Captain Arnold Kidd is a staff member of the Manila Fisheries Department.
The rank is vague and the title is not high, but he is in charge of the largest patrol ship of the Manila Fisheries Department. At this moment, he is driving his patrol ship "Cebu" in the ocean more than 100 nautical miles east-northeast of Manila.
Patrol on the face.
In some matters, hard work is the last word. Too high a job title will make it difficult to get things done. After all, if you get into trouble and cause international disputes, it is not easy to be regarded as a temporary worker who takes the blame.
This kind of people are aware of being treated as outcasts at any time. It is the same in every country, and there are such people in every country.
It's just that the ideological consciousness of Filipinos is generally not that high. Therefore, if we want to make people work hard and take risks, and they cannot be rewarded with officialdom and status, they can only give more money.
For people like Arnold Kidd, when they usually patrol, they take some goods from foreign countries to avoid customs duties. The anti-smuggling department of the Philippine authorities usually turns a blind eye to the oil and water on the sea.
It's bad, just do a little bit if you can.
If you want a horse to run, you have to feed it. In times of peace, Manila still has to rely on these people to protect the sea.
"Captain, we should have found the Nightingale, which is about 50 nautical miles due north of us - there are a bunch of signal sources on the radar screen, but only that point is sailing at a super high speed of more than 30 knots, and we may not be able to catch up.
"
While sailing, the radar operator feebly reported a message to Arnold Kidd.
As a patrol ship, the radar does not need to be too advanced. It can only see dozens of nautical miles.
Anyway, you can't defeat those enemies who can spot you from a hundred to two hundred nautical miles away, so you might as well keep out of sight.
Arnold Kidd was not excited, nor did he have any desire to fight. He just smiled expressionlessly: "Haha, if you were trying to salvage a sunken ship, would you drive so fast? This is taking advantage of the international law principle of 'freedom of navigation'
Provoke us. Let’s count how many ships he has come in total. He is probably just like Mitchell Hatcher last time. He wants to get a few more ships to spread suspicion, and the flagship is a bait."
In fact, everyone knows the truth. In this business at sea, there are only a few strategies.
What's more, I heard that Gu Kun might have a submarine, but the model was not clearly announced.
With the force of the Filipinos, they are basically unable to defend against mainstream submarines.
For such a trivial matter in the field of cultural relics protection, it is impossible to ask for help from the recently expelled Oceania Navy - the Filipinos in 1997/98 were really stubborn. On the one hand, relations with China deteriorated, and on the other hand, they dared to force
Due to the hatred of the people towards the financial community of Oceania, the Oceania base was withdrawn and rushed back to Guam.
It can only be said that when a country is devastated by a financial crisis, it is easy to be indiscriminately xenophobic. Not only the traditional imaginary enemies want to hate, but even the traditional masters also want to hate each other.
How did World War II start? The root cause was the Great Depression of 29-33, and the world generally turned to the right. Including the victorious countries, even though they had no flaws in their justice during the subsequent war, the problem of turning to the right before the war
Yes, everyone has changed his mind.
Arnold Kidd actually had no idea at all.
If he just goes up to the peak and doesn’t resist at all, and gives up treatment without showing off, the Philippines, a big country, can’t afford to lose this person, so it always has to fire in the sky and send him out of the country to regain some face (this “big country”)
The evaluation is based on the Filipinos’ own imagination. After all, we are a country with a population of 100 million.)
As the "Cebu" got closer and closer, Arnold's heart became colder and colder, because the red dots appearing on the radar screen became more and more dense, and many of the signals looked like they were at least 50,000 tons or more.
"Why are there so many big ships? Salvage ships can't be of such large tonnage, and merchant ships can't be driven so slowly, slowing down foreign workers." Arnold felt quite alarmed in his heart.
The other party seemed to cooperate with him and did not follow him in circles - the "Nightingale" had a top speed of more than 30 knots. If it really turned around and ran away, with just that slight speed difference, it might be possible to chase it to the ends of the earth.
What's more, Filipinos generally don't maintain their things very well. If we were to drive at top speed for two days and two nights, the engine of the "Cebu" might break down first.
The people on the "Nightingale" seemed to be very tough. They must have turned around and rushed over after discovering the "Cebu" and took the initiative to attack it, so they came into contact within an hour after being separated by dozens of nautical miles.
"Please stop the ship for inspection! We suspect that you are operating illegally in Philippine territorial waters!" Arnold's men began to shout at the Lan Fang ship with a large loudspeaker when the two ships were less than one nautical mile apart.
The Nightingale did not remain silent for too long, and quickly responded arrogantly: "We are a normal civilian ship registered with Lanfang Maritime, and we are exercising freedom of navigation! Please don't interfere!"
The Lanfang people were trying to save face and only mentioned freedom of navigation, not wanting to complicate the issue.
Because strictly speaking, if the Lanfang people insist on insisting that this place is not Philippine territorial waters, then they can still protest, "Even if we are operating, you have no right to control it."
But that would be too proactive and making enemies, so it's unnecessary.
Lanfang's national power is still weak. There are hundreds of thousands of people living in this small country. Even if they are rich now, why would they offend others? This is not a fantasy world.
Just solve the problem.
Arnold Kidd looked at the big red dots in the distance on the radar screen that had not yet been visually confirmed. He felt a little nervous and was hesitating. Fortunately, Gu Kun's people gave him a step down.
"If you want to be a guest, our captain welcomes you on board, but if you dare to talk about law enforcement inspections, you should know the fate of the last Indonesian who did this."
This is the voice of Du Guowei, the captain of the Nightingale. As a scholar, his words are a bit weak.
How could Gu Kun be qualified to deal with such a small character in person? That would be too shameful for him.
Du Guowei just shouted a few words to scare him.
The Philippines is a country whose level of corruption is only slightly better than that of Indonesia. Even if Arnold is a patriot, as long as the matter is not done and no merit is achieved, Gu Kun's financial resources will later be used to bribe several of Arnold's bosses to give him shoes.
easy?
This guy usually pretends to be a public servant and brings in private goods, and makes a lot of money. Once he catches a lot of dirt, it depends on whether anyone will mess with him.
Arnold's face turned dark and he didn't dare to be presumptuous, but if the other party was willing to let him on board, it was a sign of respect.
As for whether he went to visit the guests or really checked whether the other party had stolen money, the worst he could do was go back and brag, saying, "I secretly observed the other party and found that the other party was not suspicious, so forget it."
That's better than not being able to get on the boat.
On the contrary, if Arnold Kidd wanted to use this trick to get Du Guowei or even Gu Kun, it would be completely impossible.
First of all, Arnold Kidd couldn't do it. Why did he use his own money to find connections to frame foreigners? Secondly, even if Gu Kun and Du Guowei were too eye-catching and hated, the Philippine spy agency paid the bill and used money to frame foreigners.
Framing is impossible.
The country of Lanfang is too small, and the management level is too flat. It is as flat as the Internet companies of later generations.
For any person in charge, such as Du Guowei, his immediate boss is already Gu Kun - what kind of "treacherous sycophant" can you find in the middle to "deceive the superiors and hide the truth from the inferiors to frame Zhongliang"?
Lanfang's management system and model do not have middlemen to earn the price difference. There is no room for greedy managers to survive, unless you have the ability to use a large enough bargaining chip to make the big boss himself directly greedy, but that is meaningless.
If a matter is of overall benefit to the big boss, then just make the decision directly. That is not called greed.
For example, if the Filipino maid is really willing to give Gu Kun 1 billion US dollars to buy Du Guowei's removal from his post, then Gu Kun can directly remove Du Guowei from his post without saying anything, and then allocate 100 million from the 1 billion to Du Guowei for his retirement.
, Gu Kun himself will go and invite another wise man.
The advantage of flat management is that it is not afraid of being boiled until it dies.
…
In this uncomfortable state of mind, Arnold Kidd invited himself to the "Nightingale" as a guest, as if he was being watched, which was a step down.
It was Du Guowei who met him. When they met, Arnold asked cautiously: "Is Mr. Gu on board?"
Du Guowei rolled his eyes and did not answer. He just asked: "Is Commander Feras on your ship?"
Arnold Kidd shut up immediately.
Indeed, no matter who Gu Kun is, he is now a billionaire and a well-known figure in Southeast Asia.
Even if he is on the boat, he is here for leisure and vacation, not to do business, and everything has nothing to do with him.
Just like Arnold Kidd's boat that goes out for patrol and errands, it's just part-time work. Even if the President of the Philippines takes a trip on his boat, he won't announce it to the outside world.
How can a little miscellaneous fish like you, He De, be qualified to meet Mr. Gu?
Fortunately, Arnold Kidd did not follow the whole process, and no one knows whether he was humiliated on the "Nightingale".
The shame that no one knows is that there is no shame. Everyone is just hanging out at sea, so they still have this kind of psychological quality.
After looking around for a while, he found no sign of any salvage operation. Arnold Kidd was prepared to ask a few questions and then disembarked without finding any results. This was considered as fulfilling his obligation.
"Mr. Du, can you explain why you have so many ships traveling together? We found on the radar that a ship of tens of thousands of tons appeared every few nautical miles in this area, and it was cruising at extremely low speeds. This cannot be ignored.
Reminds us of Mitchell Hatcher a few months ago..."
Du Guowei had obviously been trained in advance and answered very well: "How are you sure that those ships are related to us? I am only the captain of this ship. I don't necessarily need to know whether the boss has arranged for other colleagues to go with us."
Are you questioning me or begging me for an answer?"
Arnold quickly lowered his head slightly: "Of course I'm begging you. Just think of it as saving me some trouble, so that I don't have to go and confirm each one."
Du Guowei took advantage of his rightful position, and then replied generously: "I don't know exactly. These ships should be from a shipping company that has just been reorganized into 'Lan Fang Maritime'. After receiving the new ships, Lan Fang will conduct a trial voyage."
Fang's route to Hujiang deviated slightly, so we were passing by - what, is there a problem?"
"All these ships belong to you?!"
"Mr. Gu just privatized a multi-billion-dollar Hong Kong company a few days ago and successfully delisted it. How many ships do you think a multi-billion-dollar shipping company should have?"
The other party was speechless. Looking at the densely packed dozens of red dots on the radar that were at least 50,000 tons, his scalp went numb for a while.
Gu Kun's business is really big, and the cost of oil and depreciation is enough to crush many small companies.
Moreover, this stall is obviously a "joint camp" all the way from the disputed waters to the undisputed waters controlled by China. If we continue to investigate, there will definitely be no good results.
It's better to close the team.
…
A few hours later, Gu Kun, who had just finished his lunch break while being served by a woman, received a piece of good news.
"Boss, the Filipinos have completely withdrawn, and we will be able to complete the operation immediately."
"There is no need to report. When we are done, we will withdraw directly and go to Hujiang."