In the not-too-spacious office, the two sat opposite each other.

Jacques came from a military background, but he could speak English, French, and a little Chinese. His father spared no effort in his training.

He just doesn't talk much, and he thinks carefully before speaking every time. To Guo Yang, he doesn't feel like a black person.

After dealing with him for a while, Guo Yang pretended that his patience had worn out: "Jacques, we should talk about business."

Jacques motioned for him to continue.

Guo Yang: "For example, how to expand the oil palm plantation business, which can bring us more US dollars."

Jacques crossed his arms: "This is just Golden Harvest's business."

Guo Yang smiled and said, "This is why I came to you today, to turn this into our business."

At this time, Chabot, who came with him, took out a contract and handed it to the civil servant next to Jacques.

Guo Yang: "This is a draft of the equity transfer contract. If you sign it, you will own 30% of Jiahe's oil palm plantations, processing and refineries in Equatoria Province."

Jacques signaled the civil servant behind him to take a look, and he quickly confirmed that it was correct, but he was still looking at other clauses.

"Even if you don't sign, I still have a share. Jiahe needs my protection."

"But this is a 30% stake. You should know how high the returns are. Before Jiahe came, you could only rely on selling timber and a little bit of pitiful fishery products for a meager income. Even so, you were still financially exploited by the French."

Guo Yang said in a deep voice: "But if you sign it, you can get 30% of the net profit! You can use this money to expand the army, build cities, and do whatever you want!
In addition, with it, Golden Harvest will be able to increase its investment in Mbandaka.

Roads, bridges, houses, water and electricity, agriculture, factories... Mbandaka will become the most developed city in the Democratic Republic of Congo!"

Jacques' eyes flickered: "What do I need to pay?"

"Armed protection!" Guo Yang: "Jiahe's business has been targeted. Now they are just blocking transportation, and the next step may be to directly occupy it.

Jiahe needs a strong army to provide protection, and you, my friend, have been cooperating with us for so many years, so we have enough trust in you. "

Jacques thought.

Equateur Province is the largest province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but also one of the poorest.

The only resources worth mentioning are timber, as well as agricultural products such as rubber, cocoa, and oil palm. However, due to its inland location, transportation is too poor and shipping to the coastal ports is too expensive, so the logging industry is extremely underdeveloped.

It was not until the arrival of Jiahe that transportation conditions gradually improved.

Jiahe also provides him and his people with huge amounts of wealth every year.

The profits from the oil palm plantation were even more enviable, and his subordinates advised him to seize the plantation more than once.

But he held back.

He knew very well the character of his own people. The Chinese could make oil palm produce high yields and find sales markets, but his people might not be able to do the same.

After thinking for a while, Jacques spoke up: "What is the attitude of the Chinese government?"

Guo Yang: "We have a very good relationship with the Chinese government."

"Words are not enough," Jacques said. "I can tell you the truth, the French and President Antoine have noticed Mbandaka.

Without the endorsement of the Chinese government, it would be difficult for me to confront the president and the great powers.”

Guo Yang smiled and said, "How do you want Jiahe to prove it? It may not be appropriate to let government officials meet with you directly. You are just a local chief and cannot represent the entire Congo, unless you are the Minister of Defense or the President."

Jacques was silent, but he didn't show any sign of backing down.

Guo Yang: "There is a compromise. China has many state-owned enterprises in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As long as you agree, they can all come to Mbandaka to build infrastructure.

In addition, we have several instructors who can help you train your troops."

Jacques: “Really?”

"I don't need to lie to you." Guo Yang: "The oil palm plantation can produce harvests for at least 30 years, which is a long-term benefit. Jiahe needs a solid partner."

"I am very honored."

Jacques stood up and stretched out his right hand, which Guo Yang shook tightly. Jacques's elegant appearance made Guo Yang unable to imagine that he was a black warlord.

In fact, there is no shortage of talented people on the African continent.

But most of them don’t live long.

For example, Lumumba, one of the founders of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was anti-imperialist and anti-colonial, but was killed by interest groups such as Belgium and France.

Jacques is not Lumumba, but perhaps because he is young, he still has some passion in his heart.

The terms of the contract still need to be negotiated, but the general direction has been determined. Jiahe will transfer 30% of its interests in the Equator Province to Jacques in order to obtain military protection.

This is equivalent to sharing hundreds of millions of US dollars in profits with Jacques every year.

This is a huge sum of money.

If it were someone else, they might have agreed immediately when Guo Yang proposed it, but Jacques was very cautious about this matter.

During the contract review process, I even pondered over each item one by one.

Three days later, the transfer contract was finally signed. Jacques said: "I want to see the arrival of the Chinese company sooner."

Guo Yang: "Are you ready for a new Mbandaka?"

Jacques laughed and said, "I look forward to that day."

After signing the contract, Guo Yang returned to the plantation on the outskirts of the city and dialed an internal number using a satellite phone.

Soon after, he received calls from the CEOs of various Chinese-affiliated branches in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and reached an initial cooperation agreement.

China National Agricultural Development Group, China Water Resources Group, China Animal Husbandry Group, China Railway Group, China Construction Bank, China Hydropower Group, China Road and Bridge Corporation...

In order to accommodate the incoming team, Guo Yang specifically asked Jacques to buy a five-story building in the city of Mbandaka.

Jacques also asked the police department to increase security patrols in the area.

Mbandaka has a population of about one million. Due to the construction of hundreds of thousands of hectares of oil palm plantations, a large number of people have been employed in several nearby cities, and the food supply is sufficient.

Therefore, the level of public security in Mbandaka in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is considered to be very high.

It can be compared with the capital Kinshasa.

A month later, a team from a Chinese company finally arrived in Mbandaka by plane.

It was a team of 12 people, all men, and as soon as they stepped out of the cabin, they were greeted by a heat wave.

"As expected of the equatorial region, it feels like a sauna."

"Luckily it's close to the Congo River. If I hadn't thought about fishing, I wouldn't have come here."

"Hahaha... I don't know what's so different about the fish in the Congo River."

"What you said makes me want to go and throw two clubs now."

A group of people talked loudly to ease the fear of coming to a strange place. Mbandaka is a city surrounded by tropical rainforest.

The tropical rainforest environment naturally makes people feel fearful.

However, when they got off the plane, they were greeted not by black people but by Chinese people with the same skin color as them.

The environment on the streets was not that bad. There were no signs of looting, smashing, and burning, and there were no ants and insects everywhere or a terrible stench. Instead, there were some signs of commerce.

This made them relax their uneasy hearts and they kept looking around at the city.

Due to its remote geographical location, this city has historically had a small influx of foreign population.

The 500-600 people of Jiahe were the largest team in history. The arrival of the Chinese company was like opening Pandora's box, causing the number of Chinese in Mbandaka to expand rapidly.

Another month later,
Xia Bo walked into the office and Guo Yang was looking at a map.

"Boss, China Railway and Road and Bridge Corporation each received a new construction team. These are Mr. Kong and Mr. Chen."

"Great, please come in."

Guo Yang hurried over. Behind Xia Bo were two capable middle-aged men, Kong Yun and Xu Zhihui, who were from the construction units of China Railway and Road and Bridge Corporation respectively.

Xia Bo made a cup of tea for them.

Guo Yang: "Mr. Kong, Mr. Xu, you came just in time. I was just wondering what to do."

Kong Yun smiled and said, "Mr. Guo, you are too polite. The leader has told us that if you have any needs, just let us know and we will definitely meet them. We are still very confident in doing the construction and settlement for Jiahe."

"You don't have to worry about that."

Only after experiencing it yourself, you will know how bad the traffic in the area is.

Guo Yang has been here for two or three months, and there are still a few cities he has not visited.

The main problem is that the transportation is too bad and it rains frequently in the rainforest area. Although it dries quickly, it can't withstand the heavy rain!

These 50 hectares, or 7500 million acres, of oil palm plantations involve about 15 cities.

There are also railways between cities, but they were built by the Belgians during the colonial period and most of them have long been abandoned.

The most reliable means of transportation is river transportation.

But it's too slow.

Moreover, most of the oil palm plantations deep inland cannot be reached directly by river transport.

Such a large plantation has low labor costs, but only a few hundred million dollars in net profit each year because the transportation costs are too high.

Guo Yang spread out a map of the surrounding area on his desk, and Kong Yun and Xu Zhihui also came over.

Guo Yang: "Mbandaka is here, where three rivers - the Ruki, Ikelumba and Congo - converge."

“The Ikelumba River has two more tributaries.”

"There is also the port city of Lulonga upstream of the Congo River, which is the confluence of the Lulonga River and the Congo River."

“Jiahe’s oil palm plantations are concentrated along the banks of these rivers.”

“The main railway line is in the rain forest between the Ruki River and the Ikelumba River. There is a dirt road next to the railway that connects to the large city of Kisangani upstream, but the railway is basically abandoned.

Now Jiahe wants to open this railway line.”

Kong Yun asked, "What about river transport?"

Guo Yang: "We can do it together, but we can't go directly to the sea. Upstream of Matadi is the world's largest waterfall group, and upstream of Kisangani is the Kisangani Falls. The shipping capacity can't keep up, so railways and roads are necessary."

Kong Yun: "Where is the construction team coming from the front?"

Guo Yang: "Some short-distance railways and roads have already started construction, and the fattest piece of meat is left for you."

Xu Zhihui: "The most difficult part is the route that is entirely in the rain forest, with a dense network of rivers, making construction very difficult."

Guo Yang: "That's why I left it to you. Only you have the ability to do this."

Kong Yun and Xu Zhihui looked at each other and nodded: "Okay, Mr. Guo, we will come up with a construction plan as soon as possible, but you still have to think of a way to transport the equipment."

Guo Yang smiled and said, "Don't worry, Jiahe has a way."

In fact, looking at the map, Matadi is the closest point to the sea because there is a waterfall. If the railway is built, it will also be possible to go to the sea, and the cost will be lower.

But Guo Yang's target is the entire Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The essence of the Democratic Republic of the Congo lies in the gold mines, diamonds, cobalt mines, uranium mines in the east... So, the east is a must-visit.

The railway between Matadi and Kinshasa also needs to be built, but not now.

He also looked forward to the French and President Antoine taking action to ensure that the 30% stake transferred to Jacques would be fully valued.

Let Jacques fight the French.

In the following period, as Chinese companies gathered, construction equipment also arrived in Mbandaka one after another via the river transport controlled by Jiahe.

However, the first factories to be built were cement plants, sand and gravel plants and other supporting factories.

Then comes the construction.

The engineering and infrastructure matters were handed over to companies with Chinese characters in their names, while Guo Yang focused his attention on agriculture.

More than 20 kilometers northeast of Mbandaka, there is a small city: Ngolo.

This is one of the earliest oil palm plantations.

Towering palm trees stand tall, and oil palm fruits cluster into towers. The black guys use bamboo ladders and use machetes to accurately cut the oil palm fruits.

Someone picked it up under the tree and moved it to a truck on the roadside.

When Guo Yang got out of the car, the black guys who were working became even more excited and cheered.

Guo Yang asked Xia Bo beside him: "How much do these workers earn a day?"

Xia Bo: “About 5 yuan per day.”

Guo Yang: "It's really amazingly cheap. No wonder it can provide more jobs and be more stable if it doesn't use machines."

This is the only advantage that the Democratic Republic of the Congo has. Although there are many lazy people, there are always many people willing to work.

Ngolo's plantation is very successful, producing high yields of high-quality oil palm fruits.

After driving around the main route, Guo Yang arrived in the city of N'Golo.

Ngolo does not have a river port, but it does have a train station, and it is very busy, with truckloads of timber and oil palm fruits leaving from here for Mbandaka.

Jiahe's plantations are mainly distributed on both sides of the river or near railways and highways. There are still large areas of rainforest outside the plantations.

And the plantations are still expanding, and expansion requires logging.

The Ngolo-Mbandaka railway was also recently renovated.

In other plantations, there are also intermittent railway lines.

Oil palm fruits and timber are continuously transported to the nearest river port by rail and road.

The timber is then transported by ship to Kisangani and the oil palm fruits to Mbandaka for processing and refining.

Shipments of palm oil and biodiesel are once again heading to Kisangani.

The next day, Guo Yang came to the riverside city of Pangguma, which, in addition to oil palm, is also an important rice and cassava production base in Jiahe.

With sufficient water and heat conditions and suitable seeds, the rice yield per mu can reach 600 to 700 kilograms.

The cassava is even more amazing. Each tuber is incredibly large, with an acreage yield of 8 tons and a starch content of 30%.

Similarly, shiploads of rice and starch were shipped to Kisangani and distributed to the eastern mining areas.

This year, cargo throughput on the Mbandaka-Kisangani route has again increased significantly.

Such a big commotion in Mbandaka could not have gone unnoticed by the international community.

At the same time, in Jacques's military camp, intensive training was also going on, and several uninvited guests also entered the camp. (End of this chapter)