More than half an hour later, the two off-road vehicles arrived at the port of the Gulf of Guinea. After getting out of the vehicles, the group immediately boarded a speedboat and headed out to sea.
Upon seeing the three warships and his own Xuanrui, Zhuang Rui finally realized that the military camp Li Shaohua had mentioned was actually on the warships.
Amidst the roar of the speedboat's engine, Zhuang Rui asked loudly, "Brother Li, is our company's office also located on a boat?"
Although Zhuang Rui doesn't get seasick, he couldn't stand living on a ship for two months. Even though his "Xuanrui" was a converted cruise ship, it lacked entertainment.
"No, your workplace is over a hundred kilometers away from here. I'll have someone take you there tomorrow..."
Commander Li's words relieved Zhuang Rui. Although it was safe to stay here, it was too boring. In comparison, it would be better to travel around Africa. After all, the African savanna is the largest and most expansive place in the world.
"Gah... Gah gah!"
As the speedboat passed by the Xuanrui, a hawk's cry rang out from the ship, followed by a shadow looming over the speedboat.
Zhuang Rui looked up at the golden eagle and said with a smile, "Brother Li, I think... you should all come and visit my ship..."
"Alright, your ship has been here for three days, and I haven't even boarded it yet. I heard you brought a golden eagle and a gorilla. You're much more adventurous than the fourth son of the Ouyang family, haha..."
Li Shaohua joked with Zhuang Rui, but Ouyang Sige, who was far away in China, sneezed for no reason. His reputation as a playboy was well-known among his peers.
"Oh, boss, you can't keep fooling me like this. You said you came to the Atlantic to search for treasure, so why did you stop here? And those warships, their cannons are pointed at us..."
As soon as Zhuang Rui boarded the ship, the bearded man came up to him with a displeased expression. But it was understandable; anyone would feel uneasy being sandwiched between several fully armed warships.
"Captain Clyde..."
"Aww... Aww..."
Before Zhuang Rui could finish speaking, a tall figure suddenly squeezed past the bearded captain, and even deliberately stuck out his buttocks. Clyde, who was also quite burly, immediately stumbled and sat down on the ground.
"What...what is this? A...a gorilla?"
Although he had just mentioned King Kong, Li Shaohua became nervous when King Kong came in front of him, and several of his guards even drew their guns and pointed them at King Kong.
"King Kong, stop it, Brother Li, please don't shoot! King Kong has a very gentle nature..."
Zhuang Rui grabbed Jin Gang, afraid that the guy would hug Li Shaohua and cause a misunderstanding. After all, not everyone can handle Jin Gang's affection.
Seeing Zhuang Rui and Jin Gang embracing, Li Shaohua pushed aside the guard blocking his way and said, "Xiao Zhuang, let me hug him too..."
Li Shaohua's words made Zhuang Rui look at him with new respect. You know, anyone who sees King Kong for the first time is terrified. Let alone hugging him, even if King Kong just grins at him, it can scare his soul out of his body.
After hugging King Kong, Li Shaohua burst into laughter, "Xiao Zhuang, this is the best way to test a man's courage! You guys, go hug it too..."
The reason Li Shaohua dared to get close to King Kong was because he knew that although gorillas look huge and ugly, their personalities are actually very gentle and timid, just as Zhuang Rui said.
Li Shaohua was unaware that King Kong was an exception among gorillas. Unlike the herbivorous lowland gorillas in the Congo rainforest, this guy had eaten countless animals from birth to adulthood.
Li Shaohua's guards also hugged Jin Gang with bitter faces, which made Jin Gang extremely happy. He even grabbed a young soldier and gestured wildly, wanting to take him on a tour of the Xuanrui.
After getting Li Shaohua's permission, the guy followed behind Jin Gang with a pained expression, as if his anus had been ripped open, which made the crew members burst into laughter.
After King Kong left, Zhuang Rui turned to Clyde and introduced Li Shaohua to him, "Captain Clyde, this is the commander of those warships. They're here to protect us, so you don't need to worry. By the way, I've already surveyed several shipwreck sites in the Atlantic. Once I'm done with that, we can start the salvage operation..."
Zhuang Rui wasn't just offering Clyde a free lunch; there are indeed quite a few shipwrecks from the last century in this ocean.
Since he was already there, Zhuang Rui planned to spend a few days salvaging some valuable shipwrecks on the return voyage.
Chapter 1247 Poverty and Luxury
Hearing Zhuang Rui's words, Clyde shrugged helplessly and said, "Alright, boss, I believe that by following you, I can become the greatest captain in history..."
"Hehe, you definitely will. The ocean holds countless treasures waiting for us, but Clyde, you'll have to wait until I finish what I'm doing..."
Zhuang Rui casually offered Clyde another free pie in the sky, but this time it was relatively more reliable. Once the issues between China and Africa were resolved, Zhuang Rui planned to salvage the sunken ship.
After dealing with the bearded captain, Zhuang Rui invited Li Shaohua to dinner on the Xuanrui. Li Shaohua was very pleased with the delicious food prepared by the Chinese chef and the abundant supplies on board. Such delicious food was not available on their warships.
As the commander of the fleet on this military visit, Li Shaohua still had many matters to attend to. After dinner, he politely declined Zhuang Rui's suggestion to stay on the Xuanrui to rest and returned to his own warship. ...
"Mr. Zhuang, the convoy to escort you to the mining area is ready. Shall we depart now?"
The next morning, a naval officer arrived on the Xuanrui. Zhuang Rui had seen this man yesterday; his name was Zhou Liang, and he was with Li Shaohua. However, he was wearing civilian clothes at the time, but now, after changing into his military uniform, he was clearly wearing the rank of colonel.
"Brother Zhou, you can call me Xiao Zhuang or Zhuang Rui, but please don't call me 'General Manager,' it's too awkward to pronounce..."
Zhuang Rui chuckled and tossed over a pack of Little Panda cigarettes with long filter tips. He knew that his future security duties in the mining area would be handled by this naval colonel and the company's mercenaries, so of course he needed to get along well with the newcomer.
Colonel Zhou caught the cigarette Zhuang Rui tossed to him and glanced at it. His eyes lit up. Although he smoked the white-label military-supplied Zhonghua cigarettes, he was not usually fortunate enough to enjoy this kind of cigarette, which was exclusively for leaders at the ministerial level and above.
"Alright, Brother Zhuang, just for this pack of cigarettes you bribed me with, I'll consider you my friend..."
Zhou Liang is a straightforward person, and of course he wouldn't befriend Zhuang Rui over a pack of cigarettes. However, after seeing his boss's attitude towards Zhuang Rui yesterday, and considering that Zhuang Rui doesn't have any of the spoiled brat habits common in China, Zhou Liang naturally knows how to get along with Zhuang Rui.
After chatting with Zhuang Rui for a while, Zhou Liang glanced at his watch and said, "Come on, get on the boat, brother. I brought the biggest troop transport speedboat to get you over there..."
The Gulf of Guinea is arguably the world's largest bay and a trade hub between China and Africa. Countless ships dock and depart here every day, but Chinese warships visiting the Gulf of Guinea can only stay in the waters of countries near the Gulf of Guinea.
Seeing the speedboat below, capable of carrying dozens of soldiers at a time, Zhuang Rui chuckled and patted King Kong's big head, saying, "King Kong, you're getting special treatment, aren't you..."
"Awooo..."
Although King Kong loved life on the ocean, he was getting restless after not seeing land for so long. He excitedly jumped from the elevator into the speedboat, causing the entire speedboat to sag under his massive body. After arriving at the port from the "Xuanrui" by speedboat, Zhuang Rui was startled by the convoy in front of him. At a landing point in the busy port, the two off-road vehicles he had seen yesterday were parked, along with four armored personnel carriers and a truck surrounded by canvas.
"Brother Zhou, is it really necessary to make such a big fuss?"
Trucks are out of the question, because King Kong is with it, and ordinary cars can't fit it, but this armored personnel carrier is a bit too conspicuous.
The massive bulletproof tires are almost half a person's height, raising the chassis to an extremely high position, allowing it to travel on relatively complex road conditions. Furthermore, the troop carrier has two firing ports at both the front and rear. In other words, this is essentially a simplified tank.
This kind of setup really made Zhuang Rui a little uneasy. He was just going to the company to take up his new post, but it was like he was going to war. Could there be danger on the way?
The sight of such a convoy parked on the dock drew stares from passersby, but this was in Africa, especially in the Gulf of Guinea, which is sandwiched between seven or eight small countries, so no one would bother to interfere.
The sight of King Kong disembarking from the speedboat surprised the dockworkers. Although the surrounding countries were the last habitats for gorillas on the planet, they had never seen a gorilla of such enormous size.
Wearing a military uniform, Zhou Liang grew impatient with the stares from those around him. He beckoned to Zhuang Rui and said, "Brother Zhuang, what's this? You don't know, when some chiefs from the surrounding countries go out to bid, the auctions are much bigger than ours. Come on, let's get in the car and talk..."
After Zhuang Rui and the others got into the car, the convoy quickly drove out of the port. After driving on a flat asphalt road for about half an hour, it turned onto a gravel road. Most of the land on both sides of the road was farmland, and many black people were working in the fields.
"Damn, they really aren't wearing shirts? Hey, it's all women doing the work?"
Zhuang Rui discovered that most of the people working in the fields were women. Some friends might ask, "Black people are so dark-skinned, can you see them clearly from the car?"
The answer is simple: because those women weren't wearing tops, their entire upper bodies were exposed. Unless a man's pectoral muscles were as developed as Arnold Schwarzenegger's or Sylvester Stallone's, Zhuang Rui wouldn't be mistaken.
It wasn't that Zhuang Rui was being indecent and deliberately staring at that spot; it was just too conspicuous. Anyone would glance at that spot first.
"Brother Zhou, why don't the men do any work?"
Zhuang Rui asked Zhou Liang beside him, "Could it be that this place is like Myanmar, where the men stay at home to take care of the children and the women do the work?"
"Here, farming is considered light work. The men work in the forests or mines, which is much more tiring..."
Zhou Liang's Chinese fleet had been in this area for more than two years and was very familiar with the local customs and lifestyle. He then gave Zhuang Rui a brief introduction.
Many African countries are surrounded by primeval forests. In earlier centuries, the people here lived not much different from primitive people. Meanwhile, groups of people from the Americas and Western countries came here to capture black slaves.
Although the rights of Black people were recognized and improved to a great extent after the Black Liberation Movement, the poverty and backwardness in Africa have not changed much.
Even within these countries, slavery still exists. The main source of slaves is prisoners of war, but there are also some debt slaves and criminals. The slave trade is also very prevalent.
Institutional imperfections can lead to the decline of social development. Although the land of Africa can be described as being full of gold, this gold does not belong to the people of Africa.
Especially in Central Africa, many countries have forests covering more than 55% of their land area. Although they have rich underground deposits of gold, copper, iron and other minerals, they do not have enough technology to mine them.
Therefore, most people here make a living by farming. Men engage in heavy labor such as logging, hunting, fishing, and mining, while agricultural work is mainly done by women.
Just like what Zhuang Rui saw, it was all women working. They left their children, who couldn't crawl yet, in the fields while they themselves busied themselves.
Even with such hard work, these people barely earn enough to make ends meet. As a result, conflicts are most likely to occur in such regions, with frequent wars between tribes, all for the sake of the other's women and wealth.
"Sigh, it's like sitting right next to a mountain of gold and still having to beg for food..."
After hearing Zhou Liang's introduction, Zhuang Rui couldn't help but sigh. The underground is rich in mineral resources, yet these people can only do the most primitive work to make a living. The saying "backwardness invites aggression" is most applicable to the African continent.
Upon hearing Zhuang Rui's words, Zhou Liang curled his lip and said dismissively, "There are gold mines, but they belong to individuals and have nothing to do with ordinary people..."
In every country and region, even in primitive societies, there exist privileged classes, and this is also true in Africa, where it is even more pronounced.
The kings or chieftains of these countries controlled important trade goods such as gold, salt, furs, ivory, and metal ores; basically, the wealth of a country was concentrated in their hands.
According to Zhou Liang, he once met a chieftain of a gold-mining tribe who had built a large lake on his estate, the purpose of which was quite puzzling.
The lake, which occupied a lot of farmland belonging to Black farmers, was actually only used as a landing and takeoff point for the chief's seaplane, and the chief rarely used it more than twice a year.
Despite the poverty here, the high-end consumption is astonishing, with all kinds of the world's top sports cars and private jets available. Of course, the consumers are still the kings or sheikhs.
"Damn it, no wonder wars break out here so often. Where there is oppression, there is resistance..."
Zhuang Rui felt deeply indignant after hearing about the lives of the people in Africa. Of course, he could only express his feelings, since his mining company, in essence, was also profiting from the people of Africa.
"Yes, poverty makes people less ambitious and more easily swayed. Sometimes, a single tribe can overthrow a country..."
Zhou Liang spoke as if he had a deep feeling about it, and Zhuang Rui was very suspicious that they had actually done these things.
After the convoy had been driving for more than an hour, the farmland on both sides became less and less, and the road became narrower and narrower. Tall tropical rainforest trees grew everywhere on both sides, and apart from the chirping of birds and the calls of animals, the surroundings became very quiet.
Chapter 1248 The Wronged King Kong
Sparse sunlight dappled through the dense foliage overhead, making the ground appear even darker and quieter. The roar of the convoy's engines occasionally startled birds and small animals.
"Brother Zhuang, please close the car window..."
As Zhuang Rui curiously peered out the window, Zhou Liang turned around and rolled up the car window next to him. The thick bulletproof glass immediately blocked out the unique sounds from the forest.
Seeing Zhou Liang's actions, Zhuang Rui asked, "What's wrong? Brother Zhou, is there some kind of ferocious beast here?"
Zhuang Rui once watched a science and education program on CCTV. In the African jungle, leopards are the most dangerous killers. However, it seems that these animals have always avoided humans. It is only because humans have been cutting down forests and trees without restraint that their living space is being squeezed.
"Wild beasts? Wild beasts in Africa have always been the target of human hunting..."
Zhou Liang shook his head, glanced warily out the window, and continued, "In Africa, not only are wild beasts prey, but people are too. If you're not careful, you can be devoured by your own kind, bones and all..."
Because most of the countries in Central Africa that are close to the Gulf of Guinea are covered by forests, and many tribes live in the forests, this has limited their development but has also provided a living space for some criminals wanted by Interpol.
As the saying goes, a leopard can't change its spots. Although those criminals have enough money to survive here, a peaceful life is not what they seek. Under the cover of the primeval forest, they continue to commit their wicked deeds.
These people are generally divided into two types. One type is more benign, who poach rare animals that are listed as protected animals by relevant international organizations and sell them at high prices to smugglers who come to Africa to buy them.