Chapter 304: The Price

After a simple greeting, Aiden went straight to the point. "Mr. Stalin, with your wisdom, you must have felt the threat from Germany. If Germany unifies the whole of Europe, its next move will be to point to the Soviet Union."

Stalin listened to Aiden's long speech on the German threat theory without changing his expression, until Aiden himself felt embarrassed to talk so much, stopped to drink a sip of tea, and then asked in a calm voice. "Then what price does your country intend to pay for us to send troops?" The meaning of this sentence is very clear. Now that Britain invites the Soviet Union to join the war, it will have to pay a certain price. If the benefits are enough, the Soviet Union is not impossible to consider.

Aiden put down the teacup and said solemnly. "Mr. Stalin, our two countries are mutually beneficial..."

Before he finished speaking, Stalin sneered and stood up. "Mr. Special Envoy, you are tired from the journey, take a good rest today." After leaving this sentence, he walked straight out of the reception room before Aiden could react.

Aiden couldn't help but smile bitterly. It seems that without paying a certain price, it is impossible to invite the Soviet Union to join the game.

If it was Britain before World War I, it might have been able to spend a lot of money and directly use money to make the Soviet Union kneel down and call it daddy, but Britain after World War I was already on the decline and on the decline.

Before World War I, Britain's military expenditure generally remained at around 200 million pounds. However, the world at that time had not yet entered full industrialization, so it was normal for military expenditure to be low. In World War I, the great powers fought modern wars, with all kinds of new weapons, which were all bought with money. Naturally, the military expenditures of various countries soared during the war. From March 1915 to March 1916, Britain spent 600 million pounds in the British fiscal year alone. This data was the lowest annual expenditure of Britain during World War I. In the following years, Britain spent nearly 2.5 billion pounds every year.

This huge amount of money is not a small amount for Britain, which is not large in area.

In order to raise so much money, the British government racked its brains; first, it increased the issuance of domestic government bonds. Before the outbreak of World War I, Britain issued 700 million pounds of government bonds. After the outbreak of World War I, this data increased by at least 10 times.

But this money is still far from enough, so let's find someone to borrow.

The closest country to Britain is the United States. Interestingly, Britain was still a creditor of the United States at that time, and the United States owed Britain 400 million pounds and had not repaid it.

But Britain needed more than 400 million pounds, so it had to put down its face and borrow money from the United States. The United States also knew that it must not let Britain fall in the war, otherwise the United States would lose its strategic barrier in the Atlantic. Therefore, as long as Britain opened its mouth, the United States was very straightforward. How much did Britain borrow? According to the post-war data, Britain owed the United States 500 million pounds, which means that Britain borrowed at least 1.2 billion pounds from the United States.

The creditor country before the war became the debtor country after the war. The economy was in a long-term slump and recession after the war. The international financial center also moved from London, Britain to New York, the United States, and the United States also urged Britain to repay the money quickly.

The United States was strong, and Britain could not afford to offend it, so it had to bite its teeth and repay the debt.

How to repay? Britain's gold reserves were also spent a lot in the years of World War I, and there was really no spare money. The only thing Britain could use was the taxes levied on its citizens. Britain said to the United States: I will pay back the debt with 1% of the national tax revenue every year. If you still don't agree, you can only sell London.

The United States pulled out an abacus and calculated it. As a result, Britain would not be able to pay off the debt until 1965. The United States did not agree at first, but considering the special relationship with Britain, it had to admit defeat.

And now, what is more terrible is the defeat of the British Empire in recent days. The weapons and equipment that need to be replenished require astronomical funds; in this case, what can satisfy the appetite of the Soviets?

Eden spent a night in such anxiety and uneasiness. The next morning, it was not Stalin who met him, but Molotov, the People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs. "Did you have a good rest last night, Mr. Envoy?"

"Very good, where is Comrade Stalin?"

Molotov smiled apologetically. "Comrade Stalin is busy with official business, so he sent me to discuss with you."

Eden frowned in his heart. What is this? Is it a show of power?

But he didn't dare to express this dissatisfaction. After all, he was asking for help, so he could only smile and nod. "I understand. Shall we start?"

Both parties took their seats, and Aiden went straight to the point. "Comrade Molotov, please tell me your price directly, so that we can discuss it."

Molotov nodded, as if he had been prepared, and simply reported a number. "You need to pay 5,000 tons of gold. Of course, this is just a prepayment. According to the consumption in the war, we have the right to increase the fee appropriately."

5,000 tons of gold? Aiden's mouth twitched slightly. Is this robbery? "Sorry, we don't have that much gold reserves."

Molotov continued. "Then steel, 20 million tons of steel will do."

Aiden shook his head unhappily. You know, the British Empire's steel production in the first half of this year was less than 7 million tons. 20 million tons, it's really a lion's mouth.

"Then how about food? How about you export 30 million tons of food to us?"

"I'm sorry, we are also short of food." Britain has a population of 48 million, and 2/3 of its food is imported from abroad, and only 1/3 is provided by the country.

Every condition proposed by the Soviet Union was unacceptable to Britain. Eden even suspected that the Soviets had colluded with the Germans long ago to play a trick on him.

After being rejected several times in a row, Molotov was not angry and spoke calmly. "Well then, your country will definitely be able to afford the next thing."

A feeling of uneasiness flashed through Aiden's heart, and he stared at Molotov.

"If you can cede the Indian colony to us, we can send troops immediately."

Indian Colony?!

"!!" Aiden's expression changed, and a trace of anger flashed in his eyes.

After the Age of Discovery began, Britain stood out and relied on its maritime advantages to become a well-deserved global hegemon. In the frenzy of carving up the world, it seized a large number of colonies and established an empire that never sets on five continents and four oceans.

However, although there are many colonies, there are also different levels among them. Colonies had different importance to the British Empire, and there were obvious differences in the importance Britain attached to them.

Among the colonies, the one that received the most attention from the British was none other than British India in South Asia. At that time, India was called the brightest jewel in the Queen's crown. In order to consolidate British rule over the Indian colonies, the British King even went to India to be crowned Emperor of India. The British government's direct investment in the Indian colonies was also significantly higher than in other colonies.

Britain regards India as its lifeline and calls it a bright jewel in the Queen's crown.