Deco has been living in Maputo since his family left, while his brother Figo has been training in the barracks, and he just visited yesterday and found that his temperament is completely different from before. The sunny smile disappeared from the big boy's body, replaced by a tall and solemn soldier's air. Deco was secretly frightened, and he was a little more in awe of the insurance team. I just don't know what kind of mood the father will feel about such a change when he sees his old son again.

A few days ago, Fu Hanxin, the head of the Dashang in the Transvaal, contacted him personally, and later the two met and talked about Cecil Rhodes' preparation to buy Jintian. As an advocate of colonialism in the British Empire, Rhodes was very low-key, even humble, when meeting with the governor of Mozambique, Chen Xing'an. But its covert methods show no signs of weakness. What is even more unexpected is that shortly after returning to the Cape Colony, this man became Minister of Finance in the colonial administration. Although the emergence of big businessmen made Rhodes become the Minister of Finance two years later than in the original history, but now this point in time seems to be more interesting.

"Recently, British spies have been haunting our territory in the Golden Fields from time to time, and although we have stepped up our precautions, we still feel that we are overwhelmed." Fu Hanxin's face was worried.

Deco frowned and asked, "What's going on in the British Cape Colony?" ”

"That Rhodes himself was a parliamentarian for the Cape Colony, and since he came back from Mozambique, he has been making tough statements against us. Although there is no sign of the local British commander mobilizing his troops, intelligence from the British mainland suggests that the British seem to be preparing for a war, and according to our assessment, the targets are the two Boer regimes - the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State! ”

"It looks like it's worse than I thought, are the Transvaal and Orange ready?"

Fu Hanxin nodded and said, "Of course there are preparations, but it's hard to say how much of a role they can play." Of course, the Boers may have had some advantage in the initial stages of the war, but the difference in strength between the two sides was obvious, and the British had ruled both places a few years earlier, and knew the area very well. Therefore, after a long time, once the war enters the stalemate stage, I am afraid that it will not be able to continue. ”

The Boers are still good at fighting, but war is a contest of strength after all, and even if Dewasland and Orange are united, they will only be bigger grasshoppers for Britain, and they may be able to bounce for a few days. In the First Anglo-Boer War, the British were defeated not so much because of the defeat of the British as because of their retreat. At that time, De Wasland and Orange were just two wild lands, which may have been valuable to the British, but not so much to invest in them. But now the situation is completely different, and with gold and diamonds under the land of the Boers, then the original chicken ribs will suddenly become delicious and attractive, and then the British will multiply their investment in it.

What's more, Britain has just experienced a political upheaval, when former Prime Minister William Jurte Gladstone was forced to step down because of his failed support for Ireland's limited autonomy. In his place is the leader of the Conservative Party, the leader of the House of Lords, Robert Gasein Cecil, who is the third Marquess of Solsbury! Compared to his predecessors, he was more outwardly and tougher, and was a staunch advocate of the British Empire's foreign colonial and expansionist policies.

"Speaking of which, this Rhodes's attitude has become a little quick, and at first he was in contact with us, but now he only maintains relations with the Mozambican provincial government...... "Fu Hanxin is a little puzzled.

"Probably influenced by the British political situation, now that Robert Gasstein Cecil has come to power, the prime minister and Rhodes are completely on the same page, and both support the British policy of colonial expansion. It seems that the wind has changed, and the president of De Beers Mining Company has also increased his morale! Deco sneered at the corner of his mouth.

"I think so!" Fu Hanxin agreed with Deke's opinion, and then said: "Now the provincial government, Governor Chen's side can still help us drag on for some time......

"We are delaying time, and Britain is also preparing." As he spoke, Deco took out a number of cards and said, "This is information sent by the Intelligence Bureau, and Britain has recently stepped up the speed of sending troops from the mainland to the direction of Burma. It is said that it is because of the strong resistance of the Burmese people, but you can see their military route. ”

"Didn't even go through the Suez Canal?" Fu Hanxin didn't notice this at first, but now after being reminded by Deco, he also found an abnormality.

That's right, he chose to travel south along the west coast of Africa, past the Cape of Good Hope, and from the Indian Ocean to Burma. It stands to reason that if the British wanted to send troops to Burma, they could simply transfer troops from India. However, he chose to transfer troops from the mainland, and passed through the Cape of Good Hope. Going around such a big circle, I'm afraid that the drunkard doesn't mean to drink, and he is also preparing to increase troops against the Cape colony. ”

After pondering for a moment, Fu Hanxin nodded, feeling that the possibility of what Deco said was extremely high. Of course, it was normal for Britain to want to acquire a huge colony between Cairo and Cape Town in Africa and to send more troops to Africa.

"What do you think will be the final outcome of our war with the British?" Deco suddenly asked such a question.

Fu Hanxin shook his head and said, "It is impossible for us to have a war with the British, this is not in our interests. Whether it is the chairman of the board of directors or the prime minister, most of them will not allow such a situation to occur. ”

Deco fell silent.

Fu Hanxin took a sip of water, and then said, "Deke, you have been to the mainland, I think you should understand." If the British had started the Opium War as they had done before, even if all their ships had come, I believe we would have been victorious. Even if we have half the tonnage of armored ships in the Navy, I still believe that we will win. ”

Deco seems to agree with Fu Hanxin's statement, because there is not only a powerful navy in the northeast, but also an air force and army, even if the British can take advantage of the sea, but as long as they dare to land, then there is only one fate to greet them - total annihilation!

"However, we are not homegrown, we are in Africa. Our route to mainland China is separated by Myanmar and India, as well as the Strait of Malacca! They are stuck in our throats! We are now able to run colonies in Africa, and it was only when the British brought us closer to the Berlin Conference that we were qualified. ”

"It seems that this battle really can't be fought." Deco was a little helpless.

"Herein lies the problem, we now have to rely on our homeland to fight the war. We really have to work against the British, unless we have the whole industrial system in Mozambique, but this is not something that can be done in a year or two. And even if it is established, I am afraid that the odds of winning are still very low. ”

'It's true that we're playing against the British, it's unrealistic.'

Deke and Fu Hanxin looked at each other, and no one had a good way to solve the problem in front of them.

Two days later, the two met again, but this time the Northeast Headquarters already knew the current situation, and the countermeasures team had sent back the countermeasures. Deke and Fu Hanxin looked at each other, smiled, and finally had a solution.

The real enemy of the British's Cairo Cape Town North-South Africa Corridor is not the Northeast or the big business groups. Their main rivals to the north of the Cape Colony were the Boer Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State. The big merchants only occupied two of the mining areas, and there was no need to really put themselves in opposition to the British. Now it is not the big merchants who are really anxious, but the Transvaal.

Wang Yi's coping strategy is two:

At present, it is trying its best to support the Boer army, providing a large number of advanced equipment, including foreign trade rifles, sniper rifles, Makqin water-cooled machine guns, mortars, small and medium-caliber artillery produced by the Dashang Arsenal, and so on. In addition to this, a mentoring regiment was sent to train officers for the Boers. At the same time, used gun production lines, artillery production lines, ammunition production lines were sold to the Transvaal Republic. The basic industrial raw materials needed for production lines are exported from Mozambique. The close proximity between Maputo and Pretoria, coupled with the rapid construction of the railway between the two, will make it easy to transport goods. It is believed that if such measures are implemented, the British will be overwhelmed.

But even so, the Boers were well prepared, and Wang Yi still did not believe that they would be able to resist the all-out attack of the British. Of course, it is best to hold it, and the Northeast can also make some war money. But once he couldn't hold it, Wang Yi gave a second countermeasure. Troops were sent from Eswatini, which was currently under military occupation, to forcibly occupy the Premir mining area, as well as the gold fields. Even if there was a military confrontation with the British, it did not hesitate, but it did not directly intervene in the war between the British and the Boers.

For the generosity of the Northeast, President Kruger of the Transvaal was very happy, and the current Boer figure shì grim. The Boers had no other industrial base, and the whole country depended on mining for its livelihood, and their biggest problem now was that the sources of funds for the development of mining were gradually drying up, and they had to resort to foreign recourse. The abundant resources have attracted a large number of investors and technical talents. Britain was the largest number of investors from all over the world, and British miners with large amounts of money soon became oligarchs, and if it were not for the deposits in the Northeast, Britain had almost a monopoly on all mining in the Transvaal. What's worse is that the ratio of British to Boers once reached six to four, and English became the main language of mining.

The fact that the Boers now maintain such a close relationship with the Northeast is very directly related to the strong economic invasion of the British. The current president of the Transvaal, Kruger, who came to power in 1883, was very hostile to Britain, and began to implement a policy of restricting Britain at the beginning of his tenure, imposing high tariffs on the authorities of the Cape colony and squeezing out British capital.