Cape of Good Hope, South Africa.

Although steamships have gradually become popular in recent years, it is rare to see clippers on ocean routes, but for the South China Association, it is still a preference for this kind of clippers that are extremely fast and do not need to dock along the way to add coal and water.

In the center of a flying shear ship named 'Rainbow', Huang Dianyuan and Guan Changhai each held a small wine jug in the small official cabin to drink and chat, the sea voyage is very boring, it makes people panic, drinking and chatting is the best pastime, Huang Dianyuan is well-informed, Guan Changhai is very willing to chat with him.

"Two hundred years ago, the Dutch were known as the 'coachmen of the sea', and it was at that time that the first Dutch immigrants arrived at the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa to settle down, and after the fall of the Netherlands, the British took their place as the overlord of the sea, and in 1795 and 1806, the British occupied the Cape of Good Hope colony twice.

Later, Britain began its colonization of South Africa by buying the Cape of Good Hope area from the Netherlands for £6 million. ”

"Bought for £6 million?" Guan Changhai said curiously: "Western countries are also popular to buy and sell territory? ”

Huang Dianyuan said with a smile: "It is not uncommon for Western countries to buy and sell territory, and most of the territories of the United States are bought from various countries, but it is rare to spend money to buy some uninhabited territories like our big treasurer. ”

There was a mockery in his tone when he heard this, Guan Changhai didn't dare to answer it, and said instead: "The Boers are descendants of the Netherlands, I don't know how many there are in South Africa?" ”

"I don't know the exact amount, but there are a lot of white people in South Africa." Huang Dianyuan said slowly: "Now there are very few Boers in South Africa, basically British, after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Britain had more than 300,000 soldiers and sailors demobilized, in order to properly settle these people, Britain organized immigration to Australia, Canada and South Africa.

The British who emigrated to the Cape of Good Hope soon outnumbered the local Boers, and dissatisfied with British rule, the Boers began to migrate northward, a great migration that lasted for four years, and Orange and the Transvaal were the countries formed by the Boers who migrated north. ”

As soon as the words were finished, a cheer was heard from the deck outside, and soon a sailor rushed in and said happily: "It's here, it's at the Cape of the Storm." ”

"But it's here, this old bone is about to fall apart." Huang Dianyuan stood up as he spoke, "The Cape of Good Hope means the cape of good hope, and the name is good, but there are many storms and thunderstorms, and the waves are turbulent, and the sailors call it Cape Storm." ”

Cape of Good Hope, Cape Town.

Cape Town, which is backed by mountains and facing the sea, is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, the Indian Ocean in the south, and the meeting of the two oceans, has always been the most important stopover on the east-west route, and is known as the 'lifeline of the West', but with the opening of the Suez Canal, the ships passing through the Cape Town route have plummeted, and they are no longer at their peak in the past, and now most of the ships that come to Cape Town are coming to Orange for diamonds.

As soon as the ship entered the port, Huang Dianyuan ordered the flag representing his identity to be raised, and when the ship docked at the dock, the local leaders of the South China Association who heard the news had already rushed to greet him.

When you enter the city of Cape Town, you will see Western-style buildings everywhere, and most of the people on the streets are blond and blue-eyed foreigners.

Seeing Guan Changhai's enthusiastic look, Huang Dianyuan asked: "Cape Town is quite prosperous, and the voyage is more than a month, is it ...... to rest for a few days and relieve yourself?" ”

"Not necessarily." Guan Changhai hurriedly said: "Time is pressing, arrange to go to Kimberley as soon as possible." ”

Kimberley is a small remote town newly formed because of the diamonds of Orange, nearly 900 kilometers away from Cape Town, but this distance can not stop people from going to Kimberley to find diamonds, and Europeans who have become rich overnight are constantly flocking to Kimberley, so that Cape Town's mules, horses, horse-drawn carts, and ox carts are in short supply, and the price has risen sharply.

The South China Society had already made adequate preparations at the entrance of the hall in Cape Town, and Guan Changhai only stayed in Cape Town for one day before he could not wait to embark on the journey to Kimberley, Huang Dianyuan did not accompany him, but sent more than 60 people to accompany him to ensure Guan Changhai's safety.

Sitting in the rickety carriage, Guan Changhai was quite excited at first, and looked out frequently, and after a short time, he felt very boring, and the driver was a clever young man in his early twenties-Hong Sangui, who asked casually: "Is the diamond production in Kimberley large?" ”

Hearing this, Hong Sangui couldn't help but smile, "There are a lot of people who go to Kimberley, but there are not many people who can really dig diamonds, many people are unlucky, and they are empty-handed after tossing for a year, however, there are a lot of rumors about Kimberley, some people buy or exchange them at a low price from the local natives, and some people pick them up by walking."

Diamonds were also found in ducks while they were killed, and as soon as the news spread, all the ducks near Kimberley were bought and killed in one day.

Later, it was discovered that there were diamonds on the banks of the rivers near Kimberley, so people went crazy like gold panning, and it was said that the harvest was not small, so people flocked to the river to find it, but so far no large-scale diamond mining area has been discovered. ”

Guan Changhai was stunned when he heard this, "There are rumors outside that there is a diamond mine in Orange." ”

"There must be diamond mines, everyone is sure of this, after all, there are a lot of diamonds found sporadically." Hong Sangui said: "However, it's hard to say when we can find it." ”

Even the diamond mine has not been found? Guan Changhai's heart sank, and he hurriedly asked, "Is this way still too peaceful?" ”

"How can such a place be peaceful?" Hong Sangui said disapprerovingly: "However, there are no robbers in a large group, they are all sporadic, and with a large-scale caravan like ours, no one will dare to make up their minds." ”

Hearing this, Guan Changhai couldn't help but relax and asked, "How long will it take us to arrive in Kimberley?" ”

"If it's fast, it's half a month, and if it's slow, it's more than half a month."

"To Pretoria, the capital of Landesvaal?"

"I can get there in a month anyway."

Knowing that Guan Changhai was in a hurry to rush to Pretoria, the caravan disguised as the South China Society did not carry much cargo and did not have any heavy goods, and the speed of the road was okay, the caravan continued north after the Kimberley, and in a month, the caravan arrived at Lang Laht Farm - a gold mine with huge veins was found here, and it was not far from Pretoria for more than a hundred miles.

In three days, Guan Changhai bought the entire farm at a high price of 3,000 pounds from the Ustu family, the farmer of Lang Lacht, 3,000 pounds is not a small amount, as soon as the news spread, several nearby farmers took the initiative to come to the door to inquire about the news, and wanted to sell the farm in their hands to them.

"Buy, as long as you are willing to sell, buy all of them, and say that we have a big clan to migrate over." Guan Changhai commanded in a deep voice: "However, the price should be slightly pressed down." ”

"Your Excellency." Jiang Qinghao hesitated and said, "The surrounding farms have no value, what are you going to do when you buy them?" ”

Buy all the surrounding farms, this is Yi Zhi's order, Guan Changhai is also inconvenient to say, rolled his eyes, and said: "Who knows if there is a gold mine underground, besides, the miners also need enough space to settle, and it is good to use the idle place to grow vegetables." ”

After hesitating, Jiang Qinghao said: "My lord, with such a large-scale high-priced land purchase, the news will inevitably spread very quickly, and I am afraid that it will not be conducive to the purchase of land in other places." ”

"Then divide the army into several ways to buy." Guan Changhai said: "I'll delay here for a few days." ”

In less than half a month, all the land within a radius of 30 miles of Lang Lacht Farm was bought by Guan Changhai, who was wealthy, and at the same time, Jiang Qinghao and others also bought the farms where several other gold mines were located and the surrounding land.

News of a group of wealthy Orientals waving pounds to buy land soon spread, and the city of Pretoria, a hundred miles away, soon learned of it.

Martinas Pretorius, President of the Republic of Landesvaal, known as Little Pretorius, was keenly aware of the fact that this incident was too abnormal, and how could an Oriental man come to this place to enclose land? Thinking of the news of the discovery of gold deposits in the Baishuiling area, as well as the continuous exploration of local people in the Baishuiling area in the past two years, it must be those Orientals who discovered the gold mines.

Naturally, he would not sit idly by and watch this kind of thing, and immediately ordered the Minister of Minerals and the Chief Surveyor to go to the farms purchased by the Orientals to carefully investigate.

Although the city of Pretoria is the capital of the Republic of Landesvaal, it is only 15 years old, and it has only been the capital for 10 years.

Guan Changhai entered the city of Pretoria, seeing this scene, he couldn't help but be secretly happy, for Yuan Qi, Landesvaal is naturally the poorer the better, and the group went straight to the largest and best inn in the city to stay.

Early the next morning, little Pretorius sent someone to take Guan Changhai and his entourage into the presidential palace, the largest and most beautiful two-story building in the city.

Guan Changhai and the others were hung out in a large but very simple meeting room for two quarters of an hour, and an official in his forties walked in slowly, and learned that the other party was the Minister of Foreign Affairs. ”