Chapter 1487: Guide
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Li Du brought in another 10 million dollars of investment for Remonin, which made the latter very happy.
He even wanted to give Li Du a few local girls to “play” with. Thanks to Li Du, he was almost the richest general in the whole of Mozambique.
Mozambique was poor, and the country had no strategic resources worth the attention of European and American countries, so developed countries were not willing to waste money to support agents there.
Li Du needed a military setup to rely on, in case there was something he needed to hide from, or he would not invest.
They could do a lot in Mozambique with ten million dollars. Soldiers here earned less than fifty dollars a month. Ten million could support ten thousand soldiers for twenty months!
After arriving at the headquarters, Remonin asked Li Du, “Do you want…”
“No, no, I’m not interested in women,” Li Du quickly said. In his gratitude, Remonin has been insisting on giving him a woman.
Remonin laughed and said, “I also have a lot of handsome young men.”
Li Du smiled wryly. “I am only interested in one woman.”
Remonin shrugged. “Well, you’re a gentleman. By the way, do you want go and see the new miners?”
Li Du suddenly remembered that those bastards from the Dripping Blood Gang were kept by Remonin to dig diamonds.
He had no interest in watching them. He had never thought of the bullies as rivals, and it was only to prevent them from hurting Sophie and the little ones that he decided to get rid of them.
So he shook his head. “It’s okay, let them stay there.”
Remonin said, “They are good workers. Strong bastards they are. If I hadn’t feared they would cause trouble, I’d have sent them to the army.”
Li Du hurriedly warned him, “Don’t mess around, don’t get yourself into trouble.”
Remonin waved his hand. “I know, I know. I am careful at handling these things, rest assured.”
He took out the diamonds that he had collected over the past year. Li Du put them away. Remonin gave him the weapons he had prepared, too.
Those were mainly machine guns, grenades, and ammunition. Li Du asked for two mortars and two rocket-propelled grenades, which could fill an expanded space of more than a dozen cubic feet.
Remonin wondered, “Are you going to war? Why do you need so many weapons?”
Li Du smiled and said, “You know my temper. I just use weapons to protect myself, as this time I’m going to a more dangerous place.”
“How are you going to take this stuff out of the country?”
Li Du tapped the suitcase of cash on the table. “Using these!”
It was easy for him to leave Mozambique with weapons. The Customs would not check because of Remonin’s authority. He could just bring whatever he wanted on the plane.
The plane took off after a day’s stay in Mozambique. Li Du left two million for Remonin before he left, a private donation in return for the diamonds that were worth more than ten million.
.
Myanmar was a developing country with a small and poor population. Its economy depended entirely on tourism and the jade industry, which was closely related to tourism.
Therefore, jade mining was a very important resource in this country. Although the Hpakant area was small and indiscriminate mining caused serious damage to the region, the locals enjoyed greater economic prosperity and had an airport.
They expected that the plane would land at the international airport, and then fly to Hpakant after being checked by the customs.
However, because of the local war of before, the mini airport in Hpakant was closed. Li Du and the others had to change the plan and hire a car to go to Hpakant.
Through Cole’s connections, they had contacted a local miner whom they wanted to hire as a guide to show them around the Hpakant area.
However, the other side was waiting in the Hpakant airport and the two parties were temporarily unable to meet, so Li Du had to find another guide who would take them to Hpadant.
Besides, the Markelov brothers had contacts around Denai, where they had saved the life of the former mayor of Foghorn. It was not known if the mayor still occupied his position. If he were still the mayor, their connections would be even more powerful.
All this, of course, would have to wait until they got to Hpakant.
When he left the airport, Li Du saw a group of tourists. He knew they were from China because they were all speaking Mandarin, so he went up to communicate with them.
When meeting compatriots overseas, everyone was naturally enthusiastic. Li Du’s purpose was to get a guide’s contact number through them.
Hearing this, an elderly man said solemnly, “You came to Burma by yourselves? Not with a group? Then you must be careful, young man. Unfamiliar guides are a bit dangerous, and they may even be criminals!”
Li Du said, “Thank you, uncle, we will be careful.”
They talked for a while, and the guide, learning his purpose, said, “You’re going to Hpakant? Are you jade merchants?”
Li Du smiled and said, “No, I am going to visit.”
The tour guide breathed a sigh of relief. “Fortunately, now the government has closed more than a thousand jade mines, causing a sharp increase in the demand for jade. Prior to that, everyone was fighting to get the jade, so if you are a jade trader, we are not going to take this job.”
Li Du said, “Do I look like a jade dealer to you? I don’t think so.”
The guide nodded and said, “OK, but you are going to Hpakant, where the situation is more complicated. Not many of my colleagues would dare to go there, so if you want to hire a guide, the price may be higher.”
“How much?”
The guide thought for a moment and said, “400 RMB per day just for tour guiding and translating, paid on a daily basis.”
“Deal!” said Li Du.
He agreed, and everything was much simpler. The guide called someone, and soon a dark, thin young man came.
The youth was called Godanwei. Because Myitkyina was at some distance from Hpakant, this section of the road was more dangerous, and the local situation was still in chaos. Therefore, the guides who dared to go were a bit like gangsters.
As Godanwei approached with a cigarette in his mouth, he gave Li Du a sideways look and began to talk to another guide in the local language.
Soon, he said to Li Du in Chinese, “Hi, boss, are you the employer?”
Li Du nodded.
Godanwei said, “OK, here is my tourist guide pass and other identification, and here is my phone number. If there is no problem, you can pay me for today.”
Li Du looked at the guide who introduced them and said, “Isn’t the payment normally made at the end of the day?”
That guide smiled and said, “It is the first time we are working together, and we don’t know you. What if you don’t pay us when the day ends? You see, we have a contract, so you can pay in advance, and if there is any problem, you can sue us.”
Godanwei called out, “Hey, didn’t we settle this earlier? Why are you wasting time? It’s so boring. Are you messing with me?”
Li Du said, “No, it’s alright. Okay, I’ll pay for the day, 400 RMB, is it? Here you go.”
Godanwei took the money, counted it, stuffed it into his bag, and said, “Let’s go.”
After walking some distance, he suddenly said, “Brother, 400 RMB is a little too low. After all, we are going to Hpakant. It should be 600 at the very least.”
Li Du smiled and said, “Let’s find my companions first. The money is in their hands. Then we can discuss the price again.”
