Mercenary I am the king

Chapter 165 Boss Hou
The boss brought by the old demon was named Hou.

His name is Hou Liang.

He was a short man with a strong build. He spoke in a loud voice and with a strong tone.

Maybe because he has been doing business in Africa for a long time, his skin is a little dark.

Boss Hou is in his forties. In the early 1990s, he took advantage of the reform and opening up policy and completed his initial accumulation in the building materials business with three parts of hard work and seven parts of luck.

Later, in the mid-1990s, macroeconomic regulation was implemented and national infrastructure construction was cut back, and many building materials business owners were directly dragged down by triangular debts.

Boss Hou's ancestral tomb has good feng shui. Before the regulation, a distant relative of his was doing some clothing and grocery business in Africa. He saw the market there and wanted to expand his investment, so he approached Boss Hou for investment.

Boss Hou has a good vision. In the 1990s, most people liked to do processing and export business in Europe and the United States. He felt that the competition was too fierce, the labor price was too low, and the inspection of goods in Europe and the United States was extremely strict. If a batch of products had problems, he would have to pay a huge loss.

Africa is different.

The people there don't have high spending power and they only want low-end goods.

Second-hand clothing, daily necessities, and even second-hand electrical appliances are very popular there.

And the quality requirements are not that high, as long as it can be used, it's fine.

Seeing that the domestic building materials business was going downhill, he simply closed the building materials processing factory early, took the money to Africa and started a second business, becoming a "trader" in Africa.

After a few years, he established a firm foothold in North Africa, owned two shopping malls, and expanded the timber business.

There is a lot of wood in Africa, including ebony, rosewood, and African huanghuali, and the price is cheap. After two years of work, Hou Liang's wallet has become as bloated as his belly.

Of course, his ambition and tone also expanded.

Song Heping took a few Irigo mercenaries to pick up Lao Yao and Hou Liang. As soon as they met, Hou Liang asked Song Heping how much he earned a month.

Song Heping didn't know what to say. He couldn't tell them that he had just gotten fifty tons of gold and sold it for several hundred million dollars.

"That's just $1000 a month."

He didn't tell the truth in front of Lao Yao and Hou Liang.

Unexpectedly, Hou Liang glared at him and said, "What?! Only $1000 a month? Xiao Song, your life is really worthless!"

He looked at the armored vehicles and soldiers with loaded guns flashing by outside the car and said, "This is a war-torn area, worse than Africa. I'll give you $1000 a month?"

Song Heping could only perfunctorily say: "I just started in this industry and haven't been here long. My salary is like this and it will increase slowly."

Hou Liang made a big promise, saying, "With such a small salary, I think I'd better give up. I'm going to invest in a gold mine in Africa next year. Xiao Song, do you want to come with me to Africa to make a fortune? I heard from Lao Yao that you were a soldier. I'll give you $1500 a month to be my security supervisor and bring a few African mercenaries to protect my safety. How about it?"

After all, it was a good intention, so Song Heping couldn't refuse directly. He could only say politely: "I signed the contract, and there is still a year left. If I breach the contract, I will have to pay compensation."

Hou Liang tutted his words and said disdainfully, "If you ran away secretly, would they still go to Africa to catch you and make you pay?"

Song Heping almost laughed out loud when he heard this.

It seems that Hou Liang really underestimated those international mercenaries.

He probably thought they were the private soldiers in Africa who just picked up an AK and went to work.

"You still have to keep your word, keep your word..."

He could only continue to procrastinate.

The old demon sounded a little strange.

"Heping, you only make a thousand dollars a month. You booked the Jade Palace for the two of us? How many months' salary would you have to pay for that?"

The Emerald Palace is one of the two most upscale hotels in the Green Zone, and the cost of a regular executive room is $500 a day.

Song Heping's heart skipped a beat, thinking that something bad had happened. He hadn't thought of this.

If I had known earlier, I would have just booked an ordinary hotel in the Green Zone for $100 a night. The old demon called me earlier and told me it was hard to book a hotel. I've been getting cocky lately, and the first thing I mentioned was the Jade Palace...

"It's okay...it's okay, we are brothers."

"how?"

The conversation between the two attracted the attention of Hou Liang, who began to interrupt.

“Is the Jade Palace expensive?”

Lao Yao said, "A regular executive room costs $500 a night. In the past, only the US troops stationed in Iraq or high-ranking officials visiting here could afford it. Ordinary people couldn't afford it."

In fact, what Song Heping booked for them was not an ordinary executive room, but a luxurious executive suite, which cost $800 a night.

Now we are in a difficult situation.

He thought about fooling around and saying it was an ordinary room. After all, even the old demon had never stayed there, and he didn't know the difference between an ordinary and a luxury executive suite.

"What a brother! So loyal!"

Hou Liang raised his thumb.

"Xiao Song, I admire your personality! When the time comes, come to Africa and hang out with me, I will definitely not treat you unfairly! Don't pay for the room yourself, Brother Hou will reimburse you. You only earn so little a month, how can I ask you to pay for it?"

"Thank you, Brother Hou."

Song Heping could only continue to play dumb and smile.

He simply didn't refuse.

Anyway, Hou Liang seems to be able to afford it.

If you appear too active, it will only arouse people's suspicion.

Generally speaking, Song Heping doesn't want people in the country, including Lao Yao, to know his true identity and business.

The fewer people know about these things, the better.

Otherwise, no one knows whether it will have any adverse effects on your return to China in the future.

After putting down the luggage at the hotel, Song Heping learned his lesson this time. At noon, he took the two of them to an ordinary restaurant in the Green Zone, found a table and had some authentic local delicacies such as mutton naan. After the meal, they paid the bill which cost more than 40 US dollars. He rushed to pay it, saying that it was a courtesy to the host, and also thanked Brother Hou for reimbursing his room fee.

In the afternoon, Song Heping took them to Yusuf's place to look at the timber.

As soon as Hou Jun walked into the factory, he was stunned at the first sight of the people.

Before coming, the old demon told him that there was a large amount of wood.

This "large group" is not accurate.

The coverage is very wide.

Hou Liang thought it should be quite a few.

But I didn't expect such a large amount! Because these woods were used to build palaces, there are dozens of palaces all over the country, so the amount of wood used is very large.

Most of the wood had not yet been renovated internally before the American troops arrived, so 70% of the wood was left in various warehouses and was not used at all. This is only a part of it, but it was enough to make Hou Liang and Lao Yao dumbfounded.

"Peace, is this the large quantity of timber you were talking about?"

"Isn't that enough?"

Song Heping glanced at Yusuf, then said to the old demon: "If it's not enough, I can ask someone to find some for you."

"No no no!"

Hou Liang on the side immediately waved his hand.

"That's plenty. I estimate there are a full 30,000 cubic meters of wood here."

As he spoke, he walked over to the pile of wood, looking here and there.

"Fine African ebony..."

"This is red sandalwood..."

"And Huanghuali..."

“They’re all good things…”

Hou Liang suddenly turned around and asked Song Heping: "How much did you say it was per cubic meter?"

"30..."

In fact, Song Heping didn't take this matter to heart.

To confirm the price, he turned around and asked Yusuf, "How much is it per cubic meter?"

"$30."

Yusuf gave a clear answer.

Song Heping quickly repeated: "30 dollars per cubic meter."

Hou Liang looked around, estimated the approximate total amount, then took out his computer, walked aside and started clicking frantically.

"What is he doing?" Yusuf asked Song Heping.

Song Heping said: "I guess they are calculating the price."

He couldn't help but look at the wood around him.

If it's $30 per cubic meter, and there are 3 cubic meters, that would be $90.

It doesn’t seem like much…

Hou Liang finally returned to the crowd after jabbing at his computer. He then pulled Song Heping aside and whispered, "Xiao Song, I have something to ask you..."

Song Heping asked him, "What's the matter?"

Hou Liang whispered, "There's at least 3 cubic meters here. If I want to take it all, it'll cost at least $90, but..."

Song Heping immediately realized that the funds Hou Liang could provide were probably insufficient.

90 US dollars, equivalent to more than million RMB.

"Do you want to take it in batches?" Song Heping asked.

Hou Liang had exaggerated too much before, thinking that the maximum volume would be only 10,000 cubic meters.

It's not a problem to raise $30 by yourself.

I didn't expect it to be tens of thousands of cubic meters...

"Yes, these are the woods. Can we keep them for a while?" Hou Liang was afraid that such high-quality and low-priced goods would be snatched up by others. Moreover, he had agreed to buy them all at once. If he said he only wanted one-third of them, would the fat Irige man raise the price?

Song Heping nodded and said, "Okay."

"Don't you need to ask him?" Hou Liang glanced at Yusuf, who was not far away. "Isn't the goods his?"

Song Heping was stunned for a moment.

Because he knew that as long as he wanted, Yusuf would definitely stay.

"I can help you convince the other party, but I want to ask how much commission per cubic meter you give to the old demon?"

"We agreed before that if the price is 30 per cubic meter, I will give him a commission of 3 US dollars per cubic meter."

Hou Liang was straightforward and said it directly.

Song Heping said, "How about this: I'll give Lao Yao a commission of $15 per cubic meter, and I won't take any share. Then I'll help you find the owner of the goods, and the goods will be yours within six months."

"You don't want commission?" Hou Liang was a little surprised.

Song Heping said, "No, I don't need it. If you agree, I can ask the temporary management committee to help you with all the customs clearance procedures and shipping schedules for this batch of timber."

"really?!"

"really."

Hou Liang couldn't believe his ears.

A guy who earns $1000 a month was not tempted at all by the commission of hundreds of thousands of dollars and gave it all to the old demon.

This forced him to look at Song Heping with new respect.

Hou Liang suddenly realized that he had really underestimated the young man in front of him.

"I don't know what good deeds I must have done in my past life to have a friend like you."

Song Heping said, "Old Demon and I lost a lot of money in business together before. Besides, he was the one who helped me stay here as a mercenary. I owe him a favor and I have to pay it back."

"Brother, you're so polite!" Hou Liang gave him a thumbs-up. "If your contract really expires in the future and you're anxious to come to Africa to find me, I'll drink it all in one gulp and won't let you just have water."

"Okay, if I can't make it here, I'll definitely come to you."

Song Heping suddenly had an inexplicable feeling about Africa.

He had a hunch that maybe Hou Liang would really be a partner for him in the future.

　Asking for a monthly ticket! Asking for a monthly ticket!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)