50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 579 A Battle That Returned Us to Before the Revolution
After much deliberation, Sun Zhiwei concluded that Huang Mingyu, the head of Cathay Bank's New York branch, was the only suitable candidate.

This guy is no decent person; he'll go to great lengths to flatter me, but his execution is truly remarkable.

Sun Zhiwei has been in charge of renting out the apartment building for several years, and so far there have been no problems.

However, this kind of person is not suitable to be a leader. The position of branch manager in New York is actually a very good job, and he has never asked for a promotion.

It's good enough that you don't demand command authority beyond your capabilities and have self-awareness.

Then let him stay in New York. With the Los Angeles headquarters checking the accounts regularly, Sun Zhiwei doesn't need to worry about him selling this branch.

He then called Huang Mingyu and asked him to assemble a professional trading team and rent a VIP room at the New York Stock Exchange to be on standby. Once the funds were in place and the timing was confirmed, he would direct all operations.

Sun Zhiwei had only one requirement: he didn't ask them to take initiative, but only to operate according to the objectives.

He didn't ask for much, just to be obedient, which wasn't difficult for Huang Mingyu.

To this end, Huang Mingyu also devised several fixed tactical plans to facilitate Sun Zhiwei's remote command, demonstrating his exceptional skill in serving others.

After finishing all that, he calculated the time. It was May 5th, and he needed another week to prepare.

Therefore, he made an agreement with Huang Mingyu to launch the operation after the market opens on May 20. Before that, the funds needed to be in place and the trading team needed to be prepared.

In the following days, Cathay's funds began to flow into its New York branch.

Sun Zhiwei wasn't idle either; he rented a C-5 Galaxy transport plane through Major Page at the Barabak base.

This is the latest improved C5 model, with a payload of 129 tons and a full-load range of 9165 kilometers.

Sun Zhiwei plans to use it to collect all the gold mined in South Africa, Borneo, and Australia during this period and bring it to New York.

Only US military aircraft can meet this requirement, because they can land and refuel at US military bases around the world. As long as the money is right, it's not a problem.

It's because the Cathay branches in several locations haven't been built yet. Once Cathay's network of branches is completed, he won't have to go through this trouble anymore.

Major Page didn't ask for an exorbitant price this time. The cost of a single C5 flight is as high as $10 per hour. If it weren't for the need to complete the mission in one go to reduce risk, he wouldn't have spent that money unnecessarily.

The entire flight route runs from Johannesburg, South Africa to Pontianak, Borneo to Melbourne, Australia to New York, covering a distance of 32,000 kilometers and taking 36 hours (excluding refueling and takeoff/landing time).

To ensure the safe takeoff and landing of the C5, he also spent money to extend the runway at Pontianak Airport. This ultra-long-haul global transport cost him $500 million.

This was money I had to spend to save time.

On May 9, Sun Zhiwei's 21 tons of gold from around the world were all gathered in the underground vault of Cathay Bank's New York branch.

He now has $900 million in available funds and 61 tons of gold, totaling $1.825 billion.

On the same day, Sun Zhiwei, in his private capacity, rented a small warehouse at Cathay Vault in New York and transported in five 1-cubic-meter safes.

In each of these five safes, he stored 20 tons of 400-ounce gold bars, which, at the current gold price of $430 per ounce, are worth more than $15 billion.

This was his last line of defense, using the gold reserves in his spatial storage. He didn't want to reveal it unless absolutely necessary.

Because the quantity is too large, and the source cannot withstand close scrutiny. The theft from the Federal Reserve's underground vaults has not yet been exposed, but that doesn't mean it will never be; he must be careful.

On the 15th, the 1 timing devices he ordered were delivered. These were custom-made extra-long timing devices, capable of timing for up to 7 days.

If this thing isn't equipped with a detonator, it's just civilian equipment, you could even call it a toy. So he ordered it locally, just using an alias and paying in cash.

On the evening of the 16th, Sun Zhiwei visited the U.S. 7th Army Armory at 643 Park Avenue in Manhattan from underground.

This is a U.S. military armory located between 66th and 67th Streets in Upper Manhattan, directly facing Park Avenue.

Its exterior is that of an old Gothic Revival building, constructed in 1880, and locals consider it an ancient building.

But few people know that in the middle of this expensive Manhattan metropolis, there is an armory containing enough weapons to arm at least 10 American soldiers.

Sun Zhiwei had his eye on the explosives stored here; he needed a lot of them for this operation.

In the underground arms depot's warehouses, he found approximately 10 tons of TNT. These warehouses had not been opened for many years, and he was not afraid of being discovered.

There are probably countless such reserve depots in the United States, and the supplies in many of them have been misappropriated and sold.

Years of peace on the mainland have turned these military depots into cash cows for corrupt officials. Even if Sun Zhiwei doesn't take them away, they will be secretly sold off in a few years.

After obtaining the necessary explosives, Sun Zhiwei boarded a flight to Baghdad at noon on the 17th.

Although they are currently at war, the main battlefront is in the border region, and Baghdad's Saddam International Airport remains open as usual.

The war between the two countries has been going on for more than three years, but there is no sign of a clear winner. It has now turned into a war of attrition.

Both sides were constantly borrowing money to buy weapons and ammunition, which they then used to bombard the other side. Initially, they also purchased high-end weapons from Europe, America, and Russia, and even equipped themselves with a considerable number of third-generation fighter jets.

But they soon discovered that while these devices were high-end, they were unreliable and were being destroyed too quickly. A fighter jet costing hundreds of millions of dollars would be worn out in just a few months, and neither side could afford the losses.

The main weapons they use now are all made in our country, and they are all sold to us through third parties.

像69式坦克、H6轰炸机、J7战斗机、59式加农炮、63式火箭炮、C-601反舰导弹、装甲车、防空导弹、直升机等等。

Military factories are no longer receiving government subsidies and have to rely on their own efforts to produce these things and sell them, focusing on being cheap and plentiful.

The two sides have gradually evolved from a modern war at the beginning of the conflict into a war at the level of World War II. If the fighting continues, they will be reduced to trench warfare like in World War I.

But now neither of them is willing to admit defeat, and they are determined to keep fighting even if it means tightening their belts.

Sun Zhiwei arrived in Baghdad at this time, and he came to add fuel to the fire.

After getting off the plane at noon on the 18th, he secretly changed into local clothes in the airport restroom.

Then they stole a luxury car from the airport's underground parking garage and drove it onto the streets of Baghdad.

(End of this chapter)