war, right?" ”

"Be prepared." Yi Zhizu said slowly, for South Africa will not break out with the British war, he really has no bottom in his heart, in his estimation, the possibility of war is greater, the news of the discovery of a huge gold mine in the Transvaal can not be blocked at all, once the British know, they will not be reconciled, the gold standard era, the attraction of the huge gold mine is too great, it is no exaggeration to say that the gold mine in the Transvaal is enough to threaten the hegemony of the British pound, once the British realize this, the possibility of war will be infinite!

Five warships passed through the laneway, entered the military port and slowly approached the dock, Zai Zhao, who was dressed in a straight military uniform, and Guo Zhongmu, the chief of staff, led more than a dozen officers to quickly meet the battleship in the center, and soon, Yi Zhi's content figure appeared on the deck, followed by Yi Zhengxing, and Zhao Liewen deliberately distanced himself from the two.

When Yi Zhicontent stepped ashore, Zaizhao and his entourage greeted him and saluted, "Students and others greet the principal." ”

Yi Zhisuff returned a military salute, and Zaizhao and the others who saw it had tanned a lot, so he said: "The training task has been heavy recently, and you have all worked hard." ”

Zai Zhao said loudly: "Hard training is the duty of students. ”

Guo Zhongmu said: "Students and others should remember the principal's teachings, sweat more in peacetime, and shed less blood in wartime. ”

"Okay." Yi Zhishu nodded, "The ironclad ship must form combat power as soon as possible, and it must be ready to go to the battlefield at any time!" ”

"The students are in obedience." The officers replied with a bang.

Yi Zhicontent, who was waiting, shook hands with the officers one by one, and Yi Zhengxing walked up to Zaizhao and bowed and said, "Xingzhi has seen uncle." ”

Zaizhao went to Shanghai to see Yi Zhengxing, and immediately cordially stretched out his hand to help him, and said with a smile: "It's rare to come to Qingdao, uncle will take you to see our ironclad ship tomorrow." As he spoke, he introduced Yi Zhengxing to the officers.

Although Yi Zhengxing is not the eldest son, he is the son-in-law, and Yi Zhixin is also a cultivator, a group of officers have already heard of it, and they have come forward to salute after listening to the introduction, and Yi Zhengxing is easy-going and salutes everyone one by one.

After returning to the barracks and making proper arrangements, Zai Zhao and Guo Zhongmu were waiting in the living room, and when Yi Zhizhi took a bath and changed clothes, Zai Zhao greeted him and said tentatively: "Principal, is there a war in South Africa?" ”

"What? Can't wait to show off your skills? Yi Zhizhi said and stretched out his hand to sit down, and after sitting down, he slowly lit a cigarette, and then said slowly: "Whether there is a war depends on the reaction of the British, this time it is not as good as the Persian Gulf, the British may not be able to bear it, but if there is a war, it will be at least next year." ”

If it is really possible to go to war, and listening to the meaning of this, the possibility of war is still very high, Zai Zhao and Guo Zhongmu are both excited, Yi Zhishu glanced at the two of them, and said: "Britain is known as the 'sea hegemon', this is not blowing, although the army is not good, but the navy does not have opponents, and the British Navy also attaches great importance to the development of ironclad ships, and there are several ships in service." ”

After a pause, he continued: "Don't be too happy, this war can be avoided must be avoided as much as possible, not to mention the hundreds of years of British naval heritage, let's say that Britain's strong industrial strength is not comparable to us, although in terms of ironclad ship construction and artillery, we have a slight advantage, but if the war continues, we are afraid that we will not have the last laugh." ”