Ambition is always expanding, often changing with the environnt.
While the Arican political and military circles were busy coping with the aid-to-China scandal, Pierre had already set his sights on another piece of land.
"Kingdom of Brooke."
"What?"
Seeing Zhang Weilun’s confusion, Pierre took out a map—one he had brought back from Britain, a map of Borneo.
Spreading out the map, he looked at the world’s third-largest island, right in the heart of Southeast Asia, with an area of over 700,000 square kiloters. With 743,000 square kiloters, if it were a country, it would easily rank among the top forty in the world by land area.
Pointing to the northeast corner of the map, Pierre said,
"Weilun, look, this is the territory of the North Borneo Company, 74,000 square kiloters. Its other na is ’Land Below the Wind.’ Although it’s near the equator, it’s never been hit by tropical storms. This company—you know—I’ve already bought it."
As he spoke, Pierre even wanted to put his hands on his hips and show off a little—being a landlord of 74,000 square kiloters!
Definitely the biggest landowner of the era. But he could only think about it; as a big shot, he had to remain composed.
Zhang Weilun glanced at the map and said coolly,
"And then? Below it is the Kingdom of Sarawak."
In his view, the North Borneo Company was just a pipe dream. Would the British really hand over tens of thousands of square kiloters to a foreigner?
"Yes, exactly—the Kingdom of Sarawak!"
Pierre nodded.
"The Kingdom of Sarawak was founded by a Briton nad Jas Brooke. His story is legendary. In 1835, he used a £30,000 inheritance from his father to buy a rchant ship called the Royalist and set off for Asia to seek adventure. In 1838, he sailed to Borneo, arriving in Kuching that August. There, Chinese miners and local natives launched a rebellion. Brooke t with the Sultan of Brunei and offered to help suppress the revolt. With his ship’s cannons and his sailors’ muskets, he crushed the uprising. Afterwards, the Sultan of Brunei granted him the title of ’Rajah’ of Sarawak. After a few years, once he had established himself, he confronted the Sultan and demanded independence. The Sultan sent troops to suppress him, but they were soundly defeated, and he was forced to cede large tracts of land. Not only that, Brooke continued to expand his territory, and in the end, most of Brunei’s land was taken over by him."
Listening to Pierre’s explanation, Zhang Weilun seed to understand where his "landlord complex" ca from—there was a precedent, after all.
"Mr. Jas Brooke really was a legend! As an outsider, he managed to turn the tables and seize such a vast territory, even becoming king there. It’s hard to imagine. But, boss, that was over a hundred years ago—and he was British..."
"So what if he was British?"
Pierre waved his hand and said,
"Britain is already in decline. In the past, Britain could protect it, but now and in the future, that won’t be possible. After the war, the British will surely try every ans to take the country back under their control."
Pierre didn’t know exactly how Britain took Sarawak historically, but since it beca a state of Malaysia, that ant the country was, in fact, gone.
And to Pierre, that was an opportunity.
"When the British force them to hand over the country, I think I can just pay to buy it!"
"What? Buy a country?"
Seeing Zhang Weilun’s look of shock, the corners of Pierre’s mouth curled up—by more than seventy degrees.
"Yes, that’s right, buy a country! If a million pounds isn’t enough, then two million. If two million isn’t enough, then three million..."
Spending three million pounds to buy 124,450 square kiloters of land—now that’s the deal of the century.
That’s just a little over twenty pounds per square kiloter. Plus, there’s a huge amount of oil there. Even just one year’s worth of oil extraction would almost cover the cost.
"Well, I..."
I think the British authorities probably acquired Sarawak by simply paying for it. No matter how much the British offer, I’ll just bid a million pounds more than them, and that should be enough. After all, people are always greedy!"
Watching Pierre, who was now calculating how to buy a country, Zhang Weilun was left speechless. He said bluntly:
"Boss, do you know what you’re saying?"
"I know. I’m just talking about buying a country, that’s all."
That’s all!
Zhang Weilun couldn’t help but size up his boss. Did he really know what he was doing?
"Boss, I don’t an to rain on your parade, but you have to understand, that’s an entire country."
"I know—it’s a country."
"You want to buy a country."
"Yes. Selling a country is selling a country, no matter who the buyer is. The highest bidder wins!"
Seeing his boss like this, Zhang Weilun decided to be direct.
"Boss, even if you put it that way, it’s still a country. How could the British possibly hand over their protectorate to you? Even if it’s just the North Borneo Company, and even if, legally, you buying this company is legitimate, do you really think the British wouldn’t drag you into lawsuits for ten or even twenty years? By the ti the lawsuits are over, that place might have already been turned from a company into a colony. By then, well, you’ll probably just get so compensation money, that’s all."
Pierre agreed with Zhang Weilun’s assessnt. This was the most likely and reasonable outco if nothing unexpected happened.
"Yes, you’re absolutely right. If it were in the past, that outco would be almost certain!"
Pierre nodded, taking his eyes off the map and looking at Zhang Weilun.
"But now things are different. In the past, I was only seventy percent confident, but now I’m one hundred percent sure. I can make Britain back down. In fact, I’m certain I can get my hands on this juicy piece of at! As long as I can take North Borneo, I can take Sarawak, and even the whole of Borneo..."
In that instant, Pierre’s gaze beca determined, the corners of his mouth lifting into a confident smile.
"How is that possible, Boss?"
Just as Zhang Weilun stared at his boss in shock, the sudden ringing of the phone interrupted him. After answering, Pierre’s smile grew even broader at the voice on the other end.
Finally, the long-awaited call had co!
Despite his excitent, Pierre appeared calm, because... everything was going according to plan, from acquiring that batch of arms in Italy to this very mont!
After nearly half a year of painstaking effort, step by step, everything had been leading up to this call!
Listening to the voice on the other end, Pierre steadied his emotions and replied,
"Alright, I understand. I’ll fly to Washington this afternoon."
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