China formally proposed to Japan that it would not be allowed to drop mines, a weapon that threatens shipping lanes, but the Meiji government of Japan quickly relented, saying that Japan would definitely exercise restraint in this regard in the future. This speed exceeded Wang Haiyang's imagination, and he thought that the Japanese would have to show toughness anyway. Wang Haiyang's attitude also somewhat wronged the Japanese Meiji government; before the Chinese navy hit mines, the Japanese Meiji government's own ships first encountered a large number of mines, not to mention civilian ships, and there was even an accident in which a warship seriously damaged a warship.

As a last resort, Hokkaido's navy had to resort to a mine blockade, and now the Meiji government itself had to continue to taste the problems left behind by mines. Now that even China is involved, the Meiji government can only "appreciate" the fact that the mines made by Heihachiro Togo are strong and durable.

The mine incident can only be called a trivial matter, and compared with the mines, the Transvaal Republic's purchase of a large number of new weapons from China surprised Wang Haiyang, who had just come into contact with the deeper level of diplomacy. The Transvaal Republic had already fought a Boer War with the British, known as the "First Boer War" in Weeser's time.

In September 1880, a "gun riot" took place in the British protectorate of Basutoland (present-day Lesotho) in order to confiscate from the natives a large number of guns from the Kimberley diamond mines as wages to black laborers. "The main British force in the Transvaal went south to suppress the Bao rebellion, and the total number of British troops remaining in the Transvaal did not exceed 3,000, and they were only stationed in a few important towns such as Pretoria, Rustenburg, Leidenburg, and Sanderton, and the defense was empty. On December 16 of that year, more than 5,000 Boers dissatisfied with British governance gathered in Paldeclar for a national convention to declare an armed revolt and restore the Republic of South Africa.

The British immediately sent two companies to suppress the Boer rebellion, and when the battle broke out, 77 of the 247 British soldiers were killed and 157 wounded, while only 2 of the 247 British troops were killed and 4 wounded.

In January 1881, reinforced British troops marched from the Natal colony to the Transvaal. The commander of the British army, General Colley, led this reinforcement of more than 1,000 men west into the Transvaal. In the battle with the Boers at Lang Gap on the border between Natal and the Transvaal, the British suffered 93 killed, 133 wounded, 54 captured, and Kohli himself was killed on the top of the hill. On the part of the Burunese army, only one was killed and five wounded.

But the Boers lacked weapons and equipment, and in the end they negotiated peace. On 3 August 1881, the two sides signed the Pretoria Agreement. The agreement guaranteed that the Transvaal could establish a fully autonomous government under the suzerainty of the British Queen, and that Britain would retain three prerogatives: control of the Transvaal's foreign relations; maintaining control over the Transvaal's relations with African tribes; In wartime, the British had the right to borrow the Moral Lanzvaal.

China intervened strongly in southern Africa during the partition of Africa by the great powers, first by intimidating the Portuguese colonial government in Mozambique with strong force. The Portuguese colonial government maintained a minimum sense of existence, and the Portuguese governor would not sacrifice his wife and daughter to sleep with Chinese officials. If China wants to do anything in Mozambique, it will also give the local colonial government an agreement for them to sign, and that's it. The Transvaal railway across Mozambique to the Indian Ocean was completed, and goods transported by the Transvaal Republic and other countries by this railway were not subject to inspection and control by the Portuguese colonial government.

The large amount of gold ore sold to China was exchanged for a lot of money, and the Transvaal Republic naturally spent this money on the purchase of military equipment. Wang Haiyang naturally knows how to hide clumsiness, and he does not dare to ask questions at the Standing Committee. He privately approached Li Xin and asked a question, "Does the Transvaal Republic want to go to war with Britain?" ”

When it comes to the military, the first thing that comes to everyone's mind is men. At this stage, there are about 120,000 men who can carry guns in the Transvaal Republic, and the Transvaal Republic has purchased 120,000 rifles, 1,000 machine guns, and 100 37 guns that are easy to carry from China. The whole situation has been formed in which everyone carries a gun.

These rifles were also repeating bolt-action rifles with magazines, and the Transvaal Republic, which had become not poor by selling gold mines, had bought millions of rounds of ammunition and tens of thousands of shells. Just looking at this posture, it looks like it is going to practice with the British.

The Transvaal Republic was a small country that maintained the mentality of expelling Britain and gaining complete independence. Li Xin didn't think that Wang Haiyang's surprise was incomprehensible. Britain's population and industrial capacity are undoubtedly behemoths compared to the Transvaal, and the gap between the two sides is much wider than that of China and Japan. Even so, Li Xin did not underestimate the Transvaal Republic. The Liberation Army's assessment of the Transvaal army was "quite combative".

Taking advantage of the terrain, crawling forward, and lying down to shoot are only a few of the many training subjects for the Liberation Army, and the Liberation Army can even apply such tactics to a major battle of more than 100,000 people. It is not this technique and tactics that can be considered "good at war" by the powerful Liberation Army, but the operational concept of "guerrilla warfare" of the Transvaal army. Hit and go; concentrate forces against the enemy's inferior forces; No matter how many ways you come, I'll go all the way. This is the theory of war put forward by the governor of Wezedu. The Liberation Army did not expect that the Transvaal Army, which had never been in contact with the military concepts of the Liberation Army, would have such a war concept themselves, let alone that they would be able to implement these concepts in the war.

The Liberation Army has long had such exercises, in which the defending side uses guerrilla warfare to strike at the attacking side by taking advantage of the advantage of the inner line. After 10 exercises, the Liberation Army, which prides itself on being unparalleled in the world in terms of offensive power, has no choice but to admit that this tactic is "quite troublesome." This kind of combat would be very difficult to crack if it was supplemented by a communication tool such as radio. The results of the repeated discussions were frustrating, and it was not impossible to win, as the attackers cut off all sources of weapons and ammunition from the defenders, and at the same time adopted a strategy of "total purge" in enemy-occupied areas, and a large number of immigrants and strongholds. Otherwise, as long as the defending side has a "rear" to provide troops and equipment, this kind of war will be fought for a long time.

Because of this, the attitude of the army towards the use of North American troops is becoming more and more cautious. The exercises have proven that if China wants to swallow the United States, it must let the United States accumulate corpses on the soil and shed rivers of blood. The heaviest battle was not between the Chinese Liberation Army and the regular American army, but between the Chinese army and the American militia. With the improvement of vision, the conclusion of looking at the problem will naturally change a lot. The Liberation Army once thought that the cost of "spending a lot of money" to hire the Japanese who were in charge of killing and burying them to help clean up Southeast Asia was too high. Now the Military Commission is recognized as the Governor who has chosen the simplest, easiest and least costly option.

However, Wang Haiyang was not from a military background, and Li Xin didn't want to spend that effort to popularize military knowledge for Wang Haiyang, he smiled: "Exporting weapons and equipment has no negative impact on the country, right?" ”

Wang Haiyang didn't expect Li Xin to actually shift the topic to this direction, he was slightly stunned, and then replied: "Not only does it have no negative impact, but it also has a great effect on the economy." ”

The Liberation Army has more than 2 million troops, and the Transvaal Republic has purchased more than 100,000 people and equipment, accounting for about 5% of the weapons and equipment needs of the Liberation Army. The logistical supply of more than 2 million troops was a great pressure on the Minchao, and the equipment of more than 100,000 people made the arsenal that was running at full strength a lot of money, which greatly stimulated the vitality of the economy.

Seeing that Wang Haiyang also agreed with the benefits brought by arms sales, Li Xin smiled and said: "Since we ourselves have no intention of fighting the Transvaal Republic, and the Transvaal Republic has no ability to launch an attack on us, what does it have to do with us whether they are fighting with the British?" ”

This reason is easy to understand, but Wang Haiyang always feels that there is a hint of fooling people in Li Xin's attitude. Where is it so simple in politics, where a group of hot-blooded Boers look up to the sky and howl, and then take up arms and rush at the mighty British army? If it were written in a book, it would have been possible, but in fact there could never have been such a simple state. Now that he has sat in the position of prime minister, Wang Haiyang asked: "Lao Li, what you said is not clear, I don't think it is right." ”

Li Xin didn't hide it, he laughed, "I can give you 5,000 pages of indexed materials, and I can send someone to give you a two-day course on the conflict between the Transvaal Republic and Britain." It's nothing to our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, do you have time? ”

Hearing this workload, Wang Haiyang retreated at that time, "Can it be reduced to one-tenth of the content?" ”

Li Xin smiled, "I can tell you in three sentences." The Transvaal Republic wanted to get rid of British control and monopolize the interests of the Rand gold mines. The Transvaal Republic thought they were capable of fighting and hoped to expel British influence in South Africa and establish a Boer power. The British wanted to keep their interests and annex the Transvaal Republic. Naturally, we want to take advantage of this contradiction and become the largest buyer of gold in the Transvaal and the largest supplier to the Transvaal Republic. ”

As soon as he said this, Wang Haiyang understood the contradiction, and also understood that he actually had no room to meddle in this contradiction. Where did the prime minister of the Republic of China have so much time to focus on a small country. Even though this small country is rich in gold and is a major source of gold for the Min Dynasty, its importance is not ranked as a priority for the Min Dynasty. This kind of work is naturally done by specialized departments. Moreover, from a system point of view, if there is a huge change in the Transvaal Republic, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will naturally propose it at the Politburo meeting, and Wang Haiyang will have time to speak at that time.

Leaving the matter behind, Wang Haiyang continued to complete his work. But half a month later, news came about the Transvaal Republic. At the Politburo's regular briefing meeting, Foreign Minister Li Xin looked at the notebook with the contents of the briefing and read: "The Transvaal government has announced that foreign nationals residing in Johannesburg are required to pay full taxes, but are not entitled to participate in presidential and legislative elections unless they have lived in the Transvaal for 14 years and become naturalized." In addition, all aliens are not allowed to hold government office and their children cannot attend government-funded schools. ”

After reading it, Li Xin raised his head and continued to the committee members: "This law has been protested by the British. ”

Before Wang Haiyang could figure out what was going on, the eyes of the representative of the Military Commission lit up, and a mocking smile appeared on Wei Ze's face. The opportunity for southern Africa has come.