"Our comrades in Prussia would like to break a silver dollar in half. They have used all their strength to raise a large amount of arms for us, including already carved Mauser barrels, high-hardness firing pins, and the latest telegraph parts. Boiler instruments, safety explosives for engineers..."
"We cannot produce these arms for the time being. Do you think the British will allow these arms to be safely transported to Ryukyu? Stop dreaming and wake up!"
There was a sudden silence in the conference room, no one spoke, there was only the sound of heavy breathing and angry eyes.
"So, we must close the network in advance. We need Jiangnan's wealth now. We must stabilize Jiangnan's banknote credit, and then allocate real money and silver to purchase arms!"
"The British can blockade the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, but they can't blockade the Pacific Ocean! Now the Carnegie family has promised to help us connect and increase arms exports...but the price!"
Xiao Letian shook his head, "People have to bow their heads under the low eaves! Who makes us weak? Who makes us unable to produce many things? The Americans have to make this money..."
Bang... there was a loud noise. It was Cai Mao's fist hitting the table, but smashing it would not solve any problems. The gap in national strength cannot be made up by emotions. If you can't do it, you can't do it.
Xiao Letian's prediction was still very accurate. Although Ryukyu's intelligence blockade was very strict, no clue could escape the eyes of those battle-hardened old foxes.
Ryukyu intelligence is blocked, and people don't know the situation on the main battlefield, but the British intelligence officer can count the time! 48 hours should be enough for an army of 30,000 to rob a treasury, but now three days have passed, why is there still no sign of the Russian fleet?
Shouldn't Molière be in regular contact with French intelligence? Why is there no sound until now?
Looking back at the countless Chinese gathering areas in Nanyang, and looking at the people in Jiangnan who continue to buy banknotes at low prices, if all this does not explain the problem, then we can only say that the British are idiots.
Under the multi-party coordination of British Counselor Wytoma in Beijing, the entire British East Asian forces made a pessimistic judgment, and the British governors began to change their strategies.
In the busy Strait of Malacca, the resting British fleet launched a full-scale attack to block the entire strait. Any suspicious ships were forcibly boarded and searched cabin by cabin.
In just one day, two Dutch-flagged merchant ships and one Portuguese-flagged merchant ship were seized. The cargo holds were opened, wooden boxes were pried open, and the contents were revealed.
4000
The Mauser barrels were greased with butter and had clear and bright rifling.
Firing pins, explosives, primers for bullets and shells, precision instruments and optical lenses... precious military products on the European market were actually searched in Asia.
Three cargo ships can assemble more than 30,000 Mauser guns and equip two engineering regiments with the explosives they need.
"Haha, God should really punish you, Dutch? Portuguese? Are you willing to sell your souls to the devil for money? Who are you buying it to? Is it the Chinese Xiao Letian!" the navy captain asked roaringly .
"Oh, my God! We are just businessmen. We don't understand politics. Please don't embarrass us... This is normal business behavior. What law prohibits us from doing business?"
"Sophistication! Damn businessmen, profit-seeking villains, you are staking the enemy! Why should the latest weapons be sold to the Chinese!"
"This is a free world, and these are free business rules. You British are not at war with the Chinese. Why do you prohibit us from doing business?"
"Okay, okay... you are tough, you are really tough! Come on, drag this ship to the military port. Don't ask me what the crime is. Let me think about it slowly. Maybe I will give you a reasonable answer in half a year. The explanation!”
Regardless of the merchants' protests, the British navy forcibly took over the cargo ship. The captain and sailors were abandoned in the Lion City, and the ship and cargo were impounded.
The same scene was not only played out in the Strait of Malacca, but also in the Suez Canal, which had just been opened to navigation, and the Strait of Gibraltar, which was controlled by British artillery, including the Mediterranean Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Andaman Sea. All the Royal Navy was mobilized to hunt down any merchant ships that provided arms to Xiao Letian.
The arms trade between Prussia and the Chinese was immediately severed. Not only that, but what made London even more annoyed was that half of the arms payment provided by Xiao Letian to Prussia was settled in gold.
The United Kingdom was the most powerful gold standard country in the world at that time. The credit of the pound was maintained by its powerful navy and huge gold reserves. In the eyes of the British, the world's gold should be controlled in their own hands. A small amount of gold trading would affect Without the financial security of the British Empire it didn't matter.
But gold trade between China and Prussia is absolutely not allowed. God knows how much gold this ancient country has hidden for thousands of years? Who knows how much actual benefits Prussia will give Xiao Letian?
Look at the existence of the Zhiyuan. It has already slapped countless European strategic analysts hard!
Prime Minister Benjamin had just come to power. He was very sensitive to the alliance between Prussia and the Chinese. He believed that Xiao Letian's current success was the result of the old confusion of the previous Prime Minister Derby.
Under Benjamin's secret instructions, the chain of maritime interests between Prussia and the Chinese was forcibly cut off. Not only was the arms trade banned, but also ordinary transactions in civilian goods such as tea, silk, porcelain, and medicine were harassed.
"Prussia wants to use Chinese gold to compete for European hegemony? This is absolutely unacceptable!"
In an era without global information networks, cross-border trade between banks could not be delivered in different places. There was no problem with small amounts. However, once large trades were encountered, humans had to use the most traditional delivery method for settlement.
Prussian arms had to be sent to Asia by ship, and the Chinese gold, silver and goods had to be sent to Hamburg all the way by ship. Every transaction is inseparable from the sea lanes, and all the golden shipping lanes in the world are controlled by the British.
In Xiao Letian's previous life, the United States played for financial hegemony. As long as the status of the US dollar as the global settlement currency is not challenged, the United States will always be strong.
In this world, Britain is playing for the hegemony of the logistics network. The logistics network compiled by the golden waterway on the entire sea is all under the control of its cannons. Do you want to conduct cross-border trade? First ask me if the Royal Navy will agree.
An unprecedented crisis has shrouded Xiao Letian's head. If he wants to break this situation, he must turn his attention to the Pacific Ocean. Across the vast Pacific Ocean, there is a country on the other side of the sea that is not yet under British control. , and only he can help the Chinese people survive the current crisis.
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