"Is it still a little worse? Mr. Allen, you have to know that in a private enterprise, not one person has the final say." Derek frowned, "Especially for an enterprise like U.S. Steel, even if I am the one with the right to speak.
The executive director cannot influence the opinions of the majority, as it is not a family business."
"Similarly, British India is not my decision alone." Alan Wilson shrugged, his tone was quite helpless, "What's more, this is not a matter of British India. London will always know in the end. If it can
It’s easy to come up with a plan that benefits the country, but if it can’t be produced, I believe Mr. Derek also knows the political complexity.”
"I understand very well, so you don't need to explain it in official terms." Derek said in an old-fashioned tone, stopping Alan Wilson in advance before he started a long speech.
Both of them can feel that they are approaching the target, but just like the conversation between the two, this is not something that can be decided by the two of them. Above Alan Wilson is the chief civil servant in London, and behind Derek is...
There are other directors of U.S. Steel who want to see the dawn of victory, but in the final analysis it is not victory.
The decision was not made in British India, but in Britain and America, Pittsburgh and London, that was where the decision was made.
There are also problems. For example, British India seems to be stable now, but once India becomes independent, can the stability of the iron ore mines be guaranteed? This is something Alan Wilson talked about from its historical origins to the current situation.
"Essentially, the cultural concept of India as Nehru said does exist. After all, Hinduism is here. But a country called India is already a long time ago. The history of the Mysore state
Having been around longer than the United States, there is no reason why the status quo should change. Mr. Derek's fear that we will leave an independent India with a loose federation is not impossible, but probably minimal."
Not to mention, the only task that British India never gave up on and continued to advance, especially after Alan Wilson came back, was disarmament.
The nearly 2.7 million troops of British India during World War II were reduced to 950,000 due to this effort.
In fact, the disarmament work has not yet been completed. After all, this is a matter of reducing the financial burden. The local area still needs financial support. Of course, it is worthy of vigorous promotion by the Governor-General. We will see how many troops there are when British India becomes independent.
Among the current 950,000 troops, Peace Christians account for a proportion that is in line with the population, while Sikhs account for a share that is not proportional to the population. As for the princely states, several important princely states combined have a total of 200,000 people.
's private army.
Although it cannot be called a perfect balance, Nehru must have spent some time retraining the army to do things after independence.
After all, the iron ore mines were in semi-independent princely states rather than provinces directly influenced by Nehru, so overall, Alan Wilson wanted Drake to believe that the risks were preventable and controllable.
"Unless Mr. Derek, I don't believe in the political ability of the British Empire." Alan Wilson seemed to be offended, and his face became solemn.
"I don't have to believe in other things, but when it comes to political ability, I believe that not only the United States believes in it." Derek has received professional training. No matter how funny he is, he will not laugh unless he can't help it, haha...
He believed that not only the United States, but also France, Germany and even the Soviet Union believed in the political achievements of the British Empire. Countless wars in the past have proven this.
Feeling the Manifest Destiny of the United States of America, Derek does not believe that there is any other country that can break free from the prison set by the British Empire like the United States. This is impossible.
Although there was not much progress on this day, the two still said goodbye amicably. Derek still had to experience the exotic customs, and Alan Wilson had to go back to cooking. He had sacrificed too much for the British Empire.
One hundred million US dollars! This figure has exceeded London's assessment. In the face of traitors who are better than others, the British Empire seems to be petty. After all, this is what businessmen do, not necessarily bureaucrats.
In fact, for the UK, it is not a loss if it can find a new home, so the evaluation is slightly conservative.
But it doesn't matter. The belated London bureaucrats realized their shame and became brave. On the one hand, Alan Wilson tried his best to fight for it. On the other hand, Edward Bridges felt that it was time to let the widely respected Prime Minister Attlee know this.
That's a good thing.
It’s not that we didn’t talk before, we just raised a hypothetical question to test, but now we can let the Prime Minister make a decision.
Edward Bridges arrived at the Prime Minister's Office. It was a coincidence that there was no one else there.
"Edward, please sit down." Attlee was slightly surprised. Edward Bridges did not come to him most of the time, but took Norman Brooke to familiarize himself with the work of various departments.
"Dear Prime Minister, I am not disturbing you!" Edward Bridges nodded lightly as a greeting, then sat opposite Prime Minister Attlee and said, "There is something today that I feel it is necessary for the Prime Minister to ask
Know."
"What happened?" Prime Minister Attlee asked with a smile, and then his face turned serious. Is it necessary? "What happened?"
Once Edward Bridges said it was necessary, it was usually something that needed to be known to him.
"It's not that something happened somewhere, but something that may be a good thing or a bad thing." Edward Bridges pondered for a moment and said, "I still remember a few days ago, I discussed with the Prime Minister that the United States
Does a company want to buy an iron mine in British India?”
"Yes, but you also said at the time that everything is still undecided." Prime Minister Attlee's scene that day. Next to him was the political secretary arranged by the Labor Party, who was also present that day.
"Yes, dear Prime Minister, it was indeed undecided at that time." Edward Bridges first affirmed the Prime Minister's excellent memory, and then changed the topic, "Originally, I also regarded this matter as a heroic incident.
I didn’t take the regular notification from India to heart, but out of the usual caution, I still let local officials contact the other party, purely out of considerations of alliance relations, and without any personal bias.”
First taking the credit to himself, Edward Bridges talked about the latest developments in the Mysore iron ore.
Prime Minister Attlee was calm as usual until the moment he heard about $100 million!
The current total debt of the United Kingdom is astronomical, including three billion pounds of foreign debt. With this kind of economic pressure, it is understandable that it does not pay attention to British India, which has become increasingly without oil and water since the First World War.
Attlee wanted to draw out the power of British India and place it in colonies that were better controlled for strategic contraction.
Although in the past year, British India seems to have suddenly become a cow that feeds the British Empire, Edward Bridges also made it clear that this is unsustainable. Once the Indians decide to rise up, Britain will
All current income will be put back.
With huge foreign debt, Attlee's series of plans are also stretched thin. Now when I hear Edward Bridges talk about US$100 million, there is no way not to be excited.
"Selling an iron mine for US$100 million?" Prime Minister Attlee asked seriously, very surprised by this.
"It's actually the best quality iron ore in British India, located in the Mysore state." Edward Bridges explained, "It was the Americans who took the initiative to contact us. We adopted a conservative attitude, but the Americans were very eager.
"At first, I didn't rule out thinking that the Americans were taking advantage of the situation, and that was actually the case. The Americans initially offered $30 million."
Prime Minister Attlee really wants to say that $30 million is fine. How long has it been? If you don’t look at the current foreign debt of the British Empire and the Americans are not pressing for repayment, there is no guarantee that they will remember it without knowing it.
However, isn’t there an offer of 100 million US dollars now? For the 100 million US dollars offer, Prime Minister Attlee showed enthusiasm, “Where are we now? How sure are we of success?”
"If you accept an offer of 100 million pounds, the success rate is of course 100%. In fact, I once made a general assessment and estimated it at 25 million pounds." Edward Bridges directly reduced the estimated number by 5 million pounds.
, so naturally, the extra numbers were due to him, the cabinet secretary, strategizing and winning from thousands of miles away, forcing the Americans to sign an alliance under the city walls.
Of course, he did not forget Alan Wilson, "Of course this is also due to the hard negotiations conducted by the British Indian civil servants."
"It is true that the property of the British Empire should be treated fairly." Prime Minister Attlee affirmed the merits of Edward Bridges with righteous words.
The tax revenue of British India during World War I was only 100 million pounds, and now it is less than 200 million pounds. It was still found through rummaging through boxes and cabinets. Before World War II, the tax revenue of British India was less than 100 million pounds.
Now one iron mine alone has been sold for 30 million pounds, which is almost one-third of the income of British India in a normal year.
"Although Americans are allies, we cannot sell the legacy of the empire at a low price." Prime Minister Attlee affirmed that this move was correct. Although he was born in the Labor Party, it was because of his background in the Labor Party that he understood the value of wealth.
I won’t lose money and make a profit.
Prime Minister Attlee, who was already psychologically prepared for the final independence of British India, had no objection to cashing out the accumulated accumulation of the British Empire for a hundred years. He was not Churchill. He only paid lip service to the majesty of the British Empire and made money, so he was not shabby.
.
"Of course, no matter who it is, they can't take advantage of it." Edward Bridges said with an expression of wonder, "Your courageous decision will be the key to the success of this merger."