Although the elder Carlos was unwilling, he finally agreed to Deco's request, and took his eldest son Julio and his family to board the ship to the northeast. Deco has made contact with Rui to pick up the Carlos family in Mukden. However, Figo, the third child, stayed, and although he longed for a trip to the Northeast with his natural adventurous personality, he decided to stay in Mozambique after some choice. It's just that he didn't stay under Deco, but took advantage of Deco's relationship in Dashang to join the newly established Insurance Team's 3rd African Field Division.

Most of the divisions are native Mozambican blacks, a small number of Portuguese whites, and the training is carried out by officers drawn from the mainland, a total of more than 300 people, which can be regarded as a new attempt in the northeast. As for the combat effectiveness of the legion, there is still nothing to hope for, and it can barely bring the team together, and the division commander Fu Biao is already thankful.

In the port of Maputo, the ship set sail in half an hour, and on the pier, Deco and Figo, who had already put on military uniforms and watched very handsome, were bidding farewell to Carlos Sr., Julio and other family members.

"Big brother, the northeast side depends on you to take care of it."

"Don't worry. You should also pay attention here, Figo is also dependent on you to take care of it. Deco nodded.

Old Carlos felt sorry for his old son, so he was talking to Figo alone.

"Figo, you have joined the army, you must pay attention to safety." Old Carlos patted his son on the shoulder and said earnestly. However, it is inevitable to bring out a few complaints, some lamentations. "Why do you want to join the insurance team, what's so good there, hanging out with a bunch of all day long, I don't know what you think."

Figo smiled heartily and began to comfort his father, saying, "Dad, don't worry, don't you know how powerful your son is?" I'm as strong as you were back then, and I'll tell you the good news that I've passed the test in the insurance team and can enter the officer class. ”

Obviously, to build an army in Mozambique, it is not realistic to rely entirely on the transfer of officers from the northeast, so the training of local officers is also a matter of course, and it is also an urgent matter. Of course, how to bring the natives to their hearts and regularize the army. For the senior management of the insurance team who do not understand the local situation in Africa, they are still in the process of further exploration, and they are not in a hurry.

While Deco and Figo were sending their family members aboard the ship, a white man in his thirties walked down on a ship that had just entered the port of Maputo.

His name is Cecil John Rhodes, English, born in Harfordshire, England, to a family of Christian rural pastors. He was too weak to go to college or join the army like his older brothers, so he had to stay at home and farm with his parents. Rhodes had only intermittent primary education until the age of 17.

In 1870, one of Rhodes's brothers, Herbert, wrote to him to seek medical treatment in the Cape Colony in southern Africa. So, he came to Southern Africa. Thus began the most important period of his life.

He first arrived in Natal province to work on a cotton plantation run by Herbert. The following year, he left the plantation and moved to Kimberley, the famous center of diamond mining at the time. Ludes was tempted by the greed for money and joined the mining team. When he and Herbert arrived in the Kimberley, they were initially destitute, mining ore and selling ice cream for a living. Since the gold and diamond mines of the Transvaal were deep mines that could only be mined with large equipment and large-scale blasting, and were generally unaffordable for small companies or individual gold prospectors, Rhodes and another adventurer, Charles Ladd, began to buy bankrupt enterprises, recruited small miners to buy shares, and made huge profits in large-scale speculative activities, rapidly expanding the scope and quantity of business, and gradually monopolizing the production of the largest "Rand" gold mine. In 1880, Rhodes founded the "De Beers Mining Company" with a capital of £200,000. Six years later, this year, Rhodes alone earned £250,000 a year. This is an unimaginable number for the average person.

In addition to mining production, Rhodes spent nearly half of the eight years from 1873 to 1881 returning to Oxford to study economics and philosophy. And during this time, he became a fanatical British Empire colonialist.

At a rally, he said: "The true aim and direction of the Empire is to extend the domination of Britain throughout the world." ”

"The world has almost been divided, and the rest is being divided, conquered, and colonized. It's a pity we couldn't get to the stars that twinkle above us at night! If I could, I would annex the stars; I think about it a lot. I saw them so bright and yet so far away, and I just felt uncomfortable. ”

Today Rhodes is coming to Mozambique, in fact, he has been to Maputo once a few years ago, and this is the second time. However, this trip obviously had a shocking beginning, except for the still beautiful port of Maputo, everything has changed.

"It seems a little difficult to do!" Cecil Rhodes shook his head secretly.

"Sir, would I like to take a carriage?" A black carriage parked by the dock, the coachman asked with a smile on his face. Unfortunately, he was a black man, so Cecil didn't get into the carriage, but went straight to the carriage run by a white man next to him.

"Go to the Maputo government."

"Yes, sir." The white lad who was driving the car shrugged at his black companion and left with Rhodes.

Chen Xing'an has been very busy lately, when he has just finished working on a housing project and is preparing to build Anmin communities in various small towns in Mozambique. Fifteen minutes later, he was going to attend a meeting of the Ministry of Industry. Now that the geological exploration of the entire Mozambique region has been basically completed, the mining giants led by big merchants have begun to travel to various places. With the gradual mass production of coal and iron, the two basic industrial raw materials that are the basis of modern industry, and the development of other mineral deposits, the Mozambican government has begun to introduce various advanced machinery from the northeast for the construction of heavy industrial centers represented by steel mills and coal chemical plants.

Finally finished reading the thick report in his hand, Chen Xingan rubbed his eyebrows slightly tiredly, and asked the secretary to bring in a cup of coffee.

"I'm tired."

At this time, the phone rang, and the secretary went over to pick up the phone.

"Hello, this is the governor's office."

"Hello, Secretary Jiang? I am the little king at the reception of the hall, and there is an Englishman named Cecil John Rhodes who wants to ask to see the prefect, you see......"

"The governor has a meeting coming up, so there's not much time. By the way, what is the matter with this Mr. Rhodes coming to the provincial government? ”

"Said he was here to negotiate a deal with us."

"Well, I'll ask the governor for his opinion, and I'll call you later."

"I'm sorry for you, Secretary Jiang."

After putting down the phone, Jiang Yu looked at Chen Xing'an and said, "Governor, there is an Englishman named Rhodes at the front desk who wants to see you, can you see ......?"

Chen Xing'an thought for a while and said, "If this Mr. Rhodes is not in a hurry, I can see him in three hours." If you're in a hurry...... He came to discuss business, so he asked someone from the Ministry of Commerce to meet with him. Let him choose. ”

In the evening, Rhodes appeared in front of Chen Xing'an. Because it is now the initial stage of the Mozambican provincial government, there are very many people from all sides, and there is a shortage of people within the government, so Rhodes was able to meet Chen Xing'an. This will take a few years, and after Mozambique's development is stable, with Chen Xing'an's status, it must be impossible to come and see you on the same day.

As soon as he entered the door, Rhodes had a smile on his face, and when Jiang Yu made an introduction, he secretly looked carefully at the Asian man in front of him.

He is about thirty years old, seems to be two or three years younger than himself, is not tall, and looks very average. Although there is accumulated fatigue on the face, a pair of eyes flashes with a full look, soft and restrained, which makes people feel a kind of love that can be trusted.

"Sure enough, it's not an ordinary person." Rhodes commented in his heart: "It's not easy to look at this opponent. ”

At the same time as he observed Chen Xing'an, Chen Xing'an was also observing him.

Rhodes is of average height among whites, but he looks very stocky. Although he has always been thin in his childhood, the years of mining and selling ice cream in South Africa have allowed him to refine a good body. Wearing a decent suit, the materials are exquisite, either rich or expensive, and carrying a briefcase in his hand, he should not have brought an entourage.

"Hello, Governor Chen. Under is Cecil John Rhodes, chairman of the De Beers Mining Company and a member of parliament for the Cape Colony of the British Empire. ”

In 1881, Rhodes returned to the Cape Colony after graduating from Oxford University. He took the election campaign as an opportunity to obtain the qualification of the legislature, and then began to implement his political theory step by step. In politics, he became acquainted with a good friend, Charlie George Gordon. This person had participated in the Qing court's suppression of the Tianping Heavenly Kingdom. He greatly admired the cruel methods used by Gordon in quelling the civil strife in Basutolan. To put it mildly, the two are the same dog, both practitioners of colonial expansionism in the British Empire.

"It turned out to be Mr. Rhodes." Chen Xing'an stood up to greet him and shook hands with Rhodes cordially. "I've heard of the name for a long time!"

This is not a kind word, Chen Xingan knows Rhodes, and he has also heard of De Beers Mining Company. But...... Famous is famous, but unfortunately it may not be a good name. Just a few days earlier, he had received a telegram from Fu Hanxin from the Boer Transvaal Republic, in which he mentioned this Rhodes.

The reason for his visit to Mozambique was simple: to buy two territories of the Grand Commercial Group in the Transvaal Republic, one in Johannesburg and the other in the Premir mine.