Chapter 612 Sword of Damocles
After a while, Janet whispered softly: "Simon, why don't your live broadcasts of small vases be turned off early, and it will be even more lively recently."
The recent attacks on Simon's luxury in personal life and calls to suppress Simon's wealth are the most cited by the most is that the maids of the Wei family who he trained around the world like raising a princess, and the London girl team, which is still broadcasting online, are undoubtedly the most intuitive evidence.
Simon shook his head, "It doesn't matter, otherwise I will feel guilty. Since they feel that my life is like a king, I plan to make everyone get used to this."
Janet has been mainly integrating the public relations team of Westeros system, unifying various doubts and attacks from the media and politics, and closing the live broadcast in advance is also a suggestion made by many backbone members of the public relations team. Seeing Simon refuse, Janet did not insist at all, and his eyes were brightly looked at his man: "What should we do next?"
Simon answered the question ill: "I'm reading a script recently called "Broken Arrow".
Janet blinked, waiting for Simon to continue.
Simon gently pulled the woman up from the sofa, and the two walked to a wall in the study, where there was a world map that had just been hung up in recent days.
"'Broken Arrow' is a special military code for the US military, which means the accidental loss of nuclear weapons," Simon explained in front of the map, took a pen from the storage shelf next to it, drew a circle on a country in Eastern Europe, and then said: "You know, I'm not a conspiracy theorist. Most of the time the reason for this world is actually very simple, just like the assassination last week. Similarly, I have never relaxed my guard against this world. We now have $200 billion, which is already the wealth of many small countries. If I really die suddenly, it's just over half of the inheritance tax, which is a feast for many people."
After hearing Simon's introduction to the meaning of "Broken Arrow", Janet probably realized something. When the man circled the country called "Ukraine" in Eastern Europe, and the subsequent explanation, the woman completely understood Simon's intentions.
The collapse of the Soviet Union has led to the entire Eastern Europe becoming a paradise for ambitious people, speculators and arms dealers in recent years.
The last one is that the collapse of the Soviet Union led to a general collapse of the Eastern European economy, and none of Eastern European countries could support the original military scale. The huge amount of military equipment left over from the former Soviet era was widely resold from generals to soldiers.
In the current Soviet Union, if you want guns and ammunition, it is not considered a business. You can exchange a good large fire rifle with a few pieces of bread. Armored vehicles, tanks, submarines, destroyers and even giant aircraft carriers. As long as you pay and dare to accept them, you can drive them back to your own home.
Among the many arms transactions, the most sensitive one is undoubtedly nuclear weapons.
In Simon's memory, in the early days of the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine, one of the Soviet member states, deployed more than 2,800 nuclear weapons in total. Ukraine took the initiative to abandon nuclear weapons under the deception of European and American countries, and handed over all nuclear weapons in the territory to Russia for storage or destruction within five years from 1992 to 1996.
However, during this process, more than 250 nuclear warheads disappeared!
The news was finally disclosed after delaying for several years, shocking the world.
After investigation, most of these nuclear warheads were secretly purchased by countries around the world, including terrorist organizations in the Middle East. Therefore, the plot of action heroes in Hollywood movies to prevent terrorists from detonating nuclear bombs is actually not completely fictional. It is just to avoid panic. Similar incidents are often strictly blocked by government authorities.
After Simon finished explaining, he felt Janet gently holding his arm, looked at her, and asked a woman the same question as she had just said: "Are you afraid?"
Janet's fair face showed a little flushing, not fear, but excitement: "Not afraid."
The woman understood that her man was planning to cast a "Sword of Damocles" hanging over the heads of many people who covet the wealth of the Westeros family.
If the assassination of last week happens again, if it is really successful, and if it is discovered that some people are planning to do it for the wealth of the Westeros family, then the slender horse mane bound the "Sword of Damocles" will break.
Janet was more aware of it.
If the thing that she least wants to see happen, she will most likely be the ‘executor’ who cuts the hanging mane.
Thinking of this, Janet did not feel any guilt in her heart. When she was a little girl, she felt that this world was too boring. She even thought of destroying the world.
Now, maybe this is my destiny.
Destiny!
He wants to rule the world and be a king. If someone covets everything he has or even hurts him, then she will help him destroy the world.
Simon just continued, pointing to Ukraine, which had just been enclosed by himself: "There are 2,800 nuclear warheads here, most of which have been handed over to Russia, but at least half are still in this country. We have two years to operate this."
Janet also raised his hand and pointed to Tasmania, southern Australia, where Simon continued to buy land: "And then hide here?"
"Of course not, this is also our home at the end of the world, and it may be troublesome if discovered," Simon said, sliding his fingers from Eastern Europe all the way down to the vast Africa: "Here, this is a habitually forgotten continent, and compared with other continents in the world, Africa will only continue to be in a long-term stage of war for a long time. My plan is to run a country here."
Entering the 1990s, with the disintegration of the world, many people always believe that the world has gradually moved towards peace.
In fact, this is definitely not the case.
Because on the continent that is habitually forgotten, there is the chaotic Somalia, the Rwandan massacre where nearly one million civilians died from criticism, the Congo civil war that lasted ten years with deaths of more than 3 million, Zimbabwe, where the economy collapsed for a long time, the division of North and South Sudan, the Angolan civil war that lasted for 27 years, etc.
All of these happened after the so-called "civilized world" believed that the world had entered peace.
Since countries around the world can support or overthrow one regime after another in Africa for their own interests or even just pure influence, of course, the Westeros system can do the same.
Janet was obviously interested, let go of Simon's arm and approached the world map, and gestured for a while everywhere in Africa. The woman used to not care much about Africa, but only knew that her family had a lot of mining assets in some African countries. Her father used to go hunting with some friends every year.
However, it was not necessary to have much information. Janet made a gesture for a moment and pointed to the Central African region: "This is the most suitable, right?"
Simon nodded.
North Africa has oil interests and borders Europe, so it is impossible for the Westeros system to take root there. Southern Africa, especially South Africa, is now staring at it, which is not appropriate.
Therefore, the Central African region on the front lines of Congo, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania is just right. Even if the various resources and minerals are still abundant, the overall cost is not worth the cost due to the high sky and the emperor. Especially for the landlocked countries, the world's major powers do not have much economic benefits here.
The key to the Rwandan massacre was indifferent to the entire international community.
Janet chose the location, but then he just looked at Simon.
Simon stepped forward and hugged the woman's waist, with his other hand pointing in Eastern Europe and Latin America, saying: "After the collapse of the Soviet Union, in addition to a large number of top weapons and equipment, millions of elite soldiers were forced to retire. The civil war in Latin America, Colombia and other countries has been fighting for decades. There are also many elite soldiers. We can recruit mercenaries from these two places. After confirming the African base, the local area can also recruit a team. In an area like Africa, as long as there are 10,000 elite troops equipped with the top equipment, even if a regime cannot be established, it can still control one side and become a warlord that affects the political trend of a certain country."
Janet continued: "Then we can put our 'Sword of Damocles' here."
Simon nodded: "Yes."
Janet thought for a while and said, “Based on ten thousand people, how much does it cost per year?”
"The money issue is not important at all," Simon pointed to an inconspicuous corner on the world map: "Israel's defense budget last year was only $5.3 billion, but it can fight against the entire Middle East. This money, even the Westeros system, can be used now."
Janet had no objection to this.
If it is really necessary, the Westeros system can now indeed put out $5 billion in funds every year.
It was immediately understood that the money issue was indeed the least problem for the Westeros system. The most critical point was how to make such a "violent machine" far away in Africa continue to be loyal to the Westeros family, and even consider whether this matter would trigger pressure and rebound from the local and international community.
Simon has actually considered this.
At the same time, choosing to recruit soldiers in Eastern Europe, Latin America and Africa was to differentiate and balance, and to avoid an ambitious man breaking away from the control of the Westeros system and becoming king after his power was achieved. There are actually many such things in Africa, including spokespersons trained by European and American countries, who are often no longer so obedient after being full of wings.
Moreover, this consideration is the most basic planning.
The current situation is that there is an idea, but Simon still can't find someone to trust to perform these.
In the final analysis, the foundation of the Westeros family is too shallow.
Janet also thought of this soon, held the man's arm again, pressed his head against Simon's shoulder, and said, "I recently went back to Melbourne. Speaking of which, in order to protect overseas mines and shipping ships, there were already mercenaries at home. Otherwise, my father wouldn't have dared to hunt in Africa often before. But I didn't care before, and the number was not large."
Simon nodded, that's what he thought.
If you want to complete your chances in a relatively short period of time, you can only rely on the Johnston family.
Before he had an intersection with himself, although the wealth of the Johnston family was never conspicuous, he was a super rich man of billions after all. What's more important is the old family that has accumulated a hundred years of existence, and the accumulation of personal resources in all aspects is far beyond ordinary people's imagination.
Simon previously built the intelligence team of the Westeros family, which was the talents Raymond Johnston personally helped to find.
This time, this is all that.
Simon was not surprised that Janet said that the Johnston family had a mercenary team.
This world is far less peaceful than ordinary people imagine.
The Johnston family's overseas mines, especially those in Africa, must have their own armed forces if they want to maintain normal operation and not be attacked by rebel thugs. The same is true for shipping. There are still a large number of pirates in many important sea transport channels in the world at this stage. Without some self-defense power, a ship may be gone if it is gone.
"Since you're back, just take Jenny with your three children," Janet was unwilling to leave, and Simon mentioned again. The woman agreed this time, and Simon continued: "There is one more thing. After you arrive in Melbourne, you can find out where you can build a vault."
Janet wondered: "Vault, what's the purpose?"
Simon said: "I plan to buy gold, a lot of gold."
The recent movements of North American media and politicians have made Simon very strongly wary. The West may have a general concept that private property is sacred and inviolable, but if you really believe in this piously, you are a fool. "Plundering" is completely rooted in the instinct of the deepest part of all biological genes. The United States can plunder other people's resources and interests around the world. When necessary, it has never said that it will not deliberately plunder its own people.
In this case, Simon needs to give himself some protection in advance, including protection after some of the least desired situations occur.
For this world, the most firm guarantee is not only a powerful enough violent machine, but also wealth.
Therefore, in addition to creating a defensive "Damoclis Sword" for the Westeros family, Simon also intends to continue to store a huge amount of wealth in places he believes is safer.
There are many kinds of wealth.
In Simon's view, paper currencies issued by countries around the world are undoubtedly the most unreliable type of wealth, such as stocks, land, real estate, etc., and they lack flexibility, and they may even be easily banned by government authorities at some point.
Relatively speaking, gold is undoubtedly the most common and reliable wealth in human society.
No matter how countries that have devalued the value of gold, gold is definitely worthy of its position as the "king of currency". As long as there are slight signs of economic crisis or social turmoil in almost all countries in the world, some people with keen sense of smell will always think of buying gold as much as possible. When the international situation is tense, the first thing some countries think of is to transport the gold they store overseas as soon as possible.
From ancient times to the present, and even in Simon's memory for many years, gold has been the most common safe-haven currency.
Therefore, Simon intends to continuously convert the additional funds gradually surplus in the Westeros system into physical gold and store them from now on.
Janet heard Simon's plan to buy a lot of gold, and just blinked a few times, nodded directly, and then suggested: "It can be built in Tasmania, which is our private territory. Well, the underground shelter that was originally suitable."
Simon said: "It's fine for Melbourne. The storage location is too remote and unsafe. We can't always have a security team there. If no one is guarding it, no matter how strong the fortress is, it will not stop someone who is interested."
"In this case, we plan to build a professional vault on the fourth floor of Westeros Building in Manhattan, and it is fine to store hundreds of tons of gold," Janet said, and before Simon could object, he reacted and shook his head: "Well, it can't be placed in the United States."
Simon smiled and was about to continue saying something, when someone knocked on the door of the study.
"Hold on."
Simon raised his voice and said, looking at the world map marked with a black water pen in front of him, and stretched out his hand to take off the map and roll it up. After a while, he ordered outsiders to come in. After planning just now, he was not suitable to stay any clues that could be caught by someone, and he could only communicate through words between the people he trusted the most.
The one who pushed the door was A.
After entering the door, Alison subconsciously looked at the Simon and his wife standing by the wall of the study. Both of them were intact and showed no signs. Realizing that they had just gotten apart, Alison lowered his eyes slightly guiltily and whispered: "Boss, madam, Ms. Veronica asked me to come over and ask what I planned to eat for dinner?"
Chapter completed!