Fatal Strike: Mercenary Road of Gunfire Ranger-Chapter 737 - 686: Prison Storm

To solve anything, especially major issues that involve broad connections and large populations, it encompasses both primary and secondary conflicts.

How to resolve the political issues within El Salvador and gain 100% support from it...

How to resist local gang interference...

How to utilize political maneuvers to leverage Salvadoran national resources as collateral, obtain loans and construction projects from East, and simultaneously find a large construction group that can complete the power plant exploration and construction in the short term at a relatively low price...

These three issues are the primary conflicts. Once these three are settled, the remaining issues, as long as managed properly, are actually matters of course.

The funding issue Mori is concerned about is not what Mountain Eagle cares most about, because as long as the political connection between El Salvador and East is established, money is the easiest problem to solve...

As long as El Salvador politically shifts away from Taiwan towards East and opens its market, infrastructure will enter a period of rapid development.

The interests here are very complex, and Mountain Eagle doesn't have the ability to sort them out, but he has the ability to leverage and borrow money to complete his energy layout in El Salvador.

Just like how he acquired several gas stations in Kamui and used some means to control the local smuggling ships...

El Salvador, which relies on imports for gasoline and is a negligible Central American country in the eyes of big corporations and nations, is his ideal client.

The Shadow Fleet plan by Mountain Eagle is still only on paper; currently, it's just small-scale use of twenty thousand ton tankers to shuttle a bit of refined oil from Russia to sell in Southeast Asia.

It's not that it can't be expanded, but there isn't a reliable settlement center, making this legally contested business unable to grow.

That's why Mountain Eagle will try his best to bring in the group led by William Hurt, even if it means revealing his Salvadoran plan...

In his plan, even if he cannot drag figures of William Hurt's caliber into this, he must at least get a few juniors from their families into the shareholder list of the virtual currency trading center.

Mountain Eagle admits he's not adept at using tools like banks, so he has to find another path.

Now William Hurt is performing better than Mountain Eagle expected. As long as the Edward Foundation strives to generate more Gold Coins, the first phase of cooperation between the two parties is considered complete.

However, the yield from such large-scale cooperation needs to be viewed over a longer timeline; you definitely won't see results in just one or two years.

At least for someone like Mori, a political broker, it's unlikely to obtain large yields in the short term.

Facing Mori's eager curiosity, Mountain Eagle smiled and said, "What's the most profitable trade in the world?"

Mori seriously counted with his fingers, "Arms trade, drug trade, human trafficking..."

Mountain Eagle looked at Mori, who seemed fearless, and praised him, saying, "Bro, although what you're thinking might lead one to Hell, you're making sense.

Which of these trades do you think you can handle?"

After listening, Mori smacked his lips and said, "Arms don't seem possible, big businesses won't involve us, and small deals have too little profit.

As for drugs, it's difficult to get past Mexican cartels!

Human trafficking follows the same logic; the only destination for smuggled people is the United States, and El Salvador's geographic position can't bypass Mexico.

Unless we can break new ground in Mexico, otherwise..."

Mountain Eagle, speechless, watched Mori seriously contemplating this, waved his hand and said, "I don't want to go to Hell dragged down by you. Though most see me as a mercenary, I definitely won't touch these trades.

Especially human trafficking; if I encounter such a business, I'll shoot at them."

After hearing this, Mori spread his hands and said, "Then what exactly do you want to say?"

Looking at the disappointment flickering in Mori's eyes, Mountain Eagle smiled and said, "We need to undertake foundational energy projects in El Salvador. For this, we need to invest a lot of money in building facilities. Do you know what part of such projects costs the most?"

Mori rightfully said, "Apart from equipment, it's labor!"

Mountain Eagle nodded and said, "Then where can you find the cheapest and most efficient people in El Salvador?"

Mori really wanted to say that you can't find reliable workers in El Salvador, but seeing Mountain Eagle's look, he hesitated a moment and said, "The unified unemployment rate in El Salvador isn't high, only around 5%, but the unemployment rate among people aged 24 to 34 in their capital San Salvador is over 50%, labor there is presumably very cheap.

However, the biggest problem there is, if you want to hire large numbers of locals, you can't bypass the gangs."

Upon hearing this, Mountain Eagle scoffed and said, "Where are you getting these unemployment statistics?

The San Salvador metropolitan area has nearly 2 million people, accounting for about a third of the total population. The unemployment rate is over 50% for those aged 24 to 34 there, how do they control the national total unemployment rate around 5%?

It doesn't matter if you fabricate data, but you can't just discard mathematical logic, right?"

Mori shrugged indifferently and said, "I don't know, perhaps they consider working a few casual hours a week as having a job.

Don't keep me guessing, tell me, is there anything profitable there?

You previously said it's possible to operate U.S. funds through El Salvador, how exactly can it be done?"

Mountain Eagle glanced disdainfully at Mori, whose eyes were only on money, and laughed, "The cheapest and most cost-effective labor force worldwide is prisoners...

And El Salvador happens to have the most overcrowded prisons in the world!"

Mori's eyes sparkled upon hearing this and said excitedly, "You mean to invest in prisons?"

Mountain Eagle laughed and nodded, "I've checked some information. Due to financial issues, El Salvador has always had problems with their prison capacity and management.

And because they can't fit everyone in prison, many times gang members are caught and released.

To alleviate El Salvador's prison pressure, I think they'd certainly be glad to see someone invest in building a super large prison.

I think you can now arrange for people to go there for inspection and site visits, even starting construction early isn't off the table."

As long as our Salvador plan begins, there will be a need for a lot of labor there...

Prisoners are people too, and prisoner labor is valuable!

You surely understand better than I do how the US prison system operates...

The United States Federal and State Governments allocate over 80 billion US Dollars annually to maintain the prison system. Currently, nearly 2 million prisoners are detained in the US, each consuming 30,000 to 60,000 US Dollars annually.

In places like Guantanamo, each prisoner even consumes 13 million US Dollars annually.

The Titan Group runs the largest black prison system in the US, earning hundreds of millions of dollars annually, but just a few days ago, one of their sea prisons was breached.

This gave me an inspiration...

Didn't you notice something from it?"

"Oh my god! Are you the Devil?"

Mori excitedly rubbed his hands and paced around the room restlessly, then said, "I know a few private prison owners who have told me that each year they bribe local judges with tens of millions of dollars to fill the prison's empty beds.

Because for each additional prisoner they accept, they receive another income stream.

California prisoners are the most valuable; the government pays nearly sixty thousand US Dollars per prisoner annually to the prison.

The annual 80 billion US Dollars is because there are only about 2 million prisoners in the entire US, and this money is not the ceiling.

I'll call and have people register a company in California, then chat with the Ministry of Justice to ask their views on overseas low-cost prison systems.

It's just about putting prisoners in jail; nobody specified they had to be in a US prison, and putting them in a private prison built by a US company in El Salvador should also be acceptable.

Each prisoner costs twenty thousand US Dollars a year. I think there's hope!"

Daria, watching Mori indulged in a devilish business, sarcastically remarked, "Sir, have you ever thought that the most profitable pursuits are those black operations?

The US doesn't just have one Guantanamo; it's just that most people don't know where the other prisons are.

Those are the real money-making deals because the funding for those prisons comes from the US defense budget."

Facing the beauty's skepticism, Mori proudly said, "Beauty, you're right, but you've forgotten one thing: Titan Group runs such prisons and also faces huge risks.

Such as this time when the sea prison was attacked...

If such black prisons are exposed, it's not just a financial loss...

Titan Group last took the fall for the CIA regarding Guantanamo Prison, leading to their company being split up once, and the parent company's stock price dropped by more than half.

If it happens again, I estimate they will be severely damaged.

Compared to this high-profit, high-risk business, I prefer to win by volume.

By establishing private prisons and tapping into Salvadoran and US prison management funds, as long as the number of prisoners increases, this is a very lucrative business."

Daria, having been with Mountain Eagle for a long time, looked down on Mori's greedy political brokerage, and contemptuously said, "The Salvadoran government might agree to you setting up private prisons in their country simply because they don't have the money."

Mori seemed not to hear Daria's sarcasm. He shrugged and said, "Your boss explained it so clearly, don't you understand yet?

Whether or not El Salvador has money is irrelevant; our real income isn't from Salvadoran government allocations, but from the prisoners themselves.

Those young gang men are the best labor force, and as long as we find suitable work for them, they can not only support themselves but also create enormous benefits for us.

There is no cheaper labor than prisoners!"

Speaking, Mori grinned and said, "We are giving them the opportunity to participate in social labor, saving their souls.

Teaching them a craft through labor is saving their lives.

Most importantly, for those prisoners, my place is free...

Fuck, now I feel great!

I should perhaps take on some clothing projects, let those prisoners make clothes, and sell them at a very cheap price to charitable organizations to warm the homeless.

This is a warming story!

Oh shit, I am a fucking genius!"

Mountain Eagle, moved by Mori's genius idea, took out pen and paper to document this moment of inspiration, vowing to complete this plan...

Mountain Eagle felt this guy would never make it to heaven in this life...

Building a prison, even if you can't fleece the US, could still relieve the hellish Salvadoran prison environment where there is less than a square meter per person.

As long as you don't ask the Salvadoran government for money, the prison beds can surely be filled with those young prisoners effortlessly!

Relying on the impending major infrastructure projects, although the unit price of this labor is not high, you can't resist its large volume.

In labor-intensive industries, as long as you don't respect labor laws, you can make big money by exploiting the value of labor.

This practice may be heartless, but compared to Salvador's original prison environment, it will definitely feel like heaven for those prisoners!

Mountain Eagle still had some baseline ethics in his heart, feeling that sharing jail business dreams with Mori somewhat affected his image, so he stood up and said to Daria, "Let's give Mr. Mori some space and go check on Kobe and the others…"