King Of War: Starting with Arms Dealer Chapter 702 658 Capital Mercenaries

With the boss arriving at the frontlines, the morale of everyone at P·B was lifted...

The previously sluggish pace of the base's preparation sped up following Joe Ga's arrival.

The main reason was the dire state of affairs here, being too close to Mosul led to attacks upon entering the area, and the base was under trendous defensive pressure.

Almost all military contracting companies were urging P·B to move the logistical center back to Gaiyara Base because even though it was only 40 kiloters from Mosul, the defensive pressure was much lesser by several magnitudes.

Once P·B moved to Gaiyara, those rcenaries would have a legitimate excuse to slack off.

After all, if they have to travel forty kiloters to work, you can't expect them to do too much!

Unfortunately, Boss Qiao had his own principles. He took over soone else's oil field, contracted their logistics, and promised to provide a hot al to the frontline—that promise was to be kept.

Besides, Boss Qiao was also an arms dealer. The Iraqi Governnt Army's equipnt wasn't bad, but they still needed soone to supply their ammunition, right?

This was big business, and moreover, the oil was firmly in Boss Qiao's grasp. The production at Rumaila Oil Field, which was managed by 'Two Barrels', was soon to resu, and the 'IOUs' would quickly be converted into cash.

The logistics corridor was initially opened. Where could be more convenient than supplying the frontlines?

Selling bullets at the frontlines for a price 50% higher than usual was simply too reasonable.

You might think Boss Qiao was ruthlessly exploiting war profits like a 'Bahrain lord', but in reality, he had been pouring money into the war. The cannons, armored vehicles, weapons, and ammunition sent from Seville all required paynt.

Maintaining four semi-civilian, semi-military bases was more than just burning money for private owner Joe Ga—it was like pouring money into a cremator.

If not for the 'crude oil presale business' provided by China Energy Group for the Rumaila Oil Field's output, as well as the flexible paynt thods and a large amount of sponsorship...

Before realizing scaled profitability through the humanitarian channel, Boss Qiao's big business venture in Iraq was estimated to cost him a large portion of his fortune right from the start.

To subsidize household expenses, charging rcenaries a little for support was nothing but natural.

And his pricing was conscientious—so were even cheaper than what the rcenary companies could manage themselves.

Take the simplest form of air support, helicopters for $20,000 a sortie—it was not expensive at all compared to the rcenary groups using their own helicopters.

Missiles were a bit more expensive, but only slightly so.

Despite the rcenaries' loud complaints, what they actually resented was not the high prices but the ease of support that led to frequent calls for fire support from front-line rcenaries, resulting in many wasteful expenditures.

rcenary companies weren't spending taxpayers' money; they had to calculate costs!

The support system provided by P·B was too rudintary and rough, and to attract custors, the artilleryn displayed extrely high efficiency.

However, in actual combat, calling for artillery support involved a quite complicated process within all regular forces. It required specially trained soldiers to complete guidance and calls at the frontlines.

Normally, a company-level unit would have such soldiers!

Calling in air support was even more complex. The frontline control group had to preemptively plan the fighters or air forces' approach, firing angles, and even the types of ammunition.

All the major nations' regular armies were becoming more sophisticated, yet P·B did the opposite and simplified everything...

As long as you used your own radio, reported your team code and password, then provided the target location, you could expect artillery support within at most five minutes.

Was it dangerous?

Extrely dangerous!

But was it worth it?

If you were surrounded, who would care about such things?

Now things are even more severe. There are helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, and even jet fighters available.

This was the real 'big business', and also the inevitable losses that would occur with the big orders taken by those major companies.

You'll inevitably suffer losses, so why not let P·B help you 'suffer' them? Who earns the money doesn't change the fact that it needs to be earned.

P·B actually saved them trouble, but because the operations were so rough and simple, it magnified the kind of losses experienced by the rcenary companies.

Because it was indeed too simple—before the helicopters arrived, the range of the 155mm howitzers at the base could cover the entire city of Mosul.

P·B artilleryn using advanced fire control systems could keep the margin of error within a radius of 50 ters.

This was truly life-saving stuff, and there were no barriers to calling for support—in other words, no lengthy procedures. If you could talk, you could request support.

The 'non-standard' behavior demonstrated by P·B was a blessing for the rcenaries who had to fight for a living.

Many rcenaries from other countries who had served for over a decade had never experienced the privilege of picking up a radio, shouting a command, and having artillery or air support arrive.

Moreover, the flat call hierarchy left the big companies' managers back at the base with no excuses to shirk responsibility.

This was precisely what those major companies could not tolerate...

To them, human lives were rely numbers accounted as costs, and if this continued, their profit margins would be significantly squeezed!

So, they complained in various ways, but ultimately, they didn't want P·B to cut their profits but wanted to set up calling barriers while joining the support command group.

Putting it nicely, they say it's "regularization" and "securitization," but to put it bluntly, it's just making the calling cost for front-line rcenaries higher.

Reality is such a pain in the ass and unbelievable, those rcenaries recruited from places like South Arica and Eastern Europe are simply not valued at all in the eyes of those giant companies.

And those war mongrels that follow in the giants' wake, scavenging leftovers—unless it's a critical mont in their operation, and supporting them yields returns—would you really expect the giants to waste money on them?

According to what the people at three tis the rate of Tian Peng told Joe Ga with a heart-to-heart...

"Artillery and air support can be provided, but it must be kept within the company's budget.

We're happy to hand this part of the business over to P·B, but we need so control; we can't let the front-line rcenaries squander the company's funds.

If we can't agree on this, we will deploy helicopters ourselves to act as covering force.

Rockets and machine-gun bullets are indeed very cheap."

The cost and risk managent practiced by capitalistic war companies is just that brutal on the front line.

Nobody cares what the final outco in Mosul will look like—even many would prefer the war to drag on so they can secure more contracts.

When Mosul becos the focus in Iraq, the situation in the south will gradually stabilize.

As several large oilfields begin to resu operations, the Iraqi Governnt will have money.

And those company bigwigs left in Baghdad—lobbyists, technical advisors, agents—will begin to encourage the Iraqi Governnt to buy advanced military hardware, advanced military services, and then send them to the front lines to fill the gaps.

This is where the vital interests of the Arican Military-Industrial Complex lie!

Arican politics, policies, and even wars, a lot of them are in service of the Military-Industrial Complex.

One only needs to look at the invasion of Iraq to see that, while old Saddam was indeed courting death, the biggest beneficiaries were not the oil groups people imagined, but the Military-Industrial Complex.

They took a big bite out of the Arican defense budget, and then, through the Arican Governnt, either gifted or forced sales to reap more profits from the Iraqi Governnt.

The numbers generated by these two sources alone are enough to leave many people dumbfounded.

Not to ntion when this massive complex gets moving, it generates all sorts of ssy derivative benefits.

The $100 billion annual demand for rcenaries, in fact, created a range of Arican military contractors.

Now they are repeating this routine in Aqionghan; unfortunately, Aqionghan is too poor and has always been the case of Arica transfusing its puppet governnt.

The Military-Industrial Complex is having a blast eating up the United State Army's budget, but without the Aqionghan Governnt's share, the profit isn't quite satisfactory—sooner or later, this ga will co to an end when Arica needs money for dostic use.

This is a huge complex that covers Energy Groups, and the nature of capitalism and digitization makes this massive and bloated complex appear very cold and cruel.

Those rcenary giants can only be seen as a part of the Military-Industrial Complex, but the 'Businessman' traits they exhibit still rub Joe Ga the wrong way.

Joe's business often starts at one point, then constantly circles around drawing many people on board.

Whereas the Military-Industrial Complex gets involved at a point, then detonates from the inside, feasting with the community of interest after the opponent has lost the ability to resist.

That's why Joe has always felt that he's not on the sa track as these companies, because everyone's way of thinking and ans of profit-making are completely different.

Facing the persuasive talk of representatives from a bunch of rcenary companies, Joe firmly shook his head and refused their demands.

If you're not satisfied with my thod, bring your own stuff over, I'll provide the venue for you to use, just pay a little rental fee for the space.

That's the business P·B does—you're not willing to foot the bill, that's fine, the artillery will keep firing and the planes will continue flying; let the rcenaries pay their own way if it cos to that.

I can even provide a life-saving loan service; no money, no problem, it can be put on a tab, as long as you're still alive, working two ard transport jobs from Basra to Mosul for can also offset the debt.

Those who owe a lot and aren't willing to take risks can go to the oil fields in the south to stand guard and offset the debt, with food and accommodation provided until the debt is fully repaid.

Joe's proposal made all the rcenary company people quite discomfited...

The logistics provided by P·B are too convenient, using the military base as support, saving these big companies a lot of trouble and capital.

At this point, if things get unpleasant among everyone, life will beco difficult afterward.

Especially when they saw a huge surveillance airship being inflated after being unloaded from a truck...

And after being aggressively sold by Boss Joe on a system that reportedly cost several tens of millions to bring in from China, the 'Ding Ding' Managent System, they knew they definitely couldn't cut ties with P·B...

The airship provided digital surveillance, precise location tracking, and signal coverage—commanders in the rear could clearly see the front line's situation; rcenaries clocking in for work, taking a building or killing a few terrorists, would be photographed, recorded, and counted for KPIs...

This is the million-dollar additional service provided by Boss Joe...

This damn thing...

Who can refuse?

Refusing the charged logistical artillery support is essentially refusing the most useful and 'cheapest' frontline war service for rcenary companies.

Boss Joe's thod of slapping with one hand and offering a big date with the other has left these rcenary company folks agonizing over it to no end...