Chapter 59: Reading the Report Alone (Continued)

  The US Secretary of State Lansing was not lying, the Anglo-French coalition facing a Germany that had been preparing for years and had strong industrial power itself, has already shown signs of weakness. Even with the latest loan and the spontaneous action of the British and French governments to "borrow American national debt to save themselves", which achieved some effect, but sometimes wars that cost thousands of dollars a day cannot be solved just by having money. War calls for more soldiers' fresh lives, war-torn lands need more fresh blood...

  When Britain and France were almost drained, they had accumulated a huge debt while approaching the verge of collapse. Although they were still holding on in the battlefield, it was clear that this was a desperate stalemate. Facing an opponent who had been determined to win with maximum casualties from the start, the signs of defeat were becoming more and more obvious. Of course, if Britain and France declared surrender at this time, perhaps the one who should laugh the most would not be Kaiser Wilhelm II, because he had only won against two opponents who had nothing left, but he indeed deserved to laugh.

  The ones who would cry the most are probably the people behind the scenes manipulating England and France. They spent decades preparing, meticulously planning everything, carefully designing a huge trap for England and France to jump into, spending tens of billions of dollars in the process just to make them determined to jump in. In other words, all their chips were placed on the victory of the Anglo-French coalition. If they failed, all their efforts would be in vain, but in reality, they only lost the opportunity to earn more money. By now, they had already earned a lot of money. Of course, the ones who should be suffering the most are the people of the defeated country, not only did they lose the war, but also tens of millions of lives were lost in vain.

  "The war cannot be lost, and its scale must continue to expand..." This sentence quickly gained the upper hand in the backstage forces, and their unanimous decision was made, that is, to let America join the war. As for how long the war can last, it's no longer important, as long as they can win, what they can gain is already huge enough, otherwise, they will have nothing.

  US President Wilson, although a university professor by origin, with his idealistic colorfulness and some unfamiliarity with worldly affairs, at least had some integrity, he knew how he came to be in his position and how great power was obtained... In short, they knew that at times like these something had to be done, the phrase "returning favors" took on a full practical significance for Wilson, he needed to repay certain people.

  "The situation in Europe is extremely worrying, if this situation is not changed or adjusted, the situation will inevitably deteriorate, and the Entente Cordiale will fall into a deep abyss, which will be of no benefit to our country. Moreover, the huge loans provided by our country to Europe will be lost, and domestically, it will trigger a series of contradictions in people's livelihoods, which will inevitably have an impact on our country..." The letter from US Ambassador Page to President Wilson was so worded, and this highly threatening letter finally brewed a fine wine.

  On January 17, 1918, the British naval intelligence intercepted a telegram encrypted with Germany's highest diplomatic cipher 0075. The telegram was from German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann and was sent to the German ambassador in Washington, who would forward it to the President of Mexico. The contents of the telegram were an offer by Germany to help Mexico regain Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona from the United States if they declared war on the U.S.

  On February 25, President Wilson of the United States learned of the telegram's contents and after consulting with his subordinates and supporters. On March 1, Wilson tearfully announced the news to the public, the Lusitania incident still fresh in their minds, and the repeated sinking of merchant ships without cause had finally enraged the American people. On April 6, the US Congress also smoothly passed a war resolution, and the United States officially entered the war, once again demonstrating its strength.

  When Wilson ran for president, the biggest players in the US quickly chose their own representatives to hand over to Wilson. As a result, Paul Warburg took control of the American banking system, Bernard Baruch became chairman of the War Industries Board, and Eugene Meyer controlled the War Finance Corporation. It can be said that the people behind the scenes used every trick in the book to protect their nearly $10 billion investment in Europe, and finally the day arrived when they saw the fruits of their labor, as America entered the war.

  Benjamin Strong was one of the most important frontmen for a certain shadowy group, and this financial wizard had finally become the chairman of the Federal Reserve after many twists and turns. It is extremely ironic that this crucial position was actually the result of private discussions among a small group of people. However, not many people knew about this because the massive war machine had already begun to operate, and the efforts made to put Strong in place were finally beginning to pay off, of course, before that he had done a lot of work that benefited certain individuals.

  With a stroke of genius, Strong manipulated the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve System, concentrating power in the New York Federal Reserve Bank. On the surface, the system allowed each of the 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks to set its own discount rate and commercial paper acceptance policies, that is, the local boards of directors had the right to decide what kinds of commercial paper would be accepted for discounting at what rates, which enabled him to quickly establish different classes of commercial paper acceptance standards.

  However, with the imminent entry into an unprecedented large-scale war for humanity, the US government and military must make corresponding preparations.

  However, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York actually only accepted rapidly increasing government debt as collateral, since the amount of government debt far exceeded the total of all other commercial paper and was growing rapidly, soon marginalizing the collateral policy of the Federal Reserve's other regional banks. Under Strong's control, "open market operations" quickly established government debt as the primary and virtually the sole collateral, thereby gaining comprehensive control over the entire Federal Reserve System.

  Of course, due to the massive bond issuance to finance the European war, the US currency circulation was greatly reduced, and the power of the central bank began to emerge. The US government started to massively increase national debt for the war again, and the Federal Reserve also swallowed it up with an astonishing appetite. A huge amount of Federal Reserve notes poured into the circulation field like a flood, making up for the currency tightening caused by European war bonds.

  The cost of all this was a straight-line increase in the US national debt, and in just five years under Strong's guidance with the support of a large group of people, the US national debt soared 25 times from $1 billion to $25 billion. All of these debts were secured by the future tax payments of the American people. If they won the war, the behind-the-scenes manipulators would reap huge profits, and a strong America's victory in the war was inevitable. Of course, Strong would also play an even greater role.

  Of course, the people behind the scenes are not just thinking of making a big profit in finance. They have already started expanding production and stockpiling materials without the government's wartime order because they know better than the government when to enter a state of war? What kind of state is that? More importantly, they have the ability to produce and sell on their own, which is rumored to be "stable and risk-free".

  Chairman of the War Industries Board, Bernard Baruch, this illustrious position was held by a behind-the-scenes person. They didn't worry that their products would not be sold in the future. There were only unsatisfied orders and no spare production lines. When General Pershing's American troops were still drifting on the Atlantic Ocean, he had already used Stettinius to complete billions of dollars' worth of orders from his office at 23 Wall Street. Then, nearly $20 million worth of material orders flowed out of that enviable office every day. Baruch, Stettinius, and many others must have been very satisfied with this situation.

  Baruch's extravagance had to be paid for by someone, and his biggest backer was Eugene Meyer's War Finance Corporation. One of the important missions of the War Finance Corporation was to sell U.S. bonds to provide financial support for the war effort. Eugene skillfully took advantage of this function, while providing Baruch with a steady stream of funding, naturally making the victory of American soldiers more secure, and he did not forget to get some benefits for himself. If anyone could take a look at the company's accounts, they would inevitably have a horror movie-like illusion, with enough fake accounts, duplicate accounts, and other irregularities to make the person reviewing the accounts faint.

  "The speed at which the United States entered a state of war is breathtaking, from government decision-making to actual action, politicians and entrepreneurs have shown unprecedented efficiency...... Many people in the German Empire were surprised by the short time it took for the US to go from declaring war to its soldiers launching an offensive against the German army."

  It was a great surprise that on September 29, 1918, the first battle of American soldiers was also the Second Battle of the Marne River. In this battle, 200,000 US troops faced German troops who had been claimed by their superiors to be so hungry that they could no longer hold guns. Unexpectedly, they left behind 60,000 corpses on the battlefield and tens of thousands of wounded soldiers, who can actually be counted as martyrs for the country.

  This news thoroughly stunned many people, including the backstage manipulators who seemed to be all-powerful, they were thoroughly awakened by this news, and after looking around, they found that there was one giant missing beside them, which is Asia.

  Before making strategic adjustments, they could only let people claim that the warriors of America were so brave in battle and their achievements were so brilliant. In short, there would be politicians to explain everything for them, but the war couldn't stop. After dealing with all this, they began to reflect on all the details behind this massive project, and everything was re-examined.

  People behind the scenes began to suspect that someone was more powerful than them, because another group had rushed into the international arena earlier. The Asia-America Group had eagerly entered the European countries years before the outbreak of war and had also taken root in China. Although it is not clear what the Asia-America Group did in the years leading up to the outbreak of the Great War, everything was necessarily related to the strong anti-strike capability of the German Empire at this time.

  Moreover, the wartime industrial committee and many trusts did not treat Asia poorly. The snowflake-like orders were not reduced to the Asia Group. As a result, when many black hands were about to enjoy the fruits of victory, they found that the thorns around this fruit were particularly numerous. Of course, all this can only prove that someone is greedier than them and does not want the war to end early or reduce its scale and cruelty...

  A super-large group founded by Chinese people has always been unacceptable to the American upper class because of its owner being an inferior Asian, except for the group's products. This time they finally saw that someone was more cunning and ruthless than this group of old foxes, so according to their characteristics, the giant Asia-American Group naturally became an object that must be won over.

  …………

  Zhang Yu looked for a very long time and of course was thinking about a question in his heart.

  Should the American group join that powerful syndicate? The American group has always been walking on the edge of their control, but perhaps for some reason, none of the trusts are willing to swallow such a huge monster. Products made in China, assembled and sold in the United States, Britain, and France, with funds collected in the United States and settled in US dollars. What's most frightening is that orders do not simply come from behind-the-scenes forces, American has its own order sources, sales channels, fundraising, and settlement systems. So including American's arch-nemesis Ford, and the immature General Motors, as American's biggest enemies, they should be most familiar with their opponent, but in fact, it is almost a complete blank slate.

  "The braver the person, the more they will inevitably feel intimidated by the unknown. In today's world where internationalized companies are not widely accepted, Ah-Mei, who was the first to take the risk, should have been greatly hurt, but instead, a shocking outcome emerged. If I were them, I would definitely want to figure out the reason behind all this, and that's for sure, even if our relationship is close!"

  He muttered to himself for a while, then put down the file and pulled out a pack of cigarettes that he always carried with him. He opened the box, calmly pulled out a cigarette, slowly stroked the ordinary cigarette case, and smiled, saying: "The purpose of an organization is to make ordinary people do extraordinary things! When the power of the organization reaches a certain point, it may only look at interests regardless of other considerations... even if it means committing crimes or betraying others, it doesn't matter..."

  With a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth, emitting wisps of smoke, Zhang Yu shook his head and put down the uniform report given to him by his elder brother. He picked up a letter that was inserted among them, an original manuscript, written personally by Tang Guiyin, the "Chairman" of the AsiaMei Group.