Chapter 33

Gao Yang left Seoul that night and headed for the African mining area. At the party, Zheng Xiujing and Xu Xian explained the course of events, but the reasons behind it and who was right or wrong were not important. In this circle, what mattered was who had the greater power and who was more important.

As for Mr. Jin Xinyang, the CEO of Hyundai Steel promised to give Gao Yang a satisfactory response. When leaving the venue, Zheng Xiujing clearly wanted to say something to Gao Yang, but Gao Yang did not notice.

In the mining area, Gao Yang went to the oil field with Dr. Will, the petroleum exploration team leader. A few days ago, the first commercial oil well started producing oil.

On the way, Dr. Will excitedly introduced to Gao Yang, "Currently, over 1.5 million tons of oil reserves with commercial value have been discovered in the valley. Additionally, according to our calculations, there will be even more reserves nearby. A few days ago, the first oil well started producing oil, and it's light crude oil! It produces over 100 tons per day! Boss, we need an oil pipeline."

Gao Yang frowned slightly and said, "1.5 million tons of reserves, to build a pipeline hundreds of kilometers long through complex terrain? It's not 15 million tons. Build it to the river, and construct a cargo dock at the river to transport the oil to Libreville by ship."

"Whatever the boss decides," Dr. Will said somewhat dejectedly.

Gao Yang was now thinking about using oil for time-travel trade, acquiring large amounts of oil in 1925 and storing it to sell in the modern era. Now that he had an oil field, he could better conceal the source of the oil. In 1925, Gao Yang could exchange advanced industrial products from the modern era for oil, which would be a true windfall. Gold was not only difficult to obtain but also had too many people watching it.

"But if the news gets out, I guess the president would also be very interested in this oil field? If the president sends the army to seize it, what should we do? I've heard that this country has many anti-government armed groups. Heh heh." Gao Yang's lips curled slightly as he thought.

After returning from the oil field to the mining villa, Gao Yang activated the time travel to 1925. Upon arriving at the Sixth Division headquarters by Xuanwu Lake, he saw the acting governor of Jiangsu Province, Zhang Qian, anxiously waiting for him.

"Commander, we received news from the capital. Mr. Sun passed away this morning at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital," Zhang Qian said hurriedly upon seeing Gao Yang.

Gao Yang stopped in his tracks, surprised by the sudden news. "What's the date today?" Gao Yang suddenly asked.

"March 12, 1925," Zhang Qian replied.

"Alright, send a condolence telegram in my name and organize some memorial activities in the two provinces. That's all." Gao Yang then walked into the command center.

Sitting in front of the military map, Gao Yang thought about Mr. Sun with some melancholy. Regardless of how he was evaluated in the future, Mr. Sun's unwavering efforts to overthrow the colonial rule of the Qing Dynasty were commendable! Everything else was unimportant. No matter if he was American, how many wives he had, or what his character was like, none of that mattered compared to this achievement. Mr. Sun, who represented an era, was gone.

"It's my time now!" Gao Yang clenched his fist.

In the afternoon, Weix reported on the military affairs of the past period. Local security teams and village militia had been established in various cities, though they were mostly just frameworks. However, they were set up.

In a few years, when a large number of veterans return to their hometowns, they can quickly fill these positions. These will also serve as the best reserve troops. The Army Command College by Xuanwu Lake in Nanjing and the Army Officer School in Anqing have been completed. Currently, the lectures are mainly given by excellent officers from the mercenary forces. Once the German military academy instructors arrive, they will begin recruiting nationwide.

Additionally, the new factory of the Jinling Arsenal has started construction and will begin installation and testing once the equipment from Germany arrives.

"Send all soldiers with combat experience in batches to the officer school for further training. In the future, the officer school will only recruit from the military. Aim to have all soldiers in these two divisions become officers. New recruits should frequently engage in live combat training. There are still many bandits in the two provinces; let the new recruits go on anti-bandit operations to gain experience. Don't let them wet their pants at the sound of gunfire. Send all captured bandits to the mines. No matter how well-trained a soldier is, if they haven't been in combat, they are still a new recruit." Gao Yang said as Weix was about to leave.

"Yes, sir." Weix saluted and turned to leave.

Returning to his residence, Gao Yang activated the time travel to the modern era, showed his face in the town, had dinner, and then traveled to 1925's Shanghai.

"Mr. Rong, when will the election results in your country be announced?" Gao Yang asked, sitting on the sofa and taking the cigar offered by Rong.

"If there are no surprises, it will end by late April. Marshal Paul von Hindenburg has a high chance of being elected," Rong said, sitting opposite Gao Yang.

"Because your Junkers support him," Gao Yang said with a smile.

Rong lit his cigar and slowly said, "The great German nation should not be in this state."

Gao Yang nodded and said, "The Chinese nation should not be in this state either."

Both fell silent. After a while, Gao Yang said, "With such high unemployment in your country, I want to help reduce the burden. Please have Lihe Trading help recruit a batch of teachers, for primary, secondary, and universities. Mainly in science, but also in physical education, music, and art. Professional technicians are also needed; I will establish some technical schools and need them as teachers. Money is not an issue."

Rong smiled and said, "No problem. The military personnel and the production line you requested last time have already set sail. Lihe Trading hopes to continue our friendship with Mr. Gao." Gao Yang stood up and extended his hand to Rong.

Wang Dashan was on leave today, but he did not want to leave the school to find entertainment in the city. For the monthly salary of ten silver dollars, Wang Dashan did not want to spend a single cent; he saved it all to prepare for marriage after his discharge.

He heard that after graduating from this officer school, he would receive an additional five silver dollars per month. Wang Dashan was very happy. His father had sent a letter through someone, saying that because Wang Dashan was in the army, no taxes were collected from their family this year! His father told Wang Dashan to protect Commander Gao well, as he was a great benefactor. Many families in the village had hung portraits of Commander Gao and prayed for his long life every day.

Now, every family in the village wanted to send their children to the army. You must work hard; if you make Commander Gao unhappy, don't come home, or he will break your legs.

Reading this, Wang Dashan smiled bitterly, thinking, "How could Commander Gao know about me, a tiny person?" But he hoped that heaven would bless Commander Gao with a long life.

Because Wang Dashan was a veteran who had participated in multiple battles and had learned to read and write for two years as a child, which was very important, he was selected as one of the first batch of students to attend the Anqing Officer School.

Most of his classmates were veterans from the Sixth Division who had participated in the Xuzhou Campaign. They often talked about how fierce the battles were and how brave they were, as if they were celestial soldiers and generals.

Wang Dashan envied the Xuzhou Campaign participation medals hanging on their chests, which were shiny and beautiful! He silently thought, "Next time, I must fight well for Commander Gao and get such a medal!"

The large quantities of food, meat, cement, and construction machinery ordered before the New Year had already been transported to Libreville. Gao Yang transported most of the items to 1925, and the rest he used the name of SC Trade to recruit local workers to build a cement road from Libreville to the mining area. The local government was highly supportive of this, as it did not cost them anything. There were many people without food.

Soon, in Anhui and Jiangsu provinces in 1925, Gao Yang recruited a large number of workers to build cement roads connecting major cities. Gao Yang visited the Maanshan Steel Plant under construction to check the progress. The main parts were already installed, and various support facilities were also completed. The blast furnace and refractory walls were built, and only some finishing work remained.

What was lacking now were professional technical personnel. There were few such people in this era, and Gao Yang could not recruit outsiders to avoid exposing his secrets. He had no choice but to spend a large amount of energy points to impart steel plant technical knowledge to the bio-warriors. The energy points spent made Gao Yang's eyes twitch slightly.

A cement road was built from the nearby iron mine to the steel plant, and over 200 Dodge trucks were transporting iron ore back and forth. At the cargo dock by the river, coal transported from Feng County via the Jinpu Line was also being transported to the steel plant by many trucks. For this, Weix had specifically complained to Gao Yang, as trucks were important military supplies! Gao Yang promised to buy twice as many trucks for Weix, and the nagging Weix finally let him go.

Returning to Shanghai again, Gao Yang went to the U.S. Consulate to meet Consul John. Gao Yang proposed to order 15,000 Dodge trucks from Dodge Company, but required the company to provide a truck repair line. Additionally, Gao Yang expressed a desire to meet with a representative from Standard Oil.

Consul Will said he would arrange for representatives from Dodge Company and Standard Oil to visit Gao Yang as soon as possible.

The next morning, representatives from both companies in Shanghai came to the SC Trade office building in the French Concession to visit Gao Yang. Gao Yang first negotiated the purchase of trucks and the repair line with the Dodge representative. Since Gao Yang had no requirements for the price, they quickly reached an agreement. The reason he did not buy trucks from the modern era was due to the significant technological gap; even if just one truck leaked, the advanced technology would be exposed. Moreover, it would be impossible to repair, and many parts could not be bought from the modern era every time.

Afterward, Gao Yang received the Standard Oil representative, Andrews, in the reception room.

After some pleasantries, they sat down on the sofa, and Gao Yang got straight to the point, "I like your company's products, so I want to purchase large quantities of light crude oil from your company on a long-term basis. I wonder if your company is interested?"

Andrews replied, "Standard Oil sells our products to any customer in the world. May I ask how much you consider 'large quantities'?"

Gao Yang smiled, lit a cigarette, and slowly said, "I need 500,000 barrels per month."