Ultimate Firepower
Chapter 431 - 411 State Preceptor

Chapter 431: Chapter 411 State Preceptor

Twenty billion can settle it, then there is an eighty billion difference.

Is Gao Yi the person who is short of that eighty billion?

Of course, Gao Yi indeed lacks these eighty billion; once he gets them, he would be worry-free not only in this life but also in the next and for the following ten generations.

But the issue is, Gao Yi isn’t acting as a middleman right now, he is in the process of saving a big brother from dire straits.

At this time, profiting from the difference would be like robbing those in a fire.

Therefore, Gao Yi earns not a dime, he saves Shaman eighty billion, letting Shaman save eighty billion during this critical period, which allows Shaman to allocate the precious funds elsewhere.

Having Panetta lobby others was just the initial and most basic step, the real life-saving money is at the national level, but still, eighty billion is no trivial amount; it’s possible that this money could completely resolve Shaman’s trouble.

With this mindset, when Gao Yi called Shaman again, he felt much more settled, as he had received a very clear response from Panetta—things were settled.

After hanging up Panetta’s call, Gao Yi was about to call Shaman back when Green and Marina before him seemed even more in the way.

But he had no choice, he couldn’t send them away.

Before emotions, both of them are Gao Yi’s insiders; insiders ought to have basic trust and respect, so they cannot be sent away.

But from a logical perspective, one being from Military Intelligence Sixth Department, and the other from the Directorate-General for External Security, for these agents, what are personal feelings and what is friendship? If they blatantly tell them that the person on the United States end is Panetta, wouldn’t that completely expose Panetta?

Therefore, just now when Shaman asked if the identities could be revealed, Gao Yi said no, guarding against Green and Marina, not Shaman.

But Gao Yi couldn’t explain this clearly to Shaman; he certainly couldn’t say I have two people beside me, one from Military Intelligence Sixth Department and one from the Directorate-General for External Security, so I can’t say the one from the United States is Panetta.

Of course, even though Shaman and Panetta had known each other long ago, and Gao Yi had long connected them, when it comes to such a significant matter, Panetta would be crazy to directly contact Shaman.

Why in some deals, even though the buyer and seller have known each other for a long time, they still pay the original middleman a substantial facilitation fee and continue to transact through a middleman.

That’s because buyers and sellers simply can’t transact directly; only through a middleman can a certain type of security be ensured, and only such a middleman can sustain a long-term operation.

Panetta—he never speaks superfluous words.

Or rather, even his seemingly ordinary words may contain other meanings.

This time Panetta started off by telling Gao Yi, he said I knew you would definitely call me, just didn’t expect it this late, if you didn’t call soon, I was going to be off to a meeting.

Just this sentence, Panetta’s apparent meaning is already very clear, he was waiting for Gao Yi’s call, and he waited a long time. If Gao Yi didn’t contact him soon, he was going to attend a meeting.

The surface meaning is very clear, and the implicit meaning is equally clear, certainly knowing that Gao Yi would call, meaning this matter must be handled by Gao Yi; this shows his identity as the middleman can’t be taken by anyone else, didn’t expect you so late, you are too slow, what exactly is going on with you at Shaman’s end, this ’going to the meeting’ is a general statement, meaning if it’s too late then he would not care.

Initially, Gao Yi didn’t think deeply, so his reply was you know why I am calling you.

Panetta said, considering your relationship with Shaman, I’d find it strange if you hadn’t called.

At this point, Gao Yi finally understood, Panetta would not have any direct contact with Shaman, since they two won’t communicate, Shaman had to make contact with Panetta through Gao Yi only.

That’s why Gao Yi then said he had just received some information.

And Panetta then said that your information is really slow.

In fact, there were no superfluous words, it’s just that Panetta is accustomed to expressing all information in a manner where one sentence has two meanings, Gao Yi is not quite used to that, but only says one layer.

So it wasn’t until Gao Yi decided to be honest and told Panetta about the situation, stating he had just learned about this issue when he called Panetta, and hadn’t had time to contact Shaman, and also, he said Shaman is not the type who is petty and unreasonable, could you tell me what exactly happened, then Panetta immediately spoke candidly about the real situation.

Then Panetta finally gave that hint which isn’t really a hint, which is that the White House still hasn’t made a final decision, there’s still room for manoeuvre.

Panetta surely wouldn’t directly tell Shaman these things, Panetta wouldn’t even pick up Shaman’s calls.

And for a simple reason, if Panetta directly contacted Shaman, it would be downright treason. If the matter ends up resolved safely that’s fine, but if the White House ultimately decides to take action against Shaman, then Panetta, who directly contacted Shaman, is basically done for.

But it’s different when contacting Gao Yi.

First of all, Gao Yi has no official capacity or national backing.

Even if it ultimately comes out that Panetta is in close contact with Gao Yi, so what? An actual head of an intelligence agency being in contact with an internationally known intelligence broker, isn’t this normal?

If Panetta can purchase metallic hydrogen through Gao Yi, then isn’t it normal for him to buy intelligence about Shaman through Gao Yi?

So, the brilliance of Gao Yi’s identity lies precisely here, he poses no threat to any country now, his only clear stance is having no stance, with this, his interacting with anyone comes off as normal.

Most crucially, Panetta trusts Gao Yi, given the level of their interests intertwined, even if the endeavor to lobby for Shaman ultimately fails, he doesn’t have to worry about Gao Yi holding it against him, this already maximizes his security.

For Shaman, his own channels were no longer effective, the White House wouldn’t answer his calls, so naturally he could only rely on Gao Yi.

In this case, it must be explained why communication channels between two nations could be severed, and instead Gao Yi, who wasn’t even considered a third party, had a say; the reason is simple—time was of the essence and Shaman’s matter was significant, the United States likely wanted to seize the opportunity to eliminate Shaman, hence many hesitated to manifest their stance and dared not accept Shaman’s money.

Anything that goes through the official channels tends to be cumbersome, perhaps it would improve after a few days, but what is needed now is to race against time, there isn’t a few days to waste.

It’s not that Shaman couldn’t handle things himself, it’s just that his efforts were not going smoothly, and although Gao Yi’s approach was through private relationships and undercover transactions, everyone knew that the efficiency of private deals is the highest, hence Shaman unhesitatingly authorized Gao Yi with ten billion US Dollars.

With various factors coming into play, Gao Yi became the chosen one, indispensable.

Now, the interesting part begins.

While in front of Green and Marina, Gao Yi made this phone call, did this action increase the chances of Shaman safely escaping, did it make them feel that the United States might support Shaman instead of adding insult to injury and ruthlessly eliminating him?

Given that there is a high likelihood that the United States might support Shaman, what would the UK and France do?

Even if it’s impossible to make the two permanent members openly support Shaman, at least they could keep the two nations temporarily silent, allowing these countries to see where the wind blows before making a choice.

Don’t underestimate this small difference. The so-called consensus can melt gold, and sometimes, once an international public opinion forms, though not decisive, it can nevertheless influence the attitudes of the major decision-making nations.

The decisive power rests with the United States, the UK and France can only signal subtly, but if the Five permanent members don’t speak up, just Constantinople alone trying to overthrow Shaman, it’s a pipe dream.

Gao Yi made another call to Shaman.

The call connected immediately.

Gao Yi didn’t hesitate: "Twenty billion in total, the first installment of twelve billion, wire it over now. Lobbying starts immediately, with a deadline of three days. The White House must take a stance! The remaining eight billion will be paid after the White House makes its declaration, that’s all the payments, no additional charges."

An ethical middleman, adds value without increasing the price.

Gao Yi glanced at Green and Marina, hesitated a bit, and said, "I’ll try also with the UK and France, I can’t guarantee anything, but I’ll try."

Green shrugged, and Marina smiled, though the smile bore a slight hint of helplessness.

Shaman took a long breath of relief.

Not to say that he felt a weight completely lifted from his shoulders, but at least it felt like half.

Shaman whispered, "I said ten billion, it’s ten billion, use it as you see fit."

Gao Yi now didn’t even know how to spend the few billions he had; if he really took tens of billions of benefits, what then, sleep on bills?

Gao Yi was destined to become the State Preceptor of Saudi, not an invisible affluent man in the Underworld with money and nowhere to spend it.

"You need money for many things right now, big brother, let’s not talk about this now, get the business done first, wire the money to me, I need to hurry and send it over, oh, the UK and France will be counted separate, we’ll discuss the specific amount once there’s news."

"Alright!"

Shaman didn’t waste words, immediately he said, "The money has been transferred, have your finance director check, brother... waiting for your news."

The call ended.

Gao Yi didn’t pause; he rushed out, opened the door, and shouted, "Luca!"

Luca quickly walked in.

Gao Yi closed the door, and whispered to Luca, "Has the money arrived?"

"It’s arrived, twelve billion US dollars, the source of the funds is quite clear, easy to trace, we now have too much money, the accounts really aren’t enough..."

"This time don’t worry about that too much, first transfer the twelve billion over there."

Luca whispered, "Over there?"

It’s middlemen’s basic principle to talk about affairs not about people, yet Gao Yi’s network had grown a bit large, just mentioning ’over there’, who would know exactly where.

Gao Yi thought for a moment, and said, "CIA."

"OK, understood."

Although it was in and out, the money only passed through their hands once, Luca, the finance director, was still very happy, thus he merely reminded Gao Yi that the safe accounts were running low, but did not complain about the insufficiency of accounts.

Luca went to conduct the transfer, but Gao Yi turned to Green and Marina and said, "You two... shall we discuss Shaman’s matter now?"