Because of the drought, the earliest crops domesticated in the Sahel region were drought-resistant sorghum and pearl millet, both of which are excellent materials for brewing.
So even before the Qingzhen were introduced, the people here had the habit of drinking mixed grain liquor. Even when Pearl said that drinking was no longer allowed, some people still secretly drank it.
You claim it's alcohol, but it's clearly fermented fruit juice. You're wronging me. It's like saying, "Wine and meat pass through the intestines, but Buddha remains in the heart."
The central Afica region is not as arid as the Sahel region, so low-alcohol banana beer is popular there, unlike the region where people prefer high-alcohol beer.
The most traditional grain liquor has been overtaken by modern techniques of blending alcohol and flavorings, making liquor smuggling a viable business.
Fundamentalist factions that wage holy wars are more strict with themselves, but they are less so when it comes to making money and doing business; as long as they can profit, that's all that matters.
Besides smuggling gold and weapons, Xia Yu didn't believe Belmukhtar could resist selling alcohol; it was just a side business, and why not take advantage of an extra 20-30% profit?
In a small town with a population of a few thousand, the place where the most alcohol is sold is naturally the hotel that provides accommodation and food.
They not only cater to the townspeople, but also cater to passing travelers who have the spending power.
"We sell, but we only sell to non-religious customers like you."
The boss admitted it, but only half of it.
Dundu accurately translated the boss's words.
Formerly French Afica, now a country where French is the official language, but not everyone speaks French.
In Niger, French is only taught from the fourth grade of primary school, while outside the capital, half of the students drop out of school before the fourth grade.
In border areas where there isn't even a junior high school, tribal languages are more commonly used.
The GDP per capita of both Kinabalu and Mali is higher than that of Niger, so their situation is relatively better.
Furthermore, in the war zones where French people were stationed, the French-speaking population also began to gradually increase.
Some people learn on their own initiative because they want to do business, while others already know the skills but come from elsewhere.
In the Niger direction, there are only Americans for now. The government forces suffered heavy losses this time because the dead soldiers all spoke English, which requires a junior high school education.
Xia Yu asked Hans to bring Dundu along, mainly to help with translation, and since the boy was clever, he could gather more information.
"Can you tell me who sold you these bottles of wine?"
Xia Yu took out a Franklin note, placed it on the counter, and asked.
“They have guns, and I don’t want to get into trouble over money.”
After hearing Dundu's account, the boss was somewhat tempted, but ultimately shook his head and refused.
"Don't we have guns?"
"Click click"
Xia Yu glanced behind him, and the men, understanding the situation, simultaneously cocked their guns.
"You can't think you can refuse us just because we're reasonable. Take the money and tell us what we want to know, and I guarantee they won't cause you any trouble."
As he spoke, he took out another 100-yuan note, stuffed it into the shopkeeper's trembling hand, and then squeezed it tightly.
Others kill but don't bury, but the concentrated fire defense is different. Xia Yu's initial plan was to wipe out the entire Nasserist al-Qaeda faction.
There might be some scattered smugglers escorting goods along the smuggling routes, but with their leader, Old Bei, eliminated, their few dozen men can't cause any trouble.
"He said the other side's stronghold was at the very back of town, but the person in charge changed last month."
Dundu translated for the boss.
"So, boss, do you have any clothes here that would fit them?"
Xia Yu took out the third banknote, pointed at Dundu and Domi, and asked.
"Yes, yes, yes, my two sons are about the same height as them."
It's normal for soldiers to come to town, since "false" intelligence is sent out from there. But if the soldiers surround the smuggling den, they'll alert the enemy.
But Dundu is different from Domi; his Black identity is well-suited for intelligence gathering.
Give them a handful of candy, and you won't even need to use a knife; you'll get the answers they want to know.
After changing their clothes, the two instantly transformed into locals.
Domi tucked an FN57 pistol into his waistband and led Dundu out from the back of the inn. Guided by the innkeeper's son, they arrived at the back of town.
By this time, the sun had completely set, and a round moon hung high in the sky, radiating a light like streetlights.
This reminds me of my childhood in the countryside, where the moonlight was just as bright. Reading and doing homework wasn't practical back then, but playing hide-and-seek with friends was enough.
The children in Nirier, a small border town, are the same. There are very few televisions in the whole town, so they can only play outside during the time before going to bed.
“You mean them? Every now and then a truck comes, either to unload things or to load them up and take them away.”
While munching on the chocolates given to them by Dundu, the little kids asked and answered questions.
“People from nearby villages also come by donkey cart to buy goods. They never deliver to the door. By the way, they have this.”
The kid who ate the fastest stretched out his hands and made a gesture as if he were holding an AK.
"Oh, do they have a lot of these?"
Dundu then stuffed a handful of candy into his hand.
"Not many, just 10 people, one for each person, and they don't take it out, they like to cover it with their clothes."
Smuggling is certainly not aboveboard, so it's necessary to "hide" it. However, it still can't escape the attention of idle teenagers who don't have electronic devices to keep their minds occupied.
"By the way, in your town, are there any adults who also pay attention to them but never come into contact with them?"
Having ascertained the number of people and their firepower at the target location, Dundu asked one last question.
"Yes, that's the family. Ai Luo didn't finish elementary school and went out to find work, but as soon as these people settled down, he followed them back. He doesn't work all day and is very wealthy. His younger brother showed us this that he hid at home."
The shortest boy, Radish Head, stretched out his hand and made an eight.
This isn't an eight; it's a pistol.
Just as Papa guessed, there were sentries outside the smuggling hideout, so that if the hideout was taken down, the sentries could send the news back immediately.
The outpost staff were outsiders, while the sentries were local residents of the town. Xia Yu did the same.
The problem is that the members recruited by the other side are unreliable. They just do some small business and they wouldn't be exposed so quickly. Their family members even provided the final blow, and the younger brother took out the handgun he used for self-defense and showed it off to his friends.
Luckily, this kid has a TV at home and isn't here, otherwise he would have had to keep the other person calm.
"Thank you all for telling us this. How about I ask this older brother to treat you all to ice cream?"
"Yay! x4!"
Dundu gestured for Domi to lead the kids to the town store to buy ice cream, since they couldn't be sent back before the operation began to keep it a secret. He then ran back to the hotel.
"Well done. You and Echidna are responsible for capturing that leopard cat named Airo alive. Fennec Fox, you take the rest of the men to the stronghold and capture them alive if you can. We'll move out in half an hour."
After listening to Dundu's report, Xia Yu glanced at the time and issued the battle order.
He's good at killing people, but it's a bit difficult for CQB to capture people alive. It's better to just hand it over to the professionals.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing Xia Yu's arrangement.
The boss was with them on the mission, and they were confident that he would be unharmed. However, the danger level of this capture operation had increased several notches, and the boss leading the charge would only have the opposite effect.
Now that I have no psychological burden, I can fully devote myself to the battle ahead.
"Calling the glider, this is the yellow weasel, take off immediately and rendezvous with us."
"Yes, boss!"
They contacted Andrei by radio, and the Mi-24V carrying the remaining Digital Group 1 rushed toward them.
Old Ke and his men then took out night vision goggles from their backpacks, screwed on silencers to their rifles, and changed to magazines loaded with subsonic ammunition.
The shop owner next to him was completely stunned.
Are they Americans?
In this isolated border town, he had only ever seen what American soldiers looked like in pirated DVDs.
Firepower Defense, as a PMC company, is not some American soldier; on the contrary, they are there to save American soldiers.
Time passed slowly, and soon it was 7:52. The instructors and members of Group 2 filed out under the moonlight and headed towards the back of the town.
Mumchi lay on the bed, fiddling with his pistol, but his mind was on the hotel.
As the number two figure in the Massina Liberation Front, he came to this small town after Belmukhtar entrusted them with the task of raising funds for the organization's operation of the liquor smuggling business on the Niger border.
It has to be said that Old Berlusconi is very good at winning people's hearts. Hamadun was nothing, but Mumchi had the idea of simply merging with Al-Qaeda.
A true gentleman will die for one who understands him. If he can do this for outsiders, how good must he be to his own people?
This is personal charisma. As a living fossil of the jihadist world, Belmukhtar's success is not without reason.
However, some of the lower-level staff in the organization didn't quite see his good intentions and always felt that they shouldn't give their business to outsiders like Masina.
Of course, it's for the holy war. When Masina is being beaten into submission, they need a helping hand so that once they recover, they can rejoin the fight against those Westerners.
The cost to Al-Qaeda is only tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, so why not do it?
Making money has never been their goal; they only invest some manpower and energy in this because they need money to keep the organization running.
However, in the process of making money, some people gradually came to value money more than the holy war.
This is bad news for Belmukhtar, but a major boon for Xia Yu, because problems that can be solved with money are not really problems.
"action"
With the assistance of a marksman, the assault troops nimbly vaulted over the wall and landed lightly in the courtyard.
The first group of four men, two with pistols and two with rifles, charged toward the earthen house with their lines of fire crossed.
"Puff puff puff"
Without even needing to aim in a straight line, the laser in the night vision goggles would scan the target's hands and feet and pull the trigger. The militants who heard the noise and were about to reach for their guns were hit and curled up in a ball, howling in pain.
"Bang, puff, puff"
Mumchi, who happened to have a gun in his hand, was hit in both wrists after firing only one shot, and the pistol fell limply onto the bed.
This is the generational gap; their fate was sealed the moment they were targeted by concentrated fire defenses.
After confirming that all 10 men were incapacitated, Christian pushed up the night vision goggles and turned on the gun lights.
After finishing their ice cream, the four kids happily went home to sleep, while Domi followed Xia Yu to the smuggling hideout.
"He's the leader."
Xia Yu raised his chin toward Mumchi.
"Wait, Papa, he looks kind of familiar."
Dundu suddenly interrupted.
“It’s him, it’s him. He’s the one who came to our village with Xie Fu.”
The dead memories suddenly came back to life. Dundu remembered who the other person was, and his eyes turned blood red.
"Isn't Xie Fu from the Massina Liberation Front? Wait, what are they doing here...?"
Xia Yu immediately understood. It turned out that Hamadun had received protection from Belmukhtar and had brought the remnants of Masina to hide with the Nizhir base faction.
No wonder the External Security Bureau has no leads; they're not even in Marri. Searching for them for 100 years won't help.
By sheer luck, they contacted the base to rescue the pilot and discovered Masina's trail.
This isn't a case of charging twice for one operation; it's three charges, so they need to be settled separately.
"Dundu, you're really my lucky star. I can't give you Hamadun, but this guy is yours. Honey Badger, give him your pistol."
Hamadun is left to the Malaysians; the guy in front of us isn't very useful. He's become Xie Fu's second-in-command, and he's probably a die-hard.
Instead of wasting time on him, let's vent our anger on Dundu.
Domi pulled out his FN57, screwed on the silencer, and handed it to his little brother.
"Puff puff puff puff"
Dundu pulled the trigger, firing round after round of 5.7mm subsonic bullets into Mumchi's chest until a 20-round magazine was emptied, rendering the enemy beyond dead.
Alright, the escaped fugitives have been killed, and the entire village's revenge has been completely avenged.
Hamadun had little to do with the village; the French hated him more.
After handing the remaining prisoners over to his men for treatment, Xia Yu went outside and lit a cigar.
Before he could even take a few puffs, news arrived that the Al-Qaeda's hideout was in a Phu village, 40 kilometers away from the town.
The Phor people, also known as the Fula people, are a nomadic ethnic group scattered across more than a dozen countries.
Xia Yu had wiped out one of their armed groups in Zhongfei, but unexpectedly ran into them again in Niger. It seems that their ability to cause trouble is not much worse than that of the Tuareg people.
"What? The other side has another camp, which was just opened, and Hamadun is also at the new camp."
The saying "a cunning rabbit has three burrows" has truly been outmaneuvered by Bermukhtar.
However, he couldn't withstand the betrayal of his subordinates.
Even with Ai Luo's hidden plot, 8 out of 10 people remained silent despite being tortured; they were harder than stones.
But it was Old Bei's two people who, before things had even gotten very intense, said they could cooperate, but they'd have to pay them.
Xia Yu is very reasonable. As long as you are willing to cooperate with him, what does it matter if he gives you a little money?
If you don't want to cooperate, then go down and see Pearl!
After listening to the two men's explanations, Xia Yu understood what had happened. Belmukhtar should have withdrawn all his men from the stronghold and used Masina's men instead.
Unfortunately, the mixing of these methods created conflict, ultimately leading to today's betrayal, which also benefited Xia.
Otherwise, given the uncooperative attitude of these die-hard Masina members, Xia Yu doubted that using truth serum would be very effective.
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