Chapter 38: For the Alliance

As he watched Zhou Ming's confident back as he walked out of the room, Nikolaevich's face was filled with nothing but curiosity. This was because before inviting Zhou Ming over, he had tried to persuade these people himself, but no matter what he said, they were all against it.

Nikolaevich could understand their thoughts. Just like the rigid Soviet system, these people's thinking was rigid. And they were all in a position to get a share of the pie in the future reforms, so why would they follow him to do anything?

More importantly, if they could think of something on their own, why wouldn't the entire Western world, which had been preparing Project Tower for so many years, be able to think of it as well? In order to prevent anyone in the Soviet Union from standing up to resist, these officials must have been bribed long ago with a whole lot of promises. Now that the entire Soviet Union has rotten to the core from top to bottom, how could these people still have any integrity? They will definitely help the Western countries plunder their own wealth.

If they were young people, they could be incited with nationalistic sentiments, but these old officials can only be sorry.

Precisely for this reason, Nikolajevich was very eager to see what Zhou Ming, the self-proclaimed king of the mouth, would say. He just never expected that the first thing Zhou Ming said would surprise him.

Zhou Ming pushed open the door to the conference room, but let Nikolajevich go in first. After all, he was the president of the Northern Russian Republic, and some orders could not be messed up until a certain time.

Of course, the whole performance had to be complete. As soon as Zhou Ming pushed open the door, the meeting room, which had been in conversation, immediately became quiet, and everyone's attention was focused on Zhou Ming and Nikolaevich as they walked in.

Nikolaevic sat down in his seat without delay and introduced Zhou Ming to everyone: 'Hello everyone, I believe you all know the reason I invited you here today, which is to find a way to counter Western economic aggression. The person next to me is my special advisor, Mr. Zhou Ming. Let's give him a round of applause and welcome him to say a few words.'

Nikolaevic led the applause himself after he finished speaking, and the others followed suit. However, the feeble applause sounded perfunctory no matter how you listened to it. And the way they looked at Zhou Ming was full of disdain.

But Zhou Ming didn't care. He stood up and said, 'I heard your conversation from the next room just now. I know you don't welcome me and are waiting to see me make a fool of myself. So let me say one thing first: the things I say next will only be said to those who want to hear them. Those who don't want to can leave now, so we don't waste time here.'

Zhou Ming said this and made a gesture of invitation: 'Please make your own choice.'

With just one sentence, Zhou Ming shocked everyone, including Nikolaevich. None of them had not thought about what Zhou Ming would say when he came over, but they never imagined that the first sentence Zhou Ming would say would be this.

Does he not know that if everyone really leaves, he will be very embarrassed?

This was the common thought in everyone's mind at this time, but their thoughts could only remain thoughts. After a long time, no one left their seats.

Who would leave so easily after such a domineering opening remark? Who wouldn't want to hear what Zhou Ming had to say? After all, leaving would be a sign of anger, while staying would mean the possibility of a big reward. Even if there was no reward, at most they would just be listening to empty words and empty phrases. Everyone present was an old hand, having seen it all before. So they all decided to stay.

Zhou Ming deliberately paused for a long time, until the people below were beginning to get anxious, before he said, 'It seems that everyone still wants to hear me speak, so I will fulfil your wish. But before I speak, I would like to ask you a question: if you found one million dollars at home, would you share it equally with your family, or would you give it to your neighbours?'

'Of course we'll split it with our family, why would we give it to our neighbours?' someone immediately questioned.

Zhou Ming exclaimed, "So you all still want money, then I don't understand what you just said. The Western countries" Project Pivot is clearly here to plunder your wealth, but not only are you not trying to resist, you're supporting and conniving. Aren't you like my question just now, taking the money you find at home and giving it to outsiders?'

Zhou Ming was not satisfied with what he had said, and continued, 'I know that many of you don't believe me, but I don't think that's a problem at all. I've never asked you to believe in me either, because there's only one thing you need to understand: the wealth of this country is here, and you are the people who control this wealth. And in the future, you can even take this national wealth into your own hands, so that you can become the world's richest people!'

His words sent shockwaves through the crowd. Although most of them had never heard of the Dota Project due to their ranks, as Zhou Ming said, it didn't matter because they didn't need to trust Zhou Ming, they just needed to control the wealth.

At this point, someone stood up and raised their doubts: 'Your name is Zhou Ming, right? Hello, Mr. Zhou Ming. I have heard Mr. Nikolajevich mention the Dota Project before. It is a way of looting using financial means, a way that none of us understand at all, and we have no idea how to prevent it!'

Zhou Ming glanced at this person. He was in his forties with bright eyes. Zhou Ming first asked him, 'Who are you? What's your name?'

'My name is Irbedov, and I am the president of the United Bank of Northern Russia!' he answered loudly.

Although Zhou Ming has not been here for long, he has learned a lot about the situation here from Katerina. He knows that the United Bank of Northern Russia is one of the three largest state-owned banks in the Soviet Union. In the past, he was just an obedient state-owned bureaucrat, but in the current situation, where the tide is washing away the sand, the money bag in his hands can change a lot.

Zhou Ming, while mentally going over information about him and the United Bank, said to him, 'President Irbedov, you have asked a very good question! I can also tell you very responsibly that there is simply no way to prevent it with the financial infiltration methods of Western countries.'

Zhou Ming paused deliberately after saying this, and then continued, 'Do you feel that my words are illogical? Because that is the truth. We don't know what they will do or how they will infiltrate funds, so there is no way to prevent it. However, one thing is certain, and that is that the assets of all countries are in the hands of everyone here. As long as you don't give them away, then no one can take them away.'

'We control all the assets of the country? Mr Zhou Ming, you've got it wrong, haven't you?' Someone else asked. 'I'm Bortaszky, the president of the Import and Export Bank.'

'Well, Mr Bortaszky, I haven't got it wrong. I think you've got it wrong. Whether you control the country's assets or not doesn't depend on whether you control them now or not, but whether you want to control them.'

Zhou Ming thought for a moment and said, 'If I remember correctly, according to the reform plan formulated by your President, your country will undergo privatisation in the future, and all companies will become private entities. In other words, whoever has the money can buy these companies. You are officials in charge of trade and banking, and no one will understand the reform route better than you. No one will be richer than you, so companies are wealth!'

'So,' Zhou Ming said, "now tell me again, do you want to have wealth? Do you want to use the money in your hands to buy this wealth and take it into your own hands?'

'Of course we do! Why wouldn't we?" someone shouted immediately afterwards, but his voice was not firm, 'But is this right?'

'There is no right or wrong, because you must do it. If you don't, then the wealth will be plundered by the Western countries. You must do it, not only for yourselves, but also for the alliance to hold onto the wealth created over the past 70 years! So please tell me, do you still want to follow me in fighting against the Western countries' Project Tower of London and their conspiracy?'

Zhou Ming became more and more excited as he spoke, and in the end he shouted, and as Zhou Ming spoke, the emotions of everyone below were also stirred. Everyone shouted together with Zhou Ming, 'Yes! We want to fight against the Dota Project!'

Hearing the shouts of these bank managers and trade officials below, Nikolajevic was dumbfounded on the spot, because this was a fallacy he had never heard before.

Shameless!

This was the first reaction in his mind after hearing Zhou Ming's words. He had never heard anyone describe the use of power for personal gain in such a refreshing way.

What is the point of keeping wealth in their own hands for the sake of the alliance? To put it bluntly, isn't this just allowing these trade and banking officials to exploit policy loopholes and use illegal means to keep enterprises that originally belonged to all the people in their own hands?

In the past, this kind of behaviour was called stealing from the state, and the perpetrators were shot. It was an ugly behaviour that everyone hated. Previously, these people were unwilling to do it, probably because they did not have the right concept at the time. But now, after Zhou Ming has given it an aura of 'for the alliance', the same behaviour has instantly become noble.

For these people, these things will be taken away anyway, so it is better to take them than to let outsiders have them!

With this kind of thinking, Nikolic suddenly felt an urge to worship Zhou Ming. He simply couldn't imagine how someone like Zhou Ming could come from the same red China, how he could have completely switched the concept, and how he could talk about a dirty thing in such a noble way!

More importantly, if these people can do this, then as the president of the Northern Russian Republic, can he also get a share of the pie?