African Nationhood

After seeing off the British delegation, Shi Jintang boarded the train and headed for Bloemfontein.

The meeting between Nanhua Company and Boer representatives was scheduled to be held here.

Lucas Meyer did not return from the Eastern Cape front, and his secretary of state, Daniel Esselen, appeared at the meeting on his behalf.

Louis Botha, Jan Smuts, James Herzog, Delray, De Wet and others sat in the front row, while the two former heads of government of the Boers also sent representatives.

Looking at the dozens of Boer representatives sitting in the room, Shi Jintang, Cai Shaoji and Sansa Bruce, who hurried over, sat together in the venue of the National Convention Center.

"Hello everyone, this meeting should have been held a long time ago, but the war is heavy and I have many affairs, so it has not been able to succeed.

Now that we have finally beaten away the British, we finally have some free time. We can get together and communicate face to face. If we have anything to say, we can talk directly. "

Louis Botha looked at each other and James Herzog, and he was the first to speak: "As the commander-in-chief of the Boer coalition, I would like to express my gratitude to General Manager Shi and Nanhua Company.

Without you and the South China Army's timely dispatch of troops, our country would have been conquered by the British, and the Boers would have been unable to continue. "

Shi Jintang was not impressed by Louis Botha's words.

These Boers have a good way of fighting guerrillas, and they also have a good way of doing politics.

When they were in the original time and space, among the four colonies established by the British, the Boers occupied the prime ministers of three colonies, and then continued to hold important positions such as prime minister and minister in the Union of South Africa.

What the Boers failed to achieve through the war, they instead controlled the entire Union of South Africa through elections after the war. It must be said that this is a great irony.

“It goes without saying that I am grateful, the current result is the most ideal result.

Ms. Bruce, please tell me about the current losses of our Nanhua Company. "

The reason why Shi Jintang called Sansa Bruce here was to let these Boers understand that Nanhua Company paid a huge price to support the Boers, and it would be impossible without sufficient returns.

Sansa Bruce nodded, "Okay, Mr. Shi."

"Let me first talk about the losses suffered by the company's overseas territories. 1008 indigenous people in the Sulu Sultanate died. They were burned, killed and looted when the British invaded. They lost food, livestock, houses, food..."

Shi Jintang interrupted Sansa Bruce, "Just give it a rough outline, no need to be so detailed."

Sansa nodded, "The total losses suffered by the Sulu Sultanate should be 212.35 million pounds.

The total losses suffered by Lanfang Company should be 455.61 million pounds.

The total losses suffered by the Mariana Islands should be 101.11 million pounds.

The casualties in these three overseas territories were not too many, mainly due to damage to infrastructure.

Guam in the Mariana Islands was bombarded by British warships. Fortunately, the population there was very small, otherwise the losses would have been even greater.

Many immigrants on the Chagos Islands were massacred by the British army. In retaliation, they burned down all the houses where immigrants were accommodated.

If we hadn't forced the cabinet to order the surrender of British troops everywhere, the Chagos Islands would still be under the control of the British army. "

What Sansa Bruce said is true. After the war, only a small number of Chinese managers remained on the Chagos Islands, and a large number of black people worked there.

It was the black people who were killed because those black people were more numerous and consumed food faster.

The Chinese administrators were left behind for interrogation and torture. Because the war situation in South Africa developed rapidly, most of them survived.

In addition, the losses in these overseas territories were not that much, but Boss Shi had explained it in advance, so Sansa Bruce exaggerated the number four to five times.

“After talking about overseas territories, let me talk about the losses suffered by the company at home.

In the Namib region, most of the railway lines from Anhai Town (today's Swakopmund, Namibia) to Mebu City (Tsumeb City, Namibia) and Hot Springs (Windhoek, the capital of Namibia) were damaged, and there were various The losses of construction, industrial and mining enterprises totaled 1346.75 million pounds.

The British army failed to invade the Orange Grove area, Matabeleland area, and Lunda Administrative Region, so the losses in these areas were negligible.

The East African Administrative Office suffered a large number of attacks from the British army. Beira Port has been determined to be completely destroyed, and reconstruction will cost a lot of money.

The fishing shipyard in Jolu Town (today's Sesay City, Mozambique) was bombed, and reconstruction cost a lot of money.

The channel of Mapu Port (today’s Port of Maputo, the capital of Mozambique) was blocked, and the Mapu Peninsula was bombarded by the British army. The coastal defense forts needed to be renovated, which was costly.

There were also many buildings and personnel damaged in the East Africa Administration, with a total loss of 3124.11 million pounds.

So far, the company has suffered losses totaling 5239.93 million pounds. "

The company's local losses were indeed serious, but the total was not that high. The actual losses should be a little more than one-third of the number reported by Sansa.

The Boer representatives present took a deep breath after hearing the total amount of losses.

With so much loss, even all the wealth of the Boers could not be collected together.

Although the Boers live a prosperous and prosperous life, it is because their ancestors have been engaged in small-scale farming economy for generations.

The livestock and output on the farm are enough for them, but livestock grain is the least valuable.

If it weren't for the surplus from the Rand gold mines and German funding, the Boers wouldn't even be able to build the railway.

Moreover, the Boers only understand agricultural production and do not understand industry at all, so the assets of the Boers are not sufficient.

After being plundered by the British Expeditionary Force, the Boers were even more impoverished.

After hearing that the South China Company had suffered such heavy losses, most of the Boer representatives were grateful for the Company's great contribution.

Only Louis Botha, James Zolberg, Jan Smuts and others knew that Boss Shi was deliberately trying to win people's hearts.

Sure enough, what Boss Shi said next made most of the Boer representatives feel grateful to him.

"In order to avenge the tragic death of the Boers in the concentration camp, a trial will be held against the British Expeditionary Force in the near future. At that time, you all must organize civilians to actively participate and strive to prevent a villain from escaping justice!" "General Manager Shi, you are really awesome. That’s great, I thank you on behalf of my loved ones!”

"Yes, selfless and great General Manager Shi, you are truly the savior of our Boers. On behalf of my Boer community, I thank you for your wisdom and bravery!"

"Thank God, thank you Lord, thank you for sending a great person like General Manager Shi. Only with him can we be saved and escape from the vicious hands of the British!"

……

Shi Jintang saw that the situation was about the same, and adding another piece of bombshell news would make it even more intense.

"I will also organize a civilian assembly to publicly try Lieutenant General Kitchener, the commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force, and he will be publicly executed at that time."

Hearing this, all the Boer representatives present were inexplicably excited. They hated the British so much, and they hated Lieutenant General Kitchener even more for putting them in this state.

Louis Botha and other coalition leaders were also shocked by Shi Jintang's courage. How dare he directly execute the commander of the British Expeditionary Force?

"Thank you, thank you. I thought the suffering we suffered could not be redressed. General Manager Shi, you are the embodiment of justice. On behalf of all the Boers, I thank you!"

An old Boer walked up to Shi Jintang and bowed deeply to him. He learned this etiquette from his fellow Boers in Nanhua Company.

One person took the lead, and the other Boer representatives followed suit and bowed to Boss Shi.

Shi Jintang stopped when he saw the situation, stepped forward to support the old man Buer, and said with a smile: "I did this entirely out of public interest, and I can't bear to see bad people doing evil.

From now on, everyone can live a good life under the management of Nanhua Company, which is the best reward for me. "

When Shi Jintang said this, he looked at several Boer coalition leaders.

Luis Botta was the first to lower his head and did not dare to look at Boss Shi.

James Herzog, Delray, DeWitt and Daniel Eselen also lowered their heads.

Several Boer coalition leaders did not express any clear objection, and Shi Jintang breathed a sigh of relief.

……

When the meeting was over, Shi Jintang called several Boer coalition leaders to a small room for a private meeting.

Several leaders of the Boer coalition have figured it out at this moment. They can still be reused if they actively move closer to Boss Shi.

If they confront Boss Shi at this time, I'm afraid they will soon suffer demotion or other bad experiences.

How Lord Roberts, the first commander of the British Expeditionary Force, died is still a mystery.

Now that I think about it, this case has a lot to do with Boss Shi in front of me.

……

"Everyone, please relax. I have cigars here. If any of you want to smoke, come and get one."

Everyone looked around, and only Luis Botta came over and took a cigar.

Others were smoking pipes or rolling cigarettes, and for a while the whole room was filled with smoke.

When everyone's cigarette cravings were almost over, Luis Botta was the first to speak: "General Manager Shi, how will you arrange for us?"

Hearing Luis Botta use "you" to address himself, Shi Jintang understood that these people had begun to regard him as their leader.

This was a good attitude and he was very pleased.

……

Shi Jintang smiled cheerfully and said: "I want to hear your opinions first about how to place you. What kind of job do you want to do?"

James Herzog smiled and said, "I studied law, so I want to continue doing this."

"Well, then Mr. Herzog can join the Nanhua Company's justice system and serve as the company's deputy justice."

James Herzog immediately smiled and nodded, "Thank you."

De La Rui and De Wet both smiled and said, "Is it okay for the two of us to join the army?"

Shi Jintang nodded, "Of course, you two can serve as deputies at the brigade level of the Nanhua Garrison or be responsible for the daily operations of the staff department at the military headquarters. You can think about it before making a decision."

Everyone has a place to go, but Luis Botha and Jan Smuts have not expressed their opinions yet.

"Where are you two, haven't you decided yet?"

Luis Botha said softly: "Lucas Meyer and I both want to serve as local officials, is that okay?"

Shi Jintang smiled and nodded, "There are still several places in the Matabeleland region that are short of district governors. You can choose one to take up the post."

Yang Smuts raised his head and looked at Shi Jintang, "I want to work in the administrative department."

"Well, the administrative department? Nanhua Company's general affairs department has been lacking a department leader. Mr. Smuts, are you willing to take the post?"

Naturally, Jan Smuts had no objection, "Yes, I am willing."

At this point, the choice of the Boers has become clear, and Shi Jintang can have a good sleep tonight.

PS: It’s so miserable. Halfway through writing, I discovered that the faucet at home burst. The temperature was below zero and half of my body was wet.

It took more than half an hour to clean it up. I hope I won't catch a cold tomorrow. (End of chapter)