BAE sales representative John? Weston rushed back to London to spend Christmas with his family, while also reporting to the head office and the Ministry of Defence. In his opinion, a series of diplomatic pressures by the British government have produced good results. At the very least, Zhao Jinsong, the rather annoying Chinese salesman, seems to be very honest these days, and he doesn't move around with members of the Saudi royal family as often as he does.

Weston triumphantly went to meet with Secretary of Defense Hesseltin to report the good news to him.

"Mr. Baron, I am heartened to tell you that the Chinese have retreated like cowards, they will not have much impact on us, and this business will definitely belong to the United Kingdom." Weston chuckled at Heseltyn.

Hesseltine's face was still quite hesitant: "China's top leader, Ping, refused to make concessions arrogantly and rudely, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Prime Minister's wife were very angry, but you said that their salespeople had no other actions, which is incredible." ”

"Maybe this group of Orientals is a former and a backward man, compared to Britain, who has a strong family, they are nothing." Weston still has a British Empire complex, in fact, there are many John Bulls who are still obsessed with the past until decades later, and they do not admit that they have been reduced to the second rate, and they still pull their eyeballs on the top of their heads.

Heselting nodded, and said quite worriedly: "I heard that the French have also had some contacts with the Chinese recently, which may be something that BAE needs to pay attention to." ”

Weston waved his hand and said indifferently: "The French were already our defeated men a year ago, they are not worried, of course, we will follow up the situation further, I think it is unlikely that the French intend to cooperate with China to jointly seek Saudi orders, because the Chinese do not need to do this at all." ”

He guessed quite right, Dassault sought cooperation with China mainly focused on Saudi Arabia's Al? Yamaha's first phase of the order, but wants to capture its own part of the National Defense Council's order for the replacement of nuclear vehicles, if it is possible to enter the second phase of Saudi Arabia's Al? A Yamaha deal, or marketing the aircraft to countries in the Middle East such as the UAE, Oman, Bahrain, etc., is also a good option.

At this moment, Heselten's secretary suddenly burst in, he looked very rude without knocking on the door, Heselten and Weston both frowned and tried to reprimand the young intern, but the intern immediately put a newspaper in front of them, and said nervously: "Gentlemen, something is wrong! ”

It was a copy of The Guardian with a front-page headline clearly written in a few big words: "Scandal: Secrets after Anglo-Saudi arms trade negotiations." ”

Weston was taken aback, and didn't bother to show it to the higher secretary of defense first, and grabbed the newspaper at a glance, and it took him about half a minute to read the news, and after reading it, he felt as if all his efforts had been drained.

Heselten also hurriedly went to look at it, and the newspaper clearly wrote: "...... In order to obtain this huge amount of orders, BAE used 'flexible and effective' means to bribe a number of important people, including a number of military attaches at the Saudi Embassy in the UK, heads of domestic arms procurement in Saudi Arabia, and princes and nobles. They also receive a wide range of benefits, ranging from free accommodation in luxury London homes, shopping and holidays, to a large amount of cash. BAE spared no expense to the Saudi prince who was in charge of the transaction, and ordered a peacock blue Rolls-Royce sedan for the prince's wife and flew it to Saudi Arabia; For the Prince, he bought the most expensive car in the world——— a £250,000 Maybach limousine from Daimler, and even the Prince's vacation fees, including the cost of his personal bodyguards and entourage of up to 35 people, BAE lavishly paid for him......"

The more Heseltyn looked, the more alarmed he became: "There are credible sources who say that BAE has channeled large sums of bribes to Saudi stakeholders through an offshore company called Poseidon. A number of intermediaries have also profited, including a wealthy Kuwaiti businessman and a Lebanese politician. What is even more shocking is that these are just the price to pay for the contract, and BAE has agreed with Saudi Arabia that if BAE succeeds in obtaining what may be the most expensive arms sale ever, then BAE will continue to provide the Saudi side with a high commission, which may be a super huge astronomical amount of one billion pounds......

The newspaper fell on the desk, Hesseltin stared at Weston, who was already in a trance, and said, "This, what the hell is going on, is what the newspaper says true?" ”

Weston subconsciously said, "How did they know the truth?" ……”

But soon he realized that he had lost his words, and immediately changed his words: "No, none of this is true, someone must be framing us!" ”

His eyes lit up and he shouted, "Yes, it must be the trick of the Chinese, who are holding us back." ”

Heseltin's face was very stinky, "No fire, no smoke (English proverb, similar to the Chinese 'flies do not bite seamless eggs'), if it is really the Chinese who are spreading rumors and slander, it is not a problem, but if you do do it, and even the name of the company and the time of the incident are recorded so clearly, you better think about how to deal with the SFO (Serious-Fraud-Office) officials now." ”

Weston panicked suddenly, because he planned and intervened in a lot of bribery and shady negotiations, which meant that if he really got out of the basket, he would definitely be used as a scapegoat by the company to confess, and then defend the company from disaster, claiming that it was a personal act rather than the company's original intention.

"Mr. Baron, please support us, you must know that this project can bring hundreds of thousands of jobs to the United Kingdom, bring tens of millions of financial revenues, and even more for our British defense products is a positive advertising effect, if you fall into the tricks of the Chinese like this, it will be a terrible blow to BAE and the United Kingdom!" Weston is still insisting that as long as this matter can be supported by the government, then the SFO will not necessarily take action to impose overly severe sanctions on them, and even turn a blind eye is possible.

Hesseltin said angrily: "Sir, please pay attention to your statement, the United Kingdom is a democratic country, how can our government interfere with the fairness of justice?" ”

But soon Hesseltin wanted to take it back.

The secretary who had just arrived to deliver the newspaper brought in another newspaper, this time in The Sun, with an even more sensational headline - "Monitoring the Saudi Royal Family: A Direct Mandate from the Prime Minister's Wife."

This time, the dirty water splashed on the British government's own head again, and Weston didn't know what to do, looking at the panicked Heselting gloating, as if this time everyone was a brother and sister, and no one could escape, so it was better to face it together.

Not long ago, Prince Sultan had sent someone to return the listening device to the British, perhaps considering that the previous bribery had some effect, so His Royal Highness did not pursue it too much, but used this as a bargaining chip, and the British government also planned to apologize privately.

But now that the situation has been made public, even if the Saudi royal family can forgive it in their hearts, they must not let go of Britain in their words and diplomatic rhetoric. In particular, Margaret Thatcher was a controversial political figure, and when she passed away, many British people even took to the streets to celebrate her death, and many of the actions of this government, such as the war against Argentina, the ruthlessness of Northern Ireland's independence, and the attack on the welfare system, have been criticized.

But before the onslaught was over, the secretary brought in a third newspaper, this time still on the front page, but not as tall as the first two, just a local tabloid in London, but with an equally terrifying headline - "Prime Minister's Son Takes $15 Million Commission on Anglo-Saudi Deal".

When Hesseltin and Weston saw it, they immediately knew that the matter had been completely eroded, and that their opponents had a great deal of information, each of which was fatal to the British. Thatcher's son Mark? Thatcher itself is not a good thing, he was nicknamed "Mark Kid" by the British media, he failed to achieve academic success and was ambitious, and failed to pass the accountant exam three times. When he was a racing driver, he disappeared at the Dakar Rally, making his mother cry in front of everyone. In 1981, he also used his mother's political influence to sign a $600 million contract with Oman on behalf of the British cement company, making a lot of money.

Is this restless guy really in Al? Yamaha threaded the needle in the contract, and received a lot of money, the exact amount of Hesseltin and Weston is not clear, but it will never be less, and it should not be as much as 15 million.

In fact, the Mark Kid never settled down and was arrested in 2004 for financing a coup d'état in Equatorial Guinea.

There is no doubt that if BAE engages in bribery, ordinary British people may think that it is not a big deal, or someone will spy on Saudi Arabia, and those who have no conscience will feel indifferent. But if the prime minister's family is involved, then it's a different matter. In the past, Mark Boy used his mother's popularity to obtain a huge contract, and this time he actually acted as an intermediary in the arms sales case to obtain improper income, not only some people will be deeply disgusted by this absolutely illegal behavior, but those Thatcher's political enemies will also take the opportunity to put pressure on the government, and even set off a large-scale campaign to topple the cabinet.

Holding three newspapers, Defense Minister Hesseltin trembled, and he could not imagine what kind of person he had provoked.