At the insistence of the British, the largest and worst-quality transport ships ever built began to be built at various MacDonald Yards. In order to reduce costs, except for the most critical components, such as high-speed steam engines, such as propellers, almost everything else is cutting corners as much as possible, and the keel, which should have been made of high-strength steel, has become general construction steel; Some of the supporting structures, which were supposed to be made of ordinary steel, were replaced with cast iron; There are also skins and so on, and in many places the cheapest steel is used, or even wrought iron. And the thickness was reduced, so that later, there were more than one story of these ships being punched by a large wave at sea with a large hole in diameter of one meter. There have even been cases of shipwrecks because of this.

But none of this is a big deal, as long as it can be built fast enough, none of this is a problem. And the skin is not completely unhelpful, and later when these ships sailed on the sea, because the skin was too thin, they were pierced and worn, so it also happened many times that they were fished by the Germans. Lightning strikes, however. The thunder did not explode, because the collision that had occurred through the skin of the less stressed position on the side of the ship was not enough to detonate the fish. Thunder.

This situation also at one time also confused the Germans very much, because due to lack of resources, the Germans had just also fished on their own. Ray cut corners to a certain extent, so the Germans naturally felt that it must be a problem on their side, and then spent a lot of effort to improve it, and then, in the tests carried out in the country, these fish . Ray also showed himself to be reliable, but, when he came to the battlefield, he still appeared so often that the Germans did not understand what was going on. It wasn't until after the war, when the unscrupulous merchants of England sold these redundant ships all over the world, and the defeated Germans bought a few to sail on the Baltic Sea routes, that the Germans understood why their fish. Thunder often does not explode.

In short, under all kinds of frenzied corners, the production speed of this fast transport ship has increased a lot, the production cost has also decreased a lot, and of course, the price has also dropped a little. In the first half of 1917, MacDonald's shipyards produced as many as a thousand of these black-hearted cargo ships in one go. Coupled with the reduced effectiveness of submarines against high-speed cargo ships, the British have finally stabilized the situation.

Of course, all this is by no means without a price. The finances of the British could no longer afford these thousand broken ships, yes, some broken ships, replaced by peacetime, such rags should be directly driven into the shipbreaking yard and dismantled. But now...... So the British borrowed another sum of money from MacDonald. Of course, the money actually only went around MacDonald's bank, and it didn't stop for even a second in the hands of the British.

For such a large sum of money, the British had to agree to MacDonald's intervention in the Suez Canal, MacDonald's intervention in the Arab region, and to gain considerable freedom of movement in the Persian Gulf, and even had to mortgage the gold mining tax in South Africa to MacDonald. With so many precious things, to buy such rags, the British feel pain when they think about it. However, it was a time of war, and in order to win, Britain had to make sacrifices.

Of course, it is not without positive significance that the British and French are saddled with so much debt. The positive significance is that they have tied some of America's most influential people to their chariot with such debts, and if they are defeated, the Americans, including MacDonald, will lose all their money.

……

"Dad, Mom has very important news." Donald said to Carol and Catherine.

"What's going on?" Catherine asked.

"There was a revolution in Russia." Donald said.

"What's that? It is nothing more than that the pace of the United States' entry into the war is about to be accelerated. This situation has been expected for a long time. Catherine said disapprovingly.

It is true that the United States has been preparing for war against Germany in recent months, although it is not explicitly stated, but this is not a secret to a big family like MacDonald, and even the whole process has been under control.

For some time, more precisely, since the beginning of unlimited submarine warfare in the United States, American newspapers began to report more and more about the evil deeds of the Germans. What endangers free trade, what massacres peaceful residents, what attacks innocent neutral countries, what so on. Generally speaking, the common people in the United States have obvious isolationist tendencies, and originally they saw the war in Europe as a dog-eat-dog. It's good for Americans to see the excitement, and there is no need to jump in and bite a pack of dogs. However, ordinary people are always easy to fool, as long as they are prepared for public opinion, they will feel that there are normal and crazy dogs in this group of dogs. Apparently a mad dog or something is too dangerous, and if you get bitten, it's really ...... So the American people will agree that the safest way is to quickly pull out the McDonald automatic pistol and shoot the mad dog to death. Today, the media controlled by Greystone, as well as those controlled by Morgan, are working hard to portray Germany as a mad dog. There is no doubt that this is to prepare public opinion for future participation in the war.

"Mother, that's ......" Donald seemed a little hesitant, and he lowered his eyes and said, "Our people found Sister Dena in the Russian Revolution......"

"What? Donald, what do you say? Catherine stood up all at once, rushed to Donald in one step, stretched out her hand and grabbed Donald's shoulder tightly, "Oh my God, how could she be in such a chaotic, dangerous place?" No way...... Donald, you hurry up and arrange for someone to get Dena back from. Oh my God......"

"Mom, calm down. Things are not as simple as you think. Donald didn't know what to say.

"Catherine, calm down." Carol also came over and said to her, "Let Donald speak slowly, he also hopes that her sister will come back safely." ”

Catherine noticed that Donald's face didn't seem to be normal at this time, and hurriedly asked, "What's wrong, is there something wrong?" Isn't it Dena, she ......"

"Mom, Sister Dena is fine, she's fine, very good. It's just that she is most likely reluctant to come back. Donald said.

"What's wrong? Why is she reluctant to come back? Catherine asked.

"Mom, there is a revolution in Russia, and Sister Dena is one of the leaders of this revolution." Donald replied.

"What did you say?" Catherine took a step back, her eyes wide open in surprise, at Donald.

"Yes Mom, Sister Dena was one of the leaders of the Russian Revolution, and she is now known under the pseudonym Valya Ivanlovna. If it weren't for the photo of her standing on an armored vehicle and giving a speech to the insurrectionary people, I wouldn't have believed it. Donald replied.

"Is this true?" Catherine looked at Donald and then at her husband, as if trying to get a negative answer from them.

"Mom, it's true." Donald said, then lowering his voice and not saying, "Sister Dena definitely did such a thing." ”

Catherine looked at Donald and then at Carol, and suddenly burst into tears at Carol: "It's all your fault! I've always been used to her, so that she is exactly what every girl looks like, and all day long she learns to ride horses, politics, and shoots, and you even teach her "On War"! Is this something a girl should learn? It's good now...... Dena ran to rebel...... Oh my! …… It's too dangerous...... Did you know that revolutions are always going to kill people's heads...... In case of...... Donald, you hurry up and get Blackwater to send a commando over and tie your sister back! Catherine grabbed Donald by the shoulder again and spoke to him eagerly.

"Mom, you know, it's not something that can be arranged in the short term, and now the whole of Europe is too messy. We don't really have a lot of that kind of projection in Europe. At least until the end of the war, it will be very difficult. Moreover, our forces in Russia are already weak. If you must do this, it will take months of preparation, and besides, the situation in Russia is quite complicated, and if you don't get it right, I fear it will be dangerous for Sister Dena. Donald said distressedly.

"Catherine, Donald is right. We don't have any strength in Russia now, and even if we send a few people to infiltrate it, we won't be able to do anything without the cooperation of local forces. It can even have a bad impact on Dena's safety. Carroll stepped forward and put her hands on Catherine's shoulders, and Catherine turned around and threw herself into Carol's arms and cried.

"Well, Catherine, we now know the news of the wild girl, and know that she is alive and in good health. Isn't that good news? Why cry? Carol comforted his wife as she stroked her hand on her back.

"And when are we going to get Dena back?" Catherine asked, crying.

"Then it depends first on when the war will end." Carroll said.

……

"You know, Mr. MacDonald, there is a revolution in Russia." Sir Woodgown, who had come to visit Scrooge urgently, said, "This is not a good thing, and although we do not yet know what the revolutionaries in Russia will do, opposition to the war is one of their excuses." And even if they don't withdraw from the war, let's be honest, it's hard to expect the Russians to help us much on the battlefield anymore. If we lose, even if we can't win, it will be detrimental to us, and to the United States, to your interests......"