50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 688 Pinkerton Intelligence Department Out of Control
The New York Times gave a detailed report on the baptism ceremony of Sun Zhiwei's two little ones at St. John's Cathedral in New York.

They boasted about sacred mountains and waters thousands of miles away, and Vatican artifacts from five hundred years ago, making that top-notch baptismal ceremony famous throughout the world.

Since then, not only have the believers of St. John's Cathedral flocked to it, but many other believers also came to have their baptisms held there.

Father Owen later mentioned to Tong Jiajia during a service that the three high-level services scheduled for each month for the next two years were sold out in less than a week, with the schedule already booked until the end of next year.

This single high-level baptismal ceremony earned St. John's Cathedral $4300 million. This doesn't even include the additional expenses and donations made by the faithful who attended the ceremony.

After this incident, the economic situation of St. John's Cathedral, which had been on the verge of deterioration, was completely reversed.

December arrived quickly, and the 76th OPEC Ministerial Meeting officially announced a "price reduction to maintain production" policy in order to compete for market share in oil exports, which caused great chaos in the international oil market.

OPEC is an international organization established by oil-producing countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America to coordinate the oil policies of its member countries and oppose the exploitation and control of Western oil monopoly capital.

Since its founding in 1960, the organization has been fighting against Western oil monopoly capital and has made significant progress in raising oil prices and nationalizing the oil industry.

In previous years, OPEC member countries maintained low production levels to protect oil export prices at around $30 per barrel.

However, over the years, OPEC's share of oil exports has fallen from 50% to less than 30%.

This nearly 50% drop in market share has already caused sleepless nights for OPEC member countries.

Therefore, at this meeting, Saudi Arabia took the lead in expanding production capacity, and the oil price war began.

In just three days, from the 9th to the 12th, international crude oil prices plummeted from $30 per barrel to $25 per barrel.

Sun Zhiwei had known about the recent oil price crash for a while and had warned Zheng Jiafa, but he himself did not participate in it.

The main reason is that this oil price drop has lasted for a relatively long time, and he doesn't have time to waste on the international oil futures market.

With the New Year just around the corner, he has to take the children back to China this year, and his mother-in-law is practically going blind from waiting so long.

If he dares to change his mind, he'll likely face dire consequences whenever he visits the Tong family in the future.

However, before leaving, I still need to keep an eye on my business in the United States.

Other businesses are fine, as the Robert Group, with Huang Mingyu in charge, manages them, so he doesn't need to worry about anything.

But there was one place he absolutely had to go to: the Pinkerton intelligence agency in Chicago.

The current Pinkerton intelligence unit is led and managed by Ding Chenyang, who comes from China. They do not recruit from outside or communicate with external parties.

In fact, their current situation is similar to that of the five major families when they monopolized the intelligence department.

The only connection between Pinkerton and the intelligence department was to retrieve intelligence whenever needed.

At other times, the intelligence section was not under the jurisdiction of Aaron Powell at Pinkerton headquarters.

Allen couldn't do anything about the five major families before, and now that Ding Chenyang is in charge of the intelligence department, he still can't do anything about them.

However, in the past, the intelligence department only received a small subsidy from Pinkerton headquarters each month.

Sun Zhiwei has now increased the salaries of the intelligence section staff, and Alan is responsible for ensuring that everyone in the intelligence section receives their full wages. Although he's very unhappy about it, Sun Zhiwei specifically instructed him to do so, so he has no choice.

Sun Zhiwei actually couldn't command this new intelligence section. Ding Chenyang and his team were actually directly managed by the domestic authorities; Sun Zhiwei was just there to pay their salaries.

Although he felt that this strange situation would not last long, Sun Zhiwei would not invite trouble since no one in China had brought it up.

It's just the wages of a few dozen people. Sun Zhiwei doesn't care about such a small amount. If they don't mention it, Sun Zhiwei will just pretend they don't exist.

He was about to go home for the Chinese New Year, and he still had to ask these people whether they should go back too.

They came from all over the world, and he didn't know what they did before.

He's going to be away for several months now, and if something happens in the meantime, no one else can handle it, so he wanted to come and check on things before he leaves.

Sun Zhiwei took a Gulfstream 3 from LaGuardia Airport and arrived in Chicago in just a few hours.

He left the Gulfstream 3 crew at the airport to rest, while he himself rushed to the intelligence department's estate in the northern suburbs of Chicago overnight.

Crossing downtown Chicago at night for the first time, he finally saw what a gangster city was like.

Throughout the journey, gunfire never ceased, and people kept falling to the 'clattering' of typewriters.

Sun Zhiwei kept the space open and traversed the war zone.

As long as they don't provoke him, he doesn't care how others fight. If someone points a gun at his car, he will preemptively send them to meet their maker.

Even so, in just half an hour, his space gained more than 100 burly men.

Looking at the group of tattooed guys in the space, Sun Zhiwei used the space to completely destroy them and erase all traces.

These people are not worth asking questions about; every year, there are at least a thousand, if not eight hundred, such strong men who die in the streets and alleys of Chicago.

The reasons for their fighting were always either territorial disputes or江湖恩怨杀 (gangster feuds), and neither side was any good. He had no qualms about using them to slightly expand his space.

After crossing the dark streets of Chicago and arriving at the gate of the manor where the Pinkerton intelligence department was located, Sun Zhi's appearance was already recognized by the guards inside.

The gate at the entrance opened, and Sun Zhiwei drove his car directly into the manor.

Not long after he parked the car, Ding Chenyang was already standing in front of the house waiting for him.

Although they were not under Sun Zhiwei's jurisdiction and were not very clear about Sun Zhiwei's true identity, Dante Chenyang still respected Sun Zhiwei.

After all, Sun Zhiwei is the one who pays their salaries, so it's fair to say he's their provider. Moreover, their current salaries are much higher than what they earned in their previous jobs, so they're bound to feel indebted to him.

"Boss, it's been a long time. What brings you here today?"

"Xiao Ding, it's been a long time. Let's go inside and talk."

The two moved into the lobby, which was where the intelligence department usually received Pinkerton personnel. There was a row of counters and sofas and tea tables next to it.

(End of this chapter)