213: The cause of the sinking of the Windward was found

"If you hadn't been busy developing this Explorer II, we would still have a lot of money in our account." Liu Xiaolin finally found a reason to argue with Niu De.

"If I hadn't developed the Explorer II, would the welcoming the wind have appeared today?" Niu De said angrily.

"Alright, alright, everything you did was right. Shall we talk to Director Mao about the cost issue in a bit?" Liu Xiaolin suggested.

"I think it's feasible. While these experts and leaders are so happy, let's talk to them and see if we can at least earn the price of one piece of jade." Niu De said, pointing to the qiankun wood box on the first floor. "Three thousand pieces of jade, I only want the profit of one piece of jade. That's not too much, right?"

Liu Xiaolin thought to himself how he had somehow forced a scientist to become a money-grubber, and one who worried about the company's R&D expenses at that. It seemed he needed to pay more attention to the business of Wanderer Aerospace Headquarters.

"Let's stop here for today. We need to quickly hold a meeting to organize and plan the next course of action." Vice Minister Zhou Tao said to everyone.

"Alright, alright, let's get off the ship." Director Mao also followed up.

"Should we go down below the deck and take a look? There might be treasures there too." An expert reminded.

"Yes, there's a large area below the deck as well."

Liu Xiaolin had never been below the deck, so he also wanted to go and see, because after today, he and Niu De would not have another chance to board the ship.

Moreover, he also wanted to talk to Director Mao about increasing the salvage fee a bit.

The group searched for a while before finding the passage leading below the deck. It was a narrow staircase, and the entrance was covered by a wooden board. If there hadn't been a wooden handle on the board, they wouldn't have found the passage at all.

Liu Xiaolin deliberately pulled Director Mao to walk at the back. "Director Mao, please be careful. Let them go down first, and I'll help you down last."

How could Director Mao know Liu Xiaolin's thoughts? He just thought this young man was too polite.

As the others went down one after another, Liu Xiaolin whispered to Director Mao, "Director Mao, did you make a great contribution this time?"

"It wasn't me who made a great contribution, it was us who made a great contribution. 'Us' means you and me." Director Mao said happily.

"Director Mao, there's something I'd like to discuss with you." Liu Xiaolin felt a bit embarrassed thinking about asking for an additional salvage fee.

"Just say what you have to say, there's nothing to be embarrassed about." Director Mao had a very good impression of this young man in front of him.

"It's like this. When we initially took on this salvage job, because we were worried that our Antique Bureau didn't have much funding, we cut a lot of costs and expenses when making the budget and quotation, which resulted in a loss even with the 50 million quote." Liu Xiaolin said somewhat awkwardly. "But now, as we've all seen the situation, the antiques on this welcoming the wind are exceptionally valuable, so, so..."

"So, you want to add an additional salvage fee?" Director Mao finally understood Liu Xiaolin's meaning.

"Yes, yes, yes, I was thinking, at least don't let our company lose money. After all, we've made such a huge contribution to the country, don't you agree?" Liu Xiaolin quickly took over the conversation and said.

"Actually, even if you hadn't brought this up, I had already considered it for you. Your company deserves great credit for the speed and success of the salvage operation and getting the welcoming the wind ashore. So, before you even mentioned this to me, I already had the idea of requesting an additional reward for you from the higher-ups." Director Mao said with a smile. "However, whether the higher-ups approve it and how much they approve is not up to me."

"You can tell the leaders about the total value of the welcoming the wind. Based on the antiques we've seen so far, a value of 50 billion dragon currency should be no problem, right?" Liu Xiaolin estimated a price based on the experts' discussions.

"It's at least 50 billion, if not more." Director Mao was in a good mood, so he didn't care whether Liu Xiaolin's request was reasonable or not.

"General Manager Liu, aren't you coming down yet? We're all waiting for you below." Niu De shouted from the stairs leading to the ship's hold.

"Coming, coming. Let's go, Director Mao, we'll go down and take a look too." Liu Xiaolin carefully helped Director Mao down the stairs step by step.

Upon reaching the ship's hold, it was indeed a different world. The area was large, but the stored goods had all rotted. Some experts rummaged through a bamboo basket, finding only rotten things that were unrecognizable. Moreover, after the bamboo baskets were exposed to air and oxygen, they seemed to be on the verge of rotting immediately. The experts all advised against touching them and quickly took photos to preserve the first-hand information.

Liu Xiaolin was not interested in these items, so he walked around the ship's hold and found a hole at the bow. It was obvious that this hole was the result of colliding with something.

"I finally know why this ship sank. It turns out it hit a reef during its voyage, damaging the fender, which caused water to enter the ship's hold. That's why the people on board abandoned the ship and escaped." Thinking of this, Liu Xiaolin called everyone over to look.

"Leaders, experts, come and take a look. This ship sank to the seabed because it damaged its fender by collision." Liu Xiaolin said, pointing to the broken hole.

Upon hearing this, everyone came over to observe. After looking at the irregular hole, they all agreed with Liu Xiaolin's view.

"Yes, you are right. This ship sank because it hit a reef and damaged the fender. After the crew hastily retreated and evacuated, they didn't have time to transfer the items on board." Director Mao said. "How hasty were they? They didn't even have time to unbuckle and take the golden belt bestowed by the Emperor."

"If this hole is repaired, will this welcoming the wind still be able to sail?" Liu Xiaolin asked.

"There should be no problem. We also saw just now that there are no issues with other parts of this welcoming the wind. If it weren't for this hole, it definitely wouldn't have sunk." Director Mao continued.

"Then there's a way to transport so many antiques. We can just repair the welcoming the wind and then sail it to a famous seaside antique museum in Dragon Country for research and exhibition." Liu Xiaolin came up with an idea. "This way, it not only eliminates the possibility of secondary damage during transportation but also saves a large amount of transportation costs. At the same time, it can ensure the safety of the antiques."

"Good idea, good idea. We will immediately contact ship repair experts to repair the welcoming the wind." Vice Minister Zhou Tao was also very excited. Discovering such a massive amount of precious antiques during his tenure was enough for him to be proud of for a lifetime.

"Alright, then our mission is considered a complete success. The subsequent research work will be left to the leaders and experts." Liu Xiaolin had seen so many antiques on the ship today and felt that as an outsider, he shouldn't continue to join in the excitement.

. You provided God Wu Ji's Rise of Heavy Industry: Creating the Light of National Goods.