In an ordinary house in Basra, Canglong met the chief Assad, who was wearing an Arab robe, and there were also several other Shia chiefs.【】
After Badr bowed to several chiefs, they each took their seats. Canglong felt hostility in the eyes of these chiefs, but he didn't care. After all, he did take advantage of the people of Basra's belief in Allah and also blasphemed. Prophet Muhammad.
However, Canglong had all al-Qaeda members evacuate Basra Province within a week, which really shocked them.
The content of the negotiation was also very simple. Assad asked Soryu about the purpose of coming here at the beginning. Soryu did not mince words and directly answered that it was oil. This made General Badr a little strange. After all, that was not what Soryu said to him. The answers made several chiefs look very bad, and their hostility became even deeper.
Assad raised his hand to signal the talking chiefs to quiet down, looked at Canglong with kind eyes and said: "The whole world wants Iraq's oil, so what ability do you have to snatch it from the world?" ."
"No, I don't want to rob it, but buy it. The oil still belongs to the Iraqis." Canglong said calmly.
The chiefs were stunned after hearing this. Instead of being happy, they looked down on Canglong. Which big country came here not to take away the oil here? No one cared about the feelings of the Iraqis, so Canglong's high-sounding words made them even more uncomfortable. .
"It seems that General Badr needs to clarify something for me." Sensing the unkindness of the chiefs, Canglong looked at Badr.
The chiefs also looked at Badr. Assad nodded towards Badr, and then Badr said: "Mr. Canglong represents himself, not the country behind him, so what he does here has nothing to do with him. The country behind it has nothing to do with it, I can be sure of this because he is still stateless and has not grown up in the country to which he belongs."
Hearing this, the chiefs all looked at Canglong strangely, even a little incredulous. Canglong came here to represent Longteng International, and they knew what Longteng International represented, but there seemed to be some contradiction between the two.
"It doesn't matter what my identity is, what's important is that I can make Iraq strong." Canglong said calmly.
The chiefs started discussing again, and Assad remained expressionless for a long time before saying: "Do you want us to support you in establishing another government? Is this government ours or your puppet government?" "
"Of course it is yours." Canglong said calmly, "I will not dominate you like Americans do. If we start to cooperate, you will know exactly how I will cooperate with you."
"Do you want to be a prophet?" Assad continued to ask expressionlessly.
"This is just a reasonable identity." Canglong became serious, "This is a necessary prerequisite for cooperation."
The faces of the chiefs changed, from hostility to anger, and they began to curse Canglong angrily in Arabic, but Badr did not speak. Assad had a sullen face, as if he was thinking about something, but Canglong did not give them much time, just He stood up and said: "If that doesn't work, then I'll leave for Baghdad now. I think the U.S. dollars will be enough to convince most officials of the new Iraqi government to support me in exploiting the oil here. As for the Americans, I can deal with them even if I don't need you, but it will be a little more troublesome." , and what you will never get is peace, but hunger and poverty."
Canglong said, and walked towards the door without looking back. One of the chiefs angrily ordered his men to arrest Canglong, but as soon as he raised his gun, he was kicked and hit with a series of elbows. After being knocked unconscious, several other men rushed to their side before they could react. They fought at close range and had no chance to shoot before being knocked down.
Finally, he scooped up the AK47 and pointed it at the people present, with his hand on the trigger and ready to fire. The chiefs all swallowed their saliva. Apparently they didn't expect Canglong's men to be so capable. Balder was very calm and played close to Canglong and the others. To fight at a distance, it means competing with the Americans to see who has better weapons.
Seeing that something was wrong, the chiefs broke out in cold sweat when they were pointed at guns. Canglong carefully pressed down the gun and said: "If they could make them surrender with violence, the Americans would have done it long ago, so"
Throwing the gun on the ground but keeping an eye on his surroundings, Canglong smiled and said, "I'll give you one day to think about it. If you think about it, come to Longteng International's branch in Basra to find me."
"This Chinese is so unreasonable. We should drive them all out and not give in." As soon as Canglong and the two left, the chiefs who had been under gun threat suddenly roared angrily.
"Even the Americans can't conquer us, so what can the Chinese do? We can't give in, let alone agree to let him become a prophet." Another chief also said, "This is blasphemy against God. After death, you will go to hell. ."
There was a quarrel in the house, and Badr suddenly said: "What if he is really a prophet sent by God to save us."
The noisy scene suddenly quieted down. Everyone looked at Badr in disbelief. After reacting, they were about to point at his nose and scold him when Assad suddenly said: "Quiet, let him finish what he said."
"We Iraqis have been suffering from the war since the beginning of the Iran-Iraq War. Whoever can end the war in Iraq and bring peace to the Iraqis is a prophet. Not the Americans, nor the British, nor the other Arab brothers, because They all just want the oil that God gave us, but when this Chinese came here, he did not represent his country. The first thing he said to me was that he wanted to build this place and give it a stable environment. Let Iraq's oil bring a happy life to the Iraqi people. This is his purpose." Badr smiled, "So I say he is a prophet sent by God. As for what country he is from or what his bloodline is, it doesn't matter. What's important, what's important is that he can, like the Prophet Muhammad, end the internecine fighting among Muslims."
"You are betraying Allah." One of the sheikhs yelled angrily, "Badr, you are going to hell, you are going to hell."
"How can a foreigner become a prophet?" Some chiefs questioned. They didn't care at all what Canglong could bring to them. They cared more about Canglong's bloodline and skin color.
Badr was a little helpless. Just when he became the target of public criticism, Assad suddenly coughed: "God is merciful. He will send a prophet to Iraq to save us. So whoever can save Iraq is a prophet. Whoever plunges Iraq into In the flames of war, whoever is the devil will go to hell."
All the chiefs fell silent, and Badr asked: "Chief Assad, do you think we should cooperate with Canglong?"
"He can be a prophet, but he must do what a prophet should do." Assad asked Badr to come to him and whispered a few words to him, "Just do it."
"Is this okay?" Balder asked strangely.
"If he is a prophet sent by God, then God will naturally protect him." Assad said kindly.
After leaving the residence, Canglong and the others drove to Zubair, which is the nearest city to Basra. It has the largest oil field in Iraq and is also the location of the world's major oil companies. Therefore, there are many foreigners in the urban area of Zubair. Long Teng Naturally, International has also set up a branch here. Although the main company is in Baghdad, the strategic position here is the first to bear the brunt.
The main oil field project acquired by Longteng International was jointly developed with the British BP Oil Company. It was also the largest oil field in Iraq, the Rumaila Oil Field. However, when bidding at that time, it was obtained at an auction at the lowest price in history of two US dollars. These two dollars are the service fee per barrel after oil is developed, which can be said to be frighteningly low.
However, the strategic value is very important, so the cooperative development rights of several major oil fields that were auctioned at that time all came to nothing. Except for the largest oil field in which China cooperated with a British company, what China wanted was the right to first purchase the oil after it was developed. That’s why I accepted this development contract at any cost.
The Rumaila oil field is indeed the largest oil field in Iraq, with a storage capacity of 20 billion barrels. This does not include the oil fields around Rumaila. If it is developed, the entire Iraq will become rich.
But the main problem now is that although Longteng International has roped in BP, a British petroleum company, it is still very difficult to extract. Americans and security forces come to cause trouble from time to time, making it impossible for workers to start work. This is what Longteng International is facing now. problem.
But until now, Canglong was not prepared to solve this problem, so when he went to Zubair, he raised a question: "Don't you think you are wasting your time negotiating with these Shias now?"
"Why waste time?" Canglong asked.
"Our main task now is to solve the problems between the security forces and the Americans, so that the oil fields can be started as soon as possible and oil can be extracted. What's more, the Shiites are not people in power at all. They don't even have a legitimate title." said.
"Then what do you think we should do?" Canglong continued to ask.
He seems to be stumped by this problem, but his idea is very simple: "Negotiate with the local government in Basra, first solve the problem of harassment by the Iraqi security forces, and then solve the problem of the Americans, and fight them head-on. If we want to fight, Not afraid of them."
"Yes, we are not afraid of them in a war. With the current strength of the United States' troops in Iraq, it is indeed difficult to cause a big wave. But have you ever thought about how many mercenaries the Americans have here and how many overseas bases the United States has." Canglong asked, "We have no backup, and the Americans can continuously increase their troops. Can you expect the countries behind us to continuously send troops to fight them?"
He shook his head: "But what's the use of negotiating with these Shiites like this? If you really want to solve the problem, you have to rely on your fists."
"Fists are not the only way to solve problems." Canglong smiled, "Especially when your fists are not strong enough, using fists to solve problems is just playing into the hands of the Americans."
"You only have one year. If you can't solve the problem in one year, you won't be able to serve as president." He said worriedly, "If you delay time like this."
"It's coming soon. Soon our fists will be hardened." Canglong was not worried at all.