After the military exercise in Bechuanaland, Hopkins submitted his resignation to Adelaide, but Adelaide did not approve it.
If Hopkins resigns, then the only person qualified to succeed Hopkins as Minister of Defense is Roque. By then Roque will be based in Pretoria. This is obviously something Roque cannot do, so
Hopkins will still stay in the Department of Defense as Secretary.
It must be said that Hopkins is a very qualified minister. In principle, Southern Africa does not have a Ministry of Defense. Although Southern Africa is autonomous, it does not have defense and diplomatic rights. These rights still belong to London, which means London
Most of the energy involved in the arms race really has no spare time to take care of southern Africa, so London will allocate funds to Rock and support Rock in building an army.
What London considers more in this regard is southern Africa's feedback to the British mainland.
During Hopkins' tenure, Southern Africa has established a basic national defense system. Four standing divisions composed of professional soldiers are the main force of the Southern African National Defense Force. In addition, there are 12 ordinary divisions composed of conscripts as auxiliary forces. The Southern African Navy
The first cruiser is being built. Although the air force has not yet formed an army, four air force bases have been built in Nyasaland and Bechuanaland states to deal with threats from Tanganyika and Southwest Africa respectively.
The amazing thing is that the establishment of so many troops did not cost the federal government much money. Because the compulsory troops can undertake external projects, the Ministry of National Defense can even achieve a balance of payments. Although Roque is responsible for all this, the results achieved are in name only.
All of this is due to Hopkins.
Based on this alone, Hopkins is a qualified Secretary of Defense.
If it were anyone else, he might worry about being sidelined because of Rock's excessive power, so he might secretly create trouble for Rock from time to time.
Hopkins' greatest advantage is that he is not greedy for power. Without Rock's efforts and Hopkins' ability alone, it would be impossible to form an army of this size in Southern Africa, let alone the air force and navy.
Nowadays, those half-dead colonial servant troops that cannot even defeat the rebels are still supporting the facade and cannot provide any form of help when the British mainland needs it.
It's different now. Roark has the ability to get funds from London, the ability to obtain loans from Rand Bank, and the ability to obtain various resources within the federal government. Hopkins is happy to delegate power. After all, the annual salary of five thousand pounds is still
Very fragrant.
After visiting the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Justice respectively, Rock went to Philip's house for dinner in the evening.
Today, the Speaker of Parliament also finished work early and went home to take care of his grandson. Phyllis has been in Nyasaland for the past two years and rarely returns to Pretoria. Philip is very rare for his two grandsons.
Owen was also there when Rock arrived home, and the three men chatted in the study first as usual.
The topic must also revolve around the railway between Rhodes City and Walvis Bay.
"I really don't know why you like building railways so much, and it's in a deserted place like Georgetown. Maybe you won't be able to recoup the cost in a hundred years." Irving, the leader of the majority party in the federal parliament, is not optimistic about Roque's proposal.
Georgetown is not far from the border between Bechuanaland and Southwest Africa. It is a newly named city. With a scale of more than 2,000 people, it is not qualified to be a city. However, Georgetown has the potential to develop into a transportation hub in Bechuanaland in the future.
The railway between Rhodes City and George Town is currently under construction, and Rock is also preparing to build a railway from George Town to Crocodile City.
Crocodile City is located between the Okavango Swamp and Lake Ngami. During the military exercise, more than 50,000 troops were stationed in the Okavango Swamp. After the military exercise, the troops withdrew, leaving behind a very large city, and
A safe zone covering hundreds of square kilometers.
At least all crocodiles in this area have been hunted.
Both Rock and Philip were used to Owen's slowness, so Philip didn't bother to explain. Rock's attitude was better: "If the railway between Rhodes City and Walvis Bay is built, then it will take three days from Rhodes City to
You can reach Whale Bay, passing through Georgetown and Windhoek along the way. Once the war breaks out——"
"So you think the Germans will agree?" Irving really feels sad for Southwest Africa. Germany still has the strength to engage in an arms race with the British government in Europe, but it is at a complete disadvantage in Africa. The current situation in Southwest Africa is like a
A toddler who has just started to walk faces a strong man who is eight feet tall and has an eight-foot waist.
"If we come forward, Southwest Africa will definitely not agree, so it is the Americans who come forward." Roque knows how deep the grievances between Southwest Africa and Southern Africa are, and they cannot be resolved in a few words.
"Everyone knows that you came for those Americans." Irving was also speechless. Rock often played tricks that seemed useless, but turned out to be very effective.
"Americans are still very useful." Philip has become more and more fond of Roque in the past two years, and his aunt often laughs.
"If Henry is here, I can answer your question." Rock didn't respond directly. At this time, he really missed the tacit understanding between him and Henry.
"Be careful." Philip still understood the situation very well.
Rock nodded, but Owen was confused and didn't even understand what Phillip and Rock were talking about.
After Philip left the study with an excuse to see his grandson, Rock explained to Owen.
"The Germans need more steel——"
"What does this have to do with us?" Of course Owen knew that Germany needed steel. Britain had support from colonies around the world. It was relatively easy, but Germany had a very difficult time.
This is also the basis for the United States to play both sides. Germany and the United Kingdom are engaged in an arms race, and a large part of the steel is purchased from the United States.
"Fawalt." Rock spoke concisely and to the point.
"You want to buy steel for the Germans?" Irving was simply horrified. This is subsidizing the enemy.
"Who said we want to sell to the Germans? I want to sell to the Americans -" Rock said confidently. Selling directly to the Germans would definitely not work, but selling to the Americans would be no problem. As for the United States buying steel from Fawalt
Roque has no control over who he sells it to after that.
"It's very dangerous, be careful-" Owen's attitude was the same as Phillip's just now.
Cooperating with the Germans is a very dangerous thing, but if done correctly, there won't be much trouble.
This is just like the French selling Miss Qiwu all over the world and thinking that Germany doesn’t know the performance of Miss Qiwu.
In fact, they are all deceiving themselves. When Rock sells steel to the Americans, he will definitely make demands to the Americans that they cannot resell the steel to the Germans.
In fact, this kind of request is of no use at all. If you do a few more things, apply for a few shell companies, and go through a few more procedures, Fawalt's steel will not even be shipped to the United States, but can be sent directly to Germany. This is also the source of Rock's confidence that Southwest Africa will agree to build a railway. Building a railway between Rhodes City and Walvis Bay will indeed bring potential threats to Southwest Africa.
But will the threat disappear without building the railway?
No, regardless of whether there is a railway or not, the threat still exists. The straight-line distance from Cape Town to Walvis Bay is similar to the straight-line distance from Rhodes City to Walvis Bay. George Town is only 600 kilometers from Walvis Bay. Think about it.
Eliminating hidden dangers can only strengthen yourself. If you are weak, threats will always exist.
Compared with the tense border situation, dinner was peaceful.
Philip lives in a manor on the outskirts of Pretoria. The huge long dining table can accommodate twenty people for dining at the same time. The smile on Philip's face has never disappeared.
After dinner, Rock and Philip went for a walk in the garden. This was the real time for the husband and wife to communicate freely.
"You still have to control yourself. There are more and more Chinese in southern Africa. Some people have described southern Africa as a Chinese colony. You have to pay attention to the impact." Philip said it bluntly without naming names. Roque also knew who was making such nonsense.<
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"Otherwise, what can we do? In such a big country, with such a small population, and no more white people are willing to immigrate, if we don't introduce Chinese, then Southern Africa will become an African country sooner or later." Roque also said bluntly, regarding Southern Africa
Such a small number of white people cannot develop in a hundred years if they rely on natural reproduction.
Population is the basis of everything. Only with people can everything be possible. Without people, nothing is possible.
Although Roque continues to immigrate, there is still a huge human resource gap in southern Africa. Among other things, the farms in southern Africa often cover hundreds or thousands of acres. The area is indeed large, but it can also be tiring to develop and utilize.
Although the farms in the Transvaal and Nyasaland are now relatively well developed, the farms in Rhodesia are seriously underdeveloped and utilized. The farms in the Cape have existed for hundreds of years, but they are still used for grazing.
Lord, do you really think those farmers don’t know how to grow alfalfa? They are really too busy.
The industries in Southern Africa also require a large number of workers. Arsenals, shipyards, automobile factories, and engine factories are currently operating at full capacity, but they are still unable to meet market demand. If possible, Rock would also like to replace all the miners in Johannesburg and Fawalt with
own people, but it is really impossible. In the final analysis, it is still a matter of lack of people. If there is a large enough population in southern Africa, Rock will move all the Africans in southern Africa to the Kingdom of Mozambique and let them play by themselves.
The new king can marry ten thousand wives.
"It is much better now than before. At least the Boers are staying in Orange. The unrest within the federal government must be eliminated one by one. The arms race in Europe will definitely end with a world war of unprecedented scale.
, before the war breaks out, we need to conduct a cleaning operation." Philip was worried, and his mood was as heavy as the dark clouded sky.
Roque knew what Phillip was referring to, but Roque also needed an opportunity. It would be best to force some people to jump out.