"Hahaha! A true talent, Oliver really is a talent!"
While making this call, Oliver's other phone was connected to Zhang Menglong. He truly wanted to see those flustered faces of the Kaibong people.
During their conversation, Zhang Menglong heard every word, not one missed; these were not the phrases Zhang Menglong had taught him. Oliver spoke the Underworld lingo as fluently as he did!
Offer more than Zhang Menglong? That's just ridiculous. Kaibong's power system annually relies on government funds, and the national budget can only allocate so little, especially since the economy had contracted due to the pandemic, the budget for coal-fired power this year wasn't even 10 billion US Dollars.
And the penalty fee alone in the contract signed between Zhang Menglong and Oliver was 10 billion US Dollars; their pitiful funds couldn't even cover the breach penalty!
"Increase his pay," Zhang Menglong laughed. A person must be paid more!
"Mr. Oliver, considering our past cooperation, could you answer a question for me?" Masumi Aoki asked.
He wasn't an idiot. Zhang Menglong's actions were clearly targeting their Shogun Red Co., Ltd., but such targeting was definitely not without reason! To randomly spend tens of billions of US Dollars just to target someone seemed too costly, right?
But he didn't understand why Zhang Menglong was buying up all that coal; Shogun Red Co., Ltd. had virtually no interactions with Zhang Menglong, let alone any grievance.
"Feel free to ask, Mr. Aoki. Answering some questions is still possible."
"Mr. Oliver, did our Shogun Red Co., Ltd. inadvertently offend Mr. Zhang Menglong at some point?" Masumi Aoki asked.
"No, no, no," Oliver burst into laughter, "Your Shogun Red Co., Ltd. isn't even worthy of being offended by Mr. Zhang!"
Though Shogun Red is a hybrid of private and state-owned enterprise, its valuation is merely 20 billion US Dollars.
To Zhang Menglong, plucking a little from those hundreds of billions of US Dollars could turn Shogun Red's entire world upside down. In Zhang Menglong's eyes, a company of that size was like an ant in the eyes of a lion, simply not qualified to be targeted by him!
Hearing this, Masumi Aoki felt almost like cursing his mother; a company with a market cap of several billion dollars, and yet not qualified to offend Zhang Menglong?
"I think that it must have been your Kaibong country that offended Mr. Zhang Menglong," Oliver chuckled, "because not only in our Bowen Coalfield's share, Mr. Zhang Menglong has also bought up all the coal in other Australian coal fields!"
"What?" Masumi's expression changed. What on earth was Zhang Menglong trying to do?
"I guess it won't be long before other coalfields will also be sending you breach of contract fees," Oliver said just as a rapid series of footsteps broke into Masumi Aoki's office.
"Section Chief, President, we've just received another transfer of 500 million US Dollars from Sydney Goya Energy Group!"
"How could this happen? They all..."
"I can answer that for you," Oliver said, "I handled this on behalf of Mr. Zhang. Now in all of Australia, no coal will be sold to Kaibong!"
"You... You're monopolizing!" Masumi's face twisted.
"Monopoly? No!" Oliver smiled, "Our coal continues to be exported to countries like Huaxia and India. How could that be called a monopoly? It's just that our share isn't sufficient to supply Kaibong anymore. I hope Mr. Aoki can understand!"
"Why are you helping him?" Masumi interrogated. To secure all the coal fields in Australia in such a short time required not just money but also connections, and Oliver must have played a significant role in this.
"This," Oliver chuckled, "Mr. Zhang Menglong personally gave me 1 billion US Dollars to handle this task, one billion US Dollars! Isn't money enticing? Besides, the price Mr. Zhang offered was several times what you did. Anyone who wouldn't sell would be a fool. It's just a few phone calls for me; why wouldn't I help?"
Oliver continued, "Rather than that, I'd suggest Mr. Aoki look into what exactly your country did to upset Mr. Zhang. When I was just listening to Mr. Zhang, it seemed this was only the beginning."
"Just a beginning? What does that mean?" Masumi Aoki panicked suddenly.
There are many wealthy people in the world, but no one has ever been able to stand up against the machinery of a nation.
Yet, Zhang Menglong demonstrated through his actions that the only reason they couldn't shake a nation was merely because they weren't rich enough. As long as you have enough money to destabilize a nation's economy, you can shake that nation.
"I'm afraid Mr. Aoki will have to investigate that himself. Of course, you could also wait a bit; perhaps it won't be long before you naturally find out!"
Masumi Aoki put down his phone and sat blankly in front of the window, unsure of what to think.
"Mr. Aoki, Mr. Takao is here!" Masumi Aoki's secretary knocked on the door.
"Please, let him in!" Masumi Aoki urged.
This Mr. Takao, full name Takao Aoyama, was the deputy to the minister of the Energy Department of Kaibong. Their companies communicated and coordinated with the Energy Department through Takao Aoyama, and commands and important directives from the Energy Department were also conveyed through him.
"Mr. Takao, is there something you need to report this time?" Masumi Aoki asked.
He still dared not mention the issue of coal imports, a matter that concerned national livelihood. If addressed too severely, he, as the president, would have to apologize to the entire nation!
"There's an emergency meeting!" Takao Aoyama said, "The car is already outside; Mr. Aoki, please gather your things and come with me immediately!"
"Is there some special situation?" Masumi Aoki was somewhat uneasy; it had never happened before that Takao Aoyama personally came to pick him up.
"The minister didn't say, only that I should come to fetch you."
Takao Aoyama's expression was unusually serious, and Masumi Aoki dared not ask further and quickly left the company with him.
"President Tsumi, President Ryuichi?" When he arrived at the meeting room, Masumi Aoki saw several familiar faces. They were other coal and electricity developers from Kaibong, but together, they still did not match the scale of Shohan Red Corporation.
"You..." Masumi Aoki was about to ask something when footsteps were heard outside the door.
Everyone immediately stood up—the Minister of the Energy Department had personally come!
The Minister of the Energy Department was a very burly middle-aged man. By his side were several assistants. The minister's face looked extremely serious.
"Ladies and gentlemen, due to the urgency of the situation, I had to gather you all here," the Minister of the Energy Department began, "we just received news that several Middle Eastern countries have stopped supplying us Kaibong with natural gas."
Natural gas generation accounted for a quarter of Kaibong's electricity production. If the natural gas supply was cut off, their nuclear and coal-fired power stations would be under immense pressure.
The Minister of the Energy Department grimly smiled, "The reason is absurd—they actually said it was to reduce greenhouse gas emissions!"
"What kind of nonsense excuse is that?"
"This..." Masumi Aoki suddenly began to sweat on his forehead, "this reason, it feels like I've heard it somewhere before?"