King Of War: Starting with Arms Dealer-Chapter 702 - 658 Capital Mercenaries

With the boss arriving at the frontlines, the morale of everyone at P·B was lifted...

The previously sluggish pace of the base's preparation sped up following Joe Ga's arrival.

The main reason was the dire state of affairs here, being too close to Mosul led to attacks upon entering the area, and the base was under tremendous defensive pressure.

Almost all military contracting companies were urging P·B to move the logistical center back to Gaiyara Base because even though it was only 40 kilometers from Mosul, the defensive pressure was much lesser by several magnitudes.

Once P·B moved to Gaiyara, those mercenaries would have a legitimate excuse to slack off.

After all, if they have to travel forty kilometers to work, you can't expect them to do too much!

Unfortunately, Boss Qiao had his own principles. He took over someone else's oil field, contracted their logistics, and promised to provide a hot meal to the frontline—that promise was to be kept.

Besides, Boss Qiao was also an arms dealer. The Iraqi Government Army's equipment wasn't bad, but they still needed someone to supply their ammunition, right?

This was big business, and moreover, the oil was firmly in Boss Qiao's grasp. The production at Rumaila Oil Field, which was managed by 'Two Barrels', was soon to resume, and the 'IOUs' would quickly be converted into cash.

The logistics corridor was initially opened. Where could be more convenient than supplying the frontlines?

Selling bullets at the frontlines for a price 50% higher than usual was simply too reasonable.

You might think Boss Qiao was ruthlessly exploiting war profits like a 'Bahrain lord', but in reality, he had been pouring money into the war. The cannons, armored vehicles, weapons, and ammunition sent from Seville all required payment.

Maintaining four semi-civilian, semi-military bases was more than just burning money for private owner Joe Ga—it was like pouring money into a cremator.

If not for the 'crude oil presale business' provided by China Energy Group for the Rumaila Oil Field's output, as well as the flexible payment methods and a large amount of sponsorship...

Before realizing scaled profitability through the humanitarian channel, Boss Qiao's big business venture in Iraq was estimated to cost him a large portion of his fortune right from the start.

To subsidize household expenses, charging mercenaries a little for support was nothing but natural.

And his pricing was conscientious—some were even cheaper than what the mercenary companies could manage themselves.

Take the simplest form of air support, helicopters for $20,000 a sortie—it was not expensive at all compared to the mercenary groups using their own helicopters.

Missiles were a bit more expensive, but only slightly so.

Despite the mercenaries' loud complaints, what they actually resented was not the high prices but the ease of support that led to frequent calls for fire support from front-line mercenaries, resulting in many wasteful expenditures.

Mercenary companies weren't spending taxpayers' money; they had to calculate costs!

The support system provided by P·B was too rudimentary and rough, and to attract customers, the artillerymen displayed extremely high efficiency.

However, in actual combat, calling for artillery support involved a quite complicated process within all regular forces. It required specially trained soldiers to complete guidance and calls at the frontlines.

Normally, a company-level unit would have such soldiers!

Calling in air support was even more complex. The frontline control group had to preemptively plan the fighters or air forces' approach, firing angles, and even the types of ammunition.

All the major nations' regular armies were becoming more sophisticated, yet P·B did the opposite and simplified everything...

As long as you used your own radio, reported your team code and password, then provided the target location, you could expect artillery support within at most five minutes.

Was it dangerous?

Extremely dangerous!

But was it worth it?

If you were surrounded, who would care about such things?

Now things are even more severe. There are helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, and even jet fighters available.

This was the real 'big business', and also the inevitable losses that would occur with the big orders taken by those major companies.

You'll inevitably suffer losses, so why not let P·B help you 'suffer' them? Who earns the money doesn't change the fact that it needs to be earned.

P·B actually saved them trouble, but because the operations were so rough and simple, it magnified the kind of losses experienced by the mercenary companies.

Because it was indeed too simple—before the helicopters arrived, the range of the 155mm howitzers at the base could cover the entire city of Mosul.

P·B artillerymen using advanced fire control systems could keep the margin of error within a radius of 50 meters.

This was truly life-saving stuff, and there were no barriers to calling for support—in other words, no lengthy procedures. If you could talk, you could request support.

The 'non-standard' behavior demonstrated by P·B was a blessing for the mercenaries who had to fight for a living.

Many mercenaries from other countries who had served for over a decade had never experienced the privilege of picking up a radio, shouting a command, and having artillery or air support arrive.

Moreover, the flat call hierarchy left the big companies' managers back at the base with no excuses to shirk responsibility.

This was precisely what those major companies could not tolerate...

To them, human lives were merely numbers accounted as costs, and if this continued, their profit margins would be significantly squeezed!

So, they complained in various ways, but ultimately, they didn't want P·B to cut their profits but wanted to set up calling barriers while joining the support command group.

Putting it nicely, they say it's "regularization" and "securitization," but to put it bluntly, it's just making the calling cost for front-line mercenaries higher.

Reality is such a pain in the ass and unbelievable, those mercenaries recruited from places like South America and Eastern Europe are simply not valued at all in the eyes of those giant companies.

And those war mongrels that follow in the giants' wake, scavenging leftovers—unless it's a critical moment in their operation, and supporting them yields returns—would you really expect the giants to waste money on them?

According to what the people at three times the rate of Tian Peng told Joe Ga with a heart-to-heart...

"Artillery and air support can be provided, but it must be kept within the company's budget.

We're happy to hand this part of the business over to P·B, but we need some control; we can't let the front-line mercenaries squander the company's funds.

If we can't agree on this, we will deploy helicopters ourselves to act as covering force.

Rockets and machine-gun bullets are indeed very cheap."

The cost and risk management practiced by capitalistic war companies is just that brutal on the front line.

Nobody cares what the final outcome in Mosul will look like—even many would prefer the war to drag on so they can secure more contracts.

When Mosul becomes the focus in Iraq, the situation in the south will gradually stabilize.

As several large oilfields begin to resume operations, the Iraqi Government will have money.

And those company bigwigs left in Baghdad—lobbyists, technical advisors, agents—will begin to encourage the Iraqi Government to buy advanced military hardware, advanced military services, and then send them to the front lines to fill the gaps.

This is where the vital interests of the American Military-Industrial Complex lie!

American politics, policies, and even wars, a lot of them are in service of the Military-Industrial Complex.

One only needs to look at the invasion of Iraq to see that, while old Saddam was indeed courting death, the biggest beneficiaries were not the oil groups people imagined, but the Military-Industrial Complex.

They took a big bite out of the American defense budget, and then, through the American Government, either gifted or forced sales to reap more profits from the Iraqi Government.

The numbers generated by these two sources alone are enough to leave many people dumbfounded.

Not to mention when this massive complex gets moving, it generates all sorts of messy derivative benefits.

The $100 billion annual demand for mercenaries, in fact, created a range of American military contractors.

Now they are repeating this routine in Aqionghan; unfortunately, Aqionghan is too poor and has always been the case of America transfusing its puppet government.

The Military-Industrial Complex is having a blast eating up the United State Army's budget, but without the Aqionghan Government's share, the profit isn't quite satisfactory—sooner or later, this game will come to an end when America needs money for domestic use.

This is a huge complex that covers Energy Groups, and the nature of capitalism and digitization makes this massive and bloated complex appear very cold and cruel.

Those mercenary giants can only be seen as a part of the Military-Industrial Complex, but the 'Businessman' traits they exhibit still rub Joe Ga the wrong way.

Joe's business often starts at one point, then constantly circles around drawing many people on board.

The source of this c𝓸ntent is frёeweɓηovel.coɱ.

Whereas the Military-Industrial Complex gets involved at a point, then detonates from the inside, feasting with the community of interest after the opponent has lost the ability to resist.

That's why Joe has always felt that he's not on the same track as these companies, because everyone's way of thinking and means of profit-making are completely different.

Facing the persuasive talk of representatives from a bunch of mercenary companies, Joe firmly shook his head and refused their demands.

If you're not satisfied with my method, bring your own stuff over, I'll provide the venue for you to use, just pay a little rental fee for the space.

That's the business P·B does—you're not willing to foot the bill, that's fine, the artillery will keep firing and the planes will continue flying; let the mercenaries pay their own way if it comes to that.

I can even provide a life-saving loan service; no money, no problem, it can be put on a tab, as long as you're still alive, working two armed transport jobs from Basra to Mosul for me can also offset the debt.

Those who owe a lot and aren't willing to take risks can go to the oil fields in the south to stand guard and offset the debt, with food and accommodation provided until the debt is fully repaid.

Joe's proposal made all the mercenary company people quite discomfited...

The logistics provided by P·B are too convenient, using the military base as support, saving these big companies a lot of trouble and capital.

At this point, if things get unpleasant among everyone, life will become difficult afterward.

Especially when they saw a huge surveillance airship being inflated after being unloaded from a truck...

And after being aggressively sold by Boss Joe on a system that reportedly cost several tens of millions to bring in from China, the 'Ding Ding' Management System, they knew they definitely couldn't cut ties with P·B...

The airship provided digital surveillance, precise location tracking, and signal coverage—commanders in the rear could clearly see the front line's situation; mercenaries clocking in for work, taking a building or killing a few terrorists, would be photographed, recorded, and counted for KPIs...

This is the million-dollar additional service provided by Boss Joe...

This damn thing...

Who can refuse?

Refusing the charged logistical artillery support is essentially refusing the most useful and 'cheapest' frontline war service for mercenary companies.

Boss Joe's method of slapping with one hand and offering a big date with the other has left these mercenary company folks agonizing over it to no end...