The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 918 Seres

Somalia is located on the Somali Peninsula in the easternmost part of the African continent and has the longest coastline in Africa.

During the fifth voyage to the West, the fleet led by Zheng He visited several city-states on the Somali coast, including Mogadishu.

The entire Somali coastline is 3200 kilometers long, with plains along the southeast coast, lowlands along the Gulf of Aden, plateaus inland, and mountains in the north. There are few rivers, and the main rivers are the Shabelle River and the Juba River.

Somalia is bordered by the Gulf of Aden to the north, the Indian Ocean to the east, Kenya and Ethiopia to the west, and Djibouti to the northwest. The eastern coast is a plain with many sand dunes along the coast; the lowlands along the Gulf of Aden are the Giban Plains; the central part is the Somali Plateau with an altitude of 500-1500 meters, which descends from north to south and southeast; the north is mountainous; the southwest is grassland, semi-desert and desert.

Since the fall of Siad Al-Siam's regime, Somalia has entered an era of warlord separatism. Somalia's 63.7 square kilometers of land has spawned hundreds of warlords. The large warlords control to square kilometers, while the small warlords control to square kilometers.

The big warlords had tens of thousands of soldiers, while the small warlords had only a few thousand.

The weapons are mainly light weapons, and weapons such as heavy machine guns are considered heavy weapons with great lethality in Somalia.

As for tanks and armored vehicles, there are very few of them.

In the past, the Somali government forces had hundreds of Type 59 main battle tanks, some armored vehicles, and even cannons. However, due to years of war, Somalia's original tanks, armored vehicles, and cannons were either blown up or damaged beyond repair.

Even if we give tanks and armored vehicles to the warlords in Somalia, they probably won’t be able to find soldiers to drive them.

But light weapons are different. Ordinary people can use them as soon as they get them.

Near Djibouti, there is a warlord named Seres, who controls 50,000 square kilometers of land and is a very powerful warlord in Somalia. Seres was originally a mid-level officer in the government army. He studied at Changshan Command College for three years and received systematic military education. He is a military talent that Somalia focuses on training.

But not long after he returned from studying abroad, the Siadiyat regime fell and warlords in Somalia broke out.

Relying on the strength of its own regiment, Seres gathered a group of aspiring people and grew rapidly. In four years, it expanded its territory to 50,000 square kilometers.

"1, 2, 1"

The military camp is training.

Seres was patrolling the military camp in military uniform, with a specially made Type 78 pistol on his waist. He walked with a straight posture, full of military style.

Seres has always attached great importance to military construction. Unlike other warlords, he did not expand the army wantonly or recruit soldiers, but strictly controlled the number of troops. After four years, he only had 3 troops, and he was not the warlord with the largest number of troops in Somalia.

Originally, his territory could be larger and his troops could be more numerous.

But he gave up, he cared more about the combat effectiveness of the soldiers.

While building the army, Seres took a tough stance and implemented a series of reforms in his jurisdiction, breaking up the tribal structure and establishing five-level administration: village, township, county, city, and province. For the sake of reform, Seres killed a lot of people in the past four years, and a lot of his energy and manpower were used on internal integration.

"Commander-in-chief, the leader of the Wild Wolf Mercenaries is here." A confidant came over and whispered.

Seres nodded and left in the jeep.

Not long after, Seres met Qiao Xinghua, the leader of the Wild Wolf Mercenaries.

Qiao Xinghua has dark skin and a strong body. He is about 35 years old, with short hair. He wears a bulletproof vest and camouflage clothes, and has a Type 78 pistol on his waist.

He has a badge on his shoulder with a "wild wolf" embroidered on it, representing the identity of the Wild Wolf Mercenary Group. Qiao Xinghua has been a mercenary for ten years and has been the leader of the Wild Wolf Mercenary Group for four years.

Just a few weeks after he took over the Wild Wolf Mercenary Group, chaos broke out in Somalia.

In recent years, the Wild Wolf Mercenary Group has continuously increased its troops. Now, the Wild Wolf Mercenary Group has expanded into a powerful mercenary group with two thousand soldiers.

The Wild Wolf Mercenary Regiment has a powerful tank armored force, equipped with 3 tank companies, each tank company has 10 tanks, including 1 Type 80 main battle tank company, 1 Type 81 medium tank company, and 1 Type 81 light tank company. In addition, it is also equipped with 30 Type 80 infantry fighting vehicles and hundreds of military transport vehicles, including all-terrain military off-road vehicles, military trucks and the like.

The Wild Wolf Mercenary Group also has an artillery battalion and 6 armed helicopters.

Knowing how powerful the Wild Wolf Mercenaries were, Seres kept a low profile, because he knew that if his 30,000-strong army were to face the Wild Wolf Mercenaries, they might be quickly defeated.

Besides, they have been cooperating for four years.

"Captain Qiao, we haven't seen you for a month and you've already made some big moves. Let's teach them a lesson!" Seres spoke Mandarin with a local Changshan accent.

Qiao Xinghua smiled faintly and said, "There's nothing we can do. If they don't follow the rules and don't let us survive, then they can't expect to have an easy life either."

The two exchanged pleasantries, and Seres got down to business. He said in a serious tone, "Captain Qiao, we want to hire you to attack with us and take Garowe, Porto Bella, Cape Hafon, Bosaso, and Erigabo."

Seres took out a topographic map of Somalia and pointed at the targets he wanted to capture.

A gleam of light flashed in Qiao Xinghua's eyes. He did not expect that Seres had such a big appetite and wanted to swallow up 15 square kilometers of land in one fell swoop. By that time, Seres would control 2 square kilometers of land, which means it owns one-third of Somalia.

"Salis, as an old friend, I have to say that your idea is very risky. There are 15 square kilometers of land here, which is three times the size of your current territory. There are more than 3 warlords here with more than 3 troops, while you only have troops." Qiao Xinghua shook his head. "And hiring our Wild Wolf Mercenaries is not cheap!"

Seres smiled and said, "Miles and Jon are my classmates, and Taim and Nian are my seniors. I have already negotiated with them. We will form a coalition and fight for the unification of Somalia. I will give you 10 tons of gold and the 99-year lease of Beira Port, and you will help us eliminate Kohler."

Qiao Xinghua looked surprised.

Miles, John, Taim, and Nien are all big warlords. Some of them have at least 10,000 soldiers, and some have as many as 40,000 or 50,000.

If they united, the five of them would have 15 troops, which would be enough to wipe out the warlords in this area.

Kohler was a warlord who had studied in the United States and had support from Europe and the United States. He controlled 5 square kilometers of land and had 8 troops. The port of Beira was under his control.

Qiao Xinghua and his men were preparing to abandon the industries in Kohler's territory and withdraw from that area.

But if Kohler can be eliminated, there is no need to give up the industry there.

10 tons of gold, based on the current gold price, is worth approximately $1.6 million.

This price is certainly not enough to hire the Wild Wolf Mercenaries to do such a big thing, but if the 99-year lease of Bella Port is added, it will be a different story.

This price is negotiable.

(End of this chapter)