Orange, Bloemfontein.

"At the moment Kimberley has no population to support its existence, and before the war it was the most developed city in the entire Boer Republic, with railways, telegraphs, etc., but now it is completely paralyzed, and the most terrible thing is that we simply do not have enough people to resume the construction of the area." The mayor of Kimberley, East Africa, Jurta, complained gloomily.

When it comes to East Africa, the worst place is the former Boer Republic area, because East Africa is really Boer people, so that the Orange area is empty, and the rest are almost all armies.

As a result, the Kimberley City and other Orange regional governments are facing a harder time than those in Mozambique and Angola.

"It's hard for a good woman to cook without rice, no one has developed the local area, and Kimberley is like a ghost town now, except for the city hall and the surrounding military camp, there is no popularity at all, and we can't command the army to do these menial work."

"Now Kimberley still has production tasks to complete, and the mines are completely shut down, and if there is no one to maintain them, it is estimated that the mine will collapse in a few months, and it will be difficult to recover at that time."

In response to Jurta's complaints, Bloemfontein Mayor Helvexin still maintained a dead fish face and said: "If you look for someone I want, I can't help it!" Now Bloemfontein is also an empty shelf, if it were not for the garrison here, I have no doubt that our lives would be threatened by wild beasts, and now Bloemfontein is overgrown with weeds, so many empty houses, I feel panicked in the middle of the night. ”

Jurta: "You can still maintain the office, we don't even go to the Kimberley now, not much to say, give a few hundred people, and it is better to go to the Kimberley first to set up the empty shelves than to send people under the fence in Bloemfontein." ”

Helvexin said embarrassedly: "Bloemfontein's population is still borrowed from the neighboring province of Neu-Baden, and the southern border province in the south used to have only troops stationed, as well as military families or military practitioners, and everyone is short of people, so don't worry." ”

Neu-Baden is not a populous province in East Africa, and it doesn't even have a presence, and it has already reached its peak of being able to support Bloemfontein's population of several thousand.

The original cities of Orange were completely shut down because of the East African policy, and the same is true for the rural areas, Angola has the support of the central region, Mozambique has the support of the eastern part and the city of the new port of Hamburg, and Orange is completely like an abandoned place.

"I don't care about other places, Kimberley was the most economically developed area in Orange before, and Bloemfontein is just the convenience of occupying the capital of the Boer Republic, in addition, it is completely unimportant to Orange, if you want to see the value of Orange, you must develop Kimberley's minerals in a limited way. ”

In Orange, the Kimberley became the most developed area in the interior of South Africa because of its diamond mines, and it was also the focus of contention between the British and Boers before the war.

It is understandable that the Kimberley alone had a much higher output value than the rest of the Boer Republic combined, since the total population of the Boer Republic before the war was less than 400,000, which was the size of a city in Europe and the Far Eastern Empire, and the Kimberley was one of the largest diamond producers in the world before, so the diamond industry alone exceeded the income of the rest of Orange combined.

As for Jurta's words, Helvexin also thinks that there is some truth, if Orange is completely shut down, it may not attract attention, and the most effective means to reflect its own value is to revitalize Orange's industry first.

The diamond industry is clearly the most valuable industry in Orange, and it is a high value-added industry, and in the 19th century diamond production was very limited, so the price was very considerable.

After thinking about it, Helvexin said to Jurta: "Many of the mines in other parts of East Africa are dominated by blacks, obviously the Kimberley can also use blacks to hold it first, but there are almost no blacks in Orange, so we can ask for black resources from other provinces, and then I will assign you dozens of people, you maintain the mines in the Kimberley first, even if the task is completed, and there are troops stationed in the Kimberley, you don't have to worry about black riots." ”

Jurta said with a bitter face: "If you hit the idea on the head of the black people, we in Orange are probably the only ones in the whole of East Africa." ”

Elsewhere in East Africa, blacks have made important contributions to the economic development of East Africa, and even Angola and Mozambique, which have just been incorporated into East Africa, have a large number of blacks to be driven by the local government, while the Orange region is really miserable, and there are not even many blacks.

The Boers are also a very xenophobic people, plus they are mainly herded and do not need much population, so there are not many black people in Orange, and only a small number of San people are distributed in inaccessible areas.

Helvexin patted Jurta on the shoulder and comforted: "There is no way to do this, Angola and Mozambique do not have a large black population, and Orange only has an army, and we can't intervene, so we can only think of a way from the black people in other provinces, our own citizens are in short supply everywhere, and the blacks should be able to squeeze out a lot, I don't believe that the superiors will refute our application." ”

"It doesn't take too much, tens of thousands of people can restore the mine to its previous capacity, before the South African War, the population of the Boer Republic was not large, mainly the machines left by the British, and the blacks are probably difficult to master, so a dozen people will definitely not work, you have to give at least two or three hundred people, otherwise it will be finished if you waste the Kimberley machine." ”

Jurta's words reminded Helvexin of what is the most valuable thing in Orange right now? In addition to minerals, it is the machinery and infrastructure left behind by the British, and these are mainly concentrated in Kimberley.

Therefore, if Orange wants to develop, it is really inseparable from the Kimberley, and if these machines and infrastructure are allowed to be destroyed, I am afraid that it will be difficult for Orange to find another opportunity to industrialize in the future.

So he said to Jurta: "The machine is really important, Kimberley can be compared with many economically developed cities in East Africa, the conditions left are indeed the existence of a unique gear, you are in Kimberley first optimistic about those machines and infrastructure, not to mention, Kimberley's railway is optimistic first, we are now and Cape Town is indeed awkward, but in the future may not be reconciled between the two sides, then the Kimberley's railway can play a big role." ”

Kimberley has the only railway line connected to Cape Town in the former Boer Republic, which is mainly used by the British to transport diamonds, which can also show the economic strength of Kimberley.

Now, of course, the railroad is a dead-end road, and even the bridge over the Orange River was blown up during the war.

However, this railway may not be able to play a role in the future, after all, it is impossible to have a stiff relationship between East and Britain, especially Cape Town, a British territory that connects with East Africa.

Of course, the British Railways and the East African Railways are not interconnected, so it is a question whether the Kimberley Railway can be retained in the future, but Helvey still prefers to keep it first, and even if it is really demolished in the future, then Orange will definitely be very different from the current situation.

(End of chapter)

.