Go back in time and be a chaebol

Chapter 1031 The End of the Old Era (First Update, Two in One)

A penny can stump a heroic man!

For me, Great Britain, many of the helpless choices after World War II seemed so reluctant, but in the end I still gritted my teeth and did them.

On the surface, it was the pressure from the United States and the post-war environment.

But in fact, to put it bluntly, it’s all because of lack of money.

Because they could not come up with the 10 billion pounds to stabilize India and quell the rebellion, they had no choice but to allow India to become independent.

Similarly, because there were not hundreds of millions of pounds, they could only watch the French come up with the "CFA franc" and reap Africa's wealth without worrying about the return of francs. In this regard, it must be said that the French were very straightforward. Charles de Gaulle, then the Prime Minister of the Provisional Government, almost arbitrarily came up with the "colonial franc", the predecessor of the CFA franc. How did he get the money?

Well, the American loan - the funds used were aid from the United States to France to help France with post-war reconstruction. Logically, that money should have been used for reconstruction and improving people's livelihood, but General Dai directly misappropriated it. Then, the effect was obvious, and he never showed mercy when it came to reaping the wealth of the colonies.

This is the biggest difference between imperialists and idealists. In comparison, the British Labour Party directly attacked itself and almost destroyed the mighty Royal Navy. When it comes to self-destruction, Britain is second to none.

The core problem is – no money!
Without money...you can't do anything!
Britain has no money...but Southeast Asia has money!
When McMillan stated this undoubted reality, Li Guoren said in a light tone:
“For the common interests of the Commonwealth, Nanyang, as a member of the Commonwealth, is willing to play a role and provide certain support!”

Is this the condition they offer?
Macmillan asked:

“Is this the condition for Nanyang to provide a loan?”

If it was a condition for the loan, Britain would consider it, even though it knew that the other party's joining was just to use the currency issuance right with Britain to reap the wealth of the colonies. This was even to share colonies with Britain, but in a different way.

But… that’s the Sterling area!

This cannot be changed. British financiers will always find ways to make their share come to nothing.

It can be said that any qualified politician would make a wishful calculation, but Macmillan could not predict the future, and he would never think that the decline of Britain was an inevitable process. This is also the fundamental reason why Li Yian proposed "cooperation".

Because our Great Britain... is destined to be eliminated by history, our Great Nanyang must of course shoulder the heavy responsibility and share the worries for the old Buddha.

You know, Li Yian is the man behind her!
Sharing her worries is my duty!

"No,"

Li Guoren shook his head and said:

"This is just a suggestion. I think this suggestion is undoubtedly extremely beneficial to the UK, and of course, it is also very beneficial to Nanyang."

"Yes, Mr. Minister,"

Zhao Shijie, who had been silent all this time, broke the silence and spoke.

"We can skip this question now and discuss the loan issue. Nanyang is willing to provide the UK with an emergency loan of 10 billion US dollars. This loan can be divided into three phases. The first phase is 5 million US dollars. It can be transferred to the Bank of England within 12 hours after the contract is signed. The other two phases will be decided based on market conditions. Whether to provide loans directly, that is, credit authority, will help reduce interest expenses. What do you think? Mr. Minister!"

Faced with such favorable conditions, McMillan was completely stunned, and he even said with some surprise.

"Are you sure there are no other conditions?"

Almost subconsciously, Macmillan thought - how could you not take this opportunity to blackmail Great Britain?

I, Dayingke, am ready to be blackmailed!

After all, taking advantage of others' misfortune is the norm in the international political game. Anyone who misses the opportunity to rob is truly a fool!
When Macmillan looked confused, what he didn't know was that the British Empire was actually a big green leek!
It was hard to imagine how smoothly the negotiations went. Less than five hours after Macmillan arrived in Nanyang, the two sides reached a loan contract. The news was naturally announced to the outside world at the first time. In response, US Treasury Secretary George Humphrey ordered the New York branch of the Federal Reserve to sell all the pounds.

A currency war between allies has begun. After all, the United States will not miss the opportunity.

At the same time, on the lawn of the official residence, Li Yian was walking as usual, and Li Guoren and Zhao Shijie followed beside him. The three of them were walking and chatting about the current situation.

"Macmillan has returned to London, Your Excellency. Do you think Eden and his men will agree to our proposal?"

When raising the question, Zhao Shijie said specifically.

"The rope is still in our hands, and we still have a chance to force them to make concessions."

The "rope" he mentioned was the "credit line" of another $5 million. Without this $5 million, the British could not stabilize the exchange rate. This "rope" was naturally the dog leash. Although few people in Nanyang kept pets, he still understood this common sense.

"Don't worry. Aiden is a typical imperialist. He knows very well what is most beneficial to Britain. Issuing the "Indian Ocean Pound" and controlling the currency issuance rights of some countries in Africa and the Middle East is the most advantageous choice for Britain. Not only can it control the currency issuance rights in various places, but it can also seize local wealth through predatory "currency cooperation". He will not miss this opportunity, of course..."

After taking a puff of cigar, Li Yian's mouth corners turned up, to the angle of a big grin. Why is it the "Indian Ocean Pound"? Now Britain not only owns half of Africa, but also many Middle Eastern countries including the UAE are its protectorates. Even Iraq is a standard pro-British dog. When Britain invaded Egypt, the entire Arab world, and even green countries such as Pakistan, Iraq's decision was different - it was the first to stand up and support.

For the sake of Britain, he can even betray his Arab brothers. If such a pro-British dog is not allowed to join the "Indian Ocean Pound", he will definitely cry and say - Dad Britain, you can't abandon me!
At that time, they will cry and shout to join in.

Countries like Iraq are potential members of the future "Indian Ocean Pound". Not only that, the entire Commonwealth may become a member of it in the future. At that time, the South Seas, which has received most of the imperial heritage, will play a major role in it.

"For us, we have knocked on their door with the help of the afterglow of the British Empire. As a director of the Central Bank of the Indian Ocean, the rewards we get from this are extremely generous. Moreover, we can also use it to promote the Nanyang dollar and turn it into an international currency in the pound zone."

In fact, this is "backdoor listing". After all, the decline of the UK is inevitable. From the perspective of industrial scale, the UK will never catch up with the United States, and of course, it will not catch up with Southeast Asia. After all, the population is there. Industry needs population as support. Without this support, the UK will continue to decline. Even if the "Indian Ocean Pound" is used to stabilize the pound area, printing money without corresponding industrial products is not a long-term solution.

Just like the CFA franc, under the careful planning of French financiers, France formed a "franc system" outside the Bretton Woods system by implementing a fixed exchange rate between the franc and the CFA franc.

Through monetary "cooperation" with its African colonies, France can not only offset the impact of the U.S. monopoly on international finance on France, but also use currency and financial instruments to effectively control and plunder French African countries, and influence the politics and diplomacy of these countries, achieving multiple goals at one stroke.

This has greatly facilitated France's investment in these countries. It not only monopolized the resource benefits of the African franc zone countries, but also made France earn a fortune through a series of operations. It can obtain about US$5000 billion in direct income and profits from Africa every year.

At the same time, since up to 65% of these countries' foreign exchange reserves are in francs, African franc zone countries can actually only import consumer goods from France. This is a typical "neo-colonialism".

In the past it was gunboat colonization, and now it is currency colonization.

Even if it is monetary colonization, it needs to be supported by industry. In the 21st century, with the rise of Eastern production and the import of Eastern products, France's ability to make money from Africa has been greatly reduced. After all, France's own productivity has been greatly impacted by Eastern production.

This is why Li Yian is willing to help the UK establish the "Indian Ocean Pound" because of his confidence in his own productivity. Even if Nanyang only holds 45% of the shares in the future Indian Ocean Central Bank, it will still be a return of hundreds of billions of dollars every year!

How can I miss such an opportunity?

"In this central bank, we only insist on one thing, that is, the Nanyang dollar will be incorporated into it and become one of the settlement reserve currencies. By bundling it with the British pound, we will achieve the internationalization of the Nanyang dollar. In other words, with the help of the current influence of the United Kingdom, we will cooperate with the United Kingdom to form a "British pound and Nanyang dollar system" outside the Bretton Woods system."

This system is far larger than the "franc system" carefully constructed by France, because the influence of the franc is only in some parts of Africa, while the British Empire is the British Empire. A lean camel is bigger than a horse!

But this is only the first step.

What is Li Yian’s ultimate goal?
Taking the "Indian Ocean Pound" as an opportunity and the Commonwealth as a goal, an "international monetary system" will be established with Nanyang as the host and Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand participating. The ultimate purpose of this "international monetary system" is to replace or partially replace the US dollar and become the international settlement currency.

Many people think that the internationalization of the US dollar means that the United States is forcing countries around the world to use the US dollar through military threats. If any country does not use the US dollar, it will send an aircraft carrier to your doorstep.

But in reality, the internationalization of the US dollar is another situation: countries around the world need a stable currency to serve as a global currency. The value and circulation of this currency must be stable but must guarantee a certain quantity, and it must also be freely convertible. In the end, countries found that only the US dollar can guarantee these conditions.

Don’t countries around the world know that the US dollar will reap the economies of other countries?
They all know very well that ordinary people know something, but the political and financial elites of various countries don’t know it?
Of course they know!

But even so, people still can't find other currencies to replace the US dollar. Compared with other currencies that may have exchange rate fluctuations, currency instability, exchange difficulties and other problems, being harvested by the US dollar is really just a low-probability, low-threat event.

In other words, some people think that the US dollar is very weak, but in fact other currencies are even weaker, so everyone has to use the US dollar.

Of course, the internationalization of the US dollar is also fundamentally guaranteed by the strong national strength of the United States.

Why did European countries come together to create the euro? In addition to breaking the US dollar's international monetary settlement system and establishing Europe's own international monetary settlement system, there is a more important reason - the economic development of European countries requires a unified currency. At the same time, Europe needs to gather the strength of the entire Europe to make countries around the world believe in the credibility of its currency.

After the emergence of the Euro, it took only a dozen years for the Euro to break the status of the US dollar as the only global currency with the joint endorsement of European countries. In short, 90% of the occasions where the US dollar can be used, the Euro is accepted. The reason is that it is reliable, but it is a little less reliable than the US dollar.

Therefore, the hegemony of the US dollar is not so difficult to shake. If you want everyone to abandon the US dollar, either find a currency that is more reliable than the US dollar, or rely on its own strength to create a currency that can compete with the US dollar, which is the euro.

The credibility of a currency is based on national strength and credibility. The smartest thing about Europe is that they gathered the power of the whole of Europe to endorse their own currency. In the end, in addition to the US dollar, another international currency settlement system was established, and the euro became a hard currency for international trade. Europeans became powerful again, relying on the euro to learn from the United States and began to reap wealth around the world.

There is ready-made experience that you can learn from and apply.

As a good student of history, Li Yian certainly would not give up the opportunity to study, and compared to Europe in the 90s, his opportunities are better now - Britain still has its residual power, and the colonial empire has not completely collapsed. If he pulls Britain together, it can be said that he will get twice the result with half the effort, and when the time is right in the future, he can "go public through a backdoor listing".

"But the problem is, sir, if there is a chance, the British will think about their own pound system. How could they let us take advantage of it?"

Li Guoren, who studied in the UK and worked in the Tangshan Embassy in the UK, naturally knows the British very well.

"They are experts in finance and naturally understand our thoughts."

"Indeed, London is the world's second largest financial center, and finance is the lifeblood of the UK. Given the British's understanding of the financial market, they certainly know our purpose, but the problem is that the UK today is no longer the UK of the past,"

Looking up at the starry sky, Li Yian sighed.

"Thanks to this war, Britain has clearly realized its position. Britain, once an economic powerhouse, has to rely on a partner - that is Nanyang. Otherwise, they would be powerless to fight against the monopoly of American financial capital."

In fact, in another world, Britain can only rely on the more powerful United States and put itself in the position of a follower. They put themselves in the right position because they know what kind of strength should stand in what position. In this regard, it is absolutely "British Empire-style wisdom". They don't even have the so-called "burden of imperial glory". The glory of the past belongs to the past. They are better at looking to the future.

It is naturally reassuring to be able to cooperate with such a wise guy. Of course, the prerequisite is that one's own strength must be strong enough, otherwise one will definitely suffer backlash!

But Li Yian is full of confidence in the future of Nanyang!

"Britain will become a vassal of the United States if it relies on the United States. The same is true in finance. Those British financiers know very well what they should choose - if they rely on Nanyang, the status of both sides will be equal and they will be partners. The British Empire can still maintain its pride!"

After saying this, Li Yian, with a cigar in his mouth, sneered.

"But in any case, this marks the end of an old era!"

After Li Yian finished speaking, the three of them just looked up at the starry sky, their smiles gradually deepened. Indeed, the end of an old era means the arrival of a new era, and this era must include the existence of Nanyang...

(End of this chapter)