African Nationhood

Chapter 200 Development of Aboriginal Kingdoms (Part )
  "Commissioner Cheng Daye is invited to introduce the situation of the Matabeleland Kingdom."

After Winston Brown finished speaking, he packed up the charts and sat down.

Cheng Daye was a native of Huizhou Province in the Qing Dynasty. He was one of the third batch of students studying in the United States. He was sponsored by Boss Shi and successfully completed his studies at MIT in 1882.

After graduation, he came directly to Southwest Africa and brought his family to Southwest Africa as soon as possible.

Cheng Daye is 23 years old. He has a small face and small eyes. However, he is down-to-earth and takes his work seriously. He rarely likes socializing and only focuses on work.

He first served as director of the telegraph office in Walvis Bay, and in the same year he married a girl who was a telegraph office operator. After his marriage, his life went very smoothly.

In 1883, he was promoted to director of the Walvis Bay Port Management Office, then director of the Binhai District Import and Export Management Office, and deputy director of Binhai District.

Ouyang Geng and others commented on him and said that he was too brainless.

Shi Jintang heard this and paid attention to him.

People who hold the position of commissioner of the Administrative Office should not be too brainy. People who can effectively implement the company's strategies are the most reliable, so Shi Jintang chose Cheng Daye.

After learning about the new appointment, Sakon's classmates all went to him to congratulate him.

But this dear friend just smiled and then became silent, which made the students who came to congratulate him very unhappy.

……

Cheng Daye quickly walked to the front of the conference room, took out a map of the Matabeleland Kingdom and hung it on a stand.

“Because when the company entered the Kingdom of Matabeleland, it cleaned up this indigenous kingdom relatively thoroughly, so our administrative office can manage this kingdom more deeply than the Kingdom of Lunda.

In the middle of the Mata Kingdom, our exploration found that there is a long metal mineral belt running from east to west in this kingdom, and the metal minerals in this mineral belt are very rich. "

The mineral belt Cheng Daye mentioned was later called Zimbabwe's "Big Rock Wall" zone, which is about 550 kilometers long and 4-11 kilometers wide.

This metal mineral belt is the largest igneous rock mass in the world. The entire rock wall is rich in precious metal minerals such as iron ore, platinum ore and magnesium.

In the original time and space, the British mined a large amount of iron ore, and the quality of the steel they smelted was very good.

“Thanks to the existence of this large mining belt, our investment recruitment work has been very smooth.

The European capitalists have signed a contract with our Administrative Office to build the "Blou Line" railway, on the condition that the five kilometers of land along the railway line will be granted free property rights.

But it does not include underground mineral resources. In addition, we need to provide a 30-year mining right to a large gold mine northwest of Bulawayo City. "

After hearing the news, Shi Jintang nodded, indicating that the deal was feasible.

When the country is established in the future, these railway property rights can be redeemed. As for the land, it doesn't matter. The capitalists are willing to build it and they can't get it.

“The Bulu Line has a total length of 930 kilometers. Once successfully constructed, it will play a major role in the communication and exchange between the two kingdoms.

At the same time, it can also promote the development of land along the railway in the entire Mata Kingdom.

We plan to build several large hub cities along the railway line, and Mr. Shi will be asked to decide on the specific names. "

Shi Jintang nodded, and then took the 'Bulu Line' planning form from Cheng Daye's hand.

He saw that the location of Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe in later generations, was only marked with the number 8, and the proposed names were Mahu City and Golden Lake City.

Shi Jintang thought for a moment and immediately changed the name of this place to "Jianye City" because Zimbabwe means Stone City.

The location of this place is very critical, and it will expand outwards from here in the future, so the name "Jianye" is very vivid.

The city of Bulawayo can also be renamed "Jinling" due to the situation. The city is surrounded by gold mines, which is both suitable and appropriate.

But Shi Jintang still gave up because Bulawayo had already agreed and changing the name would cause confusion.

For those key places that have not yet been established in later generations, it doesn't matter if he changes their names, because people have no concept of the new place, and it is feasible for him to establish the concept.

After saying "Bulu Line", Cheng Daye continued to speak.

"2.37 kilometers of simple roads, 1.6 kilometers of first-class roads, and 4800 kilometers of second-class roads have been built in the Kingdom of Mata, and 15 indigenous people have been recruited for labor service."

"The Kingdom of Mata has received a total of 5.7 immigrants since last year. With the start of the Immigration Bureau's capacity consolidation operation, it is currently able to transport 4000-6000 immigrants into the country every month.      Immigration areas are all arranged with guards to guard the immigrants. Their range of activities is separated from that of the indigenous people.

Currently, most of these immigrants are located around the city of Bulawayo. Over the past year, a total of 138.7 million acres of land have been reclaimed and 21 indigenous laborers have been recruited.

The Administrative Office has established 68 tobacco, cotton, and sisal plantations in the northeastern area of ​​the Mata Kingdom near the Zambezi River, with a cumulative planting area of ​​72 acres. Last year, a total economic income of 4.3 million yuan was generated.

These economic plantations have recruited a total of 11 indigenous workers. The planting area of ​​wheat, corn and rice is significantly less than these cash crops, only 66.7 acres.

Among them, there are 36.7 acres of wheat, 26 acres of corn, and 4 acres of rice.

The cumulative harvest of wheat is 8.26 tons, corn is 7.8 tons, and rice is 2.1 tons. "

(The yield per mu is 150 kilograms of wheat, 200 kilograms of corn, and 350 kilograms of rice)
  "After talking about the current situation of agriculture and transportation, let's talk about the progress in industrial construction."

“The cement factory built by the company at the northwest border of the Kingdom of Mata last year has now been put into operation, employing a total of more than 5800 indentured laborers.

This cement plant has a designed annual output of 10 tons, a construction period of 8 months, and a total of 3 indigenous laborers.

The products of the cement factory are mainly for self-use, and there are no plans for external sales. According to statistics, the cumulative output value has been 1800 million yuan.

As for the steel plant built with assistance from the Dutch, a site has been selected. The tentative site is 50 miles east of Gweru Town, and is tentatively named Shuangkui Steel Plant (today's Kweikwe region of Zimbabwe).

The copper smelting plant was temporarily delayed due to traffic conditions. "

When Cheng Daye said this, it was basically over. Cai Jinzhang of Mapugang stood up and continued to speak.

“Mapu Port and the concession area have so far received 1.9 immigrants for naturalization.

Because of the Liu family's resettlement here, one-third of the immigrants here came from Lanfang Company.

We have been consciously relocating people from Lanfang Company separately, but the current number of immigrants is too small and the results are not great. "

“In addition, after contact, the shipyard assisted by the Dutch has now settled in Maputo Bay (today’s Maputo Bay, Mozambique).

As for the factory to build fishing boats, it has been determined to be located in the port area on the right bank of the Limpopo River, 150 kilometers southeast of Mapu Port.

There will be a new type of fishing port. According to the name of the indigenous people, it is called "Joao Belu", and we temporarily named it Belu Town (today's Sesay City, Mozambique).

Both shipbuilding companies require a large number of people and talents in fine chemical industries.

Therefore, after discussing with the Immigration Bureau, we decided to suspend immigration in various regions and give priority to meeting the employment needs of the two major shipyards in coastal areas.

Therefore, over a long period of time, the number of immigrants in Mapu Port and the concession area will grow rapidly. "

Hearing this, Cheng Daye and Winston Brown looked at each other and both looked at Shi Jintang.

Boss Shi nodded, "Director Futong of the Immigration Bureau has told me about this matter, and I have no objection."

The boss nodded, but the two commissioners had nothing to do. They originally wanted to use the incoming immigrants to do some detailed development.

There are many places in the two kingdoms with rich soil and water that are suitable for growing rice.

This kind of crop is high-yielding but requires careful care, otherwise the yield will not increase.

But by cutting off immigration, they will be unable to make a living without rice.

"Okay, that's the end of today's meeting. Let's go back first and wait for the Spring Festival holiday so that everyone can have a good rest."

Shi Jintang's words were an order, and all the officials stood up and nodded to Boss Shi, "I wish Boss Shi a happy Spring Festival!"

Shi Jintang nodded, it goes by so fast, the Spring Festival will be here soon.

Boss Shi plans to get together with classmates studying in the United States during the Spring Festival this year. One of the things is to connect with each other, but also to unify their thoughts.

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  (End of this chapter)