Chapter 1027: The Price of Immense Power

Inside an ancient building, candles lit the entire hall. This was a sacred place, remembered for the countless miracles that had taken place there. On this day, under the gaze of countless people, a grand ceremony was underway.

“Today! I stand here! To announce something important. We have waited so long for this day, so long that we have lost track of time. Our fathers, our ancestors, have all strived tirelessly on this path, but none succeeded. Fortunately, we have succeeded!” Under countless flashing lights, the elderly speaker spoke passionately, seemingly pouring all his remaining energy into preparing this speech, so every word was sonorous and powerful.

“God bless all Jewish people. Today we have finally secured our own land here! Gentlemen, this place will be the homeland for all Jews in the world. This place will become the only country in the world truly led by the Jewish people!” The old man on the stage was Enrique. This elder, who had strived for the founding of a Jewish state, was finally standing at the podium today, speaking to countless reporters and guests, uttering the bold words he had hoped his entire life to one day say.

No matter how tortuous the process, he had finally fulfilled this wish. From now on, the Jewish people would no longer be rootless duckweed. From now on, the Jewish people would no longer live under someone else’s roof and suffer humiliation! God knew how much effort he had put in for this day. And thank God, all his efforts had, at this moment, been rewarded.

“From this moment on, the Jewish nation will, like the great Germanic nation, become a great nation standing tall in the world! May the friendship between our two peoples long endure, may the friendship between our two countries last forever, and may the world finally move towards peace!” Enrique continued his speech, and the applause from below never ceased from beginning to end.

The only thing that left these Jewish people dissatisfied was that the preparations had been too hasty, to the point that at their founding ceremony, order was being maintained by rows of Wehrmacht soldiers in German uniforms. This was also a helpless choice. After all, the Jewish people did not have their own armed forces. Even if there were some hastily assembled guards, it was impossible to transport them all to the distant Jerusalem in such a short time.

So they could only use the frontline German soldiers to decorate their facade, because the other choice, the Italian army, was far inferior in appearance. As for why they had so hastily announced the founding of the Jewish state, it was because these Jews, who were businessmen to their very core, understood the simple truth that “delay invites trouble.”

Just as he had said in his speech, for too, too long, the Jewish people could only live precariously under the wings of others. They wanted too much to grasp their own destiny in their own hands. Now that they had such an opportunity, they truly did not want to let it slip away. It was for this reason that they were so eager, so willing to accept a humbler ceremony, in order to quickly complete the founding of their nation and turn it into a fait accompli.

“The name of the new country, after discussion, has been unanimously chosen to be ‘Israel,’ the name of the ancestors of the Jewish people.” At this point, Enrique was once again interrupted by the applause and cheers from below. His compatriots below had waited too long for this moment, so it was no wonder they were cheering like children.

“Israel!” “Israel!” Everyone was cheering, one after another. They seemed to have forgotten that Enrique had not yet finished his declaration. They were only focused on cheering this name, over and over again, as if this name was the soul of everyone here today.

Meanwhile, in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, Ibn Saud sat alone in a room with a few of his aides. The atmosphere was incredibly bleak. At the very least, the face of His Majesty the King, who ruled all of Saudi Arabia, was filled with worry about the current situation.

Back when he was just a regional armed leader, fighting in the barren desert, Akado’s envoy had found him, bringing goodwill and guns and ammunition. The aid from Germany had also allowed him to quickly establish his advantage in the Middle East, and in one fell swoop, he had defeated all his other opponents and had become the king of this region.

What followed was even greater sincerity from the German envoy. With Germany’s secret support, Saudi Arabia had drawn a clear line with Britain and had become the first autonomous country in the Middle East to break away from the rule of the British Empire. This favor was by no means small, and it had also raised Ibn Saud’s goodwill towards Germany to a new height.

With the help of that German friend Akado, whom he had never met, Saudi Arabia’s good luck seemed to be endless. German engineers and geologists had discovered massive oil reserves in Saudi Arabia. The result of the resource allocation was that a large amount of capital had poured into Saudi Arabia, turning this place into the most prosperous place in the entire Middle East.

Just as Ibn Saud was in high spirits, preparing to dominate the Middle East after becoming powerful, the British and Americans had kicked his benefactor, Germany, out of the Middle East interest circle. The greedy capitalists had not only carved up Germany’s oil share, but had afterward even taken the French share, clean.

In this round after round of interest distribution, Saudi Arabia itself had not gotten much benefit. Ever since the Germans had left the Middle East, this country’s good days seemed to have come to an end. Not only had the Saudi government’s development been extremely slow under the coercion of the great powers, but sometimes it was even unable to make its own judgments.

Back then, when the Germans were being expelled, Saudi Arabia had not said a single word for its ally. This had originally just left His Majesty King Ibn Saud with a hint of regret. But when the Germans had returned to the Middle East, that regret had turned into a dumbfounded panic.

Because this time, the Germans were clearly not back to do business. Their planes were beating the advanced American fighters so badly they didn’t dare to take off. Their tanks were beating the indestructible American tanks so badly they didn’t dare to drive to the front. These Germans were no longer the lambs to the slaughter they had been when they had left, but were like ferocious ghosts who had crawled back from hell.

“We did not fulfill our duty as an ally, so the Germans are no longer our friends,” Ibn Saud said, sitting in his high-end sofa. He looked much older. “Back then, when they were at a disadvantage, we chose to ignore them, so we have no reason to regret their attitude towards us today.”

“But they have gone too far this time! To actually support those Jews in establishing a state within our sphere of influence! This is something we cannot tolerate!” a Saudi minister complained in anger. “The ones who drove them out back then were the Americans and the British. It had nothing to do with us…”

Did it really have nothing to do with them? Of course, it wasn’t completely unrelated. The German oil in the Middle East had been carved up by the British and Americans. If Saudi Arabia, this local power, had not fully cooperated, then in the various loopholes in the transfer of oil production capacity, Saudi Arabia could have preserved a lot of under-the-table oil quotas for Germany. Unfortunately, Saudi Arabia had not done so, but had instead directly destroyed all of the Germans’ efforts. So as this minister spoke, his own voice couldn’t help but trail off.

Ibn Saud rubbed his aching temples and let out a helpless sigh. The current war situation in the Middle East was very unfavorable for the retreating British and Americans. For him, this King of Saudi Arabia, it was also not a good word. The Germans had clearly come back for the oil resources. Whether their attitude towards the local people would be good or bad would depend on their mood.

“The British and the Americans are here for the oil resources. Now, in order not to leave any resources for the Germans, they are also destroying the facilities in the country… These are all our bargaining chips. If they are all destroyed, what will we have to bargain with the Germans?” a minister advised Ibn Saud with a worried expression. “We must get a portion of the oil resources into our own hands. Otherwise, if the Germans really drive out the British and the Americans, we will be in danger.”

His Majesty the King of Saudi Arabia let out another long sigh and complained in a mournComputera, “Damn it! The Germans, the Italians, the Americans, and the British… so many countries, how come not a single one is a true friend to us Arabs?”

When old Mr. Enrique stepped down from the podium, a German special envoy was waiting for him in a side hall. And waiting with the German special envoy for Enrique were a dozen or so Jewish super-rich and industrial tycoons who often appeared in the business newspapers in Germany. Seeing this old man, who was almost exhausted to the point of collapse, walk into the room with the support of his aide, everyone stood up with a smile and applauded.

“Thank you. Thanks to the Führer’s support, although we cannot immediately join the Axis, we can, as a neutral country, import a large amount of oil and other resources from the Middle East,” Enrique said with a smile, finding a sofa and sitting down. He then shifted his gaze to the various documents that were spread out on the table.

“Germany is truly a country that values efficiency,” Enrique said, with a look of disdain at the special envoy from Germany. He, of course, knew what all these documents were. This was what he and Akado had agreed upon long ago, but to sign these documents required great courage. At the very least, for him personally, he was not giving up a small amount.

“And Israel is also a country that values efficiency, is it not?” the German special envoy asked in return with a smile. The guards outside the door were all German Wehrmacht. He, of course, had his own pride, and the capital to be proud.

Sure enough, Enrique and these Jewish tycoons did not waste any more words and began to sign the thick stack of documents. From now on, they would have nothing in Germany, but in return, they would, in this country of Israel, have… immense power.

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