Transmigrated as the Crown Prince

After a brief exchange of greetings, Aiden went straight to the point. "Your Excellency Stalin, with your wisdom, you must have felt the threat from Germany. If Germany unifies the entire Europe, its next step will be towards the Soviet Union."

Stalin listened to Eden's tirade on the German threat theory without changing his expression, until Eden felt a little embarrassed to talk to himself so much, stopped to take a sip of tea, and then asked quietly. "Then what price is your country going to pay for us to send troops?" The meaning of these words is obvious. Now that Britain invites the Soviet Union to join the war, it will have to pay a certain price. If the benefits are sufficient, the Soviet Union will not be unable to consider it.

Aiden put down the teacup and said solemnly. "Your Excellency Stalin, our two countries rely on mutual assistance and mutual benefit..."

Before he finished speaking, Stalin sneered and stood up. "Mr. Special Envoy, you are tired from the journey. Please have a good rest today." After leaving these words, Aiden walked out of the living room before he could react.

Aiden couldn't help but smile bitterly. It seems that the Soviet Union cannot be invited into the game without paying a certain price.

If Britain before World War I, it might be possible to spend so much money that the Soviet Union would kneel down and call daddy, but after World War I, Britain as a whole was already declining and in a state of decline.

Before World War I, British military spending generally remained at around 200 million pounds. However, the world at that time had not yet entered full industrialization, and it was normal for military spending to be low. When it came to World War I, the great powers fought a modern war with all kinds of new weapons, all of which were bought with money. Naturally, military spending in various countries skyrocketed during the war. In the British fiscal year from March 1915 to March 1916 alone, Britain spent 600 million pounds. This data shows that Britain's annual expenditure during World War I was the lowest. In the following years, the UK spent nearly 2.5 billion pounds a year.

This huge amount of money is not a small amount for the small UK.

In order to raise so much money, the British government has racked its brains; first it increased the issuance of domestic public debt. Before the outbreak of World War I, Britain issued 700 million pounds of public debt. After the outbreak of World War I, this figure increased by at least 10 times.

But the money is still far from enough, so ask someone to borrow it.

The closest relationship to Britain is the United States. Interestingly, Britain was still a creditor of the United States at that time, and the United States owed Britain 400 million pounds that it had not repaid.

But the UK needs more than 400 million pounds, so it can only borrow money from the United States. The United States also knew that it must not let Britain fall in the war, otherwise the United States would lose its strategic barrier in the Atlantic. Therefore, as long as Britain opens its mouth, the United States is very happy. How much did the UK borrow? After the war, Britain owed the United States 500 million pounds. It can be seen that Britain borrowed at least 1.2 billion pounds from the United States.

The creditor countries before the war became debtor countries after the war. After the war, the economy was sluggish and sluggish for a long time. The international financial center also moved from London, England to New York, the United States. The United States also urged the United Kingdom to pay back the money quickly.

The United States was so powerful that Britain could not afford to offend it, so it had no choice but to bite the bullet and repay its debt.

How to pay it back? Britain's gold reserves had been spent a lot in the years of World War I, and there was really no spare money. The only thing the UK can use is the taxes collected from its citizens. The United Kingdom said to the United States: I will use 1% of the national tax revenue to repay the money every year. If you don't agree, you can only sell London.

The United States pulled an abacus and made some calculations. It turned out that Britain would not be able to fully pay off its debt until 1965. The United States originally disagreed, but considering its special relationship with Britain, it had to admit defeat.

And now, what's even more terrible is the defeat of the British Empire in recent days. The weapons and equipment that need to be supplemented require astronomical amounts of funds. In this case, what can be done to satisfy the Soviet people's appetite?

Eden spent the night in such anxiety and uneasiness, but the person who met him the next morning was not Stalin, but Molotov, the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs. "Did you have a good rest last night, Mr. Special Envoy?"

"Very good, where is Comrade Stalin?"

Molotov smiled apologetically. "Comrade Stalin is busy with official duties, so he sent me here to discuss with you."

Aiden frowned secretly in his mind, what is this? Are you showing off your power?

But he didn't dare to express his dissatisfaction. After all, he was asking for help, so he could only smile and nod. "I understand, let's get started?"

The two parties took their seats, and Aiden went straight to the door. "Please also ask Comrade Molotov to tell me your price directly, so that we can discuss it easily."

Molotov nodded, as if he had been prepared, and simply reported a number. "You need to pay 5,000 tons of gold. Of course, this is only an upfront fee. Based on the consumption in the war, we have the right to increase the fee appropriately."

5,000 tons of gold? Aiden's mouth twitched slightly. Is this a robbery? "Sorry, we don't have that much gold reserves."

Molotov continued. "Then steel, even 20 million tons of steel will do."

Aiden shook his head angrily. You must know that the British Empire's steel production in the first half of this year was less than 7 million tons. Twenty million tons is really a big deal.

"As for grain, how about you export 30 million tons of grain to us?"

"Sorry, our food is also very tight." The UK has a population of 48 million, and 2/3 of the food it relies on for survival is imported from abroad, and only 1/3 of the food is provided by the country.

Every condition proposed by the Soviet Union was impossible for Britain to accept. Aiden even wondered whether the Soviets had colluded with the Germans long ago to play tricks on him.

After being rejected several times in a row, Molotov was not angry and said slowly. "Then let's do this. Your country will definitely be able to afford the next thing."

A sense of uneasiness flashed through Aiden's heart, and he stared at Molotov.

"If you can cede the Indian colony to us, we can send troops immediately."

Indian Colony?!

"!!" Aiden's expression changed, and a trace of anger flashed in his eyes.

After the Age of Discovery began, Britain stood out and relied on its maritime advantages to become a well-deserved global hegemon. In the frenzy of carving up the world, it seized a large number of colonies and established an empire that never sets on five continents and four oceans.

However, although there are many colonies, there are also different levels among them. Colonies had different importance to the British Empire, and there were obvious differences in the importance Britain attached to them.

Among the colonies, the one that received the most attention from the British was none other than British India in South Asia. At that time, India was called the brightest jewel in the Queen's crown. In order to consolidate British rule over the Indian colonies, the British King even went to India to be crowned Emperor of India. The British government's direct investment in the Indian colonies was also significantly higher than in other colonies.

Britain regards India as its lifeline and calls it a bright jewel in the Queen's crown.