The party on the grass continued. A middle-aged, somewhat bald man wearing overalls held an accordion in his arms, and there was a young man playing a harmonica next to him.
They are not a band invited to a party, but invited guests. The middle-aged uncle is a nobleman, even just a viscount. And that young man is his son.
If you want to be the center of attention at Western gatherings, in addition to the looks given by your parents, your talents are also very important, such as dancing or singing. And usually playing musical instruments is also a very good way to attract attention.
But most of the time, X pretends to study piano, but today is an ordinary gathering on the weekend. Everyone is relaxing on the grass instead of holding a grand party in a luxurious place. The manor hall is a place for people with status to talk about things. The piano playing inside attracted not attention but disgust.
Therefore, being able to perform on the grass becomes the focus of the party. Traditional British instruments such as the harmonica and accordion are more dominant. Of course, it would be even more perfect if a handsome man or an elegant long-haired girl plays the violin.
But now the music of accordion and harmonica is also good, very British country style. Let these nobles who still regard the glory of the empire that never sets in the past as their lifelong pride. Listening to the British-style music and dancing, it seems that they have returned to the era when they were kings and hegemons.
Natasha had left, and Yang Dongxu was sitting alone on the sofa, frowning, his eyes empty and unfocused, as if he was deep in thought about something.
Tuoyi, who went down to talk to his friends for a while, walked up to the second floor not long after Natasha left. He saw Yang Dongxu deep in thought and did not walk over. Instead, he stood alone at the window and looked at the dancing crowd below.
After a while, the music ended, and noisy applause and compliments rang out, waking up Yang Dongxu who was deep in thought. He frowned and glanced outside, then turned his head to see Tuo Yi standing at the edge of the window.
"It seems that you have agreed to her conditions." When he looked at Troy, Troy seemed to be aware of it and turned to look at him. There was no disappointment on his face, but he shrugged slightly helplessly.
"The offer is too tempting to refuse." Yang Dongxu sighed. Even though his family has experienced a lot now, he is still a little nervous when facing this cooperation. If he succeeds, he will reach a higher level regardless of his status or assets. If he failed, he would have to work diligently to make money to fill the hole in the next few years.
"Do you promise her to have a son together and inherit the Gut family?" Troy teased.
Yang Dongxu rolled his eyes speechlessly.
Then he pondered for a moment and organized his words: "How much do you know about the Middle East?"
"Are you referring to Iraq, Libya or Iran?" Toy asked.
"Iraq." A trace of solemnity flashed between Yang Dongxu's brows.
"That's not a good place." Troy frowned.
The Middle East is naturally a powder keg because of its oil production. Looking at the situation in the entire Middle East, those who are basically suppressed by the United States are not friends on Russia's side, but they are at least somewhat cooperative.
Since the Gulf War, the United States has joined forces with its allies to impose economic sanctions on Iraq, and as the sanctions continue to deepen. Instead of being poor, Iraq has become richer, especially in terms of military power. Iraq is definitely the largest arms buyer in the Middle East.
In recent years, many good things have been bought from Ukraine, Russia, and even from Americans and Europeans who spent a lot of money, making the entire Middle East uneasy.
"But there are great benefits there. In a mature oil field, as long as you drive a tanker to the Basra port, you can take away the crude oil one by one." Although his face was solemn, he thought of what Natasha had given him. Promise, he still couldn't help but feel a little excited.
A mature oil field that is being developed requires manpower and material resources. All you need to do is find a tanker to pull the oil, and there is no limit to the number. This is a very profitable business.
Of course, Yang Dongxu also paid a certain price for this. For example, some of the Microsoft stocks in his hands were mortgaged at a premium and became a bargaining chip for Natasha to negotiate with those worried financial oligarchs when she consolidated the Russian banking industry.
"I'm not very familiar with it. After leaving Russia, the family's overseas investments that I was mainly responsible for were concentrated in the United States and several European countries. Things in the Middle East were never involved from the beginning. Don't you have a team there? Team?" Troy said.
In the past, the weapons of Sharp Blade Security Company's overseas companies were provided by Toy. Although since he left Russia, Dusuo has found other channels to obtain weapons and equipment from the Middle East, but after all, he has worked with Toy and knows something about it.
"They are mainly responsible for the security company and accept employment from some wealthy people. They have not touched other matters." Yang Dongxu said.
Although Sharp Blade Security Company has not gained much international reputation in the past few years, it has a very good reputation among wealthy people. It has even gone head-to-head with Blackwater Company on more than one occasion without suffering a loss.
The reason why the United States only allows such an uncontrolled armed force to exist in its own pocket in the Middle East is naturally because the Blade Security Company is only responsible for security employment and will never act as a mercenary to participate in any war, or carry out orders. What mineral resources are competing for.
Blackwater will care about this small amount of money in the security market, but the United States obviously will not care. And many Middle Eastern tycoons who have good relations with the U.S. government feel very at ease when accepting the protection of Sharp Blade Security Company. Therefore, the U.S. government will naturally not make these tycoons unhappy because of such trivial matters.
"Let me ask Uncle Andre for you. Some of the minerals and oil fields that were sold to you before belong to Uncle Andre, but you should know the reason why he sold off the oil fields in his hands, especially those located in Iraq. Oil fields,” Toy reminded.
Yang Dongxu nodded. Of course he knew the reason. Starting from the Asian financial crisis, the entire world economy has been in turmoil in recent years, especially the bursting of the Internet bubble last year, which made life very difficult for Americans.
At this time, a very bellicose president took office, and the clouds of war began to hang in the sky. What's more, since the Gulf War, the war in the Middle East has not been extinguished.
The Iraq War a few years later was a continuation of the Gulf War, all the way to Libya, and almost did not fight Iran until he was reborn.
In short, the Middle East is not at peace. There is constant competition between big powers, and now the center of the competition is in Iraq. If someone is not careful at this time, he will lose all his money at best, or be shattered into pieces at worst.
However, others saw that George W. Bush came to power, Saddam Hussein was making such a fuss, and the war clouds over Iraq had begun to make up for it. But no one could tell clearly when the lightning, thunder, and heavy rain started. They just realized that they wanted to fight, but they did not Know when to hit.
But what others don't know is that Yang Dongxu knows that the war in Iraq will not really start until 2003, which means that he still has at least two years to continue to pump oil from Iraq. After not being online for two years, Yang Dongxu felt like countless gold coins were pouring into his pocket along with the oil tankers.
"Please contact me first. If there is anything we can cooperate with, I will discuss it with him in person." Yang Dongxu said.
"I'll call Uncle Andrei tonight, and you can contact him directly then. But I still remind you, if there is no need, stay away from Natasha. In order to take over the Gut family, she has become very... Crazy. She was responsible for more than half of the financial oligarchs killed by the person on stage in the past few years."
"Isn't it?" Yang Dongxu looked surprised.
Although he had received some rumors before, because the investment focus was no longer on Russia, he didn't know very clearly. After hearing what Troy said, he realized that the Natasha now was no longer the Natasha he knew before, who was just a white-glove intermediary representing a big family.
"Otherwise, why do you think my uncle doesn't want to get in touch with her? Even this cooperation is limited. And she has no supporters in China except the one on stage, and the support given by the Gut family is limited. It’s limited, so she seeks out partners to increase her capital, otherwise she wouldn’t be qualified to sit at the poker table.”
"Does that mean that when she was sitting at the card table playing cards, the money she used as chips was actually my money?" Yang Dongxu said.
"That's right, so you still have time to regret it now." Troy reminded.
Yang Dongxu shrugged with a wry smile, "Forget it, since I have promised her, there is no reason to return. What I can do now is to take advantage of the convenience of her sitting at the card table before she loses all her money. Let’s see if we can make back the money we invested.”
"It's up to you." Troy did not continue to persuade her, "Let's go, don't mention her, go down and I will introduce you to some friends. There will be a small trade fair in the evening."
"Trade fair?" Yang Dongxu was stunned for a moment. Tuoy didn't tell him this before coming to this party.
"It was decided on the spur of the moment when we went down to chat just now. You know this..." Troy pouted at the people downstairs: "Although many families have fallen, as long as they are passed down to this day, they will have more in their hands." There are some good things at least.
After all, their elders followed the royal family to plunder the world. Now I can't live any longer, so I take out my treasured things and see if I can make some investments to turn things around. "
"Are there any Chinese antiques?" Yang Dongxu couldn't help but ask.
"There will definitely be some, but compared to Chinese antiques. In fact, in private small trade fairs in Europe and the United States, more art works that meet the aesthetic standards of Europeans and Americans are traded.
For example, some imperfect manuscripts of modern Van Gogh or Leonardo da Vinci, or some gemstones and jewelry with more historical significance, etc. "
