Dragonair's flight to Sydney lasted 11 hours, stopping at Melbourne Airport in northeastern Australia, where a group of Chinese people hugged each other and got off the plane and passed through the customs gate one by one.

Outside the gate, a young white man greeted him and warmly hugged a young Chinese leader, "Hi Zhang, welcome to my hometown, Australia." ”

"Hi, Poirot. Zhang Heng patted him on the shoulder, let go, and introduced the people on this trip for him: "This is Mr. Tang Quantang, the king of machinery in Xiangjiang, this is Mr. Pang Dingyuan, the king of steel in Xiangjiang, this is my exclusive investment adviser in the United States, Polo Fleming, and his home is in Western Australia, where we are about to go." ”

After a warm exchange of pleasantries, Poirot led them back onto the Qantas plane, and a few hours later, they arrived in the port city of Perth in northwestern Australia.

Here, they again transferred to a McDonnell Douglas D70 20-seater small passenger plane that Poirot had already leased and flew south.

Soon after the plane left Perth, the green below disappeared, and a large expanse of red spread out in view, boundless, with plains, ravines, and rocks, all red.

"This is the Red Plateau of Western Australia. Poirot sat next to Zhang Heng and pointed out the window to introduce him.

The plane roared low over the vast red clay plateau, startling a flock of kangaroos on the ground, leaping and running through the sparse bush, with the occasional few daring birds that squinted their heads at the sky.

Two hours later, a group of steep mountains appeared below the plane, interspersed with a long canyon in between, in which a large river could be faintly visible.

"Look, there's a railroad there!" Pang Dingyuan called out as he pointed into the distance.

Everyone looked ahead, and in a wide spot between the canyon and the great river, there was a tall complex of buildings, a railroad track burrowed out of the building, winding to the south, and a freight train belching white smoke was slowly leaving the building, looking up like a giant snake with a brown back.

"Gentlemen!" Poirot said loudly, unbuckling his seatbelts, standing up, "our area is the iron ore capital of the world, the Pilbara region, and under the plane is the Hamersley Gorge, which is currently the largest mining area in the Pilbara region, this mining area is owned by Rio Tinto (RTG), with proven reserves of 6.5 billion tons, and the mining volume in 1972 was 20 million tons. ”

Tang Quan was shocked and asked, "Wouldn't that be able to mine for 300 years!"

Poirot smiled: "It depends on the market demand, and I believe that Rio Tinto has the ability to expand production at any time." ”

Zhang Heng nodded, in the future, just one China will be able to eat all the production capacity of this mining area, and he remembers that the annual mining capacity of this mining area will exceed 100 million tons after 30 years, and the customer is China's huge number of steel plants in the ascendant.

Pang Dingyuan said: "Can you introduce this track?" ”

Mr. Pang, the 580-kilometre track to the port of Dampier in the south, both the port and the tracks, were built by Rio Tinto, which took five years to complete in 1965 after buying the mining rights from Hancock, the discoverer of the Hamsley iron ore. ”

Zhang Heng pointed to the river with a width of at least ten meters and asked, "Why don't you use a boat?"

"Hey, my old friend, it's hard to see in the sky. Poirot laughed, "The river called the Fortis Hill is actually a seasonal river that stops flowing in winter, and even in the high season, the depth of the river does not exceed 1.5 meters, and there are rocky protrusions in the riverbed from time to time, which is not suitable for large ships at all." ”

"I see. Zhang Heng nodded, "You mean, even if we find another new mining area on this land, the transportation of iron ore will still be restricted by Rio Tinto." ”

Poirot nodded helplessly: "I don't want to hit you, but that's how cruel it is, my friend." ”

Zhang Heng frowned and said nothing, he had vaguely heard about this in his previous life, BHP Billiton (CRTAL) in the early 80s, found another large mining area nearby, and then invested heavily in development, but the result was frustrating, the mined iron ore piled up, but it could not be shipped a piece.

Rio Tinto does not give face to the Australian mining giant at all, preferring to leave the railroad tracks idle rather than borrowing them.

In order to fight for the right to use the dedicated railway fairly, BHP and Rio Tinto fought the lawsuit from the Western Australian District Court to the Australian National Court, and even to the World Trade Organization, and finally it took eight years to win the case and obtain the legal right to use the railway with great difficulty.

Rio Tinto spent tens of millions of dollars in legal fees to snipe BHP's layout in Western Australia, and although it failed in the end, it has delayed its opponent for eight years of precious time.

Pang Dingyuan stretched out his head from behind and said to Zhang Heng with a solemn expression: "Zhang Dong, if it is really as you speculated, we need to invest too much. ”

Zhang Heng smiled: "If Pang Dong feels that the investment is too big, we can find new investors to join in." ”

Pang Dingyuan waved his hand again and again: "Don't worry, let's take a look first and then discuss." ”

Zhang Heng pursed his lips and didn't speak, if he didn't have the funds in a short time, and he wouldn't have the energy to involve the steel industry in the future, otherwise he wouldn't have cooperated with this old slipper.

If he is not interested in the next few days, Zhang Heng will have to adopt another more radical plan, although it is not what he wants.

The plane went south along the Hamsley Grand Canyon, and everyone gathered on the porthole to look greedily at the red Grand Canyon, which is the color of iron.

After flying dozens of kilometers, Poirot walked to the door of the cockpit and loudly commanded the driver.

The plane gradually climbed higher, then turned to the east, flew over Mount Bruce more than 1,000 meters high, and slowly lowered its altitude to fly along a new river in view.

"This is the Turner River, the other upper reaches of the Fortis Hill River, and in front of it is my family's ranch. Poirot pointed to the river, where he could faintly see some yellow-green on both sides of the river, apparently covered by green vegetation covering the red soil.

The plane descended slowly, taxied a few hundred meters on a red dirt runway, stopped, the co-pilot in the cockpit came out to open the cabin door, lowered the boarding gangway, and a chubby old man walked up and greeted everyone with a smile on his face: "Welcome to Fleming Ranch for distinguished guests from afar!"

The father and son are not like each other at all, Zhang Heng glanced at Poirot, Poirot shrugged helplessly, and introduced the guests to his father one by one, under the leadership of old Fleming, the group stepped off the plane and walked into a huge white manor by the Turner River.

The sun was still shining on the earth in the middle of the sky in the west, and the white walls and white single-story houses were shining in the sun.

The large yard is planted with olive trees, grapes, and occasionally a few huge cacti interspersed, and a few ostriches roam leisurely through the jungle.

In the open field in front of the house, there are several Aboriginal Australian men barbecuing whole sheep and whole cattle, a table covered with white tablecloths, filled with various fruits, wine, bread, and a dozen plates of seafood, and several Aboriginal women in white uniforms stand on the side, respectfully greeting the host and guests.

"Sit down and enjoy yourself, gentlemen, and may the output of this beautiful land bring you closer to it sooner. Old Fleming sat down on the throne and waved his hand gently.

The maids immediately shuttled to each other, inquiring about the needs of the guests one by one in fluent English, and pouring them various wines.

"Cheers!" Fleming Sr. raised his crystal glass and took a large sip of scarlet wine.

Zhang Heng put down his glass and said with a smile: "Mr. Fleming, this wine is very good, thank you for your hospitality." ”

Old Fleming grinned and said, "Thank you Zhang, this wine is brewed in my own manor, and the taste is not good, and it can't be compared with that in Cloud Valley." ”

"I haven't drunk Cloudy Valley's, but this one is perfect. Zhang Heng raised his glass and saluted him.

The dinner lasted two hours, and old Fleming's frankness was easily trustworthy, and by the end of the meal the old man had mingled with the other two, and the three shameless old men blushed and sat shoulders to discuss Darwin's flowery place, ignoring the presence of three sons who looked at each other.

Poirot shrugged his shoulders and greeted Zhang Heng, Pang Wen, and Tang Jihua, "There is still an hour before the sun sets, let's go around the Turner River, and if we are lucky, we can catch a crocodile and roast it for you to eat at night." ”

PS: Xifeng wishes the book friends a healthy family, a happy New Year, and a great fortune in the coming year!