Chapter 445 Mess
Under Howard's insistence, the staff around him had to start contacting the consulate in Long Zaijiaoben.
It has been more than ten years since Longhejiaoben resumed diplomatic relations.
Both parties also had a honeymoon period.
Jiaoben once had a beautiful dream that he wanted to bring dragons into his system through economic control, and then gradually gain control over the dragons.
However, it played out this conspiracy for quite a long time, but it was of no avail.
Finally, relying on its internal strength, Long surpassed its competitors in almost all fields of industrial technology in just a few years.
This is a doomsday disaster for the foot basin.
Today, the consul of Longzhuojiaoben is called Xiong Conghui.
Xiong Conghui was watching the news in the consulate that morning when his secretary came to report to him that Howard was now stranded at Jiaoben International Airport and that Howard hoped that Long could let him go.
After listening to the report, Xiong Conghui found it quite strange.
Because, how could a dragon attack an envoy?
That's simply impossible!
Dragons are not like lizards. Dragons have bottom lines.
Even if the fight gets fierce, it is impossible to attack the envoys.
However, Xiong Conghui still communicated with the Dragon military and confirmed that Dragon had no action plan against Howard.
It's very likely that this was all just an accident.
Xiong Conghui asked his men to contact Howard's people and inform them that the dragon had no plans against Howard.
What was unexpected was that Howard went even further and said that he hoped the dragon would guarantee his safety?
Xiong Conghui was a little bit amused.
Damn, are you being arrogant?
You asked me to ensure your safety?
The key is, why?
Xiong Conghui flatly rejected Howard's request.
He said, I can only guarantee that we will not pose any threat to you.
Howard felt a little relieved after he got the dragon's guarantee of safety.
However, he was really a little scared at this moment.
He called Snyder again, hoping that Snyder could send fighter jets to escort him.
Snyder agreed.
The plane Howard was on officially took off.
As the plane took off, Howard's heart was in his throat.
Aircraft accidents are most likely to occur during takeoff and landing.
If an airplane encounters a flying bird or something during its climb, it could result in catastrophic consequences.
If the opposition forces were to use a drone to crash into the engine of the plane at this time, it would be the end of us.
However, during the entire process of the plane's climb, nothing dangerous happened.
After climbing for more than ten minutes, the plane finally reached an altitude of over 10,000 meters.
Then we headed towards our destination along the established Pacific route.
Two Eagle fighters had already taken off and were accompanying the passenger plane. Howard breathed a sigh of relief.
He thought there should be no problem.
The passenger plane flew south, getting farther and farther away from the dragon.
Howard felt that the farther away he was from the dragon, the safer he would be.
After a long flight, Howard's plane finally landed at Peanutton International Airport.
Howard walked out of the cabin door and saw the familiar scene, his eyes filled with tears of excitement.
He thought he would never come back.
The journey back this time was not easy.
Howard got off the plane.
At this time, it was almost 9 o'clock in the evening.
Howard thought, why not go meet the Eagle King tomorrow.
I'm really a little too tired today.
He got into the car that came to pick him up, and was about to leave when the car phone rang.
Howard answered the phone himself.
The call was from security consultant Hydeson.
"Mr. Howard, are you here yet?"
Howard said: "I just arrived and I'm already in the car that picked me up at the airport."
Hydson said, "Come to the Eagle Palace. His Majesty is waiting for you."
Howard smiled and said, "I thought it was a little too late today, so I planned to go and see His Majesty tomorrow."
Hyderson said, "His Majesty has been looking forward to your return. He is now eager to know the true situation regarding the foot basin."
"Come here quickly."
After Howard hung up the phone, he immediately asked the driver to drive to Eagle Palace.
He arrived at the Eagle Palace at around 9 o'clock in the evening.
The Eagle Palace was still brightly lit at this time.
Howard was led to Eagle King's office.
The Eagle King was already standing at the door waiting.
Seeing Howard coming in, he took two steps forward and gave Howard a hug.
Howard felt a little sour at this moment.
For one thing, he felt that the Eagle King he met this time looked a little haggard, and even his waist was a little bent.
After all, the Eagle King is not young. He is already over 70 years old.
"Mr. Howard, I finally meet you, haha!" Eagle King said with a hearty smile.
Howard said with tears in his eyes, "Your Majesty, I almost didn't see you."
"You probably don't know how terrible the foot basin is now. Many people are killed every day."
"I encountered several attacks when I came back this time..."
Howard briefly recounted the dangers he encountered during his return.
The Eagle King's eyes widened when he heard this: "No way? Is it so exaggerated?"
"I've heard similar stories before and I thought they were lying to me."
Howard said, "Your Majesty, it's all true."
"The foot basins nowadays are so messy that it makes people feel that their lives can be destroyed at any time."
The Eagle King said: "This change is a bit too big, isn't it? It's unexpected."
"Tell me about it in detail."
Howard recounted the various harassments and actions of the opposition forces on the other side of the basin.
In fact, Eagle King had seen these reports countless times before.
But he was always skeptical.
Because, over the past many years, the foot basin has been too docile.
The people in the foot basin are just like the eagle's slaves, and they have no problem being abused in any way.
Now it’s good, are these slaves really rebelling?
According to the report, two large ammunition depots were bombed within a short period of time, and Eagle soldiers and ordinary people would be beaten and killed if they were left alone.
Moreover, the methods used by the Foot Basin People are extremely cruel.
This was something the Eagle King could not tolerate.
The Eagle King felt that the Foot Basin Man was simply a dog-like existence. How dare he dare to attack the noble Eagle Man?
Don't you want to get involved anymore?
"Are we too kind to them? That's why they are so cruel?" said the Eagle King.
Howard smiled bitterly and said, "Your Majesty, I also thought at first that we were too kind."
“But in reality, we suppressed them brutally.”
"We used fighter planes to carry out bombing."
"We killed a lot of people." "But we didn't scare the Foot Basin people."
"Their fight is only getting more intense. It's horrible."
The Eagle King said: "I guess the elites in the foot basin must be making trouble in secret. Maybe they themselves are the ones who are promoting the civil resistance."
Howard said: "The Foot Basin authorities are definitely involved."
"Now, the entire Foot Basin authorities have a complicated attitude towards us."
"Your Majesty, I personally feel that there is probably no oil or water left in the foot basin."
"Mr. Snyder also believes that the costs of ruling over the foot basin currently outweigh the benefits."
The Eagle King frowned, stood up, walked around the office twice, and said, "The total benefits we got from the foot basin this time are less than one trillion, right?"
"After so many decades, the Foot Basin people should have accumulated tens of trillions of assets, right?"
The Eagle King still clings to this obsession.
The main reason is that Giant Eagle’s life is really hard now.
It urgently needs a large amount of funds to help it out of its predicament.
Since the decision has been made to kill the fat sheep, Jiaoben, and eat its meat, we must squeeze its marrow out of its bones and do it as thoroughly as possible.
The Eagle King wants to get at least 10 trillion from the foot basin.
In that case, the Giant Eagle's difficulties can basically be overcome.
But looking at the current situation, the Eagle King’s wishful thinking may be in vain.
So, he is very disappointed now.
Hydeson coughed lightly and said, "Your Majesty, most of the assets of the Foot Basin are actually retained in its territory in the form of fixed investments."
"Buildings, infrastructure, factories, machinery, and the like account for the majority."
"Most of these things we can't move."
"Even if it's a machine that can be moved, it won't be of any use to us if we move it back."
The Eagle King asked, "Have they emptied all the money in their treasury?"
The Eagle King has always been thinking about the things in the Foot Basin Treasury.
Hydeson hesitated for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, almost all of the gold, silver and other precious metals reserves in the foot basin have been brought to us."
"They also used their foreign exchange to buy our national bonds."
“There aren’t many other assets that can be quickly converted into cash, right?”
The Eagle King said, "How is the relocation of their important enterprises going?"
Heidenson said: "Almost all important companies have built their R&D centers, design centers and production centers here."
"Of course, they will definitely retain some production capacity in their country."
"Because they themselves must also hire employees and meet the needs of their own people!"
The Eagle King asked, "What is the unemployment rate like in the Foot Basin now?"
"The unemployment rate is probably in the high 20s," Hudson said. "That's pretty high."
"Because of the relocation of the industrial chain, many small and medium-sized enterprises have gone bankrupt."
"The economic situation of the foot basin is extremely bad."
The Eagle King was very surprised: "Is their unemployment rate so high?"
"It's probably higher than what their own authorities are counting," Hyderson said.
"Many people in the foot basin can't survive."
“That’s why the lower classes of the people in the foot basin rose up against us.”
"When people can't survive, they're going to try their best."
The Eagle King looked at Howard.
Howard is considered a close friend of the Eagle King.
When Eagle King was running for election, he donated a lot to him.
The Eagle King has a very good relationship with him.
Howard bowed and said, "I basically agree with what Mr. Hydeson said."
"The foot basins are really bad now. They are not just bad."
"I think there's nothing left to be nostalgic about."
"Your Majesty, I have no intention of going back this time."
"It was too dangerous there. I was lucky enough to come back alive, thanks to God's blessing."
When King Eagle saw Howard saying the same thing, he sighed and said, "It's really weird!"
"Why can such a powerful industrial country just say it can't do it?"
Hydeson thought that the basin was in such a state because of the giant eagle...
However, the rise of the dragons may be the heaviest blow to the Foot Basin.
In the 1970s and 1980s, foot basins were an absolute industrial giant.
It ranks first in the world in all categories of home appliances. Its air conditioners, color TVs, refrigerators and other categories have a market share of over 50 percent!
It once had half of the global market share in the shipbuilding industry!
It is leading the entire industry chain in the field of integrated electronics!
That is a truly complete industry chain! From lithography machines to single-crystal silicon wafers to design, packaging and testing, it is far ahead of the world.
However, it suffered two severe blows in the early 80s.
One is that Dad began to doubt it, and Giant Eagle began to split up its advantageous industries.
The other is that the dragon began to make rapid breakthroughs in almost all fields of industrial technology.
The dragon's breakthrough was so great that it directly created a generation gap of at least five years with the lizard party, leaving the lizard party behind.
The production capacity of Julong also began to explode in a very short period of time.
Julong is a leader in the fields of home appliances, microelectronics, shipbuilding, aviation, aerospace and even automobiles.
The foot basin suffered the heaviest blow.
The blow was so severe that almost all of Jiaoben’s advantageous industries collapsed.
The microelectronics industry in China collapsed first, followed by the home appliance field and the shipbuilding industry. Finally, the giant dragon even dealt a severe blow to China in the automotive field.
As mentioned before, the area is small and densely populated, and there are no resources at all.
It is a typical case of importing raw materials, processing them and then exporting them as finished products, which means that both ends are abroad, and the dependence on foreign trade is very high.
After many of its markets were taken away, its industrial development began to decline.
Large companies in the foot basin industry have laid off employees.
Their ability to earn a surplus has also been greatly reduced.
They can still live off their past capital at the beginning, after all, they have earned a lot of foreign exchange over the years.
However, sooner or later, those savings will be used up.
The area of Jiaoba is small and densely populated, with a population of more than 100 million. Their self-sufficiency rate in food, meat, eggs, fruits, vegetables, etc. is only 30%!
If they can't import these, the people in the country probably won't even have enough to eat.
As luck would have it, when it rains it pours.
As the foot basin struggled, the giant eagle began to harvest the foot basin with precision.
They really harvest with precision!
The foreign exchange in the basin was forced to buy eagle's government bonds.
The gold and other reserves in the Foot Basin were pulled to the Giant Eagle.
The few remaining high-quality enterprises in the foot basin were also forced to move away one after another.
The current situation does not even have the money to import food.
How can life not be bitter?
Howard said: "Your Majesty, I think the culprit is the dragon!"
"They are frantically grabbing all the industrial capacity in the world!"
"Because of them, none of us as a whole can live a good life."
The Eagle King said: "Everyone knows that they are the culprit, but no one can do anything to the dragon."
"I think, if it really doesn't work, we should just withdraw from the foot basin! Leave this mess to Long..." (End of this chapter)