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Authors: Captain Chris Felton

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BOOK: The Ming Dynasty Tombs
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He increased the circuit after three weeks and was pumping some 32 tonnes a session that was increased to 45 tonnes a session. The session timing increased to three hours, which he started as soon as he got up. At 6am
h
e would work out, have a sauna a dip in the plunge pool, then shower dress and go down for breakfast. Which was always a light affair usually freshly made toast and tea.
He now started to study the last remaining tomb, which was 20 miles east of Hanoi the area was predominantly agricultural he went on his computer and viewed the location on goggle earth. Printing off several photographs but there was no substitution for a ground but they needed to see the area in real time.  He drove to lee’s house and had a chat with him for an hour then returned home. He went to his study and mused over the problems arriving at a decision just before having a shower and dressing for dinner. Vietnam was short on electricity he would build a power station on the site. But for the time being he kept the idea to himself. Once dinner was over he went on the net and investigated what was available.

There was a refinery some twenty miles away from the area in question, he decided on two. Two giga watt Brush Electric turbine driven generators,
the total output would be 4 gigawatts, and enough to interest the government
.
He flew to Loughborough in Leicestershire and visited the factory, and placed an order for the two generators plus lots of spare parts. He wrote a cheque for the items and returned by taxi to the East midlands Airport where his Airbus was waiting. Then he flew to Vietnam and made an appointment to see the ministers concerned in two weeks time. He flew home to the Philippines feeling weary and elated. He ate a light meal, showered and went to bed. Sleeping for a full 10 hours he awoke early morning and had a workout before settling down to breakfast just after 9am.

He had a long chat with the girls, and informed them he would be away for a few months. They were all easy with the project.
He decided to take Lee and Shimeko out to Vietnam with him he had to find someone who would design the power station for him and he had to be local regarding chartered status. They flew out on July 1
st
and landed at Hanoi airport. There was no
problems
with Visa’s as they
were on diplomatic passports.
They had researched the best local hotel there, and it was nicer than Kester possibly envisaged. They took over a whole suite on the top floor, and set up the three laptops they had brought with them.
Kester e-mailed some old friends and they put him in contact with a local commercial architect, who was also a project manager. The meeting with the ministers was the following week so they had just 7 days to get the project sorted out. He contacted the
refinery, and
arranged a meeting the following day the oil company was Shell so he knew he would have a good chance of getting a solid agreement with them. Lee went out and bought two vehicles they had some free time so spent it in a 3 hour session he showered afterwards and left Shimeko sprawled on top of the bed with the air con running in the background. He weather was hot and humid, he went on the internet and found a house for sale it was only three miles from the site it was a fabulous building, a French colonial art deco design. He sent the company an e-mail and arranged to view the house the following day before their oil company meeting. Lee returned an hour later, he had bought a Lexus in good condition and a Nissan Patrol that had been rebuilt a dozen times in its lifetime, but it was mechanically sound and the body

Was tidy, and serviceable and the most important thing is that they both had good air con.

They drove to the house and he fell in love with it, love at first sight. It had been neglected for years, but was still sound and most of the neglect was superficial.
He bought it for £10k a ten bed roomed house for £10k he employed a local company of builders to do the renovation works. Drawing what he wanted o a sheet of paper
h
e wanted to do away with two bedrooms and to install two new en suite bath rooms and a huge en suite for himself.

“Sir Kester Wylie, I’m the chairman of Shell Vietnam, what can we do for you?” Kester shook his hand and introduced Shimeko.

“I’m intending to build a power station and need kerosene as the generators are turbine powered. I know your market for kerosene here is very weak, my generators will require 50 tonnes of kerosene a day can
we
do business?” Kester asked.

“No problem,
we can hold the price at $1,000 dollars a day for 6 months, then increase it to $2k us dollars a day after that” he stated.

“I don’t mind paying $1,000 a day but after 6 months $1200 dollars a day price fixed for 5 years” Kester remarked.

“Hey you have done your homework I’m ok with that you need a pipeline I know the best contractor here want me to put you in touch?” he asked. Kester nodded and after a two hour chat they left the buildings.

Again they relied on Lee, and drove to the site. It was a mile from the nearest habitation the tomb was located in the jungle about a mile from the road. Kester walked over the top and checked his gps hand held unit.

Then they left and returned to the city.

It had been a long day and he was tired, but the builder was there with a good set of drawings for the house.
Kester went over them as Shimeko showered and napped Lee did likewise. He made a few alterations, and
then the builder left. He phone
d
his builder in Singapore and had a long talk with him. Only then could he relax,
he
s
howered and lay beside Shimeko naked
he turned the air con up, and revelled in the cold breeze. He slept for four hours, then had another shower and dressed. He ordered the evenings meal, and looked at the bar, deciding instead to open the bottle of Louis cognac he had brought with them.
He poured a large measure and relaxed in the suite lounge he had a call from his builder in Singapore and was informed he had filled five containers for the house, and was having them shipped to Hanoi in the morning. Kester thanked him and told him he would send him a cheque. Then went back to his brandy he had finished it when Shimeko joined him she promptly refilled his glass and took two large gulps herself. The meeting was as arranged and Kester with Shimeko were shown into a plush office. There were two
middle-aged
meant there and they studied him carefully then extended skinny hands to shake his own.

“I would like your approval to build a power station here in Hanoi, and to clear the project with authorities. I propose to build and operate until we receive a return on the initial investment, then we will give the plant to the government after we have made a modest return and cleared our investment. These are the prop
osals, I have already negotiated
a fuel contract with Shell Vietnam, and the project will supply 4 giga watts to Northern Vietnam” Kester remarked and handed them two files and retained one for himself.

“As you may be aware power supplies here in Vietnam are a hit and miss af
f
air
. The people’s government welcome such initiatives as yours, especially if you consider more power stations in the south” one man said softly.

“I will certainly consider it, if we can get clearance now quickly, I will build two more in the South” he answered they talked to each other quickly and nodded.

“You are in the hotel, `de Paris`” the speaker asked.

“Yes sir, I also wish to make an enquiry, I hand after
a
have an aviation museum in the Philippines and would be interested in acquiring some more aircraft for my collection. Could you please mention to the relevant authorities. I am prepared to pay in US dollars” Kester replied, they nodded, after chatting for another 30 minutes they left the offices. They drove back to the hotel, and parked in the car park then took the lift to the 10
th
floor.

Lee was out as always on business they showered and lay naked on the bed to nap.
He awoke after three hours and phoned the Philippines and chatted to all the girls for two hours before he hung up.

Lee returned just before dinner was brought to the suite they had acquired the entire site for $50k us dollars
250 hectares
Kester was very happy
and instructed Lee to have a high security fence erected around the site. The next day he had a meeting with the pipeline contractor and it was agreed he would pay $750k for the 30 mile pipeline plus the permissions to bury the pipe underground, it was state of the art work, and the pipe was 4 inch poly propylene. Which was only a 2inch bore and came in huge reels a machine dug a 6 inch trench to a depth of 6 feet.  At a rate of a mile a day, even before they had consent from the government he instructed the company to go ahead. As t turned out he had to pay
other $200k dollars
to get the necessary permissions. A week later they were recalled to the government offices, where they were introduced to Lin-Thom-Yi their Vietnamese interpreter and liaison between the government and his company. There was also a Vietnamese
air force
captain who was introduced as Shum-Thi.

“Nice to meet you Sir Kester, I’m your fix it man regarding the acquisitions of aircraft for your museum” he said smiling.

“Nice to meet you
Captain
, your English is perfect” Kester said shaking his hand.

“I was in the South Vietnamese air force, that’s why” he said softly.

“I will visit you at the hotel this evening for a talk” he said saluting he left the offices. The oldest minister passed him his approval certificates and licences, and smiled

“Thank you sir I look forward to doing business with you. Oh sir? Will there be any problems exporting any old aircraft I may buy?” Kester asked. 

“The government is not interested in old war memorabilia. See the captain he will obtain export permits” he answered. They chatted and briefed Lin-Thom, and then left the offices together. She came back to the hotel with them.

“I have bought a house, and have ordered fittings from Singapore they are due to arrive in Hanoi in two days time, can you clear the six containers for me, here are the shipping details” Kester asked. She nodded and put the paperwork inside her shoulder bag. Lee came in elated and whispered to Kester he
had
created a compound around the tomb inside the main compound. He had also arranged for the office portacabin units to be installed on site along with a canteen and other facilities. He also arranged for a building to be erected inside the tomb compound. The
air force
captain arrived just after dinner and relaxed in the lounge he opened his attaché case and removed a sheaf of papers.

“I have 12 sky
raiders,
20 F5 freedom fighters, 30 F4F Phantoms, 6 Huey Iroquois helicopters and
a B52 bomber.
The bomber was force landed on an old airfield in Laos, and will need rebuilding, but the crew smashed up a lot of the radar and bombsights, but the plane itself is in good overall condition. The crew did not realise the airfield was in our hands. But we also have two de Havilland Buffalo short take off and landing cargo planes” he explained at length.

“How much for them all
” Kester asked.

“$2 million dollars” he said softly.

“No I will pay you $1.5 million dollars, you bring them here for my engineers to evaluate, then sort out the shipping licences I’m told you can do that?” Kester asked.

“The sky raider’s can be containerised, as well as some other aircraft. Can you arrange for some engineers to do the work for us I will cover expenses of bringing the aircraft to site” Kester replied. He took out a bundle of US dollar notes and passed them to the Captain,

“To cover your expenses” he said in a whisper unheard by the others, he beamed a smile and nodded his head.

He left the suite and the next morning he called for Kester and took him to an airbase north of Hanoi. Where all the aircraft were stored Kester was enthralled as he saw the sky raiders all lined up. They were in good overall condition grounded because of lack of spare parts some was obvious cylinder heads missing, or barrels superchargers or controls. From there he viewed the freedom fighters then the phantoms, now obsolete as a fighter but he had always loved the machines. To him they were the epitome of a fighter aircraft. The helicopters looked the worse for wear, but he could possibly make up two from the six. Then the main aircraft, `Bouncing Betty` the nose art declared the
machine was vast and inside he viewed the carnage done by the crew. The two de Havilland were in good shape except their engines were shagged. He was well happy and was driven back to the hotel. Lin Thom was there she explained she had cleared the containers from Singapore, Kester gave her the address and some dollars and she arranged for them to be delivered to the house.
They visited the following day and Kester positioned everything that had to be fitted including the air con.

The remaining four containers contained furniture. The house would be ready to move into in a few days, they worked well and a complete transformation was under way. Lee was busy buying shipping containers that were delivered to site. A concrete silo was erected near the main admin port-a-cabins. People busied around putting power on to the cabins and installing air con split systems. Furniture was delivered, and Lee paid for everything in cash. Kester went into Hanoi and set up a local bank account and transferred $250 million US dollars into it. He had two small Kubota mini diggers delivered to the interior compound where the tomb was located. Fifty large new containers were delivered, and a Vietnamese
air force
convoy turned up with tools and equipment. A low loader arrived with the first Sky Raider. It was sectionalised, tail plane and wings removed and lifted into a purpose made cradle. Then eased inside a 40 foot container once the propeller had been removed, there was not a lot of room left inside. They waited until five containers were filled. Then at night they went onto the site and opened the tomb. Using the machinery on site they rapidly filled three containers on the first night. The same morning after they had disguised the tomb entrance the
8 containers were shipped out aboard their own freighter. He watched as they left the port and headed for the Philippines. Lin Thom kept a distance and was more involved in smoothing out problems with the project. Each night they went to the tomb and recovered more treasure. Three containers left with six containers of aircraft, on another of their chartered ships. Kester saw them loaded and they left without incident.

BOOK: The Ming Dynasty Tombs
6.19Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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