America: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 301 Versailles

"I once bought a Picasso painting from a customer, but it was a casual sketch and only sold for $3.7. Your painting, however, has a lot of early Picasso influence!"

Old George researched the value of the painting, wanting to learn more about it.

The result was that they were instantly silenced.

I'm questioning the meaning of life.

In 1905, 289 million?

"Where did you get this thing? Did you steal it?" Old George asked suspiciously.

"I found it. I bought a shipping container of blind boxes for $7000 at the southern port." Zhang Ailun shrugged and said in a Versailles-like manner, "I never expected to find something like this inside."

"..." Old George's lips twitched, and he secretly gritted his teeth.

Listen to this, what kind of talk is this?

You randomly bought a blind box from a shipping container for seven thousand dollars and opened a painting worth millions of dollars?

Are you even human?

But you have to admire how incredibly lucky someone is!

The news about you striking oil a while ago hasn't even died down yet.

You've come again.

"Although I really want to buy this painting from you, I have to say that even if I sold all my possessions and mortgaged everything to the bank and auction house, I still wouldn't be able to afford it." Old George sighed and reluctantly placed the painting on the counter.

He was terrified of bumping or hitting it; this thing was more valuable than his life.

"It's alright, I wasn't planning on selling it to you anyway. I know you can't afford it, so I just wanted to show it to you and give you an estimate," the Grand Master said frankly, as if to kill you with his words. I love telling the truth.

"..." Old George's face darkened, and he said unhappily, "If you just want an estimate, you should go to an auction house, not an old man like me. I charge for appraisals here!"

Zhang Ailun immediately pulled out a rabbit doll he found in the shipping container. "Here, consider this your appraisal fee."

"This thing is worth at most $5." Old George thought it was some kind of treasure, took it and examined it carefully, only to find that it was just junk. He immediately returned it to the leader in a huff.

"Nonsense! This is clearly a rabbit doll that Picasso collected and played with when he was young. Otherwise, why would it be placed with this painting? Do you even have a business mind?" Zhang Ailun immediately criticized him.

Old George suddenly realized what he meant and immediately took the rabbit back. "You're right. I think this rabbit doll is quite collectible! It's worth at least $2000. Are you sure you want to use this rabbit doll as collateral for the appraisal fee?"

"I'll just give it to you," Zhang Ailun said.

"Good, good, good." Old George beamed with joy.

I took the Picasso painting back, took a picture, and asked someone to inquire about its price. I quickly received an appraisal from a professional.

Old George pondered, "Some industry insiders believe your painting is very valuable. It's an authentic Picasso, and it fetched nearly three million dollars at auction in the early 20th century. Today, that's worth at least several dozen times more, estimated at between 57.9 million and 6237 million dollars. Of course, if you choose to consign it at auction, the price should only go higher. It should sell for around 70 million!"

"Are you sure it's worth this price?" Zhang Ailun was also taken aback. He had thought the painting might be valuable, but he hadn't expected it to be this valuable.

"Actually, this thing is just an oil painting. If it weren't an authentic Picasso work, it would be worthless. But because it is an authentic Picasso painting, it has commercial value, so there should be quite a few people willing to buy and collect it."

Old George said, "You've really struck gold this time!! You've found a steal. If you want to sell it, the industry expert I just consulted can help find someone to buy it. The price might be a little lower than what I mentioned above, but not by much."

"Thank you, old George, but I don't think I'll lack buyers."

Zhang Ailun smiled and immediately packed the painting away. "I'll only consider selling it at an auction house if I really can't sell it."

Old George nodded in understanding, after all, auction houses charge exorbitant fees. The Grand Master has plenty of connections in this area, so finding someone internally should make the transfer and sale easy.

They chatted for a few more minutes, and after a new customer came to the pawn shop, Zhang Ailun took the painting and left the store, returning to his car.

He took out his phone and sent Madison a message, showing him photos of the paintings as well.

However, the other party did not reply immediately, presumably because they were busy. Zhang Ailun also sent a message to the other party's female assistant, Gwen, to inquire about the situation.

Gwen: Mr. Madison received physical therapy from his private physician at noon and is currently resting and sleeping. He's become more irritable since that incident. He's been seeing doctors more frequently and taking medication almost daily, but his condition shouldn't be serious.

Zhang Ailun: Okay, when he wakes up, remember to have him contact me. I have something very important to talk to him about.

Gwen: Received.

After putting away his phone, Zhang Ailun had the Beggars' Sect disciples drive to the Armed Nation.

Arriving at the street where Thunderbolt's shop was located, Zhang Ailun got out of the car and saw Bailey and his group loading guns and ammunition. He told the Beggar Clan disciples to drive back to the repair shop and went over to inquire about the situation.

"Boss, didn't you open a branch in Texas? We're about to deliver a batch of goods there. We'll also arrange for two people to be stationed there permanently."

Bailey explained, "Business over there is booming. People come to buy guns every day, even better than our Thunderbolt business. And the female clerk at the Flying Eagle Gun Shop has a lovely voice."

"I bet you're just after the female shop assistant, aren't you?" Zhang Ailun teased. "Don't you really like Monica Bellucci? Besides her, which other female celebrities do you like? Tell me, I just got back from Palm Valley today and contacted Sadie. If you're interested, I can have her find someone to get a few more celebrity molds made."

"How could that be! Boss! You've misjudged me! I'm not that kind of person!"

Bailey immediately retorted, "I'm just going to Texas to deliver goods, not to be stationed there permanently. 2000 kilometers is too far, and I don't know anyone there. I'm not used to dealing with Texans and Mexicans either. Let someone else handle it."

Seeing his desperate attempt to explain, Zhang Ailun nodded and decided to let him go.

"Location is not a problem. It's a distance of 2,000 kilometers. Using a Cirrus SF50 to deliver the goods would take a maximum of three hours. You can also use Black Hawk helicopters for delivery. Although it's slower, at least you won't encounter any trouble along the way."

"Okay." Bailey nodded in agreement. With the Grand Master's permission, they could easily use the Black Hawk helicopters at the suburban hangar.

Otherwise, Qibatu would probably be the first to object, since every time an armed helicopter is used, they have to be asked to perform maintenance and inspections after landing, and the ground crew's life is too hard.

They don't get to show off; sheet metal work, painting, and screw tightening are all their jobs.

Zhang Ailun turned around, pushed open the door, and walked into the Armed Nation store. He found that the gun store's business seemed to be average today. Apart from online orders, there were hardly any people coming to the physical store to buy guns.

Eileen and Jennifer were still chatting and drinking coffee when they saw the Grand Master coming over and greeted him warmly.

After several in-depth exchanges, Eileen was no longer as shy and timid as before. She walked over and hugged the leader, giving him a passionate kiss.

Zhang Ailun also discovered that the other person had great potential in certain areas, even more so than Jennifer, and was willing to try new things to cater to the leader's interests. This might be what's meant by contrast.

Zhang Ailun sat in the chair at the counter, browsing through the arms orders. Only a few guns had been sold, a decline in sales compared to a few days ago. Several orders had clearly been placed, but in the end, people chose to cancel or even return the goods, which was probably also affected by the bombing incident. Police officers on the streets of Los Angeles were also checking passersby more frequently.

He immediately inquired about Jennifer's work. Was she slacking off? And what's the story behind these order cancellations?

"Honey, you've really misunderstood me. I'm always very dedicated to my work," Jennifer immediately complained, sounding aggrieved. She then produced further evidence: "Those buyers weren't actually interested in purchasing our weapons; they just wanted to harass our staff!"

"Evelyn, the female shop assistant in Texas, sells dozens of guns every day and earns thousands of dollars. You two should aim to match each other's sales targets." The leader didn't care about anything else, perfectly displaying the sternness and harshness of a heartless boss.

Jennifer softened her stance and thoughtfully asked if she was very angry.

Zhang Ailun immediately stated that she was not that kind of person and that it was still working hours, but she couldn't persuade Jennifer otherwise. She crawled under the table and put her plan into action, starting to work hard.

hiss……

The leader had no choice but to cooperate with her.

The pleasant little incident passed quickly.

Jennifer rinsed her mouth in the bathroom, came out, and said meaningfully to the leader, "You smell like another woman."

"..." You can even discern this.

Zhang Ailun had nothing to say.

He also logged into the Armed Nation's Opportunity Network account, left a message for the resistance forces in the Tijuana bidding department in the background, and inquired about their situation.

Tijuana: We have successfully suppressed and expelled the drug cartel, and everything is going well. The president of Mexico City has also called to inquire about our progress. However, we believe that even the president cannot interfere with the rules and regulations of Tijuana. We always stand on the side of workers, farmers, and citizens.

Zhang Ailun also knew that the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) was no longer the sole dominant power in Mexico. After the end of the once perfect dictatorship, various factions, including the Workers' and Peasants' Party and the Capitalist Party, were now in constant flux, with presidential elections being quite lively. It seemed like every emperor was changing hands, and next year it might be my turn.

However, the local political parties are basically all connected with drug cartels. They are all in cahoots. Otherwise, you wouldn't have much power and wouldn't be able to become president. Even mayors and governors would be confused.

Tijuana is a newly emerging rebel force with strong military backing. As a border city between the US and Mexico, its level of chaos is probably second only to Laredo and Juarez. It has been in turmoil for many years, and Mexico City has been unable to manage it and has no intention of doing so. Now that a new political party has risen up, it is even more difficult to manage.

But the most chaotic place has to be Juarez, which is more chaotic than Laredo and Tijuana.

Thunderbolt: If that's the case, then you need firepower support even more. I think the financial teams behind those you repelled definitely won't give up, and might even launch a more frenzied retaliation! We recently purchased several Black Hawk helicopters. If you're interested, you can place an order directly on our platform. We'll sell them to you for $499 million each. If you want to buy an A-10 Warthog attack aircraft, it only costs $888 million.

Tijuana: We will consider it. Thank you for your support, Thunderfire Nation.

Zhang Ailun promoted some popular equipment to the other party, indirectly warning them that they might face even more severe retaliation. I won't say who the financial conglomerate behind it is, but you probably already know.

The Tijuana rebels clearly anticipated this and had already taken some precautions.

But in reality, he didn't have much confidence. After all, he was really poor. He had just taken over the department and hadn't been able to establish a firm foothold yet. There had been times before when new parties came to power, but soon even the mayor and party leaders were confused. He died at home after being shot 72 times by suicide!

However, if they were truly afraid of death, they wouldn't have engaged in a life-or-death struggle with the drug cartel from the very beginning, opting instead for a fight to the death.

Not long after, Sieg also sent a message to the leader, informing him that the Beggars' Sect disciples had transported the 20 sets of American military uniforms and their personal goods from the port of San Francisco.

They also sent over a few photos.

Two hundred thousand sets of military supplies had already filled three rented heavy trucks, weighing approximately two hundred tons. The personal cargo that Colonel Wood mentioned was inconspicuous and could not be seen inside at all.

Sieg: What methods are we going to use to transport these goods to the military base?

Zhang Ailun replied: Fill up the truck with gas and drive there directly. Have Boketu bring the Black Hawk helicopter to Tucker Airport in Los Angeles, and you and I will ride the Black Hawk helicopter together to the military base.

Sig: OK.

S/D. Pulton Air Base is located on the US-Mexico border, not far from Tijuana, and about 200 kilometers from Los Angeles. It can be reached in a few tens of minutes by Black Hawk helicopter.

However, due to potential speed limits on some sections of the road, it will take at least two hours for heavy trucks to arrive, and possibly as long as three hours.

Zhang Ailun went up to the second floor of the gun shop, took out some weapons and equipment from the safe, and carried them in his handbag for emergencies.

After going downstairs, he immediately said goodbye to Jennifer and Eileen, asking them to continue minding the shop. He then left the armed nation alone and walked to the nearest airport, Turk Airport.

After successfully passing through security with my CCW credentials, I entered the airport and waited for about ten minutes before seeing a Black Hawk helicopter arrive and land in the center of the airport.

Zhang Ailun boarded the plane, handed his handbag to Sieg, fastened his seatbelt, and said, "Let's go."

Bocktu responded with a single sentence, then immediately piloted the Black Hawk helicopter to take off, heading towards Pulton Military Base according to the navigation and positioning information.