Chapter 396 Worth a Trillion

Hardy and Princess Margaret left Cayman and returned to Miami, where Hardy's private jet was waiting.

In fact, Margaret also has a private plane, which belongs to the British royal family.

However, Hardy enthusiastically invited Margaret to take his plane. Margaret smiled and nodded in agreement, "It's a good opportunity to talk to Baron Hardy about economic issues."

In the bedroom of Hardy's private jet, Margaret nestled in Hardy's arms. They were about to part, and they might not have the chance to be together again in England, so they cherished each other even more. Hardy let Margaret enjoy a thousand miles a day.

The plane arrived at London Airport.

People from the British government and royal family came to meet them at the airport. Margaret said goodbye to Hardy and got on the convoy sent by the royal family. Before leaving, she rolled down the window and looked at Hardy.

"Baron Hardy, thank you for your hospitality in the United States. If there is a chance, I will invite you to visit the United Kingdom as a return gift." Margaret said.

"I'm honored as long as I have time," Hardy said with a smile.

Princess Margaret's car left, and Hardy got into a car sent by the British government and stayed in the arranged hotel.

After checking into the hotel, the diplomat respectfully asked, "Baron Hardy, the Prime Minister hopes to meet with you as soon as possible. When do you think it would be a good time? Do you need a day or two of rest after the tiring journey?"

"No, we can do it tomorrow." said Hardy.

"Okay, then. How about tomorrow afternoon?"

"no problem."

After the diplomat left, Hadi did not take a break, but took out a stack of documents and continued reading.

This is the information Henry gave him.

More than a year ago, Hadi had set his sights on Malaya. There were two military bases there, and he had sent a large number of intelligence personnel to collect intelligence.

At the same time, people were sent to contact certain Chinese in Malaya.

Therefore, Hadi’s understanding of Malaya is no worse than that of the British, and may even be more profound.

Plus some memories of Hardy's later generations.

He knows,

In fact, Britain's rule over Malaya is now in jeopardy. Since the independence of India and Myanmar, Malaya has become Britain's last colony in Asia. They want to keep it, so they have made a lot of efforts. However, there is great opposition within the country. In addition, Britain became weak after the war and was unable to control the situation. In the end, it had to give up its interests in Southeast Asia and allow it to become independent.

Of course,

There are American reasons for this.

The United States likes to implement freedom in other countries the most.

While in the United States, Hardy increasingly sees the national character of the United States. They pursue a bandit theory. Making themselves strong is one thing, but making you weak is also their job. When you are weak, they become relatively strong.

Sometimes people feel that he didn't get the upper hand in something.

No,

He will target all countries that could threaten his existence.

As long as he makes you weak, he can consolidate his position and then carry out his financial colonization. Financial colonization is far more covert and more powerful than geographical colonization.

britain now.

Want to maintain the last bit of dignity.

But the United States will not let him get his wish, so it has been making trouble.

Eventually, Britain became an isolated island country and lost its former glory, and the United States had a great contribution to this.

10 Downing Street.

This was Hadi's third visit here and he was already familiar with the place. In the reception room, Hadi met Prime Minister Clement Attlee.

The focus of the negotiations between the two sides this time was Singapore. Britain was willing to sell Penang and Malacca to Hadi, but refused to let go of Singapore.

"Baron Hardy, I know your company is mainly for the purpose of acquiring the port. We can sell you a piece of land so that you can build the port."

Prime Minister Attlee asked his men to bring a map of Singapore. It was obvious that he had prepared it in advance. He drew a circle next to the harbor area on the map with a pencil and said, "Baron Hardy, what do you think of this place? This place is also a deep-water port with an area of ​​about 50 square kilometers. After you take this place, you can build a second dock yourself."

In the past, Singapore had six docks, but now there is only one Singapore Port, and there is still a lot of empty space.

Hardy could see that Britain had made up its mind not to sell Singapore to him and they still wanted to keep the colony of Malaya.

In fact, at the beginning,

Hadi just wanted to get any place among Penang, Malacca and Singapore, so that he would have a stepping stone to enter Malaya.

It's just that as things progressed, his appetite grew.

Now that he has gained Penang and Malacca, it has exceeded Hadi's original goal.

Hardy said, "It seems that this is the only way. Since we are buying land to build a port, the price of this land will be greatly discounted. Even in Singapore, the estimated value of this land is only about a few million US dollars."

"Mr. Prime Minister, I am willing to spend 200 million U.S. dollars to buy long-term British government bonds. What do you think?"

If you don't give enough, Hardy will naturally bargain for you.

Prime Minister Attlee immediately shook his head, "200 million is too little. Even Penang and Malacca are only two cities. You only paid 500 million US dollars to buy national bonds. The British government will pay you back sooner or later."

Hadi disagreed, “How much wealth can Penang and Malacca create for Britain every year?”

"this...."

Prime Minister Attlee was speechless.

These two places were very backward and could not create much wealth for Britain. The truly valuable one was Singapore, and both sides were aware of this.

Hadi continued, "It's not like the Cayman Islands. There are only about 2,000 people in the Cayman Islands. I can move them away. But there are more than 300,000 people in Penang and more than 200,000 people in Malacca. Most of the land has been occupied. I can't drive these people away. What else do I get from these two places except some useless wasteland, mountains, forests and coasts?"

"Taxes? My God, do you think there are taxes in those places? Is the tax money enough to pay 500 million in interest?"

"Not only is there no money to be made there, but I have to invest a lot of energy and money to stabilize the current people's emotions and the rebels."

The final conditions given by Hardy were:

It spent US$5 million to purchase an area of ​​50 square kilometers along the Singapore coast, including nearby waters, to facilitate future land reclamation and development, establish its own exclusive berthing area, etc.

US$30 million to purchase all vacant land and waters in Penang and Malacca.

Originally these two places belonged to private manors, companies and lands, and they still belong to private individuals. Even if they become Hadi's fiefdom, he cannot deprive these people of their assets. That is impossible. Only the remaining land belongs to him.

Most of these remaining places are places that people did not think highly of before, so you can imagine their value.

The British government spent US$200 million to purchase British 10-year government bonds. The British government granted Penang and Malacca to Hadi, and Hadi became the Governor of Penang and Malacca. Penang and Malacca gained dominion rights.

Previously, Penang and Malacca, like Singapore, were direct colonies of Britain.

The rest of Malaya were all dependent colonies, and the main leaders on the ground were the Sultans, that is, small kings. However, there were no Sultans in Penang, Malacca and Singapore, and they were directly managed by Britain.

Penang and Malacca are now managed by Hadi.

Hardy would need to acknowledge that the two places were dominions of the British Empire.

However, Hadi only owned two fiefdoms, Penang and Malacca, and did not have the power of governor over Malaya. The British governor in charge of Malaya was still in Singapore.

in addition,

Hardy also agreed to invest $100 million to invest $50 million in British Telecom and $50 million in British Health Services Group.

Both companies are state-owned enterprises that serve the UK's basic telecommunications and medical sectors and are in urgent need of financial support for development. Hardy's purchase of their shares will be beneficial to the UK's infrastructure. With his money, the government will not have to pay out of its own pocket to support the development of these companies.

Compared with buying government bonds, Hadi believes that investing in telecommunications and hospitals will yield higher returns.

The prime minister was somewhat tempted by the price Hadi offered and said to Hadi: "I need to discuss it with the cabinet before making a decision."

"Of course, I'm waiting for news from the Prime Minister." Hadi nodded.

......

Margaret returned to Buckingham Palace, and Princess Elizabeth came to see her and found her sister's room piled with gifts.

"Did you buy a lot of things?" Elizabeth asked.

Margaret smiled proudly, "Yes, the luxury street in the United States has a collection of luxury brands from all over the world. I bought gifts for you, your father, and your mother."

Although the queen will have everything she needs in the future, she is still very happy to receive the gift from her sister. "Margaret, you have talked with Hardy for so long. What do you think is the chance of this deal?"

"Hardy really wants Singapore," said Margaret.

Elizabeth shook her head. "I'm afraid we can't give him Singapore. Singapore is still very important to Britain. We can only sell him a piece of land."

Margaret shrugged. "Then I can't promise."

"Tell me what you saw and heard during your trip to America," Princess Elizabeth asked with a smile.

Margaret thought of something and told her sister about the TV series she was watching. "I think we can introduce more American TV series. Hardy's ABC TV has produced many good TV series. I have been following the series these days and I am addicted."

As for the gambling and the crazy things with Hardy in Las Vegas, Margaret would definitely not tell her sister.

The two sisters talked about TV series.

......

The next day, the content of the negotiations between the Prime Minister and Hadi reached Buckingham Palace. Hadi agreed to give up Singapore, which made Princess Elizabeth very satisfied. As for Penang and Malacca, they were just two direct colonies for Britain.

It is even more important for the UK as it can bring in much-needed funds.

If there is a commotion over there and they declare independence, Britain will gain nothing, so it is better to make some money now.

As for the price offered by Hadi, the princess and the prime minister have actually accepted it, but they still want to get more money from Hadi, the big financial sponsor.

On the third day, Princess Elizabeth hosted a banquet for Hadi on behalf of the royal family. There was no grand cocktail party this time, just a simple family dinner, with only Princess Elizabeth, the Prime Minister, the Cabinet Economic Secretary, Princess Margaret and Hadi attending.

The dining table is also a negotiation table.

The final result of the negotiation was that Hardy would take out another 50 million and loan it to the Bank of Scotland. At next year's ennoblement ceremony, Hardy would be promoted to Viscount, and his descendants would enjoy the hereditary title.

A few days later.

The United Kingdom announced that in recognition of Hadi's significant contribution to the British economy, Hadi would be awarded the hereditary title of Viscount, and Penang and Malacca in Malaya would be given as Hadi's fiefdoms, and Hadi would be granted the position of Governor of the two places.

From then on, Penang and Malacca became dominions and were completely under Hadi's control.

The newspaper did not disclose how much money Hardy spent, but rumors quickly spread that Hardy spent nearly 400 million US dollars to acquire the two fiefs.

Many people are shocked when they hear this number.

$400 million,

Many people feel that it is not worth it to acquire two small territories in Southeast Asia. It will probably take countless years to earn back the 400 million US dollars through those two places. Moreover, it is heard that the situation there is very fierce and they are clamoring for independence. Those two places may not be able to be preserved.

Many people secretly laughed at Hardy for making a loss-making deal, and these hundreds of millions of dollars might be wasted.

Hardy scoffed at these claims.

Those people only saw the simple return on investment issue, but they didn't know that these places would be worth trillions in the future.

Even through these two places, he could establish a real country.

As for how to keep the fiefdom, Hadi is not an ordinary businessman, and "Hadi Security and Defense Company" is his weapon.