Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 305 Playing a big game with Britain and France

Cairo, Egypt.

The humid night wind, carrying the moisture of the Nile River, blew through the gaps in the blinds and hit Eliezer's profile. He raised his hand to adjust the false beard on his chin. The bronze cufflinks shone coldly under the kerosene lamp. The neon lights of the Farouk Dynasty flickered outside the window, just like the dying artillery fire on the beach of Tel Aviv.

"You Jews always like to negotiate in the shadows." The young lieutenant colonel pushed open the door of the box, and the spurs on his military boots scraped against the teak floor.

"Tell me, what do Glian's lackeys want from a revolutionary like me...Mr. Zheng?"

The young officer from Egypt was startled, and his arrogant and rebellious look immediately disappeared. He even looked a little restrained and quickly wiped his dirty hands clean.

Then he extended his hand and said, "Hello, Mr. Zheng. My name is N Saier. It's an honor to meet you. How come you are in Cairo? Is there anything I can help you with?"

Zheng Yi smiled and said, "Do you know me?"

N Sai Er nodded repeatedly. "I know you. You're a great hero who helped the people of the Middle East fight against the British and French colonizers. You're a friend that the Arab people will always respect. How could you...how could you...be with these Jews?"

"Humph!"

Eliezer from Israel snorted in dissatisfaction. He also disliked N Saier and said coldly, "Mr. Zheng is our friend of Israel. Haifa is the core of the SAARC in the Middle East. Are you so ignorant that you don't even know this?"

He ran his fingertips over the cover of Exodus, the texture of the parchment reminding him of the sand dunes of the Sinai Peninsula.

"Humph!"

N Searle was speechless for a moment. He knew that Zheng Yi had a good relationship with the Jews. He knew that if he continued to talk, he would only bring shame upon himself, so he simply kept silent.

Zheng Yi smiled and said, "Brother N Saier, since you're willing to come today, I know you're an open-minded person who won't let meaningless hatred lead you to self-destruction. This also proves that I wasn't wrong about you. You're a practical person who values ​​practicality."

As he spoke, Zheng Yi picked up the wine glass filled with truffle wine on the table and asked tentatively with a smile, "Want some wine?"

N Sai Er hesitated for a moment, then picked up the wine glass and drank it all in one gulp, saying, "Drink it. I'm not a conservative."

However, it was obvious that he had a low alcohol tolerance, only one or two ounces at most, but he drank with a grimace in his mouth, and it was obvious that he didn't drink often on weekdays.

Obviously, he had done in-depth research on Zheng Yi and knew that Zheng Yi did not have much aversion to their sect itself and was willing to help his Arab brothers, but he seemed to be somewhat repulsed by the conservatives in the doctrine, especially fundamentalism.

Zheng Yi is now a world-renowned figure. His personal preferences and political inclinations are not difficult to find out as long as one is willing.

"Very good. Now, let's discuss the liberation of Egypt and, most importantly, what will happen after the liberation."

In this time and space, Egypt and Israel still had a fight.

The Farouk Dynasty and the Jordanian Dynasty could not bear it after all. With the support of Britain and France, they still took the initiative to go to war with Israel under the banner of liberating Palestine.

In fact, because of Zheng Yi, they fought even harder.

Because it is obvious that Zheng Yi's intention in the Middle East is to blame Britain and France, steal their food, and make them uncomfortable through various political or economic means. Naturally, Britain secretly sells or even gives more weapons to Egypt and Jordan.

France is also unwilling to accept complete defeat. Syria, no, this time and space can no longer be Syria. The entire Greater Levant region has not yet been completely liberated. There are still a large number of French supporters. It is even possible that French mercenaries and French armed forces in disguise are fighting.

Despite the reconciliation between the two sides, they still launched the first Middle East war two years ago.

Because the Democratic Party was still in power in the United States two years ago, and amidst the mutual wrangling, the United States basically adopted an attitude of not helping either side. It just did not care about the Jews in its own country donating to Israel, or even the Jewish veterans who participated in World War II returning to their country to fight in person.

The military forces of the Southern Association for Regional Cooperation naturally stood on the side of Israel. You must know that General Wei’s entire army is in Tunisia, fighting with the French, so they will naturally do their best to help.

Since a large number of people in the Levant region have stood on Israel's side this time, even the people in the Palestinian region tend to consider themselves part of the Greater Levant.

I am a Levantine and I am living a good life. With the help of SAARC, the urban economy of the Levant region has even improved to a certain extent. Are you crazy? I need you, Jordan and Egypt to save me?

So Israel ended the war in a more devastating way than ever before, and the royal families of Egypt and Jordan became even more precarious as a result. The people in the country had already developed extremely strong dissatisfaction with the British colonists.

Israel has not invaded Arab territory. Now their relationship is very close, like honey and oil. Arabs are responsible for digging for oil, Jews are responsible for refining and transporting oil, and they have also developed a little manufacturing industry based on oil by-products. Israel even provided war loans for the Levant. Everyone worked side by side to fight the British and French.

Even the Arabs who have little to do with them, such as Saudi Arabia, now believe that the Egyptians and Jordanians are traitors to the Arab world and have become running dogs of the British and French.

However, where there is war there is hatred. No matter what the reason is, pure hatred has been planted between Israel and Egypt. In addition, due to some well-known historical reasons thousands of years ago, the Egyptian people naturally have no good feelings towards the Jews in Israel.

The same is true for the Israelis. Although their mainstream public opinion in this time and space is to tolerate Arabs and believe that only by cooperating with Arabs can the country achieve better development, the gun has successfully shifted from Arabs to the British and French, just as in history.

But whether Egyptians are Arabs or not is not actually a debatable question, right? After all, everyone dislikes each other.

Zheng Yi didn't mince words and got straight to the point. "Nsel, I've heard of you and your officer corps. You know, we're seeking the liberation of all of North Africa. The wars in Algeria and Libya have reached a fever pitch. Victory is within a year at most. Egypt, on the other hand, is the last missing piece of the puzzle for the entire North Africa."

"I think all Arab politicians in the Middle East agree that Egypt, controlled by Farouk, is not worthy of being called an independent country. It is just a puppet controlled by the British."

"Mr. N. Sayre, I solemnly ask you, are you and your young officers ready to overthrow the Farouk dynasty and fight the corrupt feudal compradors to the death?"

N Sai Er: "Yes, I am ready."

"Very good, then let me ask you my second question. Are you ready to accept Israel's support, including weapons, training, and even air support, and commit to reconciling past grievances with it?"

"This……"

N Saier hesitated after hearing this, but asked, "I need to know what price you will pay for accepting your Jewish help? What do you want to gain from Egypt?"

Eliezer was straightforward: "This is what Mr. Zheng meant. We will get the Suez Canal."

N Saier frowned upon hearing this. Zheng Yi said, "To be precise, we hope to hand over the entire Suez Canal to the Southern Alliance. The Southern Alliance will establish a Suez Canal Company specifically responsible for canal affairs. General Wei will hold 15%, Israel will hold 35%, Morgan Bank and Citibank together will hold 15%, and Mr. John Rockefeller will hold 10%. The remaining 25% will belong to Egypt. The entire company will become part of the Southern Alliance."

"We promise to help you completely drive out the British invaders, overthrow their agents, and punish their compradors. You know, the river is now in British hands. With Egypt's inherent strength, you can't possibly be a match for the British. Furthermore, I've received intel that Fatty Qiu has been actively pushing around lately, urging France to form a coalition with them to maintain their rule in the Middle East."

Zheng Yi took out a cigar and threw it to N. Saier. He lit one himself and said as he puffed away, "Join us, cooperate with us, and the Egyptian people will gain true freedom and prosperity, and you will become a hero in your country."

N Saier lowered his head and thought for a long time, fiddling with the cigar Zheng Yi gave him, without saying a word.

Zheng Yi: "Why? Are you dissatisfied with something? If you have any opinions, feel free to raise them."

N Saier: "Mr. Zheng, I respect you deeply, but this matter concerns the interests of our country, so I will argue with you. I would rather not pretend to agree to your request now, then break the agreement and turn my back on you after we overthrow Farouk."

Zheng Yi: "Of course, this is why I came to Cairo to see you in person. Please believe that I come here with sincerity. You know I'm from China. We have an old saying in the Chinese business community, 'First the villain, then the gentleman.' If you have any opinions, please feel free to speak up."

After a moment's thought, Zheng Yi added, "As you can see, I don't directly own any shares in the Suez Canal under this distribution plan. Although I do own shares in Morgan Stanley and Citibank, my percentage is not significant. You can trust me, I'm relatively impartial in this matter. At least, there isn't much personal interest involved."

N. Sale: "Well, I'm very grateful for your willingness to help me drive out the British colonists, but I noticed that in this Suez Canal Company, we Egyptians only own 25% of the total shares. Can this be understood as imperialism's colonization of us Egyptians continuing? And why does Israel also own 25%, the same amount of shares as us?"

With a bang, Eliezer slammed his hand on the table, his eyes gleaming with anger. He demanded, "What? You Egyptians, do you still want to take everything back? Why? That's a canal, it's not even natural. Do you think we can take it back without paying a price? How can you take it back without our help? You haven't even taken control of the government yet. How can you, with the small arms you have, defeat the British navy?"

Upon hearing this, N Saier turned his head to look at Zheng Yi, while Zheng Yi was still smoking his cigar calmly, wanting to hear what N Saier was going to say.

N Sayer frowned and said, "Britain has declined greatly since World War II. As far as I know, Mr. Zheng, the small fleet Britain has had must have been stretched to its limits by you and your Southern Alliance."

Zheng Yi laughed and said, "Why, do you mean to take advantage of our Southern Alliance for free?"

N Saier: "I just want to say that Britain may not be as powerful as it seems. Mr. Zheng, your aversion seems to have attracted a large amount of capital from the United States. I still hope that the Middle East will be a Middle East for the Middle Eastern people."

"Also, if I want to take back the Suez Canal, I don't have to rely on you. I can also... I can have the option of relying on the Soviets."

On the side, Eliezer stared at him with a pair of light-bulb eyes, his face flushed and he was about to stand up and argue with him, but was stopped by Zheng Yi.

He smiled and asked, "If I'm not mistaken, you should have already come into contact with their people."

N Sai Er didn't answer, which was considered as a tacit agreement.

Zheng Yi: "You make a lot of sense. You do have another option, but I sincerely believe that it's not a good choice for Egypt. Even if I and SAARC intervene, this is essentially an internal Middle Eastern matter, a matter between Arabs and imperialist powers like Britain and France. But if you drag them into it, turning a simple economic and profit issue into an ideological one, it becomes far too complicated."

"SAARC is a commercial organization. We only do things that make money. We have always hated things that are too complicated. If they come in, we will leave."

Zheng Yi handed N Saier a document and a plan. "Currently, the Suez Canal's annual revenue is around $8000 million. Honestly, it's not that high. If it were just for this little money, we wouldn't be going through so much trouble."

"If this goes through, we promise that, according to the equity distribution, for ten consecutive years, we will not take a single cent of the canal's profits, but will use all of it to support Egypt's livelihood construction. At the same time, we will also jointly pool a total of one billion US dollars according to this equity ratio to establish a dedicated fund specifically for investment in Egypt."

"Of course, this requires you to have a reasonable tax law first. I heard that the business tax alone for businesses in Egypt is as high as 30%, not to mention all sorts of other taxes. That's ridiculous."

Zheng Yi pulled out another scarf from his bag and handed it to N Saier, saying, "What do you think of this scarf? It's a Barberi men's clothing brand. Every one of them is worth at least $20."

"It's just a scarf. This one features 25% long-staple cotton from Egypt. Tsk, Mr. Nsayer, do you know what your Egyptian long-staple cotton goes for right now? Twenty-five dollars, that's enough to buy about a ton."

"Currently, the British pound is still considered the world's most important currency, but do you know what the pound's pricing anchor is? At least one of them is cotton, cotton from your Egypt."

"Egyptian cotton, especially high-quality long-staple cotton, accounts for 80% of global production. Giza No. 45 cotton fibers can reach 4.5 centimeters in length, making it unique in the world. Most high-end clothing uses it as the primary raw material. Unfortunately, you barely make any lucrative profits from this trade."

"Of course you can choose to drag the Soviet Union down. I have no objection. If you know me at all, you should know that in the United States, the Democrats call me a 'pro-tributary traitor.' I personally sincerely admire their idealism."

"But do you know why I'm just envious? It's simple, because I'm rich. If the rich and the poor are evenly matched, wouldn't I be at a disadvantage?"

"The same is true between nations. Why do I believe the Soviet Union will inevitably fail in international competition? To put it bluntly, what kind of country is suitable to join the Soviet Union? If we completely exclude ideological and geopolitical factors, the simplest way to put it is that the poorer the country, the less independent it is, the more it should join the Soviet Union."

"Equalizing the rich and the poor—what a wonderful thing! If my family didn't even have a thatched hut, I'd be a fool not to join the Soviet Union. But what if I actually had three large tiled houses? With its industrial base, the Czech Republic shouldn't be living worse off than us in Southeast Asia. Just based on per capita wealth, it's only natural that it's on par with the United States. But what happens? The richest regions naturally suck the blood of the poorest."

"Look at the Soviet republics. They were originally poor, but which one wasn't grateful to the Soviet Union? But what about those countries that could have lived a good life? Brother N, do you think Egypt is living a good life or not?"

N Sai Er: "I... I... don't know. As you said, Egypt's wealth is being sucked away by the British every year. I..."

Zheng Yi: "I don't know what conditions they will offer you, but if you cooperate with us, our main investment areas, in addition to infrastructure, will certainly be to expand and further cultivate your Egyptian-style long-staple cotton."

"This cotton is unique. The US and SAARC have always wanted to replace European clothing brands, but unfortunately, the results have not been very good. If they could monopolize long-staple cotton, it would be much better."

"We will open textile and garment factories in Egypt and create our own clothing brand. I can assure you that most of the profits from long-staple cotton will remain in Egypt."

"On the other hand... what do you think the Soviet Union would do with long-staple cotton? Make clothes? This stuff is used to make haute couture suits, or at least luxury goods. Does the Soviet Union... produce luxury goods?"

"Of course, the choice is entirely yours. If you disagree, just pretend we haven't been here today. Good luck."

"Oh, and a friendly reminder: In the international community, countries that try to play both sides are doomed to gain nothing. Small countries should have the awareness of small countries. You may think you're smart, but believe me, the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, have more intelligent people. Giving you fifty each is far less effective than either one giving you five hundred."

"We can give you two days to consider it. After two days, give me an answer."

N Sai Er: "Just two days."

Zheng Yi: "Of course, we are very busy. This time, Egypt is just a small part of our overall plan, not even the most critical one. We are playing a big game with Britain and France."

(End of this chapter)