Traveling through the sword to engage in military industry

#446 - A complex relationship

In London, the venerable Simpson's-in-the-Strand restaurant, while not excessively luxurious, is a favorite haunt of celebrities. Renowned figures like Van Gogh, Dickens, and Bernard Shaw frequented this establishment after achieving fame.

Today, Ambassador Jin has invited Maurice Harold Macmillan for a small gathering here.

As the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Old Deng cabinet of the *Bright Sword* world, Harold Macmillan is a man of extensive experience, having rotated through positions in Housing, Defense, Foreign Affairs, and Finance, making him a veritable powerhouse.

Ambassador Jin usually interacts with this heavyweight, but today, a special envoy from the homeland informed him that it was time to place a heavy bet on this man. The John Bull Old Deng regime is teetering and won't last much longer. The most likely successor is this very Chancellor.

As the host this evening, Ambassador Jin is striving to create a relaxed atmosphere for discussion, as this is an important task assigned from above.

"Good evening, Mr. Harold. Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to host you tonight. I hope you have a pleasant evening, Mr. Harold," Ambassador Jin said with a smile.

"Good evening, Mr. Jin. Thank you for your invitation. I'm sure it will be a very pleasant evening," Harold replied courteously.

After some pleasantries and a few rounds of drinks, the relationship between the two parties warmed up considerably.

"Mr. Harold, to be frank, there's a small matter that requires your assistance," Ambassador Jin said, after laying the groundwork for quite some time, finally setting the mood. "As you know, our two countries have very good cooperation in the field of agriculture. Over the past period, the cooperation between the two sides has been very effective. However, now we are hearing some discordant notes regarding this win-win situation. Some people are stirring up trouble, attempting to undermine our cooperation. I'm sure Mr. Harold is aware of this. We hope that Mr. Harold, proceeding from the overall interests of cooperation between the two sides, can suppress these inappropriate voices."

Here comes the main topic, Harold thought to himself. When he came, he already anticipated what the other party wanted to discuss tonight. This matter was probably what they wanted to know most.

Therefore, Harold already had a plan in mind.

"Mr. Jin, I am indeed aware of the matter you mentioned. Behind Congressman Smith, there is the support of North American grain giants. I don't think this is a secret to you. The achievements your country has made in the field of hybrid rice have obviously affected the supply of the international grain market. Frankly speaking, this kind of thing involving North America has a great impact on our party. You also know very well the special relationship between North America and us. I'm afraid this matter is really not that easy to handle. Next, we may have to continue to cooperate on the basis of a new bill."

In this private setting, Harold didn't just give official platitudes. Instead, he revealed the underlying relationships behind the matter, partly to show his sincerity and partly to explain his inaction.

Ambassador Jin was not surprised by this answer at all. Of course, he knew the ins and outs of the matter. He smiled.

"Mr. Harold, speaking of your country's special relationship with North America, I think things are likely to change a lot starting with the Suez Canal incident."

"This time, none of your allies are standing by your side. I think Mr. Harold is well aware that North America does not want the Middle East to remain dominated by Europe," Ambassador Jin's words made Harold's heart skip a beat, as if something important was about to be revealed.

Because Ambassador Jin didn't seem to care about his subtle refusal at all. The fact that he sought him out for a private meeting clearly meant that he wasn't aiming for a meeting with no results.

This is an important power in the *Bright Sword* world. Even though John Bull has a special relationship with North America, they wouldn't dare to neglect this Eastern power in the world, and wouldn't want to provoke this major power unnecessarily. The consequences would obviously be unbearable for them, especially since they still need the other party's support in many aspects internationally.

In the Suez Canal War, the Eastern power hasn't really taken a side yet.

They haven't sided with their own side to express support, nor have they sided with the other side to issue strong condemnations. They have only expressed regret for this and hoped that the two sides would cease fire and sit down to negotiate a solution to the dispute. It seems that to the Eastern power, whether things return to their original state or are transferred to the Pharaoh's country, it doesn't matter to them.

After all, here, the Eastern power only has the security interests of a trade route. In this *Bright Sword* world, the Eastern power hasn't even bought oil from the Middle East! What they care most about is probably transporting their increasingly growing goods to Europe for sale.

Therefore, no matter who controls the canal, the crossing fee is indispensable, so who controls the canal makes no difference to their transport fleet.

"Mr. Jin, you might as well be frank and speak directly. Today, you and I are here alone. Whatever we say, I presume it won't be recorded in the official exchanges between the two sides. Therefore, let's try to achieve mutual understanding of information, so as to avoid misjudging each other," Harold said after pondering for a moment.

Private bargaining in diplomacy is too common. Everyone knows that the bottom line for formal face-to-face negotiations during the day is just a posture. The real bottom lines of both sides are explored in such semi-formal social interactions.

Some things even need to be secretly met through the matchmaking of a third party.

Although these are the most troublesome things they are dealing with internally now, being exposed by Ambassador Jin on this occasion still made him feel a little embarrassed. The Rogue Eagle is their closest ally, but it has not given them the support it should have on this matter, which has led to John Bull's very difficult international situation today. Because the statements they have passed in international organizations are unfavorable to John Bull. In the middle of this, the Rogue Eagle's attitude has played a very negative role. Not only did they not stop it, but they also explicitly stated their opposition, leaving the countries that were riding the fence with no more ambiguous opportunities, and had to follow the attitude of the two largest countries. No country can afford to offend two superpowers at the same time.

But this is not the most uncomfortable and shocking thing for Harold from Ambassador Jin.

"Although the Rogue Eagle has not expressed military support for the Pharaoh's country, we believe that if your country and Gaul insist on occupying the canal, the Rogue Eagle may sell off the pound to force you to accept the terms of a ceasefire and withdrawal," Ambassador Jin's words were like a bolt from the blue.

"How could this be?" Harold subconsciously retorted, "Impossible, Mr. Kim. Your analysts are talking nonsense. Their judgment is completely unfounded."

This news was too explosive for Harold. As the current Chancellor of the Exchequer, he was well aware that if the Rogue Eagle really started selling off pounds in the current situation, it would be like adding fuel to the fire for the already precarious pound exchange rate, potentially collapsing the entire pound!

This was not just because a large-scale sale of pounds would directly lead to a sharp decrease in John Bull's foreign exchange reserves, but more importantly, it would be seen as an "unforgivable betrayal" of John Bull's long-held belief that it maintained a synchronized relationship with the Rogue Eagle in terms of the principles and spirit of the International Monetary Fund.

If such a thing were to happen, it would completely change the nature of their relationship. The already somewhat fractured relationship would likely become even more strained, even to the point of breaking down.

How could the Easterners have come to such a judgment?

Harold absolutely refused to believe that the Rogue Eagle would kick them when they were down in this regard. If that were really the case, as the head of John Bull's finances, Harold had no confidence in holding on. This would be a major event, perhaps even turning the equal relationship between the two countries into an implicit subordinate one.

"Mr. Harold, whether you believe it or not, we believe that this event will not be long in coming. Let us wait and see," Ambassador Kim said softly but firmly.

"If this really happens, Mr. Harold, what will you do?"

Harold's mind was truly buzzing from this information bombardment.

Given their special relationship with the Rogue Eagle, they really hadn't imagined that the Rogue Eagle would do something so excessive.

But...

Harold recalled that ever since John Bull and the Gallic Rooster jointly launched the Suez Canal military operation, the Rogue Eagle had maintained an opposing stance, no matter how much coordination was attempted.

It was extremely rare for them to maintain a unified international stance with the Polar Bear on this matter, which was a highly abnormal signal.

This completely overturned some of the pre-war predictions made by the old Deng administration regarding international reactions.

In their predictions, even if the Rogue Eagle didn't quite agree with this matter, they would at most remain neutral and not express their position, or abstain—a passive state. They had never imagined that they would stand up and directly express their opposition, and even form a United Nations resolution to intervene.

This misjudgment, coupled with the heavy financial pressure caused by launching the war, led to another wave of short-selling targeting the pound internationally. Although they had managed to temporarily repel the short-sellers through various difficult efforts earlier,

they didn't have much foreign exchange left in their hands now, only a mere two billion US dollars. They could barely support themselves against the current speculators, but if they faced the pressure from a superpower like the Rogue Eagle, they could basically surrender directly.

Harold fell silent.

He mentally replayed the Rogue Eagle's recent policies and talks with their senior officials.

If he hadn't dared to imagine that impossible outcome before, but now he took that outcome out first and re-correlated it with the speeches of the Rogue Eagle's senior officials, Harold discovered in horror that, logically speaking, the conclusion derived from this deduction really didn't have any major flaws.

The probability of the Rogue Eagle taking advantage of their misfortune was truly three points stronger than standing idly by!

If they insisted on acting regardless of their special relationship, John Bull had no ability to resist.

Under their financial attack, there was even a huge risk of the pound collapsing!

Harold reasonably and sadly discovered that if the current Rogue Eagle wanted to attack John Bull, they would be like lambs to the slaughter, with no room for resistance!

Harold, who had originally been confident, was directly dumbfounded by Ambassador Kim's bold prediction.

There was no need for much more speculation. If the Rogue Eagle joined the ranks of selling off pounds, it would directly become the last straw that broke John Bull's back. Once the pound collapsed, the military advantage over the Suez Canal would be meaningless. What would be the point if John Bull and the Gallic Rooster concentrated tens of thousands of troops and achieved an overwhelming victory?

The more they invested and succeeded militarily, the faster they would go bankrupt economically. The sun had already set on the British Empire.

Looking back, their former glory had long been consumed in the protracted battle against Little Huzi!

Harold was in a state of mental chaos for a moment.

He was a very mature politician. In the past, no matter how difficult things were, there had never been a situation more difficult than the one before him.

Because Ambassador Kim, as a third party, had absolutely no need to fool him in this regard. Especially since they were very certain that such a thing would happen in the near future, it meant that they had a very high-level information channel on the Rogue Eagle's side. What was hateful was that his own Rogue Eagle channel had not transmitted any information about such a life-threatening matter.

This was obviously very abnormal.

The world had changed!

A thought suddenly flashed through Harold's mind like a surging tide.

Then, he had a feeling of sudden enlightenment.

Dismantling colonies and depriving control of the Middle East—if this was a long-term plan for the new king's ascension, then the Suez Canal War was like handing the final blow into their hands.

No wonder they repeatedly called for a halt to this matter verbally, but never really let it stop.

Because if the brothers in Continental Europe didn't really get involved, that knife couldn't accurately and fatally deliver the final blow.

This was really ruthless.

They hadn't left them even the slightest chance.

No, perhaps there was still a final chance. Harold raised his head, looked at Ambassador Kim, his eyes burning.

"Mr. Kim, you didn't come here tonight specifically to tell me bad news, did you?" Harold asked hesitantly, with a last glimmer of hope.

"Mr. Harold, we Easterners have always pursued win-win situations. We believe that the most stable relationship is a truly win-win relationship." Ambassador Kim said somewhat awkwardly, but Harold didn't find it difficult to understand. The hope in his heart grew even stronger.

"Yes, in the future pound crisis, if our help is needed, we will not stand idly by. If we can maintain a win-win situation in a series of cooperations, we are willing to help friends stabilize the situation. We will not be as opportunistic as some countries. We prefer the diversity of the world."

These things that Ambassador Kim said were not what he had come up with, but what he had directly heard from the special envoy.

So, there was still hope for the British Empire?!

The despair in Harold's heart couldn't help but lessen a lot.

Fortunately, fortunately, not everyone in this world was someone or a country that kicked people when they were down.