Although Woodgad claimed that it would be three days before he could give Scrooge an answer, Scrooge knew that Woodgad, or the British Empire, had no other choice. Because today, only the shipyards of Scrooge can build transport ships that are enough to save Britain. Indeed, Scrooge's ships were not economical, with high fuel consumption, small load per unit displacement, short service life, and even poor quality, but the price was not cheap. However, these things could save the lives of the British Empire, although from another point of view, they were also trying to save the lives of the British Empire like German submarines. The treasury of the British Empire had long been able to starve rats to death, and now it would be necessary to borrow again to order such ships on a large scale. This time, I don't know what to use as collateral.

"At a minimum, the British will also order 300 cargo ships from us." Scrooge told Greystone, "They have so much money now that they can't get the money out, so they have to issue bonds again." Bonds are to be secured, Greystone, do you think we should propose what the British should use as collateral for these bonds? ”

"Dad, what do you think of some of the Suez Canal revenues?" Greystone said.

The Suez Canal is one of the most important and busiest canals, and the degree of profit is significantly higher than that of the Panama Canal in the hands of Scrooge, and the profitability of this canal is quite stable, although the profit margin is not particularly high, but such risk-free profits are very rare. The MacDonald consortium had actually been drooling over the canal for a long time, but at that time, Britain was still strong, and the Rothschilds were also very powerful, so MacDonald could only look at the Suez Canal and drool. But now the situation is different, Britain is now in dire need of money to save its life, and what about Rothschild, whose assets are all over Europe, and now the whole of Europe is involved in the war. Their losses are not small either. Although they have preserved most of their wealth through financial means, much of this wealth has now become wealth on the books, long-term bonds of Britain and France, rather than immediately stirring up money. There is no real hard currency for big money in Europe today, because the gold in the coffers of Britain, France, and Italy is now sent to the United States, and then put into the vaults of banks owned by the Federal Reserve, such as MacDonald Ventures, which bought an abandoned mine in Cleveland and converted it into a new, heavily guarded underground vault. Because the vault under Duck Castle is no longer enough.

In such a situation, Rothschild has no strength to oppose the MacDonald consortium reaching out to the Suez Canal. So Greystone proposed that the British would use the rights to the Suez Canal as a bargaining chip.

"That's good." Scrooge said.

"But Dad, I'm a little worried that when the war is over, we will not be squeezed out by the British by all means." Gladstone said again.

"Don't worry about that now. It was not easy for the British to have the strength to drive us out of the Suez Canal after the war. Scrooge said.

Scrooge knew that this war would greatly deplete Britain's strength, and the balance of power between Britain and the United States would also change dramatically. In the original history, after the end of the war, Britain had to recognize the equal sea power of the United States and Britain. And in this time and space, because of the influence of Scrooge, Britain's losses in the war will only be greater, and the United States, to be precise, the MacDonald consortium will gain more in the war. That's a dream. If the British really don't know what to do, Scrooge doesn't mind letting the United States and Britain play another shipbuilding race, and can even ask the U.S. government to learn from the British back then, telling them: "If you think you have the strength to play with the United States, the United States doesn't mind accompanying you to the end." Hehe, we in the United States like to deal with those guys who think they are outstanding, if you dare to build one battleship, we will dare to build two! The United States will make you understand that the United States never talks empty words. "Anyway, for Scrooge, a tycoon in the shipbuilding industry, this kind of thing is definitely profitable.

"Actually, in addition to the Suez Canal, there is another place that is very noteworthy." Scrooge said.

"Where?" Gladstone asked.

"The Persian Gulf region." Scrooge replied.

"Here? Well, I heard that someone here has discovered oil. Greystone nodded, "But this place is a mess." The British, the French, the Germans, the Turks, the Arabs were a mess. But that's not a problem, it's just that it's a good investment? ”

Hearing Greystone's question, Scrooge couldn't help but smile, whether the Bay Area has investment value, this question is not a problem for any traveler like Scrooge. Because there are the best quality, difficult to develop, and lowest cost oil fields in the world. Even in the 21st century, oil costs less than $10 per barrel, compared to other oil fields, such as Russia's Brent in the North Sea, which cost almost $40. Grasping such oil fields in our hands is almost equivalent to grasping the pricing power of the oil market in a stable manner, which is of far-reaching significance. What's more, although oil has been discovered in this area, large-scale exploration and development has not yet begun, so it has not received enough attention here. If Suez was a place for Scrooge to drool, then the Persian Gulf was a place for Scrooge to be willing to throw his head and spill his blood, of course, it is better to throw someone's head and spill someone else's blood.

"Of course, based on some geological theories that only we know and have been kept secret from the outside world, we believe that there is a great possibility of discovering super-large oil fields in the Persian Gulf. And the location is conveniently located and well worth the investment. Scrooge replied.

"Alright then, Dad, I'll try to win the benefits of this area." Greystone said.

"Discuss with Donald, not only with the British, but also with the local emirs, who are now nominally subject to the Turkish Sultan, but in fact Turkey has lost control of these areas, and all the tribes here are seeking help from outsiders, and as long as we have money and guns, they are willing to fight in our interests. In addition, the British are talking to our Mr. President about the lease of destroyers of our Navy. You can exert some influence and push this negotiation forward, preferably by getting the British to come up with a port near the Persian Gulf in exchange. Scrooge reminded.

"Okay, Dad. I'll have a good discussion with Donald. Gladstone said.

……

Just as Scrooge had predicted, before the third day, Sir Woodgate came to the door again. This time we had to talk about something specific, so it was Greystone who received him.

"Mr. MacDonald, we hope to order 400 freighters through you, 100 of which are fast freighters using high-speed steam engines, and the rest are ordinary freighters......" In the spacious and bright meeting room of Fort Duck, the two sides began to negotiate.

The British ordered 100 low-service high-speed freighters and 300 low-life low-speed freighters, which was actually a trap for Scrooge. In the experience of the British, as long as there is a warship escort, the merchant fleet will not suffer much loss, even if it is slower, and although the PQ77 fleet suffered heavy losses in one night, this case did not make the British too vigilant. In fact, the success of the U-92 was indeed quite accidental.

So the British felt that since the slow version of the Sherlock cargo ship was built a little faster (because the supply of engines was more abundant), the price was lower, and the economy was better, then of course more slow versions should be ordered, and of course some fast versions should be ordered, after all, the number of escort ships is limited now, and some can't take care of it, and these faster cargo ships can sail alone in time without relying on escorts, and they can also have a not low survival rate, which is of course very good, At least until there are enough escort ships to save the day.

However, there is a tactic that can be perfectly used against escort formations. After the British had prepared the destroyers for escort, Scrooge would let the Germans master such tactics, and then make all the low-speed cargo ships in the hands of the British become targets for the Germans, and then the British would have to order new, high-speed versions of the cargo ships from themselves again. This is almost artificially doubling the demand for cargo ships. In this business, the MacDonald's consortium will be able to make twice the amount of money, and Britain will be weaker and more dependent on MacDonald's financial chain, and it will be even more unable to refuse some of MacDonald's demands.

Negotiations between the two sides soon reached an agreement, and MacDonald bought a portion of the bonds from the British, who used the proceeds of the Suez Canal as collateral for repayment. The British used this money to order the first batch of four hundred freighters from MacDonald. At the same time, the British also expressed their intention to continue ordering more ships in the future to the MacDonald consortium.

……

At the same time, negotiations between Britain and the United States over the lease of destroyers by the United States to Britain were also in full swing, and soon a joint statement was issued between the two countries, whereby the British leased one of their ports in western India (in present-day Pakistan) to the United States for ninety-nine years, and the United States transferred forty destroyers to Britain as rental.