The US Army, in a tentative offensive, fell into the fire trap prepared by the Spaniards and suffered heavy losses. This setback of the U.S. military has attracted widespread attention, and everyone originally thought that there would be no ups and downs in this war, and that the Spanish watch was completely vulnerable, making the whole United States fantasize about winning before Christmas. Today's setbacks are like a blow to the head, and the United States, which has been beating the voice of optimism, seems to be blinded all of a sudden.

Such ups and downs may not be what the American people want to see, but for some special interest groups, it is definitely a good thing. For example, for media outlets such as newspapers, this is definitely a good thing. Because of the defeat of the American army, the sales of the newspaper increased significantly. Of course, newspapers are not the most profitable in this matter. In terms of making money, some speculators in the futures market have recently made a lot of money.

Cuba is the world's most important producer of sugar, so the situation in Cuba can significantly affect the price of sugar. In the futures market, this will constantly show the rise and fall of the price of sucrose futures. Today's agricultural futures trading has developed a lot compared to when Scrooge started, for example, the trading leverage has changed a lot, and it has been magnified to 50 times. This means that as long as one percent of the price fluctuates, it can bring 50 percent of the profit or loss.

The Cuban Resisters and the MacDonald Consortium have been coming and going for many years, and this big tree has shade, so the Cuban Resisters naturally have the heart to lean against the big tree to enjoy the shade. Therefore, the McDonald consortium has already controlled a lot of sugar plantations in Cuba, coupled with intelligence capabilities and the ability to judge the war situation, there are few consortiums in this world that can compete with the McDonald consortium, so this naturally means that the McDonald consortium can call the wind and rain almost as much as it wants in the sugar futures market. As a result, in just one day, under the direct command of Greystone, the MacDonald consortium stole a full eight million dollars from the sugar futures market.

Nowadays, the new generation of the MacDonald consortium seems to prefer more and more financial means rather than industrial means to make money, which has almost become a trend, controlling the most important and critical sectors of the economy, and then artificially creating market fluctuations, so as to make a lot of money easily and happily. One of the major characteristics of the capitalist economy is that the fundamental purpose of economic activity is not to create products, but to obtain profits. The production of industrial products that can be used is only one way to make a profit.

Because of this, every once in a while, the capitalists will make a creative attempt, that is, to try to skip the redundant production links and directly and more efficiently obtain profits. Of course, there is a more lofty name for this approach, which is called "financial innovation". It is quick to make money, high profits, and relatively hidden, so it has naturally become the favorite choice of those capitalists. For example, in the later life, Ah Mei, you see that there are not many oil fields that stir up trouble in the main oil producing areas, but in the end, there are not many oil fields that seem to fall into your hands. So a bunch of guys who are not very familiar with this kind of means, or who are familiar with it but deliberately don't say it, naturally come out with this kind of fact and shout: "You see, the United States is definitely not fighting stupid trees for oil!" It's for democracy! Ah, great sister, look, the beacon of freedom, the hope of mankind! "What they said is not entirely wrong, Wall Street and the Bush family got rid ......of the stupid big wood, and it is really not directly for oil, but more for oil futures." As long as you control the rise and fall of futures prices, you can earn several times more money in minutes than opening oil fields, what? You say the cost of war is expensive? That's paid for by all taxpayers, not Wall Street.

It's just that right now, the action in the sugar market is just a small move, because there is a bigger market that is about to have more volatility. This market is the precious metals market.

On December 5, 1897, the day the U.S. military assault on the San Diego military port was thwarted, Scrooge had Blackwater's instructors deliver a piece of information to the Boers.

"The British, with two thousand troops each from the Mediterranean and India, will arrive in the Cape Colony in the near future. In addition, in the coming month Britain will move one or two divisions from its homeland to South Africa. President Kruger read the information, then turned to his cabinet members and said, "Do you think this information is true?" ”

"Mr. President, the veracity of the information will be known in a few days. The colonial army of four thousand men was not enough to change the balance of power. However, if the native division mentioned later arrives, the British may think that they have the ability to deal with us by force. General Piette Joubert replied, "In short, we need to be ready for immediate contingencies." Mr. President, as soon as the colonial troops that the British had mobilized in advance arrived, I think we should issue a mobilization order at home. ”

"Mr. President, I think it's not unlikely, the British will do something to us." Another cabinet member also replied: "The Americans are now fighting against Spain. The British, while verbally supporting Spain, did little in substance. I think that the reason why the Americans dared to move against Spain was probably because they considered that the problems between us and Britain would drag down Britain's power. What do you think, Mr. President, if Britain and the United States had fought as they had in 1812? ”

These words made the originally somewhat worried people show a rare smile, indeed, if the British really fought with the Americans, what would the Transvaal Republic do? Needless to say? It must have taken the opportunity to drive the British out of South Africa. It's fascinating to think about such a thing.

"Since the British held back and didn't do it, I think everyone knows the reason why they didn't do it. If we were British, would we be able to tolerate our own forces being dragged for a long time? However, this question immediately pushed everyone back to the harsh reality. Indeed, the British could not tolerate an indefinite drag on in South Africa. Because this delay has already had bad consequences. Therefore, as long as the British have no problems in their heads, then they will definitely do their best to solve the problem. And the way to solve the problem, there is no doubt that it can only be war!

"Judging by all circumstances, there is a very high probability that this information is true." President Kruger set the tone for this information.

The first half of this information from American friends is undoubtedly true, of course, the rest is complete nonsense, the transfer of two native army divisions, the British do not plan to spend so much effort, in the beginning, the British did not expect that the Boers would be so difficult to deal with, so, at the beginning, the British really did not plan to mobilize elite troops from the mainland to solve the problem.

Just a day later, the Boers themselves received another piece of information. According to the petition, the new Governor of the Cape Colony had written to the Queen of England a few days earlier asking for domestic support to resolve the problem of discrimination against the British in the Transvaal Republic. This information, together with the intelligence from the Americans, corroborated each other, and it became more and more proof that the British were going to attack the Transvaal Republic.

After another three days, the intelligence of the Americans was finally confirmed by direct evidence that two thousand British colonial troops from the Mediterranean region disembarked in the port of Cape Town. The Boer spies in Cape Town witnessed the landing of the army.

President Kruger was then approached by General Piert Joubert, commander of the Transvaal Army.

"Mr. President, the intelligence has been confirmed, and the British are imminent on us. Please give the mobilization order and allow us to take the initiative to strike at British targets. ”

As soon as war is inevitable, the first move and preemptive strike is the best plan that the generals of the Transvaal Republic and the instructors of Blackwater have come up with after a long period of research. Although morally speaking, it is better not to fire the first shot. However, to do this, there are prerequisites. That is, it is better to have the strength to ensure that the opponent will never have a chance to fire a second shot. If you can't do this, at least you must ensure that you don't suffer damage and can't recover from the enemy's preemptive strike. It is necessary to ensure that the benefits of not firing the first shot far outweigh the damage of being shot first, otherwise it will be a fool's hat.

Obviously, the forces of the Transvaal Republic could not afford to let the British fire the first shot. If the British were stupid enough to prepare step by step, then after the British fired the first shot, it is estimated that the Boers would have no chance to fire the second shot, and they would be killed in seconds. Not firing the first shot, in a sense, is the prerogative of the strong. The Boers did not have such qualifications, at least in the face of the British Empire, the most powerful empire in human history.

For the Boers, if war had to break out, the best situation would definitely be to preemptively attack the British colony in South Africa before the main force of the British arrived. If they could capture Cape Town and other important ports before the arrival of the main British forces, then the British would need to fight the most complicated landing battle of the Battle of Yiqiē. Moreover, even if the British army successfully landed, there would be no port, and the logistics would be very, very difficult. Even if the British army recaptured the port, by the time they recaptured the port, the facilities in the port would have been destroyed long ago, and it would take a lot of time and materials to restore its function. In this way, the cost of war will skyrocket. In the eyes of the Boers, the British were a bunch of businessmen. If a war is too costly and yields too low, then it is entirely possible that they will seek a compromise.

"So be it," President Kruger said, "you put the military on alert first, and then I'll make one last diplomatic effort." ”R1058