Chapter 25: Diamonds are Forever
"Mistaken? No, not mistaken. We must arrest the rebels and the smugglers, and our main task is to arrest smugglers and crack down on smuggling." Henry was not satisfied with Rock's report. The rebels were all poor people. Rich people would not risk their lives. Only arresting smugglers would make money. The smugglers in Cape Town either smuggled gold or diamonds, and either one was very valuable.
"And there is a problem with your statistics. They did not smuggle 50 kilograms of gold, but 25 kilograms." Henry still had a lot of dissatisfaction. Rock still didn't understand enough about the degree of greed of the British.
Rock was petrified instantly. Although he knew that Henry might embezzle some of the gold, he didn't expect Henry's appetite to be so big.
In fact, Rock's appetite was not small. A total of 60 kilograms of gold was seized on the scene, but Rock only reported 50 kilograms. He thought he was evil enough, but he didn't expect Henry's appetite was even bigger, even eviler than that of black people.
"Yes, our people calculated it wrong. It is indeed 25 kilograms. Please forgive their ignorance. They have not learned measurement." Rock corrected his mistakes as soon as he knew them. The greedier Henry was, the better. Only with such a boss could Rock get rich.
Sure enough, Henry did not forget Rock's contribution. He only took away 20 kilograms of gold and left 5 kilograms for Rock.
Rock could understand that Henry also had a lot of work to do, such as Austin Pence's share, which must also be honored. It was already very good that he could leave five kilograms for Rock.
Back in the dormitory, Anton and the others gathered in Rock's dormitory. They looked at the ten glittering gold ingots with dry mouths and ignored the champagne that they had been drooling over.
Yes, after being promoted to deputy captain of the commando team, Rock now has his own single dormitory, and it is a suite, which must have belonged to a colonial officer in the past.
The suite was fully furnished, so Rock didn't need to buy anything separately. Rock was not stingy either, and prepared a lot of champagne, cigars and other items in the living room.
"What's wrong? Why are you all sitting there?" Rock was quite curious and didn't understand what the gold meant to Anton and the others.
"Boss, what did the captain say?" Luo Yi was the most anxious, and the look in his eyes when he looked at Rock was almost furious.
"What else can I say? The captain said that what we seized was not 50 kilograms, but 25 kilograms, so we now have 5 kilograms more." Locke casually threw five gold ingots on the coffee table, making a series of tinkling sounds. To Anton, Luo Yi and the others, this was the most wonderful sound.
"Fuck, those foreigners are so dishonest. We fought hard but in the end they still took the lion's share." Luo Yi cursed angrily, and Anton immediately slapped Luo Yi on the forehead.
"Be content. You are not Locke. You don't have these now." Anton was not greedy. Fifteen kilograms of gold was worth more than two thousand pounds. What else did he want? "As usual, Mr. Luo takes thirty percent - no, fifty percent, and we will divide the rest."
As Rock's promotion increased, the proportion of the share also increased. 7.5 kilograms of gold was worth 1,038 pounds. There were 16 people in the commando team, and each person could get nearly 65 pounds. Even for the Chinese police who had become Cape Town citizens, it would take a whole year to earn that much.
"Brothers who have not yet become naturalized should do so as soon as possible. You see, good days are waiting for us. The house I bought the day before yesterday was only 100 pounds. If it were in the Qing Dynasty, we poor people would never be able to live in such a house even in our dreams." Rock did not object to such a distribution plan. He borrowed a lot of money from his brothers when buying the house, and now it was a good time to pay it back.
"I'll go to the immigration office later."
"Lord Luo is mighty!"
"Yes, yes, five pounds a month. In Cape Town, an acre of land can cost more than one pound."
The "mu" here refers to acres, which is roughly equivalent to six acres in the Qing Dynasty. Even if one acre costs one pound, without considering gray income, after becoming a Cape Town citizen, one can buy nearly 30 acres of land with the monthly salary. At this rate, in a few years, all Chinese policemen will be farmers.
What's more, for the police, gray income is much higher than normal income. In one operation today, each person can get 65 pounds. Two or three such operations a year are enough. There are too many smugglers in Cape Town. Compared with the hundreds of tons of gold mined in South Africa every year, only a few of them are caught by the police.
After dividing the spoils, Rock went to a temporary rest stop and saw someone wandering around there from a distance. It was the mute Zack.
"Any news?" Rock was a little surprised. Compared with the other three informants, Zack couldn't even speak, so the chance of getting news was smaller. However, Zack was the first one to come to Rock, which surprised Rock.
Zach nodded repeatedly and followed Rock into the temporary rest area. Zach took out a pencil and a note from his pocket and wrote respectfully on the note: "Someone asked me to find out the patrol routes of the police. It was Sam Francis from Titus Mining Company."
That's right. It is still a question whether the other people can be trusted by the Boers, but Zack does not have this hidden danger. After all, in everyone's eyes, Zack and the British have a deep hatred and it is impossible for him to cooperate with the British.
"Who is Sam Francis? What does he do? Who founded Titus Mining Company?" Rock asked a series of questions. Fortunately, although Zack couldn't speak, he had no problem with hearing.
"Sam Francis is French. He is an employee of Titus Mining Company. As for Titus Mining Company, his owner seems to be Cecil Rhodes." Zack seemed to be educated and he used cursive when writing words, which made Rock even more curious.
In fact, there is nothing to be curious about. The West has had a complete education system for a long time. The oldest university in Europe, the University of Bologna, was founded in 1088, the University of Oxford was founded in 1167, and the University of Good Hope, the earliest institution of higher learning in Cape Town, was founded in 1873. So it is normal that Zach has received modern education. Many white people in Cape Town have received modern education, even the Boers.
As for Cecil Rhodes, he is a legend in Cape Colony and the former Prime Minister of Cape Colony. During his tenure, he actively expanded abroad, seized the area between the Zambia River and the Limpopo River and the area north of the Zambia River, and named the area "Rhodesia" after himself. The Second Boer War was instigated by Cecil Rhodes.
In addition to politics, Cecil Rhodes also made great achievements in business. His company monopolized diamond mining in Kimberley. The owner of the advertising slogan "Diamonds are forever" was Cecil Rhodes.
Since Cecil Rhodes was involved, it was beyond Rock's ability to handle. Rock fulfilled his promise, gave Zack a pound, and hurried back to the police station to report to Henry.
Let the British handle British affairs.
