Chapter 366 The Dark Hand Reaching out to Xiao Peng

Every move of Xiao Peng and his crew on the ship was under the watchful eyes of several nearby ships.

On the Ifrit, Marco was looking at Xiao Peng's ship through a telescope, and in his other hand, he was holding a satellite phone and reporting to someone.

"It's a Russian-made helicopter. Strangely, there's 'Istanbul United Mining' written on it in English. Seriously! The people who got off the plane were wearing suits, but with their 'fez' they were obviously Turkish! I'll send you the photos! Oh, there was also a white guy who got off. He looked like a Russian! John, send the photos over there so they can see them."

The fez is a Turkish felt hat. Turks are often seen wearing bucket-shaped hats in movies and TV series, including Turkish soldiers during World War I. Today, this hat has become a favorite among Muslims.

In fact, when Kemal established Turkey in 1925, he issued a decree banning the wearing of fez in Turkey, but today this decree is no longer in force. Many Turks actually prefer this type of hat.

Meanwhile, in a building in Istanbul, a middle-aged man frowned as he looked at the photos uploaded from his computer. "Istanbul United Mining? Check it out for me!"

"Yes!" A young man nearby checked his computer and said to the man, "Minister Borrell, this is a company that was established in Istanbul a little over a year ago, but it's been quiet. The largest shareholder is Russian businessman Ivan Gavrila Vasily. The second largest shareholder is Mustafazad Ovuz Erdogan from Raz."

"Hiss..." The middle-aged man Borrell took a breath. "Is this 'Erdogan' the 'Erdogan' we know? Is it the 'Erdogan' of Tayyip?"

The young man nodded. "Minister Borelli, I told you he's from Raz. What should we do next?"

This poses a problem for Borrelli: how does he know what to do?

Everyone knows that Turkey is a country primarily populated by Turks, but due to its vast territory, it has many ethnic minorities. The Laz are one of Turkey's ethnic minorities. They live along the border between Turkey and Georgia. Some say the Laz are actually Georgians, but with different religious beliefs.

The current Turkish President Erdogan is a Raz, not a Turk.

But this is quite normal. In fact, since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, many of their leaders are not Turks: Kemal, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, was Greek, and later İnönü was a Kurd, and Adnan was a Tatar...

He is from Raz and has the same surname as the president, which poses a difficult problem for Borrell.

Borelli asked, “Check Owuzi’s family situation.”

Turkish names consist of a one- or two-character given name followed by a surname. Three-character names are also common, but they are rare. They refer to people by the second character of their given name. For example, Mustafazad Övuz Erdogan is called Övuz. Their founding leader was Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, so he's called Kemal. The current president, known to Chinese people as Erdogan, is actually Recep Tayyip Erdogan, so custom requires calling him Tayyip. This is why Borrell mentioned "Tayyip's Erdogan."

Soon the document was placed on his desk, and the more he looked at it, the more he frowned.

"Damn it!" He slammed the document on the table.

He really didn't dare to investigate this matter any further.

The current tense situation in the Mediterranean is largely due to the fact that the current President Erdogan, nicknamed the "Sultan of the New Era" by the people in the world, and the "New Tsar" of Russia are once again facing each other.

This guy is a well-known iron-fisted person. If the investigation reaches him, it must come to an end. God knows if this is a money-making scheme instructed by him? Even if it is not, at least we dare not investigate until he steps down.

Which of these politicians doesn't have relatives who help them make money? Are they destroying their jobs?

While Borelli was still racking his brains, another of his men suddenly came over and said, "Minister, that Chinese man and his ship have submitted an application to cross the Turkish Straits. The date is the day after tomorrow!"

"Huh?" Borelli was stunned. "The day after tomorrow? Does that mean they'll just leave? They won't salvage the ship?"

His men nodded: "It seems so."

Borelli tapped his fingers on the table. "We made a wrong judgment from the beginning. The Chinese came here to salvage the ship not to cooperate with Russia, but to cooperate with these damn termites!"

"Minister, be careful with your words!" his subordinates said hurriedly after hearing this.

Borelli nodded. "That's what I said. The Russians are clearly searching for shipwrecks there themselves, so why would they invite this Chinese guy? Currently, it's not just us and the Russians who are searching for Doroshenko's shipwreck in the Black Sea. There's also a third party working with Ivan and Ouz, and the Chinese guy was brought in by that third party. Damn it, we wasted too much time staring at these Chinese! We should have focused on the Russians! How could that Chinese guy find Doroshenko's treasure with just one ship?"

At this moment, there was a sudden knock on the door: "Minister, there is a new situation."

"What's going on?" Borelli asked.

The subordinate said, "People from the Istanbul United Mining Company just held a press conference. They announced that they had found Doroshenko's shipwreck in the Black Sea and released photos. There was a large amount of silver lire coins on the shipwreck. The preliminary estimate is over a hundred tons."

"Rier silver coins? What are those?" Borelli asked in confusion.

His subordinates explained, "Spanish currency was the most reputable around the Mediterranean at the time. Spain colonized South America and brought back large quantities of high-purity silver. Anyway, now that Istanbul United Mining has released this information, its stock price has skyrocketed!"

Borelli frowned. "Damn it! This should be our country's wealth! These countries are parasites! So many ocean exploration companies are rubbish! Can't catch up with a Chinese? That's not right. Then why did the Chinese ships choose to leave?"

The subordinate said, "Along with the silver coins, a shipwreck graveyard was also revealed. However, due to a massive vortex there, direct salvage is currently impossible. Therefore, the Chinese chose to leave the remaining work to Istanbul United Mining. At the press conference just now, the Istanbul United Mining spokesperson expressed their sincerest gratitude to the Chinese company."

Borelli pounded the table. "No! This amount of silver can't fall into other people's hands! Department meeting!"

"What should we do with that Chinese ship? Let them leave?" asked the subordinate.

"Humph! How can they just leave so easily? Let's get someone from the Straits Administration!"