British civil servant

Russia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Germany all have [-] planes, while Air France has only [-] planes.In other words, these countries, including the United Kingdom, are comparable in size to American Airlines.

Now China's purchasing power is negligible, there is no Russia, only the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union must leave the market for its own passenger planes.

Markets throughout Eastern Europe cannot be counted on.Even if Canada balances between Britain and the United States, it will at least give up half of the market to the United States, after all, the two countries are too close.

Australia can count on it. For the remaining countries, India has no more purchasing power than China. Japan is basically the private land of the United States. It is purely overthinking that British airliners squeezed out Boeing in Japan.

It is also an archipelagic country, and the potential market is not small. Indonesia is an enemy who wants to annex the Malayan colony.

Counting on these countries is better than counting on the local tyrants in the Middle East to be rich and become the market for Comet airliners.

After all the calculations, the Comet Airliner counts the places where the UK still retains its influence, plus the markets of various European countries, which cannot keep up with the size of the US market. It is considered extraordinary that de Havilland can compete equally with Boeing. played out.One bad thing is the status of Airbus' second child.

This will not change just because [-] comets have been sold and Boeing has not sold one.

De Havilland must be under great pressure facing Boeing, so it can only open another track and take the lead in grabbing the regional airliner market dominated by Canada and Brazil in the future.There may still be hope of victory.

After all, the United States has not been sensitive to regional airliners for a long time, but is on the sidelines.

"In this way, Boeing will indeed compete with Comet in a few years." After hearing this, Pamela Mountbatten also agreed with her husband's analysis, which was not as easy as it was at the beginning.

"Whoever buys the Comet airliner, let me call NATO brain dead." Alan Wilson took out the famous words of French President Macron after the Airbus order was signed, and joked with his wife who became a little serious.

At present, Mountbatten Group has been involved in a wide range after integrating the four major families of Xiangjiang.But the most valuable wealth remains Australia's minerals and oil extraction in Libya, the Middle East and the North Sea.

The cash flow also includes the commonwealth lottery business and offshore center business with Newfoundland as the core. Even if you look at the whole world, it is quite powerful.Although the military industry has just been involved, I believe that with the backing of huge capital, it will eventually gain a firm foothold in it.

However, hidden dangers are not without. Both minerals and oil need to be guarded by military forces, and the United Kingdom can still do it at present.But can it be done in the future?

Maybe we should take the initiative to divert the water from the east, and this time period is also the right time.

So far, the United States is a steel exporter, whether it is steel exports or iron ore exports.The quality of iron ore in the United States is not low. Although it is not as good as Australia, it is much closer to Europe than Australia.

Australia sent its iron ore to Malaya for rough processing before being shipped to Europe.Even so, the cost is higher than that of iron ore in the United States.The reason why the United Kingdom has been eating in is because of the existence of the Imperial Preference System, which left a part of Australia's share.

Most of Australia's iron ore is manufactured into steel through Malaya for export, such a model.

Once the United States ends its history of exporting steel, it becomes a country that imports iron ore.The value of Australian iron ore will be discovered. Alan Wilson asked his wife to lower the potential reserves to prevent being targeted.

It is safe to wait until the British capital has formed enough influence to form a positive cycle.So far, it's still not enough.

A higher-quality raw material supplier than Australian iron ore is needed to attract the attention of the United States.

Such a raw material supplier also exists, that is, Brazil, which will compete with Australia in terms of iron ore export in the future.

Brazil's total reserves and quality are a little worse than Australia's, but they basically belong to the same level.Now, there are many mines in Brazil that have not been discovered, although Vale has been established for more than ten years.

The Carajás iron mine in Brazil will be the largest iron mine in Brazil in the future. The iron ore reserves in the entire region have reached 72 billion tons. The purity of the iron ore is also at the top level in the world. The iron ore has high grade, low alumina content, With few harmful impurities and good sintering performance, it is the highest quality iron ore in the world, and it is the biggest reason for Brazil to become the world's iron ore exporter.

If the Carajas iron mine is first discovered by the Mountbatten Group exploration team, the Mountbatten Group can carry out the opposite operation in Australia. In Australia, the potential iron ore reserves are lowered, and in Brazil, the potential reserves can be exaggerated.

At that time, it can attract the attention of Americans who regard the Americas as their backyard. If the quality is the same, the reserves will be even greater.With the location in South America, it will definitely arouse the prying eyes of American capital.

Compared with Brazil, Australia is still farther away from the United States in terms of distance.But the risks are different. In Brazil’s political environment, there may be a military coup. If there is a military government, it will definitely not allow foreign capital to take the lead.

Considering the potential political risks, Allen Wilson decided to show his wife a clear way to bring the talent of finding minerals to the warm South America. Once the United States wants a joint venture or merger, it will cash out at a high price.

Pamela Mountbatten did not question it. In this regard, she had already shown blind obedience to her husband.Since Alan Wilson analyzed the geological structure of Brazil and felt that there would be a large iron mine, it must exist.

With little persuasion, Pamela Mountbatten expressed her approval, just asking reflexively, "Wouldn't Paris be as shameless as Argentina?"

"In the magical continent of South America, anything can happen. But if you make a contract to see the reaction of the United States, and be ready to evacuate at any time, there should be no accidents." Of course, Alan Wilson knew what Argentina's Peron did after he came to power .The Peron government adopted an economic policy of economic independence and nationalization, and also formulated two five-year plans for the development of industry and agriculture.

Looks good?However, the money for the promotion of independence and nationalization began with the confiscation of Anglo-American capital.

What's more, after Peron came to power, because of the ownership of the Falkland Islands, he has been comparing with the United Kingdom.

In this case, Pamela Mountbatten has a good impression of South American countries.

In the end, her trust in her husband surpassed her dislike for the Peron government. Pamela Mountbatten called her assistant Zakharova and began to arrange exploration missions into the Americas.

"All Americans should elect me as president." Alan Wilson sighed in his heart, and he made a contribution to the special relationship between Britain and the United States.

8Chapter 17 Settlement and Demarcation

Having said that, after implementing two five-year plans that are almost the most failed in the world, Perón should be kicked out soon.

It is not that there is no common language with the United Kingdom. Juan Peron, like Prime Minister Attlee, claimed to combine the advantages of capitalism and socialism, but he clearly combined the shortcomings of the two systems.

In fact, with Argentina's background, it is very good to be a rich country that does not care about world affairs. It is obviously overthinking to become a big country.

It must be admitted that the territory occupied by Spain during the colonial period was a wealthy area, with a large amount of precious metals and excellent agricultural conditions. The British colony was a bitter cold place. If the Indians also divided into nomadic farming, the British occupied a lot of nomadic The territory, the Spanish Empire doesn't care at all.

But in North America, where the conditions are not so good, there are coal and iron resources most needed by the industrial revolution.Can gold and silver in Latin America be made into steel?The coal mines in Latin America as a whole account for only [-] percent of the world's coal mines.

With a foundation like Argentina, it is impossible to fight with the United Kingdom. The dispute over the Falkland Islands turned into a war.To a large extent, it is because the United Kingdom did not take a very tough attitude towards the Falkland Islands after allowing the colonies to become independent, and even proposed a joint administration of the Falkland Islands.

In the eyes of Argentina, the United Kingdom has allowed so many colonies to become independent. It will not go to war because of a small island that can only raise sheep, and they are all willing to jointly manage the islands. I believe that even if Argentina occupies the Falkland Islands, the United Kingdom will not go to war.

But it just so happened that Mrs. Thatcher enjoyed the achievements of the previous prime ministers in fishing law enforcement, and also needed approval ratings, so the war broke out.

Alan Wilson is an honest man. He hopes that Britain will continue to maintain an attitude of not resolutely defending the Falkland Islands. Maybe Argentina will take risks.The United Kingdom always needs a stepping stone to maintain its status as a world power. The intertwined interests of Eurasia are too dangerous, and Argentina is really suitable.

Pamela Mountbatten has entered the working state again, busy with setting up a South American exploration team, as well as plans for regional airliners.

The former only needs one sentence, to guarantee the treatment of the exploration team.The latter is more thought-provoking. Alan Wilson also gave some suggestions to his wife, which are nothing more than differentiation and improvement of mature plans. Regional airliners are set to be in the range of [-] to [-] seats, which is also the approximate standard for future generations.

Britain is obviously a country with a conservative atmosphere, but it is always extremely bold in new technologies, always making some fancy things, and it turns out to be useless in the end, and the cost is increased and it is not safe.

It is not impossible to do this in terms of weapons and equipment. The military can bite the bullet and adapt, and other countries do not know.

But if you do this in the product, it is not a problem that you can solve by overcoming it yourself.

Compared with the busy wife, the sister-in-law has nothing to do. Apart from helping to look after the children, she always uses the excuse of physical exhaustion to make Alan Wilson work hard.

Faced with the unreasonable demands of important members of the royal family, the imperial commissioner dared not speak up and could only follow through. "The princess is getting too much. I am an official of the country."

Princess Margaret groaned, clasped her mischievous hands, and protested softly, "I don't know what you said, I'll help you take care of your daughter." Then she offered her red lips.

After a verbal dispute, Alan Wilson regained his gentlemanly attitude with a relaxed expression, thinking about when to cook raw rice, and the relationship has evolved to this day. I am sorry for God if there is no further progress.

The national motto of the United Kingdom inspired him at this time, there is a God, I have rights, and of course he has the right to do what he likes.

Frank is still negotiating the price of arms sales with Australia. Arms sales are not used for general business. Everyone knows that the arms business is profitable. The profit usually starts at 50.00%, and [-]% is not uncommon.Far from being a normal processing industry, earning that little hard money.

The arms market is also a winner-takes-all situation. It is precisely because of the importance of arms sales that the cabinet and Whitehall are so concerned, and have come up with their old skills of black box operations.It can be seen how much attention is paid to this arms sale.

Otherwise, how could Alan Wilson immediately summon Comet One to return to London as soon as he heard that Australia had this meaning?Even if the price is not mentioned, it is a huge gain to be able to leverage the replacement of the British aircraft carrier.

Even in the 21st century, the United Kingdom has long occupied the top three in arms sales. France, which does not seem weak, has made little progress in arms sales most of the time, so once there is a big order, it will attach great importance to it.

Although Alan Wilson can't help, he also hopes that Frank can get things done. Once it succeeds, the credit will belong to two people, at least there is no need to do useless work.

If Her Royal Highness hadn't always come to ease his mood, he would have liked to let Frank talk to him every day.

In fact, there is no need for him to urge, Frank is also very clear about what kind of return he will get after negotiating this significant arms sale. This may be a moment of dedication that he has never had after working for the Empire, and he may never There will be such a hard time.

My wife, who is busy with regional airliners and American exploration, brought a piece of news about the demarcation of the North Sea.

"We have already negotiated the demarcation of the border with the relevant countries in the North Sea. The demarcation will be based on the principle of the center line." Pamela Mountbatten just sat down and told the whole story.

"No, why didn't you fight for a more favorable demarcation." Alan Wilson was taken aback after hearing this. On the premise that oil and gas in the North Sea had already been discovered, the United Kingdom did not fight for even a little bit. This is not in line with common sense. After thinking about it, he asked, " Was it pressure from the Americans?"

He couldn't think of any other reason. If anyone in this world could exert diplomatic pressure on Britain, the only ones were the United States and the Soviet Union.

The Soviet Union has no reason to do this, but the United States may do it to maintain the so-called NATO unity.

"No. Although the specific situation is not known, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it is not a problem of the United States." Pamela Mountbatten explained, "However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has made a condition, that is, the oil revenue of the relevant countries in the North Sea must be paid in British pounds. Settlement. With this premise, the midline principle agreement was reached."

"It turns out that it is for the settlement of the British pound." Alan Wilson understood, "The Netherlands, Germany, and Norway have all agreed?"

Pamela Mountbatten nodded, and Alan Wilson figured it out. In the foreseeable future, North Sea oil will be the only reliable source of oil and gas in Europe.Of course, the UK wants to rely on its strength to take the lead, but if it takes a step back, the benefits of allowing neighboring countries to settle North Sea oil in pounds are also huge.

The currencies of general countries can only be circulated in their own countries, and the currencies of these countries themselves have little influence.At this time, apart from the US dollar, the currencies of many countries do not have international recognition.

There are actually only three currencies in European countries that can be circulated across borders, the pound sterling, the franc and the mark.North Sea oil is the safest source of oil in Europe, and it's in close proximity.If the pound is used for settlement, the value of the pound will be greatly stabilized.

After the war, the United States always wanted to dismantle the pound zone and replace the pound with the dollar. North Sea oil, the most reliable source of oil recently, can supply traditional European powers such as France and Germany.The benefits to the UK would be enormous if the pound could be tied to the value of the franc and the mark to some extent.

Therefore, for the sake of the pound's share in international settlements, the United Kingdom opened up to the Netherlands and Norway, and exchanged the conditions for settlement of North Sea oil in pounds with a fair demarcation.

If there is one country in this world other than the United States that knows the power of currency, it is the United Kingdom.In the negotiations with the United States, facing the Breston Woods system, the United Kingdom once proposed to create a World Bank and issue a super-sovereign currency.

Keynes is very familiar with the international financial and monetary system. He designed a real World Bank in the middle of the future international monetary system. The World Bank managed by each participating country will issue a unified world currency.

Proposing such a plan is of course an attempt to defend the interests of the United Kingdom, because it has seen that it is impossible for the United Kingdom to maintain the hegemony of the British pound, so it pre-emptively proposed to create a unified currency.

At that time, the stock of sterling in the world far exceeded that of the U.S. dollar. Once this plan was passed, the UK would take advantage of the stock. Naturally, the United States would oppose it, and finally passed the Breston Woods system.

"The government is really worried about the pound." What can Alan Wilson say, if it is for this purpose, he can only do so.

"It seems that you also agree that it is good." Pamela Mountbatten nodded and said, "Can we move the currency status back?"

"It's hard to say, but it's right to work hard all the time." Alan Wilson didn't dare to talk nonsense on this issue. This is no longer a problem that can be solved by personal choice. "But under the Breston Forest system, It can still compete with the U.S. dollar, but it is more difficult to fight against other commodities.”

There is a lot of gold in the world. If the United States wants to issue more currency, it will be easy for other countries to find out.If it is really changed to petrodollars, the life of other countries will be even more difficult.

Therefore, it doesn't matter if the African colonies want to be independent and leave. The British garrison in the Persian Gulf must not be withdrawn.

Pamela Mountbatten began micro-manipulation again. After the demarcation of the North Sea was completed, the surrounding countries naturally began to explore the North Sea. She also wanted to fight for her own share. The overall exploration of the North Sea always needs equipment, right?Nothing comes in vain, Mountbatten Petroleum Group can win-win with neighboring countries.

The eldest daughter is busy with her career, and the mere son-in-law has started to take care of her daughter again, and using telegrams to communicate with various places has become a life adjustment.

It's not that there is nothing wrong, there are faint calls from the Great British Treasure and the Little Dragoons, hoping that he will return to the Malaya colony as soon as possible to shoulder the responsibility of a man.

Chapter 848 Malaya Needs Me

Of course, he was very willing to go back immediately, but he still wanted to know what Frank was talking about before leaving.

Now that Alan Wilson could no longer hold back his curiosity, he took the initiative to ask what step he had reached.

To this, Frank, who appeared again, also responded, "The bottom line for London is that, together with the new aircraft carrier and the refit cost of the Glorious-class aircraft carrier, 500 million to 8000 million pounds is more appropriate."

"The cost of the new aircraft carrier is estimated to be 3000 million pounds. If three ships are built at the same time, it will be [-] million pounds." Alan Wilson nodded and calculated, "About [-] million Australian dollars, this figure is affordable for Australia. .”

Australia's monetary policy is the same as that of the United Kingdom, which is a strong monetary policy. In this era, one dollar cannot be exchanged for one Australian dollar.

The cost of British shipbuilding has always been lower than that of the United States. During World War II, the cost of British battleships was equivalent to that of American heavy cruisers.

Take the Forrest-class aircraft carrier, which is the target of the new aircraft carrier, as an example. The cost of the Forrest-class aircraft carrier is 3000 million US dollars.The Admiralty's share price for the new aircraft carrier is [-] million pounds, slightly more than half of the cost of the Forrest-class aircraft carrier.

Because of the discovery of iron ore in Australia, the living standards of Australians are now a little higher than those in the UK.

This is all due to the fact that the two wings of the United Kingdom are flying together. If the original history, the standard of living in the United Kingdom for a long time after the war would be half that of Australia, it would be good.

But the two wings of the UK are flying together, but Australia has discovered iron ore. The final result is that Australia's living standards are still higher than the current UK.Alan Wilson has nothing to do about this. He is a country lying on the mines. As long as the population of the top resource country does not explode, it is really not something that ordinary countries can catch up with.

In terms of Australia's current economy, 8000 to [-] million pounds is affordable. Even with this figure, the UK has made a lot of money. If Alan Wilson remembers correctly, the original HMS Melbourne cost [-] pounds to the UK. It is sold at a symbolic price, but a modification fee is charged.

With Australia's current economic scale, based on the minimum military expenditure of [-]%, there is still room for arms sales, not to mention that the proportion of military expenditure is much higher than [-]%.

Frank also nodded, agreeing with this very much, "Actually, Australia's military expenditure is not high at all compared to the British military expenditure. This time the arms sales will not cause financial pressure."

"You are an official from the Ministry of Finance, so your words must be very professional." Alan Wilson continued after hearing that Frank agreed, "I just don't know what the Australians think. Do you think there is a tone of financial pressure during the negotiation?"

"I don't think so." Frank recalled for a while, "But I asked about the falsified time of the aircraft carrier, which seemed urgent."

"Oh, it doesn't seem like a big problem." Alan Wilson said with a smile as soon as he heard it, "Everyone knows that our naval technology is at least not inferior to that of the United States. This is not an excuse at all. No If not, I would like to congratulate you on such an extremely important arms sale to the UK."

Frank also said happily when he heard it, "Alan, if it really succeeds, the credit belongs to the two of us."

If the arms sale is successful this time, even if it is achieved close to the bottom line of London, the UK will have the money to replace the aircraft carrier.Build three ships for Australia, and install two ships yourself.

The cost of a Forrest-class aircraft carrier in the United States is almost [-] million. Is the British asking too much?Except for the United Kingdom and the United States, no country in this world has experience in building large aircraft carriers.

The United States will not sell this kind of national treasure, but the United Kingdom can, so for Australia, as long as it really wants it, this is a multiple-choice question with only one option.

Australia must be able to afford it, because the current Australian government must be far richer than the original historical time and space.

The reason is that in the exploration contract signed by Pamela Mountbatten, except for his own, the Australian government and the Western Australian state government have a lot of shares, but the sum is not as large as the Mountbatten Group.

What's the difference? It's a big difference. For every ton of iron ore sold, the Australian government and the Western Australian state government can get money.This is different from the sale of iron ore in Australia in later generations.

In a sense, iron ore in Australia has now become a semi-state-owned enterprise model, and the half that is not a state-owned enterprise is mostly the Mountbatten Group.As for the iron ore layout in Australia in later generations, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton's interests in major iron ore mines are either 80.00% or [-]%.

The mining contract between Pamela Mountbatten and the Australian government is actually similar to the future Brazilian Vale model.The Brazilian government asked for a 50.00% stake in the domestic iron mines to seek control.But the Australia of the future is not.

Later generations of Australia will not be able to get so much money from the astronomical amount of iron ore exports, but now they can.

The reason why Pamela Mountbatten did this was not to exclude other competitors.Now it seems to work very well.

In the field of exploration in Australia, the Mountbatten Group has no rivals.The biggest beneficiaries are the Australian government and the government of Western Australia.

"Frank, I'm going back to Kuala Lumpur. Before I leave, let me tell you something. Last year, Malaya imported 300 million tons of iron ore from Australia. The purchase price was five pounds a ton. It cost 5000 million pounds. The Australian government and the Western Australian state government received at least £7000 million in revenue."