Xinbao Furniture Company is headquartered in Hongmai Town, west of Xinguobang, and is the largest enterprise in this town.
After Ye Ming and others arrived at Xinbao Company, in order not to arouse the suspicion of the deputy county magistrate, development zone secretary and others who were accompanying them for the inspection, they first visited the company's processing plant, raw material warehouse, and finished product warehouse under the guidance of Shi Xin, and
Listened to Shi Xin's brief report on the company's future development prospects.
Subsequently, at Shi Xin's invitation, Ye Ming and others took several off-road vehicles, starting from Hongmai Town and driving west along a simple road to Highway 45, then turned northwest and started climbing the mountain.
Shi Xin introduced to Ye Ming: "Secretary Ye, the mountain we are climbing now is called Boka Mountain. It runs from northwest to southeast, like an arc-shaped fan, surrounding the entire Golden Triangle area.
Within an arc circle. Xinguo State is located to the east of the arc circle, and Nova State is located to the west of the arc circle. The dividing line between the two states is Meilan Town. And the south of Meilan Town is the center of the Golden Triangle, also
Territory controlled by drug lords."
Ye Ming glanced outside the car and asked, "Your lumberyard is on Boka Mountain, right?"
"Yes. The eastern foothills of Boka Mountain are under the control of Nova State and Xinguo State. The two states use Meilan Town as the dividing line at the foot of the mountain, and on Boka Mountain, the Yinxiang Peak to the north of Meilan Town
As a dividing point: the east of Silver Elephant Peak belongs to Xinguo State, and the west belongs to Nova State. My logging camp is in Xingo State, so I can only log on the mountains east of Silver Elephant Peak."
While they were talking, the off-road convoy had climbed halfway up Boka Mountain. There was no road at this time. Everyone jumped out of the car and continued to climb along a logging road under the guidance of Shi Xin.
Half an hour later, Ye Ming and others heard the "rumbling" sound of chainsaws coming from the hillside in front, the shouts of lumberjacks, and the "click" sound of trees falling to the ground, and knew that the lumberyard had arrived.
After walking for a few more minutes, an open flat land appeared ahead. There were still many tree stumps around the flat land, but the tree stumps in the center had been cleared away and more than a dozen tents had been set up. These tents were relatively large, and each tent was estimated to be large enough.
A dozen people lived in it.
What surprised Ye Ming and others was that around the flat land, there were armed men patrolling in twos and threes. These armed men were all armed with rifles or guns, wearing helmets and camouflage uniforms, and each of them had a gun hanging on their waist.
, exactly the same as the equipment of the regular army.
Seeing that Ye Ming and others were staring at the armed men, Shi Xin hurriedly explained: "Secretary Ye, these are the security personnel I hired privately. They have two tasks: one is to protect these precious woods, and the other is to prevent the Golden Triangle
Regional drug lords or other criminals come to the logging camps to kidnap workers for ransom."
The deputy county magistrate who was following Ye Ming asked strangely: "Mr. Shi, do kidnapping and extortion cases often happen here? Are there still people who come to this mountain to kidnap your workers?"
Shi Xin nodded and said: "People are afraid of being famous, but pigs are afraid of being strong. My company and lumberyard are relatively famous around here, and Meilan Town is a filthy, mixed-up area with various gangs.
There are also many gamblers who lose their money, and there are countless drug dealers. My logging camp is not far from Meilan Town, and it is in the uninhabited mountains and forests, in Xinguo State.
The party's armed forces could not provide us with protection, so I had to spend my own money to hire a security team. There were more than 90 people, divided into three shifts every day, fully armed to patrol near the logging camp. Without this security team, I would probably have people there every three to five.
Some loggers and managers have been kidnapped, and the ransom paid will be much higher than the cost of hiring security guards, so it is still cost-effective for me to maintain this team."
Ye Ming nodded thoughtfully, turned around and stared at the Silver Elephant Peak southwest of the logging camp with a deep gaze, and asked Shi Xin: "Mr. Shi, how far is Gong Pengju's Honghua Mining Company from here?"
Shi Xin hurriedly took him up to a tall rock in the north, pointed to the southwest with his hand and said: "Secretary Ye, look, one kilometer west of our place is Silver Elephant Peak. Silver Elephant Peak is from the northeast to
Sloping to the southwest, its ridge is the dividing line between Nova State and Xinguo State. Past the Silver Elephant Peak to the northwest, it is the territory of Nova State; to the southwest there is
A large valley is the 'Youlong Valley'. Within a radius of a hundred miles around the Youlong Valley, it is the territory of the great drug lord Sun Zhicheng. The headquarters of Gong Pengju's Honghua Mining Company is between the 'Youlong Valley' and Meilan Town
In fact, his lead-zinc mine is at the foot of the southwest slope of Silver Elephant Peak, and you can directly reach his mine by climbing over the opposite mountain peak."
When Ye Ming heard his last words, his eyes lit up and he hurriedly asked: "Mr. Shi, if we start from here, can we reach Gong Pengju's lead-zinc mine department by just climbing over the Silver Elephant Peak?"
Shi Xin smiled and shook his head and said: "Secretary Ye, this is theoretically true, but in practice it is not feasible because there is no road at all on Silver Elephant Peak. Only mountain people collecting herbs can climb over Silver Elephant Peak with the help of tools.
Ordinary people simply can’t climb up there.”
Ye Ming said "Oh" a little disappointed, and then asked: "How many kilometers is it from Meilan Town to Gong Pengju?"
"If you start from Meilan Town, you need to go around half a circle along the southern foot of Silver Elephant Peak to reach Gong Pengju's mining department, which is about 20 kilometers away."
Ye Ming once again raised his eyes to look at the Silver Elephant Peak to the west. He sketched a map in his mind of the logging camp, Meilan Town, and Gong Pengju Mining Department. Then he pointed at the opposite mountain peak and asked, "What do you mean?"
According to the statement, if we can climb over the Silver Elephant Peak, the straight-line distance from here to the Gong Pengju Mining Department is only two or three kilometers, right?"
Shi Xin was very surprised when he saw him persistently asking about the route and distance from Yinxiang Peak to Gong Pengju Mining Department, so he asked in a joking tone: "Secretary Ye, are you a hiking adventure enthusiast? Do you want to hike from here?
Climb the Silver Elephant Peak to inspect Gong Pengju’s Honghua Company?”
Ye Ming smiled and said: "Mr. Shi, I don't have the taste, I just asked casually."
After visiting the logging camp for about two hours, the group drove back to Hongmai Town. After dinner, Shi Xin arranged for Ye Ming and others to stay in his company's guest house.
Ye Ming lived alone in a single room. As soon as he entered the room, his cell phone rang. When he looked at the caller ID, it was a local number.
After the call was connected, a middle-aged man's voice came from the receiver: "Are you Ye Ming?"
"I am Ye Ming, who are you?"
The other party was silent for a moment and replied: "I am Gong Pengju, have you arrived at Shi Xin's company now?"
It turned out that before setting off from Beishan County, the kidnapper who had been in contact with Ye Ming used another WeChat account to have a video call with him. He first asked Ye Ming to confirm that Xiao Benben was still alive and well, and then told him: When the investigation
Chapter completed!