Great Power Reclamation

The group returned to the palace. Ye Yuze walked to the huge French window of the palace and looked into the distance with a deep gaze.

Outside the window, the bustling street scene of the East African capital is vibrant, yet also carries the chaos and roughness characteristic of developing countries.

In the distance, thick clouds, characteristic of the equator, hang low, as if bearing the boundless potential and heavy burden of this land.

"Take a few months' break?"

Ye Yuze finally spoke, his voice carrying his characteristic composure, "Just taking a few months to recover won't solve the root of the problem."

"Rou Rou, Mei Mei, and Yang Da and Yang San, you have governed the country very well. From chaos to stability, and then to a regional power, you did it in less than five years. That's remarkable. The conditions were much better and the achievements were much greater than when your Uncle Yang and I were struggling with the military reclamation city."

He turned around, his gaze sweeping over everyone present, finally settling on Ye Rou and Ye Mei's faces. In his eyes, there was no longer the loving affection of a father, but the sharpness of a strategist.

"However, what is the foundation of a regional power? It is a stable political situation and a gradually improving legal system, but ultimately, it still comes down to real industrial capacity and control over resources."

"You are still largely relying on the commercial prosperity brought about by the distribution network of the military reclamation supermarkets, as well as some basic industries that we laid in the early days. Your internal, strong ability to generate revenue is far from enough."

Yang Geyong nodded emphatically and added:

“Your dad is right. I’ve been uncomfortable with him these past few months, not just because of the climate, but because of seeing so many treasures buried underground, such a bright sun in the sky, and the wind howling all year round, yet you still don’t have enough electricity. A lot of the mines only produce coarse ore, which you sell cheaply and then buy processed industrial products from others at high prices. We’re losing out big time!”

Ye Yuze walked up to the huge map of East African mineral resources and pointed at it:

"Look, here, it is speculated that there is a huge high-grade iron ore deposit and associated rare earth elements; here, the reserves of copper and cobalt are astonishing; here, there may even be a large, undiscovered oil and gas field..."

"There are also abundant solar and wind energy resources throughout the country. We can't be begging for food while holding a golden rice bowl."

His fingers slammed heavily on the map: "We're not leaving. But not like before, helping you fight and settle disputes. This time, we two old guys are going to help you truly build the industrial backbone of East Africa! Turn the underground treasures into real bargaining chips in your hands!"

Ye Yuze's words were like a thunderclap, exploding in the palace and instantly igniting the flames in the eyes of Ye Rou, Ye Mei, Yang Da, and Yang San.

They are not lacking in drive or wisdom in governance, but in the fields of heavy industry and top-tier resource development, they do need the experience and courage of their parents who built a business empire from scratch over decades.

In fact, Ye Feng had done a lot of things before the merger of the former East African kingdoms of Marseille and Solomon Islands.

Especially in the field of new energy, plus Ye Yuze and Yang Geyong's oil field, Zhan Shi Steel Plant, and Zhan Shi Automobile Branch.

However, compared to the current area and population of East Africa, it is still far from enough.

Their operation began immediately. The first stop was resource exploration.

Ye Yuze knew that without precise data, all plans were just castles in the air. He made a long-distance call directly to his son, Ye Feng.

“Xiao Feng, East Africa needs top-notch resource exploration technology support. Yes, have your Lin Haodong and Chen Siyu teams bring out their best skills. Especially that ‘life probe’ technology concept, see if it can be applied to mineral exploration! We need to find and assess underground mineral deposits faster and more accurately.”

At this time, following the great success of the "Life Probe," the "Insight" team is expanding this microcurrent impedance spectrum analysis technology to a wider range of fields.

Upon receiving Ye Feng's instructions and Ye Yuze's request, Lin Haodong and Chen Siyu immediately led their team to East Africa.

In vast areas suspected of being rich in minerals, traditional exploration teams need months or even years to conduct geological surveys, physical exploration, and drilling verification.

Lin Haodong's team brought an adaptively modified "geological probe" system.

Thousands of tiny, “life probes”-like sensors are deployed at key nodes. Instead of sending microcurrents to the seeds, they send electromagnetic waves of a specific frequency deep into the earth and analyze the impedance spectrum of the feedback.

Chen Siyu explained, "Different minerals and rock structures have different response characteristics to electromagnetic waves. We can quickly construct an 'electrochemical map' of underground structures through massive data analysis and AI models, which can significantly narrow down the scope of high-value target areas."

Meanwhile, Yang Geyong, true to his "veteran scout" nature, personally led Yang San and a locally recruited, absolutely loyal guard team deep into the remote, untouched potential mining areas marked on the map.

With his intuition honed over decades of working in the field, combined with preliminary data from the "geological probe," he can often discover details that are overlooked by instruments—a particular vegetation distribution, unique traces of rock weathering, or even subtle changes in the direction of groundwater flow.

"Instruments are inanimate, but people are dynamic," Yang Geyong told Yang San. "Only by combining data and experience can we find the most lucrative opportunities!"

Sure enough, in an area that traditional exploration reports considered to have "mediocre potential," the AI ​​model, combining Yang Geyong's on-site observations with in-depth analysis data from "geological probes," gave a surprisingly high-probability prediction:
There may be a huge copper-cobalt mine with extremely high grade deep underground, and it also contains precious rare earth elements.

Locating mineral deposits is only the first step. The bigger challenge lies in how to mine them efficiently and environmentally, and transform these resources into high-value-added industrial products.

Ye Yuze's gaze fell upon the core strength of the warrior group.

He contacted Zhao Lieyang and Su Xiaoman directly.

“Lieyang, Xiaoman, things are settled in Central Asia now, so you need to step back and lend a hand. In East Africa, we need the most powerful version of the ‘Qingtian’ heavy truck, large mining machinery, and even more importantly, your experience in building a hydrogen energy system.”

Upon receiving the call, Zhao Lieyang immediately coordinated with the Warrior Heavy Industry to pack up the latest models of giant electric mining trucks and intelligent excavators adapted to the tropical mining environment and swiftly ship them to East Africa by sea. At the same time, he and Su Xiaoman also quickly flew there.

Faced with the relatively weak power grids and high diesel costs in East African countries, Zhao Lieyang proposed a bold idea:

“We cannot follow the old path. The new mining area must be built around clean energy. The solar energy resources here are so good, we need to build a large-scale photovoltaic power station to directly supply electricity to the mine.”

"At the same time, a green hydrogen production plant will be built to produce hydrogen by electrolyzing water using surplus solar energy, which will provide fuel for the 'Qingtian' heavy truck and achieve zero carbon emissions in mining area transportation."

This solution is not only environmentally friendly, but also highly economical in the long run.

Su Xiaoman then used her business acumen to quickly finalize a joint venture framework with the East African government (which was actually Ye Rou and Ye Mei), and leveraged her connections in Central Asia to introduce some international capital and technology to jointly promote this massive green mining and energy project.

At the construction site in the mining area, huge "Sky-high" heavy trucks roared as they transported earth and stone, while intelligent excavators swung their steel arms, creating a magnificent and futuristic scene together with the photovoltaic panel arrays being laid in the distance and the hydrogen energy plant that was beginning to be built.

Looking at all this, Yang Geyong said to Ye Yuze with emotion, "Old Ye, back when we were driving tractors to reclaim wasteland, we never imagined that one day our daughter and son would be directing these steel behemoths in construction in Africa." Ye Yuze smiled slightly, "Times have changed, but the principles remain the same. If you want to get rich, build roads first; if you want to be strong, develop industry and mining. Back then, we had no choice but to rely on manpower and perseverance. Now that we have the conditions, we must use the best technology and take the most sustainable path."

Just as Ye Yuze and Yang Geyong were fully focused on industrial and mining projects, Erhong and Masha also made their decision.

They summoned Ye Rou and all the senior executives of Ye Meijun Reclamation Supermarket in the East Africa region.

Erhong took out a thick document and placed it on the table: "Xiaorou, Xiaomei, this is the equity transfer agreement for all the military reclamation supermarket stores in East Africa under the names of your Aunt Masha and me. From today onwards, they are officially handed over to you two sisters."

Martha continued, her tone unusually serious:

"The reason why Junken Supermarket has become the world's number one today is not because of how great the two of us are, but because of the support of the entire ecosystem of the Warrior Group, the integrity we have maintained for decades, and the ability to take root in every place."

“East Africa is your home, and the supermarkets here must truly become a part of your governance of the country and service to the people.”

"How to integrate it with your agricultural and light industry development, and how to use its vast network to sell East African products to the world, is up to you."

Ye Rou and Ye Mei accepted the heavy gift, their eyes welling up with tears. This was not only a huge fortune, but also a profound trust and responsibility.

The two sisters acted swiftly. Ye Rou used her macro-level perspective on governing the country to promote in-depth cooperation between the military reclamation supermarket and local agricultural cooperatives, introduce agricultural monitoring technology developed by Lin Haodong's team, and establish a traceability system from the field to the supermarket to ensure the quality of agricultural products and increase farmers' income.

Ye Mei, with her sharp business acumen, created a large-scale "East African Specialty Products Zone" in the supermarket, selling local handicrafts, coffee, spices, and other products to all parts of the world through the Junken Supermarket's global supply chain.

She also drew on the experience of her mother and Erhongma to vigorously cultivate local management talent, allowing the Junken Supermarket to take deeper root in East Africa.

Mining the minerals is only the first step. Ye Yuze's ultimate goal is to establish local smelting and deep processing capabilities.

The core of his planned "East Africa Industrial Park" is a modern metallurgical and chemical industry base.

"We can't just sell ore," Ye Yuze said firmly at the project meeting.

"We will build blast furnaces and conversion devices here to turn iron ore into special steel, copper-cobalt ore into high-purity cathode copper and battery-grade cobalt materials, and rare earth ore into separated single rare earth oxides! This added value is dozens or even hundreds of times that of selling ore!"

This goal was extremely challenging, involving complex processes, huge investments, and stringent environmental protection requirements. Ye Yuze once again deployed his "trump card"—Ye Feng.

Ye Feng coordinated a team of top experts from the Warrior Group in materials science, metallurgy, chemical engineering, and environmental protection technology to travel to East Africa to provide technical support. He also brought with him a more forward-looking concept.

“Dad, Uncle Yang, East Africa’s future development cannot rely solely on resources and energy. The success of ‘Chip Valley’ tells us that computing power is the core productivity of the future.”

“I suggest that when planning the industrial park, land and energy should be reserved so that we can gradually build data centers here and utilize the abundant clean electricity to develop cloud computing and edge computing businesses. In the future, it could even meet the global computing power demand and become the ‘digital heart’ of Africa.”

This idea greatly excited Ye Yuze and Yang Geyong. It meant that they were not only building the backbone of East Africa's industrial era, but also paving the way for its information age.

Time flies by in the midst of their busy work, and several months have passed in the blink of an eye. Under the personal supervision of Ye Yuze and Yang Geyong, who coordinated resources from all sides, the industrial construction in East Africa is progressing at an astonishing pace.

The first large copper-cobalt mine discovered using "geological probe" technology has entered the open-pit mining stage, accompanied by the simultaneous construction of a huge photovoltaic power station and a hydrogen energy plant.

The East Africa Industrial Park has completed its initial planning and foundation work, and the first batch of smelting equipment ordered from Warrior Heavy Industries has arrived at the port.

Under the integration of Ye Rou and Ye Mei, the Junken Supermarket has become more closely integrated with the local economy, with a significant increase in turnover and profit margin, becoming a stabilizer for national finances and people's livelihood.

Erhong and Masha watched their daughters grow up quickly and become independent, finally putting their minds at ease. They knew it was time to truly let go and go back to enjoy their retirement years surrounded by their grandchildren.

On the eve of their departure, Ye Yuze and Yang Geyong stood once again on the palace terrace.

Beneath my feet, the lights of the capital are brighter and more orderly than before; in the distance, in the direction of the emerging industrial zone, the arcs of welding and the light chains of transport vehicles can be faintly seen.

"Old Yang, these past few months haven't been a waste of our time," Ye Yuze breathed a long sigh of relief.

Yang Geyong grinned: "It wasn't just worth the time; it was another tough battle, and a brilliant one at that! Much more exciting than when we were running a bar with machetes back in the day!"

Ye Yuze smiled as well: "The methods are different, but the spirit remains the same. Seeing the children use the foundation we laid to build a country, that feeling... is quite good."

The next day, at the airport. Ye Rou, Ye Mei, Yang Da, Yang San, and many officials from East African countries came to see them off.

Erhong and Masha, holding their daughter, gave her countless instructions, and finally boarded the plane with tears in their eyes.

Ye Yuze and Yang Geyong appeared much calmer. Ye Yuze patted Ye Rou and Yang Da on the shoulder, then looked at Ye Mei and Yang San:
"The road has been paved more solidly for you. But how you walk it, how fast you go, and how far you go, still depends on yourselves. Remember, no matter what, the Warriors Group is your strongest support, but East African countries are your own children."

Yang Geyong put it simply: "Don't panic when something happens, think it through. If you can't handle it, just make a phone call! Your Uncle Ye and I are still able to get things done!"

The plane soared into the blue sky and flew towards northern Xinjiang.

Ye Rou held Ye Mei's hand, watching the plane disappear into the distance, and whispered, "Meimei, we really have to work harder. We can't let down Mom and Dad and your aunt and uncle who have put in so much effort."

Ye Mei nodded vigorously, her eyes shining with the same stubborn and bright light as her mother's when she was young:
"Sister, don't worry! We'll not only take good care of this family, but also make East Africa a true pearl of Africa! When that time comes, we'll bring Mom and Dad back to enjoy their retirement!"

Meanwhile, on the plane at an altitude of 10,000 meters, Martha looked out at the white sea of ​​clouds and suddenly said to Erhong:

“Sister Hong, I suddenly feel like we let go too soon? Look how big this business is getting…”

Erhong leaned back in her chair, her eyes closed, but a relieved smile played on her lips:

"It's only a matter of time. The kids are more capable than we think. Let's just go back and wait to hold our grandchildren. As for that girl Ye Mei, she promised me something, and if she dares to break it, I'll teach her a lesson!"

Inside the cabin, the relaxed and expectant laughter of the two mothers echoed. (End of Chapter)