Chapter 606: Clearly Understanding Your Strengths and Weaknesses
Xiao Peng really thought Chen Zetao's words were just a joke. Even in feudal society, officials who criticized officials were not executed. Since when has China ever controlled people's mouths, as long as they weren't spreading rumors or slandering others? Look at all the public intellectuals online who try to stir up trouble and stir up trouble. When have you ever seen them arrested?
If you go out of your way to praise China in Western countries, you'll be punished, like "You Tu B" and countless pro-China operatives on Twitter who've had their traffic restricted and their accounts shut down. But what about you online in China? There are so many people who go out of their way to praise foreigners! You can curse their mothers, but you can't even curse European and American countries! But when have such people ever been restricted or banned?
Those who keep saying that there is no "freedom of speech" in China should really come out and take a look.
However, a few days later, Xiao Peng was a little confused when he received a call from China.
The caller had been a frequent fixture on the 7 o'clock news when he was younger. He was a member of the national leadership team back then, and now everyone calls him "Old Zheng." Later, as he aged and retired, he'd been out of touch for years. Unexpectedly, he'd called to commend him for recovering a batch of Yuanmingyuan artifacts and increasing China's gold reserves. He hoped Xiao Peng would continue to make contributions to the motherland, and that even in a foreign land, he wouldn't forget that he had a strong motherland behind him. Blah blah blah...
He also conducted a self-examination with Xiao Peng. Xiao Peng had long ago informed the country that the super-large offshore engineering vessel was unsuitable for deep-sea salvage work, but the country had not accepted his advice, resulting in the super-large vessel now facing huge losses every day. He was responsible for this...
He also told Xiao Peng that the person in charge of the project at that time was called Ma Wufang. His father was called Ma Sihan, a ministerial-level leader in China. It was because of his strong recommendation that Ma Wufang was able to lead the Algerian Ocean Exploration Company project.
Because the Mediterranean shipwreck exploration had made no progress, Masihan, in an effort to deflect blame from his son, had been fabricating rumors within the organization, claiming that the shipwreck coordinates provided by Xiao Peng were false, hoping to make Xiao Peng bear the responsibility for the unsuccessful salvage efforts. This was currently under internal investigation, and even Ma Wufang had been dismissed from his command.
Although Xiao Peng knew that the formal significance of Mr. Zheng's call was greater than its substantive significance, he still liked it.
After all, Xiao Peng has been educated in patriotism since childhood, and he belongs to the group of people who "become more patriotic the more they go abroad." Otherwise, he would not have found ways to transport gold and treasures back to China.
Although Xiao Peng didn't want to admit it, he was still accustomed to China's "paternalistic" government management style. As a Chinese, he had this fear of leaders in his bones, and this was not a habit that could be changed by going abroad for a few years.
Call him a loser or a weakling, but somehow Xiao Peng agreed to let Mr. Zheng go back to the Mediterranean to support the salvaging of the massive ship. He also promised to continue broadcasting when he had free time. He also seemed to have agreed to strengthen cooperation with the French Chinese Mutual Aid Association.
When Xiao Peng hung up the phone, everyone was confused: What the hell did I do!
He was in a state of panic. Wasn't this going to get him into trouble again? No, he had to find a way to avoid it!
But there is one thing he cannot avoid: he has to go to Italy, hook up with that super ship, and salvage the sunken ship in the sea first!
These idiots can’t even find the coordinates if you tell them!
He actually didn't bother to care about this ship, but Chen Zetao was anxious. After all, this ship was related to Xiao Peng and his reputation. If this sunken ship could not be found, there would definitely be people who would suspect that they had given false coordinates!
Well, in that case, let’s go there first!
But before that, there is something more important to do: Zhang Cuijian is almost becoming the "Wife-Waiting Cliff" in Dunkirk.
When Xiao Peng's ship stopped at Dunkirk, he was almost stunned: the port of Dunkirk had been blocked! The entire port was full of armed personnel!
He thought the British were trying to escape again, but he found out that they were security personnel sent by the Bank of France to provide armed escort!
That's 50 tons of gold! France's entire gold reserves are less than 2,500 tons! 2% of a country's gold reserves? How could they not take it seriously?
Finland is rich, right? Their entire country's gold reserves are less than 50 tons! A country with 50 tons of gold would rank in the top 50 in the world's gold reserves!
The people at the Bank of France were also a bit confused. Wasn't this gold fished out of the sea? But what about this pile of refined gold bars? Did they say 50 tons? Are they really 50 tons? Are you sure this gold was fished out of the seabed?
Zhang Cuijian told Xiao Peng that several senior executives of their bank wanted to meet Xiao Peng.
Originally, Fabian was supposed to do this, but he's still in Germany. Xiao Peng used the excuse of going to the Mediterranean to turn down the invitation and let Pascal go instead. Sitting with these random politicians is such a waste of brain cells! Who knows what's going on in their heads?
Just like Friedrich, who acted like he had no choice but to return the artifacts to China in front of Xiao Peng, appearing sincere, but then stabbed Xiao Peng in the back! If they hadn't discovered installing a hidden camera on the ship, Xiao Peng wouldn't have suspected he was actually trying to steal another 1.5 billion from the artifacts!
If he didn't have the ability to command sharks, he would have fallen into the pit this time!
This incident also sounded a wake-up call for Xiao Peng - if you don't have the skills, don't take on the job!
At such a young age, how could he compete with these old foxes in wits and courage? He was simply not cut out for it! Didn't he see that when Mr. Zheng called and gave him no benefits, Xiao Peng still had to run around for him with gratitude?
Xiao Peng had a clear understanding of himself: these foreigners valued him not because of his wealth, but because of his ability to search and salvage shipwrecks. So what if he didn't want to deal with these old foxes? As long as he could salvage shipwrecks, as long as he could still find wealth in the sea, these people would always maintain a good relationship with him!
Pascal followed the Banque de France to Paris: this batch of gold still needed to be inspected for purity, its price calculated, and other procedures, which would take at least ten days to a month. Meanwhile, Xiao Peng, along with Kasin and Chen Zetao, boarded a plane to Italy. Once there, they took a helicopter to the sea and located the super-sized offshore vessel.
"Oh my god!" Xiao Peng whistled after seeing the offshore construction vessel from the sky. "This big thing must cost at least 200,000 euros a day, right? You guys are awesome. How much have you lost over all this time?"
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