Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 268: The Temptation and Choice of Changing History, General Election 1948
Mrs. May should just be a test.

Zheng Yi has many friends in the United States, but he found Mrs. May, using the identity of a foreigner and a method similar to gossip to test Zheng Yi's reaction.

He didn't know how President Du would react to this matter, but it was certain that the United States' global deployment was faster than in history, and history seemed to have been brought forward.

At first glance, it seems that the United States wants to use money to pave the way for global expansion and swallow up the entire SAARC.

If it were that simple, then there would be nothing to say. Just nod in agreement and sell yourself.

Anyone who gets involved in this kind of gangster business is a bitch. SAARC is originally a non-state actor, and it is only natural that it is controlled by the most powerful country in the world.

if not?
Zheng Yi is essentially a businessman, and the essence of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation is just a business alliance. Does he want to compete with the Americans for the so-called autonomy and vie for the dominance of future globalization?

Are you crazy? You drink like this after just a few dishes.

Not to mention that if he really wants to become a competitor of the United States, there are countless ways for Americans to deal with him, and countless political means and underhanded tricks to make him disappear physically. Even if it is really fair competition, he will not be able to win.

If the Americans don't establish a SAARC branch in the United States, then can't they also establish an American alliance in the United States? At that time, wouldn't it be enough to make American companies in SAARC withdraw their shares? There are many ways to deal with it.

The overall situation of globalization will definitely be led by Americans.

Zheng Yi's SAARC may be able to dominate globalization, but SAARC itself will inevitably be dominated by the Americans. All Zheng Yi can do is to check and balance American companies within SAARC as much as possible. After all, American multinational groups are not monolithic. He had anticipated and prepared for this a long time ago, otherwise he would not be so easy to talk to and immediately invite the French to join SAARC.

After all, among all the Americans' allies, the French are relatively the most disobedient.

Again, unless Zheng Yi can live to be around a hundred years old and die of old age, and can see China's rise, he can choose to hand over SAARC to China while he is still alive. Otherwise, SAARC can negotiate terms with the Americans, but it is pure dreaming to want to turn the tables.

After all, the United States has no checks and balances in the Western world, and no room for maneuver.

The international order is a big dining table. Some people sit on the table, some are placed on the table, and some are on the menu. Zheng Yi is already at the table, but the main seat at the table is occupied by an American.

The limit of what Zheng Yi can do is to become the secretary of the leader, distribute the meat on the table to everyone on his behalf, and eat it himself, that's all. After all, the SAARC is a non-state actor.

If a leader's chief secretary can handle their authority well, they can be no less powerful than other powerful department heads. But if they want to take over the leadership, then...

Unless, there is a second leader who can sit at this table and can completely compete with the big leader, or at least can withstand the suppression and make the big leader helpless, then he, the secretary who divides the meat, will have the opportunity to jump left and right, move around, and even help the second leader get rid of the big leader.

The future of China will be determined by this second leader. The only suspense about the future of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation is whether Zheng Yi can survive and wait for this second leader to come to the table for dinner.

As for the Soviet Union, it has never been at this table. They are here to overturn the table.

To make an inappropriate analogy: the relationship between the United States, the Soviet Union and China is somewhat similar to that between the Sui Dynasty, the Turks and the Tang Dynasty, while the roles of Zheng Yi and the Southern Alliance are somewhat similar to those of Xiao Yu.

The Sui and Tang dynasties could move left and right, but the Turks could not.

So there is nothing to say. Don’t the Americans just want him to move from chairman of the board to chairman of the board of directors? After all, the company’s scale has really expanded. To be honest, as long as the chairman of the board of directors is not removed by the board of directors, there is actually not much difference between him and the chairman of the board.

A loan of more than 10 billion US dollars is almost enough to buy out the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.

The Marshall Plan is actually an admission ticket for developed countries. With such a huge amount of money, they are bound to enjoy a huge first-mover advantage in international competition. As long as they don't commit suicide, it will be difficult for latecomers to catch up.

Similarly, if you don’t get this money, you will inevitably be eliminated in future competition or become second-rate because everyone else has taken it.

There was nothing to say. If the matter itself were so simple, he would have agreed to it on the spot.

Zheng Yi's greatest strength is his self-awareness. He is aware of the general trend of the world in the next eighty years and can also see clearly his own position in this future trend.

However, Zheng Yi knew very well that this matter was not that simple.

If the Americans just want control of the SAARC, there is actually no need to open another branch. It is also very strange to use a loan as a condition. Wouldn't it be better to just inject capital directly?

From a purely business perspective, the Americans' approach is simply to kill you with money.

But the best way to kill you with money should be to be a "white knight", not to lend you more than 10 billion.

There is only one explanation, that is, this is not the fault of Zheng Yi and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, but an internal struggle in the United States.

I got myself involved in the American party disputes.

In the United States, most large corporations and multinational tycoons support the Republican Party. The Republican Party is also called the party of bigwigs. It is a party that has become financially plutocracy and represents the interests of most industrial capital and financial tycoons in the United States.

Of course, this refers to the United States in 1947.

Zheng Yi himself has the best relationship with Coach Mai in the United States. Although he and General Manager Du have had a personal relationship for a long time and have made personal emotional investments, it has actually been of no use, and this is precisely why.

After all, the Democratic Party is essentially a street gangster party, and its party interests are really at odds with those of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation in every way.

So although Zheng Yi is an outsider in American politics, whether he admits it or not, he is an ally of the Republican Party in terms of interests.

Next year is the US presidential election. Does the Republican Party hope that Zheng Yi will get involved and use the SAARC, or the US SAARC, to openly integrate the forces behind it?
And this is actually just the second layer.

This is not the scariest thing. What is even scarier is that Zheng Yi is very afraid that there is a third level to this matter.

He wasn't sure if someone had planned to involve the third level, but he was certain that if he agreed to this, he would be dragged into the third level:
There is no doubt that Americans will control the international order for at least the next eighty years.

But the question is, what about those Americans?
There are also factions within the Republican Party.

"Am I being targeted by the Rockefellers? Are they going to take me in and treat me like a dog?"

The only people within the Republican Party who would want SAARC to control the world order could be the Rockefeller faction within the party. In theory, the interests of Zheng Yi and SAARC are indeed most closely tied to those of the Rockefeller faction.

Thinking of this, Zheng Yi couldn't help but start to have a headache, because because of his existence, a lot of history has changed. History is originally a combination of chance and necessity, although his little butterfly's influence on American politics was not that great.

But sometimes, extremely small forces can shift huge gears to change the direction of the world.

Dewey!

This was the 1948 Republican candidate who inexplicably lost to President Trump.

Founder of the Rockefeller wing of the Republican Party.

Annexing SAARC and allowing himself to dominate American multinational corporations, could it be this Dewey who is the mastermind behind all this?
The probability seems to be yes.

As a time traveler, the most troublesome thing is this kind of situation that may drastically change history.

If the "mastermind" who is going to give him more than 10 billion US dollars is really Dewey, then if he accepts the money, then Dewey will actually become his boss.

So the next question is: Will President Trump still be the president of the next US government?

Historically, Dewey was narrowly defeated by President Du.

What if he wins this time with my help?

After all, almost the whole world now believes that Dewey will win next year's election, and Zheng Yi is not sure whether Dewey will turn the big victory in the polls and predictions into a real victory with his help.

If we push it further,

If Dewey could really be elected, he would change history, defeat President Trump, and become the first Republican president of the United States after World War II.

These are not just little wings.

That was undoubtedly a big storm!
But wouldn't that be equivalent to destroying your own advantage as a time traveler?

Whether or not to do something that would be extremely beneficial to himself, but would change the course of history and invalidate the prophet's experience, this really tests Zheng Yi's courage as a time traveler. But deep down, Zheng Yi is actually a person without much courage.

Moreover, if history did not change and Dewey lost, but he sided with Dewey for various inexplicable reasons, he would probably regret it so much that he would slap himself in the face.

After all, Dewey has no shortage of support from bigwigs. People all over the United States know that Dewey is far more capable than President Du. All the big capitalists and elites in the country support Dewey. Adding the Southern Association for Regional Cooperation may not necessarily change anything.

Everyone in the United States, at least the elite, knew that Dewey was a politician and President Du was a fool.

It's just that when President Du was running for election, he actively went to rural areas and went to churches to show off to the people. He was able to make long-winded promises of beautiful visions during the campaign. Although Dewey got all the upper-class elites, he was too lazy to go to the grassroots and vote, and he was not good at public speaking. In other words, he did not brag during the campaign and did not make any promises that he could not keep.

It was purely a show and he lost because he couldn't outsmart President Du.

From this perspective, it seems that whether Zheng Yi helps or joins, the impact on the election... may not be that big?
In fact, it was from this term that showmanship became increasingly important in American politics. Many times, ordinary people don’t even care about your past political achievements or resume. They just vote for whoever they like, forcing elections to become more and more entertaining.

If he really takes sides, his halo will also be bestowed on Dewey. Zheng Yi is very clear that he also seems to have a halo in the United States. There are many people among the American people who admire him. To put it bluntly, isn't this the star effect?

But if he loses, and if the Southern Alliance really wants to be closely tied to the Rockefeller faction, it is hard to say whether the Democratic Party will retaliate against him.

The Democrats are the most petty. Although he has private lessons with President Trump, President Trump's ability is really too poor. The entire White House is almost completely controlled by the CIA. He believes that President Trump will not deliberately target him, but the CIA people may not be so sure.

If you are stubborn, you will be blocked in both ends.

In the end, Zheng Yi still couldn't give Mrs. Mei a clear answer. Anyway, she just mentioned it briefly, and Zheng Yi passed it over vaguely.

However, after Mrs. May mentioned this, he became a little restless in the Middle East. He planned to return to Southeast Asia to check the situation, and then rush to Japan to discuss it with Marshal MacArthur. After all, Marshal MacArthur is also a Republican leader.

In this dimension, General MacArthur's prestige is even higher than it was in history. If the Peninsular War hadn't happened, it's very likely that he would have replaced Eisenhower as Dewey's successor within the Rockefeller faction of the Republican Party. Unfortunately, things here aren't so easy for him to just leave. Lately, there have been a lot of people lining up to see him, and he still has a lot of things to do. He can't just leave and ignore everything else.

………………

"Uncle, King Ibn Saud has arrived and said he wants to meet you no matter what. Look..."

"Please ask him to come in. Never mind. I'll go and get him myself."

As he spoke, Zheng Yi stood up, walked to the door himself, and even trotted a few steps to greet the person.

"Oh, old king, if you have something to say, why not send someone or ask your crown prince to come and talk to me? Why bother coming here in person?"

As he spoke, Zheng Yi personally supported Ibn's arm, acted like a junior, and helped His Majesty the King of Saudi Arabia into the house and found a reception room.

After all, the old man is almost seventy years old this year. He suffers from severe arthritis and diabetes, and has difficulty walking. It is said that his eyesight is not very good and he is almost half blind. On weekdays, Saudi affairs have long been handed over to the crown prince. Except for extremely important matters, he has long been devoted to chanting scriptures and has not cared about worldly affairs.

Ever since Zheng Yi began to intervene in the Middle East, the old king suddenly stood up and gave Zheng Yi almost all his support, and once publicly declared that Zheng Yi was their eternal friend of Saudi Arabia.

After all, the two are old acquaintances. It was Zheng Yi who found the Ghawar oil field. At that time, the old king didn't even know what oil was.

Zheng Yi has been in the Middle East recently, and the old king has been sending people to invite Zheng Yi to Riyadh, but Zheng Yi was too busy and really had no time, so he didn't go.

Unexpectedly, today the old king, who was buried in the ground up to his neck, still came to Israel to see him in person.

"Old King, what is it that requires you to come here in person?"

Ibn: "An old friend has come to the Middle East. How can I put on airs and refuse to see him? Mr. Zheng, you are our Saudi Arabia's benefactor. Since the discovery of oil, the lives of the people have become visibly better."

"It's been a blink of an eye. The last time you came to Saudi Arabia to help us explore for oil was actually ten years ago. Ten years ago, Mr. Zheng wasn't even considered an international figure. Now, Mr. Zheng's Southern Alliance can actually defeat France in a head-on war. He has truly become one of the few adults who control this world. It's really sad."

Zheng Yi: "No, it's not a matter of gratitude or disfavor. Saudi Arabia has oil underground, and it's also God's blessing. Your Majesty is a truly good king. Even in Southeast Asia, I can always hear your stories. I personally hope that the friendship between SAARC and Saudi Arabia will last forever."

This is not just a polite remark. After all, in the Middle East, when it comes to political stability, Saudi Arabia has always been the most reliable of all Middle Eastern countries. Although it is a feudal rule, several generations of monarchs have been wise rulers.

Especially King Ibn, the founding father of the modern nation, the man known as the "Lion of the Arabian Peninsula". Zheng Yi has always believed that although this guy is a bumpkin among modern politicians, in terms of ability alone, he can definitely be ranked in the top 20 among all politicians from all countries after World War II.

Although he did not receive much education, he was undoubtedly a world-class top politician and could be said to be the founder of modern Saudi Arabia.

The old king started out with 40 camel riders, marching all the way from Kuwait to Riyadh, conquering the east and the west to unify the Arabian Peninsula, uniting the originally scattered tribes into one and completing his own centralization of power. Up to this point, the majority of his life had a lot of the flavor of Nurhaci's starting point with the Thirteen Armors.

Then, he met a series of Western colonizers including Britain, France, the United States and Germany. Oil suddenly gushed out of the desert where there was nothing but sand, attracting the interest of the world's powers.

A purely feudal old man who had hardly left the desert in the first half of his life and had no modern culture at all suddenly encountered the Second World War. With his amazing diplomatic wisdom, he maneuvered between Britain, the United States and Germany, and was able to take every step accurately, and during the war, he sought astonishingly huge benefits for Saudi Arabia.

After World War II, they were able to immediately cling to the Americans and successfully allow the United States to station troops in Saudi Arabia while not offending Britain, the Soviet Union, or Israel too much, while at the same time maintaining at least good relations with other Arab countries in the Middle East.

The most crucial thing is that while Saudi Arabia is clinging to the Americans, it can also use various soft and hard means to force the Americans to step by step take back Aramco, the world's largest golden egg-laying hen, which was originally wholly invested by the Americans, and make it the private property of the Saudi royal family.

No one really thinks that the Americans returned Saudi Aramco completely to the Saudi royal family because they were kind-hearted and abided by international rules.

This is a country with several generations of monarchs, and its political ability is among the best, at least in the Arab world.

This old man came to see me, there must be something important.

"Mr. Zheng, I'm here to make a statement. First, Saudi Arabia will fully support the Arabs' anti-French and anti-colonial movement. We are willing to donate 200 million US dollars as a special fund to purchase weapons from the Southern Association for Regional Cooperation."

"At the same time, I am here to personally congratulate the establishment of the State of Israel and to congratulate Tunisia for its liberation from French colonial rule and to establish diplomatic relations with it."

This was not beyond Zheng Yi's expectations.

After all, the old king is such a smart man, how could he not see the special relationship between Israel and the United States? Historically, he was cautious due to the political correctness of the Arab world. After all, the Middle East War had not happened at that time, and Israel still had a slogan to liberate the Arabs from the French.

If we don't come quickly to establish dialogue and cooperation, what will we do if the Palestinian issue arises in the future?

Saudi Arabia in this time and space is much richer than in history. After all, the Ghawar oil field was discovered and produced in advance. But it is far behind the modern Saudi tycoons. After all, the bulk of the oil fields are still in the hands of the Americans.

Moreover, oil prices are still in a downturn period, and the rich families don’t have any spare money, so two hundred million US dollars is really a lot.

"The second reason I came here is that I hope that cities in Saudi Arabia can also join the SAARC."

This was not unexpected for Zheng Yi, but he shook his head and refused, "I'm afraid this isn't suitable. Saudi Arabia currently doesn't have any cities suitable for SAARC, and SAARC has been developing too rapidly recently. I'd like to slow down a bit. In the Middle East, we already have Tunis and Haifa, which is enough. We have no plans to expand further in the Middle East for at least the next ten years."

Ibn: "Is that so... Well, I'm being a bit abrupt. What if we set up a company in the name of the royal family and join as a consortium? Does Haifa need investment? We Saudis should be able to invest in Haifa, right?"

"Currently, Saudi Arabia's oil exports mainly rely on sea transportation through the ports of Dhahran and Dammam. Standard Oil is also planning to build a railway from Riyadh to Dammam."

"If you ask me, why are we in such a hurry to build a railway? If possible, could SAARC, Israel, and our Saudi royal family jointly build an oil pipeline to transport oil directly to Haifa? That would greatly reduce the cost of transporting oil."

Currently, Saudi Arabia only produces oil but does not refine it. Even a fool knows which is cheaper: transporting oil to the port by rail or directly transporting oil to the port by official road. Moreover, oil shipped from Dammam Port goes through the Red Sea, while oil shipped from Haifa goes through the Mediterranean Sea.

As far as the current international oil market is concerned, Europe is still the most important buyer of Middle Eastern oil, and it is not yet time for Asia to rise.

"Build a pipeline directly from Riyadh... to Haifa? That's a massive undertaking. Can Standard Oil of California afford it?"

The old king smiled and said, "I think they can't afford it, but I wonder if Mr. Zheng's SAARC and Israel can contribute the money. We Saudis are willing to provide labor, personnel, and land, and will do our best to cooperate."

Hearing this, Zheng Yi also laughed, thinking to himself that as expected, this old king is extremely ambitious and has already begun to erode Aramco's shares.

In fact, as an oil-producing country in the Middle East, it is normal for them to be concerned about the oil wells on their own territory. Which royal family would not be concerned? Who would not want to take the oil fields for themselves? Who would be willing to share the profits with foreigners, even if the foreigners take the lion's share and they take the smaller share?
Saudi Arabia is undoubtedly the smartest of all oil-producing countries. It is a master at using both verbal and military tactics. Its current move is naturally a verbal one, which is to continuously demand increased infrastructure investment and force Standard Oil to invest money.

If you don’t have money, I will find someone else to bid and invest.

For example, the previous Dammam Port and Dammam Railway were all built in this way. As long as new infrastructure is built, the Saudi royal family will have more say.

After all, Standard Oil had no money, so it could only introduce new shareholders and reduce its own shares. Although the Saudi royal family also had no money, they could provide manpower, labor, and land, so in the end, they would also be counted as shares.

If you go to talk to them at this time, the Saudis will naturally be difficult to fool, and may even ask for an exorbitant price. It is impossible for them to be as ignorant as they were at the beginning and sell off two-thirds of the country's land exploration rights for only $400,000. If they don't give enough shares, this project will definitely become a huge hole in Standard Oil's body that will bleed uncontrollably and will kill you.

This is the literary part that the Saudi royal family is good at. In short, they will do everything possible to increase their own shareholdings and reduce Standard Oil's shareholdings within the scope of the market economy rules established by the United States, while also introducing as much new big capital as possible as shareholders.

After all, he is the local boss. No matter how many shareholders there are on the board of directors, their royal family's status is stable. The more shareholders they bring in, the more room they have to maneuver as the local boss and the greater their say.

And obviously in this time and space, the old king intends to win over Zheng Yi and the power of Israeli Jews to balance the power of Standard Oil.

Oil prices are currently at a low point, and oil pipelines are huge, extremely expensive projects. Haifa also controls oil refining, and Zheng Yi was supposed to be a shareholder of the Ghawar oil field, but he gave up because he was too weak ten years ago.

Therefore, making this investment at this time can indeed obtain more shares in the Ghawar oil field, and there is no need to worry that Standard Oil will not agree. Nowadays, the anti-colonial wave in the entire Middle East is in full swing. If he still disagrees, the old king will have plenty of ways to cause trouble and harm it.

The Saudi royal family actually uses more military means than civil means.

"It just so happens that our SAARC might get a large loan soon. I was also planning to send a construction team to the Middle East to work on a major project. It's better to keep two sheep than to keep one. I'll take this project. We can discuss the specific technical details and our respective shareholding ratios later."

The old king was overjoyed, but continued, "The third reason I'm here is to deepen cooperation with Mr. Zheng's Southern Alliance. I wonder if Mr. Zheng could also sell us Saudi Arabia some weapons and send instructors to teach us so that I can expand and equip my royal guard. It would be even better if the Southern Alliance could also station troops in Saudi Arabia."

Zheng Yi: "Don't you already have US troops in your territory? Why do you still need our SAARC troops stationed there?"

The old king said: "The US military is the US military, and the SAARC is the SAARC. They can't be confused, right? We must have some strength to make the Americans a little wary of us, and we must have some say, more or less."

Zheng Yi: "We? Old King, you don't know something, do you?"

The old king shook his head. "I don't know, I'm just guessing, Mr. Zheng. The Saudi royal family and the Southern Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) are both allies of the Americans. But even as allies, they must have some self-protection capabilities. I think that given our relationship, we are very suitable to be an alliance within an alliance. We, the Saudi royal family, are willing to become a part of the Southern Association for Regional Cooperation. In the future, we should advance and retreat together. At the very least, we are not lambs to be slaughtered, don't you think?"

Zheng Yi's mind raced when he heard that.

"Just guessing?"

"Of course, is there really a secret agreement between Mr. Zheng and the Americans? If so, how could a foreigner like me see it?"

Zheng Yi remained noncommittal.

But he suddenly asked, "Does the old king think that Dewey can come up next year?"

The old king smiled bitterly. "I'm a typical feudal remnant. I don't know much about things like popular elections, but it seems that if the Republican Party could come to power, we would be better off. If Mr. Zheng has any ideas, we in Saudi Arabia are willing to follow you forever. As I said before, our Saudi royal family is willing to join the Southern Association for Regional Cooperation."

Zheng Yi: "For such a big thing, you're not afraid of being on the wrong side with me?"

The old king said, "I really don't understand. Mr. Zheng, you are the smartest person in the world. You and I, the Saudi royal family, share similar views and interests. Why shouldn't I trust you?"

Zheng Yi: "If you truly trust me... I want to set up a consulting firm in the United States, nominally sponsored by you Saudis, to create an Arab political fund and form a Greater Arab and Jewish lobbying group. Is that okay?"

The old king said: "Of course, it's all up to Mr. Zheng."

Zheng Yi: "Then I agree to your request."

Zheng Yi stood up, extended his hand and shook hands with the old king, saying, "Welcome the Saudi royal family to become a shareholder of the SAARC and become a part of us."

(End of this chapter)