When Zhou Ming left the Saudi palace, it was only ten o'clock in the night local time, which means that Zhou Ming had only been in the Saudi palace for less than an hour, and he received 10 billion US dollars in military expenses from Prince Hariri. Although the $10 billion will be transferred to the embassy's account through the Saudi royal family's overseas account for safekeeping, the speed of making money is already surprising.

"Comrade Zhou Ming, before coming to Saudi Arabia, you have already negotiated with the Saudi royal family, right?"

Back in the car, Zhu Xi asked Zhou Mingdao, as a senior diplomat in the Middle East, although he has a certain understanding of the character of the Saudis who do not regard money as a tyrant, but that is only for what they like to do, they can spend a lot of money at will; on the contrary, if they don't like or even dislike things, no matter how rich he is, he will not pay a dime.

Because of this, Zhu Xi felt that Zhou Ming must have communicated with the Saudi royal family before, and coming over today was just a formality.

However, Zhou Ming replied: "I know what you think, but I'm sorry, I really haven't had any kind of communication with the Saudi royal family before today, as for the communication between the central government and Saudi Arabia, I think as the minister counselor of the embassy, you must know better than me." ”

"That's why I wonder why Prince Hariri would so easily agree to give you so much money? I don't think he, as a mature national leader, would believe in your jihadist theory, and the reason why the whole Arab world is divided into so many countries and there will be very serious sectarian conflicts is that in addition to the Western countries being in the way, their own lack of unity is also a very important reason. ”

Zhu Xi felt very incredulous and said: "I don't believe that Saudi Arabia will treat Iraq as its own brother, but it seems that there is some reason why he has to pay this money again, can you tell me why?"

Zhou Ming nodded and said, "I can believe that Minister Zhu Xi knows much more about the way of thinking and regional relations in Saudi Arabia and even the entire Arab world than I do, but my grasp of other information is something that Minister Zhu Xi does not have." ”

"To put it simply, in your opinion, Minister Zhu Xi, this is just a Gulf War, a sanction imposed by the United States and other Arab countries against Iraq, the aggressor, but in my opinion, this is an oil war dominated by a super consortium, whether it is Iraq's aggression or the imminent attack of the multinational force on Iraq. ”

Zhou Ming continued: "The fundamental purpose of this war is to dismantle the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, and the consortium still needs to firmly control the discourse on oil, but Saudi Arabia, as the world's largest oil producer, is definitely not willing to work for others all his life, and wants to grasp oil in his own hands and turn it into his own weapon, so if it is not necessary, Saudi Arabia does not want to participate in this war at all." ”

This can be seen from the attitude of Saudi Arabia to support the US military. Zhou Ming said, "The military spending of all countries in the world for this war is paid directly, but only Saudi Arabia is in the way of providing logistical support, although this is due to the fact that the battlefield is opened on the border between Saudi Arabia and Iraq, but more often than not, Saudi Arabia does not want to participate in this war, but he does not dare to disobey the Americans, and his approach is also helpless." ”

"If Iraq loses too ugly, then the United States will establish absolute authority in the Middle East, and Saudi Arabia's oil discourse power that Saudi Arabia has won through various means will become a joke, and now we finally threw an olive branch to him, and we are still a country that has sold his ballistic missiles, so far there is still trust, coupled with their own tyrant personality who does not take money as money, I can get money so easily. Zhou Ming said.

Zhu Xi did not refute Zhou Ming's words, in fact, he understands the political situation here much better than Zhou Ming, for example, the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf is what Zhou Ming does not know, this GCC is not simply an economic cooperation organization, he has a military collective role. It is also for this reason that if the Arab world really wants to go to war with Iraq, it should come out in the GCC way, and not just Saudi Arabia itself, which is completely out of necessity.

Thinking of this, Zhu Xi let out a sigh of relief and said: "It is said that war is a continuation of politics, and in a country like the United States, where big corporations have the right to speak politically, it is the war of consortiums." ”

In the end, Zhu Xi shook his head regretfully and said: "It seems that Comrade Zhou Ming, it is not unreasonable for you to go to Iraq, compared to me, my vision is too narrow to stay in the Arab world, and I actually forgot that this will be a war with the participation of many countries." ”

"Actually, that's not the case, as the minister counselor in Saudi Arabia, you still have to study the situation in the Arab world more, I just happened to run into the right one, and my blind cat doesn't always meet a dead mouse. ”

Zhou Ming teased himself, and then said: "But then again, the matter in Saudi Arabia is over, does the embassy help me prepare a plane to Iraq?

Zhu Xi nodded and said: "It's ready, but at present, Saudi Arabia is very seriously infiltrated by the U.S. military's intelligence system, in order to avoid problems, the embassy's suggestion is to take Bahrain to take a night flight to Iraq, in the name of business, because Bahrain has a lot of private jets flying at night, so this can avoid the detection of the U.S. military to the greatest extent." ”

Zhu Xi continued: "In addition, we have also contacted the Iraqi Embassy in advance, and we have made all preparations for your arrival, Comrade Zhou Ming, please rest assured." ”

Zhou Ming thought that the work style of the embassy here was still very good, and he then said: "I am willing to accept the arrangement of the embassy." ”

Since Zhou Ming made a decision, Zhu Xi immediately scolded the microphone in the car, and said to the cab in front of him to let the driver drive the car directly to Bahrain Airport.

......

And when Zhou Ming and his convoy went to Bahrain, on the other side of the Saudi palace, Prince Hariri did not go back to his own bedroom after the meeting with Zhou Ming, but went to the king's bedroom.

Aziz, the current king of the Saudi kingdom and Hariri's sibling, succeeded his late father as emperor of the desert nation a decade ago. Like Hariri, he was also dressed in a snow-white robe, with a turban and a black headband, and sat on a chair made of pure gold.

"I'm sorry my brother king, but the arrival of the Chinese did not mention anything about the launch of ballistic missiles, I think they did not plan to launch missiles, but just put them here for exhibition. Hariri then added, "But they brought another interesting piece of news, that they were preparing to support Iraq in the war against the Americans." ”

In the face of this news, Aziz obviously felt a little more energetic, and he asked curiously: "To fight against the Americans? As far as I know, the Americans have brought a lot of very advanced weapons and equipment this time, how are they going to fight it? Do they have more incredible weapons? Or are they ready to use some weapons that are banned by the United Nations?"

"No, they were going to use the same guerrilla warfare theory that they had in Afghanistan. Hariri replied.

King Aziz was stunned by this answer, apparently unable to understand what the theory of guerrilla warfare was, and only after a long time did he say: "Are you referring to the kind of sneak attack tactics that were used against the former Soviet Union? But after all, Afghanistan is mountainous, while Iraq is plain, can this work?"

Hariri smiled helplessly: "My Majesty, I'm afraid that only Allah can answer your question, but judging from what they described me just now, I think they are still very confident." ”

I don't believe they would do such a selfless thing, they are not descendants of the Prophet, and they have no reason to do so. Aziz turned to another question.

"They need 50 billion military spending, but I think it's too much, but if they can really prove that the Arab fighters have a way to stop the American attack, then even the extra money is worth it, so I paid 10 billion to the embassy's account first, and the rest of the money will wait until he proves that he can really stop the American attack. Hariri said.

Aziz also nodded and said: "That's true, those oils should have been a gift from Allah, but those Americans are crazy to plunder from us, through the battle with the American oil companies, we are almost about to take back our own oil rights, so they want to start this war, but we, as the descendants of the prophet, will never give up, as long as there is a way!"

"So you're doing a good job, and if you can prove that you can stop the Americans' weapons, then no amount of money will be spared!" Aziz said.

......

At the same time, at the White House on the other side of the world, it was two o'clock in the afternoon local time, and President Walsh was supposed to have a lunch break at this time, but now he was sitting in his study very restless, and he couldn't sleep.

Suddenly there was hurried footsteps in diplomacy, and then his national security adviser Brent walked in, and Walsh immediately asked him, "Is there news from that Chinese?"

Although it felt a bit fussy that Mr. President paid too much attention to the Chinese, Brent nodded and replied: "According to the intelligence officers' investigation and analysis of the flight intercepted in the Gulf at the air base, it was found that those people were impostor planes, and such an act could not be completed without the support of a national intelligence department." ”

"So Brent, you mean, it's very likely that the Chinese authorities are involved, right?" asked Walsh.

Brent replied that it was very likely, and Walsh then asked, "What about the whereabouts of the Chinese?"

"Yes, according to the analysis of the intelligence services, the Chinese you are looking for is very likely to have taken another flight to Saudi Arabia. Brent replied.

Hearing this answer, Walsh was immediately confused, because he didn't understand what Zhou Ming could do if he wanted to go to Saudi Arabia, it seemed that there was nothing else there except oil, or that he was preparing to attack the US troops stationed there by using Saudi oil?

The thought made Walsh himself laugh, and he shook his head and said, "So I wonder if he was worried that we would intercept his plane and go around Saudi Arabia and finally to Iraq?"

Brent replied again that it was very likely, and he continued: "Then Mr. President, I immediately order the Saudi Air Force to take off immediately and intercept all flights from Saudi Arabia to Iraq." ”

Walsh stopped him and modified the order: "No, it's a flight from Bahrain to Iraq!"