On the morning of the next day, Li Guangyu, Cao Weiqing, and Zhang Ziyu, accompanied by Prince Charles of England and the deputy commander of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, went to the naval port in London to visit some surface ships of the British Navy.
The focus is on the Type 23 frigate, which has been in service for only a few years in Britain. This is also a type of warship that Bentley Island is planning to purchase. This is a type of ship that Britain is replacing for its Royal Navy.
It is equipped with Seawolf anti-aircraft missiles, Yellow Snapper light torpedoes, and two Big Lynx MK.8 anti-submarine helicopters.
This time, the Bentley Group plans to order four Type 23 frigates, and will also build a military port and maintain a shipyard in the northeast of Bentley Island. All of these equipment will be purchased from the British side and technical personnel will also need to be arranged here.
This is a considerable arms sales order for the British, including warships, missiles, anti-submarine helicopters, as well as Bentley Island military port and maintenance shipyard equipment, with a total cost of up to 500 million pounds.
It's just that frigates are not very expensive, only 40 million pounds a piece. The other expenses add up and are relatively expensive. Fortunately, it is only the ship repair equipment for repairing the Type 23 frigate. If it were other things, the price would only be more expensive.
This time Li Guangyu not only ordered frigates, but also ordered 24 Mirage 2000c fighters from France, equipped with various types of missiles. The purchase price there will exceed US$800 million.
On land, they will also order 36 West German Leopard 2 tanks, as well as armored infantry vehicles, artillery, and various types of light weapons, with a total value of about 100 million US dollars.
This time Li Guangyu came to Western Europe to visit these equipment and confirm the contract.
If he was just a conscientious businessman, why would Li Guangyu need to spend such a huge amount of money to establish these? You must know that this is still an upfront cost, and the later maintenance cost is even higher. Without hundreds of millions of dollars every year, it is impossible to play. If training is more frequent,
, even billions of dollars.
Moreover, through such planning, the area of Bentley Island is obviously too small. Li Guangyu still needs to communicate with the British government and the royal family to buy several small islands around Bentley Island to share the pressure on Bentley Island, and also carry out reclamation.
land.
Of course, if you buy it, these islands are still under the jurisdiction of the British. Otherwise, Li Guangyu would not even think about it. By then, these islands can only be listed under the Bentley Island Dominion. Otherwise, there is no possibility. No big country will take over its own territory now.
If it is sold to other countries and forces, even if it is transferred, the territory will still be British territory, otherwise it will arouse public outrage.
The British are very willing to transfer and lease these small islands to the Li Group. Anyway, these small islands are uninhabited, and they have no intention of developing these areas now.
Now that the Li Group is willing to pay a sum of money to acquire the right to develop and use the island, neither the British government nor the royal family will have any objections. Anyway, this is still British territory, so they bought land with the British mainland, and some have 999-year rights.
The rights are the same, there is no difference between the small islands.
It's just transferring it from the British Indian Ocean Territory to the British Bentley Island Territory, which will do no harm to the British.
The British hope that the Lee Consortium will build Bentley Island bigger and more prosperous, which will also be very beneficial to them. Regarding the Li Consortium's reclamation and land reclamation, the British have also approved it. The reclamation and land reclamation area of Bentley Island and related islands will also belong to the British Empire.
Dominion of Bentley Island.
The ultimate goal of the British royal family and government is to hope that Bentley Island can become an overseas leader with strong influence in the Indian Ocean and control this strategic location in the Indian Ocean for the British.
There are a total of fifteen British overseas territories plus the current Bentley Island. Only Bermuda and Bentley Island have the highest level. They can have their own legislative chambers and elect their own chief executives. The power of the governor is relatively weak and is more symbolic.
Some overseas territories have no legislative councils at all, and all powers are in the hands of the British. However, Bermuda and Bentley Island have their own independent economic, foreign trade, administrative and other powers, and their sovereignty and diplomacy are in the hands of the British.
Of course, this kind of overseas territory cannot be compared with some autonomous territories, such as Canada, Australia, etc. Although these also have British-appointed governors and the honorary head of state is also the Queen of England, they are normal countries and can be independent in all aspects.
And because Bentley Island is surrounded by the sea, the navy is more important to develop the military, and the British have a huge advantage. As long as the Lee Consortium invests in military development, the British will receive a lot of arms sales orders every year.
At the same time, in order to cope with the pressure from neighboring countries, Bentley Island can only rely on Britain, so that no force dares to touch Bentley Island. Once Bentley Island makes trouble, several surrounding countries will be enough to embarrass him.
Britain has never worried that Li Guangyu is too ambitious. Only a person with huge ambitions is most beneficial to Britain. Bentley Island is located in the north-east of the Indian Ocean, with Sri Lanka, India to the north, and Indonesia and Malaysia to the east.
Not far from the northwest is the capital of the British Indian Ocean Territory. There are no residents there and only 3,000 NATO troops are stationed there. The entire British Indian Ocean Territory is a desert island with few people living there.
Bentley Island used to be one of the British Indian Ocean Territories. If it hadn't been for the huge investment by the Lee Consortium, it would still be deserted.
In order to allow people to live normally on Bentley Island, nearly three billion US dollars have been invested in Bentley Island to build a fresh water plant, a power plant, a natural gas supply company, and various infrastructure facilities.
In the future, Bentley Island will still be a gold-swallowing beast, and we don’t know how much money will be invested in it. As for Bentley Island’s own finances being able to support its development, I don’t know if it will be possible after the 21st century.
Although the investment in this area is huge, Li Guangyu still thinks it is worth it for now. The Li family has the right to use these areas for 999 years. As long as World War III does not occur, it is quite safe.
Of course, if a world war really happens unfortunately, then the Lee Consortium will be the same everywhere. At least Bentley Island still has some force, and other areas will have no choice but to be slaughtered without the slightest ability to fight back.
Of course, Britain does not have any restrictions on it. Bentley Island is absolutely not allowed to possess chemical weapons and nuclear weapons, nor is it allowed to possess intercontinental missiles and ultra-long-range missiles. Submarines are also subject to restrictions.
Britain allowed the Li Consortium to stir up trouble in the Indian Ocean, not Li Guangyu who had some weapons that threatened the British mainland.
It's a pity that the British have great calculations. Li Guangyu has no intention of creating tension in various places. He intends to use the frigates to escort himself and his allies' fleets. It is said that Somali pirates are very powerful in the future. It's okay to go out and show off these expansion ships.
Fighters can also circle over the Western Indian Ocean.
As for the army, after this purchase, it is estimated that tanks and artillery will not be purchased for many years. There are too many of them and they are useless. In the future, they will mainly be on the fleet, and they will mainly be escorts.
Moreover, Li Guangyu will also learn from Bermuda, and Bentley Island will also establish its own exchange and issue its own currency. The gold of Tianyu Bank is the confidence.
The main reason for this is that the exchange rate of the Hong Kong dollar is fixed to the US dollar. Li Guangyu does not want to be tied to death like this.
In the future, Bentley Island Exchange will mainly attract companies from South Asia, East Africa, Southeast Asia and Greater China to list.
Especially today, as the Internet develops faster and faster, direct online transactions will be possible in the future. Bentley Island's location in the Indian Ocean is not a big disadvantage.