What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 588 Bu's Winning Strategy (1200 monthly votes in July)

"Our key partners seem very positive; perhaps the battleship bombardment has put a lot of pressure on them?"

Johnson was deeply moved by the British plan to give their all, even including the extremely outdated MR2 tanks.

Both the Nimbus and MR2 are anti-submarine aircraft. Although they can also carry torpedoes to attack warships, even 50 years ago, this would almost certainly be a fatal mistake.

Even the Flying Chicken couldn't hold back when he saw this scene and tried to persuade Trent and his men to send half a squadron of Mirage F1s to support them, but the latter firmly refused and said that the Royal Air Force must fight to the end.

Such integrity deeply impressed the allies. No one expected that after suffering such a huge blow, Britain would still be so tough. It truly lived up to its reputation as the old-fashioned British Empire!
And Wayne took the opportunity to give Brigadier General Thomas a severe dressing-down:
He understood all too well what his men were thinking. Thomas had been stuck at the threshold of generalship for several years and was eager to advance. That's why he launched all the missiles in one go during the midday attack, hoping to climb the ranks based on his achievements.

In the end, the nearly $7 million worth of missiles came to nothing. Fortunately, the empire was large and powerful, and with its strong fleet of transport planes, it continued to scour the land from a group of allies, managing to gather more than 500 Harpoons and 11 new B-1Bs from the Gulf, bringing the total to 34 bombers.

Despite the criticism, the strike group composed of B1B and B52 bombers remains the core of the coalition forces, and maintaining, refueling, and loading missiles for more than twenty bombers is no easy task.

In addition, to prevent attacks by gnats and swifts, operations need to be carried out at multiple airports. The 23 PM attack point is mainly to take care of the bomber group.

The B-1B was designed with stealth in mind, and like the B-52, it was designed to withstand a nuclear blast and penetrate enemy defenses at low altitudes. There was no need to worry about crew training or airframe performance, so it was considered a trump card by Wayne.

However, this time he plans to have 26 B-1Bs take the lead, while the B-52s with longer loiter time will serve as the second echelon to clean up the battlefield. The missiles alone will be enough to feed the Third Fleet!
At 18:30, Blackbird set out again, passing the fast fleet and continuing northward, surveying all three corps of the Third Fleet, whose speeds had already diverged, and confirming that their movements were under control.

The news received in the afternoon that the fast fleet had what appeared to be battleships with 20-inch guns was not taken too seriously, since naval warfare was not the main theme of this campaign, and the ship's guns could not hit the aircraft.

Moreover, after occupying the outskirts of Lossiemouth, the Third Fleet did not penetrate further into Eagle Vernes, nor did it launch more fighter jets, and for the first time, it unusually recovered the stealth Swifts that had been sent out.

This is enough to prove that their aircraft and V1 inventory were also severely depleted, otherwise they would have relentlessly pursued and continued their inland attack.

At 18:40 p.m., Blair urgently summoned Rams in Lundon to formally transfer 400 tons of gold reserves to the Empire.

However, due to concerns about attacks from Third Fleet submarines, and because Britain was unable to send surface warships to escort the shipment, it hoped to complete the handover directly in the port.

Rams was surprised by this concern, but after thinking about it carefully, he realized that Dai Ying was like a frightened bird and immediately agreed, patting his chest, and sent people to take over the ship carrying the gold.

The President was overjoyed to learn that the gold had been secured, but at the same time, he couldn't help feeling a little guilty—everyone knew this was extorting an ally, and he felt a bit embarrassed. To avoid any unforeseen complications or the British backing out, and to prevent the news from leaking out and a U-boat attack from happening, the Federal Reserve ordered the ship to set sail immediately for Fiji, where four Imperial destroyers would come to pick it up and escort it.

An hour later, the cargo ship received special permission to leave the martial law port and, under the control of the IAA, entered the dark English Channel.

Because of the tight schedule, they did not count the gold before setting off. During the journey, in order to avoid suspicion, everyone had to be under surveillance and supervise each other. No one was allowed to approach the bottom vault, so they did not discover that there were only 350 tons of gold.

Blair breathed a sigh of relief upon learning that the cargo ship had departed. He then spoke by phone with the President and the Federal Reserve in the presence of Rams and the Cabinet. The latter two took the initiative to propose that the gold be delivered as soon as it left port, and a memorandum of understanding and custody agreement were reached on the spot.

Blair's cabinet was more than happy to do so, because they were doing something unprecedented—extorting the Federal Reserve!

Don't forget, the Empire didn't ask for those 400 tons of gold to offset the military expenses it had advanced; it was a loan, a loan!
Nominally, it is transferred to the Federal Reserve for conservative investment and financial management, and it has to return interest and a portion of the returns every year. Regardless of whether it can be taken back in the future, the ownership always belongs to London!

The Federal Reserve now defines the effective date of the custody agreement as the time of delivery of the cargo ship. At this moment, they are obligated to safeguard the 400 tons of gold, according to two clauses in the contract: "duty of diligence" and "force majeure."
If lost, 100% compensation must be paid;
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If the property is lost due to "force majeure", assets of equivalent value must be returned within 60 days.

These two items are actually just two inconspicuous clauses in a contract with hundreds of pages of dense text. They are simply template provisions. After all, who is so powerful as to rob the Federal Reserve's gold reserves on the Empire's own soil?
The potential interpretation of the second clause is that if the empire were to truly swallow up the gold reserves and not return them, it should at least provide some other form of compensation, which would also serve as a consolation and guarantee for the trustees.

It was precisely because of these two points that Blair conceived a bold plan:

Eat two for one fish!
First give the gold to the Federal Reserve, then hand over their gold to the Lost Empire!

As soon as the cargo ship left port, Wilson handed over the route information to Schmidt, who claimed that as long as the ship sank, the Lost Empire would have obtained the gold, and he would immediately cooperate with the British to complete the "Great Victory" plan. Thus:
The Third Fleet acquired 350 tons of gold, and the Lost Empire profited handsomely—a win-win situation.
Leading a heroic expedition to defeat the invincible Third Fleet and save Europe would be a win-win situation;
By acquiring three battleships and one heavy aircraft carrier, totaling 22 tons of warships, Britain's military capabilities were enhanced, making it a win-win-win situation.
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The Federal Reserve acquired gold reserves, making it a win-win-win situation for all four parties.
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The Federal Reserve lost its gold reserves and needs to compensate the UK for the loss of 400 tons of gold or assets of equivalent value. In other words, the UK not only did not pay any price but actually gained 50 tons of gold, making it a win-win-win situation.

You win, he wins, everyone wins!
They defeated the enemy without spending a penny and gained both fame and fortune, even acquiring an additional 20 tons of warships. Although the losses were significant, the gains were also the greatest. It was a victory within a victory, turning misfortune into fortune!
Even if something unexpected happens and the Federal Reserve denies its obligations, neither returning the gold nor the assets, it doesn't matter. Didn't they advance $100 billion for Britain? The 400 tons of gold will be deducted from that!

The massive $100 billion foreign debt was halved, giving Britain another advantage!
It doesn't matter if the Empire doesn't acknowledge it; this kind of wrangling is exactly what Blair excels at. It's not hard for someone who owes money to renege on their debts.

When the entire plan was explained, the entire cabinet was completely convinced and declared that they would not impeach Blair after the battle was over, and that Blair would be the next president!

(End of this chapter)