Mercenary I am the king

Chapter 300

Assab Port, Eritrea, 6: a.m.

After staying in Yemen for a day, the "Starry Sky" finally arrived at the port of Assab as scheduled.

Watching the tugboat slowly push the freighter toward the dock, Captain Edmund stood beside Song Heping, who was waiting to disembark. He turned and said gratefully, "Boss Song, we've arrived safely, and my mission is complete. Be careful after you disembark."

"It's a pleasure to work with you. I guess we'll have opportunities to work together again in the future."

"Don't worry about the containers. I'll talk to the dock staff and have the first batch lifted down for you. As for the formalities, you'll have to go to the port office to handle them yourself." Edmond instructed, "Here..."

He stretched out his hand, made a motion of counting money, and hinted, "This one works well."

Song Heping understood, nodded and smiled, "I understand."

"Goodbye, and good luck."

"Good luck to you too."

Song Heping stretched out his hand and shook hands with Edmund.

The boat docked and the gangway was lowered. Song Heping turned and walked towards the gangway.

After getting down to the land, Song Heping looked around. There were not many people on the dock, probably because it was early morning. Given the characteristics of Africans, they would not be as efficient as the docks in China.

It seems that Edmund is right, I need to use my money counting ability.

So he found a dock worker and asked him if he could speak English.

After the other party gestured for a while, it was like talking to a deaf person.

Song Heping had no choice but to give up.

He turned and walked forward, saw another worker, and went up to ask again.

This time we were lucky, the worker could speak some English.

After all, Eritrea was once a British colony, and the English language penetration rate has traditionally been relatively high. To this day, most people still use English as their common language.

"Brother, where is your port office?"

"there."

"Over there? How do I get there?"

"there."

The other party's answer was so "concise" that it was simply outrageous.

Song Heping quickly took out a $10 green bill from his pocket and handed it over.

"Can you show me the way?"

Money can help.

This applies everywhere.

The other person's eyes glowed green, and his expression changed immediately after he reached out to take the money.

"I'll take you!"

After saying that, he turned around and led the way.

"What are you doing in the Minato office right now?"

"I want to find someone to handle the pick-up procedures."

"Ah... this is not easy..."

"Why is it so difficult?"

"They haven't started work yet. People don't start coming in until nine o'clock... Are you the one who got off that big ship just now? Are you the captain?"

"No, I'm not the captain. I'm the cargo owner. I have three cabinets on board and the buyer needs them urgently, so I'm in a hurry."

"Hahaha! This isn't the first time I've dealt with you Chinese people. You're always so impatient. But even if you've completed the pick-up procedures, it's useless. There are also rules for unloading here..."

"rule?"

Song Heping stopped and took out a $20 bill from his pocket and handed it over.

"Tell me, what are the rules? Do you want a tip? If so, contact me and arrange for me to get the container and haul it away before noon today. I'll give you $200."

"Five thousand dollars!?"

The dock worker who led the way's eyes lit up again.

He reached out and, like a magician, took the $20 green note from Song Heping's hand and placed it in his own. Then, with a flattering smile, he said, "No problem! It's the Starry Sky, right? Give me the container number and I'll arrange it for you."

"When you get on board, ask the captain and tell him you're looking for Mr. Song's cargo. He'll tell you which boxes to lift. Oh, and the cargo in my container is very valuable, so be careful when you lift it."

"No problem. I'll treat it like a treasure and guarantee your satisfaction. By the way, Boss, where are you going to ship it? I can contact a truck for you."

"Really? That's great. I need three trailers, with preferential freight rates. If you can arrange that for me, I don't have to worry about it myself. But I'm going a long way. Is the truck driver you contacted willing to go?"

"Where?"

"To Mali."

"Oh my God. It's really turbulent there right now!"

“So I don’t force it.”

"No, no, no, that's not what I meant, Boss. I meant..."

The dock worker gave a sly smile and stretched out his hand as if counting money.

Song Heping laughed inwardly.

Why are all the people here the same?

But it's okay, this is good, just take the money and do the job. What I hate most is those who take the money but don't do the job and still pretend to be honest.

"No problem, I'll give you the referral fee."

"That's great! Don't worry, I'll definitely help you get the shipping price down to your satisfaction!"

Ever since Song Heping took out the greenbacks, everything has gone very smoothly.

However, what Song Heping did not notice was that from the time the Mantianxing began to dock until he got off the ship, a high-magnification reconnaissance device was pointed at him from behind the second-floor window of a warehouse hundreds of meters away, capturing all his movements in its field of vision.

Next to the reconnaissance device was a DGSE agent holding a high-magnification camera, who kept pressing the shutter button to take pictures of Song Heping.

Next to the agent taking the photo, there is a device that looks like a small satellite with a dish cover, and in the middle of the dish cover is a highly sensitive radio microphone.

This thing is called "Listening Ear". As the name suggests, it is like a telescope. It can collect sounds in the target environment within a range of 500 meters and repair the captured sounds through the linked equipment.

All the conversations between Song Heping and the dock worker who collected the tip were recorded clearly and restored after filtering out the noise through software. Not a single word was missed and everything was heard clearly.

"SIR."

An agent came over and said to Barr, "Everything matches our intelligence. Three containers, the Starry Sky, and the destination is correct. This Chinese man surnamed Song is indeed trying to ship SA-9 missiles to the Sahel region of West Africa."

Bal's eyes narrowed slightly, revealing a fierce gleam: "We must not allow this thing to be transported to the Sahel region."

After a pause, he continued, "Have you arranged the action?"

"It's arranged," the agent said. "We've notified the Eritrean government. They've already sent troops, and they're estimated to be near Assab." Barr said, "If that doesn't work, use our connections here to prevent him and his cargo from leaving the port."

"clear."

On this side, Song Heping had already followed the port workers to the office.

The office here is very simple, just a two-story building. Once you enter the building, the office is empty.

Seeing this, the worker smiled and said, "Wait here, I'll go find the manager."

After saying that, he turned and left the office and went upstairs.

Song Heping glanced upstairs and saw clothes hanging in the corridor. He guessed that the second floor was a dormitory.

This is the kind of facilities found in a country like Eritrea. It's probably a mix of offices and accommodation.

Not long after, I don’t know what tricks the dock worker used, but he actually called a fat black man down.

The fat man yawned as he walked downstairs and put on his uniform jacket, wearing a pair of slippers. He did not look like a public official at all.

"Pluto, if you don't have something important to do so early in the morning, I'll kill you..."

The fat black man walked into the office while complaining to the dock worker named Pluto beside him.

He didn't even look at Song Heping. He picked up the cup on the table, poured some water into his mouth, and gulped it in his mouth for a long time like rinsing his mouth.

"What's going on?"

He put down his water glass, and before he could say anything, a hundred-dollar bill appeared in front of him.

The fat black man's eyes suddenly became round.

All the water in his mouth sprayed onto the ground.

puff--

"This is……"

The fat black man's tone instantly softened, and a smile crept onto his fat face.

"My goods are in urgent need. Can you help me with the pick-up procedures quickly? I need to ship them out of the port to my customer."

"no problem!"

The fat black man snatched the US dollars, then stood up and walked to his desk and sat down. He quickly opened the drawer, took out a blank document and handed it to Song Heping: "Fill it out and attach your relevant documents. I'll stamp it for you when I'm done."

"OK!"

Song Heping took the blank form, found a table and sat down to start filling it out.

Just then, sirens sounded in the distance.

The fat black man exclaimed "Huh", got up from his chair and walked to the door, looking in the direction where the siren came from with a confused look on his face.

"So early in the morning...what happened?"

After listening for a while, his expression changed slightly.

"Why does it seem to be coming this way?"

Before the fat black man could figure out the situation, two SUVs carrying four military trucks rushed into the area where the office building was located and stopped directly in front of the building.

The door of the leading SUV opened, and several Eritrean military colonels and lieutenants rushed out, all holding pistols.

A number of soldiers armed with live ammunition jumped off the military truck behind them like sheep taking a shit, and after getting off the vehicle, they dispersed and surrounded the entire small port office building like an iron barrel.

"Who's in charge here!?"

The leading major's face was like a chimpanzee in the jungle, fierce and dark.

"SIR, it's me... I'm from the office... but I'm not the boss. I'm on duty today..."

The fat black man was so frightened that two of his three souls left his body. His calves were cramped and he felt so weak that he almost fell to his knees on the spot.

"Is there a Chinese person named Song here?!"

"Yes... yes! It's inside!"

The fat black man immediately distanced himself from the matter.

"He came over to go through the departure procedures for picking up the goods. I really don't know anything..."

"Go in and take a look!"

The major raised his hand, and five or six soldiers armed with live ammunition swarmed in and broke into the office.

Seeing Song Heping filling out forms at the table, all the guns were pointed at him.

Song Heping raised his hands and remained motionless.

He knew that what was coming would eventually come.

The major walked into the office and came in front of Song Heping.

He looked at Song Heping and asked, "Did you have three containers docked?"

"Yes."

The other party spoke English, which Song Heping could understand.

"That's right. Do you want to come with me on your own or do you want me to tie you up and carry you away?" The major was very proud.

According to intelligence, the other party’s three containers are filled with missile launch systems.

If he uncovered such a large arms smuggling case, he would be able to make a name for himself and might even get promoted.

"I'm happy to cooperate with your investigation, but there's something I don't understand." Song Heping showed no sign of panic and asked calmly, "Have I violated any laws in your country?"

"Hmph! You're still pretending even when you're about to die! Don't you have any idea what's in those three containers? Or do you want me to open them and inspect the goods myself?!"

The major rushed over, grabbed the form Song Heping was filling out, and took a glance at it.

"Dates?!"

He was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter.

"How dare you fill them randomly! Are those three containers filled with dates?!"

Song Heping pretended to be confused and said, "Sir, those three containers of mine are indeed filled with dates. I plan to sell them to Mali."

The major was furious and grabbed Song Heping by the collar: "Boy, if you confess now, I can make you feel better. Otherwise, do you believe I will make you live a life worse than death? Smuggling arms, even missiles! You think your brain is harder than a bullet, right?"

Song Heping pretended to be afraid and said, "Sir, I am really transporting dates... You can't wrongly accuse me like this... I am a legitimate businessman..."

"Take him to the dock! Lift his cargo container off the boat, and I'll smash his mouth in front of him!"

The major gave the order with confidence and waved his hand. Several ferocious-looking soldiers came up and held Song Heping on the left and right. The other two began to search him, snatched Song Heping's backpack, opened the zipper, and poured out the contents.

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

　　It’s the last day! Please give me a monthly ticket!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)