British 1986

In the first half of his life, after living for decades, this was the first time he saw an earl at such a close distance, holding a stone and preparing to chase the two princes.

"Here comes Thomas, sit down."

Allen threw the stone in his hand as if nothing happened.

"Your Excellency, do you have anything to explain?"

Allen watched William run away, then sat down again and said, "Do you know the Cardiff?"

"The Cardiff?"

Thomas was stunned for a few seconds before he suddenly realized that this should be the destroyer named after Cardiff, the capital of Wales.

It seems that the Excellency in front of me was serving on that warship at that time.

This ship is said to be a new Type 42 destroyer, but since it is the first batch of construction, the overall design seems to have a few flaws, and the protective armor is a little weak. It seemed to be to pack in more weapons, so Certain compromises were made on the armor.

But this does not affect that it is still a relatively advanced destroyer. Just this thing, one can control several shipping routes throughout West Africa. It often participates in escort missions, and it is considered one of the warships well-known to ordinary people.

"I know, I know. Why do you suddenly care about the Cardiff?"

Allen picked up the fishing rod, threw the bait again, and then said softly: "I will be able to go to the House of Lords next year, in just a few months."

It's already August now, and March next year will start, so there's only more than half a year left.

"???"

Thomas didn't understand what Allen meant.

Ordinary children in Great Britain reach adulthood at the age of 16, but within the aristocracy, he knew, they were considered to be adults at the age of 21.

Before the age of 21, although under special circumstances, you can inherit the title, in theory, only after the age of 21 can you be considered a formal and legal noble. Only at this time can the nobles have the status of members of the House of Lords.

Mr. Allen will be 21 years old at the beginning of next year. Everyone knows this. Some time ago, he deliberately built momentum for this and prepared to submit several major proposals by then to give him a strong momentum in Congress.

But what does going to Parliament have to do with the Cardiff at the moment?

Thomas felt that he was dull-witted, and for a while he couldn't understand what the Earl meant.

"Tsk"

Allen glanced at Thomas with hatred. This guy is really stable and stable, but his ideological awareness is not high. He wants to do something about the yacht. Although he doesn't make a big deal about it, he will know after a little inquiry. Now this is He looked confused.

"The Cardiff has been in service for more than ten years. As a representative of Wales, don't you think it is somewhat unworthy?"

"ah?"

These words made Thomas even more confused. Is this worthy?

It has only been in service for more than ten years, and it is still early for the ship to be replaced.

"Hey, they all said there was going to be a new atmosphere. I went to visit Plymouth Shipyard yesterday and saw the newly built frigate in their dock. The hull... I thought at the time, how great would it be if this could represent our Wales?!"

"!!!"

After hearing what Allen said, Thomas finally remembered.

Why go to Plymouth Dockyard for no reason? !

He has heard that the Earl recently wanted to buy a yacht. Now that he is contacted, could it be that you are planning to buy the Cardiff?

As for how great it would be if the new warships in the dockyard could represent Wales, just listen to such nonsense, don't take it seriously!

"Yes! Your Excellency, I also think that the Cardiff is a bit old. I wonder what you mean now?"

Although he still didn't understand the purpose of the Cardiff, this did not prevent Thomas from changing his tone and following what this person said.

"Well, that's what I think. As for you, the contact person should write a proposal, saying that the Cardiff is too old and damaging to the image of Wales, and then recommends replacing it with a new ship. As for the old Cardiff... that's it. It is recommended to seal it.”

"."

Thomas looked like he suddenly understood, and sure enough.

Your Excellency indeed has ideas about the Cardiff, but he has no control over this. He just has to obey orders honestly.

"Sir, do you need me to do something more impressive, like a public petition or something?"

"Need not!"

Allen waved his hand and said: "Just make a normal proposal. Get more members to sign it. You don't have to involve the people. You don't need to worry about the rest. After you make the proposal, submit it when the Congress starts in the second half of October."

"OK!"

Thomas stood up quickly with a serious look on his face.

"Okay, just one thing, let's do it."

"Okay, then, sir, I'm going to go first?"

"Go ahead."

Allen watched Thomas walk away, then put down the fishing rod again, crossed his legs and leaned on the deck chair.

His operation method this time was relatively covert, involving a method that looked very aboveboard, but was actually a bit dirty.

This thing is called - sealing.

What is storage?

When a warship is in good condition, it is not yet at the stage of decommissioning and scrapping. Instead, it is sailed to a specific port, sealed up, and no longer needed!

Euphemistically, it can be pulled out and used again during wartime or critical periods.

It can also be understood as retirement in disguise, which means that it sounds better than retirement.

The Americans are more proficient in this trick.

On their side, if the military-industrial complex wants to do business and make money, it must consume a large amount of arms. Whether it is to use them in its own war or to sell them, it has to be shipped in large quantities anyway.

As for warships, the general design life starts from a few decades. Twenty or thirty years are very common, and there are also a lot of forty or fifty years.

But with such a long service life, what about after building one?

How to make money in the future?

Even if six or more ships are built in a batch, the military-industrial complex still has to make money.

Therefore, later on, the move of sealing came into being.

A good warship is not broken or scrapped, and its hull life is still very long. However, it needs to be set aside to build new ships, so it can only be sealed up.

In this way, you can earn another maintenance fee, and then you can buy a new ship, killing two birds with one stone!

As for whether the old warship was sealed in the end and whether the contents inside were dismantled or not, it is all a matter of the Navy anyway. It is not decommissioned. This also involves certain confidentiality procedures that ordinary people cannot see.

Allen is preparing to use this method of operation now.

The Cardiff is a new ship that has only been in service for more than ten years, but some of its equipment is already outdated and has certain design flaws.

Its ships of the same model and batch, HMS Sheffield and HMS Coventry, participated in the Battle of the Falklands, and then.

Was hit hard!

It is such an old ship with certain flaws and has been in service for more than ten years. It is still an old ship named after the capital of Wales. If the Welsh Parliament proposes a strong demand for a new ship, it only needs to be ventilated in advance by the Admiralty, plus the current The economic environment is not irreversible.

In theory, mothballing old ships can save a lot of money.

Then build new models of warships, which in turn can drive the development of the shipyard. With the Ministry of the Navy, if you find connections, the bosses can still get benefits.

The probability of the proposal being passed is basically stable.

The mothballed Cardiff only needs to be towed to the shipyard for inspection.

Why don't you just make up excuses then?

The hull has hidden damage and the metal is fatigued. It is no longer suitable for storage. It should be scrapped in place!

This destroyer, which is basically less than half of its service life, will dismantle the superstructure and sell it for scrap metal and weapons systems. Allen can also collect some for his own use, and the rest can be sold to people with connections.

He can use the remaining hull to modify the yacht.

As for the Cardiff, which suffered an unreasonable disaster for no reason?

The Cardiff was the destroyer that Allen served on when he was serving. He had a pretty good relationship with the captain, so he could just poach the captain and give him a new yacht.

Not only the captain, there are more than 300 officers and men on the Cardiff. Allen is going to recruit half of them. There must be someone to drive the new yacht. Is there anyone who is more familiar with Master Allen's new yacht than them?

This is the ready-made crew!

In the past, even if the old earl was collecting wool, he could only collect some "baubles". This time, Allen directly collected a big one.

Enter the village quietly, and don't let anyone shoot you.

Once all the procedures are in place, the relationships that need to be managed will be left to the people below to manage.

After one operation, the new yacht has a hull and a crew, and can save a lot of money.

This kind of operation is basically risk-free, but the method is a little dirty. But our country is now prosperous and strong. We are temporarily missing an old destroyer and half a ship of officers and men. What does this small matter mean?

It doesn't bother you at all!

The Admiralty is eager to have new warships enter service, and the big bosses there will benefit from it. It’s not like no one has done this kind of thing before.

In addition, Wales is usually very honest, so he finally came up with a request, which is to get a new warship. Can the London MP disagree?

Now that the market is in a downturn due to the financial crisis, spending money to build warships can stimulate the economy. This is a good thing!

There are good excuses from top to bottom, just waiting for everyone to gather the wool together.

During lunch.

Allen looked at the pizza in front of him, and then at William who had a face full of cheese.

William really wanted to eat pizza today and asked the kitchen to make it specially for him. Allen had a bad appetite recently, so he ate it together.

After taking a sip of yogurt and putting down the cup, Allen kicked William's stool and said, "Do you want to go to the Olympics next month?"

"Hey? When?"

William doesn't quite understand the meaning of the Olympics, but it sounds like going out to play, but he is more interested in playing.

"Mid-September, just say whether you want to go or not."

"Go, go!"

"Cousin, I'm going too!"

Harry sat a little far away from Allen. He sat next to William and became a little anxious when he saw that Allen only asked William but not him.

"Fuck you! You're too young to go!"

Allen ruthlessly rejected Harry. Taking William was already his limit. If he took another Harry, he would not be able to play anymore.

"Cousin, I am no longer a two or three-year-old child!"

"Hmm."

Allen glanced sideways at Harry and said, "Well, you are four years old, right? Four years old is not enough! Just stay at home."

"Cousin, where are the Olympics?"

William didn't care about his brother at all, he only cared about where he was going to play this time.

"South Korea!"

"Huh? There."

William grinned, feeling a little uncomfortable.

He remembered that not long after he first met Allen at home when he was a child, a group of Koreans were arrested in London, and they seemed to have done bad things. Anyway, he heard his father talk about it at the dinner table.

This incident left a deep impression on him. To this day, when Allen talks about South Korea, he instinctively feels that the place is unsafe and full of bad people.

"If you don't want to go, you can go to school, and then I will go by myself."

Allen didn't care. This was still a task assigned to him by Charles. He didn't count as an official representative, but he would go there with a royal butler and be considered a member of the royal family.

Mainly because Allen's image was good, Charles sent him to show off his face and calm things down.

In a small place like South Korea, they have not yet established diplomatic relations with most of the countries. Many countries do not recognize them. It is not convenient for the royal family to send people with high status to such a place. Being able to send a count to them is already a big deal for them. Save face!

When William heard from Allen that he would go to school instead of going to Korea, he couldn't help but feel a little anxious. No matter how bad it is outside, it's still more fun than going to school, right?

As for the danger, following my cousin, what other dangers are there?

"Well then, let's go to Korea."

"Well, you can call your mother in a few days and tell her."

Allen stuffed another piece of pizza. Now the princess wanted to see William and Harry, which was more troublesome. She could only come to Allen to see them, but she couldn't take them away.

In early September, when Allen was looking at the rough cut in the editing room, Carl Sr. came back from the United States with a bunch of materials.

Putting down what he was doing, Allen met with Old Carl first.

"Master, the situation has been tense recently. Have you read the news?"

Even old Karl, who always paid attention to his appearance, was so hot that he only wore a shirt and a small vest.

"What news? I don't have time to read that. I'm busy making movies recently."

Ever since he asked Thomas to make the proposal, Allen has often gone to the editing room to watch the editors at work recently. After getting the semi-finished product that was just made today, he couldn't wait to read it again.

"Last month, uh, no, it was July. They sent warships to the Gulf to escort them, and they even shot down an Iranian passenger plane."

"I've heard about this, isn't it a misunderstanding?"

The United States drove its warships to the Gulf area to show off its power.

At this time, the idiots in the Bay Area were almost out of their wits. Their passing was just adding to the chaos.

"What a misunderstanding, the Americans just refuse to admit it. They did it on purpose!"

Old Carl glanced at Allen, chuckled, and laughed at the Yankee with extreme contempt.

"This is too underhanded."

Allen, who originally didn't care much about this kind of thing, also felt that the methods of these Americans were too dirty.

"Master, the information I have collected in the past six months shows that some small steel plants in the United States have been acquired or closed down one after another."

Old Karl then talked about a seemingly unrelated topic.

"Oh last time it was a chemical plant, this time it's a steel plant, is this garbage sped up?"

Allen raised his eyebrows. Combined with the news brought back by Old Carl, the situation is getting more and more tense now. It's not peaceful outside.

"Master, look at these closed steel plants, do we want to get involved?"

"Steel Plant?"