King Of War: Starting with Arms Dealer

Yuan Ya, carrying sea cucumbers, found Tong Tong who was struggling with stretching exercises...

Seeing Yuan Ya arriving, Tong Tong, who could not do a split to save her life, acted as though she had seen a savior. She wiped the non-existent sweat from her forehead, pretended to gasp for air as she jumped up, and, pulling Yuan Ya, made a funny face at the baby in her arms. Then, enviously looking at Yuan Ya's waist, she said, "Oh my, how are you still so slim after having a baby?

You must not be eating enough..."

As she spoke, Tong Tong looked at the sea cucumbers in Yuan Ya's hand—slurping with her nose, she said, "I heard sea cucumbers don't make you fat. Tonight, let's have Old Tong cook; back in the day, he won my mom over and got her to marry him with a dish of stir-fried sea cucumber with green onions..."

Yuan Ya stuffed the sea cucumbers into Tong Tong's hands and laughed, "Then you should eat more. These are from Old Zhu, who sent them over from Africa. If you like them, I'll ask him to send some regularly."

Speaking of which, Yuan Ya handed over the baby in her arms to Tong Tong, "Hold him for a bit, my arms are killing me…"

Tong Tong, with a look of disdain, took the toothless baby and said, "Is your son really yours? He doesn't look like you at all and is the spitting image of Old Zhu...

You too, what saw you in that guy?"

Yuan Ya casually stretched her body, laughing as she said, "Old Zhu is so wealthy and reliable, plus he's been divorced twice and neither ex-wife has a bad word to say about him.

Marrying President Zhu is better than delivering vegetables to the entertainment industry coming from a small county town like I did..."

While talking, Yuan Ya smiled at a blonde Russian female bodyguard who was persisting in stretching, then sat down on the sofa with Tong Tong, saying, "I've looked into the thing you asked about.

Setting up a travel agency with an outbound tourism qualification isn't too complicated. If you want to keep it simple, just affiliate with CITS or CYTS...

But I asked Old Zhu, and he said if you want to start a hunting guide business and interface with Africa, it's best we set up our own agency and then collaborate with them on their platform.

Aren't you always in contact with that Eric fellow recently? Get him to grant us a license, then speak to your dad—it could be easily sorted out.

I've consulted about it; such high-end tourism projects are not yet specialized in domestically and are very promising!"

Hearing this, Tong Tong clenched her fists and said, "We'll definitely succeed. They opened a resort and didn't involve us; this time, I'll go myself…"

While speaking, Tong Tong, in discomfort, lay on the sofa covering her face, "My Xiao Hui has grown up so much, and Briella, that little scamp, is even sending photos to rub it in...

Hurry up and get the company started. I want to fly over and protect my treasure!"

Yuan Ya was familiar with Tong Tong's excitable nature. She nodded in agreement, then nudged Tong Tong's arm and inquired, "Who were those people just now?

I saw one from China Shipbuilding Defense and another, President Jin, who seemed like a big shot from the North Industries. What were they doing here?"

Tong Tong, frustrated, replied, "How would I know? If you're interested, let's go up and see...

Hey? These are all wealthy people; they could be good clients. Let's go have a look and get some business cards.

If we can handle their travel business, we'll be rich too! Hmph, I'm a strong, independent woman who can support herself. Let's see if Old Tong and Old Yang will still look down on me…"

.........

Qiao Liang was looking for someone from China Shipbuilding, but what arrived was a representative from 'China Shipbuilding Defense,' which was slightly different.

Moreover, even though he had inquired about ships, it was North Industries that knocked on his door, making Qiao Liang somewhat confused.

Having seated a few people in the elder Tong's home, Qiao Liang himself brewed tea for the guests. He then curiously looked at President Jin from North Industries, who was evidently the leader, asking, "May I know why President Jin has sought me out?"

As he spoke, Joe Ga glanced at the obviously too-young representative from 'China Shipbuilding Defense,' his eyebrows slightly furrowed, feeling somewhat displeased by their 'negligence.'

You could have just flatly refused me or sent someone with decision-making power to talk. Sending a young man who can't make decisions is pointless.

It seemed President Jin could read between the lines of Qiao Liang's subtext. He smiled and said, "Joe Ga may have misunderstood. Old Zhang from China Shipbuilding is in Guangzhou for a meeting and will arrive in the Capital City tomorrow.

I'm an old friend of Old Zhang, so I volunteered to come see President Qiao in advance.

Not to lie to you, your call startled many people.

Selling ships sounds easy enough, and the tonnage of the 056 isn't large, but in practice, it will likely be quite troublesome.

I know President Qiao's brother is a patriotic and capable person; he might find a way around some restrictions.

But there are some things the people at China Shipbuilding can't openly commit to, so I, a man more used to land, am overstepping a bit to have a preliminary chat with President Qiao...

And frankly, President Qiao's brother alone is propping up nearly half of Seville's weapon export business, with his purchases of Milos Armored Vehicles alone sustaining the Yuginebert Company's upgrade and development of this product into its fourth generation.

This really makes us a little jealous..."

Upon hearing this, Qiao Liang chuckled, "Is President Jin suggesting that my brother redirect his procurement to domestic sources?

You just mentioned there would be trouble with the ship business; doesn't the armored vehicle business face difficulties too?"

Qiao Liang lacked some sensitivity toward the military-political sphere. The business he was in, which involved spending money, had always been embraced with open arms. He was escorted wherever he went and his unmanned airship development company was also propped up by a big client—President Qiao…

Qiao Liang felt a natural reverence for industry giants like North Industries but, to be honest, had no direct understanding of the difficulties such giants faced in maintaining their status.

North Industries and China Ordnance are, after all, two brands under the same company!

How could the military factories under Northern Industry feed themselves only through the domestic updates of army weaponry?

In recent years, they have run around various defense exhibitions diligently, but the gains have not been particularly significant.

The situation where a single person like Boss Qiao supports a country's arms sales is extremely rare in the world.

Of course, the scale of Seville is not large...

But now Boss Qiao still controls the arms market of the countries near Central Africa, and anyone who wants to enter the market and sell weapons can't avoid dealing with him.

It's not that Boss Qiao really has the capacity to disregard the actions of the powerful permanent members of the United Nations, but rather he currently holds the purse strings of Central Africa and Congo along with their defense contracts...

The largest armed force on the Congo River is now P·B, they have contracted the security and defense work on the Congo and Ubangi River in Central Africa, incidentally suppressing the naval forces of Congo Braze so much that they're gasping for air and continuously complaining at the African Union Headquarters.

However, the Congo River basin is just too vast, and for P·B to completely control the great river, they need a lot of manpower and equipment.

Not only is Boss Qiao capable of selling his products, but he himself is also a major customer, and even an African tycoon who can decide the allocation of military budgets in Congo and Central Africa!

How could Northern Industry not be envious?

The patrol boats on P·B's river were actually bought from Seville, and it's already a done deal that the first batch of 25 boats has been deployed, but Northern Industry should at least get a bite of the second batch of orders.

They're all boats, Boss Qiao, you shouldn't just focus on those troublesome large ships; our smaller boats are actually more usable and more affordable.

President Jin answered Qiao Liang's question with a smile, "We are keen to make contact with President Qiao's brother. If possible, we can invest in building a small shipyard in Congo.

Congo has extremely developed waterways, and if President Qiao's brother is interested, we can thoroughly enter Congo's inland river shipping market.

When the time comes, we can not only provide President Qiao with the most cost-effective patrol boats but also gradually expand Congo's shipbuilding market and then seek opportunities to invest in the docks on Congo's inland rivers.

Most towns in Congo are established along rivers; there's great potential in this business."

Qiao Liang, astounded by what he heard, said, "President Jin, does Northern Industry even have a shipbuilding business? Are we now getting into dockyards as well?"

President Jin laughed upon hearing this, "We can't compete in building ocean-going vessels, but we do have specialized subsidiaries for building inland river patrol boats.

However, the market is challenging right now, so I thought of scouting ahead with Xiao Qiao, before seeing if President Qiao would be interested.

To be honest, President Qiao's influence in Congo is greater than that of the French; it's his influence that makes our investment a profitable possibility.

Xiao Qiao might not be aware that Northern Industry also has oil business interests, and we hold a stake in your brother's deals in Tubruq and Iraq.

The money from those long-headed warriors' aid, when the Energy Group splits the cake domestically, we have to subsidize it from the oil revenue, hahaha..."

Qiao Liang isn't very sensitive to political and military issues, but he's in the logistics business and fully understands the grand scale of President Jin's plans.

All of China's foreign infrastructure aid is, of course, meant to garner political support internationally, but more fundamentally, to cultivate markets.

As an industrial nation with a complete industrial chain, and with the advancement of automation, China's industrial production capacity has kept expanding, and it needs sufficient markets to absorb those products.

Why hasn't his older brother returned home and simply created Jia Liang Trading, a foreign trade giant?

It's because he found an outlet for China's products and managed to ensure the sale and transportation of goods in war-torn and politically unstable regions.

What Northern Industry proposes as 'shipyard investment' and 'dock investment' is, in reality, an attempt to cultivate Congo's market...

Helping them build roads and bridges may be beyond China's capacity, but investing in docks is a different story.

Not to mention profitability, having both ships and docks can facilitate Congo's internal circulation and make the movement of goods smoother.

Congolese may not afford high-end products, but they still need low-end basic materials.

And no one can compete with China in this regard!

Once this massive plan takes shape, the trade volume of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo will increase exponentially.

In the past, this issue had been considered, but to cultivate a market, a stable political environment is a prerequisite.

Otherwise, you invest and the next thing you know, they turn around and refuse to acknowledge the deal, and such things have happened before.

The presence of Boss Qiao has given Northern Industry the confidence to get involved; he's the kind of a person who can find balance amidst chaos.

Moreover, the defense contract he leads in Congo determines whether there will be unrest and to what extent.

With Boss Qiao around, Northern Industry has the confidence and motivation to invest!

This is the profit chain that stems from influence...

Make money?

Joe Ga might not earn much money any time soon, but the steady business of river security and the increased value derived from the overall increase in influence are more valuable.

Joe Ga wants to try selling large ships because he's always done this kind of business, which has made his cash flow a bit tight.

Not borrowing money to wage war is Boss Qiao's bottom line, so making quick money is indeed very important!