Chapter 20: The Middle East in 1971

  On January 1, 1971, Chiang Ching-kuo, the Vice Premier of the Executive Yuan, delivered a New Year's speech. He first reviewed last year's achievements and then proposed new goals and tasks. Finally, Chiang Ching-kuo once again expressed his hope for peaceful negotiations with the mainland side.

  Chiang Ching-kuo's speech triggered a new round of heated debate within the island, especially on the issue of peaceful negotiations across the Taiwan Strait. According to surveys by various media outlets, the majority of the public still hopes that the government will resolve its issues with mainland China as soon as possible, which would be beneficial for Taiwan's long-term stability and economic development.

  Just after the Lunar New Year, Lin Feng and Finance Minister Li Guoding boarded a plane bound for Syria. At that time, it had been less than a year since the end of the Third Middle East War. In the Third Middle East War, Egypt, Jordan, and Syria suffered heavy losses. They not only lost a large number of weapons and equipment but also had more than 650,000 square kilometers of their territory occupied by Israel.

  Now the various Arab countries are secretly accumulating strength, waiting for the opportunity to come, and the fourth Middle East war will break out. The important purpose of Lin Feng's trip to the Middle East is to sell weapons to these countries. Last year, Chiang Ching-kuo's visit to the United States not only brought a large sum of money to Taiwan but also brought back a large number of American-made weapons.

  Taiwan is currently in a critical period of implementing its economic revitalization plan, and to ensure that there are sufficient funds for the implementation of this plan, Lin Feng and Chiang Ching-kuo and military leaders decided to sell these weapons to Middle Eastern countries.

  In fact, when purchasing this batch of weapons, Lin Feng insisted that only aircraft and warships and their ammunition were needed, so these weapons are very suitable for the current Syria and Egypt. In the fourth Middle East War, they lost a large number of aircraft and warships. Lin Feng's only concern was whether they, as users of Soviet weapons, would be willing to take over this batch of weapons?

  In case of an emergency, Lin Feng prepared to send Li Guoding to Saudi Arabia. This country has a relatively good relationship with the United States and is also relatively wealthy. Lin Feng handed over an important technology to Li Guoding, letting him exchange it for oil or funds with Saudi Arabia.

  Syria, located in western Asia, on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, is a Middle Eastern country with its capital in Damascus. The northern border of Syria is adjacent to Turkey, the eastern border is shared with Iraq, the southern border is contiguous with Jordan, and the southwestern borders are shared with Lebanon and Israel, with the Mediterranean Sea to the west.

  Syria declared independence on January 1, 1944 and was recognized as a sovereign state by the international community on April 7, 1946. In the Third Middle Eastern War, Syria lost the Golan Heights, which all Syrians now hope their government will recover soon. However, in that war, Syria suffered heavy losses of aircraft, and Lin Feng hopes to sell his planes to them. But since Syria has always used Soviet weapons, Lin Feng is a bit worried about this action.

  All the way, time passed quietly in Lin Feng's random thoughts, and the plane landed in Damascus, the capital of Syria. After getting off the plane, Lin Feng walked slowly on the streets of a foreign country, the streets of Damascus were somewhat narrow, and there were still people wearing lantern pants and pointed red leather shoes, wearing big turbans, squeezing back and forth with you. You can also see the rich nobles of Damascus everywhere, riding horses, wearing white satin cloaks, paired with precious swords.

  There were a few passing girls, all wearing veils. At the same time, some women in their own homes peeked through the small holes of the lattice windows at people in the market and square. The faces of the Bedouin people were darkened by the sun, wearing large long shirts, headscarves and headbands. The vendors who sold juice and sweets shouted loudly along the street, the air in the city was filled with all kinds of smells you could smell.

  Lin Feng looked at these beautiful scenes with some emotion, who would have thought that in a few decades the peaceful life here will be gone forever.

  Emotions aside, business is still to be done. Lin Feng followed the staff to the Syrian Presidential Palace. On the way, a staff member said seriously, "Mr. Li, our president has been very busy recently. This time he specially took out his time to meet you, hoping that the information you provide is accurate."

  Lin Feng simply nodded deeply in confidence, without saying anything. Lin Feng revealed to Syria that the Syrian side had discovered a light oil field in its eastern part in the early 1980s in order to meet with the President of Syria.

  To be honest, Syria has relatively little oil resources compared to other Middle Eastern countries. By the 21st century, Syria had transformed from an oil-exporting country to an oil-importing one. Currently, the country only extracts heavy crude oil in its northeastern oil fields. It's easy to imagine how anxious they must have felt when they found out that someone knew about a not-so-small light crude oil field in Syria.

  Soon, Lin Feng entered the office of President Ahmadal-Khatib under the leadership of the presidential staff. As soon as Ahmadal-Khatib saw Lin Feng coming in, he immediately stood up, stretched out his right hand and shook hands with Lin Feng, saying: "Welcome to our distant friend."

  Lin Feng shook hands with him and said, "Thank you very much for the president's hospitality. I felt the enthusiasm and hospitality of the Syrian people. This time I came to discuss a business deal."

  "Oh, what business?" President Ahmadal-Khatib asked with some puzzlement.

  Although these oil fields have not been discovered by the Syrian government, the government has already planned and various interest groups are waiting for the government to find these oil fields. At that time, they will not allow any force to intervene again.

  Lin Feng didn't know about the internal affairs of Syria, but he also didn't think about getting involved with these oil matters. Since Taiwan took control of the Diaoyu Islands' waters, Lin Feng had already solved his short-term energy problems, and in the long run, he still had nuclear fusion as a trump card.

  He glanced at Ahmad al-Khatib and said, "I have some US-made aircraft and warships here. I know your air force suffered heavy losses in the last war. Although these American planes are not as good as those of the Israeli military, their performance is not much different, and they are cheaper."

  After listening to this, Ahmadal-Khatib finally understood that Lin Feng was here to sell weapons. However, as the president of a country, he had to secure the greatest benefits for his nation. He thought for a moment and said: "If it were just tens of millions of dollars worth of weapons, we could afford to buy them. But this is an aircraft and cannons worth hundreds of millions, which would be somewhat difficult for us to purchase entirely."

  Lin Feng just smiled and said: "Mr. President, I have some information about the new oil field in Syria here. As long as our military procurement agreement is reached, this information will be given to you for free."

  Ahmad al-Khatib frowned slightly and said: "The funds for this military procurement agreement are too large, we Syria can't afford it. Besides, these oil fields are within our own country, if we search carefully, we will definitely find them."

  Lin Feng knew that they were now haggling over the price, and he didn't mind Ahmad al-Khatib's threat. He continued to speak slowly and calmly: "What you said is very clear, but I would like to ask His Excellency the President, when do you think the next Middle East war will break out? Will Israel give you enough time to find new oil fields? If these oil fields cannot play a role in this war and ultimately fail to recover the Golan Heights, then what's the use of finding new oil fields?"

  These words made Ahmad al-Khatib fall silent, in fact he was well aware that the next war would erupt at most within a year or two, and the earlier this oil field is discovered, the more chances Syria has to win the war.

  "I can not only provide you with the accurate coordinates of the oil field, but also provide you with all the technical data needed for the development of the oil field in advance, which can also save you a large amount of money."

  After hearing this, Ahmad al-Khatib's heart moved. If that was the case, it was worth considering. He thought carefully and said: "We can buy at most two billion US dollars' worth of weapons from you. One billion is too much for us to bear. You consider it."

  Lin Feng carefully weighed in, "Syria is indeed not very rich, compared to Iraq and other countries, it's too poor." Finally, Lin Feng said, "Three hundred million dollars worth of weapons, also I hope the President can help me get in touch with other Arab country friends," Ahmad al-Khatib stood up happily and said: "Okay, no problem"

  This Middle East trip ended successfully, and under the introduction of the Syrian President, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon and other countries successively reached agreements with Lin Feng. The $100 million worth of weapons purchased from the US last year were all sold to Middle Eastern countries by him, and in the end, Lin Feng earned an income of $1.25 billion.

  This made his colleague Li Guoding very excited, because with this money many investment plans in Taiwan can be implemented. However, Li Guoding's trip to Saudi Arabia did not achieve much, but this will not affect the overall situation. Lin Feng and his party returned to Taiwan in a good mood, next Lin Feng needs to plan carefully for the second action on the mainland.

  March 3, 1971 - China successfully launched its first scientific experimental artificial satellite "Shijian I", before that the National Satellite Meteorological Center of China was formally established. Lin Feng secretly went to the mainland under such circumstances, last year Lin Feng's timely reminder, the mainland had ended the political movement, and the country was fully engaged in economic construction, but due to the lack of a solid foundation and a large amount of industrial equipment, the current industrialization process is too slow.

  Moreover, since both the Soviet Union and the United States were hostile to China, this was also the main reason why China could not obtain a large amount of help from outside. Of course, we cannot deny the ability of these scientific and technological personnel in China at the beginning of its founding. On the basis of China's poverty and whiteness, they made China possess "two bombs and one star", which is absolutely a miracle in the history of Chinese science and technology. I dare not say that it is unprecedented, but it is absolutely unprecedented.

  Lin Feng came to the mainland this time, first to carefully calculate the American devils and Japanese oni, secondly to hope for cooperation with the mainland to build China's own global satellite positioning system. This system not only has important military value but also has immeasurable economic benefits. If it can be put into operation before the United States, it will be a very striking blow to the opponent.