Chapter 2049： Who is a fool?

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Marin began to change his mind, ready to take the hand from the east coast of South Africa, which is closer to Johannesburg, buy land, and then expand inland.

But after he drew on the map with a pencil, he found that Johannesburg is indeed much closer to the east coast than to Cape Town. But the question is, how does he explain that the land he bought needs to cross the Drakensberg Mountains that traverse the eastern part of South Africa?

You know, from the perspective of this agricultural era, the east coast of South Africa to the east of the Drakensberg Mountains is indeed a relatively good place with abundant rainfall and suitable for agriculture. However, what is the reason for having to climb over the Drakensberg Mountains? If such a request does not arouse the Portuguese's vigilance and curiosity, it would be strange.

Marin scratched his head a little because he wanted to be unaware of it and didn't want to spend too much money. After all, he simply sold cannons to Daming without admitting to teach the Ming Dynasty people to make cannons. If they spend money to buy such a large place, even if the Portuguese do not suspect that South Africa has gold, they are afraid that he will really provide the Ming Dynasty with gun-making technology.

In annoyance, Marin simply called Kohler, Sauer, and Schwartz's three most direct relatives to see if these three heads could make good ideas together.

After the three arrived, Malin pointed to the map and told them 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, who passed by there, seemed to have discovered a "small" gold mine...

Now, I want to take advantage of the "great opportunity" to offend Portugal and spend money to buy a piece of land including that piece of land. However, you can't spend too much money, and you can't buy too much territory, so as not to let the Portuguese see the problem. Also, let the Portuguese feel that they are taking advantage...

With so many requests, the three heads suddenly went down...

It took a while before they realized--this is Devil Difficulty...

They discussed it for a long time, and there was no solution after dark.

Seeing that he had no idea, Schwartz got up and came to the outline map of Europe, Asia and Africa hanging on the wall. Looking at the outline map of South Africa, Schwartz suddenly pointed to the line representing the Orange River and its tributary, the Far River (Johannesburg is not far from the Far River) and asked:

"Master, does this line represent a big river? The land you want to buy is on the riverside?"

"Yes, it's a big river!" Marin nodded. The reason why he remembers these two rivers is because they have a certain relationship with the gold mine. In addition, there is another line on the map, the Limpopo River, which is also very close to Johannesburg upstream. In other words, Johannesburg is very close to the upper reaches of the Fall and the upper reaches of the Limpopo, and belongs to the area adjacent to the two rivers.

Thinking of this, Marin stood up suddenly:

"Schwarz, I have a solution!"

The solution is very simple-I don't buy large tracts of land, I keep a low profile, just buy a river and land on both sides of the river. Buying a river and asking for the land on both sides of the river is not excessive, right?

Afterwards, 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 estuary is closer to Johannesburg. The problem is that the exit of the Limpopo is in Mozambique. And now, Spanish and Portuguese colonists have begun to operate along the coast of Mozambique. If you travel upstream along the Limpopo River to Johannesburg, it is easy to expose the gold mines. Even if the gold is dug into the sea and exported from the Limpopo River, it is easy to be spied on, leading to leaks.

However, going upstream along the Limpopo is much closer than going upstream along the Orange and Fall rivers. 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 is actually an ecological dividing line. The area to the south of the river is a place with good natural conditions and a good climate. To the north of the river, it belongs to the tropical desert area, which is very desolate. This river has long served as the boundary line of the British Cape Colony. It is too difficult to look for gold mines upstream from this river, and the conditions are relatively harsh. However, its advantage is that the price is certainly 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. What he has to do is to submit this multiple-choice question...Of course, he stated in advance-don't ask too much, or he won't buy it...

In addition, Marin repeatedly emphasized that he didn't send the cannon casting technical information to Mingguo (he just sent the cannon casting craftsman to instruct him in person, not a lie), but just gave the finished product. In addition, the Ming Dynasty itself was able to cast cannons and was equipped with small artillery such as Wankou Gun. Therefore, it is not uncommon for others to have the ability to imitate. Moreover, I didn’t know that Portugal was going to play the Ming Dynasty, and you didn’t say hello in advance...

...

When the news reached Lisbon, Manuel I and the Portuguese ministers were a little surprised. If you think about it carefully, that's right, we haven't notified Beihai State in advance that it will use force against Ming State...

As for whether Mingguo had artillery before, this person will find out after inquiring, but he is not in a hurry to judge.

It was the multiple-choice question that Marin asked to buy one of the two rivers, which made Manuel I a little confused-Zedi, is this an apology for compensation? This can be!

Then, the Portuguese monarchs recruited several captains who often ran the Indian route, and officials who had mixed up along 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, directly quoted the name of later generations) is worthy of its name. At first glance, it is indeed an orange Shahe. Moreover, this river seems to stop flowing sometimes during the winter in the southern hemisphere. If you want to engage in agricultural planting in this river, in the dry season when the flow is dry, it is estimated that the crops will die. The only useful thing about this river is probably grazing on the south bank and hunting some rhinos and elephants. Due to poor natural conditions, there are almost no indigenous people near the mouth of this river.

As for the Limpopo River, it is the land boundary between Spain and Portugal in Southwest Africa. The natural conditions in the area along the river are very good, and many black aborigines live there, making it a good trading area. If it is obtained from the North Sea country, the areas along the river are used to grow land, they are all very good places...

The Portuguese monarchs discussed it for a few days, and finally agreed that there are more indigenous people in the Limpopo River Basin, and trade interests are greater. Moreover, if it is sold to the North Sea country that is good at farming, it may still be used. Therefore, it is better to sell the Orange River, which has worse natural conditions, to Marin. In addition, Marin is 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 offered 100,000 ducats...

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 Mine.

However, in order to prevent the Portuguese from seeing their happiness and excitement, Marin pretended to be very unwilling to reply and wanted to cut the price to 50,000 gold coins.

Then, the two parties used letters to bargain where you came and went, but the messenger who delivered the letter and the horse that the messenger rode. Especially the horses, several of them are exhausted...

In the end, the Portuguese monarchs agreed to Marlin's offer of 50,000 gold coins. However, the price is that Marin ordered more than one hundred Caravelle sailing boats from Portugal, regardless of whether it is new or old, the price will follow the market...

The Portuguese feel better now think they have made a lot of money. After all, there are more than one hundred new and old Caravelle sailing boats, although according to market prices, the profits add up to a lot, and Marin can be regarded as bleeding once.

It’s just that they don’t know that Marin had planned for the order for more than a hundred Caravel sailing boats. This time just coincided with the meeting, and it happened to be used as a negotiation condition...

Moreover, the most serious thing is that the Portuguese did not know that the largest gold mining area in the world, the Rand gold mining area with a metal reserve of more than 50,000 tons, was sold by them at a price of 50,000 gold coins... well, converted down. , Marin bought more than a ton of gold metal reserves for one gold coin...

"This idiot, spent so much money to buy a dry river with water shortage!" This is the evaluation of the Portuguese monarchs and ministers to Marin 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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