From Draculamo to the north, there are still roads in most places, but at the junction of Oyo and Ogun states, many roads are disconnected.
This is closely related to the political and economic system of the country Kanem.
Kanem's industrial base is extremely weak, the area is poor, and the indigenous ethnic groups are powerful.
As Africa's largest oil-producing country, its central finance relies 80 to 90 percent on crude oil exports and is almost completely independent of local tax contributions.
As a result, the Kanem federal government is extremely indifferent to local people's livelihood and municipal construction.
While Draculamo City belongs to Ogun State, the Lungta area where Ibogu Village is located also belongs to Oyo State.
As a federal country in Kanem, the federal government does not step in to coordinate, and the coordination and cooperation capabilities between different state governments are even weaker.
This also leads to the fact that Lonta, as one of the towns closest to the old capital of Taculamo in Oyo State, does not have a complete road connection.
Fortunately, the disconnected roads are not long, and there are muddy paths in between - narrow rural wooden bridges over streams and rivers connecting them.
This reflects the advantages of off-road motorcycles.
Using the map and following the general direction, and with the help of indigenous villagers along the road to guide them, Cao Mo and Kabuga arrived at Lonta at two o'clock in the afternoon.
Longta is said to be a town, but on both sides of the gravel road, most of them are simple iron houses, and there are not even a few decent buildings. It looks worse than the poor towns in the central and western parts of the country. It is hard to imagine that this place includes the ancient village of Yibo.
including the town centers of the entire Lonta region.
When they passed by before, they didn't stop, thinking that this was just a relatively densely populated backward township in Oyo State.
Arriving at Longta again, he parked his Lindau motorcycle on the side of the road. Cao Mo took out his cell phone and found that even though it was weak, there was still a signal.
This shows that there are signal transmission towers nearby, and no matter how backward the Lungta area is, it is not so backward that it is isolated from the world.
In addition to having a mobile phone signal in Longta, Cao Mo and the others also saw a simple gas station next to the highway, with only a small oil storage tank less than two meters high, standing alone in the open space in front of several cement houses.
When I passed by it before, I didn't notice it because it was so inconspicuous.
Cao Mo and Kabuga came forward and asked if there was a supply of gasoline and diesel.
There was only one oil storage tank on the site. Cao Mo didn't know how the merchant could supply gasoline and diesel at the same time, but this was good news.
If they can contract the gold mining project in Ibogu Village, the most urgently needed supplies such as diesel can be purchased from Lungta without having to go to Katero, the capital of Oyo State, which is 140 to 50 kilometers away.
That would really save my nose.
Longta Town is only seven or eight kilometers away from the Yibogu tribe. In the early stage, they were short of funds, so they could hire villagers to use animals to transport diesel.
It's the 21st century, and when he thought that he was actually planning to use ox carts to transport diesel, Cao Mo felt a little confused in time and space, but this was West Africa that had just entered the 21st century.
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From Lonta to Ibogu Village, you have entered the border forest area between Kanem and Benin.
The rugged road is located in a shallow and gentle valley, beside the road is the Shikaku River, which becomes turbid and rapid after the rainy season.
Seeing Cao Mo, Kabuga appeared again, and the children in the village gathered around him excitedly, chasing two off-road motorcycles in the wilderness on both sides of the mud path.
Cao Mo also brought candy, bread and other food this time. He parked the car in front of the old chief Felicia's grain drying ground and distributed the candy and bread to the children.
"Mr. Cao..." the girl Lily shouted excitedly and ran over.
"Where is the chief?" Cao Mo didn't need Kabuja. When he saw the young girl Lily, he looked like a wild dog in heat and asked Lily where the old chief had gone.
"At the temple..." Lily pointed in the direction of the temple and happily led Cao Mo and Kabuga over.
The temple was probably the most spectacular building in Yibo Ancient Village, but in Cao Mo's eyes, it was just mediocre.
The tall red rammed earth walls and gray-white rock pillars, full of traces of wind and erosion, stand deep in the woods away from the center of the village, giving it a sense of mystery and vicissitudes.
Cao Mo heard from Kabuga that before the Portuguese merchant ships docked at Draculamo's Aral Lake Island, the Yoruba people had established a kingdom in the Lungta area, and the Ibogu Temple - translated as the Snake Temple
Meaning, it plays a very important role in the history of the Yoruba Kingdom.
Cao Mo had briefly stopped in Yibo Ancient Village before. He didn't know what the taboos of the locals were, so he didn't go over to watch the fun.
However, after he experienced the disaster in Ibogu Village last time, his intuitive feeling became as strong and sharp as telepathy.
This made him feel somewhat guilty and afraid when he saw a corner of the red earth wall exposed in the depths of the woods.
He was even more unwilling to go to the Snake Temple with Lily to meet the old chief Felician, so he decided to wait here until the old chief Felician came back from his work.
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The girl Lily couldn't wait any longer and happily ran to the Snake Temple to inform Cao Mo. After a while, she dragged the old chief Felician over.
The average life expectancy in Kanem is just over forty years.
Of course, locals also get married and have children early.
The old chief Felician's face was covered with furrow-like wrinkles, his formerly tall figure had become rickety, and his curly short hair was gray. It was hard to tell how old he really was.
The old chief Felician didn't feel too old, and he looked at Cao Mo's empty hands shamelessly.
Cao Mo resisted the urge to slap his forehead.
What about the promised "Iboko's Kiss" and the promised "Snake God's Favor"? We can't always think about receiving gifts. Do we need to change this bad habit?
"..."
Walking into the main room of the old chief's house, Cao Mo sat down and told the old elder Felici without any concealment about his conflicts with Yang Deshan and Guo Jian, as well as his intention to cooperate with Yibo Ancient Village to mine gold mines.
Ann knows.
Kabuga was quite surprised.
Although the ancient village of Ibo is dilapidated, it does not mean that there are no people in the village who have seen the world.
How can this be regarded as a business negotiation now? How can one hand over one's bottom line at the first step?
In his eyes, the former Cao Mo was still a bit cunning. Where did this cunning energy go?
Cao Mo naturally had his own considerations.
When he came over, he was thinking that the old chief's kindness and affection for him was his biggest advantage, but the shameless old man was always thinking about receiving gifts, and Cao Mo felt guilty again.
No matter what, Cao Mo still knew it very well.
Even if he hides nothing now and negotiates an agreement with the old chief that is absolutely beneficial to him, but when Yang Deshan and Guo Jian come over and propose more beneficial cooperation, the old chief directly tears up the agreement, will he still
Can you catch this shameless old man discussing contracts and integrity?
He is not qualified to say nice words like "business is business" yet?
No matter how guilty he is, if he wants to succeed, his only advantage is to hope that the old chief can trust him more.
Then he can't destroy this trust.
Not only did he tell the truth about his conflicts with Yang Deshan and Guo Jian, as well as the advantages and conditions that Yang Deshan and Guo Jian had, he also put forward several options for how to cooperate.
The best option that Cao Mo expected was naturally for him to contract out the gold mine and the nearby land, and hire people from the original gold mining team. The old chief would directly take corresponding shares in the gold mining company he wanted to register.
From now on, it will be good to get dividends according to the stock ratio.
In this choice, compared with Yang Deshan and Guo Jian, he had no advantage at all.
Yang Deshan and Guo Jianneng spent three to four hundred thousand dollars to purchase the entire set of equipment at once, increasing the scale of gold mining in Yibo Village hundreds of times. Even if the old chief holds 20% of the shares, his income will suddenly increase twenty times compared to before.
.
And what about him?
Only with an initial investment of 20,000 US dollars can we optimize the process. In the early stage, we can increase the scale of gold mining in Yibo Ancient Village by ten or twenty times, which is quite ideal. If the old chief holds the same shares, his income can only be higher than before.
Double.
The overall education level in Kanem is extremely backward, but that does not mean that no one is educated.
Lily can also speak extremely fluent English. According to tribal people, Lily's father is also a scholar - English is the official language of Kanem. Local people with junior and secondary education are relatively fluent in English, but in a tribe
, but it may not be possible to find eight out of ten people.
The worst option is for him to give up his leadership, provide necessary equipment and technical support, and help the old chief Felician to increase the scale and efficiency of gold mining. He will charge a certain amount of equipment rental and technical service remuneration.
However, the people in the village, including the old chief, had no experience in business management. Cao Mo provided equipment and technical support, so it was difficult to improve efficiency all at once.
There is another option, that is, the old chief can divide the mining area, and Cao Mo will only contract a small area of it.
With the investment he can make now, even if it is just a mining area of ten acres, it will be enough for him to work for a long time.
Cao Mo knew his disadvantages and didn't even have the luxury of squeezing Yang Deshan and Guo Jian out. His current strategy was to seize every opportunity he could.
Even a small opportunity means a beginning.
"Mr. Cao, you are a person favored by Yibogu. I look forward to your return and believe that you can bring good luck to the tribe,"
The old chief Felician thought for a while, but after all he didn't turn against Cao Mo because he came empty-handed this time, and said,
"I'm also old, and I don't have the energy to deal with people and things that are too complicated. And the people who could have taken over the gold mines and tribes are unwilling to come back - I can leave the gold mines to you, and I will share the final dividends.
You can only take 20%, but you must ensure that the monthly dividend cannot be less than three hundred thousand naira..."
To put it bluntly, we agree on guaranteed dividends.
The guaranteed monthly dividend of 300,000 naira is a large figure in local terms, but converted at the exchange rate, it is only equivalent to one thousand U.S. dollars, which is about twice the monthly output of the quarrying point in Ibogu Village at this time.
This was probably the best choice Cao Mo expected. Even though his intuition told him that the old chief was sincere, he still asked with some uncertainty:
"Chief, are you sure you won't make a decision until you meet Yang Deshan and Guo Jian?"
"There is no need to meet or not. People who abandon their companions for profit are not worthy of trust. Furthermore, I will not betray the serpent god's instructions." Felician said.
Is being bitten by a poisonous snake really beneficial?
Cao Mo suddenly felt that Ibobe Village was a bit cute for being backward and conservative...