Chapter 282:
Chapter 272 – Missing Person
Guinea.
The previous discovery of the gold mine had begun operations, and the chaotic situation directly discouraged Baron Fikeni from continuing to search for the gold mine.
There were simply too many competitors, and there were too many examples of blackmail for profit.
The Guinea region is still considered to be good, here is completely controlled by the Austrian colonial government, has established a basic order.
Gold mine property rights as long as the colonial government registration report, even if the owner of the mine accident, that is the government to recover the property rights, absolutely impossible to fall into the hands of other people.
The behavior of forcible seizure of gold mines, by the colonial government’s severe suppression, caught on the gallows, which eliminated the large-scale firefight.
Can not seize the gold mine, does not mean that it is peaceful. The gold mining out, but also must be sold, the transportation of the road is the most dangerous moment.
In order to combat the gold pirates, the colonial garrison has been deployed several times, and even went so far as to carry out fishing law enforcement, but still little effect.
There is no way, we can only strengthen the defense, increase the escort manpower, and also do not hesitate to run a few times, reduce the number of gold transported each time, which curbed the situation.
……
“Your Excellency the Baron, the production of our gold mine has been raised to 1,800 pounds per month, and at the current rate of 100 pounds per delivery, it’s just too slow.
It’s not safe to leave large amounts of gold stranded in the mines, and we’d be in danger if word got out.” Father Bartigue warned.
Worrying about the gold mines producing too much was a joke if you told it, but right now he was really worrying about it.
This gold mine of his, which was more than two hundred kilometers away from Newbrook, was too easy to be ambushed along the forest.
Every time they transported gold, they didn’t dare to determine the route in advance, for fear of leaking the news.
There was no other way, his colonial team was small in number, and he had to stay behind to guard the gold mine, so each time he could send out no more than seventy escorts.
Baron Fikeni said with a meaty face, “Let’s wait for now, I’ve already communicated with the New Brook colonial government, and they will send people over to collect the gold later on, and deliver logistical supplies to us.”
In order to be safe, Baron Fikni had to sell the gold to the colonial government at a low price, and have the colonial government send troops out to collect the gold.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought of using mercenaries, but the commission of a mercenary group wasn’t cheap and the security wasn’t that guaranteed.
Father Batigue said with relief, “This is the best, money can’t be earned, safety is the first priority.
However, you have to consider one more problem, which is the insufficient number of gold mine workers. These workers we hired over don’t work for long, basically they leave after making a fortune.”
The lack of workers was a common problem faced by all gold mines. It wasn’t that Fikeni hadn’t thought about hiring local laborers, but unfortunately these people really weren’t work material.
They were free-spirited, ignored the rules of the gold mine, and did not operate within the rules and regulations. Even if they were inefficient, accidents were frequent.
After a month, he despaired of these people. He obediently paid a high price to hire gold prospectors in the colonial stronghold.
Baron Fikeni said uncertainly, “That’s a problem, I’ve already written to a friend back home to help hire a group of workers over, our salary here is three times that of the mainland, we should be able to recruit people.”
This is the African continent, even though the salary is higher than the mainland, but the death rate is also high ah! One tenth of the people who had come out with him in the beginning had already collapsed, those who had died of illness, those who had died in battle, and those who had died in all kinds of accidents.
Those who dared to fight and break through ran over without needing to recruit themselves. The rest of the ordinary people, as long as they didn’t really can’t survive in their homeland, who would want to come over and risk their lives?
And the workers that Baron Fikeni needed were precisely ordinary people, only the ordinary people who were at peace with themselves were able to keep this job for a long time.
The gold miners only came here to work when they had no money, and after they earned money they ran out to look for gold. Finding gold for yourself is much better than working for someone else.
These runners are different from them, after finding the gold mine, they directly sell it to the colonial government and take the money to go away.
Father Battig nodded and said, “That would be best, I would like to have the church up by the end of the year if possible.”
The main purpose of him working for Baron Fikeni was for a church of his own, not to hang around under someone else’s hand.
There had long been a Catholic church in Newbrook, it had been built with a grant from the colonial government, it was a tradition of European culture that churches had been an integral part of people’s lives.
Baron Fikeni promised, “Don’t worry, Father. You know my reputation, as long as the gold mine is on the right track, I will fund the construction of the church for you. However, have you decided on the site for the church?”
After contemplating for a while, Father Batig spoke, “Originally, I was going to build it in Newbrook, but there is already a church in the area, and as a latecomer, it won’t be easy for me to develop believers in the area.
Now I’m lost and don’t know the best place to establish a church. Your Excellency the Baron, what do you suggest?”
Baron Fikeni analyzed, “Father, you are establishing a church mainly for missionary purposes, then it has to be in a densely populated area.
The best choice would naturally be New Brook, followed by the new colonial strongholds, but there are churches in all of these areas now.
Everyone is there to spread the gospel of the Lord, there’s no need to be right next to each other. Why don’t you build the church near the gold mines, where there won’t be less than 5,000 people if all the workers are in place.
The terrain around here is flat, fertile, and has plenty of water, making it ideal for agricultural production. I’ve already applied to the colonial government to establish a town, and I’ll develop a farm here once the gold mine is on the right track.
There are also the people under me, I’ve communicated with them, everyone is also interested in establishing farms here, and then bringing their families over, so don’t worry about the potential for future development.”
It’s not even possible to move over without moving, the gold mine can’t move here, they can’t leave without digging up all the gold. Who is willing to give up the gold mine belonging to them and leave?
Baron Fikeni is a traditional aristocrat, for investment in industry and commerce within the dare not be interested in, only on the establishment of the farm is obsessed with.
Not only is he, many Germans are interested in the farm, most of the farmers in the United States in later years are of German descent, can explain the problem.
Since the future of a long time to stay here, then open up a farm out, in the food to achieve self-sufficiency, is also a good choice.
It’s not easy to get land at home, but it’s different on the African continent, where the colonial government now encourages people to develop farms and plantations. The colonial government now encourages people to develop farms and plantations. Whoever develops the land gets it, and opportunities like this don’t come along very often.
Baron Fikeni is very clear about the determination of the domestic development of the Guinea region, the current chaos can not continue for a long time. Once the situation has stabilized, investing in agriculture is also a good choice.
Even if it was just to solve the food problem of the gold miners, not purchasing from a stronghold more than two hundred kilometers away, the investment would be worth it.
After hesitating for a while, Father Batig said with some incredulity, “Your Excellency the Baron, you aren’t planning to replace the fiefdom in the country here, are you?”
Baron Fikeni denied, “No, I am not going to give up the family foundation! It’s just that I have a bit too many children, so if I don’t leave more property behind, it won’t be enough to share.”
According to the custom of German region, the eldest son inherits the family business, the second son can only get a small portion of the property, and this is still based on the richness of the family.
If the economic situation was not good, then the eldest son inherited the family business, and the second son had to go out to make his own fortune.
The breakthrough is not so easy, unless the battlefield has made the war can be a rise, engaged in other industries can only slowly climb, slowly fade into obscurity has been.
That is, Austria opened the colonization, or Baron Fikeni himself have to worry about the economic problems, not to mention his next generation? In the case of the ability, of course, he is willing to give the next generation to lay a better foundation.
……
In order to solve the international political crisis caused by the Gulf of Guinea, Metternich sent a diplomatic note to the six countries of England, France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and the United States.
London.
Frankly, Prime Minister Granville did not want an international political crisis to erupt at this time at all. The London government has been busy lately, and still very busy.
The Near Eastern War had failed to bring down the Russians, and now the Czarist government was not at all restive, and had recently supported the Persian government in its efforts.
In the Far East, the British had just colonized Burma and were still suppressing rebellions; Australia and New Zealand were not peaceful either, and the local natives were still rebelling against their rule; even the situation in the Indian region was beginning to be unstable.
Compared to these colonies, the interests of the Gulf of Guinea are not worth mentioning at all. Despite the discovery of gold, the gold is not in their hands, right?
The interests of seven countries are intertwined, and the whole body will be affected by one hair, and it is impossible for the government in London to take away the interests of a certain country at this time.
Prime Minister Granville asked, “Is the situation in West Africa out of control?”
Colonial Secretary William replied gravely, “Yes, Mr. Prime Minister.
The Gulf of Guinea is a traditional gold producing area, originally we thought that after so many years of mining, the gold in the area had been mined out, but we didn’t expect that so many more gold mines had been discovered.
Letting the New Holy Roman Empire pick up a bargain, now more than eighty percent of the local gold mines have fallen into their hands, and we have no way to compete with them.”
Prime Minister Granville asked suspiciously, “Why did the Austrians, who just started colonizing, establish an advantage in the area so quickly?”
As the world’s number one naval power, they were in a dominant position in most overseas colonization competitions, and now that they had all of a sudden fallen to the wayside, Prime Minister Granville was very puzzled.
William explained, “They have too many immigrants, not only from the New Holy Roman Empire, including immigrants from the German Federal Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and even a portion of immigrants from the Italian region and Russia, the
Right now the New Holy Roman Empire has more than 200,000 immigrants in the Gulf of Guinea while we have less than 10,000 immigrants, even with naval superiority, we still have no way to compete with them when it comes to land.”
John Russell, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, asked, “How can there be so many immigrants?”
William explained, “Nearly half of these are refugees from the Balkans, thrown onto the continent by the government of Vienna.
The rest are the gold seekers attracted by this gold mine, we have so many colonies that there are too many places for domestic immigrants to be able to go.
And the Austrians only have so many colonies, the people don’t have many choices, plus the lure of the gold mine to go naturally more people.”
John Russell explained, “No, Count William. I’m not asking why there are more immigrants in Austria, I mean why are Italians, Russians, and Germans running to the Austrian colonies?”
Colonial Minister William explained, “Lord Russell, I think you misunderstood. The Italians went to the Austrians’ colonies, that’s because they still occupied Lombardy and Venetia, and most of these immigrants came from under their rule.
The Russian immigrants ran over there is even simpler, we just fought a war with the Russians not long ago, considering the national sentiment, it’s not surprising that they chose to do so.
The population of the German region recognized the Habsburgs very well, and the Austrians were considered by them to be their own people.
Of course, the fact that the Austrians had the most colonial strongholds in the Gulf of Guinea was also a major factor, and many arrived in the area into their territory.
These gold diggers, who had been taken into the reserves by the Austrian colonial government, could mobilize 100,000 troops out in the Gulf of Guinea should war break out.”
The figure of “100,000 troops” surprised the crowd, and Prime Minister Granville said seriously, “It seems that we have to limit the Austrians, or else by relying on the advantages of immigration, no one will be able to compete with them in overseas colonization.”
Colonial Minister William thought about it and said, “This problem is actually very simple, just divide these immigrants. For example: the German Federal Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Italian regional states will just participate in overseas colonization activities as well.
Of course, we can also be a bit rougher and directly deploy our navy to block their colonization activities.”
Prime Minister Granville glared at him and said, “Count Wilhelm, all of your ideas are bad ideas without a shred of feasibility.
This world is not infinite, for every additional competitor, the benefits we can get will be less, you actually want to make a bunch of competitors out of it.
Blocking Austrian colonization with warships for no reason? I wouldn’t dare to do such an idiotic idea if you dare to think of it.
There are many ways to limit competitors, and war is the worst option, so please use your head, okay?”
Obviously, Prime Minister Granville was taking advantage of the situation, and he had been dissatisfied with Colonial Minister Wilhelm for more than a day or two.
The reason was very simple, the colonies had been in a state of unrest lately, and many of them, and in his opinion it was the incompetence of the Colonial Secretary.
……
(End of chapter)