Father of France

Chapter 151 Mekong Basin
"What do you mean?" Ava Gardner asked, putting on purple underwear as she did so, because this man had said that purple was the most charming color.

"It's not what you said. Kerr-Mage is the company at the forefront of marine exploration in the United States right now."

Koeman replied with a smile, "Companies like this, which are at the forefront of the times, are bound to take certain risks. This is perfectly normal. Now that Kerr-Mage knows that France is also conducting offshore exploration, the fact that they have released this information shows that another country has recognized the importance of offshore oil exploration, which will give investors tremendous confidence."

Koman is no stranger to this tactic; concepts like metaverse and 3D printing have been hyped up before.

The pursuit of this concept has boosted the market value of related companies.

However, in the end, they only serve the function of boosting market value, because these two concepts are too bubbly.

If the United States is in a dominant position, then there's nothing to say. But if there are competitors, even if those competitors do nothing and just watch the United States perform a solo act, the United States will still be unable to continue.

However, offshore oil exploration is not among those metaverse scams. As long as the oil distribution is found, oil can be explored. Therefore, the biggest problem at present is whether or not oil can be found.

Koeman wasn't boasting that he could solve this problem; to truly command the world, one must demonstrate the ability to command the world, and he happens to possess that ability.

Then it was discovered that Vietnam was illegally extracting oil, which is basically a conspiracy theory. Vietnam certainly had this idea, but it didn't succeed.

Vietnam's offshore oil drilling and extraction wells are all located outside the nine-dash line. Of course, it's also possible that in Malaysia, where the nine-dash line is drawn rather aggressively, almost encroaching on their shores, their offshore oil wells might be crossing the line.

Most oil extraction takes place within 12 nautical miles of the coast of these countries. This is easy to understand, because offshore oil extraction requires less advanced technology than deep-sea extraction.

The technology for extracting deep-sea oil is possessed by only a few Western countries, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Norway.

The oil-producing region in Vietnam that supposedly has accumulated a great deal of wealth is actually the Mekong Basin, the ocean basin facing the mouth of the Mekong River.

In the eastern and southeastern part of Saigon. It would be easy to find it by mining from this location. Of course, Corman didn't dare to make any promises. He knew the general location, but the search would have to be done by Kerr-McGee.

Seemingly hungry, Ava Gardner simply draped Koman's shirt over herself and went straight to the kitchen to look for food, but finding nothing, she grumbled in dissatisfaction, "They won't even give me food..."

"Leave it to me, can you handle spicy food?" Koman followed her into the kitchen and immediately apologized. He felt bad that the American girl had used up so much energy as soon as he got back, so he decided to show off his skills.

Although Coman easily adjusted his eating habits after arriving in French Indochina, and even confiscated the menus of various restaurants on the Embankment in his own name, he was still somewhat unaccustomed to the southern cuisine.

He's quite used to the signature dishes, but for easy-to-make home-style dishes, he still prefers the Northern flavors.

The geographical unit where Coman's hometown is located is very good at modifying other cuisines, including but not limited to authentic Yunnan Crossing-the-Bridge Rice Noodles, authentic Mala Tang, authentic Anhui Banmian, etc.

Some of these foods exist, while others were created by people from Northeast China themselves. When Koman has a lot of time, like now, he decided to make an authentic Mala Tang (spicy hot pot) for Ava Gardner.

"You have this skill too." Ava Gardner watched Koman busy at work, her eyes shining with admiration. "I wonder how it tastes, compared to our American food."

"So America still has something called food. Isn't American food all industrialized?"

Koman thought to himself, "You're comparing a good person to the United States. It's like the British Empire at a 2.0 level. It's a flaw they've had since birth. Americans even think that KFC in other countries tastes better than their own. How dare they criticize food like that?"

Only Indian porridge eaten with hands could stop Koman from criticizing American industrialized food. After all, one is magic, and the other is fighting spirit, making it a very difficult choice.

Despite her verbal criticism, Ava Gardner ate quickly, clearly accepting the result of Koeman's hands-on cooking. "It's very good. The local food isn't as bad as I imagined. Many of the vegetables aren't common in the US either. It's a novel experience."

"This isn't local food. As for American vegetables, France has better partners," Koeman said casually. "Europe can meet most of its vegetable needs on its own, and we can cooperate with East Asian countries for the rest."

The United States is merely a major producer of staple foods. Although it has the nickname of an agricultural empire, its agricultural sector is actually quite unbalanced. If we're talking about a comprehensive, uncompromising agricultural power, the Eastern country is far more well-rounded than the US. The only problem is its large population; it doesn't have the same impressive track record in staple food exports as the US.

In the field of fruits and vegetables, the United States is far less capable than the major Eastern power. There's a saying that the United States is the Soviet Union of the free world, and this also holds true in the agricultural sector. The only difference is that the United States happens to excel in the same area that the Soviet Union excelled in.

As a temperate country, the United States does have a wider variety of agricultural products than the Soviet Union, a cold-climate country. However, compared with the major Eastern power, which is also a temperate country, the gap is enormous.

I wonder if France's overseas departments in North Africa have the potential to rival the Northwest, which would definitely be developed.

After disappearing for a whole day, Coman reappeared at the beginning of the year, welcoming the Kerr-McGee exploration team. They had an in-depth discussion about the geographical location of the Mekong Basin and its convergence with the Gulf of Mexico. He was incredibly confident and self-assured.

Even Brandon, the engineer leading the team from Kerr-McGee, felt that the place where the Mekong River flows into the sea seemed to be quite similar to the Gulf of Mexico facing the Mississippi River.

Seeing that the other party agreed with his opinion, Koman said confidently, "Of course, they are all at the same latitude and longitude, and their geographical environments are very similar."

This is purely Coman lying because there was no satellite system at that time. The mouth of the Mississippi River is roughly equivalent to the mouth of the Yangtze River, which is much further north than the mouth of the Mekong River.

Aside from Florida, which has a slight tropical climate, the United States doesn't really have any warm climates. If the North China Plain faced the Arctic Ocean directly, that's what the United States would feel like.

"If we successfully discover oil, our company will be at the forefront of offshore oil development." Brandon was filled with excitement. Kerr-McGee also has a project to build an offshore oil drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico, but this project is extremely risky.

Prior to this, the United States had offshore drilling platforms, but they were all fixed. Kerr-Mage will now be building a truly mobile offshore drilling platform. Success brings both fame and fortune, but what if it fails? To stay ahead of the curve, one must take risks.

When Eva Gardner approached them, just as Coman said, Kerr-Mage immediately used France's similar offshore oil exploration projects to tell their story.

The objective is quite simple: if the United States doesn't push further in offshore oil exploration, the French will catch up. The city atop the hill must lead the world in energy extraction technology.

After the conversation ended, Brandon turned around and told Frank in the team what had happened.

"The French should not continue to control French Indochina, but now there are pro-Soviet political forces in the north, and we have no choice but to support them."

After listening, Frank muttered to himself, "The country had previously opposed France's return to Asia, but this proposal was thwarted by the British. If France and Britain were to regain their strength through the wealth of their colonies, it would pose a considerable challenge to America's future leadership."

Frank said this because he was a commercial spy working for the U.S. intelligence system. The U.S. was now wary of the Soviet Union, but even more so of Britain and France.

These two chosen ones from the previous version, even amidst the great changes in the world, are still clinging to a lot of resources and refusing to give up.

This put the United States in a very difficult position. The United States also wanted the benefits brought by many of these territories, but the biggest problem in many areas currently controlled by Britain and France was the expansion of Soviet influence.

Just like the current Iranian crisis, if Britain backs down, the United States must resist the Soviet Union's attempt to control Iran.

The same principle applies to French Indochina. Although the Viet Minh leaders appear to regard the United States as a role model, the United States does not trust the Viet Minh as a political force.

How can the United States trust a party whose constitution clearly defines it as a proletarian party?

If it were a party similar to Chiang Kai-shek's, the US might have been tempted to kick France out of French Indochina. And France still wants to return to Asia? Dream on.

Frank was furious, especially now that he knew France might have found another place with abundant oil reserves besides the United States, the Soviet Union, and the Middle East. But there was not much he could do; he could only pray that the French were wrong and that there was no oil in the seabed basin at the mouth of the Mekong River.

The Kerr-McGee marine exploration team quickly got to work, and with the support of the French military, began collecting hydrographic information on the shallow waters of Saigon.

(End of this chapter)