Father of France

Chapter 217 Yin-Yang Contract
Waving for the Finance Minister to prepare, Ali Khan looked at Koman and said, "There have been enough surprises today, but I never mind having more."

"Actually, France can help you wipe out your public wealth. Consider this a token of gratitude for this trade."

Koeman replied with a smile, but emphasized, "However, I need to communicate with the relevant authorities to determine if this is feasible. After all, I'm just a major and can't make the decision myself. But I believe there shouldn't be any major problems."

The unspoken secret of the international arms market: exorbitant contracts are rife with kickbacks to politicians, but the real footing always goes to the domestic people.

This is not surprising. A classic example, involving France and India, is the sale of Rafale fighter jets.

Ali Khan could be considered Indian in a broad sense, even if he himself might not want to admit it.

Koeman is French, so the connection between the two countries over the Rafale contract could have started much earlier in another time and space, ushering in a new era for future international arms trade.

France and India's arms trade relationship actually started quite early, beginning with the sale of Mirage fighter jets in 1985, but in Koeman's world, it obviously started even earlier.

Koeman, in Ali Khan's name, reported to Paris on a $500 arms deal to purchase 300 fighter jets and bombers. This was only the part that could be made public; he mainly wanted to report what couldn't be made public.

As for the remaining infantry division's light and heavy weapons, the $15 million arms sale was intended for the Vietnamese National Army's compensation payments, but in reality, it was Koeman's way of line his own pocket.

Koeman prepared a dual contract for both Paris and Ali Khan, as this might be beyond his capabilities. He quickly summoned Ava Gardner in Saigon, not a woman of equal status to his wife (women were best not to come from this subcontinent), but rather to have her find several professionals who frequently dealt with business contracts to come in person.

The contract report to Paris stated that it was a five-million-dollar arms sale contract for the purchase of aircraft. In addition, Ali Khan was willing to pay another five million dollars as a kickback for transferring assets abroad, so that France could help Ali Khan, a hugely wealthy man, to wipe out his apparent assets.

As for the 15 million infantry division's light and heavy equipment, Komanti didn't mention it, intending to use the Vietnamese National Army's pension funds to settle the accounts.

So what are the advantages of Paris? The advantage of Paris is that it can create an unprecedented fake contract, allowing Ali Khan to tell everyone that all his wealth has been used to buy weapons, preparing to fight against the possible annexation of India after independence.

However, this arms sale, which could be called a contract of the century if it were actually implemented, would never actually come to fruition. It would simply give Ali Khan some evidence that he was broke, thus buying him time to transfer his assets.

As for the contract prepared for Ali Khan, Ali Khan must help Koeman conceal the $15 million army weapons sales contract, and Koeman can take $5 million from his own $15 million portion to grease palms with people in Paris.

Koeman was capable of anything. An infantry division might have a lot of light and heavy weapons, but they were all obsolete and worthless to France. As for India, considering that the Indian army was still using Leesfield rifles in the 1960s, they were actually quite good.

India is like that; it never skimps on investments in areas that are visible to the public.

The model of tanks being superior to armored vehicles being superior to artillery has become quite unfortunate after artillery, leaving the Indian Army to suffer further, with Commissioner Singh bearing the brunt of the criticism.

They used whatever light weapons they could find. For one rare time since the founding of the People's Republic of China, this great Eastern power was equipped with weapons that could be described as having strong ships and powerful cannons, when facing the Indian Army.

This is the case across all branches of the Indian armed forces; they buy a lot of fighter jets but neglect the army aviation.

India is generous with its aircraft carriers and destroyers, but it is clearly less enthusiastic about its frigates.

It's not necessarily a mistake to have a top-heavy, single-wave army. Most countries in the world have single-wave armies, and India's is relatively large, which is quite intimidating.

The asymmetric model that Koman shaped for Ali Khan might not hold up for long against India's military-building mindset.

India will make an overwhelming effort to catch up with or even surpass Ali Khan's acquisition of fighter jets and bombers, but it may take India ten or twenty years to catch up with the level of light and heavy weapons that Hyderabad acquired this time in terms of army equipment.

Over the next few days, Koeman awaited news, but he also explained to Paris… in fact, it was Admiral Dragon who articulated the urgency of the deal and the enormous benefits the former world's richest man could potentially bring to France through a dual contract. This is similar to expectation management in the stock market, primarily aimed at boosting confidence. Ali Khan wouldn't contribute his entire fortune to France, but simply acquiescing to France's position would bring significant confidence to the French financial market.

France is not a true financial powerhouse, but despite this, it entered the Industrial Revolution much earlier than Germany and the United States. In addition, France has vast overseas colonial resources such as French Indochina and Africa, and its overseas trade is also very developed. Therefore, it is not a financial novice.

General Dracon proudly introduced his family's genius, and on his return journey, he found the former world's richest man and was able to bring good news to boost the French financial sector. The banking industry quickly expressed its support.

Money is important, of course, but confidence is even more important, and the banking industry understands this best.

Persuading the Ministry of Defense wasn't that difficult, and the same was true for the government. Since the collapse of the Socialist Party and the French Communist Party alliance, the current government has had a tough time. Because the three major parties are roughly equal in strength, none of them control parliament, making any government unstable, at least until the next parliamentary election.

The Socialist government now needs some good news to boost its approval ratings. A former world's richest man, whose nominal net worth is in the billions, is willing to exchange his fortune for French arms sales. Even if it's fake, the Socialist government has no reason to refuse. What if it comes out later? That's a problem for the future.

Even Koeman hadn't anticipated that the parliamentary system of the Fourth Republic, which led to government instability and made it impossible to carry out long-term operations, would actually become an asset in this matter.

With the government no longer an obstacle, the French army immediately displayed unprecedented efficiency. At a single command, three hundred French and German fighter planes and bombers flew to the southern port of Marseille and began loading them onto ships under special circumstances, claiming that they were there to defend the security of French Indochina.

Before these planes took off, French Indochina aircraft had already arrived in French territory on the subcontinent. The reason was quite good: British India was about to gain independence, and France had to talk fairly and justly with the Indians about the future of French India, based on its strength and position. The arrival of the French Indochina Air Force was to strengthen its own power.

This even caught Mountbatten's attention, prompting the Secretary of State for British India, Ismay, to communicate with the French Governor-General. The response was the same: France was preparing for the independence of British India.

After hearing Ismail's reply, Mountbatten thought for a moment and gave up on wasting his brain cells. "Whatever, the French aren't really invading India. France has just quelled the riots in Madagascar, but the military operation in Java is not over yet, and French Indochina has also exhausted their energy. Does France have the ability to fight on three fronts at the same time?"

"It should not be, especially since India's population is ten times that of French Indochina."

Ismail replied with a smile, "Mr. Churchill said that suppressing the Indian independence movement would require at least 500,000 standing troops stationed permanently, which France simply cannot do now. The current colonies alone are already consuming all of France's energy. In fact, the troops governing French Vietnam are already withdrawing..."

The Vietnamese National Army is indeed withdrawing, but they have left behind their weapons. Ismail only knows that the people are leaving and doesn't care about the weapons left behind.

On the eve of British India's independence, the British leaders throughout the country were now more understanding and able to consider issues from a practical perspective.

In the past, judging from the French's current actions alone, a war would have been inevitable.

We can talk about anything with the British, except for British India, the jewel of the British Empire. Because of British India, Britain has been constantly attacking in directions that could be threatened. When Tsarist Russia showed signs of moving south, Britain immediately organized an expeditionary force to first go north to attack Afghanistan as a preventative measure.

But now that British India is lost, its significance in the eyes of the British has greatly diminished. Not only can France do little, but the idea of ​​France replacing Britain in colonizing South Asia is pure fantasy. Even if there were any actual actions, Mountbatten was more hopeful than worried. He'd seen it all in his life, and he really wanted to see what it was like for the French to lose their minds.

What he didn't know was that while Coman had no intention of replacing Britain, he was preparing to help Ali Khan break free from British control and seek refuge with the Zurich goblins, as seen by Londoners.

"It was Ms. Ava who sent us." Due to the distance, the people from Saigon arrived in Hyderabad first.

Her major wasn't exactly a perfect match, as Ava Gardner's main area of ​​contact was the film industry. But that's okay; Hollywood also has its own dual contracts, and there are plenty of legitimate tax avoidance methods in the US—it's all the same.

"It's already dawn here when you arrive," Koman said, making a nonsensical remark as he welcomed the business people Ava Gardner had brought.

Some discussions took place, mainly involving Koeman making requests and these people offering solutions. Koeman got a general understanding of the situation and then prepared for a second dialogue with Ali Khan.

(End of this chapter)