But Zhu Erdian was very suspicious of Yang Chao's insistence on prospecting in South Africa and Australia, which, unlike the other colonies, became dominions, because the people who ruled both places were white, and most of them were of British descent, so Britain was willing to treat them more equally, just like Canada. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Australia reciprocated this gift to the British Empire by demonstrating its extraordinary loyalty to Britain, with Prime Minister Andrew Fisher declaring his support for Britain at all costs, down to the last man, the last shilling.

In the end, in this world war, the proportion of conscripted soldiers in Australia was higher than that of the United Kingdom, and the male population was less than 3 million, of which nearly 400,000 volunteered to fight, of which 50% were either killed or wounded.

Although South Africa is not as loyal as Australia, the first rat at both ends of the war, always seeking to stand up, but the importance of South Africa is self-evident, the British for the land of South Africa, but fought two Boer Wars, has invested 400,000 troops, spent a billion pounds, more than 20,000 casualties, is because it is too important to Britain, rich mineral deposits, especially huge gold reserves, can be called the British treasury.

Therefore, Zhu Erdian did not agree, he keenly felt that Yang Chao insisted on the prospecting rights of these two places had another hidden reason, so he temporarily ended the negotiations under the pretext that Britain needed to negotiate with Australia and South Africa.

Of course, it needs to be discussed, but with the influence of Britain, it is still possible to take the prospecting rights of these two places, and at most it is enough for Guan Yang Chao to ask for some compensation to these two countries.

However, Zhu Erdian would not easily agree until he figured out Yang Chao's scheme, and he immediately contacted China and needed intelligence support. The British cabinet immediately investigated the two places, but found nothing special, and they finally determined that Yang Chao wanted the prospecting rights of these two places, and the biggest purpose was probably for the gold of the two places.

There is no doubt that there are gold mines in South Africa, Australia is also a famous gold producer, which once triggered a gold rush after the United States, and after the war, the British government also got news from Germany, it turned out that two years before the war, Yang Chaocheng had secretly transported 3,000 tons of gold ore to Germany.

Britain understood that Yang Chao had huge gold reserves in a certain place, which is why Yang Chao was suddenly able to come up with 10,000 tons of gold, and the British had no doubts.

They believe that Yang Chao, who has profited from gold mining, naturally values the gold mines of Australia and South Africa.

The judgment of the British cabinet was also in line with Zhu Erdian's expectations, and after many discussions with the cabinet, Zhu Erdian put forward a new proposal to Yang Chao.

"If your country must ask for prospecting rights from Australia and South Africa, then China is willing to dredge it on your behalf, but your country must give some compensation to the Australian and South African governments. There are also gold, silver, diamond and oil deposits, which are not covered by prospecting rights. ”

After listening to Zhu Erdian's suggestion, Yang Chao immediately frowned, as if he really valued the gold and diamonds in these two places.

Then he sneered: "Hehe, there is no gold, no silver, no diamonds, not even oil is in it, so what should I go to those two places to explore?" Digging sand? ”

"With all due respect, the gold mines in Australia and South Africa have been bought, including unmined gold mines. So there's nothing we can do about it. As for oil, it is related to the energy security of the two countries, so this is non-negotiable, and the two governments will certainly not agree. There are also prospecting rights granted to your country, which can only be in the undeveloped areas of the two countries. ”

Yang Chao was already displeased, and said impatiently: "Tell me, how much money should I give them?" ”

Zhu Erdian said with a smile: "I thought that 100 million gold yuan coupons should not be much." ”

Yang Chao stood up suddenly: "I said Lao Zhu, we are all old friends, so there is no need for this." You don't allow me to explore gold mines, and you want me to ask me for 100 million gold dollar coupons, which is a hundred tons of gold, don't you think this is too ridiculous? ”

Of course, the prospecting rights can be sold, but the prospecting rights of foreigners in China are often just additional conditions for various loans, and when they reach them, they ask Yang Chao to pay real money, which is absolutely unacceptable, and business is not like this.

Zhu Erdian sighed: "But you want too much, France only gave one Vietnam prospecting rights, and you lent them a billion taels, but you want to let the country grant most of the colonies to your country, don't you think it's ridiculous?" ”

Yang Chao snorted: "Lao Zhu, you understand people, the French only lend one billion gold dollar coupons, but you want to borrow three billion, that is 3,000 tons of gold, and these real gold and silver are going to be transported to London." As for what this gold can do in London, I think you know better than I do. In this way, the pound could return to the gold standard, regain its pre-war status as a world currency, and escape the enormous pressure of the dollar. At the same time, it also got rid of the penetration of the American into the London financial market. ”

After the war, at the Paris Peace Conference, Britain, the United States and France communicated on the issue of war reparations and debts, Britain and France both hoped to repay the loans to the United States by squeezing Germany, to be honest, the demands of the two countries were not excessive, and in the end they only demanded more than 30 billion US dollars in reparations from Germany, and their expenses in the war reached more than 50 billion US dollars, which is not counting the losses caused by the war, so this is the first time that the victorious country has lost money.

But where can Germany afford to pay reparations, the current German gold reserves have long been looted, so although the war is over, Britain and France have to continue to ship their gold to the United States to repay the debts due, the gold reserves of the two countries have long been exhausted, in this way, let alone repay the debts, their gold is used to pay off the interest is not enough.

The United States also insisted on high tariffs, so that Britain and France could not export their industrial products to the United States on a large scale and could not earn foreign exchange in US dollars, so they could only be forced to continue to send gold to the United States, otherwise the two countries would default, the national credit would be dealt a huge blow, and it would be difficult to borrow money.

This made Britain feel panicked, before the war Britain had more than half of the world's gold reserves, the pound sterling was the strongest international currency, Britain controlled the world's finance and trade, but now Britain's treasury has been looted, less than 2,000 tons, the pound does not dare to restore the gold standard, and it cannot become the world's settlement currency, not recognized by other countries.

The United States has obtained huge reserves with the help of their wars, and the dollar has become the strongest international currency in the world in one fell swoop from the inferior currency of the past to the new Federal Reserve.

Therefore, at the instigation of the financiers in London, the British government urgently needed a huge amount of gold to support the credit of the London financial market and restore London's international financial hegemony.

But China has offered to attach prospecting rights to the loan.

Zhu Erdian sighed, the situation is stronger than people, London is anxious to wait for gold to come to the rescue, once the gold enters the London vault, the pound will be activated again, and then Britain once again has the right to speak in global trade, and the world's gold will once again flow into Britain to support the prosperity of Britain, but the premise is that they can find a start-up capital, the Americans are resolutely not to give, only by China.

"Okay. To be honest, South Africa is not in your country's prospecting rights for prospecting minerals, including gold, silver, precious metals, diamonds and oil; Australia can only grant prospecting rights to your country, Theo, and Northern Austria, and gold, silver, precious metals, diamonds, and oil are not included; All prospecting rights, including the Arabian Peninsula, must not exceed ten years! ”

Speaking of this, Zhu Erdian paused: "As for the compensation, my country can pay it on my behalf, but your country must give my country a loan of 5 billion gold yuan bonds!" ”

"5 billion!"

Yang Chao took a deep breath and smiled.

Zhu Erdian stared at him closely, waiting for the result.

"The British Empire is the British Empire, it is the atmosphere. Looks like you really need gold. However, given that we have a common enemy, we accepted the loan. But the term of the prospecting right cannot be only ten years, and who knows if I can find valuable deposits in ten years. As for the time limit, let it be the time limit for you to repay the loan. ”

It is impossible when the loan will be paid off, when the prospecting rights will be cancelled, and the British government still has more than two or three hundred years of unpaid debts, and they have not paid off the Dutch debts during the Anglo-Dutch war. It's not that the British can't afford to pay it, it's that they think it's more cost-effective to pay the interest, especially the debts that had very low interest rates back then. Later generations of Britons paid off their World War I loans, but in 2015, not because they had money, but because they felt that the interest rate on World War I debt was too high, and they intended to replace it with lower loans.

Therefore, it is impossible for Zhu Erdian to agree: "Fifteen years, this is our greatest sincerity!" ”

Yang Chao frowned: "Thirty years, this is also my greatest sincerity." ”

Zhu Erdian sighed: "Twenty years, after all, we are friends." ”

Yang Chao didn't speak for a long time, then stretched out his hand, and the hands of the two old foxes were held together.

Twenty years later, World War II broke out, and for Yang Chao, it was enough.

As far as Britain is concerned, it may not be possible to find anything good in the past 20 years, and even if they do, they will not suffer, it is nothing more than the introduction of investment, and the economic concept of the British people has never excluded investment. Introducing mineral investment to the inhospitable colony is also developing the colonial economy.

The British don't know that what they lost was the world's best surface iron ore, which was more than 70 percent in taste and could be smelted directly in blast furnaces, with reserves of more than 25 billion tons, enough for the British to use for 500 years.

It's just that Britain needs gold too much at this time, so they also think it's an excellent deal. At the same time, they also think that the opportunity cannot be lost, if it is another time, Yang Chao may not be willing to lend them this gold, after all, this is gold, and the era of the gold standard represents power.

Zhu Erdian has no doubt that Yang Chao's words are because of a common enemy, and this enemy is, of course, the United States. The United States economically suppressed and challenged the British Empire, because of the Chinese exclusion issue, and China almost cut off economic ties, so it is reasonable for the Chinese to want to borrow the hand of Britain to attack the United States! (To be continued.) )