That put the cat amongst the pigeons. Elizabeth was on the phone in minutes. I gave her a quick rundown of the situation. She thanked me and told me not to contact anyone else in the government. She would be able to use this to the Crown's advantage.
I hung up just now realizing that the thousand years of tension between the Crown and government had not gone away, just underground.
Next, I called the White House. Ike wasn’t available and I had to explain to his Chief of Staff the reason for the call. Again this caught immediate attention.
I wondered what was going on that mention of China and famine were magic words today. I even asked the Chief of Staff why it was so important. He reminded me that the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse rode together. Famine was next to War and Pestilence, and they all rode with Death.
If you wanted a war, have a famine, especially since they knew the Soviets were having their own hard times and buying wheat on the international market.
When Ike was on the phone I explained the whole problem and solution as explained to me.
“Rick, you did the right thing in calling us in on this. I need to talk to my staff but I think keeping this quiet is the right thing to do. The War Hawks would love to use this as an excuse for a foreign adventure.”
I didn’t ask, but I had to find out who the War Hawks were. Later I found out that they were the same people as the military-industrial complex that the President had warned the nation about. They wanted war as they made money from it.
It reminded me of the book I had read, “The Merchants of Death.”
I spent the rest of the morning on the phone with Jim Williamson. He would be my contact for this project within Jackson Enterprises. His first duty was to have our shipping people find as many dry bottom ships as they could.
He was also to invest in the Baltic Dry Index fund as the rates were about to rocket upwards.
We would be shipping wheat from the US and Canada through Canadian ports. They were already handling wheat for Russian so it should go out without creating a lot of notice.
Rice would go from Australia, Indonesia, and the Philippines, using the Australian-Indonesian connection we already had.
Incoming ores would be smelted in Australia but sold on the US commodities market. This was to avoid upsetting the Australian market from a huge influx. That was a shame as we could have sold short on prices going down. Oh well, a million here, a million there. Jackson you ass.
This all went down before lunchtime so I was able to meet the Lady from China as I thought of her at the small restaurant.
When I told her the results of my calls she heaved a visible sigh of relief.
“There were calls for war in Peking or the more proper Beijing.”
“Who would they declare war on to get food?”
“Not to get food, my young friend, to distract the people. They were debating having the North Koreans invade South Korean or fight the Soviets by invading Siberia. Supporting the Vietnamese against the French was also a possibility. If one wants war there are many ways. Even Tibet and India were discussed.”
She seemed to know a lot about the inner workings of the Chinese Communist Party.
She asked me to meet her here in two days for more details on my proposal. Her words, not mine. I felt that I was but a mere messenger in this mess.
After lunch, I attended a lecture on World Politics. Our lecturer assured us we were in an unprecedented time of peace. There were no possibilities of war anywhere in the world.
Amazing, and I was paying to learn this.
I heard back from the British government as opposed to the Crown. It was the Foreign Secretary himself. The one who wanted to give me to the Stasi and lose my car to a Saudi Prince.
He acted as though butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth as he informed me that Her Majesty’s government approved of my plans to feed the Chinese people.
I shouldn’t have but told him I was glad to help, though it would have been hard to help from an East German prison. He ignored that comment. I guess I wasn’t cut out to be a diplomat.
He did make one comment that showed a crack in his diplomatic armor.
“Sir Richard I didn’t know you had such a close connection with Her Majesty.”
“She is my godmother for what it is worth.”
“I see, that explains the call we received. She was not pleased with us for not knowing about the Chinese problem and our opportunity to open relations. She suggested we use your contact.”
“I will explore that.”
“No you will introduce our people and we will take it from there.”
Ah, here appears the Foreign Secretary I have grown to know and love.
“I respectfully decline.”
“Now see here young man.”
“Good day,” as I hung up. Interesting, I wonder when I would be deported.
To be safe I called the Palace and explained to the who took calls for the Queen how I was on the outs with the Foreign Secretary.”
“Brilliant, he will now overstep his bounds and we will have him.”
Not wanting to be a part of whatever that was about I gave my farewells and got off the line.
I wonder if it had anything to do with the sudden resignation of the Foreign Secretary for reasons of health the next day.
When asked, the Queen replied that she saw no reason to dissolve the government at this time. Talk about a warning shot!
I woke up the next
