…… Pay us? As soon as he heard this, Abdullah and his son Khalid looked at each other, and their expressions suddenly became a little strange. "I wonder how much your country can pay us?" Khalid asked tentatively, giving him a look at his father. "If you look at the rent in these two places, how about the Burmese government paying you two million dollars a year? We can pay a lump sum rent for fifty years. Minister Jiang said with a smile.

"Two million? A one-time payment for fifty years? Khalid and Abdullah couldn't help but look at each other, and Minister Jiang's words blurted out in confusion were beyond the expectations of the two fathers and sons. Why? Without him, the rent is not too low but very high. You must know that the two million in 1942 is not the two million in the 21st century, and nine times out of ten you will be a millionaire if you pull a random car on the street of a first-tier city and drive a private car.

At this time, two million a year is definitely a big salary, and people also said that a one-time payment of rent for 50 years is called 100 million US dollars. Even for a country, that's a lot of money. "Are those two places buried gold or diamonds?" This was the reason that Abdullah thought of immediately, but he thought about it and shook his head with a smirk. The Middle East is not Africa, and if the Middle East can still produce ore and gold, it will be too much of a preference for the Arabs.

However, Khalid, who was sitting behind him, couldn't help but ask, "Mr. Minister, do you really want to lease the exploration and mining rights of these two places for 50 years for 100 million US dollars?" You know, if there is no oil exploration there, such a huge amount of money will be wasted! After all, whether or not oil can be explored is a matter of will. Minister Jiang said sincerely: "Prince Khalid, to be honest, we don't know if we can explore oil there, but we have a saying in China called "a thousand dollars buy horse bones", which means that we are willing to use such a gesture to show our country's sincerity to your country, even if these two places do not explore for oil, we will not regret that we want to show the Arab world a foreign policy of our government, that is, we are willing to sincerely and equally interact with any country in the world. ”

A hint of intriguing flashed in Abdullah's eyes after hearing this, he nodded and smiled kindly: "Mr. Minister, from your words, I have heard your country's determination and sincerity to be willing to interact with all countries on an equal footing, and we Arabs have always been sincere in treating sincere friends, and the conditions you have offered are very generous, and it is difficult for me to refuse such generous conditions. ”

"So you agree with Luo?" Minister Jiang's eyes flashed with joy. "No, no, I'm not done yet." Abdullah shook his head, "But I also have a request here, and I hope your government will grant it." "Speak." Only then did Minister Jiang realize that he was in a bit of a hurry and sat down again.

"We in the Arab world have been fighting for the independence and integrity of the sovereign since the last century, and we don't know how many Arab warriors have paid for it, but fortunately we finally achieved this goal ten years ago, but regrettably, although we have achieved independence in name, the scimitar that defends us is in the hands of someone else. Saudi Arabia's defence has always been in the hands of the British, and we cannot tolerate it, so we need your country to help us re-establish our own Saudi defence force, do you see what we mean? ”

"Oh, I see." As soon as Minister Jiang heard this, he understood that the Saudi defense in front of him was unwilling to accept his fate to be controlled by the British, and wanted to start from scratch to establish a national defense force of his own. "And how big is the army you want to build?" Minister Jiang asked noncommittally. Seeing Minister Jiang frowning, Abdullah also knew that his request had embarrassed the other party, and hurriedly comforted: "Our requirements are not high, the first step is just to establish a force of three divisions, requiring two infantry divisions and one armored division."

Minister Jiang's thick eyebrows wrinkled into an 11 word when he heard this, helping Saudi Arabia build a national defense force means that Huaxia has to fight with Britain and other Western countries, which is much more troublesome than simply paying rent to them. "Are you going to exchange the exploration and mining rights of the two places in the Manifa and Ghawar areas for the weapons and equipment of these three divisions?" Minister Jiang leaned back in his chair. It was a matter of China's diplomatic strategy toward Britain and the United States, and he had no choice but to be cautious. However, if it is only used to exchange weapons, there is no problem.

But obviously he was disappointed, Abdullah smiled slyly: "Of course not, in addition to weapons and equipment, we also need your country to train officers and train troops for us in an all-round way, otherwise if we just buy weapons, we can just find a country, why be so messy" Abdullah, as the founder of Saudi Arabia, is naturally not a fuel-efficient lamp, as early as when Huaxia Zhengyi proposed to establish diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia, he knew that the other party must also be fighting Saudi oil, Otherwise, why would Myanmar, a country like Saudi Arabia with nothing but sand and sand, come from far and wide to praise its stinky feet, even if it wants to establish diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia and send a few small officials and enough, why bother the dignified foreign minister to come out in person?

Since Myanmar has taken a fancy to Saudi oil, it will be easier for both sides to take what they need. Therefore, Abdullah was not polite, and asked for the equipment of the three divisions, and asked the other party to be responsible for the training of all the officers.

"Three divisions!" Minister Jiang's right hand gently tapped on the armrest of the sofa and was silent, secretly calculating the gains and losses in his heart. In addition to the armor division, the armament of the three divisions is more expensive, and the equipment of the two infantry divisions is not very troublesome. However, the training of officers of armored divisions is a problem, thinking that when the armored units in China were just established, in order to train qualified armored officers in the shortest possible time, even Jiang Qiang had to go into battle shirtless and become instructors in person.

The prestige of the armored forces in China is not blown out, it is killed from one bloody battle after another. It can be seen from the fact that the main tank in service of the German army is still the "Northwest Tiger" of China, and the performance of the Huaxia tank is sharp. And Abdullah has also heard that the tanks equipped by the German armored forces are just the "tiger" of the Chinese tank, but in this way, the German armored forces have swept half the world with this tank, which shows the power of the Chinese tank. Now that Abdullah wants to build a national defense force of his own, when will he wait for this great god in front of him?

Looking at Minister Jiang, who was silently groaning on the sofa with his fingers, Abdullah's father and son's hearts were uneasy, and it can be said that whether Saudi Arabia can establish a strong defense force of its own depends on the words of the Myanmar foreign minister in front of him.

Fortunately, Minister Jiang didn't think about it for too long, his thick eyebrows opened at once, and a gentle smile appeared on his face, "Of course, it is also my country's consistent national policy to provide help to our friends within our ability, but compared to you, you also know that forming a qualified armored division is not like forming an infantry division that can be formed in a few months or half a year, and the things that need to be considered are extremely large and complex, it is possible to be as fast as a year or two years as slow, and the price to be paid in this is very expensive." The army, which is as strong as Germany, has only formed more than a dozen armored divisions, have you really thought about it? ”

"Mr. Minister, don't worry." Abdul seems to have been relieved: "We have already made up our minds to form an armed force of our own. As long as your country agrees to this condition, we are willing to extend the period for the exploration and exploitation of oil in Manifa in the north-east and the Ghahwal region in the east to your country for exploration and oil exploitation. ”

"What? Factory 100 Towers! "Rao is Minister Jiang has long been trained into the realm of joy and anger, and he can't help but be surprised, if these two places really have a super-large oil field as the former president said, it will be used in Myanmar and Huaxia for a hundred years, it is equivalent to giving Myanmar two golden dolls for nothing...... It's equivalent to giving two gold mountains to Myanmar for nothing! With these two super oil fields in hand, Myanmar will no longer have to worry about oil for the next century.

"Yes, as a sign of our sincerity, we are willing to extend this period to a hundred years." Abdullah said in no uncertain terms. Minister Jiang suppressed the excitement in his heart and pretended to be calm and said: "If it is a hundred years, it means that we will pay 200 million US dollars!" "Hehe" Abdullah smiled brightly: "This, we can still use weapons and equipment to convert this money." "Oh?" Minister Jiang asked with great interest: "All the 200 million US dollars in exchange for weapons and equipment?" It seems that you are planning to arm your country's army to the teeth. ”

200 million US dollars worth of weapons can equip ten modern army divisions in Huaxia, and now Abdullah said that he would exchange all of them for equipment without even breathing, which made Minister Jiang feel that things were not so simple. Sure enough, Abdullah's follow-up move came out again: "If you can, can you form another aviation unit for us?" ”

Hearing this, Minister Jiang couldn't help but sigh secretly, no wonder the ancients said well, people's desires are the most difficult to satisfy, and this has just solved the problem of the army, and people are eyeing the air force again. Looking at Abdullah's cunning eyes, Minister Jiang thought to himself: It seems that the Saudi royal family headed by Abdullah is very determined to get rid of British rule, otherwise they would not have made such a big concession just after contacting him.

Originally, I just wanted to get the exploration and exploitation rights of the Ghawar oil field, but I didn't expect the Saudis to be so generous, and they also made a buy-one-get-one-free match, and also added an add-on. Although the Manifa oil field is not as large as the reserves of the Ghawar oil field, it will also produce a million barrels of oil per day in the future, and it is clear that the Saudis seem to be really in a hurry. Although they don't know whether there is oil in these two places now, they can understand their urgency from the fact that they are in such a hurry to open a hundred years of mining rights.

Although Minister Jiang's face was silent, his mind was spinning rapidly. Compared with the price offered by the Saudis now, the equipment of those army divisions is simply not a hair, and now he hesitates whether such a big benefit will cause a chain reaction between the British and the Americans after swallowing it in one bite. Don't look at the current British and Americans have a tacit state of acquiescence to the entry of Chinese forces into the Middle East, but once the news of the discovery of super-large oil fields in these two regions comes out, will they regret it or simply insert their hands to get a piece of the pie, this is the problem that Zhou Tiecheng is most worried about.

Burma's influence in the Middle East is so weak that it is not comparable to the British, who have been operating here for hundreds of years, and even the Americans, who have been operating here for decades. Everyone likes a huge amount of wealth, but if you don't have the strength to protect this wealth, you can only make wedding clothes for others. This is also an issue related to the development plan of China for decades or even a hundred years in the future, so Zhou Tiecheng must not be cautious.

Thinking of this, Minister Jiang thought of Jiang Qiang's words when he came: "Minister Jiang, you are not only going to establish diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia and obtain the right to exploit the Ghawar oil field, but also to extend our country's influence to the Middle East." Although it is still a barren land, with the oil buried under their feet, I believe that in the near future, it will become a place for various major powers to compete for. Although we have occupied a vast land in Siberia, due to the harsh climate and scarce population there, we cannot turn the resources there into productive forces at once, so the oil of the Middle East is extremely important for the development of our country. As a result of this world war, Britain and the United States' influence in the Middle East has fallen to an all-time low, and this is the best time for us to infiltrate, not only to obtain the right to exploit the oil fields from Saudi Arabia, but also to need a stick that can protect ourselves, otherwise this huge wealth will only become a cake on someone else's plate. ”

After thinking about it, Minister Jiang said slowly: "Your Majesty, Abdullah, we can understand that your country wants to establish an armed force to defend its territory, but for your plan to establish an army and an air force at the same time... I think it's better to be cautious, don't you think it's a bit wrong to take such a big step all at once? Besides, we don't have any troops in the Middle East, so even if you want to help your country train personnel, you can't do it. It would be too far to send all your country's personnel to Myanmar for training, and I can tell you the truth, the cost of helping your country train so many people at once would require a very large amount of money. ”

After listening to Minister Jiang's words, Abdullah and Khalid fell silent at the same time, and now Saudi Arabia is not the rich country whose average national income is higher than that of Americans. The cost of training the junior officers of two infantry divisions and one armored division at once is an astronomical amount. This is a huge expense for Saudi Arabia, which has only been established for ten years, although it is said that with the rent of 200 million US dollars issued by the Myanmar government, they do not know whether this money is enough or not, and who knows how much money will be needed for subsequent expenditures.

Minister Jiang continued: "Your Majesty, Abdullah, I am not afraid to tell you the truth. If you really want to build an air force, the cost is much more expensive than that of an army. If you want to build a symbolic air force, then it is better to say, if you want to build an air force that can really defend Saudi airspace, then the number of planes needed must not be less than 100 fighters, taking the oral fighter produced by our country as an example, its price is 50,000 US dollars, and the money spent to train a pilot will never be less than buying a brand new fighter, and the usual maintenance of the aircraft, the wear and tear of parts, that is also a large expense. If you want to build an air force of 100 fighters, you will spend at least 30 to 40 million dollars in five years, and if you send all the pilots to Burma for training, the cost may increase even further, you ............ Have you really thought it through? ”

After Abdullah and his son Khalid glanced at each other, they both smiled bitterly, Since the Saudi royal family wants to establish an air force, they naturally did a certain amount of homework when they came, and of course they understood that Zhou Tiecheng was telling the truth. Abdullah thought for a moment and asked, "Minister Jiang, do you have a way to save money?" For example, in terms of training personnel, can it be carried out in our Saudi Arabia? ”

Minister Jiang's heart flashed with a hint of joy, and he felt that his opportunity had come. He pretended to be embarrassed and thought for a while: "This is not impossible, our country can send special instructors to train army and air force officers for your country in an all-round way, because the number of personnel to be trained is too large, the number of instructors we want to send is bound to be indispensable, I have made a preliminary estimate that if you train three army divisions and aviation units for your country at once, the number of instructors required cannot be less than 3,000. But in this case, the problem arises, we do not have a name that can be spoken, and it is difficult to send so many people into your country. ”

"That'...... Do you have any good ideas? Khalid next to him asked a little apprehensively. Minister Jiang pretended to be happy, and said with a cautious look on his face: "I see if this can be done, since your government has promised to give us the concessions in the Ghahwal and Manifa areas, can we build an air base there in the name of protecting oil wells, so that we can station officers and soldiers at the base in the name of garrison, and in fact, those officers and soldiers can train your country's troops." In this way, we can protect the safety of our oil wells.

What do you think about the fact that you can train officers for your country? ""Create an air base in our country?" Abdullah, who is not low in political sensitivity, immediately realized that China was trying to plant its own armed forces in Saudi Arabia. "Do you mean to send troops to our country?" Khalid on the side was relatively young, and when he heard this, he couldn't help but interject immediately, with a vigilant look on his face. For any country, there will be a kind of vigilance towards the presence of foreign troops into its territory.

"No, no, no......" Minister Jiang hurriedly shook his head: "We are not going to station troops in your country, this air base is only established to protect our oil fields from being invaded by Western forces." As you know, our power here is very weak, and how can we guarantee our security without the presence of a deterrent force? ”

"We don't want to get involved in anything in your country, we just want to protect our wealth!" Speaking of this, Minister Jiang's eyes showed a sincere look. Abdul showed a look of embarrassment and smiled bitterly: "Minister Jiang, I have to admit that you are an excellent foreign minister. But you know, that allowing your military to be stationed in our country for a long time is in conflict with our national defense policy, and it is also contrary to the policy set by our founding state? This makes it difficult for me! ”

"But it's just about strengthening Saudi Arabia's defense, isn't it?" Minister Jiang chuckled.

Abdullah groaned, on the one hand, to let foreign countries build air bases in their own territory, and on the other hand, to rely on the other side to train and build a real national defense force of their own, this is a very difficult choice for Abdullah. "Can you guarantee that your country's air bases are only for the safety of oil wells and will comply with the laws and regulations of our country?" After a long time, Abdullah asked in a heavy tone.

"Of course, we will not interfere in any decision-making in your country, and we will not offend your country's laws and regulations or religious beliefs in any way, and we can include this in our treaty." Minister Jiang, who knew that there was a play, forcibly held back his joy and replied seriously. "Well, hopefully my decision won't make me regret it in my lifetime." Abdullah sighed and nodded helplessly, "I also hope that your country can keep its promises, and I hope you can forgive me for my actions today." ”

While Minister Jiang was engaged in difficult negotiations with Abdullah in Saudi Arabia, the battlefield of Soviet Russia, thousands of miles away, also underwent major changes. As of April this year, Soviet Russia had conscripted more than 8 million reserves throughout the country, and with the continuous investment of reserves in the Moscow theater, Hitler's desire to capture Moscow as soon as possible has come to naught.

In early May 1942, Stalin mobilized a group army to Kazan to increase Kazan's defense forces, and tentatively launched a small-scale tentative attack on the Chinese side, which immediately aroused the vigilance of the Chinese side............