Chapter 1293 The King of War in the Empire (Third update please subscribe)
Author: Xiaoyu’s Destiny
The laws of the empire...
Enduring the scorching weather, Ma Rulong didn't even know how he ended up in this situation. He was clearly a policeman and a defender of the empire's laws, but now?
Not only did he blatantly violate the law, he even traveled across the ocean to Africa, which was his first time here.
What did he come here for?
"Here's my passport."
At the customs in the Bechuanaland Special Zone, Ma Rulong took out his passport.
"Come from the mainland of the empire?"
The customs officer looked at the businessman in front of him and asked.
"Yes, businessmen, come here to do business."
"Hardware merchant?"
The customs officer looked at the convoy behind him, and then stamped it without even checking. Why not check? Because in essence, Bechuana and the West African territories are colonies of the Ming Dynasty. The so-called customs is actually a symbol of its existence.
The meaning is greater than the actual meaning.
But even if it is used as a symbol, it still needs to be asked symbolically.
"What's on the car?"
"It's humanitarian relief supplies..."
He couldn't believe every word the arms dealer said. When Ma Rulong said these words, he felt various discomforts in his heart.
Although arms exports are an important means to maintain the country's military industrial production capacity and expand hegemony, they are legal arms exports. What is he doing now?
It's smuggling!
The desire to grab more profits and the attempt to expand political influence interacted to form an intricate smuggling network. This smuggling network was controlled by the Imperial Intelligence Department, where it was carefully calculated day and night.
"In fact, this is pretty much what the international arms trade is."
Jing Zaigui, who was driving the car, explained while driving.
"For example, just like now, we are not so much selling out arms as we are helping the empire to fight its enemies. When the British went to war against the Boers, the empire couldn't wait to sell arms to the Boers instead of to the British? This is called
Maintaining the balance of power, which can also be called killing with a borrowed knife, maintains peace between us and the British. Of course, in the arms business, making profits is the consistent goal. This is an eternal principle.
The only thing that can compete with it is political needs. Out of the need to expand the scope of influence, sometimes we have to bear the pain and give up profits. Therefore, the instinct to make money and political ambition are intertwined with each other, and everything is
It's all tied together."
After listening to Jing Zaigui's explanation, Ma Rulong said.
"So where are we now? Are we making money now?"
Ma Rulong was very curious about this issue.
"Of course I can make money now, but what guarantee is there in the future?"
"Why are you making money now?"
"Because at the moment the Boers have gold and diamonds, of course we have to make more money, but in the future... who knows? In the future, when the war lasts for a year or two and when their money runs out, we will
If necessary, supply weapons to them at cost price or even at a loss. By then, I am afraid that all the money we earn will go into it..."
This is the reality of the international game. Of course, Ma Rulong does not understand all this, and of course he does not need to understand it. After all, for him, none of this has anything to do with him. He just participated in this game by chance.
In this game, each player has a different identity. What is his identity in this game?
His identity in this game is just... the most inconspicuous little character. After the convoy enters the Bechuanaland Special Zone, Ma Rulong occasionally looks at the people on the roadside. After arriving in Africa, here
He saw many local people whose skin color was slightly darker than that of the Chinese people, with some traces of mixed race in their appearance.
"Japanese mixed race..."
Jing Zaigui said.
"Now the number of Japanese immigrants in the empire's African colonies is second only to Chinese immigrants, but because of their status...well, you know, the Japanese are almost second-class citizens. Of course, we don't recognize this.
, but Japanese women are proud to marry imperial men, so there are more men than women in the four provinces of Japan. However, this has no impact. After all, many Japanese men work in African colonies, and there are almost tens of millions of Japanese people.
They settled here and took root here, marrying local women as wives. These people are all mixed race..."
When Jing Zaigui finished speaking, Ma Rulong asked curiously.
"Then the Japanese married natives here, but what about the natives? They also have more men than women. What should they do?"
Facing Ma Rulong's question, Jing Zaigui was stunned for a moment, and then said.
"Who cares about them!"
Yes, not many people care about those natives at all. It can even be said that in everyone's perception, no one will consider the future of those natives.
In fact, in the past ten years, to some extent, the indigenous groups here are being rapidly replaced. The arrival of Chinese immigrants and Japanese immigrants has changed the population composition here. As for the indigenous people, they...
Maybe in a few decades, everything will become history. Of course, Ma Rulong is not a scholar, and he has no interest in the future. He does not care at all about the reality that there is more and more "coffee" here, and
The reality is that dark chocolate is becoming less and less available.
This convoy loaded with "humanitarian relief supplies" was driving on the roads of the Special Zone like this. They were not very conspicuous. After all, such convoys were not uncommon on the road network built by the empire in Africa. After all,
The empire's railway network here is not yet complete. In this case, cars are the best supplement. However, in order to conceal their identity, the fleet must constantly change their license plates along the way to prevent them from being discovered by interested parties.
After all, according to intelligence from the Imperial Bureau of Investigation, the British sent spies here. What were their spies doing?
The purpose is simply to investigate the actions of the so-called "arms smugglers" in this area. Although they do not have law enforcement powers, it does not prevent them from notifying the special region police department to crack down on arms smuggling. This is what the empire promised the British.
In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, "smugglers" like Jing Zaigui must avoid people who may threaten the entire operation as much as possible.
Of course, sometimes in order to make the transaction smoother, they would also actively release some bait to attract the attention of British spies.
After all, there are many fishing baits like this in this land now.
There are always risks in doing business. But for them... this business has no risks at all. After all, everything is under the control of the Investigation Department.
Even now, the route they said they were taking was carefully planned. Under normal circumstances, there would never be any problems. Even if the British spies appeared here, it would not have much impact on them.
You must know that this is a colony of the Ming Dynasty. But even so, they still have to do everything possible to conceal their identities. After all, legally speaking, they are just a group of smugglers now...