“It’s almost 10 o’clock. Let’s go back and eat first, and then we can have a proper talk.”
Xia Yu straightened Alikanna's collar and patted him on the shoulder.
As a civilized person, he always advocated for diplomacy before resorting to force, believing that if a problem could be solved through cooperation, there was no need to resort to any other means.
But if the other party refuses to cooperate non-violently, we will not hesitate to take drastic measures.
"Splash splash"
The Super Hornet and two Mi-24V variants evacuated first, carrying official employees and key prisoners. Half of the village protection team withdrew from the ground, while the other half remained to guard the site.
"cheers!"
Raising a glass filled with a liter of fresh draft beer, Xia Yu gulped down half of it.
Old Wu took charge of the cooking, preparing eight cold dishes for each table at the celebration banquet. The stir-fried dishes were just being cooked when they returned, with the blower blowing on the blazing stove and several burly men, their arms thicker than their legs, diligently stirring the food.
If this scene were filmed as a short video and posted online, it would probably be met with criticism from netizens—oh no, they've really learned something.
"Come on, pour a glass for our Commander Ali too. This isn't alcohol, it's just fermented wheat juice."
"I am the fish on the chopping block, with my hands bound." Alikanna looked around, smiled bitterly, raised a large mug of beer, and took a big gulp with the foam in it.
Hmm, it seems pretty good.
“That’s right. We have no grudges against each other. It’s all the fault of the Tequidda and Azawad Coordination Movement.”
Xia Yu placed a large chopstick of cold beef on the other person's plate and said meaningfully.
This is exactly what they planned. Did the other side not intend to wipe them out in one fell swoop?
It's impossible to capture them all in one fell swoop. Tuareg are scattered throughout the Sahara, and with a population of several million, it would be easy to find thousands or even tens of thousands of able-bodied men.
They can take down one today and another one will emerge tomorrow, unless all their men are dead.
In civilized times, such practices are inhumane; no one would pay for them, and no one would take the order.
So it's better to eliminate the more extreme ones and keep those who can still reason things out.
Tequidda, who had been teetering on the brink of death, finally got his wish, but the Tuareg people, the indigenous people of Libya, still had some value to be saved.
Of course, this is on the premise that they are sensible enough.
“Mr. Sherlock is right. The Tuareg people love peace. Only those separatist armed groups think about splitting the land and establishing a country. We are a tribal armed group established to protect the civilians of the tribe and to ensure the reunification of Libya. The National Unity Government also recognizes us.”
Alikanna quickly cut off the line.
“This armory was discovered by Tequadda and his men, and we haven’t touched any of the weapons inside.”
"That weapons smuggling and human trafficking..."
Xia Yu brought up two charges they couldn't deny.
"We are willing to surrender all illegal gains and compensate Jihuo Defense for what happened today."
With Tubu people setting an example ahead, Lao A immediately transferred important assets, so after taking over the camp near the oil field, the village protection team didn't gain much.
Like a stray dog, the Azawad Coordination Movement must have carried their money with them. Leaving it in the armory and being hit by two bunker buster bombs and subsequent explosions, their chances of survival are slim.
Therefore, only Ali Kanna could drop gold coins, and as a smart man who had experienced two dynasties, he was willing to spend money to save his life.
How many?
Xia Yu asked directly.
He needs to see if the other party's offer is high enough before making a decision.
"One hundred million, that adds up to one hundred million US dollars."
Alikanna immediately put down his beer mug and held up one finger.
Compared to their poor relatives in Marila, these Libya natives had amassed a considerable fortune as the colonel's right-hand men from the beginning. Later, they were even able to directly share in the profits of the Sharara oil field, as well as income from illegal activities.
This is also the source of Ali Kanna's confidence in being able to come up with 100 million dollars by gritting his teeth.
"That's not enough. The weapons and equipment in the armory should have been our spoils of war, but the threat of poison gas and enriched uranium forced me to give them up. The Tequad people are dead, and you will be held responsible for that."
Xia Yu shook his head and said.
One hundred million is only the revenue of Jihuo Defense, but what about his men?
"Fifty million, we can only squeeze out another fifty million at most, that's all we have."
Even knowing that the other party was extorting money, Alikanna had no choice but to reluctantly concede.
"Okay, 150 million it is!"
Considering the other party's cooperation, Xia Yu agreed to the figure.
Gaddafi bought these weapons and equipment for hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars back then, but decades have passed, and even if someone were to try to salvage them, they could only sell them for tens of millions of dollars. Not to mention that some of the funds had already been sold off by the Azawad Coordination Movement to raise money.
By paying 50 million, Ali Kanna essentially bought out the deal completely. If they tried to squeeze any more money out of him, they might not get a single penny. So Xia Yu decided to take the profits and call it a day.
“Select a few trusted subordinates to go back and raise funds. During this period, their food, lodging, and fire prevention will be taken care of by the fire department, and the standards will be the same as our own.”
Having reached a consensus, the other party had gone from being a prisoner to an honored guest, so they had to be treated with the utmost hospitality.
Xia Yu has a natural talent for the service industry; anyone willing to spend money with him is a big shot, even if he has just wiped out half of their people.
From the barracks to the armory, including those killed by two bunker buster bombs, more than 1,000 members of the tribal militia died.
Even if not every family wears mourning clothes, they will still cry for a long time.
However, Xia Yu made his stance clear, and the matter was over. Ali Kanna, who had narrowly escaped death, had no intention of retaliating against Ji Huo Defense, just as decisively as he had jumped ship years ago.
Intelligent people live longer, and Taikudeda is intelligent, but he can't let go of the remaining equipment in the armory, so even after being beaten up, he still stands on the opposite side of Xia Yu.
The only option is for him and Azawad to coordinate their movement to their deaths, while sparing Alikanna and the indigenous tribal militias, for the sake of their own interests.
Furthermore, we must give face to the National Unity Government and let other tribal armed groups know that as long as they are willing to cooperate, the Central Fire Defense will not force them to a dead end, so that Hans and his team can carry out their work more effectively.
Sigh, being the boss of a PMC company must be incredibly stressful for Xia Yu.
But since the bulk of the money went into his pocket, he figured he could only earn more by working harder.
Alikanna selected a few trusted men, and they drove off into the desert night in two pickup trucks that the support platoon had repaired.
The remaining people continued eating until the early hours of the morning, when they finally fell into a deep sleep, snoring loudly. The operational part of this raid was now complete, but the main event was just beginning.
The next day, the sun rose as usual, and the employees started their work after breakfast.
First, they had to clear the landmines buried near the armory, as most of them were anti-tank mines. Yesterday, the personnel who stayed on site used the large temperature difference between day and night in the desert to determine the exact location of many landmines using the thermal imaging channel of drones.
This made mine clearance during the day much easier, but the armory was even more troublesome than the minefield.
According to Alikanna's testimony, there was indeed a significant amount of enriched uranium inside, so they couldn't leave it unattended.
If the sealed container isn't cracked, that's fine. But if it cracks or shatters and scatters all over the floor, you'll have to use a vacuum cleaner to clean up the enriched uranium dust that's spread everywhere and then reseal it.
Meanwhile, the An-124 also transported a batch of mini excavators from Konlugal to Jufra Air Base.
The power of the two bunker buster bombs was not the problem; the issue was the secondary explosions they caused. Small-scale collapses in the armory were inevitable, and there was a large amount of garbage and corpses to clean up. Mini excavators that could drill and dig were essential.
Therefore, Xia Yu arranged for these excavators to be transported by land yesterday, but they will have to wait until daytime to arrive.
"Let's leave this door as is if we can avoid it. Alikanna said there's another auxiliary passage; let's go try our luck there."
At the end of the main passage, Xia Yu, fully covered in protective gear, forced himself to remove his gloves, touched the blast door to retract his earlier impulse, and addressed the employees who were sharpening their knives.
If this were the entrance to an imperial mausoleum, even with blocking stones and self-locking stones, it would be easy to handle. But this is a blast-proof door that can withstand a nuclear explosion!
If you don't want to spend several days opening the door, changing the entrance would be more suitable.
"Boss, this side isn't actually closed."
Lyman and his group, who had arrived at the end of the auxiliary passage first, called Xia Yudao over the radio.
Unfortunately, because it was so close to the secondary explosion, the epicenter of the secondary explosion, there were no survivors here, unlike with the blast door that protected them, where Alikanna and most of his men survived.
"What are the concentrations of the toxic gas and the radiation levels?"
Xia Yu, who was on his way there, asked.
"Because the explosion-proof door was ajar, the concentration of mustard gas inside was very high, while the radiation level was relatively normal, so it is estimated that not much was leaked."
Lyman looked at the values displayed on the instrument screen and said.
"Keep exploring deeper, we'll be there soon."
Upon reaching the entrance to the auxiliary passage, the width that was once wide enough to drive a log truck has been reduced to only enough for a pickup truck. This road is only for personnel to escape; weapons and equipment cannot be taken away.
"Yes, boss!"
Lyman and his team continued exploring deeper into the building and then they saw corpses scattered all over the ground.
Only through autopsy can we know whether they died from suffocation due to overcooked lungs or from inhaling a second wave of toxic gas, but this scene was truly tragic.
As Xia Yu stepped into the armory, he thought of the case where Lao Mei used two bunker buster bombs to penetrate the Miria air-raid shelter in Yilaoke, wiping out all 1,100 civilians inside.
This time, Jihuo Defense changed its target to militants, and the results of the two bunker buster bombs were no less than expected, since the area was larger and there were more flammable and explosive munitions.
"Calling the glider, go to Jufra Air Base and pick up 20 more body bags."
Xia Yu contacted Andre Road.
The body bags used for concentrated fire defense have always been of good quality, but in the past they were used to contain enemies killed by physical attacks. This time, however, the enemies were all killed by chemical attacks, so he felt it was necessary for everyone to wear two.
"Yes, boss!"
Andrei quickly set off, and the employees in the armory began collecting the bodies and searching for traces of enriched uranium.
According to Alikanna, there were hundreds of barrels of high-quality enriched uranium here, which is why Jihuo Defense had to dig out this ideal resting place.
Two exhaust fans blew outwards from the inside, releasing toxic gas hundreds of times more concentrated than the concentration in the concentration camp's shower rooms through an auxiliary passage.
Xia Yu, who was wandering around alone, took off the gloves of his one-piece protective suit and freely inhaled the high concentration of mustard gas in the air.
As an organic compound, if it weren't so toxic, it would be a decent industrial raw material.
Letting nature metabolize this mustard gas is just as polluting as natural gas escaping from oil fields or crude oil leaking from tankers. It's better to turn this waste into a valuable resource.
The raw materials used by Colonel Gatli to produce these C4H8CL2s back then wouldn't have been cheap. It would have been much better to break them down and synthesize them into other non-toxic substances.
Of course, he also collected the enriched uranium dust floating in the air. The enrichment level was much higher than that of uranium concentrate. It was good to take the opportunity to eat some free fine food.
Over the next two days, the employees noticed that the concentration of toxic gas in the armory dropped rapidly, assuming that the exhaust fans were powerful enough.
Meanwhile, mini excavators were also sent to Marzug, and after a week of digging, they finally broke through the warehouse where the munitions depot stored enriched uranium.
"They're all here. There are 147 intact barrels in total, and 15 barrels with varying degrees of damage. The weight of the enriched uranium remaining inside varies."
After counting the data, Kuhn reported to Xia Yu.
"The damaged enriched uranium will be resealed, and the intact ones will also be thoroughly disinfected. I will take them back to Jufra Air Base."
Xia Yu spoke and gave the order.
This is a great find. Combined with the enriched uranium seized a few months ago, it can be sent back to our hometown for processing.
"Yes, boss!"
“Calling the boss, this is Mongoose, the Tuareg money has been raised.”
As soon as Kuhn finished speaking, Hans called out over the radio.
Xia Yu gave them a two-week deadline, and they completed the task three or four days ahead of schedule. It seems that even with the good food and drink they were provided, it was not as good as when they had their freedom before.
"Let's go and meet them. Everyone has worked so hard for so long, it's time for a proper dividend distribution."
Since the money has been delivered, he should release the people and distribute the profits as appropriate.
Especially this year's deployments haven't yielded much in terms of spoils, but this time the Tuareg people have given us a huge gift package, worth a full $150 million.
The compensation includes 50 million for weapons and equipment, and 20 million for the confiscation of illegal gains from two black market activities.
The 80 million they compensated the company is not considered spoils of war, so the two items total 70 million dollars. After deducting the company's 50%, the total dividend is 35 million dollars.
This figure is much higher than that of the short-term deployment in Syria, and it is also the largest bonus ever distributed by Jihuo Defense since its inception.
No wonder everyone has been working like crazy for the past week, abandoning all leisure time and working overtime every day, a 9-12-7 rhythm. The root of the problem is here.
A single deployment can yield hundreds of thousands of dollars in bonuses, and with salary and allowances, the guaranteed income is one million dollars. Becoming a millionaire in just six months—few people can remain calm in the face of such treatment.
Especially for those guys who go abroad to work, saying they are financially free is an exaggeration, but not many people can earn that much in a year. Their bosses are even more ruthless than the boss of JD.com!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com