The Fleet Sets Sail!

"????"

When Kurogane Taimei said this,

let alone Hayato Ikeda,

the more than ten politicians standing at the pinnacle of Japanese politics all froze in surprise.

What the hell was this?

The Rabbits' first two demands were easy enough to understand. In simple terms, they wanted a higher price and a larger sale.

The latter was exactly what Japan wanted. The reason Japan had proposed a deal for 40 million tons of crude oil was mainly that it feared looking too greedy. If they gobbled up too much too quickly, the Rabbits might get suspicious.

After all, the Rabbits weren't stupid. They were clever.

Although the Rabbits often got the short end of the stick in global trade, that was mainly because the two sides were in different positions. Western countries had equipment and supplies that the people of Huaxia lacked and desperately needed, so they could make any outrageous demands they liked.

Now that the buyer and seller had switched places and the Rabbits held the initiative, they had to be careful about a lot of things.

That was why, after discussing it earlier, Hayato Ikeda had settled on the figure of 40 million tons.

But he hadn't expected the Rabbits to take the initiative and increase the volume to 50 million tons because 40 million would be difficult to deliver. Japan naturally welcomed the change with open arms.

As for raising the price—

That, too, was within Japan's expectations.

After all, this was a major deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Even a few tenths of a percent would amount to a huge sum, so it was only natural for the Rabbits to ask for a higher price.

But the third point was a little strange.

The distance from Shanghai to Osaka was only a little over