Episode 139 Closing the door to talk about business

On September 10th, a secret mission of the Ming Dynasty arrived in Washington, D.C., USA.

The reason why there is a "secret mission" and "secret talks" is mainly that the Ming Dynasty is now a belligerent country, while the United States is a neutral country, and what we want to talk about is the upcoming all-out war against the Soviet Union and the issue of US support for the Ming Dynasty. This problem was tried by Da Ming last time, and it failed.

The problem now is that the federal government in the United States is divided into three parts, the executive is one, the legislative is one, and the judiciary is one. Now President Roosevelt very much hopes that the United States will fully support the Ming Dynasty, but he only has the final say in the "executive" section, and the two main parts that play a role in breaking through the "Neutrality Act" are "legislation (Congress)" and "judiciary (federal courts)".

To amend the neutrality legislation, it is necessary to get the support of the legislative branch. In order to play a marginal game within the framework of the neutrality law, it is necessary to have the support of the judicial branch. And Daming's current plan is to import materials and loans to the United States in the name of "Free Russia", that is, to play a side game. Although theoretically legal, whether it can succeed depends on how the federal court decides. The common law system is characterized by greater flexibility and greater discretion for judges. If the judge thinks it's outrageous and insults his IQ, he won't buy it.

However, this time, it will definitely be much more certain than the last time in the unification war. At least de jure there is no problem, and the enemy is again the USSR, the Bolsheviks. The heart of the heart is back here. But any judge with a sense of morality and justice will support the Ming Dynasty.

Now it is equivalent to the Ming Dynasty coming to greet the "administrative branch" of the United States first, communicate with each other, and support each other when the time comes. Now let's discuss how the two countries should exchange benefits, and there are some specific issues.

The first is the port issue. The Ming side planned to take Vladivostok first as a port of arrival for "Free Russia". However, Vladivostok is a frozen port, which freezes in winter, and a port may not be able to meet the huge volume in normal times. In this case, the Ming Dynasty can take the method of "lending", choosing one or two ports in Guangdong and "leasing" them to Free Russia for a few years, then in these years, this port will be regarded as the "territory" of Free Russia. The United States has not violated the Neutrality Act by transporting supplies to this port. There are two advantages to choosing Guangdong: first, it is very close to the Philippines, which is convenient for American cargo ships to transit, replenish, and rest nearby, and second, it is to take the Oceania-South China Sea route, without passing through the Ryukyu Islands and the dangerous East China Sea, avoiding Japan's maritime attacks.

The second is the question of how Daming pays the bills. If the neutrality law is circumvented, it will definitely not be directly paid to the United States by the Ming Dynasty, and it will definitely have to be transferred from Free Russia. But the problem is that with such a huge amount of war materials, if the Ming Dynasty settles all the accounts in cash, Rao is a rich Ming Dynasty, and the pressure is too great. In order to fight this war, the common people in China really have to tighten their belts and raise military expenses like the Japanese.

After deliberation, Roosevelt proposed a plan to combine cash payments, barter, port leasing, and technology for materials.

Needless to say, cash payments. Bartering is to exchange things with the United States with things that are produced by the Ming Dynasty and are in high demand in the United States. For example, tungsten ore, such as rare earths, such as various non-ferrous metals. The value of these things is quite high, and often one ship can be exchanged for several ships of things in the United States.

Port Lease...... To put it bluntly, the United States covets several Nanyang ports in the hands of the Ming Dynasty, namely Pontianak, Surabaya, and Palembang, which have just been obtained in the Ming-Dutch War. Roosevelt offered to say that if the two countries could sign a treaty to lease one or two ports to the United States for a long time, then they would be able to offset a considerable part of the bill, and the financial pressure on the Ming would be much less.

Because these Nanyang ports are very close to the Philippines, the United States will easily connect with the Philippines if they lease them, and the United States' "sea power radiation circle" in Southeast Asia will be greatly expanded, and the protection of Southeast Asian interests will be greatly enhanced. Moreover, Britain and France would also be happy to see this lease formed. Because in this way, the US military presence in the South Seas will be greatly increased, and it will be able to form a certain confrontation with the Ming State in the South Seas, and increase the sense of security of these third countries. In Roosevelt's words, "Objectively it is good for everyone, because the United States is a peace-loving country and can trust each other."

This article involves the territorial sovereignty of the state, and the special envoy did not dare to slack off, and immediately sent a telegram back to Nanjing, asking for instructions on what attitude should be adopted.

Technology for materials, that is, Daming transferred some high-end technology in his hand to the United States to offset part of the bill. Daming got a lot of high-tech and drawings from Germany, and the United States certainly knew about it. Now the United States is not short of money, and since there is an opportunity to exchange materials for technology, of course it will not let it go. This is mainly some of the latest chemical technology, metallurgical technology, engine technology from Germany, as well as some drawings of high-precision machine tools, aircraft engine drawings, etc., which are coveted by the United States.

There are also some weapons, such as Messerschmitt fighters, woodpecker machine guns, and Lightning series tanks, although these German and Ming weapons are different in style and different from American weapons, and the United States also has its own corresponding series, but some weapons experts in the United States are also very interested in taking a look at it and "referring to it." In return, the US side offered to help the Ming side produce a batch of these weapons free of charge. In other words, the lightning tanks and goshawk fighters were brought to the American assembly line to "explode the sea", and because the Ming side provided the drawings, they could get a batch for free, and there would be a considerable discount in the future.

While negotiating, the envoy of the Ming side secretly sighed that these old beauties are really shrewd, and they are really not ordinary people who can do business, and they are no worse than Jews.

A few hours later, instructions from Nanjing came. Shen Rongxuan discussed with several ministers and reached a consensus, believing that there was no problem with the "barter" clause and that it could be exchanged openly. The United States will give as much as it wants, as long as they can send us weapons and materials of equal value. There is no such thing as a free lunch, and that's normal.

As for the port exchange for supplies proposed by the Americans, Shen Rongxuan ordered the envoy not to say anything to death, not to say yes, not to say no, and to accept it vaguely first. Then let's look at the future war situation. If it goes well, then it will not be possible to exchange the port for war materials. If it really comes to that point, in order to win the war against the Soviet Union, in order to get back millions of square kilometers of land, it will be nothing to lease one or two ports in the South Seas to the Americans. The United States needs our ports, and we need American weapons and industrial products to take back the two frontiers of the north and the south, and to take back the Trans-Khing'an Mountains and Lake Balkhash. Anyway, they are all overseas territories, so naturally how cost-effective they are.

However, there is one thing that Shen Rongxuan and several ministers clearly affirmed: the leased ports can only be selected between Surabaya and Pontianak. Palembang must not make a move. Because Palembang holds the Strait of Malacca, it is of great significance. It can be said that the strategic location of Palembang is more important than that of the north and south of Xinjiang.

There is also technology for materials, and this operability is even greater, so you can agree to it first, and then talk slowly about the war situation in the future. Because there are many technologies, some are important and some are not important, you can slowly decide what to give and what not to give, and it is very flexible.

These major principles have been settled on both sides behind closed doors. The next step is the official appearance of "Free Russia".