Father of France

Chapter 167 Crawling Back
The more arrogant one is now, the more humiliating one will be in the future.

If Chiang Kai-shek hadn't made such a huge mistake, the United States wouldn't have developed such unprecedented distrust of proxies afterward, and wouldn't have so readily intervened in the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

It's worth noting that during the same period, the United States also did not directly intervene in the Greek civil war and the Iranian crisis, but instead primarily provided military aid. In both cases, the United States emerged victorious.

However, the victories in the Greek civil war and the Iranian crisis were completely negated by the negative impact of Chang's legendary status in the war.

The United States was only held up for a few months by the Berlin Crisis, and when it looked back, wow! It had directly lost nearly ten million square kilometers of land and four or five hundred million people.

Chang Gong's armed forces, having suffered a total of 8.07 million casualties, became synonymous with an 8 million-strong bandit gang.

This unprecedented failure at the beginning of the Cold War was the biggest reason why McCarthyism was able to take off.

In fact, even if we disregard Chiang Kai-shek's influence, the Cold War wouldn't have broken out so quickly, even if Churchill had been actively involved.

Everything must have a cause, development, and process. Chiang Kai-shek essentially delivered a golden three-chapter attack right from the start, directly breaching the defenses of the United States, which was the world's strongest nation after the war and held around 50% of the global market share in various fields.

From Truman's perspective, he was also wronged. That's how he treated Greece and Iran, and they succeeded. Who would have thought that Chiang Kai-shek would teach him a lesson?

Koeman treated the unimpeded reporting of Chang Gong's armed forces as mere entertainment.

Moreover, she was immediately drawn to the revised contract terms from Paris, and according to principle, Eva Gardner should be shown them.

The esteemed Ms. Eva Gardner, the legal representative of the Constantine Industrial Group, couldn't really tell anything from it, and simply signed her name.

"Very good, very energetic!" Koman was very pleased with this and comforted him, "There will be bread, there will be milk, there will be everything."

"Where did you learn all this weird talk?" Ava Gardner rolled her eyes. She was the epitome of a femme fatale, and when she rolled her eyes, she didn't look like a good woman at all. "How could I not believe you? The French-speaking world is incredibly wealthy, and that's all what you said."

"Trust me, that's the right thing to do." Koeman put away the contractual agreement that had already been converted into a formal contract and answered with certainty.

He was just a little emotionally unsatisfied; otherwise, Koeman might have been tempted to make reckless promises, such as selling something in French Indochina to the Americans. But after careful consideration, he decided against it.

On the one hand, doing so would still be subject to scrutiny from Paris. On the other hand, there are practical reasons: most of Vietnam's mineral resources are in the north, and France does not have a deep foothold in the north to guarantee its security. It also cannot rely on the United States to act as a Western cowboy, as the Western cowboy is a thing of the past.

Real-world reasons also include the possibility of low selling prices; Vietnam also has iron ore deposits, and the quality is not low. But as for the total volume? That requires a case-by-case analysis.

Vietnam has proven iron ore reserves of over a billion tons. Whether this is a lot or a little depends on whose perspective it is. A country with a steel production capacity of 30 to 40 million tons can be considered a powerful nation.

Vietnam's iron ore reserves of over a billion tons could last for thirty years, making iron ore mining a very profitable business.

However, if one country produces a billion tons of steel, then Vietnam's entire iron ore reserves would only last for one year.

For an average industrial power, Vietnam's mineral resources are quite valuable, but for an industrial power with a steel production capacity of one billion tons, seeing Vietnam's mineral resources is as good as not seeing them at all.

What's the point of even talking to Vietnam? The entire country can't meet its needs for a year. So, from the perspective of this major Eastern power, although there are many iron ore deposits in the world, it's like having only two: Australia and Brazil. The rest are, strictly speaking, not worth mining.

The major Eastern power has made many efforts to avoid being held hostage by iron ore, even going so far as to Africa, but in reality, it still cannot bypass Australia.

Turning his head, before Remy was even aware of Coman's plan to build a chemical plant on Chang Gong's territory to annoy France, Holt and Remy finalized the contract details. $206 million and technology licensing were put out, and the contract took effect immediately. He still needed the money for the next round of arrangements.

This largest oil well in East Asia was finally secured in Saigon after frank and pragmatic dialogue between the United States and France, which was in line with the overall interests of the country.

Koeman gave up 30% of his shares in exchange for technical support from Kerr-Mage and a partnership with Standard Oil of New Jersey.

This was a win-win collaboration. Although the process might have caused some minor unpleasantness for the city upon a hill, considering France's near-collapse and the fact that everything would eventually belong to the United States, Holt and Rémy decided to temporarily let France off the hook and cooperate sincerely with smiles on their faces. The Georges Pitoure government was also satisfied with the outcome; it seemed that France's huge oil deficit had a solution, saving foreign exchange expenditures and alleviating economic pressure.

With the dust settled, Holt and Remy's mission came to an end. They were about to return to the United States to explain to the board of directors how they had fought valiantly against the French army and how they had managed to secure the greatest possible benefit for the group despite the pressure from the French troops.

Anyway, the bosses in China don't know that the so-called powerful French army only has one person, Coman, in uniform.

“But then again, even the French colonies, which are smaller and generally considered to be less developed than the British colonies, have such great wealth. Who knows how much good stuff the British colonies must have.” On the passenger ship that had already left port, Remy looked out at Saigon as it gradually disappeared and said to Holt, who was traveling with him.

The two will board a ship here to reach Manila, and then change vehicles to return to the United States to report on this great victory.

“That makes sense in theory. It can’t be that oil just stops at the border between Iran and British India.” Holt even used the purpose of his visit as an example, pointing out that France’s offshore oil was only recently discovered.

There is no possibility that Britain did not develop British India much.
If Koeman knew about the conversation between the two Americans about the resources of British India, he would have admired their adventurous spirit.

Even Pakistanis have said that oil seems to disappear once it reaches the Pakistani border. If God had shown some favor to the Muslims in South Asia, Pakistan wouldn't be suffering so much.

In terms of many resources, South Asia is in a similar predicament to Western Europe, especially in oil, where the largest oil resources are controlled by Muslims in Pakistan.

Ava Gardner, whose net worth suddenly exceeded 100 million, felt that her life after the age of 23 was like a dream, the source of which was the man in front of her who was four years younger than her. "You are the most patriotic person I have ever met, but no one knows about your achievements."

"What merits do I, a soldier, need?" Koeman felt that Ava Gardner had been acting strangely these past few days, and he wondered what was going on in her mind. "What's wrong with her?"

"I just feel that I should do something meaningful." Ava Gardner is like someone who has shed her vulgar interests and is ready to start anew.

"Is it meaningful? Why don't you consider setting up a Baiji dolphin protection center in Jinling for scientific research and biodiversity studies?" Komanjian said with his rich cultivation, "So what if my woman has some leftist tendencies? It's a minor issue. As long as we don't attack feminism, focusing our energy on animals won't be a big problem."

Coman was still concerned about species whose existence was nearing extinction, but he hadn't considered capturing and relocating the Baiji dolphin, as there were no suitable rivers in the French colonies. The chances of French Indochina being preserved were virtually nonexistent.

More importantly, although the North African overseas provinces are at the same latitude and longitude as the Yangtze River, North Africa has few perennial rivers, so it is not realistic to not utilize them for the sake of a single species.

The banks of the Niger and Congo rivers are in the hands of Africans; can we really expect them to protect them? Not to mention that these two rivers are actually more dangerous than the Yangtze.

"Since my beautiful and kind-hearted goddess has started to think about the meaning of life, then I'll give you a few suggestions." Koman started talking, saying that doing good deeds is of course more meaningful in poor and underdeveloped areas.

Therefore, it is most meaningful to go to East Asia. Anyway, you can't go to South Asia, that's British territory.

The thought that something might have benefited the British kept Coman awake at night.

As for the issue of poverty and backwardness in Africa, especially French Africa, Africa does not face such great survival pressure now. Its population is far smaller than that of East Asia and South Asia. He will make arrangements when needed.

"Actually, the most important thing is food. The problem of eating is always the biggest problem. You can consider buying some food. Don't distribute it to the locals in your personal name through the government." Koman still wanted to give Ava Gardner a heads-up, thinking about Mrs. Chang, who used anti-Japanese war donations to speculate in stocks.

“Looks like I have no choice but to go. Won’t you miss me?” Ava Gardner smiled, reached out and grabbed Koman’s neck by the back of his neck and kissed him. “But I really want to see the most populous country in the world and broaden my horizons.”

“I’ll arrange security for you, and now I have money too,” Koman assured him, patting his chest. “The odd amount is six million dollars, you have three million, I’ll give you another three million. Although we’re in the midst of war, there are still many peaceful places. The embassy will cooperate with you, but you’re a French man’s woman, so what about your reputation?”

“Of course it belongs to France.” Eva Gardner glanced at Coman sideways, mimicking the man’s tone in a sarcastic manner, “There is such a thing as patriotism in this world.”

Although she was four years older than Corman, Eva Gardner still gave Corman a sense of accomplishment in raising her. While the woman was searching for the meaning of her own life, he continued to plan France's groveling retreat.

(End of this chapter)