Chapter 707 Prelude to Naval Battle
Sheffield did not expect to settle such an important matter in one go. I believe that Morgan Jr. and Rockefeller Jr. who left also thought so. There is something wrong with sleeping with other people's sisters. The slave owner even had to comfort Edith Rockefeller and Louisa Morgan, saying that this was normal communication time.
"Time is a great concept. It tells me not to rush anything." Sheffield reached out and touched Louisa Morgan's cheek. "In fact, I know that it is an unreasonable request for me to put Texas on an equal footing with New York. As your brother said, New York has far more financial power than other cities. It can even be said that New York represents the financial industry of the United States."
"I have no objection. You are my man. Even if the person in front of me is my brother, I don't want you to suffer any loss." Louisa Morgan held Sheffield's hand with her backhand and looked very comfortable with her eyes slightly closed.
"You are smart. You know that your future is tied to me. Don't be fooled by the fact that you both have the same last name. Edith understood this much earlier than you. The accumulation of being a few years older does exist!" Sheffield laughed and said, "It will be of great significance to finish this."
"What aspect do you mean?" Edith Rockefeller asked curiously, "Isn't it just a very stable way to make money? You have so many businesses, so it shouldn't be a problem for you."
"Any industry can be eliminated, but in the foreseeable future, no one can eliminate money printing." Sheffield calmly corrected her woman's thoughts, "Since the day this bank appeared, in a sense, our class has stabilized. There may be geniuses who break through the boundaries and rush into our class as a fish that slips through the net, but this situation will not appear in large numbers in the future. We can calmly think about how to make the citizen class content with the status quo smartly and without leaving any trace, and become a human blood bank to provide us with nutrients."
Sheffield believes that the biggest role of the Federal Reserve is to give the families involved in it countless opportunities to make a comeback. The families in it can help each other and face all threats from inside and outside together. They can even ignore temporary failures, because there will always be opportunities to make a comeback.
"Honey, we haven't talked on the phone for a long time. Do you miss me?" Sheffield confided his true wife on the other end of the phone. He suddenly lived in New York and handed over all the affairs of the joint company to Anne. He felt a little guilty about it.
Slave owners would not hide anything from their wives, and the Federal Reserve was no exception. This could be considered an extra safeguard. As a diligent and intelligent woman, Anne also understood the importance of this matter. "This matter is very important. You always thought that you would suffer if you agreed to Morgan. Did the Morgan and Rockefeller families not coerce you?"
"They want to coerce me? This is difficult! My dear, when the war is over, I will give you an unprecedented gift. Now you can imagine which of our children will inherit it." Sheffield said with a beaming face, "It would be best if our two sons inherit different properties, one in China and one abroad, so that they can take care of each other in the future."
Once the war was over, Sheffield took the entire western coast of the Persian Gulf, south of Basra in southern Iraq, plus the oil-producing areas of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, as well as the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. With 70% of the Persian Gulf oil and more than 45% of the world's oil reserves, he would give the country to Anne's children. As for whether it would be the eldest or the second child, it was not a matter of urgency.
"Is your mouth filled with honey? I thought you were in New York and had been charmed by the women there." Annie snorted and said, "Okay, I'm going to get busy. When will Baiyin make a move?"
"When the British need us!" Sheffield's answer was brief and to the point, and he hung up the phone reluctantly.
Silver will become less and less valuable as time goes by, so Sheffield will take advantage of the world war to get rid of it.
Entering the 20th century, the international gold standard has experienced many ups and downs since its establishment, and silver seems to have become a forgotten corner. As the status of gold in international reserves and trade increases, the price of silver also falls. In 1910, the price of an ounce of gold was about 38 times the price of an ounce of silver. In 1930, it increased to nearly 63 times, and in 1940 it increased to nearly 100 times! In other words, the wealth of those who chose to hold silver as a reserve tool in 1910 will be only one-third of that of those who chose gold as a reserve tool 30 years later.
But world wars are not normal. During world wars, the value of silver will increase, which provides a lot of room for maneuver. There is only so much gold, and the reserve of silver is much larger than that of gold, making it more suitable for world wars with huge consumption.
Now there is another favorable condition for Sheffield, that is, Mexico, a major silver producer and a well-known TV drama power in later generations, is in the midst of civil unrest, and the important players in the silver market have reached a mess in their country. Objectively, it has also raised the value of silver, allowing Sheffield to bet more confidently.
Of course, in the case of silver, the potential beneficiaries were not just the slave owner who had been prepared. There was also China, which used silver as its currency. Conservative calculations showed that the purchasing power of China, which used silver as its main currency, would increase by more than one third during the world war.
However, Sheffield knew that China itself lacked precious metals, otherwise it would not have used copper coins as currency for thousands of years. This benefit only appeared once and was unsustainable.
While the United States was galloping along the road of class solidification, the protagonists of the World War were also working hard. On the Eastern Front, the German army launched a campaign against the Russian army in the area from Riga to Shavli on the Baltic Sea coast.
In order to annihilate the Fifth Army of the Russian Empire, the German army crossed the Wendava River and began to advance slowly towards Mitava with twice the number of troops. The Russian right wing retreated eastward and fought tenaciously in the Shavli area. Finally, the German army occupied Shavli and launched a large-scale attack towards Riga and Vilnius. The German army occupied a large area of land west of Mitava and the Western Dvina River. The vanguard arrived west of Vilnius, posing a serious threat to the flank of the Russian army. In order to preserve its strength, the Russian army took the initiative to withdraw and gave up both sides of the Vistula River. The Riga-Shavli Battle ended.
After all, this is a world of comparison. Compared with the predicament of Britain being stuck in the Dardanelles, the Germans can easily make do with it. Moreover, the British naval battleships sunk by mines and shore artillery made the German Navy, especially Tirpitz, believe that as long as a successful naval battle was launched, it would not be impossible to break through the British naval blockade.
Although Germany strengthened its naval power, it still lagged behind Britain in terms of the number of ships and displacement tonnage, and the caliber and number of artillery were also inferior to those of Britain. Therefore, after the war began, Britain relied on its naval advantage to impose a naval blockade on Germany. The British main fleet squatted in the port of Scapafello like a watchdog, staring at the German High Seas Fleet, trapping it in Wilhelmshaven and Bremerhaven for most of the time, becoming a veritable fleet.
This would be more disadvantageous to the German Navy, because the British Royal Navy had a geographical advantage and always seized cargo ships bound for Germany and bought the cargo on them. Britain's shipbuilding speed did not slow down, but Germany could not continue to maintain the speed of warship construction.
Now, after the naval battles with the Austro-Italian fleets of the Mediterranean Allies and Britain's predicament in the Dardanelles, Tirpitz decided to let the fleet, which was seen as an existence by the British, come out to bite.
Tirpitz had been preparing for this for half a year, using submarines, warships and Zeppelins to harass British ports.
"Through offensive surprise attacks on the British naval forces responsible for monitoring and blockading the German coast at any possible opportunity, and at the same time attacking the mines and submarines on the British coast, the goal of destroying the British fleet can be achieved. When the results of such actions accumulate to the point where the naval strength of both sides is equal, all our forces must be ready and assembled to try to find an opportunity that is unfavorable to the enemy and launch a fleet decisive battle." Tirpitz said to his favorite student, Admiral Scheer, "I believe that the British are already aware of this idea."
"Three days later, we will use the old code book to issue the last order. Once Hipper's fleet sets sail, we will immediately change all the codes! Follow Hipper's fleet and wait for the Royal Navy to appear." Tirpitz said, "This will determine the course of the war."
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
