On the outskirts of Kiev, there was an ammunition depot managed by Kofupake. When Gao Yang and his convoy drove through the inconspicuous gate unhindered, down a tree-lined road leading to an inconspicuous building, Kofupake was already waiting in front of the building.
Upon seeing Gao Yang, Kofupake smiled, shook his hand, and said, "Ti is tight, so I won’t invite you to my office. Let’s go directly to see your goods now."
Gao Yang imdiately replied, "Okay, I’ll follow your arrangents."
Kofupake pointed to Gao Yang’s car and said with a smile, "Then I’ll ride with you."
Gao Yang knew that the ammunition depot usually occupied a large area, so he wasn’t surprised that he needed to drive to see the goods. However, when Kofupake got in and guided the car all the way, Gao Yang truly felt what "big" ant.
Everything about the Forr Soviet Union was large: vast territories, large military scale, and even the legacy left after its collapse was massive. But he didn’t expect the scale of a strategic reserve depot to be so enormous.
As reinforced concrete half-underground warehouses, ticulously camouflaged, flashed by the roadside one after another, Gao Yang couldn’t help but ask, "Just how big is this place?"
Kofupake chuckled and then replied solemnly, "The total area is twelve square kiloters, but that’s the usage area during the Soviet Union era. There are six roads like this, with one hundred warehouses distributed on both sides of each road. However, we’re only using less than one-tenth of the warehouses now."
Gao Yang sighed, "It’s huge."
Kofupake also sighed, "Yes, it’s huge. During the Cold War, troops at the forefront of Central Europe were prepared to be cannon fodder in the first wave of nuclear strikes. The actual assault force was the strategically placed troops at the rear, and Kiev was among the most important strategic bases. The real steel torrent set out from here, so everything here was designed according to the scale of fighting the Third World War. Of course, it had to be huge; it must be huge."
After he finished speaking, Kofupake smiled at Gao Yang and said, "I am about to leave, but even after I am gone, it won’t affect your dealings with my successor. So you can take your ti moving things from here. Alright, stop the car; we’ve arrived."
A ground-level warehouse appeared in front of Gao Yang and his team. The warehouse looked rather new and covered at least ten thousand square ters. About twenty forklifts were parked at the entrance, and around two hundred soldiers were scattered in groups of three to five, chatting at the door.
Kofupake got out of the car, and although the soldiers started saluting, they seed sowhat lazy and lacked spirit. Kofupake casually returned the salutes before loudly saying, "Open the warehouse doors, everyone gather around ."
After speaking, Kofupake nodded at Gao Yang with a smile and said, "Why don’t you personally hand out the gifts to them? This should have been my job, but since I’m leaving, and you might have to deal with them again in the future, it’s better for you to do it."
Gao Yang gestured to his team behind him and said, "Distribute the gifts we brought to the guys here."
Glolov and the others began unloading items from the car, while Kofupake loudly announced, "Brothers, this is my friend. His na is Peter. Peter brought gifts for everyone, form a line by squad and co over to receive your gifts."
The scattered soldiers quickly ford a line and waited for Kofupake to wave his hand. Then the soldiers began walking over in squads to Gao Yang.
There was nothing to hide here; everything existed in the most straightforward way.
Gao Yang held a pack of cigarettes in one hand and a stack of cash in the other. When the first soldier reached him, he placed the money and cigarettes in the soldier’s hand.
Upon realizing the denomination and thickness of the bills in his hand, the soldier’s eyes widened in surprise because Gao Yang gave two hundred US dollars plus a pack of cigarettes. To be called here for so work and receive two hundred dollars and a pack of cigarettes was quite a deal.
Initially, Gao Yang intended to give each person one thousand US dollars, but after realizing there were too many people, giving one thousand each ant spending tens of thousands in total. Even though he had money, it shouldn’t be spent like that. Moreover, once the amount given for the first ti was too much, it would be difficult to determine a suitable amount for future jobs. Certainly, the sa amount couldn’t be given every ti; things shouldn’t be done that way. So he wisely lowered the standard to two hundred, but raised the standard for cigarettes to a full pack.
The soldiers were very satisfied and happy, and Gao Yang also felt quite content. He spent not much less than fifty thousand dollars for so many people to do the work, and crucially, the work was sowhat under-the-table. The cost was worthwhile.
Everyone was satisfied. After Gao Yang personally handed out gifts to over a dozen people, Kofupake waved at him and loudly said, "Co on, let’s go in and take a look."
Gao Yang handed over the task of continuing to distribute cash to Glolov, and then followed Kofupake through the wide-open warehouse doors.
Long missile storage boxes, row upon row, stack upon stack, neatly arranged by category inside the warehouse. Each pile was about as tall as a person, and looking down the paths left for the forklifts, it felt like there was no end in sight.
These were missiles, not shells or bullets, and regardless of their purpose, they cost at least ten thousand US dollars each. If they were Man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS), even sold in bulk, they would start at two to three thousand US dollars each. Moreover, given the nurous current battlefields, even obsolete missile models were sold at premium prices.
Gao Yang held his breath at first, then let out a long sigh, trembling as he said, "So many."
Kofupake smiled slightly, pointed to the piles of missiles in the warehouse, and said with a smile, "They’re all yours."
Gao Yang exhaled and said in a deep voice, "Yeah, they’re all mine."
Unable to help himself, he walked over to a pile of missiles, reached out to touch the green box, and once again muttered to himself, "They’re all mine, these, all mine."
After speaking, Gao Yang turned to Eileen and Li Jinfang behind him and said, "These are all ours."
Eileen also reached out to touch a box, with a look of bewildernt, and said, "So many, all ours?"
Li Jinfang’s gaze was also sowhat dazed; he looked at the missile boxes in front of him and said tremblingly, "Curtis, I really wish Bruce could see these."
Kofupake laughed and said, "Don’t you plan to open a box and take a look?"
Gao Yang and Li Jinfang exchanged glances and imdiately reached out simultaneously to move down a box.
After opening the box, a man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS) launcher appeared, and the sa box also contained a missile.
Gao Yang sighed and said, "SA-18!"
SA-18, this missile isn’t the most advanced, but it’s definitely mainstream goods in the international arms market, and it’s by no ans outdated. So how much does a set of this missile cost? A missile with a launcher is fifty thousand dollars a set, a single missile is thirty thousand, an absolutely reasonable price; sell as much as you have without anyone bargaining. Even if you adjust the price upward according to fluctuations in the arms market, it’s definitely a hot item that will sell sooner or later.
Here are two hundred sets of SA-18 launchers, then in one box there’s a launcher plus a spare missile, so it’s a set sold for eighty thousand, that’s sixteen million. Just these two hundred sets of launchers along with four hundred missiles let Gao Yang and the others recover all expenses and make several tis the profit; and that’s not even counting the other items, like SA-7s, like AT-5 anti-tank missiles and whatnot.
This business can be done, it really can be done.
After quickly calculating the account in his mind, Gao Yang repeatedly took deep breaths to suppress his turbulent emotions, then stood up and said to Kofupake, "When do you plan to leave?"
Kofupake shrugged and said, "The sooner the better, but I have to introduce you to my superior tomorrow. However, you must rember not to let anything slip. If my superior finds out that I’ve sold all the most valuable items to you, then I won’t be able to leave, because these should’ve originally been sold to you by him."
Gao Yang frowned and said, "He doesn’t know?"
Kofupake laughed and said, "Of course he doesn’t know, but rest assured, he absolutely won’t cause you trouble because you’re the buyer, a custor. He wouldn’t offend a big buyer, and as for selling the missiles here, that’s between him and , unrelated to you."
Gao Yang waved his hand and said, "Let’s do this; give him a cut, I’ll handle the paynt, give him five hundred thousand dollars to sort out the issue of you selling these privately?"
Kofupake was sowhat surprised; he nodded and said, "That can resolve it, but why are you doing this? You originally could avoid spending this money."
Gao Yang laughed and said, "No particular reason, I don’t want you to have any worries. Besides, I’ll pay you another five hundred thousand dollars to conclude this transaction tomorrow. I can give you cash, but my suggestion is to let Mike help you open an account after you arrive in Arica, and pay you this money in Arica. Because carrying too much cash isn’t convenient, of course, if you’re worried about not receiving it, I can still give you cash."
Kofupake nodded, relieved, and said, "Great, I’ve been worried about how to get the money to Arica. If I transfer it through the underground black market, I have to spend fifty thousand dollars. Can I repay you the cash and let you give one million after I arrive in Arica?"
Gao Yang laughed and said, "Of course you can, there’s no problem with that. Also, I need to thank you for your trust."
Kofupake laughed and said, "You’re a trustworthy person, very good, I have no problem at all this ti. Oh, the convoy arrived so early."
Kofupake held a walkie-talkie and there was soone on the other end reporting that the convoy sent by Major Kuchel had arrived, and at this point, the sky had just turned dark.
Kofupake spoke a few words into the walkie-talkie, instructing the gatekeeper to let the convoy in, then smiled at Gao Yang and said, "Today Major Kuchel is more proactive than usual; it seems your extra ten thousand dollars had a significant effect. Yes, who doesn’t like a generous business partner? Money always motivates people the most, right?" (To be continued. If you like this work, please consider voting for recomndations and monthly votes at Qidian, your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read at m.qidian.)
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