"… These soldiers are dark-skinned and wear khaki uniforms … These people can travel through the deserts of southern Africa for three days in a row, sleeping only four hours a day. The general's personal guards all carry a demon-headed saber on their backs, and when they fight, they advance slowly and shoot as they advance. When they charge, they run at an amazing speed under the bombardment of British artillery, displaying amazing bravery in hand-to-hand combat … "
After Foreign Minister Li Xin finished reading the contents of "The Times" submitted to him by the British Ambassador, he was overjoyed, but it was impossible for the Foreign Minister to show a happy expression on his face. So Li Xin pretended to be surprised and said, "What is the purpose of showing this to me?"
In the summer of June, the air conditioner was not turned on in the house. The electric fan swayed left and right, and the wind felt very comfortable. Perhaps for this reason, even though the British ambassador's heart was burning with anger, it did not reach the point of explosion. He leaned back on the fabric sofa covered with a bamboo mat and said, "Sir, we don't understand why China wants to sell weapons to the Zulus."
"They are exchanging diamonds with us. Why should we refuse such a deal?" Chinese Foreign Minister Li Xin asked rhetorically. Looking at the British ambassador's surprised expression, Li Xin continued, "If Britain also buys rifles and cannons from us with diamonds, we will also agree to your request."
The British ambassador was not angry. This reason was completely acceptable to him. Even if the Zulu army was conquering one black village chief after another and began to rebuild the Zulu army and national system, this could not be a reason to deny the legitimacy of exchanging diamonds for arms.
"We hope that your country can stop this kind of trade." The British ambassador put forward Britain's view.
"We hope that Britain can protect our ownership of the gold mines in the Transvaal Republic." Li Xin did not hesitate to give China's attitude. Whether it was the Zulus or the Boers, these forces were meaningless to China. As long as the gold mines in southern Africa could be stabilized and China could have a steady flow of gold, Li Xin would have completed the task assigned to him by the central government.
The diplomatic discussion had now entered the climax. Like China, Britain did not care about the Zulus and the Boers. What Britain cared about was the diamond and gold mines in Southern Africa. In terms of diamond mines, the British were one step ahead, but in terms of gold mines, the Chinese were one step ahead. When China's gold mining equipment arrived at the Rand mine from Madagascar by shipping and rail, the British knew that something was wrong. Diamond mining was a manual job that required people to select the diamonds. Gold mining was different. Experienced miners would determine the vein, and mining machines would dig in the direction of the vein. In order to obtain more funds, the Transvaal Republic allocated a large number of mining areas to the Chinese. Based on the Chinese's recklessness, the British believed that China's gold output was about ten times that of the British-controlled mines.
"Our joint establishment of a mining company should be the best solution." The British ambassador put forward their proposal.
Li Xin sneered in his heart. Jinkuang was a zero sum game. Setting up a mining company means that the UK, which has less than one-tenth of China's market share, wants a share of China's market share. How could there be such a good thing in the world?
"Right now, only the two of us are mining Rand gold. Why do we have to go this far? I think it's fine as long as both of us are at peace. "Li Xin put forward China's point of view. The Rand gold reserves were beyond the imagination of China's ministry. On average, one ton of gold contained about 15 grams of gold. China was now mining with all its might and could dig out five million tons of gold a year. The annual production of gold was about 75 tons. With the enmity between the Transvaal Republic and the UK, as long as China kept its distance from the UK, it could get more shares. Unless there were other huge benefits in exchange, there was no reason for China to let the UK profit from the middle.
"China's support for other powers is not conducive to local peace." The British ambassador saw that Li Xin had no intention of backing down, so he brought the topic back to the original topic.
It's not conducive to the UK's peace, is it? Li Xin sneered in his heart. Whether it was the Zulus or the Boers. The biggest enemy of both countries was the UK, not China. In order to fight against the UK, they naturally chose to cooperate with China. China could also take this opportunity to continue to expand China's mining share in the Rand gold mine. With the existence of these two powers, the UK would not be able to smoothly get its hands on the Rand gold mine. If the UK used force to deal with these two powers, it would force the two powers to continue to expand their cooperation with China, allowing China to get more shares of the gold mine.
"If the UK can respect the human rights of the Boers and the Zulus and recognize their legitimate rights. I believe this will be conducive to regional peace. "Li Xin responded to the British ambassador's view in a high-profile manner.
They were all foxes, so naturally, there was no need to play games. The British ambassador confirmed that China would not back down. Other than expressing "regret," he had nothing else to say. If you want to snatch food from the mouth of a big country, you first have to break the big country's teeth. Just like the process of China's gradual expansion into the Indian Ocean and the process of the British Grand Fleet being driven out of the Indian Ocean, it completely overlapped.
Watching the British ambassador leave the office, Li Xin suddenly thought to himself, "The storm season has arrived." China would never give up the Rand gold mine, not because it was related to the pensions of the tens of thousands of old brothers. The purchasing power of 75 tons of gold was more than enough to cover this expenditure. What China valued was not this kind of expenditure, but the important role of large amounts of gold in China's world trade system.
Gold played an extremely important role in the policies being implemented by the China Bank. With the radio, the speed of trade settlement became extremely fast. More importantly, the center of trade settlement could already be any city on Earth. China's gold inventory at this time became a powerful tool. Trade with "currency" as the transaction object could finally be implemented.
For example, if China wanted to buy the currency of a gold-standard country, it could set a redemption date, and then "transfer" the gold from the underground vault of the trading center in Nanjing or Shanghai to the exclusive vault of the foreign bank from which the money was borrowed. There was no need for long-distance transportation, no need for laborious handling. All it needed was to change the sign at the entrance of the vault.
When the redemption date came, China would repay the British pound or French franc notes to the bank from which the money was borrowed. That was to say, the currency transaction would end. The gold never left China's vault, not even its location had been moved. As long as China's gold existed, it could be traded in foreign currency in China's financial center.
There were many problems with this, such as why would foreigners believe that China would abide by its promises? But before these deep problems, the problem was to make foreigners believe that China did indeed have that much gold. Li Xin now felt that Military Governor Vaize's far-reaching actions were simply outrageous. Using gold to buy a large amount of land from Russia and England, it seemed to be a very good deal. 350 tons of gold to buy more than 13 million square kilometers of land also proved to the world that China had a huge gold reserve.
The Rand Gold Mine was the same. As long as China could prove that it had an annual income of hundreds of tons of gold, this currency transaction would naturally have a foundation. Not only could this gold be used as collateral for China's own currency transactions, but it could also allow China's banks to "lend" gold to Europe for financial services. Of course, if European countries wanted to "borrow" China's gold, they would need to come up with collateral, such as land or business interests. But the actual value of any collateral would naturally far exceed the value of the gold they "borrowed."
When Military Governor Vaize proposed this financial system to the Politburo, many comrades didn't understand it at all. Li Xin was one of those comrades who understood, and other than admiration, Li Xin had no other emotions. As long as China could become the founder and defender of the international financial order, China could firmly grasp this lucrative industry in its hands.
After understanding the policy that China was going to adopt, Li Xin naturally understood what the British, who were making a lot of money from the world's financial services, would think. In order to compete for the world's financial hegemony, the struggle between China and the United Kingdom would inevitably enter a cruel stage. The relationship between the participants of the zero-sum game was very, very simple. The only thing that surprised Li Xin was his own emotions. Even though he could already predict the cruelty of the struggle, Li Xin found that he didn't hate the British at all, not even hostility. This was not a conflict driven by emotions. No matter how many people died in the struggle, how much blood was shed, Li Xin only felt heavy, but there was no hatred.
When the British ambassador left China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there was no hatred. The biggest negative emotion was probably a sense of defeat. China's firm attitude and clear position were indeed beyond the imagination of the British ambassador. This kind of attitude left no room for any small tricks to be played. The British only had two choices: accept the status quo or change the status quo. In fact, when he came to China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to communicate, the British had already made a decision. Since China refused to let the British monopolize the Rand gold mine, the British could only rely on strength to monopolize the Rand gold mine. The British Parliament passed the resolution very quickly, and the war against Southern Africa had begun.
Before getting into the car, the British ambassador turned back to look at China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. China couldn't sit back and do nothing about the British's actions. There would be too much blood to be shed in the future. But China was a country that the British couldn't penetrate. If possible, the British ambassador really hoped to kill the emperor of China, Vézé. The emperor still hadn't confirmed an heir. If he died, there would be a fierce internal power struggle in China, or even a civil war. If China fell into such a situation, the British could easily free up their hands to clean up Southern Africa. They could completely seize the Rand gold mine.
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