Admiral Tommy's prediction was accurate.
The United States' underhanded tactics had indeed angered Great Xia.
Using this opportunity to find Meng Hao, they were already certain to break through the maritime encirclement by Western nations.
Of course.
Great Xia's actions didn't stop there.
As everyone knows.
A nation is composed of its people.
And one of humanity's most primal biological instincts is to earn and hoard wealth… to put it plainly, to make money.
The primary reason for the United States' global hegemony, aside from its advanced technology, was the dollar hegemony.
Once pegged to gold, the dollar had, in recent decades, been pegged to oil, leading to the joke that "this dish is so oily that even the US military plans to attack it."
If military hegemony and scientific research hegemony were means of deterring other major powers' governments.
Then dollar hegemony had tied the people of the entire world to the United States' chariot.
For example, US dollar foreign debt.
For ordinary people, it was often hard to understand why the US, despite owing so much money, could still act so domineeringly.
In reality.
Anyone with a basic understanding of economics knew.
The dollar was once backed by gold and later by oil.
And the United States, relying on its formidable military and scientific strength, had established a global dollar financial sphere… and these so-called dollar debts and reserves were essentially the world's central banks issuing currency based on the dollar.
To put it bluntly.
It meant that the United States, through its military strength, scientific prowess, and absolute monopoly over global oil,
had made the dollar a man-made hard currency with intrinsic value, like oil and gold.
Any country wishing to join globalization.
Had to use the US dollar as its base reserve currency before issuing its own currency… This way, the domestic currency would have circulation value globally.
This was the true meaning of US dollar bonds.
And.
Great Xia had recently joined forces with several surrounding countries, intending to establish its own financial sphere.
Of course.
Establishing a financial sphere might seem like a trivial matter.
However, as the financial sphere continued to grow, it could fully form a new financial bloc based on Great Xia's currency… which is the so-called de-dollarization.
In the past, Western European and American nations, located far to the west, had also challenged dollar hegemony.
This was the so-called Eurozone.
At its peak, the former Western European and American currency's exchange rate was as high as 1:10 against Great Xia's currency.
When the United States saw the situation turning unfavorable, even though the Western European and American nations were its allies, it still launched a financial attack on the Eurozone.
The current Eurozone currency had depreciated by 20%.
For the Western European and American region, with a population of over a billion people.
A 20% currency depreciation directly resulted in soaring prices.
But despite this.
The United States had not given up on obstructing the Western European and American economic zone, repeatedly flooding the market, causing severe setbacks to the economies of the Western European and American nations.
And this time.
Great Xia not only intended to break through the maritime encirclement led by the United States and its Western European and American allies but also planned to band together economically for warmth, officially challenging the United States' dollar hegemony.
It could be seen.
How much Great Xia valued Meng Hao.
...
After the meal.
The high-ranking officials at the White House reconvened for a meeting.
After approving the budget of hundreds of billions for the joint military exercise,
they then turned their attention to Great Xia's plan to establish a financial sphere.
Whether it was breaking through the maritime blockade led by the United States and its Western European and American allies, or establishing its own financial sphere.
Both were clear challenges to the United States' global hegemony.
These two things absolutely could not happen.
Or more accurately, before fully leveraging Meng Hao's scientific research capabilities to create another generational leap in US technological superiority, Great Xia absolutely could not be given the opportunity to challenge US global hegemony.
From a large nation to an individual.
There was a psychology of admiring strength.
When you were powerful, the leader, and dominated the scene, these smaller players would naturally not dare to bare their fangs or utter a word, wanting to hitch a ride.
However.
The moment your authority was challenged, and you had no way to respond, only able to watch helplessly as your authority was challenged, the consequence would be for the underlings to scatter like birds and beasts… and it was even common for them to turn around and tear a piece of flesh from you.
In fact.
This was a law of nature.
Whether it was a wolf pack or a lion pride.
As soon as the pack leader or lion king grew old and was challenged by a new dominant figure.
The best outcome for the declining old pack leader or lion king was to be driven out of the pack, while the worst outcome was to be torn to death by the former subordinates led by the new dominant figure.
Humans.
Were essentially herd animals.
Their instincts were deeply ingrained in their genes and could never disappear.
...
As the specific expenditure of the hundred-billion-dollar budget was passed by a show of hands.
Admiral Tommy once again emerged as the winner of this joint military exercise.
On paper, this hundred-billion-dollar budget seemed to be used in a very proper manner.
But with such a massive sum of money.
When it came to the implementation phase, how it would be spent, where it would be spent, and how much would be spent, was ultimately up to Admiral Tommy.
Calmly accepting the envious and jealous gazes cast by his colleagues, Admiral Tommy quickly shifted the topic.
"I will expedite the implementation of the joint military exercise."
"Now, the main focus is on responding to Great Xia's economic expansion."
"As for me, I'm involved in military and arms research. If I can lead military exercises, develop a new product, or even assist Meng Hao in the development of the latest technology, I can contribute somewhat… but when it comes to economic matters, I'm not very knowledgeable."
Admiral Tommy was a smart man.
Leading this joint military exercise and overseeing the allocation of the hundred-billion-dollar budget was already maximizing his interests.
And in life, one couldn't take all the meat; one had to share some cake with others.
Having already taken the biggest piece of cake, Admiral Tommy wisely stated that he would not interfere with the matter of encircling and suppressing Great Xia's economic expansion.
This piece of cake should be left for others to eat.
If he were to devour all the cake himself, it would undoubtedly incite public outrage and a united attack.
As expected.
Admiral Tommy's strategy immediately yielded results.
The envious and jealous eyes that had been glaring at Admiral Tommy gradually dimmed.
Since Admiral Tommy had already secured the opportunity to lead the multi-national military exercise with a budget of hundreds of billions, instead of trying to tear a piece from that cake, it was better to consider how to divide the new cake.
Moreover, once the financial domain's sniping war received approval from the US Congress, it was likely to be an even bigger cake.
A financial offensive could involve vast sums of tens, hundreds of thousands, or even trillions of dollars over several years, making the hundred-billion-dollar cake seem less significant in comparison.