Kanem's land system is different from that of China, Europe and the United States, and it is quite a primitive tradition.

The land of the ancient village of Ibogu was theoretically owned by the family of the tribal chief, the chief Felician, but the tribesmen were not restricted from building houses, farming, gathering fruits, and hunting wild beasts on the land.

If you stay in the era of self-sufficient tribes, this is not a problem, but for industrial development, the ambiguity of land tenure is quite tricky.

For the tribal leaders, who have a large amount of land in their hands, they can already live a prosperous life.

Affluence is always relative, and no one can say that the old chief Felician can get less satisfaction in the village of Ibogu than the wealthy class who settle in a civilized city.

The federal government's finances do not depend on local contributions, and are indifferent to local construction and development and people's livelihood affairs, and the chiefs who actually control the land have little incentive to take out the land for deeper development, and there will be no long-term planning.

The city of Draculamo, where the land was plundered in the colonial era, was not only built on a certain scale after Kanem gained independence, but also the ownership of the land was clarified, as well as some simple industries left over from the colonial era, which formed a unique prosperity on the west coast of Africa.

After Kanem ended his military rule, Cao Mo read news reports that the newly elected President Buhari seemed to be quite ambitious, but under many constraints, it is really impossible to predict which step he can take.

The civil strife in the inland areas of the northeast has not yet been quelled.

And what Cao Mo wants to do now is not too complicated.

The gold mining point does not involve the daily living and food gathering area of the villagers, and the old chief Felician is also very good in the tribe.

He agreed to contract the upper reaches of the Lujiao River, a river that flows from the east of Yibogu Village, to Cao Mo as a mining area, and that no one else could be forced to do so.

The ambiguity of land ownership is not only limited to the tribal leaders and the villagers, but also the boundary between the village of Ibogu and the surrounding tribes.

Fortunately, the woodland on both sides of the Lujiaochuan River to the north of the settlement has been an activity area for Ibogu villagers for more than 100 years, and there are no other tribes settled nearby, so the ownership is relatively much clearer.

It's also quite a broad area.

From the northernmost settlement of the village of Ibogu, two or three kilometres upstream along the Antler River, to the dense and impassable primeval forests of the border between Kanem and Benin.

The old chieftain Felician gathered the two leaders of the village who were in charge of the gold mining team.

Felician demanded that Cao Mo accept all the workers of the gold mining team, and that they should not be asked to lose their jobs that seemed quite decent to the tribe just because the gold mines were contracted out.

One of the leaders was old, and Felician would later put him in charge of some of the tribe's affairs, while the other, in his early forties, looked a little older, a veteran from the village of Ibogu who had served Kanem's military government in his early years.

The explosives, procurement, and operation of the quarrying were all the responsibility of this strong but lame leader named Owema.

This is probably the only type of work with technical content in the Ibogu gold mining team, Cao Mo of course wants Owema to stay, but Owema is wary of Cao Mo.

When Owema came back from the mine and heard about the cooperation, the look in his eyes made Cao Mo himself suspect that he, a gringo, had come to deceive the old chief.

Owema's face was blackened the whole time, and he gasped for breath when he spoke, and he argued a few words with the old chief in Yoruba, and his words were not good. Cao Mo was there, pretending not to understand at all, thinking to himself, as long as this lame black bull was stubborn to the old chief.

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When it was getting dark, a bonfire was lit in the threshing floor in front of the old chief's house, and a baby boar cub that had been hunted in the forest that afternoon was roasted on the bonfire.

Cao Mo, Kabuja, the old chiefs Felician and Lily, and several villagers in the village who were important to the old chieftain and assigned to do the work, gathered around the campfire and drank locally brewed palm wine.

Farther away, a second-hand tape recorder sits in the corner of the square, playing music that is not very strong, but with a bright rhythm of drums, and the girls and young people of the village dance.

Cao Mo admires the locals for their primitive traditions, most of whom have not received any decent education, but their sense of musicality and rhythm is surprisingly good.

Cao Mo could not do it at all, so he could only sit by the campfire and talk to Felician, Owema, and others in the clumsy Yoruba language.

From time to time, he made a mistake, pronounced a syllable that sounded strange to the locals, or could not understand what the other person meant, and gestured with his hands and feet, mixed with English questions, which made the villagers find both funny and funny.

However, this is the same as the truth that in China, a gringo tries very hard to communicate with you in clumsy Mandarin, although it is funny but also makes people feel kind, Cao Mo's sense of distance from the villagers is also disappearing little by little in such clumsy communication.

No matter what, Cao Mo's bite by 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 was a traditional former soldier who had served in the local militias organized to overthrow colonial rule and later in the military junta's army.

In 94, the fifth military junta led by Palaka was overthrown in a coup d'état, and he and Owema, who had been injured in the coup d'état, were purged from the army, and returned to the tribe and have been suppressed by the local government.

His only wife had died at an early age, and he had not married any other wife.

He also has a son, Lily's father, but he is a Christian, and he was involved in the patriotic construction front in his early years as a student in Katero, the capital of Oyo state, and has been actively involved in the movement to overthrow the rule of the military government. Lily's father, who is currently teaching at a college in Katba, the capital of Oyo State, rarely makes a trip back to the village of Ibogu.

It was still Felician who was unwell some time ago, and Lily rushed to the school holiday to go back to the village of Ibogu to take care of her grandfather.

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When Yang Deshan and Guo Jian pulled Song Yuqing and drove to Yibo Ancient Village, Cao Mo and Kabuja were already slightly drunk drinking palm wine with a strange taste.

The locals are both wary and welcoming to outsiders.

The old chief Felician shamelessly accepted the gift brought by Yang Deshan, which was a white ivory that had not been carved - Cao Mo suddenly felt that the old chief's old shameless spirit was worth learning from.

The old chief graciously invited Yang Deshan to sit down in front of the campfire and handed them wine and barbecue.

Yang Deshan and Guo Jian were worried about poor hygiene, and occasionally left Draculamo to go out, bringing their own water, bread, biscuits, etc., and never eating local food.

"Wild boar meat wants to dip in this sauce," seeing Yang Deshan and them sitting over, Cao Mo handed a small bowl of black sauce in front of him to Yang Deshan, and introduced the different local barbecue process very enthusiastically, "This little wild boar cub is still alive when he catches it, he doesn't peel it, he doesn't remove the internal organs, he directly pokes a wooden spear from the anus door, pokes it out of the mouth, and when it is pierced, it is not completely dead, and when it is roasted on the bonfire, it squeaks and screams - this meat is cooked, there is no sauce or salt, and it has to be eaten with a ferment......

Song Yuqing's face suddenly turned pale, and she couldn't wait to reach over and pinch Cao Mo twice to relieve her hatred.

"This wine is not bad, listen to Mr. Felician's introduction, it is to directly hollow out a piece of palm tree and stuff it into cassava flour to brew, and throw it outside in the wind and rain for a period of time, even if it is done, it is a little sour and does not pull it, it really has a unique flavor, you also come to drink two sips." Cao Mo happily continued.

Song Yuqing directly put down the wine and barbecue.

Yang Deshan and Guo Jian took the wine and barbecue and didn't put it down, but they felt that they weighed more than a thousand pounds, even if they knew that Cao Mo's grandson said that these were disgusting to them, they didn't dare to put them in their mouths.

"This is Mr. Yang of the West Africa Branch of our Dongsheng Group,"

Guo Jian didn't know what step Cao Mo had talked about with the old chief Felician, in order to resolve the embarrassment of not daring to drink and eat meat, after he introduced Yang Deshan, he went directly to the topic and said,

"On behalf of Dongsheng Group in Draculamo, we not only want to expand our company's business to the African continent, but also want to contribute our modest strength to the development of the African continent. Last time, Xiao Cao and I came to Yibo Ancient Village, and when we saw your gold sand mining, we felt that investing in the corresponding equipment and carrying out technical transformation would greatly increase the production capacity. After I reported to our Mr. Yang, we Mr. Yang thought it was worth cooperating......"

The old chief glanced at the wine bowl and meat in Guo Jian's hand, brushed back his curled short gray hair, and said:

"Thank you for your enthusiasm, but I've already entrusted the gold mine and the gold mining team to Mr. Cao......

"Don't be in a hurry to talk about things, eat meat with Jiao sauce first and fill your stomach. You guys rushed all the way over, you should all be hungry," Cao Mo did not forget to Chinese and English to persuade Yang Deshan and Guo Jian to drink and persuade meat, "There will be nothing wrong with eating, I also had a high fever before, there are no other problems, and now I am still alive and kicking, and I can't die." ”

Guo Jianqiang resisted the impulse in his heart and ignored Cao Mo, and continued to say to the old chief:

"Mr. Felician, do you know that Cao Mo is just an ordinary employee under us, he can't bring much investment to the ancient village of Ibo, and he doesn't have the ability and experience, how can he help the ancient village of Ipogu - we also came with sincerity......"

He had already seen the two light motorcycles parked at the edge of the square, and he decided that Cao Mo had rushed over in advance and had scared Felician before getting the contract.

At this time, he couldn't wait to know what kind of sea port Cao Mo had opened with Felician, so that he could expose Cao Mo's lies and help Felician pull out of the mud pit of being deceived.

Even if Cao Mo had tricked Felician into initialing the cooperation agreement, Guo Jian thought to himself, Felician is a snake in the real sense, and he directly tore up the agreement that has no legal effect, what can Cao Mo do?

Guo Jian was right to think so, but he was still a little impetuous.

Seeing Guo Jian's impetuous tone and look, he couldn't wait to write directly on his face, "Old Chief Felician is really a big fool and a hillbilly, so easy to be deceived", Cao Mo almost laughed out loud, but pretended to be serious and said:

"Mr. Yang, Manager Guo, don't think that I am ahead of you, saying some empty words, and deceiving Mr. Felician - you also know very well that the funds I can take out now are only 20,000 US dollars, which is very different from you, and I have not hidden it from Mr. Felician......"

"What can you do with $20,000? It's not enough to buy a toilet in the center of Xinhai. Aren't you deceiving Mr. Felician that he doesn't know what the concept of $20,000 is?" Guo Jian decided that Cao Mo must have used some kind of trick to deceive Felician, who had never seen the world, and said unceremoniously.

Cao Mo shrugged his shoulders and asked indifferently, "Then Manager Guo has a toilet in Xinhai?"

Yang Deshan's English is not up to par, and at this time, 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 the family extremely dissatisfied.

It's no wonder that Yang Deshan reacts slowly, it's really the skin color of the locals and the wrinkles on the old chief's face, and without long-term contact, it is difficult to detect subtle changes in their emotions from their expressions.

At this time, he realized that Yang Deshan no longer asked Guo Jian to negotiate directly with the old chief.

Yang Deshan directly expressed his willingness to cooperate with Felician in stumbling English - some words were stuck, so he spoke Chinese and asked Guo Jian to translate according to his meaning.

But the old chief Felician said unceremoniously:

"Mr. Guo left his companion in the village, whose fate was uncertain, and his mind was full of thoughts about the gold mine, which was not saved in the battlefield, and it was unlikely that he would be a trustworthy partner, but Mr. Cao could be inexplicably trusted, I am really sorry. ”

Guo Jian's face turned red, and he wanted to tell the stubborn Felician that business is business, not going to the battlefield!

Yang Deshan wanted to say more, but the old chief had already straightened his face, clasped his hands in front of his chest, and put on a posture of not listening to their justifications and asking them to leave.

"This barbecue sauce is really good," Cao Mo looked at Yang Deshan with a look of "sincerity", made a reasonable suggestion, and said, "Mr. Felician trusts me so much, and I will not live up to his trust." In the upper reaches of the Lujiaochuan River, there should be room for further exploration and development of the gold mine, and the funds I can get out in the early stage cannot buy a few pieces of equipment, and it is difficult to help Mr. Felician increase the amount of gold mining in a short period of time. Otherwise, if you really want to get involved, Mr. Yang and Manager Guo, you can also divide ten acres and eight acres of land from the mining area to develop, except for Mr. Felician's dividend, I will charge a little management fee......"

Seeing that Cao Mo's ass had not yet sat firmly, he was actually anti-customer-oriented, and started the subcontracting idea of sitting back and enjoying his success and peeling the skin from them, Guo Jian's eyelids couldn't help twitching.

Is there such a cheap thing?

After Song Yuqing arrived in Yibo Ancient Village, she didn't talk much, and she didn't have the opportunity to interject and speak, but at this moment she became worried again, worried that Yang Deshan and Guo Jian would not be able to stand it, and the two sides directly clashed and made a fuss.

"We're really presumptuous today, and since Mr. Felician has made up his mind, we won't bother much,"

Yang Deshan saw that things did not turn around, and he didn't know that the old chief Felician's temper was so stubborn, but he could still afford to put it down, and seeing that he couldn't change the old chief Felician's mind, he stood up and said goodbye, and said to Cao Mo when he came,

"You've taken a vacation, and you still can't slack off on the affairs of the branch in Draculamo, so we'll go back first. ”

left so calmly, without even saying a word of cruelty, and even acquiesced to Cao Mo's continued private work while retaining his position in the West African branch?

Guo Jian looked at Yang Deshan in surprise.

Song Yuqing was also surprised, and her puzzled eyes swept over the faces of Yang Deshan and Cao Mo, and she couldn't guess what kind of idea they were thinking in their hearts.

"Then I'll send it to Mr. Yang and Manager Guo. ”

Cao Mo didn't have too many opinions, and directly felt that although Yang Deshan was angry in his heart, he said this not as a delaying tactic, nor did he intend to say angry words or backwords.

Since Yang Deshan didn't mean to turn his face, he stood up politely and sent Yang Deshan and Cao Mo away......