Chapter 1109: A consortium comparable to a country

On April 27, the British army officially launched a large-scale attack on Stanley Port, and the siege line advanced towards the front line near Stanley Port.

The starving and freezing Argentine troops on the Malvinas Islands also faced an attack by the British army.

Although there were more than 15,000 Argentine defenders in the Malvinas Islands, not all of them were professional soldiers. At least 12,000 of them were temporary soldiers temporarily called up by the Argentine military from the mainland. Who could have known that Galtieri had never really expected the British to wage a distant war?

So you can imagine the quality and combat effectiveness of these people.

Under the combined suppression of the British army, navy and air force, the Malvinas Islands were captured in just one day. Apart from the 372 defenders who died in battle, the rest were all captured, and the former British garrison imprisoned on the island was released

The news of the fall of the Malvinas Islands was broadcast by the British military to the garrison in Stanley Harbour, and psychological operations were launched, which had a far greater effect than the Argentine army's broadcast of homesick songs to the British army.

Furthermore, the Argentine army in Stanley Harbour was also suppressed by the British army's three services, and the navy was afraid to leave the harbour, so the Argentine army retreated step by step, and one highland after another was captured by the British army.

On 4 May, the British navy once again assisted the marines in launching a large-scale attack on Stanley Harbour.

That night, British warships fired more than 1,300 shells, levelling the summit of Table Mountain and capturing the last remaining high ground, Mount William and Mount Sebel, on the outskirts of Stanley.

On 5 May, the British army surrounded Stanley and prepared for the final assault.

As the bomber squadrons took off for strategic bombing, the Argentine garrison raised the white flag in the harbour.

The Argentine defenders had surrendered!

British ground forces commander Major General Jeremy Moore met with Argentine Major General Menendez to negotiate. At 6 o'clock that afternoon, the British army accepted the Argentine army's surrender, and the British army officially took over Stanley Port.

Although Stanley Port is on the South American continent, it is actually the capital of the Falkland Islands, which is more than 700 kilometres away from the coast.

With the capture of Stanley Port by the British army, the official end of the Falklands War was marked.

The British government then announced to the world that the 'Falklands War' had been won, a news that shocked the whole world.

Galtieri had wagered everything on the war, putting the confidence of the people and the fate of the country at risk, but was defeated by the British in just 33 days after crossing the Atlantic. The damage to the Argentinian people can be imagined. The internal economic and social conflicts that had been temporarily suppressed by the high tide of nationalism once again erupted, and were even more intense than before!

Therefore, under the tacit influence of the United Kingdom, the United States and other countries, there were huge anti-military government and anti-Galtieri demonstrations in Argentina. The demonstrations turned into violent actions of smashing, looting and burning, and Argentina was in chaos. The various political parties in Argentina began to compete for power, and it was only a matter of time before Galtieri stepped down.

However, Xia Yu did not pay attention to this for the time being.

The opportunity he had been waiting for had finally arrived!

...

May 9th.

After several days of busy dealing with post-war matters, Margaret Thatcher was finally able to relax a little.

And on this day.

She once again received Xia Yu in her office.

This time, without the company of Prince Philip, there were only Xia Yu and Margaret Thatcher in the office.

'Lady Margaret, congratulations on Britain's victory in the war in just 33 days! Britain has gained enormous prestige around the world! I don't think any country dares to look down on Britain!'

Xia Yu smiled and congratulated Margaret Thatcher.

Margaret Thatcher thanked him politely: 'Thank you!'

'And thank you, Mr Xia, for your reminder!'

Hearing this, Xia Yu's heart settled.

Although he was quite sure that Margaret Thatcher would not turn her back on him, he still had a slight doubt. Now that she has acknowledged it, it means there is something to talk about.

As for the outcome of the negotiations, it would depend on how he spoke to Margaret Thatcher next.

Xia Yu said modestly, 'Lady Margaret, the information I provide will only be of some help to Britain in terms of the end of the war and the war damage, but the heroic fighting of British soldiers was also a crucial factor in the victory of the war!'

Margaret Thatcher smiled and said proudly in an official tone, 'Our soldiers have always been the best!'

'Yes!'

Xia Yu replied with a smile.

Then he laid an extremely important foundation for the following negotiations, and asked, 'Margaret, I heard that at the beginning of last month, the special envoy of the Sultan of Brunei came to London again to discuss with the Foreign Secretary the transfer of diplomatic and defence rights for national independence. I heard that Brunei will become a fully independent country on January 1, 1984.'

The UK had previously allowed many Southeast Asian countries, such as India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Singapore, Bangladesh, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Democratic Yemen to become independent.

Now it supports Brunei's full independence and agrees to completely transfer various rights. There is no reason to hold on to Hong Kong, which is even less tenable.

Margaret Thatcher was such a shrewd woman, how could she not understand the meaning of Xia Yu's words?

She had been pondering this question since October last year, and had already given her preliminary consent. Now, another six months had passed, and she had come to a clear decision.

Although Britain had now won the Falklands War and was in a strong position, Margaret Thatcher had no intention of taking advantage of the situation to cause trouble.

There were a number of factors involved.

First, the mainland is not Argentina, and Hong Kong is not the Falkland Islands. Britain may have won the Falklands War, but it definitely cannot win the war on the mainland's doorstep. The mainland has already proved this many times before, and the United States has always come away defeated!

Second, the entire Western world has now reached a consensus: in the midst of the Cold War, they must weaken the Soviet Union and China as much as possible. The West is currently in a honeymoon period with the mainland, and as long as the Cold War continues, this relationship should continue. Even if the United Kingdom wants to turn its back on the mainland, the United States will not support it.

Third, the residents of the Falkland Islands are actually of British descent, but Hong Kong is mainly Chinese.

Fourth, and most fundamentally, after World War II, Britain had already shown a tendency to abandon all its colonies, taking an 'if you want to go, go; if not, we don't care' attitude.

Otherwise, India's independence could not be suppressed, but Britain could completely suppress Singapore's independence. Singapore is sandwiched between the Malacca Strait, and it would not be less crucial than Hong Kong, right?

Star City was still a British colony, while Hong Kong was only a leased territory with a limited term!

Therefore, both the British upper class and Margaret Thatcher herself had a clear understanding of Hong Kong.

Hong Kong was definitely not going to be retained, and the key was what benefits could be obtained!

In the past life, the mainland was poor and had a strong backbone, so it was impossible to agree to give the UK tangible benefits, and naturally the UK was angry.

So although the draft was signed early on, there was a lot of messing around afterwards.

But this time was different. Xia Yu put his interests on the table early on and used his own bargaining chips to talk about the economic and social stability of Xiangjiang.

In the eyes of governments in the capitalist world, a consortium and a country's government can be compared in terms of their interests.

Let me give you a very simple example.

Last year, Canada's GDP was just over 300 billion US dollars, while the assets of a single American Rockefeller consortium exceeded Canada's annual GDP.

Without considering the struggle between the consortia, if the Rockefeller consortium is willing to invest in the UK, it is equivalent to a Canadian national team investing in the UK, and it is even more than that, because the Canadian government's responsibility is to govern the country, and it is actually impossible to come up with any money to invest in the UK, but the Rockefeller consortium can come up with so much money, and the Rockefeller consortium can also influence the United States, the leader of NATO!

Similarly, if Xia Yu invested 5 billion pounds in the UK, he would be able to become the top external investor in the UK by himself. After all, the UK's GDP last year was only 493 billion US dollars, and Xia Yu's 5 billion pound investment would be comparable to 2% of the UK's GDP!

And last year, the Sudanese Republic of Africa, which ranked 58th in the world's GDP, had a GDP of just over 9.15 billion US dollars.

Xia Yu's investment of £5 billion in the UK can therefore exceed the annual GDP of the 58th-ranked country in the world, the Republic of the Sudan!

Even if Xia Yu's £5 billion investment needs to be completed over three years, an average annual investment of more than £1.66 billion can still exceed the annual GDP of the UK's old neighbour Iceland, whose GDP last year was less than $3.2 billion, or less than £1.65 billion in British pounds!

So although Xia Yu was just a British national from Hong Kong, Margaret Thatcher did not treat him with the slightest bit of indolence. In her eyes, Xia Yu's status was similar to, if not higher than, the heads of state of countries such as Luxembourg, Portugal, Peru, and Chile.

From Xia Yu's position, disregarding the mainland factor, Xia Yu was fully qualified and justified to talk to her about the stability of the economy and society.

...

Margaret Thatcher nodded and said frankly, 'Yes, last month the envoy of the Sultan of Brunei did come, and an agreement was signed. By 1984, Brunei will be supported in becoming fully independent.'

Xia Yu smiled and praised, 'After World War II, Britain has played an extremely important role in the process of promoting democracy around the world, which is obvious to all.'

After the compliment, Xia Yu immediately brought up the matter of Hong Kong, but instead of speaking from a political perspective, he asked the question on behalf of the local residents.

'Margaret, when are you going to support us local people regarding the economic and social stability of Hong Kong?'

Margaret Thatcher did not directly answer Xia Yu's question, but instead asked in return, 'Mr Xia, a few months ago you made a large-scale investment in France, and the news spread throughout Europe. I heard that it has already cost billions of dollars.'

'I wonder if you can still find enough money to invest in the UK?'

Xia Yu's face was calm and unruffled as he said, 'Margaret, you don't need to worry about that at all. Outside of the UK, I can still find a couple of billion dollars. The global economy is currently in a downturn, so there are plenty of investment opportunities for me. In Europe, the country I've invested the most in is the UK!'

'And France also just invested massively some time ago!'

'Of course, I'm also a British national now, so if there are suitable investment opportunities in the UK, I'd be happy to invest.'

Margaret Thatcher's eyes twinkled and a smile appeared on her face as she said, 'The UK of course welcomes your investment...'

...

Next, Margaret Thatcher no longer doubted Xia Yu's strength and began negotiating with him.

For Margaret Thatcher, she hoped that Xia Yu would realise all the investment this year, so that it could stimulate the UK economy as soon as possible, improve the unemployment problem, and play a greater role.

However, Xia Yu did not want to invest it all at once, at least not until the UK had negotiated with the mainland.

So the two mainly discussed this point.

After nearly fifteen minutes of discussion, a result finally came out.

Xia Yu must complete an investment of 2.5 billion pounds in the UK by the end of the year, 1.5 billion pounds the following year, and 1 billion pounds the year after that.

The British Governor of Hong Kong, Peter Munro, will provide Xia Yu with all-round assistance from the government after taking office, helping Hong Kong restore its economic and social order and make it more and more prosperous.

Of course, this is just official rhetoric, not so explicit.

In fact, the meaning is very clear, that is, the new Governor of Hong Kong, Peter Munro, will listen to Xia Yu after taking office, as long as it does not endanger the interests of the UK.

After the deal was settled, Xia Yu left contentedly.

In order to avoid leaving a handle, this negotiation would not be left on paper, and it would rely on the credibility of Margaret Thatcher and Xia Yu.

As long as Britain and the mainland signed an agreement, then everything would be settled.

And as long as his strength grew stronger, Britain would not risk suffering huge economic losses and turn its back on him.

Xia Yu was confident that as time passed, Hong Kong's interests in the UK would become far less than the UK's interests in Hong Kong. At that time, if anyone took the initiative to provoke Hong Kong and try to force Xia Yu to completely sever ties with the UK, the UK might even become a defender without Xia Yu having to do anything.

After all, whether it is between countries or between people, interests always come first!

After staying in the UK for another two days, Xia Yu arranged everything properly.

On the morning of 13 May, with Elena looking on with reluctance, Xia Yu boarded the Cathay Pacific flight back to Xiangjiang.

After spending more than half a year in Europe, and even spending the Spring Festival here, it was time for him to return to Xiangjiang...