It's better to conquer them than to command the steel torrent

Chapter 240 | Oil Crisis

Shang Ke was quite pleased that his proposal had been finalized so quickly and efficiently, but there were also aspects of this important meeting that lasted six or seven hours that made him unhappy.

That is, several council representatives present raised a rather greedy question—could the military aid program be delayed, so that America could be driven to desperation before demanding exorbitant prices?

In the eyes of politicians, immediately engaging in a "deal" of free aid seems a bit too hasty; perhaps it would be better to wait and see for a while longer.

Some people want preferential tariffs, while others want control over domestic projects in America.

Despite their good intentions, both types of people are essentially influenced by business acumen.

Shang Ke personally dislikes this kind of disposition that involves calculating gains and losses in both big and small matters; in other words, it's like being tainted by money.

Is this a viable strategy? What if things go wrong? This isn't a game where you can start over after losing.

Other military personnel also felt some resentment.

Cheng Yun remained calm and politely declined, saying, "Of course it's inappropriate. Based on current analysis, the US military is bound to suffer setbacks for a while. The situation is more urgent than it appears, and our country must make preparations as soon as possible."

The Great Unified Federation possesses a complete and abundant supply chain and industrial sectors, theoretically enabling it to achieve true self-sufficiency...

Except for one fatal problem—energy!
本国控制下的南洋婆罗洲与旧港两大油田年产量960～1000万吨石油，缅甸仁安羌油田年产量100～120万吨，本土的几处油田年产量合计1100～1200万吨，合计大约2200～2300万吨，位居世界第二。

This seems like a lot, but it is far from enough to meet the country's terrifying consumption. At least 5500 million tons of oil are needed every year, and this is only the minimum required amount. Generally, they are not so stingy, so the gap is huge. Every year, they have to import 3000 to 3500 million tons of oil from the United States of America!

Although Persia also has an annual oil production of several million tons, once relations with the United Kingdom break down, oil tanker shipping will definitely be interrupted in the short term.

While Industrial Cthulhu is rampaging and producing an endless stream of industrial products, it is also constantly consuming countless amounts of coal and oil, which in a sense conforms to the law of conservation of energy.

Besides its primary strategic objective, from an energy perspective, the Grand Unified Federation is also deeply intertwined with the United States of America.

If anything goes wrong in America, the country will immediately face the problem of oil shortages, and its strategic oil reserves will eventually run out.

If that were the case, the country's war machine would eventually run into trouble due to a lack of energy, with unimaginable consequences.

After the meeting ended, Shang Ke did not rush to leave, but stayed and waited for a long time until the dean appeared.

The two walked side by side for a while, discussing at length whether to help America fight the enemy 'directly or indirectly,' from the building entrance all the way to the parking lot at the back.

Finally, the dean stared at the rearview mirror of the car next to him for a moment in silence, then turned to Shang Ke and said, "Things are actually being simplified. With the overall situation at this point, military issues have almost become the top priority."

Upon hearing this, Shang Ke understood immediately.

Whether the more than 30 million tons of oil produced annually can be guaranteed is directly linked to the safety of the unified federal government, and America's annual oil production is nearly 200 million tons, and California on the West Coast happens to be a major oil-producing region.

Oil! Oil is our lifeline! We must defend the West Coast no matter what. The Unified Government occasionally engages in comprador practices in economic development, but most of the time it remains pragmatic. Regarding the insufficient oil production capacity, the Unified Government has long been seeking a two-pronged solution.

The first was to contend with the United Kingdom, and through a combination of force and coercion, Persia gained its sphere of influence.

The second is to continue trying to develop local oil fields with potential and to rely on our own efforts.

Daqing Oilfield is actually well capable of reversing this situation, with an annual output of tens of millions of tons.

However, the Daqing Oilfield is extremely difficult to extract and refine – the average oil layer depth is about 1,300 meters, and the oil quality is also relatively poor, belonging to highly paraffinic acidic heavy oil, making the refining process difficult and complicated.

In the history of developing the Daqing Oilfield, more than 1,000 experts, more than 50,000 workers, and more than 70,000 tons of various equipment and materials were mobilized.

As for the Great Unified Federation, the Daqing Oilfield was discovered in the mid-1920s. However, the results of the trial production were disappointing, as the oil quality was extremely poor.

The high refining costs deterred Pacific Petrochemicals Group, resulting in negligible economic benefits; it was truly a case of 'buying is worse than making'.

Therefore, Pacific Petrochemical Group could only try to develop a targeted refining method. Moreover, due to the negative impact of the economic crisis, the construction of Daqing Oilfield has been very slow for more than a decade.

There's no good way to solve such a natural, objective problem. If there really is a creator, then He must be a biased one.

After all, the land of Kyushu is too barren in terms of various mineral resources. Basically, the basic resources related to heavy industry are unsatisfactory—iron ore is of low grade, copper ore is scarce, and oil is of poor quality...

Besides rare earth and tungsten minerals, these two are particularly abundant.

Unfortunately, the problem is that an industrialized country would rather lack tungsten than copper or oil, because the abundance of basic resources has a huge impact.

The good news is that the national strength of the Great Unified Federation is there. Even if we rush into large-scale development at the last minute without regard to cost, we can still generate considerable production capacity in a year or two.

The next day.

Based on the network of relationships he had gradually built after returning to China, Shang Ke found several members of parliament with similar political views and opinions, and then found four or five high-ranking military officers. The group of people jointly wrote a letter that went straight to Huaqing Pool.

The joint letter's request was simple: there was no room for complacency! We should immediately and directly join the fight!
The principle of "if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold" is known to everyone. History may indeed be a spiral of upward movement and repetition, so many things can be found by simply flipping through the history books of the past five thousand years.

In this joint letter, Shang Ke did not deliberately recommend himself. To be honest, he was concerned, but he was also somewhat reluctant to go across the ocean to lead troops into battle again.

Among a million-strong army, there will always be those who yearn to make a name for themselves. Let whoever wants to go, go. Anyway, I, Shang, have already suffered once.

"See? I was so farsighted. An overseas operations department was bound to be established sooner or later, and now it's finally coming in handy!"

The framework of the overseas operations organization has been largely established, with two departments and thirteen sections, including the command headquarters and the logistics department. The candidates for each position have also been selected, and if necessary, they can be put into their posts quickly within a few days.

(End of this chapter)