Chapter 123: The new ruble and the oil fields

The sound of sirens filled the street, as armoured trucks whizzed past, shuttling back and forth between the United Bank and the North Russian Central Bank. This scene left everyone in North Russia dumbfounded, completely unable to understand what was going on. 

'I mean, are we going to have to replace the new generation of rubles again?'

Some people subconsciously asked these questions, because such a large-scale movement of cash trucks also brought back the painful memories of the recent replacement of the old ruble. But that time the ruble was replaced due to the predicament of the North Russian economy facing collapse, so what is the situation this time? The new ruble has only been issued for a little over a month, so is it not good enough? What the hell is the central government doing!

'I think this new North Russian government is going to collapse? Or is the new doctrine right, that the officials in this new government are demons who have emerged from the money-grubbing eye of the world, and have come to create the end of the world for all of Northern Russia? Otherwise, why would they do this?'

'Yes, I think those bastards in the Kremlin have gone crazy. We haven't even finished exchanging the old rubles, and now we have to exchange them for newer ones. This time, I don't know if it's going to be a few thousand for one, or what. Is this going to make the whole country go to hell together before they're happy?'

People were speculating and cursing at each other, even using new terms like Protestantism. This was also due to the deteriorating economic situation in northern Russia, and many social groups have sprung up in the country. These groups use the people's despair at the reality to continuously promote their own slogans and develop more members. As for the purpose, it is hard to say.

Of course, that's all a story for later. It doesn't matter now. It's just that these ordinary people don't realise that they're actually half right. These armoured trucks really are transporting new and old rubles back and forth, but they're not preparing for the next ruble changeover. They're helping Zhou Ming convert all the old rubles he has stored in the vault of the United Bank into new rubles.

The vault of the United Bank was located underground in the headquarters building. The chairman of the bank, Irbedov, stood at the door, watching as the bank staff unloaded crates of new rubles from the armoured truck and pushed them into the vault, and then loaded crates of old rubles from the vault onto the armoured truck. Bank and Central Bank staff were also nearby, counting and checking the numbers.

The whole process was carried out in one go. On the one hand, this was due to the proficiency of these staff members, and on the other hand, it was because this kind of work had been going on for several days, and these staff members were already very familiar with it.

'I really didn't expect it. Mr. Irbedov, these old rubles are really useful here one day, it's like a dream!'

The bank's director of vault management said to Irbedov with great emotion, his tone and expression incredible.

In fact, not only the minister, but also Irbedov himself still felt like he was living in a dream. He remembered that when Zhou Ming wanted to deposit these old rubles in the bank's underground vault, Irbedov had slightly mocked Zhou Ming for having a special collecting hobby. After all, these old rubles had already been officially abolished, and except for collecting them, they were just pieces of paper.

Ordinary people would hate to throw them in the trash, but Zhou Ming still wants to deposit them in the vault. He must be sick.

Ilbedov initially disagreed, but Zhou Ming insisted, saying that he could pay rent, which made Ilbedov move. However, now Ilbedov regrets it, because at that time Zhou Ming said that he could receive dividends according to the proportion of the old rubles stored, but he refused. In his opinion, these old rubles have no value at all, so what dividends can there be for a pile of worthless scraps of paper? Are you kidding me?

So at that time, Irbedov only accepted Zhou Ming's high storage fees, but now, he can't help but slap himself hard, he has lost a lot!

What Irbedov can't understand is how Zhou Ming could have predicted that these old rubles would be exchanged one day. Could it be that from that time on, he guessed that he could blackmail the president and force him to exchange these old rubles?

But these events were all just accidents. It was the President who made the first move. No one could have predicted what they would do before that. And when the other party has the initiative, it is impossible to prepare for anything. But if that wasn't the case, why would Zhou Ming have kept all those old rubles? That doesn't make sense.

As Irbedov was thinking this, the Central Bank official in charge of the count came over to him and said, 'Up to this last truckload today, 70 billion old rubles have been transported, and according to the agreed exchange rate and the President's request, a total of 1.3 billion new rubles have been transported. All transportation tasks have been completed.'

Irbedov nodded and took the folder handed to him by the Minister of the Treasury. After carefully checking it, he said, 'It is indeed all over. Thank you very much.'

After Irbedov and the Central Bank official had signed their respective handover documents, the Central Bank official took the documents and went back first. The documents were eventually reported through the Central Bank system to the President's Office, and finally to President Nikolavich.

After listening to Kasia's report, Nikolavich shook his head helplessly: 'Old friend, we have lost a lot in this transaction with Zhou Ming. We thought we would make a net profit of 100 million US dollars, but we didn't expect not only to lose this money, but also to lose an additional 200 million new rubles.'

Facing Nikolaevich's grumbling, Kasiako did not dare to say anything, because that was the grumbling of the president of the country. He could say whatever he wanted, but he was only the director of the president's office and had no power to judge a president. The bigger reason was that he was the one who signed the agreement.

Nikolaevich certainly didn't expect him to say anything. He was just feeling down and depressed, so he asked him, 'Old friend, now that the new rubles are in place, what do the Chinese say?'

'Mr. President, Mr. Zhou Ming has already remitted the first 40 million US dollars into our account,' Kasia added, 'and I have notified the Swiss bank to ensure our control over the funds.'

'Well done, old friend,'

Nikolaevich praised Kasia, actually Nikolaevich wanted to say that Zhou Ming had already used this trick once, so there was no reason for him to do it again. And this time they had fulfilled the deal, so there was even less reason for Zhou Ming to tamper with it. But in the end, Nikolaevich still felt that it was better to be safe than sorry. Kasia was right to be so careful. If they had been that careful in the beginning, perhaps they would not have ended up like this today.

But now the praise can only be a belated remedy. No matter what he says, it is useless. Nikolaevich can only sigh and ask, 'Old friend, what about the Siberian oil fields?'

Kasia nodded and said that everything was ready. Nikolaevich asked again, 'So there's no response from the United States?'

As Nikolaevich's chief of staff, Kasia of course understood what the president was expecting. The oil fields in Siberia had originally been promised to a consortium from the United States, but now the contract had suddenly been broken and given to Zhou Ming. Nikolaevich was of course wondering if the Americans would be so angered that they would teach Zhou Ming a lesson, but it now seemed that the Americans clearly had no awareness of being used as a pawn.

'No, the Americans don't care about the oil fields in Siberia because they think it's too difficult to transport the oil,' said Kasia.

This is indeed a big problem. Siberia is in the eastern hinterland of northern Russia. From that perspective, it is too far away from the United States. It is surrounded by rivals and is basically an enclave. Any threat from any country will put the oil pipeline in danger.

It was for this reason that Nikolajevich had actually contacted the Americans a long time ago, but the reason why the oil fields in Siberia had never been settled.

'As expected, those Americans are completely unreliable, just like that Mr. Metta.'

Nikolajevich said this with some shame and annoyance, and spat, as if he was angry at himself for being taken in before, and finally asked, 'So have you contacted Eugens?'

Kasia nodded and said, 'Mr. Yugens said he would bet the honour of his Vladimir family that he would keep the oilfields in Siberia from falling into the hands of the Chinese invaders.'

Nikolaevich finally smiled at this answer. Leaning comfortably back in his chair, he said, 'I heard that the Chinese Zhou Ming wants to go to Siberia himself to see the oilfields, so I hope that our Mr. Yugens can tell Mr. Zhou Ming why he is the master of Siberia.'

However, Kasia delivered some very bad news: 'But Mr President, that Du Peng fellow is going too, and I hear that a Chinese consul, Zhang Hui, is going with him.'

This news sent Nikolajevic into a cold sweat. He immediately straightened up and said, 'What? Why are so many people going together?'

'It seems that Yanjing wants to develop the oil fields there with Zhou Ming and the others,' Kasia guessed.

Nikolaevich patted his forehead and said, 'Old friend, then you contact that guy Yujin immediately and tell him to behave himself and not cause any trouble, or I'll send troops to Siberia and feed his head to the fish in the Arctic Ocean!'

Kasia nodded and immediately went out to contact Eugene. Nikolajevic, on the other hand, sat there and angrily pounded on the table, saying, 'Zhou Ming, you are too despicable and afraid of death. If you are capable, go to Siberia alone. What do you mean by bringing the officials with you?'

If Zhou Ming were here to hear these words at this time, he would be helpless, because this Mr. President is so unreasonable. It seems that he has never intended to be a brave man?

At this moment, when Nikolic was complaining about Zhou Ming in his office, in reality Zhou Ming's plane had already taken off from the airport and landed at the Siberian airport a few hours later.

Zhou Ming was the first to step out of the cabin door, feeling the slightly cool autumn breeze. Zhou Ming knew that he had already arrived in Siberia, but no one could predict what the future would hold.