Chapter 256: 255, Aerial Suppression, Airdropping Remote-controlled Bombs, Guangzhou Gold Firm Begins Sniping Japan
Fang Wen agreed to help the 4 tycoons and immediately had John Harvey draft the contract.
Helping is helping, but contract documents to protect one’s own interests cannot be omitted.
The content of these contract documents includes: Marshall Islands joint development agreement, supply agreement.
After signing the contract, Fang Wen pondered how to eliminate those kidnappers.
Now the enemy and our sides were confronting each other on both sides of this isolated island, with 10 people remaining on the opponent’s side, all veterans proficient in firearms shooting and coordinated combat.
Meanwhile, here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, 3000 kilometers from Majuro, even if notified, it would take Zhao Jiu and his men 100 hours to arrive.
Similarly, support from Honolulu could not be obtained in time.
Therefore, they could only rely on themselves.
The Xuan Ming Seaplane currently had three M2 machine guns, but as air combat active machine guns, they could only fire level shots and elevated shots, unable to perform dive shots.
The remote-controlled bombs brought along, however, could deliver crushing air strikes through aerial bombing.
Thus, Fang Wen took off directly and began this money revenge.
Fang Wen piloted the airplane into the sky, circling at an altitude of over 2000 meters.
He picked up the wired telephone inside the fuselage: “The number of remote-controlled bombs is limited; bombing must strictly follow my orders, no messing around.”
These words were directed at Wu Yingzong and Zhao Wanping.
The two were waiting at the anchor drop port in the mooring compartment, with over a dozen remote-controlled bombs placed beside them.
The others in the airplane were in anticipation.
Everything was ready.
Fang Wen, who had merged with the airplane through mechanical perception, lowered the altitude by a few hundred meters.
This altitude was only 1500 meters.
Below, the kidnappers who had hijacked the sailors’ ship also saw the airplane in the sky; they realized that the people they sent out were likely doomed, and they all raised their firearms to shoot into the air.
Unfortunately, the weapons in their hands had limited range; under factors like air resistance and gravity, the bullets lost kinetic energy at 1000 meters altitude and fell freely.
The vertically fired bullets even returned along the same path, landing around the sailors’ ship, with some kidnappers unfortunately hit; the scene became chaotic.
Now was the moment; Fang Wen seized the opportunity, lowering the fuselage to 1000 meters altitude, and just as he was about to pass over the enemy ship, he called out: “Drop the bombs.”
Wu Yingzong and Zhao Wanping tacitly dropped the remote-controlled bombs.
10 seconds later, Wu Yingzong pressed the radio waves detonator.
Immediately, a series of explosions appeared on the sailors’ ship below, some on the deck, some in the sea.
But this round of explosions could not annihilate the kidnappers on the ship.
Fang Wen controlled the airplane to spin, beginning the second round of bombing.
The second round of explosions was like adding fuel to the fire, directly setting the sailors’ ship ablaze.
This was suppression; in an era without precision-guided missiles, air superiority posed a great threat to both land and sea.
No matter how proficient these kidnappers were in cooperation or how good their marksmanship, they could not cope with this situation.
Then, the third round of bombing directly caused the collapse.
The entire ship tilted to one side and gradually sank into the water.
The survivors on the ship jumped into the sea before it sank.
At this moment, weapons had become a burden; to survive, the survivors discarded their weapons and swam toward the ring reef island, only to be caught by the tycoons’ bodyguards.
A long-premeditated Pacific high seas kidnapping ultimately ended in failure; 2 surviving kidnappers were captured, after which the bodyguards boarded the fuel ship and freshwater ship for inspection.
These two ships had a total of 12 crew members; because they remained neutral during this failed kidnapping incident, they were temporarily detained by the bodyguards to prevent any kidnappers’ accomplices among them.
Now they just needed to wait for the rescue personnel from Honolulu.
With the life threat gone, the tycoons turned their attention to Fang Wen’s ghost ship exploration.
The film movie shot by Elizabeth Catherine Rockefeller showed them the mystery inside the ghost ship.
Once the truth was revealed, the mystical fear dissipated instantly, replaced by worry about the plague.
Regardless of whether those big rats that had bred for generations still carried the plague virus, they had to be eliminated just in case.
For this, the third ghost ship exploration was much simpler and more brutal.
The bodyguards and Fang Wen’s people cut a hole in the ship hull and entered directly from there, taking out all the treasure.
Then a big fire burned the entire ghost ship along with the rats inside to ashes.
In the following days, the origin of the extracted treasure was also clarified.
After appraisal by Professor Suarez, this batch of treasure included Maya wealth plundered by Spanish colonizers, which was robbed by Caribbean pirates while being prepared for transport to Europe.
The robbing Caribbean pirates gang was led by Edward Teach, nicknamed Blackbeard.
This was the last big thief among the Caribbean pirates.
At that time, because Britain won the Anglo-French War, the King of England announced the cancellation of privateering licenses, requiring all pirates to either accept the King’s amnesty and return to land or go to full war with the British Royal Navy.
Most pirates went ashore; only Blackbeard and a few other pirates persisted.
Initially, Blackbeard’s pirate group controlled the shipping routes from Europe to America, nearly bankrupting Britain.
Until Blackbeard was encircled and suppressed by the British fleet and ultimately died in sea combat.
But after his death, his treasure was never found, so the legend of Blackbeard’s treasure has persisted.
Now at least it was clear: this ghost ship was the treasure ship dispatched by Blackbeard back then, but unfortunately, the plague broke out en route, leaving the ship abandoned, and it unexpectedly became a mysterious ghost ship.
One day after the treasure was extracted, a warship from the Pearl Harbor base in Honolulu finally arrived.
The 4 tycoons eagerly boarded the ship to leave, and before departing, they did not forget to wave goodbye to Fang Wen.
After seeing off the warship and the 4 ships, Fang Wen looked back at his side.
Now, only family was left.
Wu Yingzong, Zhao Wanping, John Harvey.
Lin Shuiwang boarded the warship to return to Honolulu, then took a ship back to the United States with the 4 tycoons, to build good relations and facilitate future contact and cooperation.
“Let’s go, we’re setting off too.”
Fang Wen turned and boarded the airplane, with the others following.
The Xuanming took off, heading toward Majuro 3000 kilometers away.
After 15 hours of long-distance flight, the airplane landed seaside at Majuro.
A small boat came over, with Zhao Jiu standing at the bow.
Fang Wen came down from the cockpit and asked about the situation: “Zhao Jiu, how’s the situation in Majuro?”
“General Manager, it’s gone too smoothly. You all board the boat first; we’ll talk on the way.”
Then, everyone boarded the small boat, which turned toward the shore.
Once everyone was ashore, Zhao Jiu began recounting his activities in Majuro during this time.
“Following the general manager’s instructions, I found the most prestigious family on the main island to serve as president. They didn’t understand at first and explained a bunch, but once they did, it was easy; everyone wants the position of being above others. With someone taking the lead, the rest was much easier; all of us became employees of the new kingdom government, publicly declaring the cancellation of the trusteeship system and restoration of sovereignty. The current problem is that the people I brought have enough force but lack in other areas; it’s quite chaotic.”
Fang Wen smiled slightly: “No need to worry about that; I’ve found two partners, and their families will send various suitable management talents. What you need to do now is stabilize the situation, control the other islands, and cooperate with John Harvey’s legislation.”
Zhao Jiu nodded: “We’ve sent people to the other islands; many are uninhabited islands, and for those with people, we’ve done the work—they recognize the new independent kingdom. However, general manager, what if the Japanese send warships to attack?”
Fang Wen immediately fell into thought.
The Imperial Japanese Navy currently had no ocean-going combat capability; for them, this chess piece of Marshall Islands was less important than Southeast Asia.
But it was different for the United States; in its Pacific strategy, it needed transit islands as bases to connect with Asia and better manage its colony, the U.S.-controlled Philippines.
Honolulu was one, Guam was one, but with over 6000 kilometers between Honolulu and Guam, just these two islands could not achieve the Pacific strategy.
If at this time, the Marshall Independent Kingdom between them was willing to accept U.S. protection and allow base construction, the U.S. Pacific strategic layout would be much more complete.
Therefore, Fang Wen was betting that the United States would fall out with Japan for the interests brought by Marshall Islands.
Brushing away his thoughts, Fang Wen comforted Zhao Jiu: “No need to worry; the Imperial Japanese Navy has no bases in the Pacific Ocean. Besides, it will take a long time for news here to reach Japan and be discovered; by then, it will be a done deal, and they won’t be able to change anything.”
His words gave Zhao Jiu confidence, and the conversation ended.
After staying one night in Marshall Islands, Fang Wen took off again toward Guangzhou.
This return voyage also passed through seas controlled by the Imperial Japanese Navy, but it was thrilling yet safe; the Imperial Japanese Navy, unable to predict the Xuanming’s movements in advance, did not dispatch carrier-based aircraft to intercept.
Upon landing at Guangzhou Airport, Fang Wen borrowed a telephone at the airport and called the Kuang Family.
Kuang Shanming’s hearty voice came through the phone: “You kid are finally back. Come to the gold exchange; I’ll show you a good show.”
Fang Wen also wanted to know what this Guangzhou Gold Firm joint sniping of Japanese silver was like.
“Good, I’m coming right now.”
He hung up the phone and headed to the gold exchange with Wu Yingzong and Zhao Wanping.
Inside the gold exchange, it was a hubbub; many people were raising their bid cards high, constantly quoting prices.
Fang Wen didn’t understand much of this and instead looked for his father-in-law.
“Fang Wen, over here, come.” His father-in-law waved from the second floor.
Fang Wen and the other two went up to the second floor, and under his father-in-law’s lead, they entered a lobby on the second floor isolated from outside noise by thick cloth.
It was much quieter there, with strict security; bodyguards in different attire stood guard outside the door.
Fang Wen had Wu Yingzong and Zhao Wanping stay outside, and he entered with his father-in-law.
The people present were all familiar to Fang Wen; they were the principals of those twenty-odd gold firms.
They were excitedly discussing something.
Kuang Shanming said loudly: “Our family’s God of Wealth is back; before the action, let’s borrow some of his luck.”
Immediately, the over twenty gold firm principals stood up and came over, smiling and shaking hands with Fang Wen.
The handshakes were all very firm, as if trying to take away Fang Wen’s financial luck this way.
After the handshakes, Kuang Shanming finally explained the situation.
“On the day silver dollars were changed to legal tender, the Japanese ambassador Ariyoshi angrily questioned Boss Kong about why there was no consultation with Japan before the currency reform order was issued. It is said he suspected the currency reform was planned and supported by Britain. Subsequently, Japanese businesses in China refused to hand over silver and used various tactics, either continuing silver smuggling export activities or prohibiting silver transport from North China to the south, creating all sorts of difficulties for the currency reform.”
“The British people endorsed the currency reform and issued the King’s Order on the 《1935 Silver Payment Prohibition Regulations》, requiring British merchants and expatriates in China to comply with the currency reform order and not pay debts in silver; all British merchant banks in China also expressed willingness to hand over silver. HSBC Bank even lent 2 million pounds to the National Government at low interest （3% annual interest）.”
“Now the Japanese suspect the British people and the National Government are colluding to play tricks.”
“On the American side, because the National Government did not link legal tender to the US dollar, it angered the US side; the US declared it would reduce the Treasury’s official silver purchase volume to 50 million ounces.”
After hearing Kuang Shanming’s words, Fang Wen roughly understood the game involved.
In short, this sudden currency reform by the National Government not only harmed the interests of the domestic people but also damaged the interests of various foreign countries.
Why not link to the US dollar?
Because its gold reserves were insufficient, and the currency valuation itself was inflated; once linked, the problems would emerge.
Fang Wen smiled; this makeshift team was doing things completely haphazardly.
He kept his thoughts to himself and continued listening to Kuang Shanming’s bragging.
“Since the issuance of legal tender, our twenty-odd gold firms have been selling off silver abroad; the price of silver has already started to slide slightly. Because we’re selling a lot, the southern gold exchange market is basically all our shipments.”
A gold firm boss next to Kuang Shanming added: “We’re dumping at low prices, but the Shanghai Gold Exchange is buying at rising prices, creating a 0.5% price difference between north and south silver. We initially thought the National Government was buying silver as reserves, but it turned out not; the ones buying silver at the Shanghai Gold Exchange are all related to the Japanese Chamber of Commerce.”
Fang Wen was surprised: “The Japanese are still acquiring silver?”
“Yeah, these guys think they’re clever, but they’re just stubborn mules who won’t turn back until they hit the south wall. If they’re willing to buy, we sell to them. In these two weeks, we’ve dumped 30% of our total silver volume.” Kuang Shanming replied.
Fang Wen was even more surprised; the US Treasury had reduced its China silver purchase quota, and China’s silver dollar system had turned to legal tender, yet the Japanese were still buying silver.
This was a huge gamble!
Fang Wen knew how ruthless Americans were in economics, never giving up until their goal was achieved.
Therefore, he felt there must be a killing move later.
Once that killing move came out, silver prices would probably collapse.
Thus, Fang Wen stood up seriously: “Everyone, I have a proposal; I wonder if you’re willing to hear it?”
“Son-in-law, just say it directly; there are no outsiders here.” Kuang Shanming said.
“Alright, my proposal is to dump all the silver in a short time, as much as we have, and then exchange it all for value-preserving gold.”
Everyone in the room was immediately surprised; Kuang Shanming asked on behalf of all: “Son-in-law, is there something you haven’t finished saying? Tell us so everyone can understand.”
“I’m just making a prediction, but dumping silver in a short time has no downside for you; the faster you dump, the more you’ll earn later.” Fang Wen replied.
“But without silver in our hands, how do we suppress the price?” An puzzled gold firm principal asked.
“No need for us to suppress; someone will step in.” At this point, Fang Wen stood up: “Everyone, Fang has many matters to handle in South Asia; if you’re willing to heed my proposal, do so; if not, it doesn’t violate the original plan. Fang bids farewell.”
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to everyone.
