985 Stealing
Mr. Lion Hunter's words were always a mixture of truth and lies, so Li Du would never completely believe him.
In truth, Swaziland currency was even more worthless than scraps of paper. This type of currency usually used millions as a unit. The locals would not even know what amount was on their notes because they had low level culture and there were just too many 0s on it, they could not count properly...
But the Mozambique currency had not collapsed yet, and the cash flow was still quite good in their country. But this type of currency was not worth much either. One hundred thousand Mozambique metical could only be exchanged for a few US dollars.
Remonin laughed, "Mr. Li, food vouchers are very common in places like ours. It's not just me printing them. There are a few other Swazi tribes near us who print these too."
Li Du believed this statement, as the Swaziland currency system had already collapsed. The warlords in some areas printed their own currency, and this is probably who Remonin was talking about.
Speaking of Swaziland, this was the proof of the capability and the quality of a country ran by African born black men.
Perhaps many people did not know that Swaziland was actually country in the south of Africa that was rich in mineral resources and had a fertile land. When it got its independence in 1980, its economic power was second only to South Africa.
At that time, there were many farms and ranches operated by white men inside the borders of Swaziland. That was the reason it had the reputation of being called the "African bread basket". At that era, the food supply from Swaziland had fed many African famine victims.
Up until year 2000, the show began. It was not clear what had gotten into President Mugabe's (Mugabe was actually a prime minister, not president) head, he started to implement radical land reformation, and forcefully confiscated farms ran by white men and allocated the land to his own "black brothers".
And then, all the agriculture, tourism and mining in Swaziland had fallen, and the economy had also collapsed shortly after.
In the last century, the Zimbabwean dollar was more valuable than the US dollar. When they just gained independence in 1980, the exchange rate between Zimbabwean dollar and US dollar was 1 to 1.47.
After land reformation, the government finances could not make ends meet. Hence they started to print banknotes, and caused the current banknotes to go by the millions.
Li Du felt that South Africa would end up the same way too. The intelligence of African local black men made him feel anxious for them, and he felt that it was a dangerous thing to let them run a country.
As a yellow skin guy, Li Du did not support the stupid idea of white supremacy. But he had to admit that perhaps the upper limit of countries ran by white men would not be too high, but the lower limit would not be too low either. At least there were no examples of white men's countries overturned due to the bankruptcy of government in the near modern history.
The bottom line of a country ruled by black men had known no bounds, take Congo as en example, or take Swaziland as an example, or perhaps in the entire Africa, this was the modern country?
Even Remonin himself had to agree with these. They were discussing about Mozambique, Swaziland and South Africa all the way, as they were visiting around the mines.
In comparison, the environment in this mine was much better than Mr Lion Hunter's underground mine. The underground river not only brought in water flow, it had brought in fresh air as well.
Thus it was not suffocating to work in this underground cave mine, and it was not too hot nor too cold, the temperature was just nice. This underground river was just like an air conditioner.
Moreover, even if caves were depressed, the space here was huge. It was not like the underground rat hole mine of Mr Lion Hunter, that was so small that men could not even stand up straight inside them.
After they finished visiting, it was already time for dinner.
The workers got out of water to be checked, and if they had no problems they could collect their food and put them in their bags. Then they covered their eyes with black cloth and got sent out of the mine area.
"They only had to work for twelve hours a day, and they can rest or they can go out to play in their freetime." Remonin said, "This work is not too harsh, right?"
For Chinese and Americans, or for any prim and proper countries, this working hours was way too long. But for African mine workers, it was not that bad.
"I provide them with three meals everyday, and give them food vouchers once a month. If they work well at my place for a year, the food vouchers that they had gotten here could let them survive for five or even ten years." Remonin continued speaking.
"Maybe you will mind that I hired child labor. But over here, these children had no chance to attend schools. It is their honor to be able to work and keep themselves alive. Many children had to starve to death!"
The young man who found a diamond earlier was ready to leave with a group of people. Remonin waved at him and said, "Hey, come over here, young man."
The young man got called, he was shocked and both his legs trembled. He lowered his head shockingly and walked over slowly. As he got nearer, his legs were trembling even more.
Li Du noticed that something wasn't right. Even though Remonin's cultural level was lower than his, but his skills on controlling his men and their nature was way above his own capabilities.
Hence, since he could already notice this young man had something off, how could Remonin not notice it?
He asked gently at first, "Where are you from?"
The young man did not speak, he merely stood there with his head lowered, and his body trembled even worse.
Remonin said, "Don't be afraid, you may know me, I am the General here. I am a kind man. You are working for me, I will protect your safety, I will even provide you with food."
The young man quickly raised his head and lowered his head again, and said something in his native language.
Remonin stunned for a while and asked, "What language is this? I don't understand."
Li Du almost fainted. But there were too many native languages in Africa, it was common that Remonin did not understand the language.
A soldier who was responsible in guarding the mine walked over and said, "Reporting to General. His name is Banana Worm, he is a pygmy, he cannot speak English or Portuguese."
Remonin nodded, "Pygmy, ha! Mr Li, I did not hire child labor, this is a pygmy."
Li Du said, "Pygmy? Which tribe is he from?"
Remonin laughed, "I'll tell you later, today you're gonna get a treat, haha, haha."
Mr Lion Hunter laughed too, he said, "I'm gonna score a cup later."
Li Du did not understand what the two were talking about, could it be that pygmies were excellent chefs? But even if they were chefs, as underaged children, what could they cook?
Remonin nodded towards the soldiers, and a few black men had came around and pointed their bayonets towards this child, and they shouted fiercely at him, "Hey! Hey! Hey!"
A guard tore away his already torn clothes and held him up, as he shouted at him loudly. He was speaking in Portuguese and Li Du did not understand what he was saying.
The young man was extremely afraid, in the end his legs gave way and he kneeled on the ground and kowtowed hardly.
The soldiers continued growling at him, and the other workers who were ready to leave were all brought over here. They surrounded the young man and everyone kept shouting at him.
Li Du did not know what was happening, but he knew he could not simply stick his nose in this kind of business. He must at least find out the situation before making a decision.
But he had already vaguely guessed it, it was either this young man was extremely timid and was especially afraid of Remonin, or he had done something against the rules, and thought that he had been caught red handed and felt afraid. For example, if he had stolen a diamond.
After kowtowing, the young man reached his trembling hand into his pants, and dug around his backside. After retrieving his hand, he opened his palm and there was a gray colored rough diamond appearing in his hand.