African Nationhood

Chapter 359 Building momentum

On February 1899, 2, the second page of the British "Times" published an open letter on the front page. This letter was written by Henry Shi, general manager of Nanhua Company, to the British government.

The letter detailed the process by which the South China Company captured spy Philip Clark. After interrogation, the spy revealed that he had received instructions from the then Governor of Cape Natal, Cecil Rhodes, before he began to monitor and spy on South China. Corporate intelligence espionage.

At the same time, he confessed in his confession that there were higher-level people behind Governor Rhodes who ordered him to do this.

In the letter, General Manager Shi directly asked the British government, who instructed Cecil Rhodes to do this, and what was the purpose?

This open letter directly detonated public opinion in London, and people speculated about what hidden secrets there were.

And this breaking news immediately aroused the mentality of eating melon in European countries, and they followed suit one after another.

Among them, the German media vigorously reposted and exaggerated this open letter, trying to let the people across the country know that the upper echelons of the British Empire were at odds with the colonial companies below, and cracks appeared in the colonial rule of the British Empire.

……

The British government remained unusually silent in the face of such questioning, and then the Times continued to publish a series of articles by well-known writers from Cambridge and Oxford universities.

The article describes in detail how the frail young Cecil Rhodes transformed from an ice cream vendor to a capitalist, and then from a capitalist to a politician who influenced the situation in southern Africa.

The writing quality of these series of articles is very high, with a deep understanding of the essence of serial novels, and the ups and downs of Rhodes's growth process are described.

The mastermind behind the scenes can always provide guidance at critical moments and help him grow.

The series of articles has never made it clear who the mastermind behind the scenes is, but through the description of the article, readers can easily guess that the mastermind behind the scenes has a high position.

The "Jameson Attack" was also the masterpiece of the mastermind behind the scenes. Cecil Rhodes was just a puppet in front of the stage and the scapegoat afterwards, while the mastermind behind the scenes was the real mastermind.

European countries also followed suit and speculated on who was behind the incident, and some tabloids even pointed out that the person behind the incident was the Prime Minister of the British Cabinet.

……

Such serial bombardment of public opinion made the British government unable to sit still. First, Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain came forward to refute The Times.

He claimed that the series of articles published in the newspaper were completely fabricated and completely false. He hoped that the general public would not believe these false reports, and so on.

The Times was overjoyed to see the topic becoming popular.

They immediately launched a counterattack and analyzed whether Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain was the mastermind behind Cecil Rhodes.

At the end of the analysis, the Times concluded that Mr. Chamberlain was far from qualified and had been a failure.

He is the lackey of the real mastermind, a mouthpiece...

Joseph Chamberlain was so angry after seeing the counterattack article in The Times that he tore up the newspaper and broke his favorite gold pen.

……

The Times was very disappointed to see that Chamberlain did not continue to come forward to refute the rumors, because this is not conducive to the continuation of the topic's popularity.

So they continued to publish analytical articles, lead the topic's popularity, and continued to break the news to arouse public curiosity and guess who was behind the scenes.

The Prime Minister, the Marquess of Salisbury, recognized the crisis and could no longer allow the topic to continue.

He called Nanhua Company and asked Shi Jintang to come forward to refute the rumors and quell the popularity of the topic.

At the same time, he promised to send people to secretly investigate this "secret espionage case" and promised to give an explanation to Nanhua Company.

……

At such a critical moment, Boss Shi would still care whether the British Prime Minister is happy or not?

He continued to question the British government in The Times, when will he give himself an explanation?

Shi Jintang's tough attitude shocked the British government and the Marquis of Salisbury.

Prince Leopold also asked the Marquess of Salisbury through unofficial channels what was going on?

The Marquis of Salisbury was depressed, but he could not get angry at the royal family members. He argued that there was a misunderstanding and hoped that the prince could help persuade General Manager Shi. …

Prince Leopold contacted Shi Jintang, and Shi Jintang told the prince that this matter was very bad and that he had to ask the cabinet to give him an explanation, and then he would never listen to the prince's persuasion again.

The Prime Minister of the Cabinet did not wait for Shi Jintang to relent. He knew that he could not let the situation continue to evolve.

Otherwise, this incident will definitely cause a loss of trust between the British government and many colonial governors, as well as public dissatisfaction with the cabinet.

The Prime Minister of the Cabinet, the Marquess of Salisbury, came forward to express his position: We will strictly investigate the "Rhodes spy case" and give the South China Company a satisfactory answer.

After the Prime Minister's statement was completed, Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain once again led a team from London to southern Africa.

……

A month later, Joseph Chamberlain and his party were rejected when entering Southwest Africa.

Boss Shi said that he did not believe in the impartiality of the cabinet investigation team and refused to hand over spy Philip Clark.

The reason he gave is: the power behind the scenes is too strong, and it is difficult to guarantee whether the witness will suddenly "die violently" after handing over the witness.

The confrontation between South China Company and the cabinet inquiry led to a media frenzy in Europe.

Major media outlets have published articles analyzing what kind of key evidence Nanhua Company has in its possession to make it so distrustful of the British government.

It also made the European people more convinced that the man behind Cecil Rhodes was the British Prime Minister, the Marquess of Salisbury.

……

The conflict between Nanhua Company and the British government became public, which made "people with good intentions" very excited.

Kaiser Wilhelm II immediately instructed the consul of the Transvaal Republic to contact the South China Company and tell the South China Company not to be afraid.

If the British government intends to shield the mastermind, Germany will help the South China Company to seek justice.

Shi Jintang did not believe the Germans' free guarantee at all. The reason why he was so tough was mainly to express his attitude to the two Boer countries next to him.

Let them believe that Nanhua Company will not easily reconcile with the British, and will seize the opportunity to cause trouble with the British.

……

The stiff relationship between the South China Company and the British government gave the Boers more confidence, and they strengthened their determination to fight the British to the end.

In April 1899, Governor Milner instructed British expatriates in the Transvaal to write a letter of grievance to Queen Victoria, asking her to protect the interests of British subjects.

In June 1899, Governor Milner and President Paul Kruger held the last negotiation on the issue of protecting the rights and interests of aliens in Bloemfontein, the capital of the Orange Free State.

The two sides are in a tit-for-tat confrontation, and there is no possibility of reaching a reconciliation.

……

The angry and powerful Governor Milner called the Prime Minister to express his attitude: The British Empire must use war to teach the Boers a lesson, so that they and those who intend to provoke the hegemony of the British Empire know how serious the consequences of angering the British Empire are!

The Marquis of Salisbury was already dissatisfied with the South China Company's toughness. If the South China Company could be frightened by teaching the Boers a lesson, it would be a good thing for the British government.

In the words of the Qing people, killing a chicken in front of a monkey will make the monkey behave better.

The Prime Minister of the British Empire, who had figured this out, made up his mind to launch a large-scale war in southern Africa to deter all evildoers.

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(End of this chapter)