Compensation

"Hey, I’m telling you, at a time like this, don’t bring up something so unpleasant, will you?"

Justin Hammer looked at Tony with an annoyed expression.

"Actually, the God Spear Bureau had already made its demands earlier."

Nick Fury spoke at this point. He looked around, saw that everyone was watching him, and said, "The silver compensation is forty-nine thousand tons, equivalent to 980 million taels of silver. In addition, China will take back its gold reserves."

Nick Fury said this with a calm expression.

These were the conditions Zheng Xian had given Nick Fury before the meeting began.

"Silver? Why silver?"

Justin Hammer looked utterly puzzled, unable to make sense of it.

"In 1900, several countries, including America, invaded China. At the time, China was still the Qing Dynasty, and the accumulated indemnity came to 980 million taels of silver."

That was when the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded the Qing Dynasty. In fact, there had been more than eight invading countries. Including territories such as British India, there had been as many as fourteen.

Nick Fury remained composed as he said, "The compensation China is demanding is extremely cheap for present-day America."

It really was. A ton of silver cost only around three million yuan. Fifty thousand tons came to merely 150 billion yuan.

"So China wants us to return the indemnity we looted from the Qing Dynasty back then?"

As a councilman, Pierce quickly thought of this possibility.

"How much is forty-nine thousand tons of silver worth in dollars?"

History or no history, Americans did not care. All they cared about was how many dollars it was worth.

"After calculation, roughly twenty billion dollars."

Nick Fury replied.

"Twenty billion? That’s not much."

Upon hearing that, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"The countries that invaded the Qing Dynasty weren’t just America. Contact the other countries and have them shoulder this cost as well!"

As an American councilman, although Pierce was a member of Hydra, that did not prevent him from fighting for benefits in his own interests, so he said this.

Although twenty billion dollars was practically painless compensation for America, America still did not want to bear it alone.

Even though the compensation had originally been demanded from America alone.

This was America’s usual style. Since China wanted every cent of the indemnity from back then returned, then naturally all those countries from back then had to be dragged into it as well.

Twenty billion dollars was not much, but America could not be expected to bear it alone, could it?

Besides, was 980 million taels of silver really that much? By modern standards, it was not much at all. China had not even increased the amount by the slightest bit. It could be called an exceptionally cheap demand.

At the same time, silver was a metal with excellent energy conductivity. It could be purified into magical Mithril, and China’s various magitech technologies all used it.

And did China need money? No, no, no. What China needed was its symbolic significance.

Starting with the Eight-Nation Alliance, China had entered its humiliating modern history. But now, China would begin here as well, witnessing its return to prosperity and strength, its rise to become number one in the world!

"The God Spear Bureau will arrive this afternoon. Before then, we need to prepare all the silver, as well as the six hundred tons of gold that rightfully belong to China."

"The silver compensation is not a problem. It can be gathered from the major banks quickly enough. But as for the gold…"

At this moment, the Federal Reserve representative, who had rarely spoken, frowned and said, "But if we hand the gold over to China, then we’ll lose our final bargaining chip against China…"

That was right. During World War II, the entire world had been engulfed in war, while America, located on the American continent, remained removed from it. America had been quite clever at the time, offering to safeguard other countries’ gold and return it after the war ended.

At that time, America was powerful, and more importantly, it had a stable environment. The countries caught up in the war chose to do so as well.

Not only China, but every other country also had gold reserves stored in America.

At the same time, because of America’s dollar hegemony, gold had gradually flowed into America over the past several decades. By now, most of the world’s gold reserves were in America.

However, after World War II ended, retrieving that gold proved harder than reaching the heavens. Many countries had requested to take back their own gold, but America always refused for one reason or another. The institution holding the gold was the Federal Reserve. Even the American government had been refused when trying to withdraw its own gold reserves, much less other countries.

In America, the true boss was the Federal Reserve.

Did you think the dollar was currency issued by the American government? No, no, no. The institution that issued the dollar was the Federal Reserve. It was not an official American organization. This was the true mastermind controlling everything in America.

Hammer Industries, Stark Industries, the Rothschild family—no matter how impressive they were, could any of them compare to the Federal Reserve, which was responsible for printing money?

Especially since the Federal Reserve currently held the gold of every country. Who could afford to provoke it?

The Federal Reserve, which kept a tight grip on all that gold, naturally had no desire to hear that China wanted to take away its six hundred tons of gold.

That was right. This was just how Americans behaved. They did not want to return things that belonged to others.

"It doesn’t matter if you refuse."

Nick Fury looked expressionlessly at the Federal Reserve representative and said, "China will use its own methods to reclaim what belongs to it."

"…"

The Federal Reserve representative fell silent. No one who could attend this council meeting was an idiot. Naturally, there were no people of color either. The Black councilman who had been particularly active before had recently been dismissed, so he had not appeared at this meeting.

Then again, America had always belonged only to white people. Other people of color had never truly been acknowledged by them.

Although America preached every day about rejecting racial discrimination, in essence, racial discrimination had never been absent.

If China’s military truly used its own methods to retrieve its own gold, who could guarantee that they would not take more than they were owed?

Furthermore, the Federal Reserve did not want its secrets exposed.

Why did you think the Federal Reserve did not want to return the gold of other countries?

Did they really think America was a nation that honored its word?

Would they truly refrain from using the gold belonging to others, stored in American vaults?

After all, whenever countries wanted to inspect the gold they had deposited, America would brush them off and refuse with all sorts of excuses. Though angered, most countries dared not speak out due to America’s overwhelming military strength.

But now, if China went to retrieve it themselves and discovered that the gold reserves belonging to other countries were far less than what those countries had deposited, wouldn’t that become quite a spectacle?

So…

"The six hundred tons of gold belonging to China can be prepared by this afternoon."

Though pained by the decision, the Federal Reserve representative quickly made his choice. A wise man knew when to yield.