Even if Roque is not for the British Empire, but only for the Chinese in Nyasaland, he will insist on the line of strong military.
The army is the foundation for the Chinese to settle down and live in southern Africa. Without the army, the prosperity of Nyasaland is just a castle in the air. Without any guarantee, not to mention the Germans, the British and Boers in southern Africa can
The living space of the Chinese has been squeezed to the last bit.
Although Rock has his own plans, in this regard, Rock shares the fundamental interests of the British government. Rock hopes that the British government can gradually loosen its grip on southern Africa, and does not want Britain to consume too much in the world war. Southern Africa is now
It has not replaced the strength of the United States. Compared with the United States, a strong Britain is more in line with the interests of southern Africa.
The Earl of Selborne stayed in southern Africa for a week. During this week, the Earl of Selborne inspected the First Division and the Second Division, as well as the Fawalt Steel Works.
Compared with the Nyasaland Arsenal, Earl of Selborne was more interested in the Fawalt Steel Works. After all, shipbuilding required a large amount of steel, and Britain's steel was all imported from the colonies. In the past, the British government did not notice Fawalt at all.
The scale of the steel plant. After the Earl of Selborne inspected the Fawalt Steel Plant, he immediately signed a purchase and sale contract with Henry on behalf of the British government. Starting next year, the Fawalt Steel Plant will export 100,000 tons of crude oil to the UK every year.
Steel.
It's not next year. When the Earl of Selborne and Henry signed the contract, it was already January 1908. After signing the contract, the Earl of Selborne left southern Africa and returned to the British mainland.
Rock still did not forget to remind Henry that no matter how high the price offered by the Earl of Selborne to Henry, the Fawalt Steel Works must first ensure the supply of steel in Nyasaland, and the remaining output can be supplied to the British mainland.
"Don't worry, I am ready to expand the scale of the Fawalt Steel Plant again and strive to double the annual output from the current 500,000 tons to one million tons. Otherwise, even Nyasaland will not be able to meet the current output.
." Henry is also ambitious, and it seems that the Earl of Selborne should have given Henry some promises.
Steel production can fully reflect the industrial level of southern Africa.
Last year, the steel output of the United States exceeded 23 million tons, the UK's steel output was 6.6 million tons, Germany's steel output was 12 million tons, and Southern Africa only had a pitiful 500,000 tons, which is slightly better than Japan's 130,000 tons. The increase in Japan's steel production was due to the victory of the Russo-Japanese War. Before the Russo-Japanese War, Japan's steel production was only 60,000 tons. After the Russo-Japanese War, Japan seized Russia's interests in the Qing Dynasty, and its steel production was only a few thousand tons.
It has tripled in one year.
The steel industry in Southern Africa still has great potential that can be tapped. There are iron ore deposits in the Cape and Transvaal, with total reserves of about 2.3 billion tons, accounting for 40% of Africa's iron ore reserves. p>
Although the profit margin of iron ore is definitely not as good as that of gold mine, the advantage is that iron ore has a large scale and high output, and the overall profit is still very good.
The key is low cost. The workers used by Favalte Steel Plant are all Africans. Although the slave trade has been legally prohibited in southern Africa, Henry can still get enough workers. In Natal, there are at least ten "labor services"
Company" is working for Henry.
"You'd better be careful, don't make such a big show, be careful of being spotted." Rock reminded Henry that after the establishment of the federal government, white people, including the Boers, could move freely within southern Africa at will. The situation at the Fawalt Steel Plant
If this spreads out, it will definitely be exploited by someone with ulterior motives.
According to the information obtained by Rock, since the Natal rebellion, the total number of Africans in southern Africa has been declining year by year. Of course, some of them choose to go to the Kingdom of Mozambique, Nyasaland and Rhodesia have been carrying out large-scale
Infrastructure and the mines in the Transvaal also played an important role.
Of course, Roque doesn’t know the exact number, and the federal government will certainly not conduct statistics in this area, let alone report it in the newspapers. Only if you have a hole in your head will you pay attention to Africans in southern Africa.
"Haha, so what!" Henry is very domineering. In this regard, Henry is still very confident.
Rock stopped talking. Since Henry was so confident, Rock stopped talking nonsense.
The Earl of Selborne was very efficient. After returning to the UK, he quickly provided interest-free loans totaling five million pounds to Southern Africa in the name of the Imperial Bank.
It is nominally an interest-free loan, but in fact there are no conditions attached and no loan period. It depends on the federal government's mood to repay it. If Ade is willing to repay it, Roque will of course have no problem with it. Roque doesn't have to pay anyway.<
/p>
Adelaide's life was very tight during this period, and he didn't know how expensive firewood and rice were when he became a householder. In the past, Southern Africa was a British colony, and all the funds needed to maintain the government were paid by London. Therefore, the governments of the four colonies in Southern Africa were generous with their money.
Well, if you don’t have any money, you can ask London for it.
Now that southern Africa has gained autonomy and a federal government has been established, the British government has finally gotten rid of the big burden of southern Africa.
Without the support of London, Ade finally felt the pain of Louis Botta and Jan Smuts before. It is difficult for a clever woman to make a living without rice. Without money, it is really difficult to move forward.
The loan from the Imperial Bank was transferred to the federal government's account under such circumstances, so when Rock went to find Ade, Ade wanted to withhold part of it for the federal government's expenses.
"Stop talking nonsense. Lord Selborne doesn't know how much it costs to form a division. I definitely know. What's more, the third and fourth divisions are just reorganizations, not new ones. They don't even need to buy weapons and equipment. Those previous weapons
It can still be used if you make do. Even if you want to supplement the first and second divisions, one million is enough for you——" Ade has also learned to play rogue now. He used to be an upright person, but now he can't even do this
I can speak everything.
It’s true that the world is deteriorating and people’s hearts are not as good as they used to be.
"One million is definitely not enough. The first and second divisions now have only 15,000 people combined. The strength gap is more than half. I am planning to add 25,000 professional soldiers within half a month. You know professional soldiers
The concept? The cost is much higher than that of conscripts." Rock was ready to pluck Yan Guo's feathers, but he didn't know that Ade was so cruel.
This is no longer the plucking of the goose, but the eating of the goose, leaving a mouthful of soup for Rock. Rock will definitely not accept it.
"Okay, I can give you everything. Then the Ministry of National Defense will raise the military expenses for the first and second divisions on its own." Adelaide also has a plan to end his family. Compared with the cost of setting up the troops, the maintenance costs are more.<
/p>
"Are the 1st and 2nd Divisions considered to be federal government troops or Nyasaland troops?" Roque immediately turned black. When money was involved, Roque wanted to strive for the maximum benefit.
"You can do whatever you want." Ade acted unscrupulously. Nyasaland is located at the northernmost tip of southern Africa and is facing pressure from Tanganyika. Unless the Germans break through Nyasaland, they will threaten other parts of southern Africa. "One and a half million!" Rock made the conditions.
Ade's face lit up with joy, and he immediately realized something was wrong. Rock shouldn't be so easy to talk to.
"The federal government can keep 1.5 million, and the rest must be allocated to the Ministry of National Defense." Sure enough!
"Don't even think about it. I'll give you the Ministry of National Defense 1.5 million. This is the final bottom line." Ade doesn't talk nonsense. If Roque keeps talking nonsense, he won't even have this point.
Rock glared at Ad for a long time, and finally endured his anger.
When leaving Adelaide's office, Roque happened to meet Bob Giles, the federal government's finance minister.
When Adelaide was serving in the Transvaal, Bob Giles was the Finance Minister of the Transvaal. Now that Adelaide is the Prime Minister of Southern Africa, Bob Giles's status has also risen.
"Good day, Lord -" Bob Giles said hello to Rock casually, and then hurried to see Ade.
"Wait a minute Bob, that money hasn't been spent yet, right?" Rock wanted to start with Bob.
"It's true that we haven't had time to spend it, but Locke, it's impossible for all this money to be given to your Ministry of Defense. Government employees have to be paid, the Prime Minister has to implement a compulsory education system, and the Legislative Council office building in Bloemfontein has not yet had time to be repaired.
It costs money everywhere -" Bob Giles didn't give Rock a chance to speak, and he finally found someone to talk to about his bitterness.
If Bob Giles hadn't mentioned Bloemfontein, Rock would have been in a better mood. Now that he knew that Ade was going to use the money to repair the Legislative Council office building, Rock immediately became furious and turned around.
Just go to Hopkins' office.
As Secretary of Defense, Hopkins actually used the same office building as Adelaide. To be honest, Rock could understand Adelaide's difficulties. Adelaide was also working hard for southern Africa, but Rock was unwilling to give money to Bull.
People.
"The Prime Minister wants to use the money given to us by London to build an office building for the Legislative Council in Bloemfontein? This is simply too much!" Hopkins finally had something to do and immediately went to find Ade angrily.
Rock was not in a hurry at the moment and sat leisurely on the sofa in Hopkins' office drinking tea.
A minister must act like a minister and not care about anything, so it is better to let a big guy be the minister of defense.
At least the big guy doesn't need that much salary. Hopkins, the Minister of Defense, has an annual salary of about 5,000 pounds, which is similar to the annual salary of the British Minister of Defense.
It is said that although Roque's annual salary as deputy minister is two thousand pounds, he also serves as the deputy minister of justice and the commander-in-chief of the National Defense Forces. Therefore, Roque receives three salaries by himself, and his annual salary is actually higher than that of Hopkins.
More.
Of course, Roark doesn't pay much attention to his annual salary. Anyway, Roark hardly needs any money. Rand Bank directly transfers Roark's annual salary to Phyllis's account. Roark doesn't care and just treats it as