Chapter 69: Trip to England 4
The golden finger of the time traveler is all kinds of common sense in the future, which will become a powerful advantage in this era!
During the Second World War in the original time and space, the Axis and Allied forces saw back and forth in the North African desert, and thousands of tanks crushed on the gravel and stones in Libya. It was there that the troops of "Desert Fox" Rommel were finally annihilated due to lack of fuel. As fate would have it, when the fuel gauge on the German tank showed zero, they did not know that there was a rich oil reserve less than 100 miles away from the battlefield.
For more than 10 years after World War II, Libya, which lacked everything except sand, could only export two things: one was the fine-stemmed needle grass needed to produce paper for printing money, and the other was the wreckage of military vehicles damaged by the British and German armies in the confrontation in Libya, which were exported as scrap iron. In the pocket of the elderly King Idris I of Libya, there was often less than $5 in pocket money. He really didn't want to be the monarch. He wrote letters several times to abdicate, but was stopped by tribal chiefs with ulterior motives. Internationally, only the Wheelers Air Force Base in Libya set up by the United States can barely remind the world of such a country.
By the mid-1950s, more and more geologists speculated that Libya had oil. In 1955, the Kingdom of Libya promulgated the "Petroleum Law" to provide several smaller concessions for mining. In 1957, Libya implemented the first round of mining bidding, and 17 American and European companies won the mining rights of 84 concessions. However, the exploration work did not go smoothly because Libya was too backward. Anyone who wanted to call the headquarters of the American company had to fly to Italy. Geologists also encountered unprecedented tests. During World War II, the German army buried more than 3 million mines in the Libyan desert. Engineers and drillers were often killed and injured. Companies had to equip the exploration team with a mine clearance team, and even spent a lot of money to invite German veterans who fought in the past to help clear mines.
For a long time, Libya's oil exploration was disappointing, and many large companies, including British Petroleum (BP), were even ready to go home. But in April 1959, Standard Oil of New Jersey (SONJ) of the United States finally drilled a high-yield oil well in the test area that was about to be abandoned. The engineer on duty wrote in a letter to the company headquarters: "This time Libya has won the jackpot."
Starting from this, by 1961, Libya had built 10 large oil fields with astonishing production, and the former poor country became the object of Western powers' scramble to win over. Moreover, Libya produces "lovely" low-sulfur crude oil, which is too ideal for the growing number of car users in Europe.
By 1965, Libya had become the world's sixth largest oil exporter, producing more than 3 million barrels of crude oil per day, accounting for 10% of the world's crude oil exports. The surge in Libya's oil exports has significantly affected world oil prices.
More importantly, Libya has a favorable location. It does not need to go through the Suez Canal or the Cape of Good Hope. It can be transported to Europe in the shortest time!
Yannick knows all the oil extraction sites well. He does not even need to send people to confirm. He can directly build an oil production and refining base and wait for the underground oil to erupt.
Although the oil of Ming Dynasty is being transported to Germany continuously, no one can guarantee the absolute safety of this transportation line during the war. Even with Romania, Yannick still feels that it is not safe enough. Only Libya's inexhaustible oil fields in a short period of time can make people feel a little relieved.
Ribbentrop was confused. As far as he knew, the place was just a barren desert. "Then your highness, if they ask about the purpose..." Since you want to rent it, you have to use it for something.
This is even simpler. "Just tell them that I want to build a desert city for fun. When the lease expires, I will hand it over to them intact without charging a penny, with only one condition, that is, all the resources found there belong to us. When you go back, find Miss Anne and ask her to allocate 10 million US dollars to you. If the negotiation in Italy fails, you have to settle the matter for me even if you have to spend money."
"..."Build a desert city for fun? If others heard this, they would definitely find it absurd and think that Yannick is a prodigal among prodigals, but Ribbentrop is not a fool. Judging from the style of his highness in recent years, things will definitely not be that simple.
But he didn't dare to investigate further and agreed obediently. "Yes, your highness."
The next morning, after breakfast, Yannick came to Cambridge University.
Cambridge University once produced a group of scientific masters who led the times, such as Newton and Darwin; it created outstanding scholars of literature and history, such as Bacon and Keynes; it cultivated epoch-making art masters, such as Milton and Byron; and from here, 8 British prime ministers and 92 Nobel Prize winners came out. All these have established Cambridge University as the world's modern and contemporary academic and cultural center.
"Welcome to Cambridge, Your Highness Yannick. Your arrival makes our school glorious!" A group of people were already welcoming the school gate, led by the then president.
"It is also my honor, Mr. President. I wanted to visit this ancient and famous school a long time ago." Tsk, why didn't the original time and space think of studying here? If so, perhaps his fate would be completely different.
After greeting each other, they came to the lecture hall, where at least a thousand people sat.
"Today I want to share with you the writing methods of detective reasoning in the category of novel literature." Yannick paused and smiled. "I seem to have chosen the wrong topic. Talking about detective reasoning in Mr. Conan Doyle's hometown seems to be a show of my proficiency. I hope he won't blame me, a junior, for talking nonsense."
The audience below laughed kindly. In recent years, Yannick has published several classic novels in succession. He is still so humble and has won the favor of many people.
After a brief opening speech, Yannick turned around and wrote three short sentences on the blackboard.
The "incomprehensibility" of the beginning.
The "suspense" of the middle game.
The "unexpectedness" of the ending.
"In my opinion, a mystery novel that meets the three criteria is an excellent one. If anyone here is interested in writing a mystery novel, then you might as well work towards this direction."
"…………"
"Perhaps some people think that it is too difficult to write an unexpected ending. Readers are already accustomed to various endings. If you want to be outstanding, you must write the process so wonderfully that people can't bear it or have no time to guess the ending. But it is the ability to constantly break the existing rut that can be called a masterpiece! Although there have been various surprising endings, various themes are constantly appearing in our lives - such as social phenomena, new technologies, etc.
…………"
Yannick felt that the more than one-hour speech was not bad. The people in the audience listened attentively, and many people took notebooks to record seriously. No one was absent. When he indicated that he had finished speaking, the people in the audience applauded enthusiastically.