Liberia does not dare to reject the United States, nor does it dare to make southern Africa its enemy.
After the United States abolished slavery, it deported a large number of free black people back to Africa, and Liberia was born. To put it bluntly, these are a group of people abandoned by the United States. To say how loyal the Liberians are to the United States, it is not necessarily true, it is just forced by the situation.
If you look at the map, you will know that Cote d'Ivoire in the east of Liberia and Guinea in the north are French colonies, while Sierra Leone in the west is a British protectorate. Liberia is about 7,500 kilometers away from the United States, so Liberia neither dares to reject the Americans nor provoke the British.
People are like mice that get into the bellows, and they get angry from both ends.
While Agent Bullard was waiting for an opportunity to act, James Payne, a senior manager of Nyasaland Company, came to the Presidential Palace of Liberia as scheduled to discuss a business with President Charles King.
Don’t be surprised, in Africa, Nyasaland Company has this capability.
"Our Nyasaland Company wants to make some investments in Liberia, exploit mines, forest resources, and establish some rubber plantations. As you know, President, we need a lot of natural rubber in southern Africa." James Payne calmly said,
Charles King is not bound by his identity.
"Of course, Mr. Payne, we welcome all investments, as long as they are beneficial to Liberia." Charles King's expression was not relaxed. He knew the background of Nyasaland Company and the power of Nyasaland Company.
A long time ago, the influence of Nyasaland Company has left the country of southern Africa and begun to radiate to the surrounding areas of southern Africa.
Unlike ordinary commercial enterprises, Nyasaland Company has a complex background and is powerful, and can even mobilize mercenaries from the Umbrella Company at any time.
Therefore, introducing investment from Nyasaland Company is a double-edged sword, which may bring benefits to Liberia, but may also have a negative impact on Liberia.
The key point is that even if Nyasaland Company’s investment does not bring benefits to Liberia, once Nyasaland Company enters Liberia, it will be even more difficult to expel Nyasaland Company. This is how easy it is to ask God.
It’s hard to send a message to God.
"We hope to obtain the same rights and status as Firestone Company, but our Nyasaland Company is different from Firestone Company. We will not abuse our rights wantonly and hurt the feelings of Liberians. A win-win situation is ours.
Purpose." There was something in James Payne's words. Firestone Company is an American company and its status in Liberia is like a country within a country.
Two years ago, Firestone Company entered Liberia and expanded aggressively in Liberia. It has now established multiple rubber plantations in Liberia and hired Liberians to work in the plantations.
It sounds good, but in fact the behavior of Firestone Company is not glorious. This company colluded with political figures from all over Liberia, confiscated all the land of free people and converted it into plantations, and drove the free people to work in the plantations. The plantation workers were tortured.
Due to the cruel treatment by Firestone Company, his life was extremely miserable and his income was pitiful.
In order to obtain more cheap Liberian workers, Firestone Company has set up a special labor bureau in Monrovia and has branch offices in various places. For these labors and for every worker sent into the rubber plantation, Firestone Company will provide local labor bureaus.
The Chief and the Bureau of Labor each paid one cent a day.
One cent, roughly equivalent to 0.5 pence.
Fawalt employs African workers from around southern Africa and pays a marginal cost of about one pound per month.
That works out to about 8 pence a day.
Calculated this way, the cost for Fawalt Company to acquire African-American workers is about eight times that of Firestone Company.
The cost of African-American workers hired by Fawalt Company is already low enough. Unexpectedly, Firestone Company's costs are actually even cheaper than Fawalt Company. Compared with Firestone Company, Henry is simply a good person.
"Mr. Payne, I don't understand what you are saying -" Charles King pretended to be confused. If the situation of Firestone Company was spread, it would cause a major earthquake in Liberian politics.
Although Liberia is an African country, it always uses the United States as its standard and bills itself as a democratic country.
It is hard to imagine that Firestone Company actually has universal suffrage.
Of course, "popular vote" is in quotation marks here. Two years ago, Charles King was elected president, claiming to have received 234,000 votes.
What is ridiculous is that there were only 15,000 people in Liberia eligible to vote at that time.
Haha, democracy.
"Your Excellency, you don't need to understand too much. You just need to know that our Nyasaland Company is different from Firestone Company. From Liberia's perspective, you must also hope that Firestone Company can have a
Competitor, so that Liberia will gain greater benefits." James Payne was extremely strong. If he dared to talk to Rock like this, he would be sunk into Lake Nyasa in minutes.
Charles King had an ugly expression. If he were a white man or a Chinese, he could probably be described as having a complexion that alternated between white and red.
It's a pity that it's not suitable for Charles King. Even if his face is red and feverish, others can't see it.
James Payne is not in a hurry. Firestone Corporation earns millions of dollars in benefits from Liberia every year, but the Liberian government receives very little. Do you think Charles King has any thoughts in his heart?
Of course, just because the Liberian government gained little does not mean that Charles King himself gained nothing.
It's a pity that this topic cannot be discussed further.
"How much money are you prepared to invest?" Charles King did not remain silent for long.
"The first investment is at least one million rand." James Payne smiled. For Nyasaland Company, one million rand is not much, but for the Liberian government -
For all of last year, the Liberian government's revenue was estimated to be less than one million rand.
"Only for purchasing land?" Charles King was really moved.
"Of course - no -" James Payne is not a philanthropist, and Nyasaland Company also wants profits: "-Purchasing land is only part of it. We also need to exploit mines and forest resources. Our southern African demand for high-grade timber
The demand is still relatively large.”
"Yes, but you must pay taxes according to regulations -" Charles King's request surprised James Payne. Isn't it natural for companies to pay taxes according to regulations? Does this need to be emphasized?
But since Charles King brought it up, it probably really needs to be emphasized.
When James Payne left the Oval Office, he left a check for R10,000 to Charles King.
Ten thousand rand is enough, and this is just the president. Next, James Payne will spend a lot of money. The devil is so difficult to deal with.
Of course, it wasn't too difficult. James Payne didn't come to Liberia alone. He brought with him a professional team and mercenaries from the Umbrella Company.
With Charles King's promise, the Nyasaland Company moved quickly and purchased more than 10,000 acres of land in Buchanan for the construction of rubber plantations in just one week.
It is really a rubber plantation, and Nyasaland Company's operations are still very law-abiding, unlike some companies in some countries that have no bottom line.
Just when the Nyasaland Company was expanding its territory,
On November 20, a transport ship from the United States suddenly caught fire in the outer port of Monrovia. The fire developed out of control in a short period of time. The captain and crew abandoned the ship and fled. The transport ship sank in the lane, which was a serious threat to the people entering the port.
transport ships pose a huge threat.
This is not an isolated incident. In the past half month, three transport ships have disappeared while crossing the Atlantic Ocean. The whereabouts of the crew members on board are unknown, and the merchant shipping companies have suffered heavy losses.
In the era before satellites, accidents on ocean-going cargo ships were not uncommon. It should be noted that many merchant ships are still not equipped with radios, so if an accident occurs, they cannot even send out a distress signal.
On the 25th, the Nyasaland Company's plantation in Buchanan was attacked by unknown forces. Fortunately, the Umbrella Company mercenaries guarding the plantation were highly vigilant, so no major losses were caused. Only two mercenaries were involved in the conflict.
The unknown forces who attacked the plantation suffered heavy losses, leaving 14 bodies on the scene.
A steady stream of news came to Roque. Roque was not in a hurry. There were losses in southern Africa, but they were within an acceptable range.
"Should we send troops to teach the Americans a profound lesson?" Martin couldn't hold his breath. I really don't know when this level of petty quarrels will end.
Rock shook his head slowly. At this time, it is definitely not possible to send troops to participate. The United States and Southern Africa have a tacit understanding.
The federal government of Southern Africa has confirmed that the fire in Grand Bahama was an accident and did not involve any human factors.
The U.S. government is also investigating the disappearance of one after another transport ships, and announced to the outside world that it was an accident and that the transport ships had not been attacked in any way.
Others fight.
On the 27th, a southern African immigrant ship was seized by a U.S. warship in the waters east of the Philippines. The Americans suspected that the immigrant ship was engaged in illegal immigration activities.
The illegal immigration here refers to Americans’ suspicion that the Southern African Immigration Company is inciting Filipinos to immigrate to southern Africa.
Don’t forget that population is wealth in this era. Both the United States and Southern Africa are vigorously absorbing immigrants, but at the same time they are opposed to each other’s immigration activities, especially the United States. Double standards are slipping away.
Southern Africa was actually the most opposed to double standards at first.
But since Americans play around with double standards all day long, then Southern Africa will naturally gradually learn double standards. The United States is the largest immigrant country in the world. Does it have the right to restrict the import of immigrants from other countries?
What makes Roque quite embarrassed is that there are indeed some Filipinos on the immigrant ship detained by the US military. However, these Filipinos were not forced onto the immigration ship, but voluntarily immigrated to southern Africa.
So the question is, does voluntary immigration count as illegal immigration?
