Chapter 926 An Offer that Cannot Be Refused
The party on the lawn continued. A middle-aged, somewhat bald uncle, wearing overalls, held an accordion in his arms, and there was a young man playing the harmonica next to him.
They were not the band invited to the party, but the invited guests. The middle-aged uncle was a nobleman, even if he was just a viscount. And the young man was his son.
In Western parties, in addition to the appearance given by parents, talents are also very important, such as dancing, such as singing. And usually playing musical instruments is also a very good way to attract attention.
However, most of the time, they pretend to learn piano. It’s just that today is an ordinary party on the weekend. Everyone relaxes on the lawn and does not hold a grand party in a luxurious place. The manor hall is a place for people of status to talk about things. Playing the piano in it does not attract attention, but disgust.
Therefore, if you can perform on the lawn and become the focus of the party, traditional British instruments such as harmonica and accordion are more advantageous. Of course, it would be even more perfect if there is a handsome man or an elegant long-haired girl playing a violin.
However, the music of accordion and harmonica is also good now, with a very British country style. Let these nobles who still regard the glory of the past British Empire as their lifelong pride, dancing to the British music, seem to have returned to the era when they were kings.
Natasha had left, and Yang Dongxu was sitting alone on the sofa, frowning, his eyes empty and unfocused, as if he was obviously thinking about something.
Toy, who went downstairs to talk to his friends for a while, went upstairs not long after Natasha left. Seeing Yang Dongxu in deep thought, he did not go over, but stood alone in front of the window and looked at the dancing crowd below.
After a while, the music ended, and noisy applause and praise sounded, waking up Yang Dongxu who was in deep thought. He frowned and looked outside, turned his head and saw Toy standing on the edge of the window.
"It seems that you have agreed to her conditions." When he looked at Toy, Toy seemed to have noticed and turned to look at him. There was no disappointment on his face, but he shrugged helplessly.
"The conditions are so tempting that I can't refuse them." Yang Dongxu sighed. Even though he has a big family and has experienced a lot of things, he still feels a little nervous about this cooperation. If he succeeds, his status and assets will be on a higher level. If he fails, he will need to work hard to make money to fill the gap in the next few years.
"Did you promise her that you will have a son together and inherit the Gut family?" Toy teased.
Yang Dongxu rolled his eyes speechlessly.
Then he pondered for a moment and organized his words: "How much do you know about the Middle East?"
"Do you mean Iraq, Libya or Iran?" Toy asked.
"Iraq." A trace of solemnity flashed between Yang Dongxu's eyebrows.
"That's not a good place." Toy's brows also frowned.
The Middle East is naturally a powder keg because of its oil production. Looking at the entire situation in the Middle East, those who are basically suppressed by the United States are not friends on the side of Russia, but at least they are somewhat cooperative.
Since the Gulf War, the United States has jointly imposed economic sanctions on Iraq with its allies, and as the sanctions continue to deepen. Iraq is not only not poor, but has become richer, especially in terms of military strength. Iraq is definitely the largest arms buyer in the Middle East.
In recent years, it has spent a lot of money to buy a lot of good things from Ukraine, Russia, and even from Americans, as well as Europeans, which has made the entire Middle East uneasy.
"But there are great benefits there. A mature oil field can be easily taken away by tankers as long as you drive a tanker to the port of Basra." Although his face was solemn, he couldn't help but feel a little excited when he thought of Natasha's promise to him.
A mature oil field under development must invest manpower and material resources by itself. As long as you find a tanker to take oil, and the quantity is unlimited, this is a profitable business.
Of course, Yang Dongxu also paid a certain price for this. For example, some of his Microsoft stocks were mortgaged at a premium and became bargaining chips for Natasha to negotiate with those untrustworthy financial oligarchs when she integrated the Russian banking industry.
"I'm not very familiar with that place. After leaving Russia, I was mainly responsible for the family's overseas investment, which was concentrated in the United States and several European countries. Things in the Middle East have never been involved since the beginning. Don't you have a team there?" Toy said.
In the past, the weapons of the overseas companies of the Blade Security Company were provided by Toy. Although Du Suo has found other channels to obtain weapons and equipment from the Middle East since he left Russia, after all, they have cooperated with Toy and know a little bit.
"They are mainly responsible for security companies, accepting the employment of some wealthy people, and have not touched other things." Yang Dongxu said.
Although the Blade Security Company has not been well-known internationally in recent years, it has a very good reputation in the circle of wealthy people. It has even fought against Blackwater Company more than once without suffering any loss.
The reason why the United States allows such an uncontrolled armed force to exist in its own pocket in the Middle East is naturally because the Blade Security Company is only responsible for security employment, and never acts as a mercenary to participate in any war, or fights for any mineral resources with orders.
Blackwater will care about the small money in the security market, but the United States obviously will not. Moreover, many wealthy people in the Middle East who have good relations with the US government feel very at ease when accepting the protection of Sharp Blade Security Company. Therefore, the US government will naturally not make these wealthy people unhappy because of such trivial matters.
"Let me ask Uncle Andre for you. Some of the minerals and oil fields that were sold to you before belong to Uncle Andre, but you should know the reason why he sold off the oil fields in his hands, especially those located in Iraq. Oil fields,” Toy reminded.
Yang Dongxu nodded. Of course he knew the reason. Starting from the Asian financial crisis, the entire world economy has been in turmoil in recent years, especially the bursting of the Internet bubble last year, which made life very difficult for Americans.
At this time, a very bellicose president took office, and the clouds of war began to hang in the sky. What's more, since the Gulf War, the war in the Middle East has not been extinguished.
The Iraq War a few years later was a continuation of the Gulf War, all the way to Libya, and almost did not fight Iran until he was reborn.
In short, the Middle East is not at peace. There is constant competition between big powers, and now the center of the competition is in Iraq. If someone is not careful at this time, he will lose all his money at best, or be shattered into pieces at worst.
However, others saw that George W. Bush came to power, Saddam Hussein was making such a fuss, and the war clouds over Iraq had begun to make up for it. But no one could tell clearly when the lightning, thunder, and heavy rain started. They just realized that they wanted to fight, but they did not Know when to hit.
But what others don't know is that Yang Dongxu knows that the war in Iraq will not really start until 2003, which means that he still has at least two years to continue to pump oil from Iraq. After not being online for two years, Yang Dongxu felt like countless gold coins were pouring into his pocket along with the oil tankers.
"Please help me contact him first. If there is anything we can cooperate with, I will discuss it with him in person." Yang Dongxu said.
"I'll call Uncle Andrei tonight, and you can contact him directly then. But I still remind you, if there is no need, stay away from Natasha. In order to take over the Gut family, she has become very... Crazy. She was responsible for more than half of the financial oligarchs killed on stage in the past few years.”
"Isn't it?" Yang Dongxu looked surprised.
Although he had received some rumors before, because the investment focus was no longer on Russia, he didn't know very clearly. After hearing what Troy said, he realized that the Natasha now was no longer the Natasha he knew before, who was just a white-glove intermediary representing a big family.
"Otherwise, why do you think my uncle doesn't want to get in touch with her? Even this cooperation is limited. And she has no supporters in China except the one on stage, and the support given by the Gut family is limited. It’s limited, so she seeks out partners to increase her capital, otherwise she wouldn’t be qualified to sit at the poker table.”
"Does that mean that when she was sitting at the card table playing cards, the money she used as chips was actually my money?" Yang Dongxu said.
"That's right, so you still have time to regret it now." Troy reminded.
Yang Dongxu shrugged with a wry smile, "Forget it, since I have promised her, there is no reason to return. What I can do now is to take advantage of the convenience of her sitting at the card table before she loses all the money she has. Let’s see if we can make back the money we invested.”
"It's up to you." Troy did not continue to persuade, "Let's go, don't mention her, go down and I will introduce you to some friends. There will be a small trade fair in the evening."
"Trade fair?" Yang Dongxu was stunned for a moment. Tuoy didn't tell him this before coming to this party.
"It was decided on the spur of the moment when we went down to chat. You know this." Troy pouted at the people downstairs: "Although many families have fallen into decline, as long as they are passed down to this day, they will have some good things in their hands. .
After all, their elders followed the royal family to plunder the world. Now I can no longer live my life, so I took out my treasured things to see if I could make some investments to turn things around. "
"Are there any Chinese antiques?" Yang Dongxu couldn't help but ask.
"There will definitely be some, but compared to Chinese antiques. In fact, in private small trade fairs in Europe and the United States, more art works that meet the aesthetic standards of Europeans and Americans are traded.
For example, some imperfect manuscripts of modern Van Gogh or Leonardo da Vinci, or some gemstones and jewelry with more historical significance, etc. "