The purpose of Rock's search for Marcos Lloyd was simple. He hoped that when the transport team of the Royal Canadian Regiment was transporting supplies to Pretoria, he could help Rock transport something.
This kind of request was normal. It was just a matter of helping others, not even a mistake. Marcos Lloyd agreed wholeheartedly, and Rock got the timetable of the Royal Canadian Regiment's transport team.
On February 26, the Royal Canadian Regiment transport team was attacked by guerrillas while transporting supplies to Pretoria. Four soldiers were slightly injured, one soldier sprained his foot during the counterattack, and three soldiers fought back.
While traveling, he fell off his horse and was injured.
According to regulations, all Boer farmers within ten miles of the site of the attack were sent to concentration camps.
Three days later, Rox went to the city hall to see Irving.
"Locke, do you know something?" Owen was very smart. He connected all the clues and immediately identified Locke as the suspect.
"What?" Rock was surprised.
Owen observed carefully and found nothing unusual in Roque's expression.
"Hmph, you can hide it from others, but you can't hide it from me." Owen was reluctant, but there was no evidence.
Rock stopped talking, but he also didn't admit it and smiled without saying a word.
"Tell me how you did it. The transport team confirmed that the guerrillas were very good at riding and the horses they rode were also well-equipped and well-prepared. The transport team was thwarted by traps when they pursued it. This proves that
"The purpose of the guerrillas is not to transport the materials transported by the transport team at all, otherwise the guerrillas would not lay traps in front of their own positions, but would instead lay traps on the transport team's route." Owen is very sure of the purpose of the guerrillas.
It is not for the transportation team, nor for the materials transported by the transportation team, so what is the purpose of the guerrillas?
What's more, after Louis Botha went to the Cape, there had been no guerrilla activity in the Transvaal for a long time. This guerrilla seemed to have emerged from the ground out of thin air and carried out an unsuccessful attack.
Then it disappeared without a trace.
Generally speaking, the guerrillas' marksmanship is actually quite good. Even if the attack is unsuccessful, they can still cause a certain degree of casualties to the transport team.
This guerrilla group is different. They seem to be very benevolent. When launching the attack, they used Martini Henry rifles, which are already very advanced for the guerrillas. However, their shooting skills do not seem to match their equipment.
, when the attack just happened, the guerrillas did not hit any regular soldiers in the first firing, which was very unreasonable.
After being attacked, the transport team of the Royal Canadian Regiment tried to organize a counterattack. At this time, the guerrillas' marksmanship finally became accurate. They only hit horses, not people. Three soldiers fell off their horses and were injured, successfully preventing the transport team.
Chase.
"The analysis is good. You should go to the Expeditionary Force Headquarters to find an official position." Rock didn't answer. As the saying goes, seeing is believing, as long as he is not caught at the scene, Rock will have nothing to fear.
"Hmph, so the purpose of your coming here is for the Kruger Farm?" Owen presupposed his position and then worked backwards. The more he thought about it, the more suspicious Rock became.
"No, not just for Kruger Farm, I want to buy all the farms within ten miles of the place where the attack took place." Rock has a big appetite. In addition to farms between Johannesburg and Pretoria, there are also
Unowned wastelands, forests, pastures, mountains and hills, Rock wants to buy them all.
It's not enough to be merciless. Rock doesn't want to make things worse, as long as he achieves his goal.
That guerrilla group was actually the guard of the Rock Gold Mine. With the equipment and training level of the guard, they could completely annihilate the Royal Canadian Regiment.
But in that case, the Royal Canadian Regiment would definitely pursue this attack to the end, which would cause a lot of unnecessary trouble. Rock didn't want to do that.
The current level is the best. The Royal Canadian Regiment did not suffer any real losses. Instead, it can receive credit for repelling the guerrilla attack.
Rock also got what he wanted, except for the unlucky farmer, there were gains in all aspects, so why not!
"I knew it." Owen looked disgusted, but still let Rock go through the procedure.
"What do you know?" Henry Alsop happened to be passing by.
"I know you're an asshole!" Owen said bitterly.
"What are you doing?" Henry Alsop didn't care.
"It has nothing to do with you." Owen stamped a large pile of documents with a "bang, bang, bang" sound, then collected the documents and handed them to Rock.
"Thank you" Rock thanked Owen, and then left quickly, without even looking at Henry Alsop from the beginning to the end.
"It's interesting to transfer the farm agreement, how much does the farm around Johannesburg cost per acre now?" Henry Alsop mused.
"You want to buy? Five shillings an acre." Owen stood up to leave.
"Don't go, let's talk. Wasn't there a shilling per acre before?" Henry Alsop was curious about the farms around Johannesburg.
You must be curious. Most of the gold mines around Johannesburg were discovered on farms. God knows if there are any undiscovered gold mines around Johannesburg. Even if there are no gold mines, just like Rock before, for 2,000 pounds
The price of buying a 50,000-acre farm is also very cost-effective.
"I'm already off work. If you want to buy, please hurry up early tomorrow." Owen didn't talk nonsense. One shilling per acre was the previous price. The current price is five shillings per acre. If you want to buy it, wait until the war is over.
Prices will rise further.
By the way, Rock has purchased nearly 300,000 acres of farms around Johannesburg from the city hall in the past few days, for which Rock paid almost 120,000 pounds.
All of the 120,000 pounds were paid in gold. According to the official exchange ratio stipulated by the British government, Roque paid a total of nearly 900 kilograms of gold to the Johannesburg City Hall.
This gold effectively alleviated the financial shortage of the Johannesburg City Hall, which enabled the City Hall to begin the transformation of the main city of Johannesburg.
Baron Philip had the ambition to transform Johannesburg into a modern metropolis like London.
The new Johannesburg will take Government Street, where the city hall and police station are located, as the central axis and extend towards the train station. The total length will be about 6.5 miles. Two squares and four parks will be built along the way. Now all the shantytowns on both sides of Government Street will be demolished.
, in the future, buildings on both sides of Government Street must first apply to the City Hall, and after review by the City Hall, they are determined to not affect the overall image of the city before they are eligible to start construction.
After the reconstruction of Johannesburg, private construction of any building without application is strictly prohibited. In the future, the Zulus and Boers will no longer settle in casual shacks on the outskirts of Johannesburg. The city government will build unified residential areas.
, sold to those foreigners who have settled in Johannesburg, which means that in the future Johannesburg will strictly control the in-migration population. If you want to settle in Johannesburg, you must have certain qualifications. The city of Johannesburg will actively expel those people.
People who are not eligible to stay in Johannesburg.
Sounds a bit cruel, right?
But it has to be this way in Johannesburg!
Everyone knows that there are gold mines around Johannesburg. There are not too many gold diggers wandering around Johannesburg. These gold diggers are adventurers in name, but in fact they are poor vagrants. They do not engage in agricultural production or work in the mines.
Finding a job honestly and dreaming of getting rich overnight all day long will take desperate risks once life becomes unsustainable, which is a serious security risk.
The key is that these gold diggers don't pay taxes, which is the fundamental reason why Johannesburg City Hall cleans them out.
On March 15th, Alfred Milner returned to Pretoria from London.
Due to special treatment during special times, Locke did not need to go to London. He was canonized by Alfred Milner in the Palace of Justice on behalf of the king and officially became "Sir Locke".
After the ceremony, Roark and Henry returned to the Pretoria Police Station together. Only then did Roark learn that Henry actually requested that the fief be placed in the Transvaal instead of the traditional British Isles.
"What's so good about having a fiefdom in the mainland? As a baron, if I were in the mainland, my fiefdom would be a small town at most. It's better in the Transvaal. Do you know how big my fiefdom is? In Falvat, the entire Mount Louis is there.
In my fief, so I am now Lord Falvat." Henry was very proud. His fief covered an area of more than 1,500 square kilometers. In the UK, most duke's fief was not as big as Henry's fief.
Of course, they are just ordinary dukes. The Duke of Sutherland has the most land under his name. He has 1.3 million acres of land under his name, which is about 5,260 square kilometers in metric terms.
So this achievement is really nothing to be proud of.
"Fawalt, is there anyone in that damn place?" Rock didn't know where Fawalt was, but thinking about it, if Fawalt was very prosperous, then it wouldn't be Henry's turn.
"Don't you always want to resettle Chinese Americans on the farm? I'll give you my permission to resettle Chinese Americans in Fawalt." It turned out that this was Henry's idea.
"No, I have bought a lot of farms around Johannesburg. Just place the Chinese around Johannesburg. We might even find a gold mine." Roark doesn't need Henry's permission.
Yes?
Boy, you are so swollen!
"No, Sir Locke, please, please go to the Farwalt resettlement site." Henry immediately changed his face. There was no such thing as permission.
Fawalt is actually not bad. Nearby is South Africa's Marakole National Park in the future. To be considered a national park, at least the natural conditions should be very good.
"Is it a big deal to have a fief?" Rock really couldn't understand Henry's face.
"Don't worry, when the war is really over, there will definitely be a large-scale knighthood, and then your opportunity will come." Henry did not laugh at Roark this time.
There will indeed be a chance next time. Although Roque, a baron, is not considered a noble, he has at least joined the ranks of "quasi-nobles". When he is knighted next time, Roque's situation will indeed have a great chance.
