socalfunplaces Chapter 351 Planning for Oil
Chapter 351 Planning for Oil
Lin Yan stood up in the cultivation room, his joints emitting crisp, ringing sounds like jade striking each other. Nearly seven hundred years of arduous cultivation had finally brought his "Divine Demon Visualization Technique" to the third stage of perfection, and he had also mastered the "Great Zhou Celestial Star Body Refining Technique" to the Flesh and Blood Realm. His cultivation was firmly stationed at the fifth level of the Golden Core stage, and most importantly—
Lin Yan opened his palm. Due to the rapid advancement of his physical body, the endurance of his meridians had been greatly enhanced. Eight-colored spiritual light flowed and merged in his palm, transforming into a chaotic stream of energy. He could effortlessly combine eight elements—metal, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, thunder, and ice—into a spell, even attempting to integrate two of their essences; any more than that would be impossible.
"Time to give it a try," he muttered to himself, and in a flash, he disappeared from the quiet room.
Wanyanzong
Wang Qin looked at Lin Yan, who had suddenly appeared before him, and his teacup trembled slightly. "Young Master... you've gained quite a bit from this seclusion."
"Please give me your guidance, Brother Wang," Lin Yan said with a cupped hand and a smile.
Half an hour later, Wang Qin wiped the fine sweat from his forehead, shook his head with a wry smile, and said, "Young Master, your eight-element fusion spell is simply unheard of."
A glint of light flashed in Lin Yan's eyes: "What if it's like this?"
He raised his hand again, and a sharp, unstoppable sword intent suddenly appeared in the chaotic energy, along with an inexhaustible life force. The two intents blended perfectly into the eight-elemental spells, causing the spiritual energy in the entire training ground to stagnate.
Wang Qin's expression changed drastically, and he hurriedly retreated: "Stop! Young Master, this is unethical! You can't bully people with your magical abilities!"
Wang Qin, a cultivator at the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul stage, clearly sensed that if this attack landed, he would have no chance of survival.
Back at the Hong Kong villa, Lin Yi was already waiting in the study.
"Young Master, you've emerged from seclusion." Lin Yi keenly sensed the aura of returning to simplicity emanating from Lin Yan and was secretly astonished.
"Lin Yi, call everyone to Hong Kong for a meeting. It's time to make arrangements regarding the oil matter..."
At the end of August 1971, a strategic atmosphere permeated the study of the Deep Water Bay villa.
The arrival of Alexander, Albert, Marcus, and James, together with Lin Yi and Lin Er, formed the core six-person group of Lin's global strategy.
When Lin Yan entered the study, all six people stood up at the same time. He waved for them to sit down, his gaze sweeping over each face before finally settling on Alexander's.
"The last 'golden harvest' was executed flawlessly. The more than 10 billion US dollars that exceeded expectations proves that our execution and timing were both excellent."
Alexander bowed slightly: "It is the young master's far-sighted plan that is the truth; we are merely the executors."
"But past victories are just chips." Lin Yan changed the subject, took out six neatly bound documents from his storage ring, and pushed them in front of the group one by one. "Now, we're going to put these chips on the next card."
The six men looked down at the document cover; the gold lettering gleamed under the light.
The Heart of Oil Project: Strategic Outline 1971-1973
Albert's fingers gently traced the cover, a sharp glint in his eyes: "After gold... it really is oil."
"History is turning. Nixon closed the gold window, and the dollar lost its anchor. But the United States will not let the dollar become a rootless duckweed—they must find a new pillar. And what on earth can support the currency of an empire better than black gold?"
Lin Yi opened the first page of the document, his pupils contracting slightly. It wasn't a typical financial statement or market analysis, but a global oil and gas field distribution map covering the Persian Gulf, the North Sea, Lake Maracaibo, and Siberia. The map was densely packed with markings of different colors; some were labeled "under control," while many more were marked "awaiting penetration" or "potential conflict zones."
"The plan has a two-year timeframe and will be implemented in three steps." Lin Yan's voice echoed clearly in the conference room. "The first step is to control the source. Not by purchasing from the market, but by directly controlling the oil field's extraction rights."
Alexander quickly flipped to the section on the Americas: "Our equity structure in Venezuela and Canada has reached its fourth layer of nesting, with shell companies registered in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and Liechtenstein. But legally, these oil fields have no connection to the Lin family."
"That's not enough." Lin Yan shook his head. "What I need is not legal isolation, but actual control. Page seventeen of the document lists seven local powers in the Middle East and Africa that control unexplored areas but lack funds and armed forces."
Marcus answered definitively, "Three of the tribal chiefs have already accepted our 'aid.' But, sir, direct intervention in geopolitical conflicts is very risky."
"Marcus, don't be soft-hearted at this critical moment. Kill the leader, replace him, and then consolidate the territory." Lin Yan tapped a red dot on the map with his fingertip. "Give them money, give them weapons, and send 'military advisors'—remember, all advisors should come from different private military companies, and the shareholding structure of these companies should be traced back to an anonymous trust in Switzerland. Even if someone investigates in the future, the clues will be lost at the third level."
Albert pondered for a moment and said, "In Europe, the battle for exploration rights in the North Sea oil fields is heating up. The British government is inclined to award the blocks to BP and Shell, but our Norwegian subsidiary is lobbying Parliament on the grounds of 'preventing excessive concentration of energy security.'"
"Use the European bureaucracy against themselves." Lin Yan nodded. "At the same time, push for new environmental standards in Brussels, requiring refineries to reduce sulfur content—this will significantly increase the competitiveness of North Sea crude oil and suppress the market share of Middle Eastern heavy oil."
Lin Er turned to the finance section, his brow furrowing slightly: "If we want to control physical oil fields, we need at least 20 billion US dollars in initial capital. This will seriously affect our liquidity in other areas."
"That's why there's a second step." Lin Yan gestured for him to continue flipping through the pages, "Financial leverage. Alexander, your task on Wall Street is to design a short-selling strategy for oil futures. By October 1973..."
He didn't finish speaking, but everyone present understood the significance of that point in time—if history hadn't followed the same trajectory, the first oil crisis would have erupted then.
"Our short positions in the futures market will be forced to close out when oil prices surge, resulting in huge losses," Alexander quickly calculated in his mind. "But what if it were the other way around? What if we knew in advance when the crisis would break out..."
Lin Yan's lips curled into a faint smile: "Therefore, we need precise intelligence. Not economic analysis, but political intelligence—the voices within the Saudi royal family, secret records of OPEC meetings, and the White House's true stance on Israel policy." He looked at Marcus, "Use all the Golden Core cultivators we have in the Middle East. I want to see the meeting minutes five minutes before the end of every crucial meeting."
"The third step," Lin Yan's voice broke the silence, "is to become part of the system. When the petrodollar system is established, what we need to do is not to overthrow it, but..." He paused, searching for the right words, "to become the most hidden and indispensable cog in this system."
He stood up, walked to the wall, and pulled back the curtain to reveal another, more complex chart—a network of global oil trade flows, financial settlement paths, and political influence intertwined and converged at several nodes marked in red.
"By the end of 1973," Lin Yan said, his back to the crowd, his voice as steady as the sea, "I want to see at least one-third of these red nodes actually under our control. Not through shareholding, but through shipping lanes, port facilities, oil refining capacity, futures exchange seats... these are the real powers."
Alexander took a deep breath: "This means we have to fight the Seven Sisters (international oil giants), OPEC countries, and governments at the same time."
"That's why it's called the 'heart of oil.'" Lin Yan turned around, his eyes blazing. "It's not the outer shell, not the branches and leaves, it's the heart. Whoever controls it controls the pulse of the global economy for the next thirty years."
The meeting ended at dusk. As the six men left, their documents were closed, but their minds were racing—negotiation strategies for the oil field acquisition, the timing of establishing positions in the futures market, the channels for political infiltration, and financial instruments for risk hedging…
Lin Yan remained alone in the study as the lights of Victoria Harbour gradually illuminated the view outside the window.
After finance, comes energy.
After gold, comes oil.
Since his rebirth, this behind-the-scenes path has finally reached its most crucial crossroads. This time, he is not controlling market fluctuations, but the era itself.