Chapter 2049 Who Is the Fool?
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Marin began to change his mind, planning to buy land from the east coast of South Africa, which is closer to Johannesburg, and then expand inland.
But when he drew on the map with a pencil, he found that Johannesburg was indeed much closer to the east coast than Cape Town. The question is, how does he explain that the land he bought needs to straddle the Drakensberg Mountains across eastern South Africa?
You know, from the perspective of this agricultural era, the east coast of South Africa east of the Drakensberg Mountains is indeed a relatively good place with abundant rainfall and suitable for agriculture. However, what is the reason for insisting on crossing the Drakensberg Mountains? It would be strange if such a request did not arouse the vigilance and curiosity of the Portuguese.
Marin wanted to be invisible and didn't want to pay too much, so he scratched his head. After all, to put it bluntly, he only sold cannons to Daming, and he didn't even admit to teaching Ming Dynasty people to make cannons. If they spent money to buy such a large place, even if the Portuguese didn't doubt that South Africa had gold, they would doubt that he really provided the Ming Dynasty with cannon-casting technology.
Annoyed, Marin simply called the three closest cronies of Kohler, Sauer and Schwartz to see what good ideas these three cobblers could come up with.
After the three arrived, Marin pointed to the map and told the three that he wanted to buy this piece of land, but he was not in a hurry to develop it. The reason... my dead teacher, Einstein, passed by there and seemed to have discovered a "small" gold mine...
Now, taking advantage of the "great opportunity" to offend Portugal, I will spend money to buy a piece of land including that land. However, the money should not be too much, and the territory bought should not be too large, so as not to let the Portuguese see the problem. Moreover, let the Portuguese feel that they have taken advantage...
With so many requests, the heads of the three suddenly crashed...
It took a while for them to realize - this is the devil's difficulty...
They discussed for a long time, but they failed to come up with a solution after dark.
Seeing that he had no idea, Schwartz got up and came to the outline map of Eurasia and Africa hanging on the wall. Looking at the outline map of South Africa, Schwartz suddenly pointed to the lines representing the Orange River and its tributary, the Fall River (Johannesburg is not far north of the Fall River) and asked:
"My lord, does this line represent a large river? The land you want to buy is on the river's edge?"
"Yes, it's a big river!" Marin nodded. The reason why he remembered these two rivers was that they were related to the gold mines. In addition, there is another line on the map, which is the Limpopo River, and the upper reaches are also very close to Johannesburg. In other words, Johannesburg is very close to the upper reaches of the Farr River and the upper Limpopo River,
It belongs to the area adjacent to two rivers.
Thinking of this, Marin suddenly stood up:
"Schwartz, I figured out a way!"
The solution is very simple - I don't buy a large piece of land, I keep a low profile, just buy a river and the land on both sides of the river. Isn't it too much to buy a river and ask for the land on both sides of the river?
After that, Marin hesitated for a long time between buying the Orange River or the Limpopo River. It stands to reason that the conditions of the Limpopo River are better, and the outlet to the sea is closer to Johannesburg. The problem is, the outlet of the Limpopo River is in Mozambique. Now, Spanish and Portuguese colonists have begun to operate along the coast of Mozambique. If you go upstream along the Limpopo River to Johannesburg, it is easy to expose the gold mines. Even if the gold is dug up and transported out of the Limpopo River into the sea, it is easy to be spied on, leading to leakage of secrets.
But it's much closer up the Limpopo than up the Orange and Fall. Moreover, the natural conditions of the Limpopo River Basin are much stronger than those of the Orange River. After all, the lower reaches of the Orange River are actually an ecological dividing line, and the area south of the river is a place with good natural conditions and a good climate. The north of the river belongs to the tropical desert area, which is very desolate. The river has long served as the boundary of the British Cape Colony. It is too difficult to find gold mines upstream from this river, and the conditions are relatively harsh. However, its advantage is that the price is definitely not too high. After all, the natural conditions at the mouth of the Orange River can be seen by Portuguese ships.
Marin was a little entangled. In the end, he decided to leave this choice to the Portuguese. All he has to do is to present this multiple-choice question...Of course, he made a statement in advance-don't ask for too high a price, otherwise he won't buy it...
In addition, Marin repeatedly emphasized that he did not send cannon-casting technical materials to the Ming Dynasty (he just sent cannon-casting craftsmen to guide him in person, which is not a lie), but only gave the finished product. In addition, the Ming Dynasty itself knew how to cast cannons, and was equipped with small cannons such as bowl-mouth guns long ago. Therefore, it is not surprising that people have the ability to imitate. Moreover, I didn't know that Portugal was going to fight against the Ming Dynasty, and you didn't say hello in advance...
...
When the news reached Lisbon, Manuel I and the Portuguese ministers were somewhat taken aback. Thinking about it carefully, that's right, we didn't notify Beihai in advance that we were going to use force against Ming...
As for whether there was artillery before the Ming Dynasty, it would be easy to find out by sending someone to inquire, but there is no rush to make a judgment.
It was the multiple-choice question Marin asked to buy one of the two rivers, which made Manuel I a little confused-why, is this an apology and compensation? This can have!
Then, the Portuguese monarchs recruited several captains who often sailed on the Indian route, and officials who had been on the coast of Mozambique to learn about the conditions of the two rivers.
An experienced captain pointed out that this so-called "Orange River" (Marin did not change its name, and directly quoted the name of later generations) is worthy of the name. At first glance, it does look like an orange sand river. Moreover, the river seems to sometimes stop flowing during the winter in the southern hemisphere. If you want to do agricultural planting on this river, the crops will probably die in the dry season. The only useful thing about this river is to graze on the south bank and hunt some rhinos and elephants. Due to poor natural conditions, there are almost no indigenous people near the mouth of the river.
As for the Limpopo River, that is the land dividing line between Spain and Portugal in Southwest Africa. The natural conditions of the area along the river are very good, and many black natives live there, making it a good trading area. If Beihai gets it, the area along the river will be a very good place for farming...
The Portuguese monarchs and ministers discussed for a few days, and finally agreed that there are more indigenous people in the Limpopo River Basin, and the trade benefits are greater. Moreover, selling to the North Sea country, which is good at farming, may still be used. Therefore, it is better to sell the Orange River with worse natural conditions to Marin. In addition, Marin was allowed to own land within 30 leagues (equivalent to 90 miles or 144.8 kilometers) on both sides of the Orange River. As for the price, the Portuguese monarchs and ministers offered 100,000 Ducat gold coins...
After receiving the offer from the Portuguese, Marin was almost happy to agree immediately. After all, the distance of 144.8 kilometers definitely includes the Rand gold mining area.
However, in order not to let the Portuguese see his happiness and excitement, Marin pretended to reply unhappily, and wanted to cut the price to 50,000 gold coins.
Then, the two sides used letters to come and go to bargain, but the messenger who delivered the letter and the horse on which the messenger rode were pitiful. Especially the horses, several of them died of exhaustion...
In the end, the Portuguese monarchs agreed to Marin's bid of 50,000 gold coins. However, the price is that Marin ordered more than one hundred caravel sailboats from Portugal, regardless of whether they are new or old, the price will follow the market...
The Portuguese felt relieved and felt that he had made a lot of money. After all, although more than a hundred new and old Caravel sailboats are based on market prices, the profits add up to a lot, and Marin is considered a bloodletter.
It's just that they don't know that the order of more than one hundred caravel sailboats was planned by Marin long ago. This time it just coincided with the meeting, and it happened to be used as a negotiation condition...
Moreover, the most serious thing is that the Portuguese don't even know that the world's largest gold mining area, the Rand gold mining area with a metal reserve of more than 50,000 tons, was sold by them for 50,000 gold coins... Well, after converting it , Marin bought more than a ton of gold metal reserves with one gold coin...
"This fool, spent so much money to buy a water-scarce river that will stop flowing!" This is the evaluation of Marin by the Portuguese monarchs and ministers at the banquet.
"These fools sold me the cabbage price of the world's largest gold mine!" This is Marin's private evaluation of the Portuguese...
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