I manufacture weapons in the Middle East and am wanted globally?

Chapter 73 Others are cursed to bring misfortune to their husbands, I'm cursed to bring misfortune

When they returned to their own tent area, Chen Zheng left Gao Fei, Assam, and Khalid behind.

As Wang Lei left the tent, he couldn't help but look back several times.

Chen Zheng sat cross-legged on the carpet in the center, glanced at everyone, and then looked at Gao Fei. "I'm planning to recruit some local people to join the security force. What do you think?"

Gao Fei nodded upon hearing this, his expression becoming serious.

"Ah Zheng, I was just about to bring this up with you even though you didn't say anything."

"You've seen the situation. The group that came today could plant listening devices in our tents, and tomorrow they'll dare to block the door with guns. With just a few of us, we can barely manage to guard one stall, but now we have a factory, a fleet of vehicles, and inventory. We can't handle it all by ourselves."

He held up his fingers and counted them off one by one: "At most, we have six capable men. If we go out to deliver goods, we need at least four people to escort the truck, leaving two to guard the factory. We don't even have anyone to rotate shifts."

"Adding another 30 to 50 people would be about right."

He added, "A lot of refugees have poured into the tribe recently. I've observed that there are quite a few strong men among them. Some came from Daraa and used to serve in the government army, so they're not bad. Others came from northern Lebanon and have experience in the bubble tea business. They know the rules. All these people need is food. They'll work for money. With a little training, that's enough."

Which factory owner in a war zone doesn't have a private armed force?

From large foreign oil companies to small domestic Chinese business groups, many people are directly recruited to protect company assets and are not involved in fighting.

Therefore, the salary is much less than that of a mercenary, but it is also much safer.

After listening, Chen Zheng asked, "What do you think about looking in China?"

Gao Fei frowned. "Isn't the risk too great? Besides, to be honest, many soldiers in China don't even fire a few bullets a year. We're selecting WJ Special Forces or Lao Lu's Special Forces—"

"My idea is, what if we open a bodyguard company in Southeast Asia, recruit veterans from China under the name of the bodyguard company, train them, and then send them to war zones to perform security missions?" Chen Zheng asked.

This is a common practice among many overseas companies.

Gao Fei was stunned when he heard Boss Chen's plan. "Playing it that big?"

"Monster Factory can't just be in the Bekaa Valley. Maybe—we need branches throughout the Middle East, or even the entire world's war zones?" Chen Zheng said with a soft laugh.

Who who owns a factory doesn't want branches all over the world?

The Cali Cartel, a major drug lord in Colombia back then, even became a Fortune 500 company.

Gao Fei nodded. "We can give it a try, but we don't have anyone in Southeast Asia—"

"Yes, you will. As you do business, you'll build connections all over the world. That's part of my plan. Right now, let's solve our manpower problem. You and Wang Lei go to the village entrance and put up a sign to recruit people, according to your standards."

Gao Fei nodded quickly, "And the salary—"

"The positions are divided into office security and field security. Field security pays more, $500 a month, while office security pays $300. If one person dies in the line of duty, the compensation is $6000! Food and accommodation are provided. It's a 10-hour workday, 26 days a month."

"Okay! Shall I go now?"

Chen Zheng nodded and said with a smile, "Don't hire any lousy or bad people, or I'll dock your pay."

"Don't worry!" Gao Fei said with a smile, then nodded to Assam and the others before walking out of the tent.

After Gao Fei left, Chen Zheng turned to look at Khalid.

"What do you think Sheikh will think of us after what happened today?"

Khalid leaned back against the cushion, thought for a moment, and his brows furrowed into a deep frown.

"If I were Sheikh, I would find you a nuisance."

"Besides, this old man is timid and lacks drive; he can't handle being scared."

Assam nodded in agreement and continued the conversation.

"Khalid is right. Sheikh has been cautious his whole life, relying on not offending anyone. He seeks stability. We, on the other hand, have only been here a few days and we're already selling guns and drones, even blowing up a lieutenant general, and today we killed someone in a tent."

"Sheikh now looks at us like we're a ticking time bomb."

The tent was quiet for a few seconds.

Chen Zheng squinted and tapped his fingers lightly twice on the carpet.

Then he suddenly spoke, his voice not loud, but every word was spoken very clearly.

"So what do you guys think of Amir?"

Upon hearing this, the air inside the tent seemed to be seized by something.

Neither of them is stupid.

Chen Zheng asked the question lightly, but the meaning was as heavy as lead.

The two exchanged glances, and finally Assam spoke first.

"Amir, this guy—"

He carefully considered his words, "Young and energetic, he has people who listen to him when he speaks among the young people in the tribe."

"Boss, you mean—"

Chen Zheng smiled. "I've heard that arms dealers are very fond of overthrowing regimes. I'd like to overthrow a tribe first and see how it goes, then replace Amir with him. What do you think?"

The tent fell silent for a moment.

Oh shit!!

Sure enough, arms dealers are all bastards.

Assam said softly, "What if Amir doesn't listen to me either?"

Chen Zheng spread his hands, his expression suggesting he had heard an interesting question.

"I don't expect anyone to obey me."

"I'm not having sex with him, but I hope he'll stick his ass out."

"I just dislike people who lack ambition. What's the use of someone who's just obedient? Those who can't generate profit for us are the truly useless!"

Chen Zheng said, "Looking at Xie He now, that's exactly the kind of person he is. Damn it, that old man stopped supporting my business after giving me 500 AKMs. That's a single bad customer."

"If Amir really has ambitions, he won't be content with just guarding this broken tribe and collecting tolls. He will lead his men outwards, towards Syria. Do you know what that means? In Syria today, that's a force that can call the shots locally. They can occupy a small town, control a few roads, collect some taxes, and do some business. They can do it all."

"If he really does launch an offensive, it will benefit us. We want to do scrap metal recycling, but that old Sheikh definitely won't agree. He's timid and afraid of causing trouble, afraid that the Israelis will cause trouble. But Amir is different. Young people are bold and daring. If he goes out, we'll follow. The bigger his territory, the wider our raw material supply channels will be."

"In business, who can be so fixated on just one small plot of land?"

Of course, we hope to be as close as possible to the war zone.

If you collect scrap metal and smelt it yourself, you can do even more things!

"If there are 5 of us, and you tell me it's okay to be vegetarian, and 50 people, and you tell me it's okay to be quiet and law-abiding, but 500..."

"You're telling me to calm down, you burly man with a gun? How can I calm down?"

"In most parts of the Middle East, the military and police forces are weak. 500 militiamen are enough to overwhelm the official armed forces at the county level. They can even seek refuge with powerful forces such as milk tea shops, the Free Syrian Army, or tribal warlords in exchange for weapons, funds, and protection. But is the Sheikh just acting in self-preservation?"

Chen Zheng clicked his tongue twice. "I hate men who lack ambition!"

Khalid was speechless.

They're all in their seventies or eighties, how can you expect them to have any ambition?

Not everyone is like Brother Chuan.

Assam leaned back on the cushion, thought for a moment, and nodded.

"You can give it a try."

Khalid nodded in agreement: "Amir is indeed easier to talk to than Sheikh, and the young man has his own ideas."

Chen Zheng tapped his fingers lightly twice on the carpet.

Take your time, there's no rush.

"First, find out what he likes and cater to his tastes. This person has a good relationship with us. Although we're not on the same page right now, we can gradually become on the same page. After all, business is all about people."

Assam laughed and said, "Leave this to me. I know the people in the tribe, and I know Amir's henchmen too. It won't be hard to get information out of them."

"Okay, it's decided then. You guys go ahead and get busy."

Assam and Khalid also stood up, lifted the curtain, and went out.

Chen Zheng was the only one left in the tent.

He stood in the middle of the tent, head down, looking at the creases on the carpet that had been worn down by footsteps.

Then he slowly raised his head, looked at the canvas above him that was yellowed from the kerosene lamp smoke, and muttered to himself, "I just want to be a good person."

The phone rang just as he finished speaking.

The buzzing—vibrating sound was muffled on the carpet.

He took his phone out of his pocket and looked down to see a news notification.

The words on the screen were particularly glaring in the dimly lit tent:

[Breaking News] NATO coalition announced military action against Libya, and the Gaddafi regime faces attacks from multiple sides.

Chen Zheng stared at that line of text for a full three seconds.

"Hold!"

"Is my client going to get blown up again?"

Why do I say "again"?

Other women are cursed to bring misfortune to their husbands, but I'm cursed to bring misfortune to my clients

The Syrian government forces have dispatched another lieutenant general to replace Assef Shaukat, who was killed in action.

This one is called Fahd Jassim Fraj.

He enlisted in 1969 and graduated from the Homs Military Academy, which was nicknamed "Syrian West Point".

In 1971, Fraje, wearing the rank of Army Lieutenant, graduated from the Armored Corps program at the academy and joined the 1st Armored Division.

At the time, the entire Syrian nation was actively preparing for the recapture of the Golan Heights, which had been occupied by Israel, and the 1st Division was a model unit for the entire army. Its commander, Colonel Tefizi Youni, was extremely strict with his subordinates.

The inexperienced Frajet had none of the "arrogance" typical of rich kids. He drove a Soviet-made tank, and as anyone who's driven one knows, it was so hot inside that even a little penis could turn into a little sister.

Later, during the 1973 Middle East War, the 1st Armored Division was the Syrian unit that advanced the furthest into Israeli positions, marking half a lifetime of military service.

After Assef Shokat was killed in the bombing, he quickly took over as Chief of Staff!

The command post was located on the third floor of an abandoned residential building in the Izra district. The windows were filled with sandbags up to waist height, leaving only a crack for the observation post. Jassim stood behind that crack, holding up his binoculars.

-

The anti-government forces' positions opposite were quiet.

Jassim put down his binoculars and turned around.

"What is our casualty report?"

The operations staff officer pulled a piece of paper from his folder and handed it to him with both hands. Jassim took it, glanced at the paper, and his brows furrowed more and more deeply.

Yesterday's casualty count was 137.

Of these, 67 people died in drone attacks.

"That thing again?" He slammed the report on the table.

"Yes, General."

Jassim tapped his fingers twice on the table. "What did the defense industry say? Can't we produce this kind of thing?"

"The military industry says they can produce it."

"It's just that the cost is too high."

The operations staff officer rattled off, "The military industry has done reverse engineering based on the wreckage we provided. To replicate the same drone, excluding R&D costs, the material cost alone would be nearly $2000, while that thing on the other side costs $550 on the market—"

"550? That's a huge difference? Are military engineers all idiots?" Jassim cursed.

"The defense industry says that even if we reduce the cost to $1000 per aircraft, it will still take at least three months to build a production line for mass production."

Jassim almost laughed in anger.

By the time they've finished, I'll be able to be reincarnated as a human being.

He looked up at the operations officer. "Can we buy them?"

The operations staff officer paused for a moment, thinking he had misheard.

"General?"

"I said," Jassim said, emphasizing each word, "could we buy drones from that factory?"

"General, we have issued arrest warrants for them."

Operations staff officer: "The bounty of 20 Syrian pounds has spread throughout Syria."

Jassim glanced at him.

That look was like looking at a child who doesn't know any better.

"We've issued a warrant for Monster Factory, but not for their drones."

"Business is business, and war is war. Besides, I feel we should buy a large number of drones now and wipe them all out in one fell swoop, otherwise—"

Jassim paused for a moment, then said with concern, "A protracted war is the least friendly thing for us."

"Find a middleman to ask that factory if they sell their products."

The operations staff officer opened his mouth, as if to say something, but looking at Jassim's straight back, he swallowed his words back.

"Yes, General."

"Oh, by the way, ask him if he can issue an invoice."

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