African Nationhood

Chapter 23 Prospecting Begins and Ends
  Before Shi Jintang came to the Cape Colony, he arranged for Qu Sanggan to be the leader of the prospecting team to explore inland. Another function he had was to declare sovereignty.

As an "honorary white man" appointed by the Queen of England, Shi Jintang has a high reputation in the Cape Colony government.

When Qu Sangqian came here, Governor Freire's political wisdom shouldn't be turned away without asking.

Now Qu Sangqian is huddled outside the Cape Colony Government in extreme despair. There must be something wrong here.

"Laoqu, when did you come to Cape Town? How is your prospecting team doing?"

Qu Sangqian was extremely weak at the moment, but when he heard the words "prospecting team", his eyes lit up and seemed to be shining.

He looked around before whispering: "Let's find a place to talk."

Shi Jintang immediately ordered to return to the hotel, so everyone called several taxis again and returned to the hotel on Long Street.

Back at the hotel, Shi Jintang dispersed the other guards, leaving only Trudeau.

After Qu Sangqian poured two pots of tea, he explained in detail what happened to their prospecting team.

The prospecting team set out at the end of March. At first, everything went smoothly. The black natives they met on the way were also very kind and happy to trade and communicate with them.

While prospecting, they also did not forget to declare their sovereignty and draw topographic maps.

The real problem occurred in mid-May. According to the scope defined by Shi Jintang, they made a discovery in a mountain depression more than 200 kilometers northeast of Walvis Bay.

The locals call it Nawakabu, which means "golden stone".

After the prospecting team learned this meaning from the black guide, they instinctively felt that there would be harvest in that place, so they took action immediately.

As expected, this is indeed a gold mine, and it is an open-pit gold mine.

Mining is not difficult, and the prospecting team also found gold sand in the streams near Nawakabu.

Speaking of this, Qu Sangqian's eyes flashed with pride, and he spoke in more detail.

Trudeau no longer cared about the cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth. His eyes were dull and a smile appeared on his face, as if he was at the scene of the prospecting team.

Shi Jintang already knew the result, so he was very calm and reached out to pat Trudeau.

"Old Te, wipe your mouth and stop having sweet dreams."

Trudeau, who was awake, felt extremely aggrieved, "Boss, you shouldn't have woken me up so early. My sweet dream was almost over."

Shi Jintang glared at his guard leader, then looked at Qu Sangqian, "What happened next, Lao Qu?"

Qu Sangqian lowered his head and tightened his voice, and continued: "Later, we planned to dig some ore and bring it back for testing to determine the grade of the ore.

Who knew that the local Herrero tribe would not agree when they learned that we were going to mine, saying that mining would disturb their ancestral spirits.

After the confrontation between the two sides, they temporarily retreated. We thought these natives were timid and relaxed their vigilance.

Unexpectedly, they attacked the prospecting team at dawn, and the prospecting team suffered heavy losses. "

Shi Jintang's face turned sullen when he heard this. He had specifically told Qu Sangqian, the team leader, several times to be careful and not to be careless.

Before this happened, it overturned.

Qu Sangqian noticed the change in Boss Shi's face, and he knew that Boss Shi was angry.

This matter was indeed his dereliction of duty and he could not escape it.

Then he continued, "The next day we counted the losses and found that nine people from the prospecting team died, including three prospecting experts, and the indigenous people also took away many of our tools.

Most of the prospecting team members were injured, and we could no longer stay there, so we had to rush back to Walvis Bay with a few pieces of ore.

After everyone was settled, I took a ride-on boat and came here. After arriving here, I went directly to the colonial government.

But the Indian guard blocking the door refused to let me in. Later, I had no choice but to wait outside the door of the Governor's Palace. "

Hearing this, Shi Jintang became even more confused, "You haven't reported my name since you got here?"

Qu Sangqian's face became even sadder, and he said in a solemn voice: "As I said, I reported your name from the beginning, and after the Indian guards reported it once, they told me to get out of here.

I didn't give up and I got into trouble a few times, but there were too many Indian guards and they beat me up several times.

In desperation, I could only huddle by the gate and wait. " There must have been a problem with the guard of the Governor's Mansion. The matter was not urgent for the time being. He calmly asked: "Have you brought the ore and gold sand? "

"I brought it, but I didn't keep it with me. I hid it in a place and will get it later."

Shi Jintang nodded and said to Trudeau: "Take Lao Qu to find a place to eat, and then take out the ore and gold sand. After taking it out, go directly to the Governor's Mansion. I will wait for you there."

Trudeau nodded and helped Qu Sanggan out. Not long after, he heard several guards outside the door.

Shi Jintang waited at the hotel for an hour. He took other guards and set off towards the Governor's Mansion.

When they arrived at the Government House, they found that Trudeau and the others had already arrived.

Qu Sangqian carefully took out an oil paper bag from his arms and handed it to Shi Jintang.

When the Shijin Hall was opened, the golden sand as big as a grain of yellow reflected in it made people panic.

Shi Jintang was a little lost at the moment. He took a deep breath, wrapped the oil paper bag and stuffed it into his pocket.

Qu Sangqian handed over another rough gold mine stone. This stone was about the size of a fist but densely covered with yellow "coils". It was obvious that each layer of coils was a layer of gold.

"Have prospecting experts estimated the grade of this gold mine?"

"It's estimated to be between 5 and 7 grams."

After hearing Qu Sangqian's answer, Shi Jintang nodded with satisfaction.

According to industry standards, gold ore with a gold content of 5 grams per ton and above can be considered a rich ore. The grade of Rand Gold Mine is similar to that here.

Nowadays, bright gold can be seen at the Nawakabu gold mine, which can also indicate the grade of the gold mine.

He put the rough gold mine in another pocket and walked toward the Governor's Palace with a group of guards.

The two Indian guards wanted to stop him, but there were so many people on the other side, and Shi Jintang's yellow skin made them recognize this "honorary white man."

"Dear Mr. Shi, please wait a moment. I'll go ask for instructions right away."

Shi Jintang snorted coldly. Their boss was probably the key to preventing Qu Sangqian from entering the Governor's Mansion, so he ignored Indian Asan and forced his way in.

"Mr. Shi, you can't do this, it will be difficult for us, and our boss will abuse and punish us.

Mr. Shi..."

The movement at the door easily alerted the staff in the Governor's Mansion, and many white people popped their heads out of their offices to confirm the situation.

When they saw Shi Jintang leading a group of people in, they had expressions of disgust on their faces.

This yellow-skinned "honorary white man" had been at the top of their conversation list for a long time. Just as they had forgotten about him, he suddenly appeared in front of them.

With such a arrogant attitude and no fear of the governor's majesty, the white people couldn't help but think that the story inside must be exciting.

The further Shi Jintang walked in, the less forceful the Indian Asan stopped him. They couldn't afford to offend this "honorary white man". They were just pretending before.

Under the protection of Trudeau and others, Shi Jintang easily entered the Governor's Mansion. He went directly to the third floor without being informed.

"Boom!"

Governor Freier opened the door in surprise, only to see a face full of anger.

"Manager Shi, what's wrong with you?"

Without saying a word, Shi Jintang took out the gold ore from his pocket and shook it in front of Governor Freire.

He said angrily: "Sir Freir, I need you to help me vent my anger!"

Governor Freire didn't listen to Shi Jintang's words at this moment. All his attention was attracted by the rough gold mine stone.

His breathing was rapid and his voice trembled: "Where is this gold mine?"

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(End of this chapter)