Chapter 4867: Three caves

General Hassan immediately found someone to arrange and send a letter to the chiefs of a dozen tribes in the desert. They summoned them to Odalat.
A few days later, these chiefs, surrounded by their own personal guards, came to Odalat.
General Hassan hosted a banquet for them in person. These tribal chiefs are all local tyrants. although. They do not have a fixed territory, and live on nomads.
But his subordinates have their own private arms, and they will be treated with courtesy no matter where they go. The government forces have to give them some points.
However, Hassan has a very good relationship with them. He hugs them and calls them brothers together. But when Hassan spoke out his doubts.
These chiefs all seemed to express incomprehension about this matter.
"Warehouse? A warehouse in the desert? We haven't seen it. The desert is so big, it is in no man's land, and transportation is very inconvenient. Who will build a warehouse there?" A chief shook his head, "I never heard about it."
"It is very likely that these warehouses are not built on the surface but underground. Although the desert is dry and high temperature, if it is an underground facility, it can achieve constant temperature and humidity. And the dry air is conducive to long-term storage of materials." Lin Rui Explained.
"Underground engineering, building underground engineering in the desert is not an easy task. These underground fortifications require reinforced concrete construction. In the desert, water is a very precious resource.
In addition, labor and machinery are needed to create such a large movement, we can't help but know. "The other bearded chief also shook his head.
"It is very likely that these warehouses have been established more than ten years ago." Lin Rui nodded. "Is it possible for you to recall, did anyone carry out similar activities in the desert more than ten years ago?"
"I have been the chief for less than ten years. If it were more than ten years ago, I really don't know." The younger chief nodded.
But the Bearded Chief seemed to think of something, "I remembered something when you said this."
"What did you remember? Tell me." General Hassan nodded immediately.
"Probably more than ten years ago, there was a group of French people. They should be from the survey team? They came to find oil near Western Sahara.
At that time they set up camps everywhere, stayed for several years, and conducted decent surveys. But in the end, it seems that no valuable oil fields have been discovered. "The Bearded Chief explained. "I remember that they invested a lot of manpower and material resources. "
"Oh? The oil survey team?" Lin Rui asked after thinking about it, "Did they stay in the desert for several years?"
"Yes, it is true." The other chief seemed to recall it. "In this way, I seem to have an impression.
They seemed to have an engineering team at the time, and the scale was not small. The strangest thing is that they all came with engineering teams and a large number of engineering machinery.
Everything is done by themselves. They chose a site in the desert and enclosed a simple fence. No matter what you do, you operate inside the fence. But not much contact with us. "
"Selecting a site in the desert will last for several years. These are really suspicious." Hassan nodded. "Even more than a decade ago, the technology of oil extraction was not as advanced as it is now.
But to survey a place for oil, only one drilling equipment is required. No matter what, all the workload will be completed within a few months.
It is impossible to stay in the same area for several years. Because there is no oil, they can quickly understand through drilling.
If it proves that there is no oil in a place, then there is no need to stay there. Not to mention, it usually takes several years in that place. "
The chiefs nodded to each other, "This is indeed true. We were also thinking before, would they be doing something else?
But we found that they didn't seem to do anything, and they waited about two and a half years. These people withdrew one after another.
At that time, everyone’s guess was because. These people did not find oil resources, so they withdrew.
And this matter has passed for many years. If you didn't mention it just now, I can't remember it myself. "
The Bearded Chief nodded, "That's true."
"Mr. Rick, do you think we think too much? There has been an oil exploration team in the desert. It's not uncommon before." Hassan thought for a while. "After all, they should have done nothing but surveys. Drilling there honestly."
Lin Rui shook his head, "drilling oil wells? No, no, no, I know that these drilling rigs can also explore oil reserves and use them as soil samples.
If the secret agency wants to build a large warehouse in those locations. Then we must understand the geological and rock-soil conditions.
So it is very likely that they secretly built underground storage in the name of oil survey. After all, as mentioned earlier, it does not take two and a half years to survey for oil in a small area. "
"That is, they showed themselves to the local nomads to extract oil. But in fact, they were digging and building underground storage.
In two and a half years, even if a small construction team has enough construction machinery, it can still create a large underground storage. Hassan nodded.
"One thing can prove that it is the condition of the water." Lin Rui turned around and asked the bearded chief. "You just said that water is a very precious resource in the desert. Have you discovered that during that period? The team transports a lot of water?"
"I haven't seen this. But I have an impression of one thing. You also know that the Sahara Desert is hot and dry, and water resources are very precious.
Especially during those years, the drought was particularly severe. Several oases are almost exhausted.
The nearby tribes had to be forced to migrate to find oasis with more water. "The bearded chief nodded.
"That's right." Lin Rui turned and whispered to Hassan. "The water sources in the desert oasis are basically groundwater. If it is only for oil exploration, it is impossible to reduce the local groundwater level.
This shows that someone is taking a lot of groundwater. And construction projects require a lot of concrete. These concretes must have cement mixed sand and gravel, which consumes a lot of water. "
Hassan reacted immediately, "So these people secretly excavated underground warehouses and built them with reinforced concrete.
Although they can cover their identity by surveying oil, surveying oil does not require such a large amount of groundwater. Unless you are doing underground construction.
In the desert, the storage of groundwater is also limited, and the large amount of groundwater pumping will cause the groundwater level to drop, and the water level of the oasis will drop, nearly drying up. "
Lin Rui nodded, "This is what I want to say. No matter how well they hide, they will still leave some traces."