The Awa Maru has been attacked by American torpedoes or artillery shells several times without any major damage. However, after being hit by a torpedo this time, it sank in the sea in just three minutes, which can't help but make people feel puzzled.
.
Later, someone once analyzed that the Awa Maru was equipped with a large amount of military explosives, and the torpedo was just a fuse. However, the truth became more confusing as the 10,000-ton ship sank to the bottom of the sea.
But one thing is recognized, that is, the Awa Maru carried a large amount of precious cargo. It has been confirmed that there are 40 tons of gold and about 40 boxes of jewelry and cultural relics plundered from Southeast Asia and China.
In addition, there are a large number of industrial diamonds, 12 tons of platinum, 3,000 tons of tin ingots, 3,000 tons of rubber and thousands of tons of rice. Even today, the value of these assets is staggeringly high and almost incalculable.
Later, Western countries provided camera data of the Awa Maru ship as it sailed away from Singapore. The footage shown above showed that the Awa Maru ship was loading several tons of gold at the dock, all of which were put into iron boxes, and Japanese soldiers carried them aboard the ship one by one.
There are also many extremely precious cultural relics, which also confirms the astonishing wealth on the Awa Maru.
Since the Awa Maru sank in my country's territorial waters, according to the international law of the sea, the Awa Maru sunken ship belongs to China's sovereign property. No country or individual is allowed to enter China's territorial waters for salvage operations without the approval of the Chinese government. Only the Chinese government has the right to conduct salvage operations in the Awa Maru. Maru No. for salvage.
During the late 1970s, many Western countries, such as the United States, Britain, Germany, and France, made requests to our government to come to salvage or to jointly salvage with our country.
However, China rejected these requests at the time, and in early May 1977, the Ministry of Transportation and the Navy jointly established a salvage operation site headquarters. Relevant departments issued news and navigation warnings, announcing that the sunken Awa Maru ship would be salvaged in Ushiyama waters.
This news shocked the world, because many countries believed that China had no ability to salvage the Awa Maru. However, it turned out that after more than two years of hard work by thousands of soldiers and staff, most of the hull was still salvaged.
At that time, a total of 5,418 tons of tin ingots, rubber, mercury, niobium tantalum, mica, actinic glass and other materials were recovered from the sunken ship, with a total value of more than 50 million yuan. In addition, 368 Japanese bones were recovered.
The Red Cross handed it back to the Japanese Red Cross.
However, the most precious gold, platinum and diamonds on the ship were missing. In addition, the precious cultural relics shown in the camera data could not be salvaged.
For decades, the whereabouts of this wealth has become a mystery. Although many people, institutions and even tomb-robbing gangs have salvaged this area of the sea under various names, they have never been able to find anything.
Missing.
"Teacher, was it true that the gold was not salvaged at that time?"
Zhuang Rui was also familiar with this period of history, but he always wondered in his heart whether it was due to specific political factors at that time that these things were salvaged and not announced to the outside world.
"I participated in that salvage from beginning to end, and no gold was found..."
Professor Meng's eyes were a little blurry, as if he was recalling the salvage operation that took place more than thirty years ago, and he continued: "Actually, the salvage work was not complete. The deep-diving technology and deep-water mud removal technology at that time were not up to standard.
…
According to the survey at that time, there were about 10,000 cubic meters of silt buried in the vault, bridge, guest rooms, crew cabins and engine room, and divers could not reach those locations at all..."
At that time, Professor Meng was skeptical about the so-called salvage success, and he once wrote a letter to question it. However, in that special era when chaos was just being brought back to order, Professor Meng unfortunately put on a big hat again and was cast into the criminal justice system.
He was detained in Qincheng Prison for more than a year.
So when he heard that the salvage of the "Awa Maru" was to be restarted, Professor Meng didn't look very good. However, the old man was quite open-minded, and more than thirty years had passed since the incident, so he did not continue to entangle himself.
"Professor Meng is right. Due to technical reasons, the Awa Maru could not be completely salvaged at that time, but now the technical problems that existed in the Awa Maru salvage work have been solved...
Through the efforts of our Ministry of Transportation, the state also approved the salvage. After our research and approval from superior leaders, it was decided that Professor Meng would be the commander-in-chief of the salvage..."
Although Vice Minister Yu did not participate in the salvage work that year, he was still aware of what happened to Professor Meng. He immediately explained it, and his position as commander-in-chief was all intended to appease Professor Meng.
"Hey, Minister Yu, I have a question..."
Zhuang Rui felt something was wrong as he listened, so he opened his mouth and said: "According to what Minister Yu said, this salvage operation is a national act, and it has nothing to do with me. Why did you find me?"
It’s not that Zhuang Rui’s consciousness is low, it’s just that if his luxurious salvage boat goes out to sea, it is equivalent to throwing money away. This is something that has no benefit at all, so Zhuang Rui will not do it.
Moreover, the country is not short of money. Just for the food and drink of these civil servants, they spend hundreds of billions a year. Let alone salvaging one "Awa Maru", it is enough to salvage ten ships.
"Xiao Zhuang, this kind of thinking...ahem..."
After Vice Minister Yu heard Zhuang Rui's words, he instinctively picked up the official tone. But halfway through the words, he remembered that the other person was not a member of the system at all, and it was not right for him to say this to him.
Moreover, Zhuang Rui is not an ordinary businessman. As long as Zhuang Rui does not break the law and wants to take advantage of Zhuang Rui elsewhere, Vice Minister Yu has neither the courage nor the ability to see that this is just a trivial matter of salvaging a sunken ship.
Just let Ouyang Lei come here in person?
"That's right, Xiaozhuang, you also know that the geographical environment of Fujian waters is not very good, especially now in September and October, which is the typhoon season. If the tonnage of this salvage ship is small, it will definitely not work..."
Vice Minister Yu pretended to have a long conversation with Zhuang Rui, and then said: "Our country does not have such a large-tonnage salvage ship. If we build it temporarily, it will take at least one or two years and cost the country a lot of money.
And Xiaozhuang, you happen to have such a ship, so we thought we could still cooperate..."
Originally, according to the decision of the ministry, it was planned to rent or even use the luxury salvage ship Zhuang Rui for free. However, when the deputy minister saw that Zhuang Rui was not so easy to talk to, and Ouyang Lei's sudden appearance, he temporarily used "cooperation".
Such a word.
"Cooperation? Well, this is a good idea. In fact, we should have cooperated with the private sector long ago to complete this work through commercial operations, self-raised funds, own risks, state approval, and profit sharing. I have submitted this to the relevant departments before.
This suggestion, but..."
After Professor Meng heard what Vice Minister Yu said, he all agreed. Due to the complex environment of Fujian's sea area and the thick sediment on the seabed, no one can guarantee that the salvage will be successful. Salvage can be carried out using the cooperative method that Professor Meng said.
Minimize losses and reduce risks.
"This...this, Professor Meng is talking about..."
After Vice Minister Yu heard what Professor Meng said, he was dumb and couldn't tell how hard it was to eat Coptis chinensis. According to their original thinking, this matter was handled by the Ministry of Transportation and the Navy, and they never thought of involving the private sector.
.
But once Professor Meng made this suggestion, if he vetoed it, I'm afraid Zhuang Rui wouldn't buy it, which would make the deputy minister feel like he was riding a tiger.
Originally, he was thinking of taking advantage of Zhuang Rui's opportunity to salvage a sunken ship from the Song Dynasty, and then salvage the treasures from the more influential Awa Maru shipwreck, which would increase the performance of the Ministry of Transportation. However, he did not expect that this gaffe was somewhat out of his control.
Already.
"Minister Yu, just do as the teacher said. You can talk to my lawyer about specific matters..."
Zhuang Rui also saw a little bit of Deputy Minister Yu's intentions. The teacher built a ladder for him, and of course he had to climb up. He wanted to make the Ministry of Communications suffer a loss.
"Uh... Xiaozhuang, this matter... I have to go back to the ministry for a meeting to study it more specifically on how to cooperate. I will contact you then..."
This has never happened before when the state and the private sector cooperate to salvage a sunken ship. At this moment, Vice Minister Yu dare not agree to it all. You know, sometimes it is okay not to achieve results, but if you do it, it will be troublesome.
But it's too big.
However, what people in the officialdom are best at is procrastination, and Vice Minister Yu is even more proficient in it. He wants to delay this matter first. Whether it can be done in the future remains to be "researched."
"Okay, let's just say this. I have one more meeting, so I'll leave first..."
Ouyang Lei, who had been sitting next to him silently, stood up. After shaking hands with Professor Meng and others, he turned around when he walked to the door, looked at Vice Minister Yu and said, "Minister Yu, sometimes you have to relax your mind when doing work.
, this cooperation is not unacceptable. It is best to implement it as soon as possible, and then the navy will fully assist..."
Ouyang Lei is naturally very clear about the rules and regulations in the officialdom. He saw that Vice Minister Yu wanted to delay him, so before leaving, he helped Zhuang Rui and gave the Vice Minister a nod. The weight of his words was not light.
of.
"Don't worry, Chief Ouyang. When I get back, I will immediately suggest that the minister hold a meeting of the Standing Committee to discuss and study it and set the tone for this cooperative salvage..."
Vice Minister Yu was full of bitterness at the moment. He dared to drag Zhuang Rui, but he did not dare to fool Ouyang Lei. It seemed that this was the first precedent of cooperation with the private sector to salvage a sunken ship. It would happen during their tenure.
