America: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 302 Having three wives and four concubines is very common

Half an hour later, they successfully arrived at Pulton Military Base. They could see the base buildings from afar. Zhang Ailun had also asked Boketu to contact the control tower in advance and inform them of the details.

After receiving landing clearance from the military, Boktu piloted his Black Hawk helicopter, circled over the military base, and successfully landed at their central airfield.

As soon as Zhang Ailun got off the plane, he saw a young man in military uniform walk over and greet him warmly, "Hello, Mr. Jin. I am Colonel Monte's assistant officer. You can call me Carter."

"Hello, Major Carter." Zhang Ailun glanced at his rank and immediately smiled as he shook hands with him in greeting.

"Colonel Wood has already contacted us about the specifics. Our base commander and Colonel Monte are also happy to reach this cooperation agreement with you. However, Colonel Monte is not currently at the base, so I will be the one to negotiate this cooperation deal with you throughout the process," Major Carter said with a smile.

"It is truly my loss and regret that I cannot meet with Colonel Monte, but I am confident that with Major Carter in charge of this matter, both sides can successfully complete this transaction."

Zhang Ailun speaks to people in a way that suits them, and with a smile he said, "The goods we are escorting are already in transit and will arrive in a little over an hour at most."

"There's no need to rush the deal. We have plenty of time. This should be Mr. Jin's first time visiting our Wilton Military Base. We can take a tour of the base's construction and military features first."

Major Carter glanced at the Black Hawk helicopter and realized that it must be a model retired from a military base. As someone in the know, he also knew about the inside story of some recent adjustments that Colonel Wood had experienced. He had made a lot of money and was even about to be promoted!

But he kept quiet about it, tacitly agreeing to remain silent.

He enthusiastically gave the leader and his entourage a tour of the Wilton military base and introduced its history. Zhang Ailun readily agreed.

Wilton was a military base established around the 70s, when Mexico's economy had transitioned from a period of rapid growth to one of stagnation and decline.

The main reason is that the economic boom has not boosted basic employment. GDP is high, housing prices are high, consumption is high, and medical expenses are high, but the monthly wages of the lower class are very low. This has been the case for more than a decade, and food safety hazards have also been exposed.

Many Mexicans, dissatisfied with the domestic employment environment, protested against this, but the higher-ups turned a blind eye, believing that these problems would eventually be solved as the economy grew. However, the tide can turn, and the result is obvious: the Mexican economy collapsed, and now it can only rely on annual drug exports to barely support its fiscal deficit.

Many unfortunate Mexicans have also chosen to trespass across the border to work illegally on the West Coast.

In response to and to prevent such incidents, the Pentagon and the California government established several military bases along the border, working with police forces in border cities to combat criminals and armed terrorists.

However, as time went on, Mexico's economy nearly collapsed, completely deteriorated, and became as bad as it could possibly be. To date, considering the level of threat between nations, the Pentagon has withdrawn from several military bases, retaining only a few strategic locations, one of which is Wilton Military Base in California.

After touring around, Zhang Ailun gained a better understanding of Wilton Military Base. The base's equipment and personnel were inferior to those of Colonel Wood's base; the Apaches and Black Hawks seemed to be models from the last century, exuding an atmosphere of frugality and thrift.

Compared to other military bases in California, Wilton Military Base is considered a relatively old base. Many of its facilities were established for rapid counterterrorism operations. Although it has not been decommissioned, it has not been renovated and still retains the style of the 1970s. Many of its communication equipment and armed forces have not even been updated.

But is it really poor? Not necessarily. After all, those exported arms deals alone generate millions or even tens of millions in profit, making it incredibly lucrative.

They were simply pretending to be poor. They were trying to get subsidies to pass inspections from higher authorities.

Several base commanders have come and gone. During the Cold War, the earlier base commanders might have believed the higher-ups if they complained about being poor, but this is the 21st century. Several insider deals have been exposed, with a single screw costing $60,000. If you still complain about being poor, nobody will believe you!

"Major Carter, it seems your base doesn't have much advanced equipment. Even the weapons your soldiers are using are outdated models. Why haven't you put out a tender for new military supplies?" Zhang Ailun asked.

"There's nothing we can do about it. After all, some people had nominated the possibility of closing Wilton Base a long time ago. Although the military district's leaders managed to retain the base's status after an internal meeting, our base is ranked last in terms of resource allocation, equipment bidding, and funding projects. We are not valued at all. We can only purchase some second-hand weapons that other military bases have phased out, or buy equipment from small manufacturing companies."

Major Carter explained, "Even without bidding for advanced equipment and weapons, we remain steadfast in our posts to safeguard the border."

Zhang Ailun naturally didn't believe his nonsense; what a load of rubbish about secondhand weapons.

Do you think you're the mastermind? You specialize in picking out discarded good and junk items to assemble and sell.

There's always a way to circumvent the rules. What Colonel Wood gave you couldn't possibly be secondhand, could it? Aren't they all top-quality, first-hand items? You certainly wouldn't want something that wasn't good quality.

However, one must also commend: "If every base in California could be as frugal and thrifty as Wilton Base, there would be no need to worry about South American terrorists coming over to harm border residents."

The other party directly bypassed the Great Firewall and demanded a green card.

These days, there aren't any terrorists, are there? Aren't they all just desperate disaster victims?

Major Carter nodded in agreement upon hearing this.

Even without Wilton Base, those terrorists wouldn't dare to bring bombs to bomb border cities, no matter how many times they were given the guts.

If such an unusual phenomenon truly exists, then you need to consider their motives and who their backers are. If there were truly no threat, the military bases along the border would have nothing to do, but as long as terrorists continue their activities, the military bases can retain their positions and continue to thrive.

In this respect, Wilton Military Base is truly dedicated and hardworking, with an exceptionally high attendance rate, engaging in minor skirmishes every March and major skirmishes every May.

Even the secondhand Black Hawks passed down from the last century, which are practically smoking, are driven over for a spin at the base.

Press down on those terrorists by the head, grab their necks and beat them hard, aiming to achieve excellent results with cheap equipment.

What else can be said about this? Impeachment is simply impossible!

Major Carter then led the Grand Master and several others on a tour of the command center and the VIP meeting rooms. They drank two cappuccinos.

Perhaps because they weren't that familiar with him, they didn't even put on a particularly exciting show for the leader.

About an hour later, Zhang Ailun also received a message from a member of the Beggars' Sect. Major Carter also received a report from his soldiers that several heavy trucks transporting goods had arrived at the military base.

"Mr. Jin. It seems your men have already delivered the goods." Major Carter smiled, immediately gave the soldiers on guard duty the order to let them pass, and then led the Grand Master out to meet them.

The Beggars' Sect disciples drove three large trucks with San Francisco license plates to the military base. Under the soldiers' direction, they stopped in the armory's storage area, got out of the trucks, and saw the sect leader and the military region commander.

"Boss, 20 sets of military supplies and uniforms, as well as those mysterious weapons and equipment, have all been arranged." The Beggar Clan disciple reported to the leader.

Zhang Ailun had them open the truck's hatch, and together with the base's quartermaster and soldiers, they boarded the truck to inspect the cargo. The quartermaster also had the soldiers drive the base vehicle to unload everything, and it took about ten minutes to unload and take inventory.

"Major, the 20 sets of uniforms and that batch of military products have all been counted, and the numbers are correct." The quartermaster captain came over with the list and reported to Major Carter, handing him the contract list for review.

Major Carter nodded, glanced at it a few times, and then signed his name on the order.

The estimate of 200,000 sets is just a rough estimate. In reality, it doesn't matter if there's one more or one less set, since they're just middlemen who will resell them to their "own people" on the other side of the river.

"Major Carter, with so many military supplies and uniforms purchased, it seems your soldiers and sergeants can't possibly use them all," Zhang Ailun asked knowingly.

He also saw hundreds of junior officer uniforms and dozens of field officer uniforms inside, all undoubtedly produced in a garment factory in Yiwu, a major Eastern country. Moreover, the workmanship was excellent, basically indistinguishable from genuine military uniforms.

The best part is that it's cheap, only $3 a set.

Even if the head of the organization sells a set to Wilton for $28, Wilton can resell it to someone else for $40, with each layer adding to the price. Who can resist that?

The Grand Master sells it for 28, but that's only for this market; once it leaves this market, nobody will want it.

They sell it for 40, and they can easily sell it for 40 or even higher prices elsewhere.

Discussion: Why is American equipment so expensive?

Major Carter explained tactfully, "We also need to distribute necessary supplies to other brother units and ground crew. You may not know this, but in order to more thoroughly and effectively combat terrorist activities, we submitted and signed a twelve-year contract with the Mexican government, taking on the responsibility of security in certain areas inside and outside the US-Mexico border, including security monitoring of some seaports. Therefore, in addition to our current base, Wilton Military Base also has three smaller military bases and two maritime bases in the Gulf of California, specifically responsible for monitoring terrorist activities and the movements of modern South American pirates."

Zhang Ailun suddenly realized.

Isn't this just ceding territory and paying reparations? Mexico has entrusted the security of its national borders to you, and you still say this isn't some kind of overseas base?

The key question is, you've had your military bases in place for so many years, so why is the counter-terrorism operation getting worse and worse?

Is the Black Hawk helicopter's cannon not powerful enough? Or is the Apache's air-to-ground missile not powerful enough?

What kind of South American terrorists and pirates could withstand your twelve-year-long bombing and relentless suppression?

Aliens?

Zhang Ailun was too lazy to even bother criticizing their attempt to cover up the truth. They were the ones who supported the people, and whether there were terrorists or not was entirely up to them to decide.

Even if there are a few small military bases, they couldn't possibly have tens of thousands of troops. The rest are outsourced personnel; in uniform they look like soldiers from American military bases, but without them, they're pirates and terrorists!

Even if something goes wrong, it has nothing to do with them. After all, the other party is a terrorist. Can you really believe what a terrorist says?

So terrifying.

After successfully delivering the military products and supplies, Major Carter was generous and followed procedures. After confirming everything was in order, he took the Chief of Staff back to the VIP trading room and signed the contract.

Zhang Ailun also provided his foundation's account information, and the other party immediately arranged for the project funds to be transferred to him.

+$960 million.

Even after deducting the cost price of $3 per set, that's still a profit of five million.

Even the four million in project funds for that batch of private goods were simultaneously transferred to the foundation account of the head of the organization.

Zhang Ailun understood that Colonel Wood's side wanted to avoid risks. This deal was between the Thunderfire Nation and Wilton Military Base, and had nothing to do with them. They were completely uninvolved.

That's just how making money is; there's no way you can make big money without taking risks. No matter how much Colonel Wood appreciates the Grand Master, the jobs and orders he gets are always similar insider deals.

Even Colonel Wood himself was just a ruthless tool who took a cut of the profits.

At most, it means advancing a step further in the team, gaining more influence, and earning more money. At least the Grand Master can benefit from this and make more money.

Even if an ordinary person wanted to make this kind of money, they wouldn't know how.

After that, all you need to do is obtain the internal account provided by the other party and transfer the money there.

He chatted and laughed with Major Carter for half an hour, and their relationship naturally grew closer after the deal was finalized; he was now truly one of their own.

Major Carter didn't hesitate to show off his trump card: the "Salfanie," a must-have for every military base. He treated the Grand Master with high-level treatment and started the exciting program at the victory celebration banquet.

To be honest, Salafine in Wilton is not as good as the Salafine at Colonel Wood's base.

Perhaps because it's located on the border, it's rather desolate.

Although they are all female officers, and there are even female warrant officers, the leader of the headquarters always felt that something was missing.

Well, the Grand Master feels he still prefers blonde, blue-eyed, tall, and dashing beauties.

Since the Grand Master's ammunition reserves had already been depleted several times before, and the landlord's family was also running out of supplies, he only took a small bite of Major Carter's enthusiastic hospitality and didn't touch him.

After spending more than an hour at the party, Zhang Ailun received a message from Madison and used it as an excuse to suggest that the meeting be adjourned and he leave.

Major Carter expressed his understanding and warmly escorted the Grand Master to the central venue.

The Beggars' Sect disciples drove away from the military base in three empty heavy trucks, intending to return them.

The leader waved goodbye to Major Carter, boarded the Black Hawk attack helicopter, and Bocktu piloted the Black Hawk away from Wilton Military Base.

Watching the military base shrink until it disappeared from sight, Zhang Ailun couldn't help but sigh, "Major Carter is truly a kind man."

In his eyes, the Grand Master saw no superfluous emotions, only a burning passion for positive effort and striving for progress.

Now that this deal is done, I don't know if the insiders will give him a heads-up, but at least he'll get credit for it.

"Boss, his mistress was also at the party. The female warrant officer who toasted you seemed to be her," Sieg mentioned.

"You said it yourself, just a concubine. It's normal for men to have multiple wives and concubines, it's a matter of mutual consent." Zhang Ailun also thought of the female warrant officer who was good at handicrafts, but at the time he didn't even realize that she had that kind of relationship with Major Carter.

It doesn't matter. It's not like the Grand Master hasn't tried to poach talent before. Major Carter didn't care, so he doesn't care either.

He took out his phone and glanced at the message Madison had sent him.

Madison: Is this a Picasso painting? Mr. King, where did you get it?

Zhang Ailun: I received it by chance. I have already had it authenticated through my friend's connections, and it has been confirmed that it is indeed a Picasso painting. It was auctioned for a high price of $289 in 1905!

Madison: You're really lucky! Picasso's paintings are very valuable collectibles; this one is worth at least $5000 million, or even more! Are you planning to keep it or sell it?

Zhang Ailun: You know that. I'm not short of money right now, and I really enjoy collecting things. I have a lion pelt and some valuable ivory that were given to me by the royal family of the Central African Republic. I am indeed planning to frame them and keep them at home. However, if anyone else is interested, I am not unwilling to part with them.