The World's Richest Man: Start with the Daily Intelligence System

156: Chapter 156 Unmanned Nuclear SubmarineBefore acting, he needed to sort through the known intelligence. Zhang Wei narrowed his eyes in thought.

From the intelligence, the submarine seemed to be stuck in a trench. Thirty nautical miles from the shore seemed far, but this distance was definitely under the monitoring of the Chinese military.

”If I were Pretty Country, how would I rescue this submarine?” Zhang Wei pondered. First, directly bringing a warship over for salvage was definitely out of the question.

Second, would it be feasible to have a showdown with China and use benefits to redeem the submarine? Twenty years ago, Pretty Country might have been able to do it. But now that China was strong and powerful, that path was closed.

Then the only way was a secret underwater rescue. Considering the depth of the trench, ordinary Divers definitely couldn’t reach such a deep place; it would have to be either a deep-sea submersible or a submarine. Either way, they risked being detected by China’s sonar.

Zhang Wei felt that a deep-sea submersible was more likely. Since people inside a submarine couldn’t leave the cabin to work, a rescue would require firing steel cables or torpedoes to destroy the rocks near the trench, which would cause too much of a commotion.

Since the other party would likely opt for a secret rescue, the immediate priority was to startle the snake by beating the grass so they wouldn’t dare rescue it immediately, and then find a way to salvage the submarine himself.

But he also faced the problem of being unable to salvage it, and he couldn’t directly report it to the Chinese Military Region. If Zhang Wei knew intelligence that even the military didn’t have, he wouldn’t be able to explain himself and might even be hauled off for dissection and research. He could only use the pretext of salvaging antiques to ”coincidentally” find the submarine and then report it to the military.

His reasoning could only go so far; he didn’t know which plan the US military would take. Considering the strength of their hackers, Zhang Wei didn’t dare let An Xiaoxi risk hacking into their system.

”The system really thinks highly of me.” Zhang Wei smiled bitterly. Although the salvage company had begun preparations, the entire company was currently an empty shell with him as the only employee. Wanting to perform a salvage was like a pipe dream.

Zhang Wei picked up his phone.

”Beep, beep, beep...” The call connected.

”Old Master Tang, I hope I’m not disturbing your rest?”

On the other end of the line, Tang Liansheng instinctively glanced at the winter sun outside the window.

”It’s the middle of the day, why the hell would I be resting? If you can’t do small talk, don’t force it. Just tell me what you want.”

Zhang Wei was a bit embarrassed: ”There really is an urgent matter. Our salvage company recently found a very pressing job. I was wondering if Old Master Tang could use your connections to help me find two salvage vessels. New ones would be best, but second-hand ones will do if necessary. Oh, and I also need an offshore salvage platform.”

Currently, there were two mainstream salvage methods. Using submersibles for underwater operations targeted delicate but small-volume items like antiques.

The other was to fix two salvage ships in parallel at sea and set up a salvage platform between them. This way, a crane could be used to directly lift items weighing hundreds of tons.

Zhang Wei calculated his available funds. Hai Rui’s manuscripts and the yuan dynasty blue and white porcelain had already been sold to local Museums, netting over 200 million. The ambergris was sold through Dr. Wu to a tycoon in the Middle East for nearly 100 million.

Star Jewelry was now self-sufficient, and he no longer needed to invest more capital there.

Including the one billion Old Master Tang promised, he had 1.3 billion in funds at his disposal. Buying two ships plus a salvage platform would cost at most 300 million, which was not a problem at all.

”I knew you wouldn’t call for anything good.” Tang Liansheng thought for a moment. ”I have some connections with the Ship King in Hong Kong from back when I invested in Hong Kong films. I can ask for you. However, the procedures for buying and selling ships are complicated. Even if the green light is given all the way, it probably won’t be a short process, so be prepared.”

”I understand. But please, as soon as possible. Once this job is done, we’ll be able to walk unimpeded in the South China Sea.” To get Old Master Tang to take it seriously, Zhang Wei quickly painted a rosy picture for him.

”As for the price, you can negotiate it yourself. After all, you provided the one billion in funding. Just don’t buy the ships at a high price to get a kickback.”

Tang Liansheng’s beard twitched with anger. ”You think everyone is like you? Would I care about such a small amount of money? If there’s nothing else, get lost.”

Zhang Wei joked and hung up the phone. It was quite fun to tease the old man every now and then.

But at the thought of the problem he faced, his mood immediately soured. Zhang Wei racked his brains for a solution and finally thought of a good way to stall for time.

He went to the hotel parking garage and drove his NIO straight toward the pier.

The Haikou Fishing Industry Association was located in a small six-story building not far from the pier. Chairman Wang was in his office tallying the month’s catch.

The fishing season in Hainan was from September to April of the following year. This time before the New Year was the best time for fishing. Looking at this month’s report, he was quite satisfied.

Nowadays, the coast guard in the South China Sea had increased law enforcement. The ’South Sea Monkeys’ who used to come for illegal fishing in previous years now didn’t dare step foot into Chinese waters. This was also the main reason for this year’s bumper harvest.

At this moment, there was a knock on the door, and the secretary led a young man into the office.

Chairman Wang looked at the newcomer and found him familiar: ”I remember you! You’re the one who did the ’Big Pendulum’ dance in the livestream room the other day!”

The smile on Zhang Wei’s face instantly froze. He suddenly felt a pang in his heart. This was like rubbing salt in his wound right to his face.

”Zhang Wei, Chairman of Star Jewelry. Nice to meet you.” Zhang Wei introduced himself.

Chairman Wang enthusiastically brewed a cup of tea for him personally. The man before him was quite extraordinary; all of Hainan had been discussing this jewelry company for the past few days. They were the first to hold a new product launch at the Aerospace Administration Bureau’s launch site.

”I wonder what brings Boss Zhang here today? Surely you didn’t come to buy seafood, did you? Hahaha.”

Zhang Wei noticed that despite his age, Chairman Wang seemed like an old child who loved to joke. Perhaps this was a unique simplicity found in people in the fishing industry.

Thinking of this, he stopped wasting time: ”Chairman Wang, it’s like this. I want to charter some fishing boats to go out to sea. The number is a bit large, about a dozen, so I’ve come to trouble you.”

Upon hearing this, Chairman Wang looked a bit troubled: ”Boss Zhang, it’s not that I won’t help you, but it’s currently the peak fishing season. No one’s fishing boat is sitting idle.”

Zhang Wei smiled: ”That doesn’t matter. We can negotiate the charter fee. We can calculate the approximate loss of catch and include it in the cost. Of course, the fishermen’s labor for operating the boats can also be included.”

Hearing how generous the other party was, Chairman Wang couldn’t find any more excuses. As his primary job, he naturally hoped for as much catch as possible, but Zhang Wei’s status made him hesitant to make things difficult.

”Alright then. I’ll help you get in touch. Specifically, how many boats do you need and for how many days?”

Zhang Wei thought for a moment: ”Fifteen boats. Charter each for half a month.”

”Boss Zhang, are you sure? The fees plus the compensation for the fishermen’s lost catch won’t be a small amount.”

Chairman Wang took out a calculator and pressed buttons for a while: ”All these boats together will cost at least several million.”

Zhang Wei waved his hand: ”I’ll pay ten million. I want fifteen boats out at sea tomorrow.”