Mercenary I am the king

Chapter 380 Negotiation
Mustafa has been Minister of Defense for less than three months.

But he knew very well how the power in his hands came from, and he was very good at using the power in his hands.

His promotion to the position of minister seemed unexpected to outsiders, but only Mustafa knew that it was because of the support of the Americans.

There are many parties in Irigo's current interim government, with more than twenty parties of various sizes, but generally speaking they are divided into three forces: Sunni, Ten Leaves, and Kolde.

The Freedom Front to which Mustafa belongs is a small branch of the Sunni Islam. Sunni Islam only accounts for about 40% of the population in Irigu, while the Shia Islam accounts for more than 50% of the population.

In addition, the Ten Leaves faction was "marginalized" during Shadamu's rule, so they regarded this election as a rare opportunity to transform their numerical advantage into political power.

Therefore, before the election, everyone believed that if nothing unexpected happened, it would be reasonable for the Ten Leaves Faction to win the Irigo election.

But Mustafa took the key position of the head of the Ministry of Defense. The reason was simple. This position controlled the army and equipment procurement. He understood the Americans' thoughts. After all, the Ten Leaves Sect was the same as the main faction in neighboring Persia. Even though they had overthrown Shadamu together with the Americans, they might become an uncontrollable force in the future.

This is also what the Americans are worried about, so they let people from the Sunni faction hold key positions in the Ministry of Defense to facilitate control of the armed forces.

Military power is more important than anything else.

What's more, the Americans invested hundreds of billions of dollars in reconstruction funds in Irigaray, most of which were invested in the equipment and organization of the army. Of course, this was not free money, and it had to be repaid with oil.

The Americans don't do business at a loss.

Now Mustafa faces a problem, which is to completely eliminate the Soviet-made equipment from the Shadamu era and re-purchase American equipment to arm the government army and police forces. So what to do with the old weapons that have been eliminated?

At present, most of them are collected, checked and finally sealed.

According to the Americans, these weapons cannot be sold abroad for fear that they will fall into the hands of resistance organizations.

If we really want to sell it, we also need the approval of the Americans.

This made Mustafa feel like he was holding a big piece of cake but couldn't take a bite, and he felt very uncomfortable.

Yusuf's actions solved his urgent problem.

Especially since Yusuf has given himself millions of dollars in the past six months.

So Mustafa was also very clear about how much gray arms trade the director of the Materials Department had done in private.

The question is, who cares?

Those guns and cannons need to be stored in warehouses and guarded and maintained. If they are not maintained, they will become scrap metal in the future.

It’s better to sell it.

The guns and cannons can be sold, but the more than one hundred aircraft of various types and some missile launch systems left by Shadamu are a problem for Mustafa.

According to the instructions of the special envoy to the United States, all these heavy equipment were destroyed and directly dismantled and sold as scrap metal.

Although Mustafa didn't dare to refuse, he felt uneasy inside.

These equipments were bought from the Soviets by Shadamu using Iligo's money. They were all treasures purchased at a huge cost of real money.

Just demolish it?

You won't feel bad if what's being dismantled isn't your American stuff.

Damn it, to put it bluntly, isn’t it just about squeezing money out of the Irigos?

Allocate reconstruction funds to Irigaray, and then all weapons must be replaced and purchased from the United States, including tanks, planes, artillery and even guns.

This money is transferred to the hands of the Ilocos government, and then flows back to the hands of the US military-industrial complex. To put it bluntly, it is like money being transferred from one hand to the right hand.

What liberation, what democracy?
Mustafa knew it was all business.

Bloody business!
Is this not?

The opportunity is here.

Yesterday, Yusuf came to visit me in person and discussed something with me quietly. He said that a defense company wanted to buy two Su-24s, and that this was just the beginning. If this deal was done, there would probably be more in the future.

Mustafa asked Yusuf what the name of the defense company was.

Yusuf said it was the defense company that bought the SA-9 missile launch system last time.

Speaking of this company, Mustafa had an impression of it.

Their boss's surname is Song and he is Chinese.

This is very rare in Irigaray, as most of the companies making money here are British and American PMCs.

PMC, a company owned by a Chinese, is the only one of its kind in the world.

Mustafa also knew that the boss surnamed Song had a complicated background and must have connections with the US military, otherwise he would not have been able to get the military's transportation contract orders. What was even more famous was the last SA-9 missile incident. The CIA intervened and seized their vehicles and personnel. As a result, General Peter, the deputy commander of the US military in Iraq, personally went to the CIA to ask for their release.

This shows that the man surnamed Song was "acting on orders." So, were the two Su-24 fighter-bombers this time also ordered by the US military?

If it weren't for this relationship, he wouldn't have agreed to meet with Boss Song today.

After all, I am a ministerial-level cadre. Why would I meet him, a PMC boss?

Isn’t this nonsense?
But once Americans were involved, Mustafa's attitude changed.

He doesn't want to offend the Americans.

So, he decided to meet with Song Heping in his own office in the Palace of the Republic and gave Song Heping 30 minutes to see how he was going to buy the two planes.

Tuk-tuk-tuk——

When he heard the knock on the door, Mustafa checked the time. It was four o'clock in the afternoon.

He knew that Song Heping and Yusuf had arrived.

"Come in."

The door was pushed open, and it was indeed Yusuf and Song Heping.

"Mr. Minister, thank you for taking the time to meet with me despite your busy schedule."

Song Heping came up very politely to express his gratitude and extended his hand.

Musfatah didn't extend his hand to shake his, but pointed to the sofa opposite the desk.

"Go sit over there."

Several people sat down on the sofa in the reception area, and the staff came over to serve them tea.

Mustafa asked Song Heping to have tea as a routine matter. When there were only three people left in the room, he raised his eyes slightly and fell on Song Heping.

"Mr. Song, Yusuf said you want to buy our Su-24 bombers?"

"That's right," Song Heping said. "That's indeed the intention. That's why we asked Brother Yusuf to contact the minister and request this meeting."

"The Su-24 is a sensitive weapon. According to the Interim Governing Council's disposal plan for former government military equipment, it cannot be sold or purchased; it must be destroyed," Mustafa said in a businesslike manner. "If you really want to buy it, I welcome it, but you must obtain approval from the US military. Do you understand?"

There was a strong hint in his words.

Aren't you related to the military?

Then go get the paperwork.

The Americans have given me the procedures, so I will definitely sell it.

As long as there are formalities, Mustafa can be exempted from liability.

He is not a naive person, but a typical old hand. He can smell that there is something fishy in this matter. He must never get involved in anything. This is his principle.

"I can't get the necessary paperwork for this kind of arms business. For example, the SA-9 missiles we sold last time didn't have any paperwork, but they still sold successfully, didn't they?"

Song Heping did not say that he would handle the formalities himself, nor did he say that he would not do it. He only mentioned the last matter of the sale of SA-9 missiles. After all, the last matter was also handled by Yusuf, and he must have gotten Mustafa's approval.

The reason why Yusuf was able to sell arms was because his backer was none other than Mustafa.

And what he meant also implied that even without the formalities, he was still helping the military.

"Without the necessary paperwork, I cannot agree to sell you the plane, even if it's a private sale."

Mustafa was not frightened by Song Heping's hint, but refused directly.

"Mr. Song, fighter-bombers are no ordinary little thing. If it were ordinary guns and cannons, I'd give you as many as you want. But this... no, it's even more sensitive than the SA-9 missiles we had last time. I won't agree to this without seeing the formalities."

Having said that, the atmosphere suddenly became a little awkward.

On the surface, it seems that there is nothing to talk about.

If Song Heping wants a plane, he has to get the formalities, and Mustafa won't do anything until he sees the rabbit.

However, he did not expect that Song Heping was actually prepared.

"Minister, I heard that when the Provisional Governing Council formulated the disposal plan for the former government military equipment, there were detailed provisions for aircraft, allowing them to be dismantled and treated as scrap metal, correct?"

Song Heping's words startled Mustafa, who was sipping Arabic tea with a cup. The cup, which was close to his lips, stopped in the air and he didn't put it down for a long time.

"Mr. Song, what do you mean?" he asked.

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(End of this chapter)