"Minister Yu, I appreciate your kind offer, but please forget about the expenses..."
Zhuang Rui shook his head and politely declined Vice Minister Yu's offer. He knew that even if the Ministry of Transport reimbursed him for some expenses, it would only amount to a few hundred thousand yuan at most, which was a drop in the ocean compared to his investment.
Moreover, Zhuang Rui knew that government departments were extremely slow in handling affairs. Even with the supervision of leaders, it was unknown when the money would be withdrawn from the finance department. He didn't care about the money and didn't want to cause any trouble.
"Hmm? Xiao Zhuang's style is still superior..."
Vice Minister Yu was taken aback by Zhuang Rui's words. He had originally intended to use this as a pretext to move on to the next matter, but unexpectedly, Zhuang Rui didn't want the money at all, which left Vice Minister Yu speechless.
"Brother Lei, what exactly did you call me here for? Just tell me..."
Zhuang Rui was getting a little impatient. Couldn't things be done more directly in officialdom? Why did they have to beat around the bush and confuse people before getting to the point? Did they think they couldn't show their leadership skills if they didn't do it this way?
"Minister Yu, it's better if you speak first. Although the military will be involved this time, it's mainly led by your Ministry of Transport..."
Ouyang Lei shook his head, not answering Zhuang Rui's question. It would be unbecoming of him to speak out about such a matter. If Zhuang Rui hadn't been involved, Ouyang Lei wouldn't have shown up at all.
"Ahem, Xiao Zhuang, it's like this..."
Vice Minister Yu's face flushed slightly. He coughed and continued, "Xiao Zhuang, as you know, countless merchant ships have sunk at sea over the centuries. Recently, the Ministry of Transport has been looking to clean up the relevant waters off Fujian and would like to request your assistance..."
Vice Minister Yu's words were half true and half false. Although the Ministry of Transport was credited for Zhuang Rui's salvage of the Song Dynasty shipwreck, it was obvious to everyone that the Ministry of Transport had simply attached the name to it. The salvage had nothing to do with them. As a result, the leaders of the Ministry of Transport were under considerable pressure.
So after a meeting and consultation, the ministry decided to salvage a historical shipwreck with great influence, but they were not very confident in the technology, so they approached Zhuang Rui.
"Vice Minister Yu, please speak frankly. I will do my utmost to help if I can..."
Zhuang Ruiwei subtly pursed his lips, spouting pleasantries while inwardly scoffing. Did they think he was a three-year-old? Did they really need to involve the military and archaeological departments in cleaning up the Fujian waters?
"Yes, that's right. Xiao Zhuang, have you ever heard of the name Awa Maru?"
Vice Minister Yu was somewhat embarrassed by Zhuang Rui's words, so he didn't beat around the bush and directly stated the main purpose of his visit.
"The Awa Maru? Minister Yu, are you referring to the Japanese ocean-going oil tanker that sank in the Chinese sea in 1945?"
Before Zhuang Rui could answer, Professor Meng, who was sitting to the side, suddenly stood up and pressed Vice Minister Yu for an answer.
Vice Minister Yu nodded and said, "Yes, it's that shipwreck. We want to salvage it this time. This shipwreck is of great historical significance, which is why we wanted to ask Xiao Zhuang to help us..."
"Wait, Minister Yu, as far as I know, the sunken ship has already been salvaged. Why do we need to salvage it again?"
Professor Meng interrupted Vice Minister Yu somewhat rudely, and continued, "It's been almost thirty years. I personally participated in the salvage of the Awa Maru back then, and I still remember it vividly..."
"Well, Professor Meng, since you participated in that salvage operation, you should know that due to technical and weather conditions, only part of the hull was salvaged, and many controversial items were not recovered from the seabed..."
Vice Minister Yu's words were somewhat vague, not specifying what exactly had not been retrieved, but Zhuang Rui understood them perfectly.
Although Zhuang Rui's archaeology major is not modern archaeology, anyone with even a slight understanding of history has heard of the Japanese Awa Maru, and Zhuang Rui knows it very well.
The Awa Maru is a Japanese ocean-going oil tanker built in the 1940s. It was launched on March 5, 1943. Although nominally a merchant ship, it was built according to military performance and requirements. In terms of scale, nature and performance, it was a true military vessel.
At the time, four merchant ships of the same type as the Awa Maru were converted into light aircraft carriers, but the Awa Maru belonged to Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) and made six round trips between Japan and Singapore to transport supplies for the army.
During this period, the Awa Maru was bombed and attacked by American torpedoes, but still completed its mission, thus being hailed by the Japanese military as an "unsinkable ship". In order to improve the conditions of prisoners of war, in 1944, the United States and Japan reached an agreement to provide humanitarian assistance to people in Japanese-occupied areas.
The Japanese and American sides converted the Awa Maru into a transport ship for relief supplies. To ensure everything went smoothly, the two sides agreed that the anti-aircraft guns and bow guns on the Awa Maru would be removed, the soldiers would be withdrawn, and a green cross would be painted on the hull for identification.
By the 1940s, the Awa Maru was Japan's trump card transport ship, as its naval power had been exhausted. The Japanese government was not content to use it only to transport relief supplies, which sowed the seeds for the later disaster of the Awa Maru.
In February 1945, the Awa Maru set sail from Moji Port in Japan for Singapore and other Japanese-controlled areas, embarking on a perilous voyage.
At this time, Japan's naval fleet was almost completely incapable of fighting. The Awa Maru became the only Japanese giant ship that could sail safely in the Pacific Ocean, and Japan's only hope for transporting supplies and personnel in the Pacific.
At this time, Singapore, Jakarta and other Japanese-controlled areas were already in dire straits, so high-ranking Japanese officials, generals, wealthy businessmen and their families in Southeast Asia were scrambling to board this ship. In the end, this cargo ship, which was originally designed to carry 236 passengers, ended up with 2,009 people!
Once the "Awa Maru" arrived in Southeast Asia, it was placed under strict secrecy. Only under the watchful eyes of the Japanese military police at night were the mysterious cargo transported into the ship's hold. On March 28, the "Awa Maru" departed Singapore and embarked on its journey home.
However, late at night on April 1, when the Awa Maru was passing through the waters off Fujian, China, it was attacked by a torpedo from the American submarine USS Queenfish, and sank three minutes later.
Apart from one survivor, 2,008 people sank to the bottom of the ocean. Among them were war criminals with numerous crimes, highly skilled professionals, as well as the elderly, women, and infants. The Pacific Ocean witnessed its greatest maritime disaster in history!
More than half a century has passed, and the survivors have all passed away. There are many unanswered questions about the Awa Maru. Of course, the most eye-catching thing is the huge amount of wealth that is widely known on board.
Chapter 1009 Awa Maru (Part 2)
The Awa Maru had been attacked by American torpedoes or shells several times without suffering any major damage, but this time, after being attacked by a torpedo, it sank into the sea in just three minutes, which cannot help but raise questions.
Later, some analysts suggested that the Awa Maru was equipped with a large amount of military explosives, and the torpedoes were just the fuse. However, the truth has become shrouded in mystery as the massive ship sank to the bottom of the sea.
However, one thing is generally accepted: the Awa Maru was carrying a large amount of valuable cargo, including 40 tons of gold and about 40 boxes of jewelry and artifacts looted from Southeast Asia and China.
In addition, there were large quantities of industrial diamonds, 12 tons of platinum, 3,000 tons of tin ingots, 3,000 tons of rubber, and thousands of tons of rice. Even today, the value of these assets is staggering and almost incalculable.
Later, Western countries provided video footage of the Awa Maru leaving Singapore. The footage showed that the Awa Maru was loaded with several tons of gold at the dock, all of which was packed into iron boxes and carried onto the ship by Japanese soldiers one box at a time. There were also many extremely precious cultural relics, which confirmed the astonishing wealth on the Awa Maru.
Since the Awa Maru sank within my country's territorial waters, according to international maritime law, the Awa Maru shipwreck belongs to China's sovereignty. No country or individual may enter China's territorial waters for salvage operations without the approval of the Chinese government. Only the Chinese government has the right to salvage the Awa Maru.
In the late 1970s, many major Western powers, including the United States, Britain, Germany, and France, made requests to the Chinese government to come and salvage the objects or to cooperate with my country in the salvage operation.
However, China rejected these requests at the time, and in early May 1977, the Ministry of Transport and the Navy jointly established a salvage operation site command center. Relevant departments issued a message and navigation warning to the public, announcing that the Awa Maru shipwreck would be salvaged in the Niushan waters.
This news shocked the world, because many countries believed that China was simply not capable of salvaging the Awa Maru. However, it turned out that after more than two years of hard work by thousands of soldiers and staff, most of the ship was salvaged.
At the time, a total of 5,418 tons of materials, including tin ingots, rubber, mercury, niobium, tantalum, mica, and optically modified glass, were salvaged from the sunken ship, with a total value of more than 50 million yuan. In addition, the remains of 368 Japanese people were also salvaged and returned to the Japanese Red Cross Society by the Shanghai Red Cross Society of China.
However, the ship's most valuable gold, platinum, and diamonds have vanished without a trace. Furthermore, the precious artifacts shown in the video footage have also not been salvaged. For decades, the whereabouts of this wealth has remained a mystery. Although many individuals, organizations, and even tomb raiding gangs have conducted salvage operations in this area under various pretexts, they have never been able to find anything. It has truly sunk to the bottom of the sea and disappeared without a trace.
"Teacher, was it really true that none of that gold was ever recovered?"
Zhuang Rui was also familiar with this history, but he always wondered if, due to specific political factors at the time, these things were not announced to the outside world after they were salvaged.
"I participated in that salvage operation from beginning to end, but we didn't find any gold..."
Professor Meng's eyes were a little unfocused, as if he were recalling the salvage operation more than 30 years ago. He continued, "Actually, that salvage operation was incomplete. At that time, both the deep-sea diving technology and the deep-sea silt removal technology were inadequate... According to the survey at that time, about 10,000 cubic meters of silt buried the vault, bridge, guest rooms, crew cabins, and engine room. Divers simply could not reach those locations..."
Professor Meng was skeptical of the so-called successful salvage operation and had even written a letter questioning it. However, in that special era when things were just being rectified, Professor Meng was unfortunately labeled with a serious accusation and was imprisoned in Qincheng Prison for more than a year for investigation.
So when Professor Meng heard about restarting the salvage operation for the "Awa Maru," his expression wasn't very pleasant. However, the old man was quite magnanimous, and since more than thirty years had passed, he didn't dwell on it any further.
"Professor Meng is right. Due to technical reasons at the time, we were unable to completely salvage the Awa Maru. However, the technical problems that existed in the salvage operation have now been resolved... Thanks to the efforts of our Ministry of Transport, the state has also approved this salvage operation. After our research and with the approval of higher-level leaders, it has been decided that Professor Meng will serve as the chief commander of this salvage operation..."
Although Vice Minister Yu was not involved in the salvage operation back then, he was aware of what had happened to Professor Meng. He immediately offered an explanation, and his position as the chief commander was undoubtedly intended to reassure Professor Meng.
"Hey, Minister Yu, I have a question..."
Zhuang Rui sensed something was amiss as he listened, and said, "According to Minister Yu, this salvage operation is a national undertaking, so it has nothing to do with me. Why did you call me here?"
It's not that Zhuang Rui lacks awareness, it's just that his luxurious salvage ship is essentially throwing money away every day at sea. Zhuang Rui wouldn't do something that doesn't bring him any benefit.
Moreover, the country is not short of money. The annual food and drink expenses of these civil servants alone amount to hundreds of billions. Let alone salvaging one "Awa Maru", it wouldn't be a problem to salvage ten of them.
"Xiao Zhuang, this kind of thinking... cough cough..."
Upon hearing Zhuang Rui's words, Vice Minister Yu instinctively adopted an official tone. However, he only realized halfway through his sentence that the other person was not a member of the system at all, and that what he was saying to him was completely inappropriate.
Moreover, Zhuang Rui is not an ordinary businessman. As long as Zhuang Rui does not break the law, Vice Minister Yu has neither the guts nor the ability to manipulate Zhuang Rui elsewhere. Didn't you see that this is just a small matter of salvaging a sunken ship, yet Ouyang Lei came here personally?
"It's like this, Xiao Zhuang, as you know, the geographical environment in the Fujian sea area isn't very good, especially now in September and October, which is typhoon season. If the salvage vessel's tonnage is too small, it definitely won't work..."
Vice Minister Yu adopted a posture as if he wanted to have a long talk with Zhuang Rui, and continued, "Our country doesn't have a salvage vessel of this size. If we were to build one temporarily, it would take at least one or two years and would cost the country a lot of money. But you happen to have such a vessel, Zhuang Rui, so we thought we could cooperate..."
Originally, the ministry had planned to rent or even use Zhuang Rui's luxury salvage ship for free. However, Vice Minister Yu seemed to find Zhuang Rui difficult to talk to, and with Ouyang Lei's unexpected arrival, the word "cooperation" was used instead.
"Cooperation? Hmm, that's a good idea. Actually, we should have cooperated with the private sector a long time ago, through commercial operations, self-financing, risk-sharing, government approval, and profit sharing, to complete this task. I submitted this suggestion to the relevant departments before, but..."
After hearing Vice Minister Yu's words, Professor Meng nodded in agreement. Due to the complex environment of the Fujian sea area and the thick layer of silt on the seabed, no one could guarantee that the salvage operation would be successful. Using the cooperative method that Professor Meng suggested could minimize losses and reduce risks.
"This...this, what Professor Meng is saying is..."
After hearing Professor Meng's words, Vice Minister Yu felt like he was swallowing a bitter pill and couldn't express his grievances. According to their original plan, this matter would be handled by the Ministry of Transport and the Navy, and they never thought of involving the private sector.
However, if Professor Meng were to reject this suggestion, Zhuang Rui would likely not accept it either, leaving the Vice Minister in a rather awkward position.
Originally, he had planned to take advantage of Zhuang Rui's salvage of the Song Dynasty shipwreck to salvage the even more influential treasures of the Awa Maru shipwreck, thus boosting the Ministry of Transportation's work achievements. However, he did not expect that this lapse in composure would be somewhat out of his control.
"Minister Yu, let's do as the teacher says. You can discuss the specifics with my lawyer..."
Zhuang Rui also saw through Vice Minister Yu's intentions. His teacher had built a ladder for him, so of course he wanted to climb up it. He was determined to make the Ministry of Transport suffer in silence.
"Uh... Xiao Zhuang, this matter... I need to go back to the department for a meeting to discuss it further. I'll contact you again later to discuss the specifics of the cooperation..."
This was the first time the state and the private sector had cooperated in salvaging a sunken ship. At this moment, Vice Minister Yu dared not make any grand promises. He knew that sometimes it was better to do nothing than to make a mess of things and cause serious trouble.
However, those in officialdom are most adept at the art of delaying, and Vice Minister Yu is a master of this. He wants to stall for time, and whether or not it will be carried out later remains to be "discussed." "Alright, that's settled then. I have a meeting, so I'll take my leave now..."
Ouyang Lei, who had been sitting silently to the side, stood up, shook hands with Professor Meng and the others, and then turned back to Vice Minister Yu as he walked to the door, saying, "Minister Yu, sometimes we need to broaden our thinking when doing work. This cooperation isn't unacceptable. It's best to finalize it as soon as possible. The Navy will provide full assistance then..."
Ouyang Lei was naturally very clear about the ways of officialdom. Seeing that the deputy minister wanted to delay, he helped Zhuang Rui again before leaving, giving the deputy minister a word of advice that carried considerable weight.
"Don't worry, Chief Ouyang, I'll immediately suggest to the Minister that we convene a Standing Committee meeting to discuss and set the tone for this cooperative salvage operation..."
Vice Minister Yu was filled with bitterness. He dared to delay Zhuang Rui, but he dared not deceive Ouyang Lei. It seemed that the first precedent of cooperating with the private sector to salvage the sunken ship was about to occur during their term.
Chapter 1010 Peking Man Skull (Part 1)
After Ouyang Lei left, Vice Minister Yu couldn't sit still any longer. He said goodbye to Zhuang Rui and Professor Meng and then hurriedly left, presumably to return to the ministry to discuss how to resolve the salvage incident.
"Teacher, what do you think about this matter? Should I participate or not?" To be honest, Zhuang Rui wasn't very interested in cooperating with relevant national departments. He'd rather spend that time sailing around the Atlantic Ocean, where all the items salvaged would belong to him.
If he participates in this domestic salvage operation, it's obvious that if the gold, platinum, and 150,000 carats of unprocessed diamonds are salvaged, they will belong to the state. At most, he might receive some commendation.
However, Professor Meng was a witness to the salvage of the Awa Maru back then, and Zhuang Rui wanted to hear the old man's opinion. Moreover, he had a question in his mind that he also wanted to ask his teacher.
"With great power comes great responsibility, Xiao Zhuang. Although many departments in China have their flaws, as long as you act according to your conscience and are worthy of these more than a billion people, that's enough..."
Professor Meng is a pure scholar and doesn't really like bureaucratic practices. Today's events made him particularly uncomfortable because, before he came, Dean Liu told him that a research grant of two million yuan that he had applied for a few months ago had been approved.
Professor Meng was initially delighted upon hearing the news, but upon arriving here, he learned that the funding was actually a compensation measure taken by the leadership because they feared he might be unwilling to participate in the salvage operation due to the trauma of his imprisonment over the "Awa Maru" salvage incident more than 30 years ago.
Art, science, and history cannot be bought with money. The old professor felt disgusted, as if he had swallowed a fly. This guy was one of those who kicked someone when they were down back then.
"However, we can discuss how to cooperate. Xiao Zhuang, you don't lack those gold, silver, diamonds and the like, so you can let them have them. But it seems that your museum doesn't have many items, does it?"
Professor Meng winked at Zhuang Rui as he spoke, his face full of smiles.
"Hehe, teacher, will they agree?"
Zhuang Rui understood Professor Meng's meaning. Since it was a cooperative salvage operation, his side should naturally benefit. The money went to the country, so he could use his ingenuity to salvage the artifacts lost on the ship.
However, based on previous records and some items salvaged from the water last time, those lost cultural relics are very likely those that were lost from Manchukuo, that is, those that Puyi took out of the Forbidden City. These are all national first-class precious cultural relics, and the state may not necessarily agree to his request.