What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 575 Coincidence
As each of the allies put on a show, trying to gain benefits from the Empire, Wayne had to unleash his ultimate weapon to calm them down and get back to the main issue:

"The Prism Building has long agreed to provide military assistance to all parties involved in the conflict, and can provide you with main fighter jets currently in service. In addition, if Europe is affected by the war and people's livelihoods are devastated, it can provide large amounts of aid again, just like the Marshall Plan!"

Upon hearing this, the allies immediately fell silent—the Marshall Plan?

On the surface, it was for the good of Europe, but in reality, it suddenly burdened the previously well-off old money with insurmountable bills, and also caused a large number of local factories to be impacted and go bankrupt. Anyone who dared to agree to it would be a complete fool.

Wynne was only forced to be ripped off by the Ryder. The Prism Building wouldn't spend real money to bring Britain to the front lines; the military aid they provided was just a slow poison.

I don't care about lotus ponds or small ponds, but I will absolutely not agree to hairy chickens!
But we can't openly say it's bad right now, because unity is the most important thing at this time.

The Third Fleet's strength is truly terrifying. The main purpose of the Prism Building's teleconference was not to review the losses, but to continue preparations for war!

"The 12 forward-deployed destroyers of the Third Fleet have been spotted by satellite again. They have been sailing at 60 knots for a full 8 hours! They have already crossed Iceland and will reach the coast in just 6 hours!"
The main force of battleships following behind them was slightly slower, but still reached speeds of over 35 knots. Warnings indicated they would approach the coast at 5:00 AM tomorrow, and before then, they might launch multiple waves of fighter attacks, potentially threatening the coastal area!

The battle report that Wayne released made everyone's faces fall. Either of the two major air battles that took place this afternoon could be considered a case study worth studying for more than ten years. And it turns out that this is not over yet.
At this moment, Teren, who had given up on committing suicide, said weakly:
“We originally had nearly 40 Harriers assembled at Aldgrov, which were planned to be used as interceptors to gain air superiority and then attack ships. But now they are all gone, and most of the Tornadoes have been destroyed. At the same time, there are at least 100 Harpoons that have been deployed at the Aldgrov base that may be affected. Even if they do not explode, they will be affected by nuclear radiation. We need to send a special team to check the risks of B61 first.”

Clearly, Britain is unwilling and unable to send out any more combat forces.

Wayne followed suit, saying:

"All of the Empire's F-15s must prioritize air superiority, so there must be another fleet to undertake anti-ship attack missions. We believe that they should be capable of carrying at least 80 anti-ship missiles."

Hearing the first part, Air Chief Marshal Pierre was a little worried, after all, he was the only one in Europe seriously researching anti-ship missiles. However, he knew he couldn't possibly be the one requested for the remaining 80 missiles, so he feigned regret and said:

“近期24小时内我们在带英的战机只有那8架幻影2000C以及幻影F1，幻影F1只能挂载1枚反舰导弹，恐怕……”

"That's settled then. The 18 F-18s from Xibanya have arrived and can form a very powerful anti-ship aircraft group."

Wayne interrupted Pierre abruptly and quickly devised a joint action plan, clearly indicating that it had been planned for a long time.

The latter immediately widened his eyes, but not wanting to back out, he could only add:
"The Mirage 2000C and Mirage F1 are already somewhat outdated and have limited air superiority capabilities, so they need strong air cover."

"This will not be a problem. Between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. on the 25th, 12 F-15s and 18 F-16s will arrive from the mainland, along with other fighter jets, which will be enough. At the same time, Prism has launched a large-scale airlift operation, which will bring at least 600 AIM-120 missiles, and other supplies and munitions are also plentiful."

Pierre quickly calculated in his mind and then said:
"This requires additional Exocet missiles to be urgently airlifted from the mainland."

“The UK will cover all expenses for this.”

Blair, who had been lying low for a while, answered in a low voice, and added:
"The community is undergoing a severe test, but this will make us more united."

However, Pierre, who was present, inwardly scoffed:
At this point, the idea of ​​a community came to mind, but... it also shows that Dai Ying was truly out of options!
……

In fact, it's not just Terren who's broken down to the point of wanting to commit suicide; Blair's current situation is similar:
In just half a day, the Royal Navy lost an entire carrier battle group and suffered heavy losses to its main air force forces. In fact, the most important thing to do now is not to force a fight and continue, but to immediately make peace and ceasefire.

He's not like Fatty Qiu who would fight to the bitter end even if he had to sell off the colonies. Besides, he can't sell them now!
The reason why the situation hasn't collapsed yet is because the Third Fleet's attack waves were so dense that the public hasn't had enough time to digest the news. He can't even imagine how terrifying the full impact would be.

Many Downing Street lawmakers felt like they were dreaming; the military's crushing defeat and capital flight in the blink of an eye were almost unbelievable.

It seems that another riot has just broken out in North Erland. A slight leak of information from the Oldgrove base has been spread as if the Third Fleet dropped a bomb, and millions of residents in the vicinity are fleeing in a frenzy. There are even proposals from the locals to secede from the United Kingdom and surrender directly to the Third Fleet to avoid war.

Blair currently has only one wish:
He has accepted the current situation, but he hopes it won't get any worse, otherwise he doesn't know what to do in the future.

The cabinet has just reached a consensus that the Royal Navy and Air Force will now focus on self-preservation and have authorized the use of gold reserves to secure the support of strong allies.

Spending money is a small matter, but Daiying really can't afford any more losses!
This tactic proved very effective. After promising to transfer the gold reserves to the Chicken after the meeting, Pierre patted his chest and assured that the Chicken's young men would fight to the bitter end for their good neighbor (seriously).

But in reality, the real beneficiaries were the Empire. In fact, since the end of the Cold War, Britain had been transferring gold reserves to the Empire.

There are still more than 700 tons of gold in Britain now, but after a large amount of it was transferred according to the original world timeline, only more than 200 tons remained a few years later, which is almost a precipitous drop.

But as long as the UK remains and the overseas system remains, everything is worthwhile.

Blair told himself this silently, then thought of the agents he had sent to Groningen to find the Lost Empire.

……

"Commander, that's the Grindavik base."

Following the direction Lütjens pointed, Tang Wen saw faint lights.

Grindavik, the Empire's bridgehead in Iceland, conducted its first reconnaissance mission against the fleet.

Now, Bismarck's fast fleet is only a dozen kilometers away from it, and it can be wiped out even by shelling.

However, he did not order an attack, and Grindavik remained silent.

Clearly, Grindavik had absolutely no decent counterattack capabilities.

The Empire had certainly considered using this place, but the two major battles that afternoon disrupted all deployment plans, making it impossible after the fast fleet arrived in Iceland.

Tang Wen had no interest in this barren and cold island. In fact, he was now comically wrapped in a blanket, standing on the bridge to ward off the local low temperatures.

It's really cold there!

The daytime temperature was quite pleasant, but it started snowing as evening approached, bringing with it more severe weather than usual. A storm mixed with ice shards was approaching, and the sound of dense particles scrubbing against the warship's surface could be heard from the cold wind. [Random Battle: Grindelkick]

[Capture the US Naval Base: Grindelk]

[Mission Description: Grindavik Base was once a frontline bridgehead in the North. Victory is achieved if no attack is encountered within a 10-kilometer radius of the base for 10 minutes. This mission grants an additional 200% reward.]

The sudden reminder reminded Tang Wen of the occupation mission in the Falkland Islands, and... it was also risk-free, so why not take advantage of it?

The faster-moving Scharnhorst and Gleisenau immediately turned right and broke away from the formation, approaching with billowing smoke to prepare for the mission.

The other four warships also slowed down accordingly, waiting for the mission to be completed.

However, Tang Wen's mind wasn't really on the mission at the moment:

He is considering the goals for the next phase of the plan:

The stock trading task was almost completed. In the afternoon, while Dai Ying kept sending out victory reports, Tang Wenqiang kept Li Zhengyang calm and relied on the timing of Dai Ying's release of information to wreak havoc in the stock market.

Moreover, this is well-founded: Dai Ying and Gai Jin's relationship was not good to begin with, and every day that the latter carried out infrastructure construction in the Spratly Islands was provoking Dai Ying's sensitive nerves. It was not surprising to outsiders that he would kick Dai Ying when he was down.

What's even more illogical is that the Hong Kong authorities did absolutely nothing while watching Gaikin short HSBC.

In reality, capital did flee Britain, but many small and medium-sized investors were unwilling to invest in other countries, so they turned their attention to British assets in the Far East, which inevitably passed through Hong Kong.

For the authorities, who had just been hit by the financial crisis, the more money left in Hong Kong, the faster the recovery would be, so they secretly relaxed controls on capital.

So Shi Juzhu quickly got involved and spent all the deposits received by Giant Fisheries, but he made money indirectly by buying Japanese yen and investing in gold.

Surprisingly, American financial speculators also pulled off a daring move:
They sold off large amounts of their holdings of British pound sterling bonds, while simultaneously issuing a large number of short-term dollar investment products offered by Wall Street firms, characterized by their ease of purchase and low risk.

The tactic of dumping pounds is nothing new and almost caused Lunton to vomit blood, but the second tactic is actually more vicious:
The low risk of the large number of investment products issued by Wall Street means that the profits are indeed not high. They generally only attract middle-class people who dislike low deposit interest rates, are afraid of high stock market risks, and want to keep a certain amount of working capital.

But at this point, investors in Ying were desperately trying to transfer their assets out, regardless of profits; as long as they didn't lose money, they were considered to have won!

Those financial products that were usually useless sold out instantly, and investors with British connections called the traders to actively ask to buy them!
In other words, the empire still wants to maintain a semblance of father-son relationship and has some self-respect, otherwise it would just issue more US debt!

Securities firms from other countries, such as Japan and South Korea, also followed suit and absorbed a lot of funds. Some eager British investors even planned to buy mainland bonds as a hedge.

But the most bizarre thing is that Hans actually won without any effort:

After the fighting broke out, the Cole administration seemed to disappear, adhering to the three principles of "don't know," "don't comment," and "don't respond," and even suspended a large number of normal training programs and military movements in an attempt to clear itself of suspicion.

As a result, Hans's stock market performance was inexplicably favored, and even among the buyers were a considerable number of funds from the family behind Rollo.
The chaos caused by the Third Fleet was far greater than expected, allowing Geigin to earn the amount he wanted ahead of time—any more would be impolite.

With a relatively conservative leverage of 20 times, Geigin has already raked in $12 billion in a single day through various channels, and he can still make some more money in the future, with the final profit being around $15 billion.

With the "prophet" technique, Li Zhengyang's abilities were completely exhausted, and in the current financial environment, this number is already the limit. There is still room for profit, but since Dai Ying won't die and the fall is almost a one-shot sequence, the returns are far less than that.

Moreover, from a macro perspective, this crisis will facilitate the outward transfer of assets from the UK.

If this drags on for a while longer, countries like the UK, Japan, South Korea, and even India will become the biggest winners. Gadkins will only earn $15 billion, but they will take over British investment capital and many companies, while the possibility of large-scale domestic takeover is very small. Overall, they will be at a disadvantage.

The reason why a stock market guru is a stock market guru is that he should be able to flexibly control the rise and fall of prices.

The second Christmas offensive had two objectives:
Making money, and diverting the empire's attention.

The first one has been perfectly achieved; completing the second one will complete the task perfectly.

Tang Wen's original plan was to stir up trouble for Hans, but now he has some new ideas, though they are so bold that even he himself is hesitant:

Support and mentor Ying.

If the British and the lost empire collude with each other, the bond between father and son will probably come to an end.
But this was far too audacious, and the consequences were unpredictable, making it difficult for Tang Wen to make a decision.

He pondered until late at night when a message suddenly appeared in his mind:
It's the Stasi!

Unlike bizarre organizations such as the "Brothers of Justice" and the "Shield of October 3rd," Tang Wen had been quietly keeping track of their information after making contact with Hammond and his group.

After their initial contact, Hammond learned to keep it a secret and remained silent for six months until a brief re-contact just last month, during which he indicated that the Stasi had been rebuilt.

Tang Wen didn't know if the information was true or false, but he did find that the person he met that time was highly professional, and he could inadvertently sense a special aura about them.

With a casual attitude, Tang Wen tossed them a model of the "Frederick the Great" class battleship (a type of battleship developed from the H class in history) and a mysterious Moonlight Communication device.

Perhaps due to the Stasi's increased professionalism, Hammond remained quite well-behaved after receiving the ship model, without engaging in any strange or mysterious antics, until today when a message suddenly arrived:
To His Excellency Lütjens Horus of the Third Fleet:
The Stasi have preliminarily confirmed the authenticity of information that former Air Minister's assistant Javin Wilson claimed to represent His Excellency Blair and hoped to negotiate peace with the lost empire.

Sincerely, Hammond

Tang Wen was somewhat surprised upon receiving the news, but it coincided with his own thoughts.

After a moment's thought, he issued a new order:

The fast fleet should slow down and stay near Iceland, while the slow fleet waits!
(End of this chapter)