African Nationhood

Chapter 79 Hidden dangers
  In early March 1881, the Boers and the British had achieved a de facto ceasefire, and the two sides initialed an armistice agreement.

By May, the British had basically put down the black miners' rebellion in Basutoland.

Now that the dust has settled, both the Boers and the British have realized that returning to the negotiating table is the most realistic solution.

As for how to negotiate, the new governor of the Cape Colony Government, Sherlock Robinson, was still communicating with the Boers.

Speaking of Governor Robinson, Shi Jintang was somewhat familiar with him.

This is because this governor with rich experience has served as the governor of Hong Kong in one of his terms.

When he took office in Hong Kong, he not only made many achievements, but also suggested that Britain cede the Kowloon Peninsula from the Qing government in the Treaty of Beijing in 1860.

This battle completely established the territory of Hong Kong colony.

The final outcome of the negotiation between the British and the Boers should be the same as the outcome of the original time and space, and the Boers regained their independence.

Shi Jintang didn't care, he had already occupied the Orange Grove area anyway.

Governor Robinson of Cape Town just sighed helplessly after knowing the result, praising in his heart that Nanhua Company had chosen a good time.

The situation was stronger than the people. After sighing, Governor Robinson continued to devote himself to the negotiations with the Boers.

At this moment, Shi Jintang was standing in the newly established Anhai Arsenal.

In February 1881, it was time for the British government to fulfill its contract to help the South China Company set up an arsenal.

Because Shi Jintang wanted to direct the cleaning work in the Julin area, the preliminary work was handed over to the Binhai District Director James Lister and the First Battalion Commander Qu Sangqian.

As soon as Shi Jintang returned to Anhai Town, he happily ran to inspect.

Anhai Arsenal is located next to the advance battalion military headquarters on the right bank of the Swakop River, covering an area of ​​100 acres.

Most of the equipment in the arsenal was transported through the newly built Whale-An line railway.

A small part of it was through offshore shipping. In short, the preliminary work of establishing the Anhai Arsenal was very smooth.

Today's arsenal is still very simple. The surrounding walls are made of mud, and the factory buildings are made of wooden beams and covered with thatch and seaweed.

After all, Southwest Africa does not have its own cement factory, and the required building materials are in short supply.

So we can only make do for the time being, and gradually rebuild it when Nanhua Company has more money.

The production line assembly of the Martini-Henry rifle was not complicated, because the lathes and boring machines at this time had a single function and were not large in size.

It is far from being as sophisticated and complicated as later generations, and it occupies a particularly large space.

The only machine in the workshop that requires a lot of space is the steam engine that serves as the power source for each machine tool. Not only do these big machines make a lot of noise, but they also pollute the environment.

Every time it was started, thick soot would fall near the arsenal. Shi Jintang watched the area around the arsenal gradually darken, and suddenly he missed the internal combustion engine.

I just don’t know what stage the internal combustion engine research and development is at this time. Well, I’ll ask Alice in Paris to help find out.

If there is still no progress, let her spend money to find that person and encourage them.

The technicians from the UK were very arrogant and had a very bad attitude towards the Chinese apprentices. Shi Jintang had no choice but to use money.

British engineers were promised a reward of £5 for every apprentice mechanic they taught.

There are more than 200 apprentices in the arsenal, and all of them are taught, which is more than 1000 pounds.

These British engineers readily agreed.

Once the arsenal is built, all that's left are the raw materials.

Southwest Africa cannot produce steel for guns, bullet casings, primers, and wood for gun stocks.

Therefore, they all need to be imported from outside. Fortunately, Portuguese West Africa (Angola) and the Cape Colony have abundant timber sales.

The Orange Grove area under Nanhua Company can also provide wood, but there are two inconveniences here.

First, the traffic conditions are too poor, and second, cutting down trees can easily cause desertification.

Therefore, Shi Jintang decided to import wood from other colonies first, and steel, copper, and primers were all imported from the British mainland. As for the fire salt in the raw material of black gunpowder, it can be extracted from the salt marsh area in Tongcheng District.

British engineers have already been there to explore and a small chemical plant can be built there to specialize in the production of nitrate products.

Shi Jintang naturally agreed, and Tongcheng District Mayor Winston Brown was even more willing.
  Although the "Copper-Warm Line" railway has just completed the route planning, it is a good start for him to build a chemical plant first.

As for charcoal production, if it is left to the water-rich areas, they can completely achieve self-sufficiency in raw materials.

The Nanhua Company implemented a planned economy throughout the colony, and all means of production were allocated under a planned allocation system, so it basically did not care much about economic considerations.

In terms of economic benefits, it is more economical to import all the raw materials for the arsenal than to produce them yourself.

However, in order to develop the economy in the colony and stimulate internal circulation, Shi Jintang gritted his teeth and did it.

One day, he will be able to achieve self-sufficiency through the rich resources in his territory and establish a complete internal economic circulation system.

……

Due to too many things going on in the year, Shi Jintang only found time to hold the 1880 Annual Statistical Report Meeting in May.

By the end of April 1881, the number of Chinese immigrants under the Nanhua Company totaled 4, of which 3.28% were adults.

The population structure is very healthy, but the literacy rate is slightly lower at only 30%.

This problem is because most of the Chinese immigrants recruited by Zhi Gong Tang are illiterate, and most of them settled directly after arriving here.

Nanhua Company's current manpower allocation cannot roughly cover their education and training.

Therefore, we can only let it go temporarily, and the focus of work in each region will be later.

Shi Jintang reminded each district chief at the office meeting that education and childbearing were both top priorities.

The Qing immigrants brought by the British and Dutch were basically able to provide full coverage of basic education and training.

The requirements for them have also been relaxed from being proficient in elementary literacy and elementary arithmetic when the company was founded, to today's knowledge of 300 commonly used simplified Chinese characters and being able to count.

There was nothing we could do about it. The children's schools established at the beginning could not accommodate too many immigrants.

Therefore, the focus of education can only be on the new generation. Young children imported from China and children of Chinese immigrants are among the key education targets.

Nanhua Company has successively issued important documents such as "Some Opinions on Strengthening Education for Young Immigration of Nanhua Company", "Governments at all levels should focus on the education of young children", and "Nanhua Company's New Generation National Education Project".

As one of the indicators for inspecting the administrative work of each major district, the district chiefs immediately spared no effort to request support from Zidi Primary School in Anhai Town, which urgently needed teachers and textbooks.

Ye Rong, on behalf of Anhai Town management, went to Shi Jintang many times to discuss this issue.

Many female students in their children's elementary schools were coaxed and tricked into inland areas by the district chiefs before they had even attended school for a few days.

Shi Jintang could only express his helplessness, which made Ye Rong cry in front of Shi Jintang several times.

Shi Jintang also had a headache with this girl's crying. He had enjoyed the atmosphere of getting along with her a little before.

I got annoyed later and left it to Jin Xiyue to deal with Ye Rong.

The two were considered rivals in love, so Jin Xiyue refused to give in.

Ye Rong was always talking about "the company's development plan", which made Ye Rong unable to do anything and left bitterly.

……

Nanhua Company also has a population of more than 6000 Koreans, most of whom are adult women, and a small number of them are Korean children.

Most of these adult women are married to soldiers, so the influence of Koreans is mostly in the military.

Most of the wives of these soldiers also gathered under Jin Xiyue.

As a concubine of Shi Jintang, Jin Xiyue's makeup and dressing style began to gradually lead the trend of Southwest Africa.

So one day, Shi Jintang saw some white women wearing Korean clothes in Walvis Bay Port, which shocked him.

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  (End of this chapter)