Although Woodgard claimed that it would take three days before he could reply to Scrooge, Scrooge knew that Woodgard, or the British Empire, had no other choice at all. Because now, only Scrooge's shipyard could build enough transport ships to save Britain. Indeed, these Scrooge ships have poor economic performance, high fuel consumption, small load capacity per unit displacement, short service life, and can even be said to be of poor quality, but the price is not cheap. However, these things can save the life of the British Empire, although from another perspective, these things are also killing the British Empire just like German submarines. The treasury of the British Empire has long been starving to death. Now if we order such ships on a large scale, we will have to borrow debt again. This time I don¡¯t know what to use as collateral. "At a minimum, the British will order 300 cargo ships from us in this batch." Scrooge said to Graystone. "They have many places to spend money now, and they will definitely not be able to get the money. They will have to do it again." Bonds are issued. Bonds must be secured. Graystone, what do you think we should ask the British to use as collateral for these bonds? ""Dad, what do you think of part of the proceeds of the Suez Canal?" Stone said. The Suez Canal is one of the most important and busiest canals. In terms of profitability, it is significantly more profitable than the Panama Canal in Scrooge's hands. Moreover, the profitability of this canal is quite stable, although the profit margin is not It is extremely high, but such risk-free profits are very rare. The MacDonald consortium had actually been drooling over this canal for a long time. However, at that time, Britain was still strong and the Rothschild family was also very powerful, so MacDonald could only drool over the Suez Canal. But the situation is different now. Britain is now in desperate need of money to save life. As for Rothschild, his assets are all over Europe, and now the whole of Europe is involved in the war. Their losses are not small either. Although they have preserved most of their wealth through financial means, most of this wealth has now become paper wealth, long-term bonds in Britain and France, rather than funds that can stir up trouble immediately. Nowadays, there is no big hard currency in Europe that can really make a difference, because the gold in the treasury of Britain, France, and Italy is now sent to the United States, and then put into the vaults of various banks affiliated with the Federal Reserve, such as , McDonald Ventures bought an abandoned mine shaft in Cleveland and transformed it into a new, heavily guarded underground vault. Because the treasury under the Duck Fort is no longer enough. Under such circumstances, Rothschild has no power to oppose the Macdonald Group's extension of its hands to the Suez Canal. Therefore, Greystone proposed that the British use the rights to the Suez Canal as a bargaining chip in exchange. "That's good," said Scrooge. "But Dad, I'm a little worried. After the war is over, we will be squeezed out by the British through various means." Graystone said again. "Don't worry about this now. After the war, it will not be easy for the British to have the power to drive us out of the Suez Canal." Scrooge said. Scrooge knows that this war will greatly deplete Britain's power, and the balance of strength between Britain and the United States will also undergo earth-shaking changes. In the original history, after the war, Britain had to recognize the equal maritime power of the United States and Britain. In this time and space, because of Scrooge's influence, Britain's losses in the war will only be greater, and the United States, or to be precise, the MacDonald Consortium's gains from the war will be greater. Under this premise , it depends on God whether the British can continue to shrink after the war, and they still want to push Americans out of the places they have already occupied? That would be a dream. If the British are really so ungrateful, Scrooge wouldn't mind letting the United States and Britain play a shipbuilding competition again. He could even ask the U.S. government to learn from the British people back then and tell them: "If you think you have the strength and The United States doesn't mind staying with us until the end. Haha, we in the United States like to deal with those who think they are superior. If you dare to build one battleship, we will build two! The United States will let you know that the United States will never do it. Empty talk. "Anyway, for the shipbuilding tycoon Scrooge, this kind of thing is definitely profitable. "Actually, in addition to the Suez Canal, there is another place that deserves attention." Scrooge said. "Where?" Graystone asked. "The Persian Gulf," Scrooge replied. "Here? Well, I heard that someone discovered oil here." Graystone nodded and said, "But this place is a mess. The British, French, Germans, Turks, and Arabs are all in a mess. But that¡¯s not a problem, it¡¯s just that there is investment value here.¡± Scrooge couldn¡¯t help but smile after hearing Graystone¡¯s question. Is there any investment in the Bay Area??The question of value is not a problem for any time traveler like Scrooge. Because there are oil fields with the best quality, difficulty of development, and lowest development costs in the world. Even in the 21st century, the extraction cost of oil there is less than ten US dollars per barrel. In comparison, the extraction cost of some other oil fields, such as Russia's and Brent's in the North Sea, is almost 40 US dollars. dollars. Holding such an oil field in hand is almost equivalent to holding stable pricing power in the oil market, which is of far-reaching significance. More importantly, although oil has been discovered in this area, large-scale exploration and development have not yet begun, so it has not received enough attention. If Suez is a place that makes Scrooge drool, then the Persian Gulf is simply a place that Scrooge is willing to throw his head and blood for. Of course, it is best to throw someone's head and spill someone else's. Hot blooded. "Of course, based on some geological theories that only we have and have been kept secret from the outside world, we have determined that there is a huge possibility of discovering super-large oil fields in the Persian Gulf. Moreover, this location has convenient transportation and is really worth investing." Scrooge replied. "Well, dad, I will work hard to win the interests of this area." Graystone said. "Discuss with Donald. In addition to talking to the British, you can also talk to the local emirs. Although they are still nominally surrendered to the Turkish Sultan, in fact, Turkey has simply lost control of these areas. Now, all the tribes here are seeking help from outsiders. As long as we have money and guns, they are willing to fight for our benefit. In addition, the British are talking to our president about leasing destroyers from our navy. . You can exert some influence to promote this negotiation, and it is best to get the British to offer a port near the Persian Gulf in exchange," Scrooge reminded. "Okay, Dad. I will discuss it with Donald." Graystone said. ¡ Just as Scrooge expected, before the third day, Sir Woodgaard came to visit again. This time we wanted to talk about something specific, so it was Gray Stone who received him. "Mr. MacDonald, we hope to order 400 freighters through you, 100 of which are fast freighters using high-speed steam engines, and the others are ordinary-speed freighters" In the spacious and bright living room of Yabao, the two parties began. negotiated. The British ordered 100 high-speed freighters with a low service life and 300 low-speed freighters with a low service life. This ordering method was actually a trap for Scrooge. In the British experience, as long as there is a warship escort, the merchant fleet will not suffer much losses even if it is slower. Although the pq77 fleet suffered heavy losses one night, this case did not make the British too vigilant. . In fact, the success of -92 is indeed quite accidental. Therefore, the British feel that since the slow-speed version of the Sherlock cargo ship is slightly faster to build (because the engine supply is more abundant), the price is lower, and the economy is better, then of course more slow-speed versions should be ordered Yes, of course you have to order some fast versions. After all, the number of escort ships is limited now, and some of them cannot be taken care of. These faster cargo ships can sail independently in a timely manner without relying on escorts, and they can also have a high survival rate. This Of course it's good, at least until there are enough escort ships, they can be used for emergency relief. However, there is a tactic that is perfect against escort formations. After the British prepare the escort destroyers, Scrooge will let the Germans master such tactics, and then all the low-speed cargo ships in the British hands will become targets for the Germans. Then, the British will have to attack again Ordered a new, high-speed version of the cargo ship myself. This is almost equivalent to artificially doubling the demand for cargo ships. In this business, the money that the MacDonald Group can earn will double, and the UK will become even weaker and more dependent on MacDonald's capital chain, making it even less able to refuse MacDonald's money. Some requirements. Negotiations between the two parties quickly reached an agreement. Macdonald purchased part of the bonds from the British, and the British used the proceeds from the Suez Canal as collateral for repayment. The British used the money to order the first batch of 400 freighters from Macdonald. At the same time, the British also expressed their intention to order more ships in the future to the MacDonald Consortium. ¡ At the same time, negotiations between the United Kingdom and the United States regarding the lease of destroyers from the United States to the United Kingdom were also in full swing. Soon, the two countries also issued a joint statement, and the British transferred one of their destroyers in western India (now Pakistan) The port was leased to the United States for ninety-nine years, and in exchange for the rent, the United States transferred forty destroyers to Britain.