England 1986

Chapter 186

He had lived for decades in the first half of his life, and this was the first time he saw an earl at such a close distance, chasing after the two princes with a stone.

"Here comes Thomas, sit down."

Allen threw the stone in his hand, as if nothing happened.

"Sir, do you have anything to explain?"

Allen watched William run away before sitting down again and said, "Do you know the Cardiff number?"

"Cardiff?"

Thomas was stunned for a few seconds before suddenly realizing that this should be the destroyer named after Cardiff, the capital of Wales.

It seems that your Excellency in front of you was serving on that warship at that time.

This ship is said to be a new type 42 destroyer, but since it was built in the first batch, the overall design seems to have a little flaw, and the protective armor is a little bit weak. It seemed to be for more weapons at that time, so A certain compromise was made on armor.

But this does not affect that it is still a relatively advanced destroyer. Just this thing, one can control several routes in West Africa, and it often participates in escort missions at ordinary times. It is one of the warships well-known by ordinary people.

"I know, I know, why do you suddenly care about the Cardiff number?"

Allen picked up the fishing rod, cast the bait again, and said softly: "I will be able to go to the House of Lords next year, not a few months away."

It's already August now, and it will start in March next year, with only half a year left.

"???"

Thomas didn't understand what Allen meant.

The average child in Great Britain is 16 years old, but among the aristocrats, he knows, they are counted as 21 years old.

Before the age of 21, although under special circumstances, the title can also be inherited, but in theory, from the age of 21, it is considered a formal and legally true nobleman. Only at this time, the nobleman can have the status of a member of the House of Lords.

His Excellency Allen will be 21 years old at the beginning of next year, which is known to everyone. Some time ago, he deliberately created momentum for this, and planned to submit several major proposals at that time, so as to give him a strong momentum in Congress.

But at the moment, what does going to Parliament have to do with the Cardiff?
Thomas felt that his mind was dull, and he couldn't comprehend the meaning of His Excellency the Earl for a while.

"tsk"

Allen looked at Thomas with hatred for iron and steel. This guy is really stable and stable, but his ideological consciousness is not high. Although he didn't make much noise about the yacht, he could find out after a little inquiring. He looked confused.

"The Cardiff has been in service for more than ten years. As a representative of our Wales, don't you think it is a bit unworthy?"

"what?"

These words made Thomas even more confused. Is this worthy or not?

It has only been in service for more than ten years, and it is still early to leave the ship.

"Hey, I said that there should be a new look. I visited the Plymouth Shipyard yesterday and saw the newly built frigate in their dock. The hull... I thought at the time, how good would it be if it could represent our Wales?!"

"!!!"

After hearing Allen's words, Thomas finally remembered.

Why go to Plymouth Shipyard for no reason? !

He had heard about the Earl's recent desire to buy a yacht. Now that he contacted him, could it be that your Excellency is planning to use the Cardiff?

As for what it would be like if the new warship in the dock could represent Wales, this kind of nonsense, just listen to it, don't take it seriously!
"Yes! Your Excellency, I also think that the Cardiff number is a bit old. I don't know what you mean now?"

Although he still doesn't understand the purpose of the Cardiff number, this does not prevent Thomas from changing his tone and following what this person said.

"Well, I think so. What about you, the contact person wrote a proposal, saying that the Cardiff is too old, which will damage our Welsh image, and then propose to replace it with a new ship. As for the old Cardiff...just It is recommended to save it."

"."

Thomas looked suddenly enlightened, sure enough.
Sure enough, your Excellency has ideas about the Cardiff, but he has no control over this, he just needs to obey orders honestly.

"Your Excellency, do you need me to be more powerful, and make some kind of public petition or something?"

"Need not!"

Allen waved his hand and said, "It's fine to make a normal proposal. You don't need to involve the public. You don't have to worry about the rest. After the proposal is made, it will be handed over after the Congress begins in the second half of October."

"Ok!"

Thomas stood up quickly, with a serious expression on his face.

"Okay, it's just one thing, let's do it."

"Okay, then. Your Excellency, I'll go first?"

"Go."

Allen watched Thomas walk away before putting down the fishing rod again, raising his legs and leaning on the recliner.

His method of operation this time is relatively subtle, involving a method that looks very upright, but is actually a bit dirty.

This thing is called - archive.

What is storage?

When the warship is in good condition, it is not yet at the stage of decommissioning and scrapping, but it will be sailed to a specific port and sealed up, no need for it!
The euphemistic name is that it can be pulled out and used again during wartime or critical periods.

It can also be understood as a disguised retirement, which means it sounds better than retirement.

This trick is played by Americans with great proficiency.

On their side, if the military-industrial complex wants to do business and make money, it has to consume a lot of ammunition, whether it is to start a war and use it by itself, or sell it, anyway, it has to ship a lot.

As for things like warships, the general design life starts in a few decades, 30 to 50 years are very common, and there are a lot of [-] to [-] years.

But with such a long service life, what about after building a ship?

How will I make money in the future?

Even if six or more than a dozen ships are built in one batch, the military-industrial complex needs to make money.

Therefore, there was a trick of sealing up.

A good warship is not broken or scrapped, and the hull has a long lifespan, but it needs to be set aside to make new ships, so it can only be taken away for storage.

In this way, you can earn an additional maintenance fee, and then you can buy a new ship, which can serve multiple purposes!
As for whether the old warship was finally sealed up or not, and whether the contents were dismantled, it was all a matter of the Navy anyway, and it was not decommissioned. This also involved certain confidentiality procedures, and ordinary people could not see it.

Allen is now ready to use this method of operation.

The Cardiff is a new ship that has only been in service for more than ten years, but some equipment is already a bit old, and there are certain design flaws.

Its ships of the same model and batch, HMS Sheffield and HMS Coventry, participated in the Falklands Battle, and then.
Was hit hard!

It is such an old ship that has certain defects and has been in service for more than ten years. It is still an old ship named after the capital of Wales. The economic environment is not impossible to change.

In theory, sealing up the old ship can save a lot of money.

Then build a new type of warship, which will also drive the development of the shipyard. The Ministry of the Navy will find a relationship, and the boss can still get benefits.

The probability of the proposal being passed is basically stable.

As for the sealed Cardiff, it only needs to be towed to the shipyard for inspection.

Isn't it just making up a reason at that time?
The hull has hidden damage, and the metal is fatigued. It is not suitable for storage, so it should be scrapped on the spot!
This destroyer, which is basically less than half of its service life, is demolished and sold for scrap iron and weapon systems. Allen can use some of it for himself, and just hand over the rest to someone with connections to sell.

He can use the remaining hull to modify the yacht.

As for the Cardiff, which suffered an indiscriminate disaster for no reason?
The Cardiff is the destroyer that Allen was on when he was in service. He has a pretty good relationship with the captain. It would be good to just hire the captain and give him a new yacht.

Not only the captain, there are more than 300 officers and soldiers on the Cardiff, and Allen plans to recruit half of them. Someone must drive the new yacht. Is there anyone more familiar with Master Allen's new yacht than them?
That's off-the-shelf crew!

Even if the old earl used to pluck wool, he only plucked some "gadgets" at most, and Allen just plucked a big one this time.

Quietly enter the village, do not shoot.

After completing all the procedures, the relationship that needs to be handled will be handed over to the people below.

After one operation, the hull and crew of the new yacht are available, and a lot of money can be saved.

This kind of operation is basically risk-free, except that the methods are a little bit dirty, but my Great Britain is now prosperous and powerful, and temporarily loses an old destroyer and half a ship's officers and soldiers. What is this trivial matter?
No problem at all!
The Ministry of the Navy is eager to have a new warship enter service, and the big bosses in it will benefit from it. It's not like no one has done this kind of thing before.

In addition, Wales is usually very honest, so he finally has a request, isn't it just a new warship, can the Lord MP in London disagree?

Now that the market is in a downturn due to the financial crisis, spending money to build warships can stimulate the economy, which is a good thing!

There are good excuses up and down, just waiting for everyone to gather wool together.

During lunch.

Allen looked at the pizza in front of him, and then at William who was eating cheese.

This is William's craving for pizza today, and he asked the kitchen to make it specially for him. Alan has a bad appetite recently, so he ate it together.

After taking a sip of yogurt and putting down his cup, Allen kicked William's stool and said, "Do you want to go to the Olympics next month?"

"Huh? When?"

William doesn't quite understand the meaning of the Olympics, but it sounds like he's going out to play, but he's more interested in playing.

"It's mid-September, you just say whether you want to go or not."

"Go, go!"

"Cousin, I'm going too!"

Harry sat a little far away from Allen, and he sat next to William, seeing that Allen only asked William but not him, feeling a little anxious.

"Fuck you! You're too young to go!"

Allen ruthlessly rejected Harry. Bringing William was already his limit. If he brought Harry, he would never want to play again.

"Cousin, I am no longer a child of two or three years old!"

"Hum."

Allen squinted, glanced at Harry and said, "Well, you are already four years old, right? You can't be four years old! You can stay at home."

"Cousin, where is the Olympics?"

William didn't care about his younger brother at all, he only cared about where to play this time.

"South Korea!"

"Huh? There."

William grimaced, a little uncomfortable.

He remembered that not long after he met Allen at home for the first time when he was a child, a group of Koreans were arrested in London, as if they were said to have done bad things, anyway, he heard his father talk about it at the dinner table.

This incident left a deep impression on him. Until now, when Alan talked about South Korea, he instinctively felt that the place was not safe and that there were bad people there.

"If you don't go, you can go to school, and then I will go by myself."

Alan doesn't care either, this is still a task arranged for him by Charles, he is not considered an official representative, but he will go there with a royal steward, and he is regarded as a member of the royal family.

The main reason is that Allen has a good image, and Charles sent him to show his face and town the scene.

In a small place like South Korea, they have not yet established diplomatic relations with more than half of the countries, and many countries do not recognize them. In this kind of place, it is not convenient for the royal family to send someone with too high a status. It is very rewarding for them to be able to go to an earl. Save face!
William heard Alan say that he would go to school without going to Korea, and he couldn't help feeling a little anxious. No matter how bad the outside world is, it's better than going to school, right?

As for the danger, what danger is there in following my cousin?
"Then go to Korea and go to Korea."

"Well, you can call your mother in a few days."

Allen stuffed another piece of pizza. Now the princess wants to see William and Harry, which is more troublesome. She can only come to Allen to see them, but she cannot take them away.

At the beginning of September, when Allen was watching rough cuts in the editing room, old Carl returned from the United States with a bunch of materials.

Putting down what was at hand, Alan met Old Carl first.

"Master, the situation is a little tense recently, have you read the news?"

Even the old Carl, who always pays attention to his image, was so hot that he only wore a shirt and a small vest over it.

"What news? I don't have time to watch that. I'm busy with movies recently."

Ever since Thomas was assigned to make the proposal, recently, Allen often went to the editing room to watch the editor's work. After he got the semi-finished product that was made today, he couldn't wait to read it first.

"Last month, uh, no, it was July. They sent all the warships to the Gulf to escort them, and even shot down an Iranian airliner."

"Ah, I've heard about this, isn't it a misunderstanding?"

The United States drove its warships to the Gulf region to show off its might.

During this period of time, the brains of the two Iraqis in the Gulf area are about to come out, and their past is purely adding to the chaos.

"What misunderstanding, the Yankees just refuse to admit it, they did it on purpose!"

Old Carl glanced at Allen, chuckled, and laughed at the Yankee in an extremely contemptuous tone.

"This is too low."

Allen, who didn't care much about this kind of thing, also felt that the methods of these Yankees were too dirty.

"Master. According to the information I have collected in the past six months, some small steel mills in the United States have been acquired or closed down one after another."

Old Carl went on to talk about a seemingly irrelevant topic.

"Oh, it was a chemical plant last time, and this time it's a steel plant. Has the garbage sped up?"

Allen raised his eyebrows, and combined with the news brought back by Carl, the situation is becoming more and more tense now, and the outside world is not peaceful.

"Master, do you want to intervene in these closed steel factories?"

"Steel Plant?"

(End of this chapter)