Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 460: British Minister

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"Martinez, go check where the assets of the three financial consortiums were transferred to. I want to know where the three financial consortiums, Lloyd's, Compass, and Barclays, transferred their assets in the Republic of Brazil."

After seeing off the heads of the three consortiums, Williams returned to the conference room and turned to give instructions to the assistant beside him.

"The assets of the three consortiums should have been transferred to the Han Kingdom. Before meeting you, the three of them had already transferred part of their financial assets to the Han Kingdom through the counselor. I mentioned this to you a week ago."

"Well, I remember that a week ago, the Lloyd's Consortium had a business dispute with the American Cleveland Mining Company. At that time, the Lloyd's Consortium seemed to have the foreshadowing of shrinking its business layout in the Republic of Brazil."

Williams recalled a business dispute that his assistant had reported to him a week ago, and frowned as he said, "The overseas business expansion of the American capital consortium is getting more and more excessive. They have not put themselves in the right position at all, and do not know how to respect the interests of Great Britain. They are always like a group of wild dogs, and they are impatient to pounce on the scent of profit. What a group of uneducated barbarians!"

"The Americans always treat them as the masters of the North and South American continents, and rudely interfere with the normal economic and trade activities of the empire in the American continent."

The assistant echoed, “I heard from colleagues working in Canada that the US president, high-level generals, and officials would hold meetings with the heads of overseas capital groups at the White House, the State Department, or other more hidden places every once in a while to plan and organize joint actions and prepare to send military forces to occupy and control the Caribbean and northern South America.

The Americans' ambitions are growing. They always fantasize about driving the Empire and other European countries out of America, and then enjoying the economic benefits of the entire North and South America alone."

"Yes, the Americans are becoming more and more confident in their own strength, and are increasingly disregarding the interests of the British Empire."

Williams said, "Twenty years ago, the Americans threatened the Empire and European countries to give up colonizing the already independent American countries in the name of independence. In recent years, the actual controllers of major American financial groups have publicly announced on many official occasions that they oppose the Empire and European countries' economic cooperation activities in the Americas. At the same time, the US government has also begun to use their strength and military power to put pressure on Caribbean countries one by one.
They even threatened to land "Marines" and demanded that these countries not grant franchises or sign contracts with the Empire and European capital, and even forced these countries to abolish agreements already signed with the Empire and European investors.

A year ago, in 1888, an economic consortium in the empire started negotiations with the Mexican government in order to obtain normal economic and trade licenses in Lower California.

Just when the two sides were about to reach a formal cooperation agreement, the news leaked and reached the ears of the Americans. Within a few days, the US government threatened the Mexican government and demanded that it cancel its economic cooperation with the Empire's local consortium.

At that time, some members of the Empire's parliament advocated compromise with the United States and easing political relations with the United States, which satisfied the excessive demands of the Americans and encouraged their expansionist ambitions in the Americas, leading to the passivity and disadvantages of the Empire in carrying out economic and political activities in the Americas.

Williams was very dissatisfied with the American arrogance and the British government's compromise, but he also knew rationally that Britain was a global empire and had interests not only in the Americas but also in other parts of the world. Accordingly, the potential enemies Britain faced included not only the United States, but also Russia, Germany, France and other countries.

What is different from other countries is that the United States has the greatest comprehensive strength and development potential, and poses the greatest challenge to Britain's maritime hegemony.

The innocent man is guilty of possessing a treasure! The United States has the strength to threaten Britain's global hegemony, and also shows the ambition to expel British forces and dominate the Americas. If other countries honestly coexist according to Britain's balanced strategy, then Britain may be determined to curb the expansion of the United States in overseas areas. However, international diplomatic relations and cooperation and competition between countries are not simply black and white. Instead, they are a complex mixed relationship of cooperation and competition, friendship and hostility.

It is true that Britain maintains a temporary peaceful relationship with Russia, Germany and France, but in Africa and the Middle East, France is Britain's biggest competitor.

In the Far East and Central Asia, Russia is Britain's main enemy. In Europe, Germany and Britain have serious economic conflicts and competitions.

For example, such complex international relations involve a lot of Britain's energy and military strength, and the impact of such international games is that the economic and military strength that Britain can invest in the Americas is not superior to that of the United States.

Moreover, with the rapid development of the US domestic economy, the overall power comparison between Britain and the United States in South America will change to a greater disadvantage for Britain.

Based on the changes in the balance of power between the two countries in South America, Britain's response policy towards the United States is also in constant adjustment. At least for British diplomats in Latin America who often deal with the United States, it has become their consensus to pay attention to the changes in the real strength of the United States, and at the same time use the political and economic advantages accumulated by Britain in the early days to weaken and slow down the speed of the United States becoming the dominant power in the Americas.

In the eyes of most British politicians, it is an almost unstoppable trend for the United States to become the hegemon of America. All they can do is to find allies as much as possible to delay the United States from becoming the hegemon of America. As for countries such as Mexico, which was supported in the early days, and the South American Han Kingdom, which is currently supported, they are just pawns with utilization value and do not have the strength to compete with the United States alone.

It is precisely because of this concept that there is competition, hostility, compromise and concession between Britain and the United States in South America.

Even if the time comes to give up its dominance in South America, Britain will not leave in disgrace, but will choose a relatively advantageous way to withdraw from South America in a dignified manner.

Of course, the time of withdrawal from South America may be between ten and eight years, or it may be several decades later. As for when to start the withdrawal plan, it depends on the speed of Americans' overseas expansion, the British government's assessment of the political and economic value of South America, and the degree of cooperation from American allies.

The Second Paraguayan War ostensibly involved Paraguay, the Republic of Brazil, and the South American Han Kingdom. However, behind the scenes, the Americans used this war to expand their influence in southern South America.

There were many secret meetings between the American consortium and senior officials of the Brazilian Republican government. The American Minister to the Republic of Brazil took the initiative to act as a bridge and find a consortium to take over the war bonds issued by the Republic of Brazil.

The Americans were acting frequently in secret. Although the British had not yet obtained detailed intelligence, Williams roughly guessed the Americans' purpose by analyzing the information provided by some pro-British compradors of the Republic of Brazil.

It is nothing more than persuading the Brazilian government to accept American capital investment, requiring the United States to be the first economic cooperation country, and expelling British capital and investment from the Brazilian Republic.

If we speculate further, it is not impossible that the Americans, under the pretext of maintaining peace in South America, proposed to the Brazilian Republic conditions such as leasing military bases and deploying military forces.

Williams was basically certain that there must be Americans behind the withdrawal of the three British consortiums from the Republic of Brazil.

However, faced with the fierce competition between the United States and Britain, he had no appropriate way to fight back.

(End of this chapter)