Becoming a Russian Oligarch After Rebirth
Chapter 485: An Eye-Opening Experience_1

Chapter 485: Chapter 485: An Eye-Opening Experience_1

Vladimir’s understanding of Mikhail is limited.

Everything he knows is above board, although through helping Mikhail a few times, he vaguely perceives that there’s far more to this man than meets the eye, and that there must be some secrets behind him...

But he’s discretion personified, and he didn’t take the initiative to delve into them, nor was he interested... or perhaps he felt he didn’t have the courage to inquire into Mikhail’s secrets.

Because he understands that he’s a small fry, and having an opportunity to curry favor with a big shot like Mikhail was already a massive stroke of luck!

If he dared to lay his hands on the personal matters of big shots, he figured he would likely have a dreadful end!

Mikhail is a ruthless character...

Thus, while Vladimir knew about the existence of Wagner Security Company, he had no idea that this company had now grown to such a large scale and strength that they had begun to form their own fleet...

Is this still a security company?

It’s more like a regular army!

Moreover, it was not the kind of army a small country could afford...

...

Of course, Wang Ye had no idea what Vladimir was thinking, he was busy discussing the issues of the cruiser with Shao Yigu.

Regarding this warship, Shao Yigu emphasized that the radar and missiles are the real "core!"

Without these two elements, it’s just a transport ship, impressive on the outside but practically useless.

Ukraine naturally would not sell these things to private companies, so they could only rely on Shao Yigu’s team for solutions.

However, Shao Yigu explicitly explained that they could only provide relatively backward radar and short-range missiles, there was no way to get their hands on advanced technology.

But even so, it was enough. Wagner Company certainly wouldn’t go to war with regular navies, it was only meant to deal with pirates, mercenaries, or ragtag African tribes.

Korokolli was intrigued by Wang Ye and Shao Yigu’s conversation.

He laughed and said, "since Misha is rich and willing to maintain such a team, procurement should be easy to resolve. In fact, aside from Ukraine, we also have lots of good stuff here. Ukraine is capable of making warships, after all, the Black Sea Shipyard is over there. But we have more fighter planes and transport aircraft, and if we add some large transport planes and fighter jets, Wagner would have sea, land, and air forces. If you go out with that sort of setup, even average countries wouldn’t dare to provoke you. Ha-ha."

Korokolli was stirring the pot.

He even wanted to add transport planes and fighters...

"Didn’t you forget Misha is now the chairman of the United Aviation Group? He doesn’t need our help for these things, he could arrange them himself," Shao Yigu said, grinning from ear to ear.

Wang Ye quickly shook his head: "No need for now! Buying planes is easy, but it’s expensive to maintain! Besides, fighter pilots are rare resources, hard to find. We could procure some transport planes at most, fighters are too much!"

He knows which line not to cross, what can be done, and what can’t be done.

A meaningless show of power with some empty shell warships and obsolete equipment would suffice. If he starts thinking that he could form land, sea, and air forces...

Some people will seriously think about what exactly he was up to!

Shao Yigu gave a faint smile, he seemingly understands Wang Ye’s thoughts and didn’t bring up the subject anymore.

...

They spent two to three hours on this meal. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Shao Yigu and Korokolli also mentioned their department’s budget issue for next year to Wang Ye.

They were all racing to claim impoverishment.

Albeit exaggerated descriptions such as withholding employees’ salaries for two years, staff could only take public transportation for work trips due to the lack of expenses for fuel reimbursement, and so on. The stories were heartbreaking...

The annual financial budget allocation of government departments has to be approved by the Duma, particularly the recommendations of the Economic Committee, which will have a decisive influence.

So, they indeed found the right person. If Wang Ye can put in a good word for their two departments and allocate more budget during the approval, it would be absolutely great news for them, it would be a big favor.

In these times, everyone nationwide is struggling with poverty, and every unit is short of funds.

If they, as department heads, could secure a larger budget and funds from the national finance, wouldn’t their subordinates support them?

As they’re all on the same side, Wang Ye naturally wouldn’t refuse their request.

In a tactful way, he said that he would surely try his best to help during the budget review as long as it was within his power.

...

Vladimir gained new insights today. This was his first time attending such a high-profile dinner and sharing a table with such big shots.

He witnessed Wang Ye, Shao Yigu, and Korokolli deciding on matters that ordinary people couldn’t even dare to dream of, all while they chatted and laughed.

Arms procurement, private armies, financial budgets topping billions of dollars, so on and so forth...

These were things Vladimir wouldn’t even have thought of encountering in his normal life, let alone dealing with them!

They are all far beyond his reach.

Throughout the process, Wang Ye didn’t mention anything about Vladimir’s promotion. It’s not because he forgot about it, but simply because there was no need to bring it up!

The very fact that he could bring Vladimir along to this dinner spoke volumes. If Korokolli couldn’t see that, he wouldn’t have achieved his current position.

After the dinner, everyone left separately.

However, before leaving, Korokolli did take some time to have a separate conversation with Vladimir.

He patted Vladimir on the shoulder and said: "So, do you want to develop in the department or stay in the field?"

Vladimir was somewhat flattered. He knew he had to answer this carefully because it concerned his future career!

But he had thought about this question a long time ago, so he quickly answered with a smile: "Minister Korokolli, I’ve always worked at the grassroots level and am very familiar with fieldwork. There are too many talents in the department. There’s no real need for someone like me. I think it’s better for me to stay in the field."

Vladimir wasn’t a fool. As a low-ranking official, if he were to be transferred to the department, he would just be a small player.

Even with Korokolli’s backing, he can’t take a shortcut to success. He would still have to follow due procedure.

So, it would be more comfortable for him to stay at the local bureau and hold real power.

Korokolli nodded upon hearing Vladimir’s response and casually said: "That’s fine. I got it." Then he turned around and got into the car.

It was only after Wang Ye, Korokolli, and the others had all left that Vladimir lowered his waving arm and returned to his car.