Although they knew that the owner of the gold mine was coming, they were in a state of excitement and only gold in their eyes, and they were busy collecting ore and crushing it to extract sand gold, which was more difficult than the way to dig for sand gold from rivers and beaches, but it was also simpler, more direct and more exciting, because by splitting the stones, you could see sporadic or sporadic sparkling sand gold.

A group of gold diggers are not ignoring the owners of the gold mines, but because there are rules for gold mining, this is a gold rush era, large and small gold rush one after another, starting from the gold rush in Georgia in the late thirties, the gold rush in California in 48 years, the gold rush in Colorado in 50 years, the Victoria gold rush in Australia in 51 years, and the gold rush in Colombia, the gold rush in Otago, New Zealand in 61 years, and the gold rush in Oregon ........

There have been many unwritten rules in the gold rush, and gold mining areas are either owned by the state or private individuals, and for gold prospectors, they only need to pay a certain percentage of their income or pay a certain fee on a monthly basis, such as the California gold rush, where each person only has to pay a monthly mining tax of four dollars. Therefore, even when they saw the heavily armed Qing army surrounding the mining area, they did not pay any attention to it and were busy mining gold on their own.

The calmness or ignorance of the gold diggers made Wu Yuankui feel a little incredible, he naturally didn't know the rules of gold panning, in his opinion, these gold diggers were purely robbers who took advantage of the fact that the master was not harvesting crops in the frenzied field, but when they saw that the master was coming, and they were not good at stubble at first glance, they still didn't care about it, which was a little incomprehensible.

As the commander of the advance team, he is naturally not a reckless person, so he immediately sent someone to call Jiang Qinghao and asked, "What's going on?" ”

Jiang Qinghao was also inexplicable, there were not many people left behind in the Transvaal, and there were translators who were proficient in English and Dutch, but this translator died of illness, because of the language barrier, he could not communicate with the first Boers and later Europeans, he immediately said: "The interpreter died of illness, and I don't know ..... below." ”

Wu Yuankui glared at him, and then ordered: "Come here, send a squad to escort the interpreters with the army to the mining area to inquire about the situation." In addition, he sent someone to Pretoria to inform the Transvaal government to send someone to contact him. ”

"Bang." A dull gunshot rang out, Wu Yuankui turned around and looked, but it was the soldiers who fired into the sky, preventing a group of gold diggers from approaching, "Let's go, go and see, let the translator come over immediately." ”

The gold diggers who were about to leave were a group of Boers, and when they saw the Qing army loaded with guns and ammunition, they were full of murderous spirit, and then they thought of the previous notice ordering them to leave the mining area, they were a little weak and wanted to leave, they could not understand the Chinese, but the gunshots were so frightened that they stood in place and did not dare to move.

Wu Yuankui hurried over with an interpreter and a platoon of soldiers, and said, "Ask them why they are leaving?" And why are the gold diggers still busy mining gold? ”

As soon as the Dutch translator spoke, the Boers suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, although there were still some differences in language, but they were finally able to communicate, and the first person hurriedly stammered and told him what he knew.

Listening to the translation, Wu Yuankui frowned, how can there be such a good thing, we spent a lot of money to buy the mining area for you to mine at will, just pay some taxes and fees, and without their permission, he immediately said in a deep voice: "You are not allowed to leave for the time being, and you will talk about it after someone from the Transvaal Mansion comes to negotiate." ”

The news that the prospectors were not allowed to leave soon spread through the mines, and it became more and more distorted, until it became that the Boers could leave, but only the Transvaal government sent someone to collect them, and the Europeans were not allowed to leave.

For a while, the people in the mining area were panicked, and no one had the heart to mine gold anymore, the Boers were fine, just waited quietly, after all, they were on their own territory, and there was not much to worry about, but the Europeans who came from the Kimberley were not calm, and the convergence of groups of three or five gradually converged into several large groups of hundreds of people, how brave the people were, and many of them still had weapons in their hands, and as soon as they were bold, they discussed forcibly leaving the mining area.

At noon, a group of gold diggers with more than 500 people came to the southwest, and when they saw the debt situation, Wu Yuankui hurried over and said coldly: "Mortar, shelling 100 meters in front of the crowd, three rapid fires." ”

"Bang bang bang" three shells exploded 100 meters in front of the crowd in succession, and the momentum of the crowd's advance was immediately stunned, I don't know whether it was someone who agitated or saw that there were only 30 soldiers blocking in front of them, but after the crowd was stunned, they rushed forward quickly.

Wu Yuankui originally planned to send someone to shout after the shelling, but when he saw this situation, he couldn't help but say coldly: "Since you want to find death, then fulfill you!" As he spoke, he raised his pistol and said coldly, "Ready——! The trigger was pulled.

The guns rang out, and the Marines' rifles were the latest semi-automatic rifles that had just been updated, and the rate of fire was more than twice as fast as the bolt-mounted guns, and although there was only one platoon of troops, the firepower was more fierce than that of a previous company.

There are many retired soldiers among the gold diggers who rushed forward, and when they saw the people in front of them cutting wheat, they fell down, and the gunfire was also very dense, and they thought that the other party had an ambush, so they hurriedly lay down on the spot and shouted "Lie down!" Lie down! ”

Many gold diggers with no military experience were scattered like frightened rabbits, except for those who ran backwards, almost all of them who ran left and right or forward were shot, and when they saw no one standing again, Wu Yuankui ordered to stop shooting.

It was only two minutes after the fire was fired, and the gold diggers had already killed and injured more than 100 people, and they were lying on the ground trembling without being injured or injured.

In the afternoon, a thousand Boer cavalry arrived from Pretoria, and after some negotiations between the two sides, the Boer cavalry was finally on guard, and as for the Boers in the mining area, they were still not allowed to leave, and the two sides would discuss it again tomorrow.

At noon the next day, the main force of the Marine Corps arrived, and the leader was the brigade commander Feng Zicai, who was in his early fifties and rose to the position of Marine Brigade Commander step by step by relying on his military exploits.

Feng Zicai was very polite to set up a banquet, after the banquet, changed to tea, little Pytorius said tactfully: "There are many people in our country who do not listen to dissuasion and go to the mining area to mine gold without authorization. ”

Feng Zicai heard about Wu Yuankui's measures in the mining area on the road, and he was very appreciative, and he was very dissatisfied with the Transvaal's letting the people and Westerners go to his own mining area to mine gold, but he also knew that he had to have a good relationship with the Boers, so he waved his hand and smiled: "It's a trivial matter, it's not enough to worry about it, just let them leave on their own, and they don't have to pay any taxes and fees." ”

Seeing that he didn't pursue it, little Pretorius couldn't help but be overjoyed, this matter is indeed a little unkind to them, after all, the mining area was bought by Yuanqi, and also signed an agreement to give Yuanqi the mining rights of all the gold mines in the country, but now he does not stop the people from going to the gold mines, which makes him a little uneasy, worried about affecting the cooperation between the two parties.

But he didn't expect the other party to be so easy to talk to, and even the taxes and fees were exempted, so he naturally couldn't help but express it, and hurriedly said: "Your army has just arrived, if you have any needs, you can put forward them, and we will try our best to meet them." ”

"We need a lot of horses, a lot of grain, cattle, sheep, fruits and vegetables." Feng Zicai said unceremoniously.

Little Pretorius did not shirk his responsibilities, and said simply: "We will do our best to raise funds for your army." ”

"Thank you." Feng Zicai said with a smile: "Your Excellency only needs to be responsible for fundraising, and we will not be less expensive for the purchase." ”

Hearing this, little Pretorius breathed a sigh of relief, and did not let them pay, and the matter was much easier, and he immediately said: "Our country's products are not rich, but we can absolutely guarantee the supply of horses, cattle, sheep, grain, fruits and vegetables needed by your army." ”

Feng Zicai said with a smile: "It's not just the needs of the troops, but also the workers, and it's a long-term need, in order to prevent the shortage of supply, we now urgently need to build a railway, which requires a lot of manpower and material resources." ”

After hesitating, little Pretorius said with a look of embarrassment: "If you need sufficient labor, you can only wage war and obtain ........... of captives and slaves." ”

"Don't worry." Feng Zicai said with a smile: "We have prepared a large amount of arms for your country, all of which are hoarded in Maputo, and Your Excellency can organize a caravan to transport them." ”

Little Pretorius had long noticed the new semi-automatic rifles equipped by the Marines, and immediately asked tentatively: "New rifles? ”

A new rifle? Thinking of the beauty, Feng Zicai smiled secretly in his heart, but explained on his lips: "The new rifles have not been officially installed in our country, and they are only equipped by the Marine Corps at present. ”

Little Pretorius said with some concern: "Your army has killed more than one hundred and sixty European gold diggers in the mines, most of them British, and the governor of Cape Town may take the opportunity to provoke a war in order to annex these gold mines." ”

Feng Zicai said in a deep voice: "Since you dare to kill, you are not afraid that they will take the opportunity to make trouble!" ”

After sending away little Pretorius, Feng Zicai immediately summoned the four regiment commanders to arrange the garrison of each regiment, and asked for some telegrams to be opened to Maputo as soon as possible. I heard that there were 2,000 men, all of whom were able-bodied laborers...... ”

Feng Zicai rolled his eyes, "If you really want to detain and enslave them, this leak will be bigger, confiscate all the gold, and expel the matter." ”

Yan Weihua said with a smile: "Brigade seat, kill more than 100 of them, this beam is about the end, and besides, as soon as they go back, the news of the gold mine will also spread." ”

"There are more than 2,000 gold diggers from Kimberley, do you think the news of the gold mine can be hidden?" Feng Zicai said and waved his hand, "Needless to say, let people go." ”

After returning to the Kimberley, they went around preaching and exaggerating the Qing army's indiscriminate killing of European gold diggers in the mining areas, and originally only more than 100 people were killed, and soon became more than 1,000 people, and the whole Cape Town was a sensation, which immediately triggered a clean-up movement, and all the Chinese businesses in Cape Town were looted and burned, and caused more than 40 casualties, and the South China Society hurriedly evacuated Cape Town.

Seeing that the situation was too big, the Earl of Kimberley, the Governor of Cape Town (named Kimberley after whom the diamond was found), realized the seriousness of the matter and hastened to report it to London, as well as a detailed report on the situation in the Transvaal's gold mines.

10 Downing Street, London, Westminster, United Kingdom.

In the office, Prime Minister Gladstone put down the telegram and put on his pipe for a long time without saying a word, the Qing people moved faster than he expected, and there were already 5,000 troops stationed in the Transvaal.

What shocked him even more was that there was indeed a huge gold mine in the Transvaal, and the reserves were extremely amazing, and the veins in the large gold mining area were actually more than ten kilometers long. In fact, judging from the importance that the Qing State attaches to the Transvaal, it is enough to reflect the large reserves of the Transvaal gold mine!

After a while, he took off the pipe in his mouth, looked at Foreign Secretary Granville, and said, "If the Qing State is allowed to occupy the Transvaal gold mine, it will be a disaster for Great Britain!" ”

Granville pondered, "Should you let the newspapers report on the killing of gold prospectors by the Qing people in the Transvaal mining area?" ”

After a slight groan, Gladstone said, "If there is a choice, I am not willing to go to war with the Qing Kingdom." ”

"Your Excellency, we have no choice." Granville said slowly: "The Qing State is building a large railway connecting Europe and Asia, which will seriously threaten the interests of the empire in the Qing State, and the Qing State, like Germany, is also planning to implement the gold standard, once it occupies the Transvaal gold mine, it will seriously threaten the international status of the British pound." ”

"But the parliamentarians will not agree to declare war on the Qing State."

"We can declare war on the Boers and replace the protagonists of the Transvaal mining brutality with the Boers."

"What about the clearance in Cape Town?"

"It can be said that the Qing people are accomplices."

After a long time of smoking a pipe, Gladstone couldn't make up his mind after all, after all, the trade volume between Britain and Qing was too large, and Britain's investment in Qing was also very huge, and the total investment had even exceeded that of the United States.

Again, he knew very well in his heart that even if he started a war, even if he fought with all the country, it would not be possible to achieve complete victory, and what awaited them was an unbearable military expenditure.

After being silent for a long time, he took off his pipe and said, "Perhaps, we should have a good talk with Yuan Qi." ”