Chapter 680 - Saudi Statehood (12)

The Dhaka riots, the Calcutta riots, the Muslim guerrilla attacks on Delhi, and the Mumbai workers' strike in solidarity poured into Downing Street like snowflakes, and all British newspapers were filled with news from India. ////

What's going on?

Early in the morning, the secretary gave the fireplace a flourishing fireplace, but this still could not dispel the chill in MacDonald's heart. Things have reached this point, and he has already understood that as long as there is a slight mistake, he will step down as the prime minister.

I thought that he was able to oust Stanley Baldwin by promising the people more jobs to boost the economy, but today the economy has not only failed to recover, but has a major crisis under the cooperation of China and the United States. What's worse is that the war is coming! Until now, he couldn't figure out why Yang Qiu was so tough to enter Saudi Arabia? You know, the current price of oil is cheaper than soda! What's more, even if there is oil under that desert, it is difficult to say whether it is worth 4 billion yuan. Moreover, the cost of transporting it back to China from the Persian Gulf is not cheap, and the cost of a single 50,000-ton oil tanker alone is equivalent to that of a 10,000-ton light cruiser.

"Sir." Henderson knocked on the door. After walking into the office, he was slightly stunned, and the MacDonald in his eyes was standing by the window, his eye sockets were bloodshot obviously, and even the curly hair was a little messy, which showed how messy the other party's heart was. I couldn't help but sigh in my heart and handed over a report on China's oil production: "This is Sinclair's report. ”

MacDonald didn't speak, perhaps because the steady stream of bad news had made him lose interest in speaking, and he took the file and looked at it himself. Sinclair's MI6 is finally a bit of a problem, with a 55-page report detailing China's petroleum and petrochemical industry.

According to the report, there are four oil fields on the mainland in China, namely the Han River, Yumen, Xinjiang and Belga (Lake), in addition to Sakhalin Island and Andijan Chimion and other small oil fields. The output of the four major oil fields has exceeded 20 million barrels (1 ton equals about 7.3 barrels), the highest Bell oil field reached 40.12 million barrels at the end of last year, and the national onshore oil production is 120 million barrels.

Gulf Oil's largest overseas oil company in China, Sumatra Minas and its environs, has already produced more than 20 million barrels a year, while Saudi Arabia's Ghawar oil field was 4 million barrels last year, plus some smaller oil fields such as Luzon and West Borneo, controlled by Huachen Petroleum, can get about 25 million barrels a year.

In this way, China currently produces about 150 million (about 20.5 million tons) of oil per year.

By comparison, oil production in 1930 was 900 million barrels in the United States, 140 million barrels in the Soviet Union, 62 million barrels in Mexico, and 58 million barrels in Eastern Europe (Hungary and Romania). As the largest colony, the British Empire has scarce oil, but the hidden figures are very large, including 45 million barrels of British Persian Oil Company (northern Iraq and Persia), Anglo-Dutch Shell Company Borneo alone is as high as 60 million barrels, plus the holding of small oil fields such as Mexico and Africa, in fact, the annual oil production can reach about 120 million barrels.

It seems that China has become the world's second largest oil producer, but in fact the situation is very bad.

First of all, all of his large oil fields are located in the northwest and northeast, which not only directly faced the threat of Japan and the Soviet Union, but also the quality of the oil is also poor, and the transportation and refining costs are high. Secondly, transportation is always the most annoying, and at present, only the Longhai Line and the North Line of the Circum-China Railway (formerly the Trans-Siberian Railway and the Turkish-Western Railway) can be connected to these oil fields. Although a huge amount of manpower and material resources have been spent to convert the railway into a double line, and an extra-long oil pipeline has been laid, and the construction of the Central Line has been carried out from this year, it is still impossible to transport it to every corner of the country.

But it's not his fault, it's really too big for China, no matter how strong Yang Qiu is, limited to capital, technology and other reasons, it is impossible to pave the country with railways and roads in 20 years. According to a British oil expert who participated in the construction of the Yumen field, the cost of a barrel of oil in the Yumen field is twice that of the US Gulf of Mexico and Sumatra, which means that even if it is transported by tanker, the cost of overseas oil is actually not higher than the cost of its domestic oil field.

Of course, it is difficult to obtain detailed data on China's oil and industry, which Yang Qiu keeps very secret, and last year alone, more than a dozen officials were arrested or even shot for stealing from newspapers or industrial data. So these figures are extrapolated by MI6 from the volume of oil field transportation and smelting capacity, but even if it rises by another 20 percent, this production is far from enough for China's booming industry. According to the expert who participated in the construction of China's oil industry, Mi6 approached, China's oil demand could reach 580 million barrels by 1940, which means at least four times the current level!

4 times! What is this concept? In other words, even if the production of China's existing oil fields is tripled, there will still be a shortage of overseas oil supply due to high transportation and refining costs. What is even worse is that after Yang Qiu's rise, he used force and tough means to suppress all domestic contradictions and wholeheartedly develop the economy, which has completely aroused the vitality of this ancient country. The economy is growing faster than he expected, with the maritime industry alone having registered a total tonnage of 5.1 million tonnes as of last year, which alone consumes a huge amount of oil.

So even the MI6 report said that the economic crisis actually saved Yang Qiu. If it hadn't been for this forced braking, Yang Qiu might have faced the strong social contradictions caused by the overheating of the economy and the lagging infrastructure construction, but now he can adjust and correct through the crisis, and then strengthen investment in infrastructure and education.

Good luck with this guy!

MacDonald smiled bitterly in his heart, shook the report in his hand and sighed deeply: "It's too late." ”

It's too late! Henderson, who was sitting across from him, understood the meaning of these three words best, if the intelligence services had provided this report earlier, then there would have been no Saudi crisis, and Britain would have forced this breath. Why? Because the highest level of strategy is to be powerful and not fighting, always jamming the opponent's neck to make them nervous, so Britain, which controls all of Yang Qiu's overseas oil channels, has no need to tear his face so quickly. But the reduction of the intelligence budget after the war in Europe, sluggishness, arrogance and vanity led to indifference to the outside world, and finally ignored this important data.

Now it is too late to regret it, Yang Qiu has escalated the competition for the division of the sphere of influence to hostility to China and the strangulation of the development of nearly 500 million people, and his "red line theory of oil corridors" has completely aroused China's anger, and has also made the image of Britain in the hearts of Chinese plummet, becoming the biggest enemy that stifles their use of gasoline, the purchase of vehicles, and the enjoyment of a free and prosperous life!

It is foreseeable that if China cannot be trusted to ensure the safety of their overseas oil routes, then even if Yang Qiu does not want to fight, domestic and public opinion pressure will force him to take risks! His speech at Tsinghua University in Beijing was not so much a declaration for peaceful development as it was a no-brainer. So MacDonald sighed again, took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose vigorously, and asked weakly, "Henderson, how is India?" ”

"It's bad."

The news of the riots in Dhaka and Calcutta had spread around the world, and both the scale and the piles of corpses of soldiers had made Britain particularly uneasy. Henderson was equally worried, saying: "East Bengal is already in a state of anarchy, and General Terry's reinforcements are not daring to go out into the streets right now. According to him, the entire region is overrun by Muslim guerrillas and thugs, and it will take at least another 10,000 soldiers to restore order. ”

"What about Calcutta?"

"The Navy has sent cruisers to it, but the surrounding countryside has been occupied, and the loss of personnel and materiel is very large! That Sir Walter had already called me, and all of their two banks in Calcutta had been robbed, with losses of more than 6 million pounds. ”

"Walter? That financial mondler! He still has the face to mention the loss?! Half of the stiffness in our relations with the United States is caused by them! "A distraught MacDonald learns that Walter. Rothschild was still calculating the loss of several millions, and he was so angry that he slapped the table hard. His appearance also made Henderson pouting helplessly, the Rothschilds knew about the United States, but Britain did not interfere in this matter, but also contributed to the situation and sheared the wool of the United States. But everyone didn't expect that only a year later, the United States would bite back and blame the economic crisis on Britain and Europe with the wolf Yang Qiu.

It's too late to say anything! After MacDonald finished venting, he looked up at Henderson and asked, "Henderson, who do you say did it?" As soon as he blurted out this sentence, he regretted asking it a little. As expected, Henderson shrugged his shoulders and spread his hands helplessly: "Sir, who else can there be?" ”

Indeed, the timing of this riot was so strange that it happened to be the most tense moment after the Chinese transport plane smashed the Rodney with eggs, and they would never believe it if there was no Chinese force behind it. The problem is that even if evidence is found, it is difficult to say whether the Conservative Party, which controls Parliament, will be willing to go to war with another power for political gain, unless the squadron enters India.

MacDonald opened his mouth to say something, and this look made Henderson very strange, did he decide to take the initiative to back down? Just as he was about to speak, the former seemed to have made up his mind, and said heavily: "Henderson, you do me two favors. ”

"What's the busy?" Henderson is weird.

"Sir Stanley, please, and go to Peking one more time."

"Sir, how did you get him?" It's not surprising to go to Beijing Henderson, things have come to this point, an interview is necessary, but inviting Stanley can be extremely serious! You must know that Stanley is a former prime minister, and his Conservative Party has always been at odds with the Labour Party. What are you looking for him for? Should the Conservatives step in to resolve the crisis? Wouldn't the face of the Labour Party be completely lost?

He frowned, looked at the corners of MacDonald's tired eyes, an idea suddenly rose in his mind, his heart sank to the bottom, and he asked urgently: "You are ready to resign!" ”

MacDonald raised his old eyes and paused for a moment before nodding slowly. What can I do if I don't quit? The Saudi crisis is far away, and the UK is starting to be stretched thin after the Indian violence, and even if it can win, it will lose control of India! What's more, Afghanistan also has the Soviet Union in its sights.

If you don't want to go to war, the only way is to take the initiative to resign and take all the responsibility, so that you can find an opportunity for both sides to step down!

Thinking of this, the bitterness on the corners of MacDonald's mouth couldn't be wiped off. In the end, this was the result, and he was unwilling.

Henderson almost jumped to his feet, just as he was about to warn that this could lead to a collapse within the Labour Party, when the office door was pushed open again. The secretary walked in with a solemn look and took out a telegram: "Sir, it's a telegram from Governor Freeman (Viceroy of India)." Yesterday evening, Chandra appeared in Jamshepur and led the guerrillas to capture the Tata Steel Works! He has already announced the formation of the Indian Independence Commission in public, and all the newspapers in Mumbai have carried the news! ”

"Indian Independent Council?" The car drove towards the presidential palace, and Jensen, who was in the back seat, handed the newspaper to Situ Leiden, and said with a wry smile: "Our Mr. Yang Qiu has finally made a move!" But he seems to have shot himself in the foot, and there is no way back for Britain to go on like this. ”

Through the recent New Education Program, Stuart Leiden, who has become an important member of the American military presence in China, is also concerned about the violence in India, but not as nervous as Nelson, saying: "Mr. Ambassador, I don't think Britain will choose war." For them, if war breaks out, the odds of victory on land are not great. Even if it is finally victorious, unless Yang Qiu is overthrown and China's armed forces are completely dismantled, it will face the complete independence of India! We know this, and they know better that unless they can persuade Japan or the Soviet Union to send troops, they can only accept the Saudi agreement. ”

Jensen was surprised that he had such a conclusion and asked, "John, how can you have such an idea?" Now they have no way out, let alone a step! Although there is no evidence that the Indian incident is related to Yang Qiu, in fact this is a secret that everyone knows! This point has seriously hurt Britain, and if it continues to endure, then the MacDonald government will fall! ”

"I think you're overlooking one thing." Situ Leiden was dressed in a suit and had dealt with the Chinese education community for many years, which made him feel a little more temperament of a Chinese literati, and said with a smile: "That is whether Mr. Yang Qiu really wants to go to war!" Don't you forget that there is an unknown Soviet Union between China and Britain, and that they will be the ones who will benefit from India's war? Perhaps, but the Soviets will not sit idly by, Stalin has already suffered in Afghanistan, and if the people of India are in turmoil, it will be the best opportunity for Moscow to pursue GCISM.

Yang Qiu is well aware that no one is optimistic about the independence of Indians unless the Chinese defense forces enter Indian territory. But if the army is sent, then all those who support him will fall to the British! So he won't be so stupid. As for the way out you said, hehe, please forgive me, if you go to see him now, isn't it just to give everyone a step? ”

"John, you should be a diplomat!" Jensen laughed, pushed open the door and walked towards the presidential palace in Beijing...... (To be continued.)