Scholars in the courtyard.

Chapter 2941 The Shadow Under the Oil Tanker

"idiot!"

"Baga, Baga!"

Curses emanated from the room, while those outside knelt on the ground, afraid to make a sound.

Inside the house, an elderly woman dressed in a kimono sat upright on the tatami mat, cursing incessantly.

The crow's feet at the corners of her eyes deepened with each curse, yet the old woman showed no sign of stopping.

Wow
The teacup in front of him was swept away, and the sound of breaking was accompanied by curses.

In the corner, two women in kimonos were kneeling, their heads bowed in fear, their bodies trembling, and they dared not speak.

They knew that if the adults in front of them couldn't vent their anger, they would be the ones to suffer.

Women, especially those going through menopause, are prone to mood swings.

This time I've run into this kind of awful thing again. It's only good that I've been hurt and battered. If I had run into someone who didn't know any better, I would have ended up in Edo Bay by now!
"Pack up!"

The old woman's tone finally changed, and the two women immediately nodded and quickly tidied up.

In a short while, the room was cleaned up, and the floor was wiped with a clean cloth. Then the two got up and went to the old woman, tidied up the scattered kimonos, and took out new kimonos to change into.

When the woman changed her clothes, a full-body Hannya tattoo was revealed on her back.

After dressing and re-tying her hair, the wrinkles around the old woman's eyes gradually smoothed out, and she looked like a kind old grandmother, exuding a peaceful aura.

If there were other people in the room, one might think that what just happened took place in another room.

The old woman raised her hand, and a maidservant quickly took a dzi bead bracelet from a sandalwood box, placed it in the old woman's hand, and then gently slipped it onto her pale wrist.

It is said that her husband obtained this bracelet from a Chinese temple.

He was summoned with a samurai sword.

However, since wearing this dzi bead bracelet, while the men in the family have all died of old age, the women have all lived long lives and become leaders in various industries within the family.

Apart from this somewhat mysterious event, everything else went smoothly!
In particular, the family business has transformed from a small family into a top-tier force in the country.

Especially in the energy industry, in resource-scarce island nations, oil and coal are the primary energy sources.

Whoever controls oil controls everything.

They can even manipulate political changes and influence national policies.

The Jin family gradually rose to become an oligarch in the island nation by leveraging their access to imported oil, step by step crushing their rivals, and then using the island nation's platform to become a significant force in the world.

It can be said that the rise and fall of their family is closely related to oil.

But now, oil prices have gone up!
And the increase is so huge!

In the past, international oil prices would not have been a problem for her at all.

When international oil prices rise, she raises prices domestically, and even takes advantage of the rising international oil prices to raise them even more, making more money.

But this time is different.

Because the other party not only raised prices, but also restricted oil extraction.

Because they aligned themselves with the United States and maintained a friendly attitude towards Israel, they were blacklisted and became one of the countries subject to embargoes.

To be frank, I'm not selling it to you!

Without oil, it's like their family's lungs have been severed; they can only breathe in seconds.

Without oil, how will they maintain their power?

Without power, what can a group of women do?

If they were young, it would be fine, but a group of old women really don't have any redeeming qualities.

Therefore, one cannot relinquish the power in one's hands.

Therefore, the oil supply channels must be maintained.

After everything was tidied up, the old woman remained calm, reciting an unknown scripture. After a moment, she nodded gently to the maid beside her.

The maid understood, got up and opened the door. Looking at the men and women kneeling outside, she nodded slightly. The group immediately stood up, bowed, and lined up to go inside.

The leaders were all middle-aged women, dressed simply, and with respectful expressions.

The group entered the house and then knelt down on either side.

"They're all here!"

"Grandma!"

Everyone bowed in greeting, the old woman nodded, and then looked at the middle-aged woman on her left, "Mimura!"

"Mother!"

The middle-aged woman named Meicun said respectfully.

"What's going on now?"

“Mother, we have met with them six times, offered huge benefits, and even sent three socialites from Jumei House, but we still can’t break through their defenses.”

Jumei House is a place where their family gathers and trains beautiful women from all over the world, specifically to help with the family's public relations.

The women in the show are only required to be beautiful; they also need to learn various languages, etiquette from different countries, and even be proficient in various high-end consumer activities.

Moreover, every woman leaves the family business after the age of thirty, either to work in the family business or to be part of an arranged marriage.

Of course, there are other activities involved, but they are not made public.

The fact that three top PR women have failed to complete the task shows that there is truly no room for maneuver in this matter.

The old woman nodded, knowing full well that the situation was difficult, and did not ask any further questions. She then looked at the middle-aged woman on her right.

"Juanzhi, how much stock do we have left?"

Upon hearing this, the middle-aged woman's face turned pale. "Mother, because this incident happened so suddenly, we were not prepared in advance."

"In addition, the group needed funds to invest in real estate some time ago, so many oil depots were converted into cash."

"In addition, the United States' military bases need a batch of fuel..."

"Currently, our inventory is only one-fifth of what it used to be!"

"idiot!"

The old woman couldn't help but curse.

The middle-aged woman lowered her head and dared not speak, nor did the others.

After a long silence, the old woman spoke again, “I received orders from the government to step in and maintain order on the market and restore the oil supply as soon as possible.”

"We need to come up with a solution as soon as possible."

"Kiku-shita, how are your contacts with the United States?"

The old woman asked a girl in the line.

"grandmother!"

"We are in discussions with the United States, and they have agreed to our needs and are willing to sell us crude oil!"

"But, but their prices might be a bit higher!"

"It might be a bit more expensive?"

"idiot!"

The old woman cursed again, then calmed down and asked, "How much more expensive?"

"this…"

"Baka yarou! Stop stammering and speak quickly."

"Hi."

Kikuchi quickly responded, then solemnly said, "Based on the crude oil price provided by the other party, the price per barrel has increased tenfold from the original price."

"Ten times? Bastards, a bunch of bastards!"

The old woman roared angrily, "How dare they bully us like this!"

"Grandma, not only have they raised the price, they've also restricted the amount of oil!"

Kikuchi quickly said, but seeing the old woman's sinister gaze, she hurriedly added, "Only 100,000 barrels will be provided each month!"

"idiot!"

The old woman cursed again, "One hundred thousand barrels? That's only enough for two days, what good is that!"

Kikuchi shrank back, then explained, "The United States is one of the countries under embargo, so they've suffered even more. Their domestic economy is already showing signs of decline, and society is unstable." "I don't want to hear that. What do we care if they live or die?"

The old woman roared, and Kiku-chi shrank her head as low as she could, not daring to utter a word.

“We need oil, they’ve imposed an embargo, so we’ll look elsewhere. In short, we need a lot of oil.”

The old woman roared, and everyone nodded in agreement.

"Grandma, there's something else I need to tell you."

Mimura suddenly spoke up, and the old woman nodded. Then Mimura said, "The oil freight company we used to work with has terminated our cooperation."

The old woman's snake-like eyes flashed with a cold light. "What do you mean? They're going to break the contract?"

Mimura nodded and said, "Yes, they have a new partner."

"Moreover, according to the contract, they believed that we no longer had the capacity to hire them to transport oil, so they did not need to pay compensation for breach of contract."

"And their new partner is, is, China."

Snapped

The old woman slammed her hand on the table, the bracelet on her wrist hitting the table and hurting her hand.

"It's them again, damn it."

"These bastards, they're bullying us orphans and widows!"

"Damn it, they have to pay the price."

Mimura nodded. "That's exactly what I was thinking."

“Although we are women, we are not people who can just step on us.”

After venting her frustrations, the old woman nodded repeatedly and then said, "I'll leave this to you. Just remember not to involve us."

Mimura nodded. "Don't worry, someone is very willing to do this."

As she spoke, she pointed south, and the old woman immediately smiled.

He only laughed for a short while before his face turned gloomy again.

"I heard they bought 600 million worth of oil this time?"

As she spoke, she looked at the only man at the end of the line, who was their son-in-law.

Although he is a son-in-law who married into the family, he is a high-achieving student who studied in the United States. After marrying into the family, he will be in charge of other family businesses and will also be responsible for investigating the situation abroad.

Upon hearing the old woman's question, the young man quickly stood up, bowed at a ninety-degree angle, and respectfully said, "Grandma."

A young woman of about sixteen was kneeling beside him, nervously clenching her hands, afraid that her man would say the wrong thing.

In front of the young woman, a dignified young woman also looked up at her son-in-law, her eyes filled with affection.

Although the young man was handsome and had applied makeup, he couldn't hide the dark circles under his eyes and his gradually deteriorating body.

As the saying goes, a young girl of sixteen has a body as soft as butter, yet with a sharp sword at her waist, she can slay foolish men. No heads fall in the open, but in secret, she'll drain your very marrow!

All of this is in order to have a child as soon as possible.

As long as a child is born, the family will have a share of the "family property," which is also the main task of the son-in-law after he marries into the family.

"Kitaro, don't be nervous, tell me carefully."

The old woman softened her expression and asked, to which Kitaro quickly nodded, "Yes!"

"Before the war, the other side borrowed two billion US dollars from merchants in the United States, and then used that money to buy six hundred million US dollars worth of oil, as well as more than six hundred million US dollars worth of shares in oil companies, including the oil company in which we had previously invested, but this time the shares were bought by the other side."

As Kitaro continued his story, the old woman's expression grew increasingly ferocious.

"Nowadays, the other party can make huge profits simply by reselling the oil they buy."

After speaking, Kitaro bowed again and then stepped back to kneel beside his wife.

"I'm leaving this matter to you."

The old woman spoke to her daughter, Mimura, again.

"Hey, don't worry, Mother!"

As the old woman waved, everyone immediately went out to do their work.

After everyone had left, the old woman picked up the bracelet and fiddled with it between her fingers, her expression kind and gentle.

However, the other party did not notice that a crack had appeared in the dzi bead in her hand.

East China Sea.

The East China Sea is calm and still.
As the first rays of dawn touch the sea, the surface is as still as dyed glass, with not a single ripple visible where the water meets the sky.

The wind blew, ruffling the glass, and then gradually forming a shallow ripple that drifted into the distance.

No one knows what this shallow ripple will eventually become; it may become a giant wave, or it may hit a reef and disappear without a trace.

Wow

Woo woo

The sound of a ship's horn came from where the sea met the sky, and then three oil tankers gradually appeared.

These three oil tankers are the oil transport fleet that Faisal introduced. Each of them is a large oil tanker with a capacity of 200,000 tons, and each can carry one million barrels of crude oil at a time.

This time, a total of three million barrels of crude oil were transported, with the destination being the warehouse being built in Shanghai.

The oil tanker moved slowly across the sea, escorted by four warships on each side, and aircraft constantly patrolled overhead.

On board the Li Guang, Captain Zhang Kangzhan stood in front of the cabin, holding binoculars and looking at the oil tanker not far away.

"Old Zhang, don't bother looking, it's our oil!"

The voice of First Officer Liu came from behind, holding a cup of strong tea in his hand, "Have a cup of tea to refresh yourself."

Zhang Kangzhan took the strong tea and took a sip. "We're about to enter the inland sea. This is the last hurdle, we can't be careless."

Old Liu nodded, "We've been on tenterhooks the whole way here, guarding these three big torches, just in case something happens."

"Alright, stop yelling."

Where's Old Li?

Zhang Kangzhan put down his teacup and then inquired about Chief of Staff Li Bing, who was also the main person in charge of radar and communications on the ship.

"Where can we contact the people in the Ninth Department?"

Old Liu said something, then muttered, "This time we've become a frigate."

Zhang Kangzhan laughed and said, "So what? It's our country's property anyway, so it doesn't matter who escorts it."

"Besides, the Ninth Division is a major client of ours, we can't afford to offend them."

Old Liu glanced disdainfully at Zhang Kangzhan, "Alright, alright, I know your family has powerful connections."

Zhang Kangzhan remained silent; he felt nothing but admiration for his cousin.

The more you learn about them, the more you feel like you're not good enough for them.

"Alright, they did help us build an aircraft carrier, so don't make sarcastic remarks."

"Oh dear, how could I dare? I'm so grateful!"

Buzz buzz~~
Suddenly, the alarm went off.

The two men were taken aback, then quickly picked up his communicator, "Old Li!"

"Captain, a submarine has been spotted three nautical miles to the southeast. It is not ours."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Kangzhan shouted, "Everyone, level one alert!"

"Order the fleet to turn to port and speed up to pass through."

"Attention everyone, prioritize protecting the oil tanker! Prioritize protecting the oil tanker!"

Zhang Kangzhan didn't know the other party's purpose, but to be on the safe side, he let the oil tanker leave.

The farther the better.

After saying this, Zhang Kangzhan immediately shouted, "Li Bing, contact the Jiaolong submersible right now and tell them to stop playing around."

"Quickly clear out the small fish!"

"understand!"

(End of this chapter)