Chapter 59 Hurting Each Other
When Liang Dingxin boarded the ship, he had with him a deposit of 120 pounds given by Rock.
Rock was not worried that Liang Dingxin would abscond with the money. Like Rock who had already become a Cape Town citizen, Rock was now considered half a "foreigner". Liang Dingxin was a "traitor" who had surrendered to foreigners. Liang Dingxin could only cling to the British for the rest of his life, and the same would apply if he returned to the Qing Dynasty. If Liang Dingxin dared to abscond, he would be seeking death.
Just as Rock said, the Qing Dynasty is now in the most intense stage of the Boxer Rebellion. Not to mention traitors like Liang Dingxin, many real foreigners have been beaten to death by the Boxers. Liang Dingxin probably doesn't even dare to walk out of the Chinese Battalion's barracks. Where can he escape to?
Moreover, as long as Liang Dingxin tasted the sweetness of being a "human trafficker", he would not leave even if Rock whipped him. The money was too easy to make. One woman was twenty dollars, two was forty dollars, and one hundred was two thousand.
Two thousand dollars. If Liang Dingxin worked honestly, it would take him ten years to earn that much. Unlike the policemen, Liang Dingxin, as a translator, did not have any gray income, so he could not refuse the temptation.
In fact, even if Liang Dingxin ran away with the money, Rock would not feel sorry. He could only say that Liang Dingxin was short-sighted. As long as Liang Dingxin honestly sent people to Cape, Liang Dingxin could earn ten 120 pounds, or even a hundred 120 pounds in the future. This amount of money was nothing now.
It was really this "little" money. After reopening the gambling, Rock could get about 120 pounds from the gambling every week. This part of the money did not need to be "tributed". In addition to this part, Rock also had other income, such as the tributes from the gangs near the dock, the monthly allowances from the shops in the port area, and various fines. Although this part would be handed over to the police station, the police station would give half of it to Rock and others as a bonus, so Rock's current salary was not five pounds, nor ten pounds, but forty pounds a month.
This was the normal income of a colonial sheriff.
By this calculation, Rock's annual salary should be around 500 pounds, which is equivalent to the salary of a director of the UK Treasury.
That's right, otherwise there wouldn't be so many British people abandoning their families to work in the colonies.
If various gray incomes are added in, Rock's salary is almost the same as that of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Of course, most of this money is not visible to the public, so Rock needs to launder it through other means before it can become Rock's legal income.
In order to deal with these gray incomes, Rock bought a safe and placed it at his home on Mill Street. Every week, Rock would go back and put the money in the safe. As he watched the money in the safe slowly increase, Rock's mood became better and better. Now, even if Rock did not make a living with the British, he had the capital to gain a foothold in this era.
In early February, after fully understanding the situation on the battlefield, Lord Roberts changed his strategy and moved the main attack direction from west Natal to the Orange area in the middle where the troops were weaker. At the same time, he changed the rigid frontal attack tactics and adopted a strategy of flanking attack.
This tactic was very effective. On the western front, the British Expeditionary Force defeated the militia commanded by Piet Cronye, the most ferocious "Black General" of the Boer Alliance.
In mid-February, the expeditionary force broke through the Boer coalition's defense line and lifted the Boer's three-month siege of Kimberley.
Yes, although the "linear tactics" were outdated, the Boers had too few troops and were helpless against Kimberley, which was heavily guarded by the British. Although they besieged Kimberley for three months, the Boers were unable to break through the British defense line. Once they entered a frontal battle, they were still no match for the British volley tactics.
"Our army won, the linear tactics were successful again, and I will probably become a clown next." Henry suffered a heavy blow. It was estimated that Henry was the only one in the entire Cape who hoped that the British would be defeated, as that would fully prove Henry's foresight. Now that the British army was winning victory after victory on the front line, Henry's views on "linear tactics" had become a farce on the stage.
Everything is predestined by fate. Henry originally wanted to take Rock to the newspaper to show off, but Rock refused the opportunity in order to highlight Henry. So now, only Henry will be laughed at.
It should be noted that around New Year's Day, Winston published an article in the Morning Post titled Henry's Comments on "Linear Tactics". This article caused a great response in Britain. The Liberal Party used the British Army's failure in the Cape as an excuse to criticize the ruling Conservative Party for being unenterprising and conservative. Even the military was accused by the Liberal Party of being a figurehead and doing nothing. They actually expelled a man who had such insights into "linear tactics". No wonder the expeditionary force was defeated by the Boers.
The Conservative Party refused to admit its mistakes. While talking nonsense in Parliament, it continued to send troops to the Cape in an effort to end the Anglo-Boer War as soon as possible.
The military's attitude was rather ambiguous. They did not fight back against Henry's grandstanding, nor did they recall Henry to the army. The military didn't even contact Henry, which made Henry and Rock feel a little uneasy.
"Don't worry. Victory on the front line does not mean the success of linear tactics. The Boer Coalition and the Expeditionary Force are not on the same level at all. There are now more than 250,000 troops on the front line, and the total population of the Boers is only 440,000. Apart from the elderly, the weak and the sick, how many people can really go to the battlefield? So you should know why the military remains silent. People who really understand the situation will not laugh at you." Rock was not worried. Even if someone was laughed at, it had nothing to do with Rock.
"Thinking about it now, I was really crazy to tell those things to Winston." Henry regretted it very much. If he had known earlier, he would not have talked nonsense with Winston. Why did he pretend to be an idle wanderer?
Rock wanted to laugh, but he was afraid that Henry would get angry. Fortunately, Phyllis was there.
"Brother Henry, I think you did the right thing. I won't laugh at you. If it were my father, he would do the same." It sounded like Phyllis had a strong Oedipus complex.
"Since you admire your father so much, why don't you listen to him and marry that fat pig from the Alsop family?" Henry was furious and started scolding Phyllis.
"You're the one marrying a fat pig!" Phyllis screamed, with a sound like a sonic attack.
"Lacey is much prettier than a fat pig." Henry laughed, not realizing there was anything wrong with comparing Lacey to a fat pig.
"Lacey is engaged, but it's a pity that the groom is not you, ahahahahahahaha." Phyllis laughed so hard that she was about to hiccup, and she was merciless with every cut.
"Lacey's heart is mine." Henry said stubbornly, he wanted to get her heart even if he couldn't get her.
While the two siblings were busy hurting each other, Rock had a dazed look on his face. This kind of scene has been played out many times recently, and Rock is really helpless.
