Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 159, page 158: A business with a 2,000% profit margin arrives in Europe.
Indiana was considering Fang Wen's proposal, but he did not make a decision immediately.

Fang Wen understood that at this point, it would be difficult to persuade the other party without provoking them.

He thought back to Indiana, a man who loved adventure and was religious.

By the way, the True Cross is a good starting point.

With William's escape to China and the execution of the other Weimar officers, Indiana was now the only place where the True Cross could be properly arranged.

He never proposed sending the True Cross to the United States.

Thinking of this, Fang Wen asked, "Do you want to take the True Cross back to your religious sect?"

Indiana, who was deep in thought, was surprised, then delighted.

"Yes, may I take it back to Trinity Church?"

“I have no problem with that. You can ask William for his opinion. If he agrees, contact me. I will wait for you in Paris and fly the True Cross to America.”

After Fang Wen finished speaking, he gave Indiana the telegram method to contact William.

He felt that this matter should be able to be accomplished. William was doing well in China, and his only concern was the True Cross. If he didn't entrust it to Indiana for safekeeping, he would have no one else he could trust.

After finishing his conversation with Indiana, Fang Wen welcomed another group of passengers.

There are five in total.

A Boeing representative introduced the five passengers.

British employees of Anglo Persian will take a long-haul Asia-Europe flight to Paris, France, and then take a ship back to London.

Anglo means Anglo-Saxon.

Persian means Persian.

Together, they formed an oil company established by the British and Persians.

Abbreviated as Yingbo Company.

Fang Wen smiled and shook hands with the five people: "Welcome aboard Taishan Airlines' international express line."

He boarded the plane only after everyone else had boarded, and the flight began.

With five more passengers whose native language is English, Vanderka Chandra from British India became more talkative.

His tireless conversation along the way, coupled with the British petroleum engineer who was not very talkative but patient in communicating with him, complemented each other well.

After flying for more than two hours, the plane emerged from the Iranian plateau and entered the low-lying Mediterranean plain and hilly area.

Fang Wen thought about the fuel supply problem of the Hump airlift route during the future war of resistance.

The oil was all purchased from British India. The closest oil-producing center for Britain overseas was Iran, so a large portion of the oil should have been shipped from there.

To learn more about Iranian oil, Fang Wen also joined the exchange.

He picked up the electronic microphone.

"Passengers, we will arrive at Ankara Airport in 3 hours. We will be spending the night in Ankara."

"I am personally very interested in Iran's oil industry. May I join your discussion?"

Vandeka Chandra led two British petroleum engineers to the cockpit door and introduced them in a friendly manner.

"His name is Turt, and this is Alec. They've both worked for the oil company for over five years."

While piloting the plane, Fang Wen asked, "I visited Iran earlier this year. At that time, your oil company was having a dispute with the royal family. Has that been resolved now?"

“Not yet. The king is demanding debt relief and more company shares. How is that possible?” Alec complained.

Fang Wen wasn't particularly interested in the conflict between Britain and Iran; he was more concerned with whether he could buy high-quality fuel at a cheaper price.

He asked, "Our company, Taishan Airlines, has a significant demand for fuel and hopes to obtain higher-quality and cheaper fuel resources. Can we purchase directly from your company?"

Turt shook his head: "The prices are about the same, unless you can refine the oil yourself."

"Refine oil yourself?" Fang Wen had never thought of such a thing.

He asked curiously, "How much does a barrel of crude oil cost? How many liters of gasoline can it produce?"

"There are many types of crude oil. If you want to refine gasoline, you need to buy light crude oil, which costs about 57 cents a barrel. The yield is 45%."

During the boring flight time, Fang Wen decided to start calculating this business opportunity.

He owns an airline and knows fuel prices very well.

Currently, the price of oil in Shanghai has risen to as high as 4 cents per liter due to the Great Wall War. Although it has dropped a bit now, it is still 5 cents per liter.

But how many liters is in a bucket?

He asked the two engineers.

The engineer replied, "One barrel of crude oil is equivalent to 42 gallons. One gallon is approximately 3.78 liters. 42 multiplied by 3.78, I need to calculate that."

Without needing to calculate, Bai Zeshan gave the result: "It's 158.76 liters."

Science students are very talented in calculation, so Fang Wen simply let Bai Zeshan do the calculations.

he asked.

"Bai Zeshan, calculate it: 158.76 multiplied by 0.45."

"71.442."

"71.442 multiplied by 0.55."

"39.2931."

With these results, Fang Wen gained a general understanding of the profits in the oil industry.

A barrel of light crude oil costs only 57 cents.

It can produce 77 liters of gasoline.

Based on the retail price in Shanghai, that would be 39 silver dollars.

39 silver dollars, equivalent to 13 US dollars.

It's absolutely outrageous, ridiculously profitable.

Crude oil costing 57 cents, after being transported, refined, and then sold in the Shanghai retail market, saw its price increase by nearly 23 times.

Even excluding other costs, it should be at least 20 times.

What does Capital say?

If there is a 10% profit, capital will be used everywhere; if there is a 20% profit, capital will be restless; if there is a 50% profit, capital will take risks; if there is a 100% profit, capital will dare to risk being hanged; if there is a 300% profit, capital will dare to trample on all human laws.

That's already two thousand percent.

It's practically the original sin of capitalism.

At that moment, Fang Wen truly understood what an oil war was.

Compared to the oil business, everything else pales in comparison, except for gambling and the stock market.

But all of this can only be achieved by cooperating on national interests.

Fang Wen's mind conjured up the seven most powerful oil companies of this era.

Anglo-Polish Petroleum (UK government), Gulf Oil (UK), Exxon (USA), Mobil (USA), Chevron (USA), Texaco (USA), Shell (UK-Netherlands).

It can be said that the oil business of that era was basically monopolized by Britain and the United States.

Forget about crude oil, but we could consider refining.

Currently, most of the fuel supplied by China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) comes from Mobil and Exxon.

Only a very small portion is locally extracted.

After the Japanese blockaded the coastline, imports of fuel were essentially cut off. This is why the Burma Road and the Hump airlift route became so crucial.

However, if they set up their own refineries in South Asia and refined the oil themselves, they could easily obtain crude oil from the Persian Gulf and transport it, thus supplying the oil and other supplies needed for the war effort to a greater extent.

That's a great idea.

However, they lacked the personnel to build crude oil refineries.

Fang Wen glanced back at the petroleum engineers at Yingbo Company, feeling somewhat envious.

He stopped talking and focused on piloting the plane.

More than five hours later, the plane arrived over Ankara.

Flight attendant Cheng Dayou had not prepared a commentary for Ankara and knew nothing about the place, so she didn't know what to say.

He went to the cockpit and whispered to Fang Wen for help: "General Manager, there is no information about this place."

"Let me do it."

Fang Wen picked up the electronic microphone:

"Next is Ankara, the capital of the Republic of Turkey. It was only designated as the capital ten years ago when the Republic of Turkey was established, so it is much smaller than Istanbul. But it will definitely see great development in the future. We will land in Ankara overnight and depart early tomorrow morning."

After saying that, Fang Wen controlled the plane to circle over the airport and turned on the radio to call for a landing.

After receiving a response from the ground control tower, the Boeing 247 landed at Ankara Airport.

The Boeing employee who had rushed over overnight after the hefty reward was already at the airport waiting. As soon as Fang Wen disembarked, he came over to share the good news.

"Mr. Fang, I've reached an agreement."

"You settled the deal so quickly?" Fang Wen was surprised. Although he needed to give the other party a reward of 1 US dollars to settle the deal today, it was worth it if he really succeeded.

To demonstrate their success, a Boeing employee emphasized, "I came over last night to discuss things with the Ankara Airport Authority. They also want to be the first Turkish airport to handle long-haul intercontinental flights before Istanbul, but the various fees are 30 percent higher than before."

This is the price of being too hasty. Although Ankara Airport was willing to connect to long-haul international routes due to competition between cities, the soaring costs were the fundamental reason for their agreement.

Fang Wen nodded and had the Boeing staff take care of everyone's accommodation and meals before heading to the airport authority with him.

Fang Wen was relieved after confirming it again.

This means that the routes for long-haul flights between Asia and Europe have been finalized.

The remaining task is to station staff at each airport to handle the details.

Only after the D.332 is procured can we conduct actual training for long-haul Asia-Europe flight pilots.

Real long-haul Asia-Europe flights don't fly straight from origin to destination like Fang Wen did. Instead, each or two connecting flights are equipped with dedicated pilots, and all pilots only fly dedicated routes. This standardized flight method avoids various problems encountered during long-haul flights.

Upon returning, Fang Wen, unable to contain his joy, announced...

"Our Taishan Airlines' long-haul Asia-Europe flights have been basically finalized. To celebrate this achievement, I'd like to invite all members of this long-haul Asia-Europe flight to enjoy a gourmet evening in Ankara."

"Where to?" Zhao Jiu asked.

Fang Wen looked at the Boeing representative, but the representative shook his head blankly.

Clearly, no one knew what good food or fun things to do in Ankara.

So the group of 13 went out of the airport to find something to eat.

The airport is located north of Ankara city center. Although it is not remote, there are not many restaurants.

The group walked to the street and finally saw the restaurant.

They chose a restaurant whose name included the word 'Kebab'.

Kebab is grilled meat. In Türkiye, if you don't know what food to choose, choosing kebab is a sure bet.

Upon entering the restaurant, everyone found it quite crowded, indicating that the food must be good.

A waiter approached and asked in English, "Hello, do you have a reservation?"

Is this a high-end barbecue restaurant that requires reservations?

Fang Wen shook his head to indicate no.

The other party replied, "Our specialty dishes cannot be served without a reservation."

Fang Wen and his companions knew nothing about the restaurant's signature dishes, so it didn't matter if they didn't want them.

So, after some conversation, they each ordered a barbecue meal.

The presence of 13 foreigners of different nationalities at the restaurant sparked the curiosity of the locals and prompted the chefs to prepare 13 special dishes.

All the waiters in the restaurant lined up in a long queue, carrying plates out of the kitchen to serve the dishes.

It was only then that Fang Wen learned what kind of food this restaurant served.

It is a local grilled fish restaurant.

All the food is related to seafood.

And it's very unique.

Turkish pickled cucumbers paired with shrimp and yogurt broth.

It is a pre-meal snack.

The main dish is grilled fish.

Grilled seafood, served with fresh lemon, roasted green peppers and tomatoes, and served on a bed of potato strips and rice.

The main course was quite substantial, weighing almost a pound, and with the pre-meal snacks, most of Fang Wen's group were full.

Only Zhao Jiu had a bigger appetite, so they specially added a portion of grilled octopus legs for him.

This was the first time Zhao Jiu had ever seen a giant octopus leg. It was as thick as three fingers and still had suckers on the edge. He didn't dare to eat it at first, but under Cheng Dayou's encouragement, he started eating it anyway.

I must say, it's very chewy, but not sticky, with a salty taste and a hint of Western seasoning. It's quite delicious.

A delicious dinner in Ankara marked the end of the Asian leg of this long-haul Asia-Europe flight.

The next day, the plane took off early, crossed the Mediterranean Sea from Ankara, and landed on the runway of Rome's airport.

After a brief stop at Rome airport, the plane took off again, heading for Paris.

With this, the long-haul Asia-Europe flights have finally come to an end.

At Paris airport, reporters arranged by Boeing conducted an interview with Fang Wen.

To promote Taishan Airlines, Fang Wen cooperated with the reporters' interviews.

"What's special about Asia-Europe flights?"

"It is the world's first long-haul commercial flight covering more than 10,000 kilometers. The entire journey involves 8 transit airports and 9 major cities in Asia and Europe. The entire trip takes 3 days, offering both a long-haul journey and the opportunity to explore different regional landscapes. It reduces the travel time from Asia to Europe by four-fifths."

The last sentence led the reporters to discover a hot news topic.

"Yes, it takes 15 days to travel from Marseille to Shanghai by ship. Flying certainly shortens the journey considerably. So, how do you manage such a long flight? As far as I know, the maximum range of a Boeing 247 is only 1200 kilometers."

Fang Wen glanced at the Boeing Europe regional manager, whose expression was off. Of course, he wouldn't say something like replacing the Boeing 247 with the D.332.

Instead, he smiled and explained, "There's no problem. We can increase the maximum range by using modified fuel tanks, which Boeing has verified for safety."

This briefly touched on the issue of the voyage's duration, allowing the interview to proceed smoothly.

After the interview, the five oil engineers and Vanderka Chand went directly to London by ship, and the Boeing Europe regional manager also took his leave.

Fang Wen communicated with airport staff, parked the plane in the hangar, locked it, and then left the airport with the remaining people.

Outside the airport, Lin Shuiwang leaned against the car door waiting. When he saw Fang Wen and his group come out, he immediately smiled and waved vigorously.

(End of this chapter)