Kanem's land system is different from that in China and Europe and the United States, and it is quite primitive and traditional.
The land in Yibogu Village is theoretically owned by the tribal leader, that is, the family of Chief Felician, but tribal people are not restricted from building houses, farming, gathering fruits, and hunting wild animals on this land.
There would be no problem if we stayed in the self-sufficient tribal era, but when it comes to industrial development and the ambiguity of land ownership, it is quite troublesome.
For tribal leaders, they can already live a prosperous life by controlling a large amount of land.
Wealth is always relative. No one can say that the satisfaction that old chief Felician can get in Yibogu Village is worse than that of the wealthy class who settle in civilized cities.
The federal government's finances do not rely on local contributions and are indifferent to local construction, development and people's livelihood affairs. The chiefs who actually control the land have little incentive to use the land for deeper development, and there will be no long-term results.
planning.
In the city of Draculamo, the land was plundered during the colonial era. After Kanem gained independence, not only the city construction reached a certain scale, but the ownership of the land was also clarified, and there were also some simple industries left over from the colonial era, thus forming
The unique prosperity of Africa's west coast.
After Kanem ended the rule of the military government, Cao Mo read the news reports and found that the newly elected President Buhari seemed to be quite ambitious, but under many constraints, it was really impossible to predict how far he could go.
In this country, the civil strife in the northeastern inland areas has not yet been quelled.
What Cao Mo wanted to do now was not too complicated.
The gold mining site does not involve the daily living and food collection areas of the villagers, and the old chief Felician also keeps his word in the tribe.
He agreed to contract the upper reaches of the Lukaku River, a river that flows from the east of Yibo Ancient Village, to Cao Mo as a mining area, and would not allow others to mess around.
The ambiguity of land ownership is not only limited to tribal leaders and villagers, but also the boundaries between Yibogu Village and surrounding tribal villages.
Fortunately, the forest land on both sides of the Lukaku River to the north of the settlement has been the activity area of ancient Ibo villagers for more than a hundred years. There are no other tribes settling nearby, so the rights of ownership are relatively clear.
This is also a fairly broad area.
From the northernmost settlement of Ibogu Village, two to three kilometers upstream along the Lukaku River belong to Ibogu Village; further north is the dense, difficult-to-walk virgin forest on the border between Kanem and Benin.
The old chief Felician summoned the two leaders in the village who were responsible for managing the gold mining team.
Felician asked Cao Mo to accept all the workers in the gold mining team, and not to let these people lose their jobs, which seemed quite decent in the tribe, just because the gold mine was contracted out.
One of the leaders is already old, and Felician will arrange for him to be responsible for some matters in the tribe in the future; while the other leader, who is in his early forties but looks a bit old, is from the ancient village of Yibo.
A veteran, he served in the military government of Kanem in his early years.
The dynamite required for quarrying, procurement and operation are all responsible for the leader named Overema, who is strong but has a slight limp when walking.
This was probably the only skilled job in the Ibogu gold mining team. Of course Cao Mo wanted Owema to stay, but Owema was wary of Cao Mo.
When Owema came back from the mine and heard about the cooperation, the look in his eyes made Cao Mo suspect that he, a foreigner, had come to deceive the old chief.
Owema had a dark face the whole time, and he was panting when he spoke. He argued a few words with the old chief in Yoruba, and what he said was not pleasant. Cao Mo just stayed there, pretending not to understand at all, thinking to himself,
As long as this lame black cow can't be as stubborn as the old chief.
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When it was getting dark, a bonfire was lit in the grain-drying field in front of the old chief's house, and a young wild boar cub that had just been hunted from the forest that afternoon was placed on the bonfire and roasted.
Cao Mo, Kabuga, the old chief Felician, Lily, and several villagers in the village who were respected by the old chief and assigned to work, gathered around the bonfire and drank the locally brewed palm wine.
Further away, a second-hand tape recorder was placed in the corner of the square. The broadcast was not very powerful, but it had bright rhythmic drum music, and the girls and young people in the village started to dance.
Cao Mo admired the locals for this. The village looked primitive and traditional, and most people had not received any decent education, but their sense of music and rhythm were surprisingly good.
Cao Mo was completely helpless and could only sit by the campfire and talk to Felician, Overema and others in clumsy Yoruba.
From time to time, he pronounces words incorrectly, pronounces syllables that sound strange to the locals, or fails to understand the other person's meaning. He makes gestures with his hands and feet and asks questions in English, which makes the villagers feel both funny and amused.
However, this is the same as in China, when a foreigner works hard to communicate with you in clumsy Mandarin. Although it is funny, it still makes people feel friendly. Cao Mo's sense of distance from the villagers is also a little bit in this clumsy communication.
is disappearing.
No matter what, Cao Mo's bite from the poisonous snake was not in vain.
Through deeper exchanges this time, Cao Mo learned that although the old chief Felician believed in the local primitive religion, he did not marry ten or eight wives and have a bunch of children like other tribal leaders.
Felician is a traditional old soldier who participated in the local militia organized to overthrow the colonial rule, and later served in the army of the military government.
In 1994, the fifth military government headed by Palaka was overthrown by a coup. He and Owema, who was injured in the coup at the time, were purged from the army. When they returned to the tribe, they were suppressed by the local government.
His only wife died early and he did not marry another wife.
He also has a son, Lily's father, who believes in Christianity. He participated in the Patriotic Construction Front when he was studying in Catero, the capital of Oyo State, and has been actively participating in the movement to overthrow the rule of the military government. In his early years, father and son had a deep relationship with each other.
Conflict. Lily’s father, who is currently teaching at a junior college in Katba, the capital of Oyo State, rarely goes back to Ibogu Village.
Felician was unwell some time ago, so Lily rushed back to Ibogu Village to take care of her grandfather during the school holidays.
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Yang Deshan and Guo Jian grabbed Song Yuqing and drove to the ancient village of Yibo. Cao Mo and Kabuga were already slightly tipsy after drinking the strange-tasting palm wine.
The locals are wary and enthusiastic towards outsiders.
The old chief Felician shamelessly accepted the gift from Yang Deshan, which was an uncarved white ivory. Cao Mo suddenly felt that the old chief's shameless spirit was worth learning from him.
The old chief warmly invited Yang Deshan and the others to sit down in front of the bonfire and handed them wine and barbecue.
Yang Deshan and Guo Jian were worried about poor hygiene, so they occasionally left Draculamo and brought their own water, bread, biscuits, etc. They never ate local food. Now they thought that roasting well-cooked wild boar meat should be no problem.
Just reach out and pick it up.
"Wild boar meat needs to be dipped in this sauce." Seeing Yang Deshan and the others sitting over, Cao Mo handed a small bowl of dark sauce to Yang Deshan and the others, and enthusiastically introduced the different local barbecue procedures, "
This little wild boar was still alive and kicking after being caught. It was not skinned or its internal organs were removed. A wooden spear was directly inserted through the anus and out of the mouth. It was not completely dead when it was stabbed through. When it was put on the campfire to roast
, squeaking and screaming - this meat is cooked, there is no sauce or salt, it has to be eaten with it..."
Song Yuqing's face suddenly turned pale, and she wanted to reach out and pinch Cao Mo twice to relieve her hatred.
"This wine is not bad. I heard from Mr. Felician that he just hollowed out a palm tree and stuffed it into tapioca flour to ferment the wine. Then he left it outside to be exposed to the wind and rain for a period of time. It was a little sour, but it was really good.
It has a unique flavor, so come and have a few sips." Cao Mo continued to introduce it happily.
Song Yuqing put down the wine and barbecue directly.
Yang Deshan and Guo Jian took the wine and barbecue without putting them down, but they felt extremely heavy. Even though they knew that Cao Mo's grandson said these things were disgusting to them, they did not dare to put them in their mouths.
"This is Mr. Yang from our Dongsheng Group West Africa Branch,"
Guo Jian didn't know what step Cao Mo had already discussed with the old chief Felician. In order to resolve the embarrassment of not daring to drink wine and eat meat, he introduced Yang Deshan and went straight to the topic, saying,
"We represent Dongsheng Group in Deculamo. We not only want to expand our company's business to the African continent, but also want to contribute our meager strength to the development of the African continent. Last time Xiao Cao and I came to Yibo Ancient Village
, seeing your gold sand mining situation, I feel that by investing in corresponding equipment and carrying out technical transformation, the production capacity will be greatly improved. After I reported it to our President Yang, our President Yang thinks it is worth cooperating..."
The old chief glanced at the wine bowl and meat that were still in Guo Jian's hand, smoothed back his short, curly gray hair, and said:
"Thank you so much for your enthusiasm, but I have entrusted the gold mine and the gold mining team to Mr. Cao..."
"Don't be in a hurry to talk about things. Let's make some meat with sauce and fill our stomachs first. You guys have come all the way here and you must be starving," Cao Mo said, speaking in Chinese and English to Yang Deshan and Guo Jian, urging them to drink and eat.
Nothing will happen if you go down. I just had a high fever before and there are no other problems. I'm still alive and kicking now and I won't die."
Guo Jianqiang resisted his inner impulse and ignored Cao Mo, and continued to speak to the old chief:
"Mr. Felician, do you know that Cao Mo is just an ordinary employee of ours. He cannot bring much investment to Yibo Ancient Village, nor does he have the ability or experience to be of any help to Yibo Ancient Village - we are also leaders.
I came here with sincerity..."
He had already seen two light motorcycles parked at the edge of the square, and he believed that Cao Mo had arrived early and bluffed Felician first before getting the contract.
At this moment, he couldn't wait to know what kind of relationship Cao Mo had with Felician, so that he could expose Cao Mo's lies and help Felician get out of the pit of being deceived.
Even though Cao Mo had tricked Felician into initialing the cooperation agreement, Guo Jian thought to himself, Felician was a local snake in the true sense and just tore up the agreement which had no legal effect. What could Cao Mo do?
Guo Jian was right to think so, but he was still a little agitated by Cao Mo's teasing.
Seeing Guo Jian's impetuous tone and expression, he wanted to write directly on his face, "Old Chief Felician is really a big fool, a country bumpkin, he can be deceived so easily." Cao Mo almost laughed out loud, but pretended
Said seriously:
"Mr. Yang, Manager Guo, don't think that I am rushing ahead of you and saying some empty lies to deceive Mr. Felician - you also know very well that the funds I can use now are only 20,000.
U.S. dollars, there is a big gap between us and you, and I didn’t even hide it from Mr. Felician..."
"What can you do with twenty thousand dollars? It's not even enough to buy a toilet in the center of Xinhai. Aren't you trying to deceive Mr. Felician into not knowing what twenty thousand dollars is?" Guo Jian was sure that Cao Mo must have said something.
Using his magic technique, he deceived Felician, who had never seen the world before, and spoke unceremoniously.
Cao Mo shrugged and asked nonchalantly: "So, does Manager Guo have a toilet in Xinhai?"
After all, Yang Deshan's English was not good enough. When he saw the old chief put the horn wine glass in his hand on the ground, he realized that Guo Jian's words had made everyone extremely dissatisfied.
This is not to blame for Yang Deshan's slow reaction. In fact, due to the skin color of the locals and the wrinkles on the old chief's face, without long-term contact, it is difficult to detect subtle changes in their emotions from their expressions.
Realizing this, Yang Deshan no longer asked Guo Jian to negotiate with the old chief directly.
Yang Deshan directly expressed his willingness to cooperate with Felician in broken English - some words were stuck, so he spoke Chinese and asked Guo Jian to translate according to his wishes.
The old chief Felician said unceremoniously:
"Mr. Guo left his companions in the village whose life or death was uncertain. He was only thinking about the gold mine. This is like refusing to save anyone on the battlefield. He is unlikely to be a trustworthy partner. But Mr. Cao can
I'm so sorry for inexplicably trusting you."
Guo Jian's face turned red and he was squeezing his neck, wanting to tell the stubborn Felician that business is business, not a battlefield!
Yang Deshan wanted to say more, but the old chief had already made a serious face, folded his hands in front of his chest, and pretended that he would no longer listen to their excuses and asked them to leave.
"This barbecue sauce is really good to eat," Cao Mo looked at Yang Deshan with a "sincerity" look on his face and made a reasonable suggestion, saying, "Mr. Felician trusts me so much, and I will not betray his trust."
.There should be room for further exploration and development of the gold mine in the upper reaches of the Lukaku River. The funds I can spend in the early stage cannot buy a few pieces of equipment. It will be difficult to help Mr. Felician increase the amount of gold mining in a short time.
Get up. Otherwise, Mr. Yang and Manager Guo, if you really want to get involved, you can allocate ten to eight acres of land from the mining area for development. In addition to Mr. Felician's dividend, I will charge a small management fee...
"
Guo Jian's eyelids couldn't help but twitch when he saw that Cao Mo, who had not yet settled down, turned his back on the guests and sat up to enjoy the fruits of his labor. The idea of skinning them as a subcontractor came to Guo Jian's eyes.
Is there such a cheap thing?
After Song Yuqing arrived at Yibo Ancient Village, she didn't say much, and there was no chance for her to interrupt. But at this moment, she became worried again, worried that Yang Deshan and Guo Jian couldn't bear their anger, and the two sides would directly conflict with each other, causing a big fuss.
"We are really presumptuous today. Since Mr. Felician has made up his mind, we won't bother you any more,"
Seeing that things had not improved, Yang Deshan didn't know why the old chief Felician had such a stubborn temper, but he could still afford it. Seeing that he could not change the old chief Felician's mind, Yang Deshan stood up and said goodbye.
Then he said to Cao Mo again,
"Since you've taken vacation, the branch office can't slack off on the matters in Draculamore, so we'll go back first."
He left so calmly, without even a harsh word, and even tacitly allowed Cao Mo to continue doing private work while retaining his position in the West Africa branch?
Guo Jian looked at Yang Deshan in surprise.
Song Yuqing was also surprised. She glanced at Yang Deshan and Cao Mo with doubtful eyes, unable to guess what they were thinking.
"Then I will send it to Mr. Yang and Manager Guo."
Cao Mo didn't have much opinion. He directly felt that although Yang Deshan was angry, he didn't say this as a way to slow down the fight, nor did he mean to make angry or sarcastic remarks.
Since Yang Deshan had no intention of falling out, he politely stood up and sent Yang Deshan off, and Cao Mo left...