Chapter 208: Self-Contained

June 23rd, 2021.

Under an azure sky, an endless expanse of turquoise water stretched to the horizon.

The Luzon Third Fleet, with all seven of its warships, appeared in the Malacca Strait.

Several destroyers belonging to Xing Island also appeared on the nearby waters.

Although the Luzon Navy had notified Xing Island in advance, the appearance of seven warships in the Malacca Strait would inevitably have some impact on the already crowded shipping lane.

On the bridge of one of Xing Island’s destroyers.

Tom and a US Navy Rear Admiral were observing the Luzon Third Fleet through binoculars.

"One amphibious assault ship, three frigates, and three supply ships."

"Advisor Tom, do you have detailed information on them?"

Tom lowered his binoculars. "These warships were all built by the New Luzon Shipbuilding Company. The amphibious assault ship is the Luzon-class, with a full displacement of 35,000 tons. It can carry 32 helicopters or large drones."

"The frigates are Manila-class, with a full displacement of 12,000 tons. Their specific weapon loadouts are currently unknown. The supply ships are converted dual-purpose transport vessels."

"What’s their technological level like?" the Rear Admiral asked curiously.

Tom thought for a moment. "The New Luzon Shipbuilding Company’s technology is decent. They can at least produce their own gas turbines. The aircraft are supplied by the Flying Fish Company, and the other weapons come from the Fernando Weapons Manufacturing Company."

The Rear Admiral also lowered his binoculars. "They’re quite ambitious! To think they’ve already assembled three fleets. Does your side have any plans?"

"I’m afraid the homeland doesn’t have many resources to commit to Southeast Asia right now. I can only do my best," Tom said with a helpless expression.

The Rear Admiral frowned, but the thought of recent troubles back home made him feel just as weary. In the end, Southeast Asia’s priority was no match for the North American homeland and their backyard, Latin America.

...

Meanwhile, on the bridge in the island superstructure of the amphibious assault ship *Luzon*.

Lieutenant General Olaf of the Luzon Navy was also observing Xing Island’s destroyers and the distant island itself through a pair of binoculars.

For Luzon, an archipelago nation, developing its navy and air force was paramount.

Currently, Luzon had assembled three fleets:

The First Fleet, stationed on the East Coast of the Luzon Islands, facing the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean.

The Second Fleet, stationed at Manila Port, was responsible for patrolling the West Coast of the Luzon Islands and escorting Luzon’s transport ships through the Malacca Strait.

The Third Fleet was currently en route to the Ceylon Ocean. It would be temporarily stationed at Tuwah Port in Hongsawaddy and would also conduct escort missions in the waters near the Persian Gulf.

In reality, the Third Fleet would most likely be permanently stationed in the Ceylon Ocean, essentially becoming Hongsawaddy’s fleet.

Additionally, the navies of Siam and Malaysia, both of which had "rock-solid" relationships with the Homo Sapiens Company, had a combined strength that was passable.

The reason for the hasty deployment of the fleet to the Ceylon Ocean was primarily due to recent unrest in the Persian Gulf, compounded by numerous pirates threatening the shipping lanes.

Recently, the Qingye Group had signed a series of long-term oil and gas supply contracts with Qatar, Persia, and Saudia Arabia.

And the company responsible for transporting this oil and natural gas for the Qingye Group was the New Luzon Shipping Group.

Hongsawaddy’s Tuwah Port was not only the largest glass manufacturing city in Southeast Asia; it was also where a newly constructed oil pipeline and a gas pipeline terminated, both connecting directly to Siam.

This meant that the natural gas and oil Siam needed could be transported directly from Tuwah Port, bypassing the Malacca Strait.

To facilitate trade with Hongsawaddy, Persia had even registered the Persian International Trade Company in Yangon, specifically to handle this commerce.

Although America and the European Union constantly suppressed Persia, even forbidding other regions from trading with it,

this "other regions" category definitely did not include Hongsawaddy.

After all, Hongsawaddy’s relationship with America was equally poor. Moreover, the gold yuan was not a fiat currency; it possessed intrinsic value. As long as both sides reached an agreement and jointly established a settlement bank to coordinate trade, they could bypass America and the European Union.

In recent years, from an outsider’s perspective, the equally defiant Luzon had also seen its relationship with America grow cold, to the point that the two sides had even engaged in a grain war.

Therefore, the cooperation between these regions looked a lot like they were huddling together for warmth.

The Luzon Third Fleet’s entry into the Ceylon Ocean this time was precisely to guard against any tricks from America.

The current Homo Sapiens Company had few reservations about America.

After all, 23 atomic bombs with a yield of 300 kilotons and 6 hydrogen bombs with a yield of one megaton were already stockpiled in Hongsawaddy’s Black Tiger Canyon.

If America tried to pull any stunts against the transport convoys, the Luzon Navy would absolutely dare to retaliate in kind.

Besides, America was already overwhelmed by its problems at home and in Latin America. Whether it even had the energy to stir up trouble in the Persian Gulf was an open question.

The Homo Sapiens Company was simply taking precautions.

...

Ahaxi, the president of the Persian International Trade Company, was on a massive shopping spree in Yangon with a large sum of gold yuan in hand.

After all, Hongsawaddy’s trade rules were very simple: you had to export as much as you imported, requiring a relative balance.

Since Persia exported natural gas and oil, it had to import things like new medicines, grain, meat, lumber, and paper from Hongsawaddy.

Ahaxi sat in a trading room at the Yangon Commodity Trade Center.

While communicating with his home office about what needed to be purchased, he had his subordinate search for corresponding suppliers on a computer.

"President, the home office wants us to procure a batch of high-quality rice, no less than 50,000 tons. The shipping date must be before October."

Ahaxi turned his head. "Musa, post the 50,000-ton order. Contract execution deadline is before October 5th."

"Understood."

A moment later, eight cooperation inquiries popped up on Musa’s computer screen. She quickly printed them out, organized them, and handed them to the president for evaluation.

Ahaxi flipped through the eight cooperation inquiries.

Among these rice suppliers, five were from Hongsawaddy and the other three were from Siam. Their prices were all in a similar range; the main differences were the variety and quality of the rice.

He checked the recent international rice prices and quickly decided to purchase 50,000 tons of grade-one long-grain indica rice from the United Group’s Magway Grain Company.

Then, he inquired about quotes from shipping companies.

For this type of bulk commodity, the New Luzon Shipping Company’s quotes were relatively lower.

After all, bulk commodities are easier to manage due to their uniformity, and they don’t require gathering enough containers for large-scale transport.

Soon, the New Luzon Shipping Company arranged for a 50,000-ton class dual-purpose transport ship to head quickly to Yangon Port to load the 50,000 tons of rice.

This type of dual-purpose transport ship was a flagship product of the New Luzon Shipbuilding Company. They were generally categorized as grain/gas transport, container/gas transport, and ore-and-materials/gas transport models.

After a dozen or so transport ships had been assembled, the Luzon Third Fleet, which had been resting at Tuwah Port for over a week, detached a portion of its warships to escort them to the Persian Gulf region.

These transport ships carried grain, building materials, clothing, frozen chicken, frozen lamb, new medicines and test strips, as well as palm oil and coffee beans from Malaysia, and some mechanical equipment and electronics transshipped from Huaguo.

They would transport these goods to various countries in the Persian Gulf, then pick up natural gas from those countries to ship back to Hongsawaddy and Luzon, or resell to Huaguo and Siam.

This trade model was a major test of a company’s internal coordination capabilities.

It required ensuring trade balance while also allowing transport ships to form regular convoys, increasing the cost-effectiveness of each escort mission.

If it weren’t for a corporate giant like the Homo Sapiens Company, even a world hegemon like America would find this difficult to achieve, due to its various internal interest factions.

Only the Homo Sapiens Company, being self-contained and highly unified internally, could achieve this kind of precise control.

The gas transport ships, which used Crystal Sponge technology, already had lower transport costs than typical LNG carriers. Combined with the convoy model, their security was also greatly enhanced.

All things considered, the New Luzon Shipping Company held a significant advantage.