King Of War: Starting with Arms Dealer-Chapter 1028 - 916 P·B’s Inland Navy Fleet

Boss Qiao returned to Sangha Town for less than ten days before setting out again...

But this time, it was different. Led by Karman, the members of P.B. showed no sign of preventing his departure.

After all, the main stretches of the Ubangi River and Congo River were now entirely under P.B.’s control!

To keep Boss Qiao here for good, Central Africa had practically surrendered. Apart from retaining a portion of its national defense forces to preserve a semblance of dignity, they were eager to hand over every security contract in the country to P.B.

As for remuneration...

Whatever Boss Qiao wanted, he could just say the word. Money? Forget about it; they had none. But if he wanted people, resources, or land—he could take his pick.

Central African President Francois Ailano and Minister of Defense Mary Ailano, the sibling duo, had figured out Boss Qiao’s tendencies. They understood that his approach of taking land or mines actually benefited the local areas.

After all, apart from high-value resources like diamonds and uranium, Central Africa’s other minerals couldn’t be sold or shipped out.

If Boss Qiao wanted them, that meant hope!

The siblings had tasted the sweetness of development and wanted more—they wished to make Central Africa better and, along the way, enrich their own family further.

As a result, Central Africa had almost become a private property of P.B. People from other regions looked on in envy, hoping P.B. would come to their area, set up a mine, or open a factory...

Those who could, "voted with their feet," with masses flocking to the Capital Bangui, northern Ndele, the diamond town of Nora, Sangha Town, and its neighboring Bangassou.

The healthiest developments took place in Ndele, Nora, and Sangha Town.

These were all towns Boss Qiao directly intervened in!

Ndele, bolstered by Prince Sayyid’s massive investments, had already taken off.

With the involvement of Monaco tycoons and Middle Eastern bigwigs, vacationing in Ndele had become a trendy pastime for elites from Europe and North America.

Nora’s diamond industry was thriving as well. The state-owned Central African diamond company, through connections made by Princess Charlene and Princess Amina’s royal relatives, had built ties with luxury brands in France and Milan.

Several major contracts had allowed Nora, relying on its diamond industry, to flourish.

No need to mention Sangha Town—its rise even brought a boom to nearby Bangassou.

The latter boasted extensive agricultural and livestock resources, not only supplying Sangha Town with food but also trending toward expansion.

Additionally, as a significant city in Central Africa’s southeast, Bangassou had some basic industrial production capabilities. With population influx, its commercial atmosphere was even stronger than Sangha Town’s.

The capital, Bangui, was developing even faster, thanks to cotton textile investments from entrepreneurs in Hu Jian Province.

One such Hu Jian businessman, Zheng Chuli—who had once briefly encountered Boss Qiao—and his fellow townsmen had established several large clothing factories in Bangui.

This group of Hu Jian people was incredibly industrious, continuously inviting friends and fellow villagers to join them. Taking advantage of Central Africa’s access to cotton, they ambitiously aimed to build a textile supply chain.

They divided the supply chain into segments: one family handled cotton procurement, another the initial processing, yet another the spinning and weaving...

At the same time, they encouraged and guided local residents to invest in downstream industries; while reducing their own burden, they also provided some benefits to the locals.

The downside of a dispersed supply chain was slightly higher final product costs. But the upside was risk diversification and increased employment rates.

Most of their funding came from loans issued by Boss Qiao’s banks.

To ease their financial pressure, they even shipped used clothing from their home country in containers to the Congo, where the garments were cleaned and repackaged in Kinshasa before being sold to surrounding areas.

The textile industry wasn’t large in scale yet, but it had already employed tens of thousands of workers.

Although no profits had been reported so far, Qiao Ga believed that whether it ultimately succeeded or not, profits were inevitable—it was just a question of how much.

The prosperity of these places began affecting the surrounding towns as well.

This was the ripple effect of economic growth...

Of course, numerically speaking, Central Africa’s growth looked rapid, but for the benefits to truly reach the common people would still take some time.

Excessive population concentration not only created administrative headaches but also meant the economic gains weren’t evenly distributed.

On average, a country like Central Africa, with a population of just over 4 million, remained one of the poorest globally.

It had moved from consistently ranking among the bottom three to hovering around the bottom ten.

But that was already a remarkable achievement!

Recently, President Francois had not only been lobbying within the African Union for more development funding but had also been pondering whether to erect a statue of himself...

Compared to Central Africa’s "blossoming everywhere," the Congo was falling behind!

The Congo had signed a Congo River Defense Contract with P.B., using minerals from North Kivu Province as payment.

They too wanted to emulate Central Africa by offering Boss Qiao a piece of the industry outside North Kivu Province as a lure.

But the Congo’s vast size, scattered population, and dire transportation infrastructure made it an uphill battle.

North Kivu and South Kivu Provinces at least had remnants of colonial-era infrastructure to rely on, but other resource-rich areas were too remote.

"To get rich, build roads first." Expecting the Congo to build them, or Boss Qiao to fund them, was wishful thinking.

Boss Qiao lacked the funds and manpower; even Sangha Town had stretched him to the limit.

The Congo’s only viable path forward at this stage was to build ports and develop inland river shipping!

The Congo was arguably Africa’s most water-rich nation, with the Congo River as its central artery and countless tributaries connecting most cities within the country.

Reliable ports and affordable river transport could breathe life into internal trade in the Congo.

Not only would this facilitate resource exports, but it could also spur domestic trade activity.

For instance, the poor in Kinshasa who wanted to migrate inland to Kisangani had to spend a year’s savings—around 90 US Dollars—just to buy a boat ticket, enduring a two-month river voyage. Taking the overland route might take them a lifetime.

Building roads in the Congo wasn’t even feasible for the world’s five superpowers combined; they’d still feel overwhelmed.

Currently, Qiao Ga held the sword, and Qiao Liang the ’olive branch’—the Congolese had no choice but to accept.

.........

Qiao Ga stood on the deck of a rapid response boat, the ’Blue Whale,’ waving goodbye to Nis, Kitten, and the children on the dock.

Spotting Tong Tong sobbing theatrically, covering her face but shedding no actual tears, Qiao Ga burst into laughter and shouted, "Wait for my return. The whole family will take a trip down south. You’re dying to see gorillas, right? I’ll get you one to take home..."

Tong Tong, noticing her tear-streaked performance hadn’t elicited any sympathy from Qiao Liang...

...realized she probably wouldn’t be allowed on board. She tucked the cooling ointment she had prepared to fake tears back into her pocket, grabbed Nis’s arm, wrinkled her nose, and grumbled, "Sister-in-law, Big Brother and the others are so mean. Let’s go home and have our own fun...

Ad-Damazin sent over some confiscated elephant tusks. I couldn’t bear to show them to Dan Bao, so I had them made into mahjong tiles.

I’ll teach you all how to play mahjong..."

Saying this, the young woman cast a glance at the two Dubai princesses, narrowed her eyes, and huffed, "Hmph, all of them are loaded...

My company could really use some income, or it’ll go under before it even starts."

............

This time, Qiao Ga set out accompanied by Dorian, Ayu, Ronnie, Bird the medic, and the entire D-Team.

Joining them were four infamous veterans—’Silt,’ ’Crocodile,’ ’Spider,’ and ’Leech’—as well as a 20-man "Ant Eater" squad and a surface patrol detachment.

The unit consisted of one rapid response boat, six armored patrol boats, and four 200-ton supply ships.

The rapid response boat Qiao Ga was aboard had been purchased from South Africa. It measured 45 meters long, 15 meters wide, and had a displacement of 220 tons, making it a state-of-the-art inland river patrol vessel.

P.B. currently had nine of these vessels, all deployed in key Congo River regions, serving as patrol boat bases, resupply points, and occasionally riverine rescue stations.

The armored patrol boats following behind were even more formidable, having been salvaged by the ’Professor’ from Seville’s landlocked ’navy’...

The ’Professor’ acquired six obsolete inland river minesweepers from Seville at junkyard prices.

After commissioning a shipyard to replace the engines and thoroughly modernize them, the ’Professor’ charged Boss Qiao 5 million US Dollars, delivering the vessels to Central Africa after half a year of retrofitting.

The overhauled patrol boats displaced 61 tons, measured 23 meters in length, and 6 meters in width. Their main deck was equipped with a Bofors gun at the front, a grenade launcher at the back, and a top mount for anti-tank missile launchers cannibalized from Milos armored vehicles.

The boat’s recessed stern even carried a rapid inflatable craft.

These modernized inland patrol boats, dubbed ’Guardians’ by the ’Professor,’ required a crew of four and could transport 12 soldiers.

In the Congo River region, these ’Guardians’ could undoubtedly be considered heavily armed.

Of course, the ’Guardian’ armored patrol boats weren’t the sum total of P.B.’s river patrol force...

In practice, P.B.’s patrol personnel primarily operated modified 12-meter-long speedboats and inflatable craft.

Relying on rapid response boats, their general patrol coverage spanned approximately 300 kilometers upstream and downstream.

As for the 200-ton cement ships, those were the supply vessels for the patrol teams.

They regularly departed from Sangha Town to resupply rapid response boats along the route with food, water, and ammunition.

This time, Boss Qiao’s journey to Kinshasa was a show of force...

President Kabila, after the devastating bombing in Yamako, had finally come to his senses. He formally invited Boss Qiao to negotiate, requesting assistance in quelling uprisings and proposing to discuss the integration of South Kivu’s mining resources in Kinshasa.

Given such an invitation, Boss Qiao naturally wanted to bring out his best river forces.

If only he had the time to bring over Sea Hawk 43, Qiao Ga would have gladly done so, just to show off to the Congolese along the way...

First, intimidate them thoroughly. Then, after Boss Qiao solved the problems in Kinshasa, anyone who disobeyed on the way back would be disciplined by the patrol units...