Chapter 237 The Gold Disappeared (asking for monthly ticket)
“Prime Minister, it’s an emergency. A large number of black armed forces have gathered outside the three capitals and our largest city, Johannesburg. The garrison troops have already exchanged fire with these militants, but their firepower is too strong and they are well-trained. So you need to urgently issue a mobilization order and let the National Defense Force deal with these militants.”

Prime Minister Botha, who was presiding over a parliamentary session in Parliament, was asked by a Defense Force officer to go outside the meeting room for talks.

At this time, South Africa was a parliamentary republic. The presidency was established after South Africa became a republic in 1961, but the president at the time played a more symbolic role, with actual executive power in the hands of the prime minister.

So the most powerful person in South Africa at this time was Prime Minister Pieter Willem Botha.

He has served as Prime Minister of South Africa since 1978 and has continued to do so until now. During his tenure, he has been implementing the policy of apartheid.

Of course, in order to ease international pressure, he tried to pass limited reforms during his tenure (such as allowing people of color and Indian origin to participate in the three-level parliament), but the core apartheid system was not fundamentally changed.

And his control over the army is very strong, so now the military needs his orders to mobilize troops to several city centers to suppress militants.

“Have you found out which bastard country is supporting these people?” asked Prime Minister Botha.

“It’s not clear yet. The weapons used by the enemy during the exchange of fire were varied. The only rifles were Soviet-style ones like the AK47, but there were many machine guns, mortars, RPGs, and grenades, including British, American, and Soviet ones. So it’s hard to tell which country is supporting them at the moment,” said the Wehrmacht officer.

“Weapons from so many countries? Could it be that they have united to overthrow our rule? After all, these countries are openly sanctioning us,” Prime Minister Botha speculated.

“It shouldn’t happen. Our insiders in Britain, France, Israel and other countries have not reported any news that they are going to take action. If they are uniting to attack us, with so many countries launching the attack together, it is impossible for no information not to leak out.” The Wehrmacht officer denied this speculation.

Time passed by minute by minute. While Prime Minister Botha was thinking, he asked the confidential secretary behind him to inquire about the news.

Because he did not want the National Defense Force to enter several capitals and the largest economic center, Johannesburg, because it would be difficult to get them out after they entered. Maybe the ambitious people in the army would get rid of him and take power themselves or choose a puppet.

“It’s bad, Prime Minister. The reserve vault in Johannesburg has been breached by unknown armed men.”

“What? Weren’t we blocked outside the defense line? How did it get breached so quickly and even reach the reserve vault?” The Wehrmacht officer grabbed the collar of the colonel who came to report and asked angrily.

“Let him go and let him tell you slowly what happened. The garrison troops are fully equipped with light weapons and there is a regiment of troops in Johannesburg. How come they were defeated and reached the central vault so quickly?” Prime Minister Botha stopped the officer and asked the colonel who came to report the news to report in detail.

“Um, Prime Minister, the situation is like this. At the beginning, two companies of the garrison troops have blocked a group of about 2 unknown armed elements in a 600-kilometer defense line outside the southern part of the city center. Other troops are deployed in other directions because unknown armed elements have also appeared in those directions.

But when the deployment was halfway through, a particularly powerful enemy force appeared in the northeast. They attacked the city center in armored vehicles, and the armored vehicles used light artillery to blow our makeshift defense line into pieces.

The sudden appearance of the assault force rushed straight to the city center, followed by the unidentified armed elements that they had encountered before, who were numerous but had poor combat effectiveness.

But at this time, the garrison had already dispatched its forces to all parts of the city. There was no force to stop this rapidly advancing force. Their goal seemed very clear, and they were moving towards the location of the reserve vault.

Because we didn’t expect the enemy to reach the city center so quickly, only some police forces went to stop them on the road. But they were no match at all. Their shooting skills were very accurate, there were many snipers, and their tactical moves were very skilled. They should be no weaker than our National Defense Forces’ special operations teams.

The news I just received is that the door to the reserve vault has been breached, and the security forces inside are putting up a desperate resistance, but they should not be able to stop this enemy.”

The colonel told all the news he knew in one breath, and then waited quietly by the side.

“General, quickly send a rapid reaction force to eliminate the militants who broke into the city center of Johannesburg.”

Prime Minister Botha finally became anxious at this time and asked the general to immediately mobilize the National Defense Force’s rapid reaction force to Johannesburg.

Because the reserve vault there is the largest vault of the South African government, storing more than 6 tons of gold. If this gold is stolen by the unknown armed men, then his rule will be over.

Because South Africa was facing international sanctions at the time, their currency was already unstable. If such a large amount of gold was lost, the domestic currency would experience an avalanche-like depreciation, and they would not be able to buy anything even in inland Africa.

“Prime Minister, what about the other three places? Since these unidentified armed elements can break through Johannesburg, they may also break through our three capitals. The garrison troops may not be able to resist them.” The general said, and his words still implied that he hoped Prime Minister Botha would quickly issue an order to allow the National Defense Force to enter the three capitals.

“The National Defense Force enters level one combat readiness and awaits orders on the spot. The rapid reaction force will go to Johannesburg first. We must stop the enemy from transporting the gold away. We must act quickly.” Even though Prime Minister Botha was very anxious, he still issued the order calmly.

Then he told the general to act quickly while he returned to the conference room.

“There is a very urgent matter here. A large number of unidentified armed elements have appeared near our three capitals and Johannesburg. They are all black people. Members of parliament should quickly contact them to find out which countries are supporting these HGs. Otherwise, with their simple minds, it would be impossible for them to organize so many people to act together.” After arriving at the meeting room, Prime Minister Botha informed the members of parliament of some intelligence and asked them to inquire about the news.

Because although South Africa was openly isolated and sanctioned by the international community at this time, its ties with Europe, the United States and other countries were still very close, and a large amount of capital was injected into those countries through secret channels every year.

In fact, if you think about it, you will know that without the support of those countries, how could South Africa become the most powerful country on the African continent after World War II.

At this time, South Africa’s navy, army and air force were already the strongest in Africa.

Its army is equipped with independently developed G5/G6 self-propelled artillery (with a range of 40 kilometers, leading in Africa) and Olifant main battle tanks (an upgraded version of the British Centurion tank).

The Air Force has Mirage F1, Impala attack aircraft (with Israeli technical support), and C-130 transport aircraft, with long-range strike capabilities.

The navy focuses on defending the coastline, equipped with French submarines and missile boats to monitor shipping lanes in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans.

In addition, South Africa is the only country in Africa that possesses nuclear weapons.

Its first nuclear test took place in 1979, and by 1984, they had deployed seven gun-type atomic bombs with a range covering neighboring countries such as Angola and Mozambique.

You should know that the manufacturing principle of an atomic bomb is not difficult, but the manufacturing technology is extremely difficult. The production of weapon-grade nuclear materials requires a large number of high-speed centrifuges and sufficient electricity. In addition, the explosive also requires advanced chemical technology to be configured.

Without the support and acquiescence of nuclear powers such as Britain, France, Israel and the United States, how could South Africa, which was already under sanctions at the time, have the ability to manufacture an atomic bomb?

Although most white people in South Africa are well educated and have some industrial base, it would take more than a few years to develop an industry capable of manufacturing atomic bombs.

That’s why Prime Minister Botha asked the MPs to contact the countries that supported them and find out which countries wanted to attack them. At this time, Wang Jiankun also discovered the deployment of the rapid response force in the South African National Defense Force through secret channels, and then began to dispatch troops, intending to block them on the road for a while, so that the mechanized infantry company could transport the gold to the suburbs and hand it over to the gold transportation team that had been prepared.

Boom~, boom~, boom, three helicopters of the South African National Defense Force’s rapid reaction force were hit by missiles and exploded.

“There are anti-aircraft missiles on the ground. Quickly descend. The ground armored forces quickly catch up. Find the enemy’s missile launch positions and destroy them.”

Upon seeing this, the commander of the rapid reaction force quickly ordered the helicopter formation in the air to lower its altitude, because the air defense missiles have a minimum attack altitude, generally 30 to 50 meters. Below this altitude, it is difficult for the air defense missiles to attack.

However, the order he issued was useless. There were only three missiles at this location, and the people had already run away after they were fired.

The ground armored forces searched for a while before finding the discarded Stinger missile launcher tube, but no one was found.

Seeing this, the commander could only order the troops to move forward quickly, while the helicopters in the air maintained an ultra-low altitude flight at a slightly slower speed.

Boom~, boom~, two more explosions, and the two helicopters were turned into huge fireballs in the air.

Boom! The leading vehicle of the armored troops marching on the ground ran over a mine, causing an even more violent explosion, and the entire armored convoy had to stop.

Because the explosion completely destroyed the bridge, with a mountain on one side and a cliff more than 10 meters high on the other, the armored troops had to wait for the bridge to be repaired, or turn around and take other roads.

The commander originally thought that this mission was simple, which was to eliminate a group of unidentified armed elements in the center of Johannesburg. However, two consecutive precise ambushes made him realize that this mission was not simple at all. The other party seemed to have known their intelligence clearly, while he knew nothing about them.

In this situation, he had to quickly ask his superiors whether to wait or take a detour. After all, the mission was urgent and not a minute could be delayed.

“General, this ambush has destroyed the bridge on our way forward. We are still 15 kilometers away from our destination. Please provide us with instructions.”

“Damn it, why didn’t your scouts find out in advance? Hurry up and take a detour. The helicopter formation should move forward in a dispersed manner. I don’t believe the enemy can predict all the routes. When we reach the destination, the helicopters should immediately launch an attack. We must prevent the enemy from transporting the gold away.”

“clear.”

This commander may be carrying out a mission domestically, so there were many loopholes in the previous operational deployment, and many emergencies were not prepared with contingency plans, which has led to him being in a very passive situation now.

Now he had to take it seriously. Following the orders from his superiors, he ordered the helicopter formation to disperse and advance. The ground armored forces quickly turned around and divided into three groups to advance from different roads. After reaching the vicinity of the destination, the helicopter formation launched a harassing attack and waited for the armored forces to arrive before encircling the enemy.

However, the commander was out of time. When he turned around to find a way, the gold in the vault had been transported to the suburbs and then dispersed to farther places.

The gold will stay in South Africa for a period of time and then be transported away in batches by a special team sent by Wang Jiankun.

When the rapid reaction force arrived at the destination, they found an empty underground vault.

He quickly reported the situation and waited for further orders.

“Look at you. Why are you so slow? It took you an hour to travel 50 kilometers. Why didn’t you disperse your troops at the beginning? Why didn’t you send more helicopters? Now that the gold has been transported away, why are you still staying here? Hurry up and chase the enemy in the direction they left. You must find the gold.”

After receiving the news from the commander of the rapid reaction force, the superior felt dizzy because he knew that the gold there must not be lost, otherwise the country would be in big trouble.

He calmed himself down and reported the situation to his superiors.

By the time Prime Minister Botha received the news that the gold was missing, two hours had passed since the commander of the rapid reaction force reported.

Logically, in such an emergency situation, this important information should be delivered quickly.

It turned out that the military top brass hoped that the rapid reaction force could catch up with the team transporting gold. As long as they caught up, the other troops that had already set out would definitely be able to intercept the gold, so that they could atone for their crime.

But after chasing for more than an hour, they found that the clues were becoming more and more confusing, the troops were becoming more and more scattered, and some were attacked and blocked by other unidentified armed elements who besieged Johannesburg, but there was no sight of gold.

Therefore, the military concluded that the enemy must have planned this in advance. Otherwise, with more than 6 tons of gold, even if each truck transported 10 tons, it would be a convoy of more than 60 large trucks. The target would be very large and it would be impossible to carry it like this.

The enemy should have divided the gold into smaller batches and transported it outside the city using smaller means of transport. They may have hidden it first, or they may have transported it away using other unknown means.

Now the outskirts of Johannesburg are surrounded by a large number of black people who are dissatisfied with the apartheid policy. They have more or less some weapons in their hands. Now the Prime Minister must issue an order to mobilize a large number of troops to suppress them, otherwise their rule will definitely end.

After receiving the news, Prime Minister Botha no longer cared about the threats from the military and quickly issued an order for the National Defense Force to be dispatched urgently to suppress these black armed forces supported by unknown forces.

Because the military is at least composed of white people, the same skin color as him. If the three capitals are conquered by those HGs, then their rule will be completely over.

At this time, the gold price index of the UK Gold Exchange suddenly soared. Before the short sellers could react, they were hit by the rapidly rising prices. The exchange instantly became boiling, and everyone was asking what had happened.

More than 10 minutes later, the gold price had risen by 10%, and people in the trading hall gradually learned about the gold robbery in South Africa.

As the news spread, the gold price, which had risen by 10% and gradually stabilized, soared again. Investors who wanted to make short-term profits did not have time to withdraw their orders and were overwhelmed by more buy orders. Gold continued to rise all the way, rising by 20% before gradually falling back.

Dozens of investment companies controlled by the Quanjiezhen earned 10 billion pounds during this wave of abnormal rise in gold prices. Before the British government discovered it, these investment companies transferred the money to Switzerland and the United States.

At the same time, due to the abnormal fluctuations in gold prices in the British Gold Exchange, the armed resistance of black people in South Africa against the apartheid policy became known to the world, and the attention of various countries shifted to South Africa.

After the gold was transported to a secret place for storage, Wang Jiankun no longer paid attention to the situation in South Africa, but instead devoted his energy to North Africa, intending to open up another battlefield there to let the heartland of Europe feel the threat of war and force them to invest their strength in the African continent.

(End of this chapter)