African Nationhood

The next activities became more familiar. The king respected Lucas very much and was very polite to his "wife".

The king also introduced his wife and children to Lucas. The king's official wife was Badamu Thirunal Coral Naga Shishi Bhai.
(This woman lived to be a full 100 years old. After her husband's death, she served as the regent of the princely state. She waited until her son came of age before returning the throne to her son).

Lucas and his "wife" paid tribute to the king's wife and presented him with a gift from Chairman Stone, a large 100-carat diamond.

The king was very happy and directly gave Chairman Shi a dagger with a gold handle and a golden scabbard. Lucas thanked the king on behalf of Chairman Shi.

Next is the welcome banquet. The residences of this country are luxurious and noble, and you can see splendid decorations everywhere.

But the food is much worse than that of Nanhua. There is a lot of meat here, and it is also very rough.

Spiced roti and rice cooked in coconut milk.

Lucas and the others could eat a little at first, but after a long time, they would not be used to the rough diet here.

……

The trade negotiations between the two parties were very straightforward. They welcomed the trade products produced by Nanhua Company, and they preferred the arms trade.

Nanhua provided a wide variety of weapons, but it was difficult to resist the enthusiasm of King Varma.

96 S-1 pistols and 50 rounds of supporting ammunition.

86 S-1 pistols and 50 rounds of supporting ammunition.

90 NH-5000 rifles and 200 million rounds of supporting ammunition.

There are 96 J-200 light machine guns and 300 million rounds of supporting ammunition.

There are 50 Maxim heavy machine guns and 100 million rounds of supporting ammunition.

All these weapons were eaten by King Varma, which surprised Lucas. This king turned out to be a militant.

The total price was 316200 pounds, and the king paid it generously in gold, which made Lucas very curious about the king's family background.

The two sides then discussed cooperation, such as long-term arms trade and entrusted rubber planting.

South China has introduced automobile production lines from Mercedes-Benz Motors, and there is a huge gap in rubber. There is still a big gap to rely on rubber plantations in Sumatra and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).

So this time Lucas was both a spy and a business official, walking and talking together.

After the welcome banquet, Lucas and his wife planned to split up to explore the gold in the temple.

Who knew that they didn't need to investigate at all, they could just ask anyone at random.

The temple that Chairman Shi has long cherished is called Padmanabhaswamy Temple.

To talk about the history of this temple, it can be said that it is a long time ago.

This temple was built starting in the 16th century. It was ordered by the king of the Kingdom of Travancore to worship Lord Brahma and Vishnu.

Since the temple was built, every king has held a ceremony to offer generous wealth to the main god, and the crown princes have also donated their own weight in gold to the temple.

Moreover, this temple is the "royal family temple" of the local kings, and there are clergymen stationed day and night.

As one of the 108 Brahma and Vishnu temples, only Hindus can enter the Padmanabhaswamy Temple, and non-Hindu believers are not allowed to enter the temple.

(I’m a little confused: How did the protagonists of other time-travel novels steal gold without overthrowing the kingdom?)
After the independence of India in 1947, the temple has been managed by the descendants of the royal family of the Kingdom of Travancore.

It has been rumored among the people that the underground palace of this temple contains a large amount of the king's wealth.

In the 21st century, the Indian government opened this place to let the gold inside see the light of day.

But it was soon sued by the descendants of the Travancore royal family. The two sides fought a lawsuit for a long time, and they still failed to figure out the ownership of the gold here.

... Lucas and the two were very shocked by this result, but they sent the news directly back to China without delay and forwarded it to Chairman Shi.

Shi Jintang was speechless immediately after receiving the information. Senior time traveler mistaken me!

Although you can't get gold, it is good to develop the country into an arms customer.

There are so many princely states in India. The small princely state of Travantel is so rich. So how rich is the prince of Hyderabad, who is said to be the richest in the world?

……

The Lucas "couple" stayed in Travantel for a month and then left to conquer Hyderabad.

They continued to move inland, forgetting the small country, but they had to travel to the big country.

This trip may be difficult for others, but it is easy for Lucas, the former queen.

Any official or attendant of the British Empire knew him and did not dare to do anything to him. After all, he was once the Queen's man.

Of course, he will not provoke others at will.

Traveling to the country does not hinder anything. Business is done voluntarily between you and me, "If you are willing to buy, I will sell."

……

On November 1907, 11, "Mr. and Mrs. Lucas" took a train to the state of Hyderabad.

As soon as they got off the train, they were warmly received by Mahbub Ali Mirhan, King Nizam VI of Hyderabad. This time they did not take a sedan but took a Crown car back to the luxurious palace in Hyderabad.

In the extremely luxurious palace, Lucas presented a hundred Sulu pearls to the wealthy local king on behalf of Chairman Shi.

Nizam VI was very happy about this and immediately gave Chairman Shi a ceremonial sword in return.

The hilt of this ceremonial sword is made of gold and studded with diamonds, rubies, and emeralds. It is complicated and extremely luxurious.

After receiving the sword, Lucas had a deeper understanding of the magnanimity and generosity of this wealthy local king, and the next thing went more smoothly.

The King of Tu has longed for the weapons of Nanhua for a long time, and he promised to take as many as he could.

This made Lucas extremely happy, and he directly promised His Highness Nizam VI that he would send a large amount of arms from the mainland as soon as possible.

After this deal was negotiated, the military industry department of South China obtained a long-term arms order.

At the same time, Nizam VI was very curious about the radio station technology of South China and asked if he could help his country build radio stations and produce radios.

Lucas naturally agreed wholeheartedly. This matter was easier to handle. After notifying the British Cabinet in writing, Nanhua could send technicians to Hyderabad to install and debug equipment.

At the same time, it will also help Hyderabad State build thermal power plants and build transmission lines.

This package of overseas business development all came from Lucas's visit, and also achieved a breakthrough in South China's industrial overseas expansion.

Minister Wang Zhongyi of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce sent a telegram of thanks directly to Lucas, thanking him for his outstanding contributions to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.

Lucas deserved this. He was a secret agent by trade, so how could he become an overseas salesman just by doing that?

But this is not critical. Lucas's overseas visits have yielded more and more results, resulting in the "Handu Electric Power College" not having enough students.

Wang Bo, who was in charge of the school's academic affairs, had to call the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and ask them to assign less foreign trade work. If this continued, the Electric Power College would be empty.

When Chairman Shi learned about this, he just laughed.

He is now a little worried about what kind of movie he should make to lead the consumer wave?

(What do you recommend? For old movies with images of urban women in the new era, I prefer "The Songstress of the End of the World".) (End of this chapter)