Hong Kong Island: From a small stall to a global supplier

The three largest forces in the banquet hall were the Kachin and Karen National Union of Myanmar, the Aceh armed forces of Indonesia, and the three southern provinces of Siam, followed by the horsemen.

They all knew about the deal between Wang Yaotang and Peng, Luo, and Zhang, so they were never worried that Wang Yaotang would turn against them. They were the first to arrive at the banquet, their purpose being to meet Wang Yaotang.

Unexpectedly, Wang Yaotang only made an appearance, gave a few words, and toasted a few times before leaving.

"Isn't the boss going to see those people?" Wei Tao asked in a low voice as they left the banquet hall.

"What's the point of talking to them? None of them can be the master of their own faction." Wang Yaotang waved his hand casually. "Alright, you guys go back and entertain your guests. These are the conditions, strictly enforce them."

"Remember, we're not selling military equipment, but rather toy models of replica firearms and metal parts."

“Understood. What those people do with it is their own business, it has nothing to do with us.” Gao Lishi nodded with a smile.

After saying that, Wang Yaotang got into the car and disappeared on the highway under the escort of several armored vehicles.

To facilitate operations, Wang Yaotang had someone register a toy factory on Hong Kong Island, specializing in the production of metal replica toy guns. Except for the lack of a firing mechanism, they were all real, but they could not be fired, which was theoretically not illegal.

These spare parts were also purchased from my hometown through legitimate channels; the purchase list specifically lists metal spare parts.

As for the firing mechanism, that was procured separately, as a spare part in the metal daily necessities market.

When it's time to sell, it's sold the same way. These kinds of enamel mugs and basins are very popular in the tropical environment of the southern peninsula. They are impact-resistant and corrosion-resistant, so there's no problem selling them as complementary products.

As for bullets, how can bullets not be spare parts!
Who can go to Phuket customs for inspection?

As for artillery, it will not be sold for the time being. Wang Yaotang is also afraid that these rebels might really inflict a serious injury on the government army... that would be too embarrassing.

Wei Tao and Gao Lishi exchanged a glance, neither of them spoke, and then turned and went back.

“Mr. Wei, this…” Azman frowned, looking as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.

"Hahaha, this is Phuket after all, and the city is ultimately managed by you, the mayor. Wang Sheng said he shouldn't overstep his bounds. All the boss can do is clean up the environment and lay a foundation. In the future, it will still be up to you, Mayor, to show your skills. So, I'll head back now," Wei Tao said with a smile.

"This, this..." Azman knew he shouldn't laugh, but he couldn't hold it in any longer, his mouth stretching almost to his ears. "Wang Sheng, this is too much of an honor. I really..."

Azman squeezed his eyes shut. At any other time, he would have cried, but right now he was just too excited. "I, I, I..."

With a forceful wave of his hand, he shouted, "Loyalty!"

"It's good that you're so kind, Mayor. I'm sure your career will be limitless with the large-scale development of Phuket. Congratulations in advance!" Wei Tao laughed heartily. "Mr. Azman, please!"

"Mr. Wei, please. Mr. Gao, please."

"please!"

Gao Lishi opened his mouth several times but couldn't get a word in edgewise. He was so anxious that he roared in his heart, "I'm the one who's permanently stationed in Phuket, you bastard!"

This is something Gao Lishi didn't understand. The closer one gets to the core, the greater the power becomes. From the moment he was chosen as the head of the Indian Ocean region, his value in Azman's eyes gradually decreased.

After all, Azman's goal is the stars and the sea.

As soon as the three entered, Qiu and Chen greeted them, "Mr. Gao, Mr. Wei, and Mr. Wang, what brings you here?"

“Master Yao still has some matters to attend to. Aren’t there two elderly gentlemen here? Master Yao can rest assured,” Gao Lishi interjected.

"Yes, yes, yes, Mr. Wang has to worry about so many things across the Southeast Peninsula. This little matter here has already troubled him too much. Please tell him, Mr. Gao, that he can rest assured that Mr. Wang is the sun of Phuket. We will absolutely follow the development plan he has formulated and do our best to keep Phuket on the right track," Qiu Haishan said, patting his sunken chest.

Gao Lishi was overjoyed, "You two are right! Under Master Yao's brilliance, the future of Phuket is sure to be bright!"

He still didn't quite understand why Qiu Chen and Azman treated him and Wei Tao so differently, but he also vaguely sensed who would be on his side in the future.

With Wang Yaotang's swift and decisive actions, the source of the chaos in Phuket Island was completely eliminated. With a battalion stationed there to deter crime, and with Wang Yaotang's reputation, the security situation in Phuket Island could be reversed in a short period of time.

In fact, governing a local area is not that difficult.

The so-called "political harmony and social stability" was forcibly achieved under the intimidation of a single battalion of troops, while Phuket's economy is not bad, or rather, it is quite good, otherwise it wouldn't be in such chaos...

With "political harmony and social stability" and "abundant resources," great governance is certainly possible. Coupled with some propaganda, Azman's reputation will undoubtedly soar. With the foundation laid for further advancement, promotion is only a matter of time. In the end, the Qiu and Chen families and Gao Lishi will remain.

Wang Yaotang has already finalized the framework, so he doesn't need to worry about the rest. On the contrary, he still needs to worry a lot about the factories in Myanmar.

After resting for a few days, Wang Yaotang took a yacht to Pattaya.

The Pattaya Tourism City is mostly completed and ready for trial operation. Most of the senior management personnel were transferred from Hong Kong's Tian Sheng Entertainment and Peninsula Hotel, as well as some middle-level managers and trainees. The local recruits are mostly middle and lower-level service staff.

The people of Siam are truly incompetent.

According to the employment standards of mid-to-high-end nightclubs and hotels in Hong Kong, front-line service staff are not only required to have good looks and proper etiquette, but also to be proficient in everyday English conversation. It's not that Siamese people don't know English, but those who do are considered mid-to-high-end talents and wouldn't be chosen as front-line service staff.

Hong Kong has 7% control over mid-to-high-end nightclubs and has been continuously training staff, resulting in a very sufficient talent pool, which is enough to barely fill the labor shortage.

Otherwise, no matter how good the facilities are, they're just for show if no one is around.

These people are willing to work in Pattaya because of Wang Yaotang's banner; they believe in the Little God of Wealth, so of course he has to show up to appease people.

"Let's talk about the publicity issue. Pattaya's previous reputation is not enough to support its current scale and level," Wang Yaotang asked in a deep voice at the meeting.

Song Qingming, who was in charge of publicity, stood up and said, "Good morning, Chairman and all directors. Our publicity department is planning a grand opening celebration for the hotel. We will invite social elites from Siam, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, and Indonesia to attend the celebration, and we will also invite some famous singers and movie stars to perform at the celebration..."

Song Qingming used a projector to display the designed PPT, "The entire celebration is divided into three parts: On the first day, as celebrities from all walks of life arrive, we will conduct continuous coverage throughout Southeast Asia through the 48 media outlets we have contacted, thus expanding our influence."

"The ribbon-cutting ceremony officially began on the second day. We invited a French helicopter performance team to use colored smoke to draw the words 'Pattaya' in the sky. After that, there was a hot air balloon performance. Eighteen hot air balloons took off and circled the city at an altitude of 300 meters, holding banners. This lasted until the evening. The hot air balloons turned on their lights and formed our hotel's logo in the sky."

"We have arranged for several television stations to broadcast the helicopter show and the evening light show live, which can be simultaneously broadcast to all major cities in Southeast Asia. It is estimated that more than 10 million people will watch it."

"The third day is an open-air concert, which will also be broadcast live. After the saturation of promotion in the first two days, the live broadcast of the concert will attract more viewers."

Song Qingming explained the entire publicity plan. Wang Yaotang nodded slightly, and the family representatives around him, including Chen, Li, and Zhou, applauded softly. It wasn't perfect, but it was already quite good.

Song Qingming sat down with a mixture of humility and pride.

"Not bad." Wang Yaotang thought for a moment and then added, "It's alright, nothing special."

Song Qingming was taken aback.

"What kind of articles does Brother Chen usually read in the newspaper?" Wang Yaotang asked with a smile.

"Current affairs, economy, stocks," Chen Yuanbing replied, unsure of the question's meaning.

Do you want to read the Eight Trigrams?

Chen Yuanbing naturally said he wouldn't watch it, although he did watch it...

Wang Yaotang then asked the others with a smile. They were all smart people and vaguely understood what he meant. Apart from a few shareholders who were concerned about saving face, the senior executives below answered truthfully that they liked to watch.

“Reports of the Governor of Hong Kong’s corruption and bribery are indeed big news, but people just look at them and move on. However, if the Governor’s wife is caught having an affair, that news can be talked about for years.”

Lin's mother, Yu Baozhu, uttered the famous line, "Just consider it as my son hiring a prostitute," which remains fresh in everyone's memory even after more than twenty years. Wang Yaotang joked about the Governor of Hong Kong, saying, "The previous publicity plan was very proper, but it was just the opening of the hotel, so it was hard to generate any discussion. The reach wasn't enough. We need something more unusual to make it work."

"Since we've invited celebrities, a simple concert isn't very interesting. We can discuss arrangements for things like infidelity, two women fighting over a man, a relationship being exposed, childbirth, and pregnancy with the parties involved. We should provide the necessary funds and resources, and the Pattaya Tourism City should be mentioned extensively in the media reports. Remember, the core is to promote the tourism city through these events."

This was the first time anyone had heard of such a publicity strategy, and they all stared at Wang Yaotang in astonishment, unable to understand how a human could do something like this.
Of course, the effect is definitely good, after all, everyone knows how widespread celebrity gossip is, it's just that the methods are a bit... despicable.

A brand new way to use celebrities...

But from a business perspective, that's incredibly worthwhile!
Get the most done with the least amount of money!
No wonder that guy surnamed Wang has achieved so much at such a young age; his methods are just too damn unconventional!

For these Southeast Asian celebrities, these kinds of scandals and gossip are completely irrelevant.

"Understood." Song Qingming nodded emphatically.

"We can apply this principle to other situations, using things that the public likes to package Pattaya, and make it famous in the shortest possible time," Wang Yaotang said with a smile.

After discussing other matters, the meeting ended, and the publicity department immediately took action.

Wang Yaotang and his associates weren't idle either. The publicity department couldn't handle the task of contacting celebrities from all sides, so they had to make the calls themselves.

……

Bangkok, a private estate.

Sha Ze led his men in, "Brother Yao, Director Pira Thasin Wusin is here."

“Wang Sheng, it’s been a long time.” Pira Thasin Wusin bowed slightly and quickly walked up to him.

"Haha, Wu Xin, your Chinese is much better than when we last met." Wang Yaotang got up, walked over, and extended his hand.

“I am also Chinese, but I didn’t talk about it much before. I’ll come back after talking more.” Wu Xin smiled brightly. “Mr. Wang, let me introduce you. This is Mr. Daman. Mr. Daman’s family is the largest family in Chachoengsao Province. Their business extends to several surrounding provinces. They have a lot of influence in the vehicle manufacturing industry in Chonburi Province.”

"Hello, Mr. Daman."

"Hello, hello, Mr. Wang." Daman was in his forties. Unlike traditional Siamese people who are dark-skinned, he was rather fair-skinned and plump. His eyes were small, and when he smiled, they became slits.

Inviting the two to sit down, Wu Xin congratulated them on the completion of the Pattaya hotel and chatted about everything in Bangkok. The atmosphere was quite pleasant.

For more than a year, following Wang Yaotang's instructions, Wu Xin used the incident of bombarding the Chao Phraya River to recruit retired Siamese soldiers from outside and form a special operations team directly under the Bangkok Police Department.

Although there were only a hundred people, they were well paid, had good benefits, were equipped with luxurious gear, and had excellent tactics. After half a year of training, they successfully wiped out a drug cartel on their first mission. In the firefight, they killed more than 20 people on the spot, arrested 18 people, seized more than 400 kilograms of drugs, and seized 1000 million US dollars in illicit funds!
The First World War shocked the entire Siam!
From then on, Pirat Thaksin Wusin became a rising star in Bangkok's political circles, and was sought after by all sides.

Subsequently, the police crackdown on dissidents and the elimination of long-standing problems within the police station, while not exactly a complete transformation of the Bangkok police force, did improve the combat effectiveness and fighting spirit of some officers, making them more adept at maintaining security in the core area of ​​Bangkok.

Many people have already promised Wu Xin that they will push him into the National Administration after the next election.

“There’s no rush with the National Security Bureau.” Wang Yaotang thought for a moment and shook his head. “You’ve got a higher position, but you don’t have anyone under your command. My advice is not to rush. Stay in this position for a few years, cultivate some trusted confidants, and make sure that your words still carry weight in the Bangkok Police Department after you go up. Otherwise, you’ll be sidelined sooner or later. There are so many people in the National Security Bureau with higher positions than you, but how many of them actually have more power than you?”

Pira Thasin Wusin blinked, and whatever he thought in his heart, he nodded in agreement, looking like he was thanking him for his guidance.

Of course, Wang Yaotang didn't care. By the next term, his influence in Siam would be far greater than that of a mere Bangkok police chief.

Daman, who was standing next to him, remained silent until Wu Xin finished talking. Then he said, "Mr. Daman came here this time to ask Mr. Wang a favor."

“Mr. Wang,” Daman said, rising and bowing slightly before sitting down. “It’s like this: a few days ago, my father went to Sa Kaeo Province to inspect a mine and was resting in a village when he was attacked by a cross-border robbery by an Annamese army and was captured. We are unable to rescue him in time, so we hope to get help from Umbrella Security Company.”

Wang Yaotang raised an eyebrow. "Is this an operation by the Annamite military?"

“No, it was the military leaders below who acted on their own. In fact, the Annamese only had formal military operations in the first two years of the conflict. The border conflicts after that were all caused by those military leaders. They were just looting, like… cough cough cough, like this time.” Daman wanted to say the ‘Annam army attack on Pattaya’ incident, but suddenly remembered that the mastermind was right in front of him, so he immediately shut up.

"If it's a robbery, why arrest people?" Wang Yaotang asked.

"Sometimes it's for ransom, sometimes it's to make slaves work, and sometimes it's to kill for fun; there are many reasons."

"Then pay the money to ransom them back."

“No, this has happened before.” Daman shook his head. “Annan won’t admit it through official channels, and through private channels, they will not only refuse to release the person, but will also demand money again and again. Each time, they will cut off a finger and send it back, demanding more and more each time. In the end, the person will definitely die at their hands, because once they are released, the matter will be out in the open.”

"Oh." Wang Yaotang smiled. "So you're trying to smear the reputation of the Da'an Nan Army, huh?"

“Therefore, no matter what you do, reputation and word-of-mouth are very important.” Wang Yaotang turned to look at Wu Xin. “The most ruthless are never the robbers, but the army.”

How can you be sure your father is still alive?

“Someone sent a message with photos. They won’t kill us unless we pay them.” Daman stood up and bowed deeply. “Please, Mr. Wang, help us save them.”

You can't say "give," that would be vulgar.

Before coming, I had already planned that the benefits Wang Yaotang wanted would definitely be something other than money.

"How much money is the Daman family prepared to offer?" Wang Yaotang asked.

"Huh?" Daman stared blankly at him, and Wu Xin hadn't expected to ask that question either.

"What, you want my men to do their work for nothing?" Wang Yaotang's voice turned cold.

“No, no, I… I meant…” Daman stammered, unsure of what to say, sweat beading on his forehead.

Wang Yaotang laughed and said, "I know what you mean, but you can't afford any price other than money."

Daman looked puzzled, which only shows that he has a narrow perspective and can't see things clearly.

Wang Yaotang's target is the whole of Southeast Asia. He is willing to do anything for money, including supporting Peng and Luo.

Many things are actually simplest when you need money; it's the things that are truly troublesome when you don't.

Building a reputation for being someone who gets paid to do things is more beneficial to him.

For some reason, Daman felt relieved to hear that it was free. "How much does the Umbrella rescue mission cost?"

"That depends on the location, strength, and equipment of this Annamese army. I will send someone to scout ahead. Before we launch our attack, you'd better give them some money to keep them in check and ensure your father's safety. Otherwise, we might go there and find him already dead."

“Okay!” Daman nodded. “Then please ask Mr. Wang to hurry.”

Wang Yaotang said with a smile, "Go to Pattaya now. My people will arrive in a few hours, and then fly to Sa Kaeo. They know what to do."

"Okay." Daman didn't ask any more questions, got up, bowed slightly, and walked outside.

……

More than eight hours later, two Y-5 transport planes landed in a field near the border of Sa Kaeo province. As soon as Daman got off the plane, his legs gave way and he sat down on the ground, retching. The landing was just too rough...

After a long while, Daman looked at the camouflage uniform and buzz cut that were already prepared and admired Daman from the bottom of his heart. The execution efficiency was really fast!
They even have military transport planes, that's fucking outrageous! (End of Chapter)