money player

Johor, Malaya.

Lee Yueh Ru was in a Ford GPW, having just met with Ismail, the son of Johor Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar and the Sultan's successor, on their way to Kluang.

Johor is a rather unique state within the Federation of Malaya, possessing a strong degree of independence and its own private army, the Johor Royal Guard, loyal to the Sultan. Ibrahim has a fiery temper, dares to defy British colonial officials, and is old-fashioned, autocratic, and not easy to deal with.

For this reason, Lee Yue Ru, who represented Eatman in Johor to discuss establishing a vegetable plantation, did not go directly to Ibrahim, but instead sought out Ismail, who was mild-mannered and modern. The two sides had a very pleasant discussion, and Ismail welcomed Eatman to invest in Johor.

Of course, Ismail had no reason not to welcome them. The Iskandar family was nominally the Sultan of Johor, but their decrees did not travel freely throughout the state. Many areas of Johor were directly controlled by the British, and the Iskandar family had no way to interfere.

Itman's vegetable plantation was intended to be established within the direct control of the British. Visiting the Iskandar family was tantamount to "paying homage" and, incidentally, demonstrating Itman's willingness to "pay taxes" to the Sultan.

If you don't welcome voluntary tax payment, then you're just missing a screw.

Of the four Ford GPWs driven by Li Yueru, three were from the 2nd Gurkha Rifles Squadron under the 26th Gurkha Infantry Brigade, led by Subedar Majo "Todd Sloan," who held a rank equivalent to a senior captain. The other vehicle was from the Johor Royal Guard, which can be seen as Ismail's expression of sincerity.

The road was not good, and the vehicle was bumpy, but Li Yueru held a map in her hand and discussed the surrounding terrain with Todd Sloan from time to time.

She grows vegetables to transport and sell them, so she needs to know the routes, road conditions, and how frequently the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) operates.

The convoy was moving slowly when suddenly a Gurkha soldier shouted, "Grenade!"

Before he finished speaking, Ye Jingwen, the bodyguard that Xian Yaowen had assigned to Li Yueru, pinned Li Yueru down. With one hand reaching behind her back, she pulled out a Mauser pistol, tapped it against her thigh, loaded the thirty-round magazine, raised the gun horizontally, and began firing in a fan-shaped pattern at the location where the person she remembered had appeared.

After firing just one magazine, she put the Mauser pistol aside, pulled a Mauser pistol from her chest, cocked it, and held it in her hand while changing the magazine in the Mauser pistol with her other hand.

Ma put the box aside again, took a white phosphorus smoke bomb from his waist and held it in his hand, its head bobbing up and down rapidly like a fish bobber taking a bite, observing the surrounding situation.

Apart from a few elites, most of the Malayan Communist Party members were former rubber plantation workers, tin miners, and small traders who were armed or semi-armed. The essence of guerrilla warfare lies in the word "guerrilla." When encountering regular troops, they usually roam without engaging in combat. When they encounter those they can control, they shout slogans and represent those they can or cannot, then rush out to pick on the weak.

Ye Jingwen looked at the guerrillas who were easily shot by the Gurkha soldiers with a slight surprise. In this situation, it was really hard to tell whether the guerrilla captain was a hothead or whether the guerrillas in front of her were bait to lure them into pursuit or to use their lives to deplete their ammunition.

Just as he rolled out of the car, Todd Sloan, who was hiding on the side of the engine, shouted, "Cease fire! Don't pursue! Check your ammunition!"

Upon hearing this, Ye Jingwen muttered to herself, "This Englishman is quite different from the British losers I've encountered before."

Despite her muttering to herself, she cautiously observed her surroundings. After eliminating any dangers within her line of sight, she looked up slightly to check if any lurking dangers were hidden in the surrounding trees.

A moment later, Todd Sloan shouted again, "Danger over, clean up the battlefield."

Click, click.

Several Gurkha soldiers took out MK-I triple-groove bayonets from their waists, mounted them on Lee-Enfield rifles, and, under the protection of other soldiers, approached the corpses one by one. They plunged the bayonets into the chests of the corpses and twisted them. Seeing no reaction, they pulled them out, changed positions, and stabbed twice more. Still no reaction. They then moved on to the next corpse.

After all the bodies had been pierced with holes, they were searched. Those lying on their backs were searched casually, while those lying face down were searched very carefully, as if afraid of pressing a grenade against their chest.

Within minutes, all the items with writing on them or that could identify the person were in Todd Sloan's hands.

Todd Sloan packed the items into his bag, waved, and the convoy continued on its way.

"Li, are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Li Yueru smoothed her wind-blown hair. "Captain Sloan, does what happened just now happen often?"

“Kluang is the geographical center of Johor, a hub for railway and highway transportation, and surrounded by dense jungle, making it a very active area for the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) guerrillas. However, since the implementation of Operation Briggs, we have cut off the MCP’s ‘water source,’ and the guerrillas’ activities here have decreased.”

"Water source?"

"The Malayan Communist Party is the fish, and the Chinese immigrant communities are the water, providing the Malayan Communist Party with food, supplies, intelligence, and manpower."

"Is that so?" Li Yueru suddenly realized.

"The Malayan Communist Party's intentions are extremely sinister. When the guerrillas attack rubber plantations and kill people, they hide in residential communities. In order to hunt down the guerrillas, we have to offend ordinary residents. The Malayan Communist Party takes this opportunity to slander us and deepen the misunderstanding between us and ordinary residents..."

Li Yueru inwardly spat, "Do you think I don't know what kind of people you British are?"

The two chatted casually for a while, and soon the convoy arrived in front of a relatively large new village.

In the preceding months, British military and police would suddenly surround a scattered Chinese village, giving the residents very little time to pack a small amount of belongings, and then forcibly transport them by truck to a pre-selected new location surrounded by barbed wire.

The new location is called the new village. The entire village is surrounded by high barbed wire fences, and the entrances and exits are strictly guarded by fully armed police and guards. There are watchtowers at the four corners to monitor the movement inside and outside the village at all times.

The village has strict regulations, with a strict curfew in effect from sunset to sunrise every day, prohibiting anyone from going out at night. Violators will be warned or even shot dead.

All residents must register and possess identification documents. Military and police will conduct regular raids to search for any supplies that may fund the guerrillas or suspicious individuals.

The relocation resulted in most farmers losing their rubber trees and vegetable fields, completely severing their livelihoods. Supplies became largely dependent on limited government rationing, which fell far short of meeting demand.

Men were allowed to work as laborers in nearby British rubber plantations or factories during the day, escorted by military and police, but for meager wages. Women and the elderly tried to supplement their income by growing vegetables or raising poultry in the small plots of land around their houses.

Li Yueru looked through the barbed wire fence at a vegetable garden. A woman was weeding, and as the weeds were pulled out, tender green vegetable seedlings suddenly appeared.

She examined them carefully, but couldn't tell what kind of vegetable the seedlings had grown into.

Having grown up in the city, she didn't know many crops, let alone seedlings. She didn't treat seedlings like weeds and relied on the neat rows of ridges.

"Jingwen, what kind of dish is that?"

"We just ate water spinach last night."

"So this is what water spinach seedlings look like."

Ye Jingwen glanced at the water spinach seedlings, then at Li Yueru's face, and muttered to herself, "How could the master let someone who doesn't know anything about grains manage Itman?"

Kallang Airport.

Chung Lam, a consultant at HK Consulting, received his first customer.

“Professor Brady, hello, I am Lam Chung from HK Consulting.”

"Hello Zhong, where is the Zhongfeng Laboratory? I can't wait to start my research."

"Professor Brady, don't rush. Please go to the hotel to rest first. A few more guests will be arriving soon."

"OK."

A moment later, Zhong Lin took out a piece of paper and drew two horizontal lines under the information "Nellin Brady, soil fertility expert, USA".

As time went by, six more horizontal lines appeared on the paper.

Two lines are under “Mancomb Swaminathan, tuber expert, India”, two lines are under “Henry Beecher, rice expert, USA”, and the last two lines are under “Yang Friss, vegetable breeder, Royal Sluys of the Netherlands”.

These four agricultural experts were recruited by HK Consulting from around the world for Chung Fung Labs, with the offer including high salaries, family benefits, and a commitment to massive research funding.

The first three experts returned to their hotel to rest, but Yang Friss had to work a little harder, immediately transferring to Seletar Airport to board a DHC-2 Beaver private jet to Kluang to meet with Li Yueru.

Just as Ye Jingwen finished muttering to herself, the roar of airplane engines came from the sky. Only three Beaver cars, priced at the level of slightly higher-end vehicles, spotted a relatively flat open space and landed lightly.

The cabin door opened, and Yang Fries and the translator got off the plane, followed by Xian Guangli, who was dressed as a prospective farmer.

When Xian Guangli first went to heaven, he lost most of his soul and spirit. He almost peed himself in the air. But when he stepped onto the ground, he regained his soul and spirit. However, his legs trembled uncontrollably. In order not to embarrass himself, he had no choice but to bend down and brush the dust off his pants.

Actually, there was no dust at all. Wen Banxia had just made him some new pants from a cloth, and he had just put them on before going out. They wouldn't have gotten dusty so quickly.

Li Yueru first greeted Friss, and after a brief conversation, Friss led the translator through the barbed wire fence toward the vegetable garden.

The Netherlands has been a world center of horticulture since the 17th century, with centuries of experience in breeding flowers and vegetables. Close collaboration between the government, research institutions, and private seed companies has created an efficient system for innovation and promotion.

With the end of World War II, Europe and the world needed to quickly restore food and vegetable production. The Netherlands seized this opportunity and regarded seeds as a strategic export commodity.

Frith was quite energetic. In addition to conducting breeding research, he also longed for a better life, so he made a profit-sharing request to Royal Louis, but his request was not met.

Zhong Lin satisfied him, not only by offering a high salary but also a 30% share of the profits and signing a series of complex shareholder agreements. In short, the greater Frith's contribution, the more shares he would receive in the future.

Rest is out of the question; Frith only wants to monetize the knowledge in his mind as quickly as possible.

Li Yueru followed Fris's gaze all the way, and seeing that he hadn't frightened the women in the vegetable garden and had quickly established a relationship with them, she walked towards Xian Guangli.

"Uncle, did you sprain your ankle?"

"No, no, my pants are dirty." Sin Kwong-lai straightened up awkwardly and pointed to the vegetable patch. "Wen-zai wants to plant vegetables here?"

"It's not inside, it's outside. We've reached an agreement with the British to hire villagers from the new village to cultivate vegetable plots next to the new village. We can buy as much land as they cultivate."

Upon hearing this, Sin Kwong-lai lowered his voice and said, "I've heard rumors that the British won't be staying here long. What if the new government doesn't recognize the land deeds issued by the British?"

“Uncle, judging from the current situation, the British won’t leave anytime soon. Even if they do leave, it doesn’t matter. As long as the new government is an opportunity that has been waited for, not a country that has been conquered, they won’t dare to disregard the old land deeds.”

"An opportunity that's been waiting for? To conquer the world with just a mouth?"

“The British conquered their colonies with their words, and Malaya will be no exception. Uncle, don’t worry, Yaowen sees things more clearly than we do. He dared to let me buy land in Johor, so he must be confident.”

Upon hearing Li Yueru's words, Xian Guangli stopped dwelling on the land deed and instead asked, "What vegetables do you plan to grow here?"

“Uncle, I asked you to come here so that you could give me some advice. You know the vegetable farmers well, and you must know which seasonal vegetables sell well in Singapore’s markets.”

“You’ve come to the right person. I go to the market every day and I know exactly what vegetables are selling well.”

"Uncle, shall we go over and take a look?"

"Walk."

Xian Guangli strode ahead with brisk steps, reminiscing about the days when he was the leader in Wenchangwei.

Li Yueru followed behind, recalling what Xian Yaowen had left behind: "It's okay if you don't know how to grow vegetables, my old man does. You can invite him over and listen to his vegetable growing experience."

However, it's enough to just refer to the vegetable growing techniques. The market needs to send people to conduct detailed market research. Over the past fifteen years, whether in normal or special periods, they have been able to accurately calculate the sales statistics for various vegetables down to the week.

In addition, we need to conduct sampling surveys of different races and social classes to determine what they eat for their three daily meals, taking into account the seasons and the foods that are indispensable for weddings and funerals for different races.

"Don't blindly believe in the elderly, don't blindly follow experts, and use facts and data to formulate plans." This is the Itman management strategy that Xian Yaowen left for Li Yueru.

Since the outbreak of the Korean War, the prices of raw materials and strategic materials have soared globally. Although vegetables are not strategic materials, the widespread inflation and psychological panic caused by the war have spread to all commodity sectors.

Many speculators in Singapore are hoarding various goods, including daily necessities, in anticipation of rising prices across the board.

Briggs's New Village strategy led to a decrease in the amount of vegetables imported from Malaya to Singapore, further exacerbating the supply shortage and giving rise to many "kings" in Singapore—such as the Water Spinach King and the Onion King.

Li Yueru had already visited these powerful figures, adopting a very humble attitude and offering very low prices, and reached an agreement with them to supply vegetables.

Undoubtedly, Ittman's ultimate goal was to control Singapore's vegetable supply. Sin Yiu Man naturally hoped that his wish would come true, rather than end in a dismal failure. He wanted to win, which he believed represented justice.

The saying "evil will never prevail over righteousness" is a correct but meaningless statement. In the struggle for the Central Plains, the founding fathers won, but the traitors lost. Only by always believing in one's own righteousness can one ultimately represent justice.

These so-called kings hoard goods and prey on the people; their entire families deserve no mercy, and even smearing their ancestral graves with excrement from a hundred families wouldn't appease the hatred in the hearts of the people. The Malayan Communist Party, which comes from the masses, will probably definitely carry out a massacre trial against them.

Li Yueru recalled the scene of the Amaranth King grinning with his big yellow teeth, staring at her lecherously, and felt a wave of nausea. How dare a stinking vegetable seller make a move on her! She would mess with him and his whole family.

The two arrived at the edge of the vegetable field. Xian Guangli squatted down to observe the water spinach seedlings, while Li Yueru looked around and spotted several children looking in their direction. She took out a handful of large peacock butter and threw it at the children.

The location where the convoy was ambushed.

Black Spotted Cat Egg Squad members Five-Leaf Fruit and Mango lay in the grass and observed for a few minutes. Five-Leaf Fruit stayed behind to provide cover, while Mango came out of the grass, picked through the corpses, and chose the strongest and the weakest one to carry into the grass.

Immediately, each person carried a suitcase and quickly disappeared into the jungle.

After a long time, the two arrived at a pre-selected location that was easy to defend and difficult to attack. They pried open the corpse's mouth to examine the teeth, and then cut open the corpse's abdomen to examine the remains in the stomach and the feces in the rectum.

"Bracken fern, wild pineapple, clam, and a small amount of yellow pear (wild pineapple)."

"Potatoes, carrots, water spinach, rice, and meat." Wuyaguo picked out a piece of undigested meat from the stomach acid, threw it into her mouth, chewed it, and said, "Pork."

"A strict hierarchy?" Mango asked. "From different guerrilla groups?"

“I don’t know. All I know is that this guerrilla force is about to run out of food.” Wu Yaguo pointed to the strong corpse. “Their skin was originally very fair. They probably got tanned after coming to Malaya.”

"He doesn't look like someone from Hainan."

"Doesn't look like a Chinese person."

"It doesn't quite look like it." Mango took out her camera. "Take a picture; it might be useful for Miss."

“We’re not working for the young lady; we’re receiving a stipend from Itman this time.”

"Even the thrill of licking blood from the knife's edge gets tiresome one day." Mango took a few photos of the corpse's face and features, then put away her camera and said, "After I retire, I want a legal identity."

"Legitimate status for murder?"

"I guess I've gotten used to it, and I can't go back."

Five-leaf fruit gently pounded Mango's chest, "The more you think about retirement, the less likely you are to live to see that day. Live."

"Alive."

Wuyaguo pulled out a bundle of rope from behind her back, bent down and tied the corpse's legs. "Don't be afraid, Bokong will take you away."

"Fuck, don't tie your legs, anyone with eyes can see it was done by Indonesians."

"Don't be afraid, we are mercenaries, not assassins."

"Fuck, fuck, fuck."

After a string of curses, Mango rummaged around in his clothes and threw several miscellaneous items, including prayer beads and a cross, at the feet of Five-Leaf Fruit. "Put them all in."

Amidst the laughter of the five-leafed fruit, he pulled out an entrenching tool from his back and began digging a hole.

Mercenaries aren't psychopaths; they only kill, they don't mutilate corpses, unless the mission requires it.

Camel Road.

On the rooftop of Yao Yi Investment's shophouse, Shui Xian is entertaining her pipa-loving customers.

Pipa Rong's business has been quite successful, with more than three million Malaysian Ringgit raised and then spent. Some of it has already generated interest spreads. After all, Yao Yi Investment is not a public fund in a major country, and it does not have the confidence to say, "What are you going to do about this? I have connections." Shui Xian has an obligation to explain to its investors where the money went.

Of course, only the parts that can be made public will be disclosed; the parts that should be kept confidential will be described vaguely.

In short, Yaoyi Investment only engages in using borrowed funds to generate profits, and disdains running away with the money or incurring losses. After all, Shuixian is not surnamed Ge, and has many hobbies, not just investing.

"Narcissus, I went to the gold shop a couple of days ago, and the price of gold has gone up again. One tael is selling for 175 yuan. Should I buy some?" After Narcissus finished speaking, a young man playing the pipa asked. (End of Chapter)