Gao Yang's hand holding the cigarette shook slightly, and his eyebrows were raised, thinking that the British have such a big appetite! The crowd was stunned by the huge number that Major Parker had said.

Major Parker was talking about £20 million! Not the ocean! That's nearly 100 million dollars in dollars!

In this era, the GDP of the United States, which is the most economically powerful in this era, has only just exceeded $100 billion this year.

If inflation is not calculated, based on the price of gold alone, 20 million pounds is equivalent to at least 40 billion RMB in modern time and space! This is definitely a huge arms purchase contract that can change the government's decision-making in this time and space!

This amount of money is a very huge expense even for Gao Yang. There are many places where Gaoyang needs to spend money now, whether it is to pay the army for daily training consumption, buy weapons and ammunition, buy raw materials and machinery for the production of military factories, and so on. It is still supported by the construction of various local livelihood projects, the salary expenses of public officials, etc., etc., all of which are supported by Gaoyang's continuous investment.

Because Gaoyang has adopted a low-tax approach to support rapid economic development, the tax collected in the jurisdiction is simply not enough for a fraction of the expenses.

Everything Gao Yang has now is based on his huge capital expenditure, and once the capital chain is broken, Gao Yang will immediately fall into embattlement.

Gao Yang was silent, sitting quietly in the chair, touching his chin with his left hand, and tapping his right index finger lightly on the table. Gao Yang was also a little worried in his heart, this was just the initial investment. He's going to spend a lot of money on the Americans.

Gao Yang's original plan was to take back the Jiangnan Shipyard in the magic capital, which was directly under the jurisdiction of the Admiralty, and invest in a large-scale expansion into a top-level shipyard.

After that, the Americans were directly provided with technical information on the North Carolina-class battleships, and two ships were built, one was built by the United States, and one was built at the Jiangnan Shipyard.

By the time these two battleships were completed, the battleships would be enough. Of course, new battleships will be built later, but that will be after the end of the war with Japan.

Gao Yang's plan was to exchange the remaining tonnage of capital ships for more aircraft carrier tonnage. At the same time, the technical data of the Yorktown-class aircraft carriers were also given to the Americans, and according to the North Carolina-class construction model, the Americans built two ships in the United States, and at the same time built two more ships at the Jiangnan Shipyard, so that the shipyard's technical workers could be greatly trained and their experience in building large warships.

At the same time, Jiangnan Shipyard also has a dock capable of building 20,000-ton and 35,000-ton warships and various shipbuilding equipment! These dockyards and construction equipment are also a lot of money!

At the same time, because it is directly providing technical information, Gao Yang estimates that the cost of a single Yorktown-class aircraft carrier will not exceed $13 million.

And the cost of a single North Carolina-class battleship will not exceed 40 million US dollars, after all, the British Royal Navy battleship Nelson, which was launched just a few days ago, cost 7.11 million pounds.

The North Carolina class, a treaty-type battleship of the same class as Nelson, does not need technical research and development expenses, even if you add profits and raw material transportation to build a ship in China, personnel salaries, technical equipment upgrades, etc., it will not exceed the Nelson class too much. After all, the Americans still have access to advanced technical materials in vain.

Gao Yang originally wanted to build the Essex-class, but the scientific and technological strength of this time and space was not enough to complete the construction of this class of aircraft carriers, and the Essex-class was too black technology for this time and space.

Gao Yang is ready to wait until the 4 aircraft carriers have formed combat effectiveness before immediately starting a war against Japan and taking back Taiwan!

But now the warships bought from the British alone have cost hundreds of millions of dollars. If we add to this the warships to be ordered in the United States and the tens of thousands of naval officers and sailors that will be equipped for this fleet, their recruitment and training expenses are also a huge expense.

In addition, it is necessary to expand the military port, build new docks, dig deep berths, build new naval bases, various factories to support the navy, build various fuel and ammunition depots, and so on.

The origin is initially estimated below, even without counting the costs of preparing for the construction of new warships from the United States, and shipyards. The current tentative fleet size alone will require nearly $200 million in basic combat strength after completing initial training.

Gaoyang doesn't just have a navy! He also had to raise hundreds of thousands of troops, local construction in several provinces, and numerous large-scale engineering buildings. Goyang's money is not unlimited!

Everyone in the conference room looked at Gao Yang with bated breath, waiting for his final decision. Lin Jianzhang and Du Xiqi were already sweating all over their bodies, and their tightly clenched hands were trembling slightly, now is the best chance for the Chinese Navy to be reborn! Just wait for Gao Yang's words.

With the rhythmic tapping of Gao Yang's fingers, everyone's hearts were beating with it. The atmosphere began to be depressed, and the mood of everyone present became more and more tense.

At this time, Major Parker suddenly opened his mouth and said softly, "Mr. Gao, in order to be able to complete such a huge contract, any resistance to this contract will be overthrown by the British Empire!" Whoever it is! ”

Gao Yang's fingers tapping on the table stopped suddenly, the corners of his mouth curled slightly, he looked up at Major Parker slightly, and said softly, "You are the main person in charge of this arms purchase contract negotiation, right?" Mr. Major? ”

Major Parker's face froze slightly, but then he reacted and chuckled and said, "Mr. Gao, this matter is not important, is it?" What is your opinion on my proposal? ”

Gao Yang rubbed his eyebrows and said with a smile: "Will the British Empire be able to convince the rest of Washington's signatories to the Naval Treaty?" ”

Major Parker said with a serious face: "Except for the United States, the other signatories, our British Empire, can persuade them to accept your country into the treaty!" As for the U.S., Mr. Egao's good relations with the U.S. should not be a problem, right? ”

Gao Yang nodded slightly and said, "I'll say it on the American side, but if the Japanese are resolutely opposed?" ”

"Japanese?" Major Parker snorted lightly with obvious disdain in his eyes, "The Japanese dare not go against the decision of the British Empire!" ”

"Good!" Gao Yang slapped the table and stood up violently, "20 million pounds, deal!" Major Parker breathed a sigh of relief, the huge construction cost of more than 20 million pounds for the next three Nelson-class battleships was finally here! The Royal Navy will do whatever it takes to bring about the successful completion of this military procurement contract.

Sir Ma Ke got up and bowed slightly, and said with a sincere face, "Mr. Gao, I will send the news back to China immediately." The Government of China will give you a satisfactory reply within 3 days at the latest. ”

Gao Yang nodded, looked at Sir Mack, and said softly, "I think the Washington Naval Treaty needs to be renegotiated." ”

After speaking, he turned his head to look at the two admirals who were already excited beside him, and said with a chuckle: "Now the navy is satisfied, right?" The two generals nodded busily.

After the negotiations, Gao Yang and his entourage left the British Consulate. At this time, it was no longer suitable for Gao Yang to live in a villa on Xiafei Road in the French Concession as a senior official, so Gao Yang chose to go to the Demon Capital Garrison Headquarters to rest.

Gao Yang took Gao Feng to the Demon Capital Garrison Headquarters. Sitting in the car, Gao Feng whispered, "Sir, this time the expenditure for the expansion of the navy has exceeded the bottom line of our hearts. Such a huge expenditure can have a big impact on other aspects! ”

Gao Yang nodded slightly, and said lightly: "I know the way!" This is also the reason why a poor country cannot afford to play the navy. It's not just that it costs money to buy them, it's even more expensive to raise them! But this is also a must, in this era a country cannot rise without a strong navy! ”

He took out his cigarette and lit it and continued: "This time it was just in time, Mr. Churchill was going to play the gold standard, and now the signs of British capital flight have begun to appear." My big order this time is not just 20 million pounds for the British government, although it is a lot, but it is not a very great income for the British Empire, after all, the king of the world for hundreds of years has a very thick foundation. ”

After speaking, he whispered a little self-deprecatingly, "I thought I was really rich, but I didn't expect it to be far away." ”

took a deep puff of his cigarette and then said to Gao Feng: "We look at things from a different perspective, and the British government hopes to use this list to stimulate the market and stabilize the financial turmoil after the change to the gold standard." Their ultimate goal is to defeat the dollar and regain its position as the universal currency of the world! Another reason is that Britain has weakened so much after the First World War that its deterrent power in the Far East has been greatly reduced. And Japan, having made a fortune from the First World War, already posed a substantial threat to British interests in the Far East! So the British government wanted to arm us against Japan's growing ambitions. Just as they did to Japan before the First Sino-Japanese War, this trick has been used by the British for hundreds of years, and it has long been perfected. ”

Rubbing his eyebrows slightly, he sighed and continued, "The so-called allies become potential enemies as soon as they have no use value, and all kinds of stumbling blocks emerge one after another. You see, it's the same situation when we go to the Americans tomorrow, and they are also using us to pull the back of the Japanese. Originally, the Washington Naval Treaty was a joint effort between Britain and the United States to trap Japan, and the funny thing is that the Japanese have not had a single strategist who can see through all this since the death of Ito Hirobumi. Japan's fate was sealed after Ito's death, even a hundred years later! Don't look at the British as if they are supporting me now, in fact, in their eyes I am just a pawn! As soon as I show the slightest hint of action that goes beyond Japan's threat to their interests, they will immediately once again puff Japan up to maintain balance! It's just that this time they encountered a problem that Einstein couldn't solve, and I could go back and forth! The British Empire, which has played with the world for hundreds of years, and its heir, the United States, have made trouble this time! ”