Whether it was the beard or his face, everything was quite different from the handsome prince before, and he seemed to be getting a beer belly.
The old king was aging day by day, and he, the crown prince, was gradually being pushed forward as the representative of the country to the world. As he worked to become a qualified heir, the edges and corners on him were gradually being erased through all the different meetings and negotiations.
“Long time no see, my dear friend!”
Yerif greeted Jiang Chen with open arms and gave him a warm hug.
“Long time no see,” Jiang Chen smiled, and gestured to the room next to him, “Please this way.”
There were many people in the banquet hall, which was not suitable for discussions.
Before they entered the banquet hall, Jiang Chen invited this old friend to the reception room downstairs in the name of catching up.
“I’m taking a big risk in doing this for you.” Yerif gestured to the bodyguards next to him and motioned them to stand at the door. After the door was closed, he lowered his voice and said, “You don’t understand the grievances between our sects. If you have understood, you should know that we and the Syrians have feuds. We wish that Bassar would step down immediately, instead of supporting him and his stupid teachings with the Russians.”
Although Saudi Arabia and the UA were reluctant to admit it, they were the perpetrators that gave both monetary and weaponry support to the “monster”, IS, in Syria.
But it did not matter?
This was a decision made by the Saudi royal family and it did not mean Yerif agreed with this.
“But I think you will be an enlightened king who will bring some different changes to your country and your world. You should be very clear that any religion will eventually usher in secularization. If you can’t adapt to this new age, then you will be run over by the wheels of time,” Jiang Chen said softly.
“I don’t want to talk about faith with an atheist,” Yerif said sternly, “and my father.”
“If I offended you, I do apologize,” Jiang Chen said softly.
Jiang Chen knew very well that although the young prince Yerif was a Sunni like his royal family, he was more enlightened. For example, he never put a headscarf on his princess when he hosted parties abroad and he could sit here with a heresy without faith and chat, or even become friends.
This may be related to his early experience of studying abroad, or it may be due to frequent contacts with some Western capitalists.
In short, he and Jiang Chen had no obstacles in communication.
It was also the reason Jiang Chen was willing to be friends with him.
“…Listen, you refused to let us build a temple here, and even used a… a tree that can produce oil to crush our oil prices. In short, you and your company are not popular in the Persian Gulf, at least not you’re not welcomed by the royal family. If your freshwater was not irrigating the gardens of our holy city, my father would not send you an ambassador as a sign of friendship like he is now,” Yerif stared at Jiang Chen and said.
“So what?” Jiang Chen smiled, as if he didn’t take what he had said seriously, and said emotionlessly, “If you stand on my side, we may be able to make your desert into a grassland.”
Turn the desert into a grassland?
Yerif was obviously taken aback.
“…what you said is true?”
“For us, this is not a difficult task. Or, do you think it is more difficult to grow grass on the deserts on Earth than it is to grow grass on the seabed or even on Mars?” Jiang Chen subtly showed off his achievements before he continued, “Don’t digress. We can wait until you become king to discuss the matter of ‘terraforming Earth’. We are now discussing another issue.”
Yerif controlled his breathing, leaned back against his chair, and quietly waited for Jiang Chen to continue.
“I have a batch of weapons in my hands and a group of well-trained South African mercenaries. I need you to help me send them from the Persian Gulf into Syria and ensure me a supply channel that can travel from the Persian Gulf to the Syrian border. Don’t say it’s impossible, I know you have your ways,” Jiang Chen said seriously as his eyes fixated on Yerif.
The mercenaries that came out of the Madagascar slums were cheap cannon fodder. They were the historical legacy left behind when Celestial Trade competed with the Freemasonry for control of Madagascar. They were contractors in Celestial Trade’s corporate military system.
They were well trained and large in number. Even without a kinetic skeleton, they were a force to be reckoned with.
“But why should I help you? What can you do for me?” Yerif spread his hands and smiled, “Money? You know I don’t need that thing.”
At the negotiating table, especially at this level, friendship was not enough to be a bargaining chip.
And Jiang Chen did not expect to let him do this favor based on the favor of creating a “robot” for him in the first place. After all, as Yerif said, he would take a big risk, to the point that if this leaked, he would risk being exiled by the royal family. If it weren’t for that favor, he would probably not be sitting here in the first place.
Jiang Chen smiled and slowly said as he looked at Yerif.
“I can give you the bottom line. The mercenary group I plan to send to Syria is about ten thousand people. They are proficient in using drones and are good at operating various modern vehicles. Originally, these people worked for Arrow but were later incorporated by us to fight against Freemasonry. After the Syrian problem is resolved, I have no plans to continue to support these people. I can transfer them to you.”
“Ten thousand people?” Yerif also laughed, then shook his head. “What can ten thousand people do? I advise you not to get involved in the desert. No matter what deal you made with the Russians, it was a wrong decision.”
Ten thousand people; all of them infantry.
If it were the orbital airborne soldiers of Celestial Trade, the proposition could still be a discussion, but based on Jiang Chen’s tone, these ten thousand people were both without the protection of kinetic skeleton nor the support of main battle tanks. To throw them into this swamp known as Syria, they probably wouldn’t even make a splash.
You know, the regular army of Bassar exceeded three hundred thousand.
However, Jiang Chen maintained his confident smile after Yerif finished his sentence.
“Then what if I told you that the combat power of these ten thousand people is comparable to fifty thousand?”
The room suddenly became quiet.
Yerif’s fingers clasped tightly onto the armrests, he gulped and looked at Jiang Chen suspiciously.
“That’s impossible. How sure can you be sure that their combat effectiveness is comparable to fifty thousand people?”
“Nothing is impossible.” Jiang Chen shrugged. “These people once served in Arrow of the Freemasonry, and later accepted our reorganization. One is the most powerful military company in the old era, and the other is the most powerful private military force in the new era. These ten thousand people are not mobilized soldiers or volunteers drawn from the reserve. They are a group of monsters with power compared to special forces. Their hands are blood-stained by soldiers only as powerful as them, and not from unarmed civilians.”
In order to avoid revealing their identity, this group of foreign mercenaries would not be equipped with kinetic skeletons.
But even without the kinetic skeleton, they still possessed the genetic vaccine!
A shot of E-grade genetic vaccine was compared to a mini superman after half a month of physical training. Even without the kinetic skeleton, their reaction and survivability were far superior to that of the ordinary person. Other than the regular force of Celestial Trade, there was no other force on Earth that could field an entire infantry division with special forces.
Yerif was silent.
From the outside world, he was a supporter of the Sunni, but deep in his heart, he did not agree with this status quo. As Jiang Chen said, secularization was the ultimate future of all beliefs. Dubai next door was the perfect example, even with the pitiful amount of oil, it was more prosperous than his hometown.
However, change was not that simple.
Even as the crown prince of the country, or even as the future king, he could not have free reign in his country. He could be playful, incompetent, or spend all the money with the royal family, but if he dared to start a religious revolution in the country, the army that supported the religion would even turn their weapons on him and push his uncle or brother to the throne.
The condition that Jiang Chen offered was very attractive.
A division of mercenaries.
After they solved the problems in Syria, this powerful force would become a private force loyal to him only.
If he wished to push for change in his country, then he would need a force absolutely loyal to him. And this force would be supported by Celestial Trade, which would become his biggest trump card to bring change for his kingdom.
And, a group of heretics that didn’t question right or wrong, and never hesitated in the killing was his best choice…