Chapter 31: The Gold Mine is in Hand, the Rise of the Second-Hand Bookstore Tianxia Shuku

  In August 1891, on a gloomy morning, under the astonished gaze of laborers who had been working hard, a black three-masted ship with an eerie shape, like a bat spreading its wings, against the backdrop of lightning flashing across the sky from time to time, sailed along the Swan River and slowly docked at Fremantle Port, Western Australia, British Empire.

  Parrot Shell, a ship with an unfamiliar name at its bow.

  To know that in a place like Western Australia, where nothing good happens except for sheep shearing, only a few fixed merchant ships come every year. The arrival of an unfamiliar ship is always easy to cause a sensation, let alone this ship has a British naval uniformed major standing on its deck.

  Although the Western Australian gang and descendants of criminals have obtained autonomous power under Her Majesty's indifferent consent, and established an autonomous government last year, they still have a deep-seated reverence for the Mi Zhi flag flying high on the mast.

  But in the next moment, awe turned into fear.

  For pouring out of the hatch were scores of fully armed British soldiers.

  "Has Her Majesty the Queen changed her mind?" Every West Australian who witnessed this scene was shocked and wondered.

  Britain had long withdrawn its troops from Australia, otherwise they wouldn't have dared to declare independence!

  But what happened next left them bewildered.

  A large body of British troops disembarked quickly, forming up in two dense columns on the wharf at the gangway, with bayonets fixed to their Lee-Enfield rifles.

  Then, a man of yellow race in a well-pressed black tailcoat, with a high hat on his head and a white shirt with a tie, was seen walking down with a beautiful white girl, followed by two little maids, one white and one yellow.

  He stepped down the gangway with a steady pace, then looked around at the soldiers on both sides with a proud expression, and turned his head to say with satisfaction: "Fire, cannon!"

  A two-meter-tall black man in a black suit and wearing black glasses immediately waved his hand towards the boat.

  Two Gruson 57mm guns hastily mounted on the deck simultaneously let out a roar.

  The dock suddenly exploded, this is not a salute, but a real army-style artillery, although only the sound of gunfire was heard and no shells fell, but this stimulation was indeed real.

  Yang Feng looked at the crowd of people fleeing in all directions on the dock with satisfaction, and boarded the pumpkin carriage that had just been unloaded from the ship. Under the guard of fifty fully armed soldiers, he walked to the front of a pale-faced, bewildered policeman not far away.

  "I need to pay a visit to His Excellency the Governor, I hope you can show me the way." He said with a faintly arrogant smile on his face.

  "In short, His Excellency the Governor resides in Perth, sir." The policeman stammered.

  "What's wrong?" Yang Feng said discontentedly.

  "It's possible, but it's very far away." The police looked at those soldiers with some trepidation.

  "Huh?" Yang Feng's pretentious behavior was severely frustrated, from here to Perth there were still 20 or 30 kilometers, he naturally couldn't expect this group of guards to run a marathon and still maintain their dignity, so he had no choice but to hire another ten carriages in Freemantle, the convoy arrived at Perth, the capital of Western Australia, three hours later.

  This small town by the Swan Lake looks so peaceful and enchanting in the sunset, but when Yang Feng thinks about adding countless chimneys here, blackening the azure sky, he can't help but feel a slight sense of guilt.

  Yang Feng's visit surprised the Governor of Western Australia, who had received a letter from Lord Rothschild half a month ago.

  It left him somewhat stunned, to know that he was only a small and declining nobleman, able to receive a handwritten letter from a noble senator, which was indeed something to be proud of, especially since the senator was Rothschild.

  The baron's letter was very brief, apart from some non-committal greetings, the most important content was that one of his Eastern friends would be going to Western Australia and hoped he could provide some assistance within his power, also in the letter he casually mentioned that this person had a close relationship with the royal family, especially Prince Victor.

  The Governor-General was startled after reading the letter. Could it be that Rothschild, a friend of the future King of England, was actually a prince from the East?

  What is he doing running around this godforsaken place?

  There's nothing valuable here except for panning gold in the upper reaches of Swan River.

  As for whether Rothschild's friends will come to dig gold, it is simply ridiculous. Those poor devils who have been screening sand on the ground for a year are not as good as these rich men moving their little fingers in the London stock exchange hall.

  But that's not what he's concerned about now, Western Australia is autonomous, and this governor is just a symbolic symbol, the power belongs to the Western Australian Parliament, and when the time comes, he just needs to introduce himself to the Premier of Western Australia.

  So after Yang Feng arrived, he immediately held a grand welcome banquet and then invited all the big shots of the Western Australian autonomous government to come over.

  Although the Western Australian government was unwelcoming to Chinese, that referred to Chinese who came to take white people's jobs. For wealthy Chinese investors, they were still very welcome, especially when this Chinese person was a big shot from London and a friend of Lord Rothschild and Prince Victor, making him someone they couldn't afford to offend.

  The Western Australian government readily approved Yang's mining and exploration applications, with Yang also making a commitment that the ratio of Chinese to local employees in his company would always be 1:10.

  It was this very clause that allayed the concerns of Western Australians, who were also at the time excluding Chinese from Australia, mainly in eastern Australia but also unwelcoming to Chinese labourers in Western Australia.

  Yang Feng also patted his chest to guarantee that in the future, no matter how much profit Yang's mining industry made each year, he would take out at least one-third of it to repay this beautiful land. He wanted to build factories for the hardworking and kind people of Western Australia, countless factories, steel mills, oil refineries, munitions plants... He wanted to turn the Swan River into Australia's Thames, and Perth into Australia's London.

  The banquet ended with great joy, of course, what the outside world did not know was that from the Premier down to the members, everyone left with Yang Feng's enthusiasm in their hearts. These Western Australian officials infected with Yang Feng's passion gave him the greatest help for his upcoming inspection activities, so just two days later, Yang Feng's large team set off.

  Wearing fake British military uniforms, riding tall horses provided by the Western Australian government, dragging machine guns and cannons, with rifles on their shoulders and automatic pistols in their waistbands, these mercenaries escorted their bosses and madams, exuding an aura of murder as they marched along the Swan River. The beautiful scenery on both banks was indeed intoxicating, but what was detestable was that they encountered many gold prospectors along the way, although they were all scattered individuals. These poor devils, clutching their dreams of getting rich, crouched by the river and sifted through the sand like greedy wild dogs drinking water.

  Riding alongside the horse-drawn carriage, a Western Australian official spoke obsequiously, like a servant: "Gold was discovered here several years ago, so prospectors have been coming continuously over the years. Although many people have made some gains, very few have become rich."

  Yang Feng nodded in satisfaction, beckoning his guard commander to come over and whispering a few words in his ear. The former British Army major saluted and quickly rode off towards the machine gun squad. A Maxim machine gun was immediately unhitched from a horse-drawn carriage, and the gunner attached a canvas ammunition belt, adjusting the barrel to aim at the river water in front of the gold prospectors before opening fire. The dense hail of bullets and the sudden gunfire sent these guys jumping up in fright, screaming as they burrowed into the sand one by one. Boss Yang laughed heartily with his fiancée in his arms.

  The Western Australian officials next to him continued to fawn all over him with a smile on their face.

  The fewer people went forward, the fewer gold diggers there were after a few days. Occasionally, one or two pastures could be seen, but when Yang Feng was already close to Kalguly according to his memory, the pasture also disappeared, leaving only endless wilderness.

  "That's it, take note of the location, from here to the east all the way to the desert, with a central axis extending 100 kilometers to both sides, I'll buy all the land within this range." Yang Da Boss looked at the monotonous scenery around him with some boredom, speaking in a very casual tone, his expression as if he was buying not over 20,000 square kilometers of land, but a small vegetable garden.

  The official took a deep breath and asked cautiously: "Mr. Yang, aren't you here to explore the mine?"

  "Yes, let's buy it first and then explore the mine." Yang Feng said casually.

  Alright, this official has nothing more to say, since he doesn't care about losing money, the Western Australian government is happy to make a fortune, after all it's just a desolate wilderness with no one around, there are also a few sheep farms, but that's not a big deal, they can be relocated elsewhere, as for those who refuse to relocate?

  The official looked at the big guns behind him and couldn't help but tremble. They will be replaced.

  Now that the land has been secured, Mr. Yang naturally had no interest in staying here any longer and took his team back to Perth, where they signed a contract with the Western Australian government. The area of this land is approximately 25,000 square kilometers, which is about one percent of the total area of Western Australia. Since no economic value has been found so far, considering Mr. Yang's investment risk, as well as the future development of Western Australia and the enthusiasm of its people, mainly due to the personal friendship between the Premier and members of Parliament with Mr. Yang, this land was sold at a price of one pound per square kilometer.