The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 497 Gold Payment
The grievances between the United States and Libya are long-standing.

In June 1970, Libya announced the recovery of the U.S. military base near the Libyan capital Tripoli. This was a severe slap in the face to the United States and created a complete grudge between the two countries.

Libya was once a colony of Britain, France and Italy, and they have intricate political, economic and cultural historical origins. Later, the United States replaced Britain as the world's maritime hegemon and established a military base near Tripoli. It can be said that Libya is the fulcrum for the United States to control the situation in the Middle East and North Africa, and it has intimidated and deterred other neighboring Arab countries.

Libya is the world's third largest oil exporter and has abundant oil reserves.

The United States has never given up its desire to regain control of Libya.

However, under Colonel Kamagra's rule, relations between the two sides have continued to deteriorate.

In 1980, the United States declared Libya a "state sponsor of terrorism" and closed its embassy in Libya. In 1981, US Navy planes shot down two Libyan planes and the two countries severed diplomatic relations.

Not long ago, the US government ordered an end to economic and trade exchanges with Libya and froze Libya's assets in the United States. It can be said that relations between the two countries have reached a freezing point.

But Liu Tao never thought that the two sides would reach this point at this time.

After all, the Americans are having a hard time right now, and the Soviet Union is eyeing them covetously.

Furthermore, the United States is far more powerful than Libya, and Libya will endure it no matter how much the United States provokes it.

But it turned out that Liu Tao was overthinking.

Not every country is as tolerant as China.

Forbearance is an art and also a skill!
The reason why Colonel Ka is Colonel Ka is because of his unique personality. He dares to offend all the five permanent members.

Liu Tao soon received good news that his old friend came to him.

"Liu, my friend, we need more 'Eagle Strike' anti-ship missiles, more 'Aegis' air defense missiles, and more 'Vanguard' air defense missiles!" Hardy said anxiously.

In life-and-death situations, more life-saving weapons are needed.

Liu Tao took a sip of tea and listened to the birds and cicadas chirping, feeling in a very good mood.

"Hardy, my friend, the prices of these weapons have gone up a lot now. As you know, the US dollar has been depreciating!" Liu Tao sat firmly on the Diaoyutai.

In the current situation, the initiative is on his side.

Moreover, the price increase of weapons is a normal phenomenon in the entire world arms market. The reason is, of course, the depreciation of the US dollar.

As the US dollar depreciates, the price of arms, which are hard currency, will naturally rise.

"Liu, go ahead and tell me. I believe you are an honest person and you won't make a random offer!" Hardy said.

He was already prepared because only Liu Tao had these weapons.

"A set of 'Aegis-0' air defense missile system costs 6000 million US dollars, equipped with 24 missiles. If you purchase missiles, each missile costs 150 million US dollars." Liu Tao said: "A set of 'Aegis-1' air defense missile system costs 9000 million US dollars, and a battalion costs 3.6 million US dollars."

Liu Tao increased the price by 50% on top of the original price!

This price is definitely very generous.

In a situation like Libya, it is already very conscientious for arms dealers not to double the price.

Similarly, the prices of the Eagle Strike anti-ship missile and the Vanguard air defense missile were also increased by 50% from their original prices.

"We can accept this price. We want 10 sets of 'Aegis-0' air defense missile systems, plus 1000 Aegis-0 air defense missiles; 10 sets of 'Aegis-1' air defense missile systems, plus 1000 'Aegis-1' air defense missiles; 500 'Eagle Strike' anti-ship missiles, and 1000 'Vanguard' air defense missiles." Hardy nodded and said, "In addition, we want to hire your technicians and mercenaries!"

Liu Tao began to calculate. For such a large purchase, the total contract value reached 80 billion US dollars, which is definitely a huge number.

Liu Tao said, "Hadi, my friend, you know the rules here. Half of the deposit is non-refundable, and we don't accept credit!"

"We don't have that many US dollars, but we can pay with gold!" Hardy said in a deep voice: "It's okay to use gold, right?" When Liu Tao heard that he could pay with gold, the smile on his face became even brighter.

The price of gold was high before, but now the international gold price has fallen. The current international gold price is US$350 per ounce.

The other party paid with gold, which is much more valuable than US dollars.

Especially for a country, 1 ton of gold does not mean printing currency equivalent to 1 ton of gold, but printing more.

"Okay!" Liu Tao nodded.

"We pay half in dollars and half in gold!" said Hardy.

40 billion US dollars of gold, that is 355.5 tons of gold!
Liu Tao frowned and said, "You have so much gold? I remember your gold reserves are 135 tons."

"Don't worry, we have so much gold!" Hardy said, "Anyway, you get the money first, so you won't suffer any loss, right?"

Liu Tao hesitated for a moment and said, "How about this, half of the deposit will be paid in gold."

Hardy hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "Okay!"

After the two sides discussed the matter, they began to take action.

Liu Tao asked mercenaries in Tanzania to go to Libya to transport gold.

In addition, some technical personnel will be sent to Libya.

This time, Libya felt tremendous pressure and a crisis of national extinction.

Purchase a large number of life-saving weapons, and also hire a large number of technicians and mercenaries.

As for the missiles, they will be delivered in two batches, the first batch will be transported immediately and the second batch will be delivered a month later.

After all, Liu Tao does not have that many Aegis-0 missiles, Aegis-1 missiles and Eagle Strike anti-ship missiles.

However, the 'Vanguard' air defense missile can be delivered in one go.

Liu Tao had to hurry up, otherwise he would not be able to transport the goods later.

As for Liu Tao's desire to sell more guns and ammunition, unfortunately, Libya had already purchased a lot of them and no longer needed them.

The dangers Libya faces now come from the sea and from the air.

As for ground combat, Libya is confident that it is not afraid of the same number of US troops.

It can only be said that the US Army’s lameness has left a deep-rooted impression on the world.

Liu Tao was not disappointed. After all, this was an order worth up to 80 billion US dollars. Although it was expedited and there would be some pressure, the profit was quite amazing.

Not to mention, Libya paid with 355.5 tons of gold.

To put it bluntly, from a certain perspective, this order can bring a profit of up to 80 billion US dollars!
Of course, there are risks involved. If the Americans get angry one day, there will be some trouble.

However, Liu Tao was not too worried. Although there was such a risk, it was not great. After all, the United States and China were now in a honeymoon period. As long as the Soviet Union was still prosperous, the two sides were "husband and wife". They would occasionally quarrel, but their relationship was still good and would not reach the point of "divorce".

Besides, he won’t stop doing business just because there are risks.

If that were the case, there would be no arms dealers in the world.

(End of this chapter)