King Of War: Starting with Arms Dealer

Joe Ga looked at the anxious expression on Chris's face and smiled as he said, "Don't be in a hurry. First think about whether you can reach the upper echelons of the Iraqi Government.

Don't always think about looting a burning house; think about how to do business.

In the past year, I've learned many principles; sometimes making money should be a bit more roundabout, so that you can bring more people onboard along the way.

Even the greatest difficulties, when spread out among everyone, are actually not that big of a deal!"

Chris paused for a moment, then looked at Joe Ga and said, "You don't want to take on the Pentagon's business?"

Joe Ga waved his hand after listening and said, "You said it yourself; that's business the Pentagon is putting out on behalf of the Iraqi Government. Three hundred million US dollars will ultimately have to be paid by Iraq itself.

Getting a share of that business is of course appropriate, but we can't be the attacking team, we should do something more meaningful."

Chris, feeling as if his heart was being clawed at, stood up and paced around a few times. Finally, he returned to sit beside Joe Ga with a look of resignation and said, "I can reach the upper levels of Iraq, and I can also make contact with some leaders of the XN faction militia.

Tell me, how exactly should we do this business...

What really is 'more meaningful'?

Once Mosul is taken, the largest oil fields and refineries inside Iraq will once again be under the control of the Iraqi Government, and they will have money.

Aside from the business of mercenaries and weapons, I can't think of any other business that's more profitable!"

Joe Ga looked at Chris, who had his eyes fixed on money, shook his head, and said, "You think you can profit from war, right?"

"Yes!"

"You think war is just about fighting and arms..."

After thinking it over, Chris said, "There's also the intelligence business, but I guess you're not interested in that. I've sent an intelligence officer over there; there should be some gains."

Joe Ga listened and slightly shook his head, saying, "War is fought with logistics, and logistics isn't just about weapons and ammunition; it includes food and medical support.

To take Mosul, it must be completely surrounded. The Iraqi army can muster, at the very most, 20,000 men. Along with the Kurdish Militia, the XN faction, and the SY faction militias, at most they won't exceed 40,000 people.

I'll speak plainly; the ones inside Iraq who can fight the best are those folks from ISIS. Except for the part of the government forces and militia trained by the Americans, the rest are just ordinary people in military outfits. Find exclusive stories on My Virtual Library Empire

What do they know about fighting?

As he spoke, Joe Ga gestured for Chris to be quiet and continued, "Don't talk, just listen to me. You take that business from the Pentagon as usual, but our specific actions need to be discussed with the Iraqi side.

We don't fight wars, we provide food and secure logistics for those who do.

Are you not seeking to open a channel for food and supplies? As long as you negotiate it properly, that route will be open.

The prices in Iraq are quite fantastical; we need to organize a large supply of materials to send over and then transport them to the frontline.

It's a hassle, but charging the soldiers fighting in the war a standard fee of 50 US dollars per day per person isn't too much, is it?"

After thinking for a long while, Chris held his head and said, "There are at least 40,000 involved in the fighting; that's 2 million a day, 60 million a month. If the war lasts two months, that's 120 million US dollars.

The excess supplies can be directly utilized in places like Basra and Baghdad.

This seems like it could make money, but when you subtract the costs of labor, management, materials, transport, security, the profit isn't high. If we include the business of trading supplies for weapons, that might be better."

Joe Ga looked at Chris, who seemed hell-bent on hanging himself with the arms business, and shook his head disdainfully, saying, "Perspective, you need perspective!

This kind of business isn't only legitimate; it won't face backlash from locals because to ensure logistics for 40,000, we'll need to hire a lot of locals.

We bring in the supplies they need—who would hate us for that?"

Upon hearing this, Chris said with some confusion, "But what about the money? This is just a two-month business, and we're not making enough profit."

Joe Ga gestured confidently and said, "First you tell me if you have the ability to secure this business.

If you do, then I'll tell you what I plan to do next!"

Chris took a deep breath and after quietly pondering for over ten minutes, he nodded and said, "It should be possible. I can get my foot in the door with a small contract from the Pentagon, which would give me a bargaining chip with the Iraqi Government.

Their logistical support isn't smooth; I'm confident in securing a part of the business.

The Kurdish and XN faction SY faction militias are basically a coalition of warlords; if we can ensure a food supply, they wouldn't turn us down.

But they don't have that much money; the Iraqi Government won't spend 50 US dollars a day for those militias."

As he spoke, Chris looked helplessly at Joe Ga and said, "Buddy, clarify this for me or I feel like I'm turning into a fool."

Joe Ga, smiling slyly, poured Chris a cup of coffee and said, "Look, they have no money but still want to eat a hot meal at the frontline, right?"

"Yes, of course, having business is good, but we can't front the costs, can we?"

Joe Ga said with a grand gesture, "Front costs? That's impossible. We don't ask for money; let them contract out the oil fields to us.

The Iraqi Government has lawful ownership of the oil fields; the militias have actual control. Everyone eats my food so contracting the idle oil fields to me for a year isn't overstepping, is it?

I won't even ask for all the profits; I'll just send people to get the idle oil fields working again, repair any broken equipment, find buyers for them, and we split the profits fifty-fifty.

Of course, they'll need to settle the cost of their meals from their share first."

As he spoke, Joe Ga looked at Chris, who had a look of utter disbelief on his face, and smiled as he said, "Do you think we can make money with this business?"

Chris had the feeling that he was seeing a ghost for the first time because he had never seen anyone do business this way before.

Anyone would understand that elongating the business pathway would result in meaningless consumption, and the various management and sunk costs could get unbelievably high; moreover, a problem in any link could cause the entire scheme to collapse.

Following NATO's approach, if they wanted an oil field, their first thought would be to negotiate with the government and, after obtaining the ownership, send troops to eliminate the actual controllers.

If the government didn't cooperate, they would simply topple it and install someone amenable to them.

This was the simplest and crudest form of business, not limited to energy, but also applicable to financial control, market control, and so on, except when the media covered it, they wrapped it in the guise of democracy and freedom.

Chris's family was a NATO old-timer; he was used to this playbook!

But now, Joe was deliberately going in circles...

He secured a ticket to the game using America's military contracting qualifications, and then talked to the Iraqi Government about logistical support.

By fulfilling the contract in this manner, the remuneration for the hired mercenaries could definitely not be much.

But since it was stated as logistical contracting, it surely wouldn't be free. As long as the scale was large enough, managing the food and drink support for 40,000 people well could still turn a profit.

However, Joe didn't want money; he wanted to establish a good relationship with both the Iraqi Government forces and the militia and then profit in an unexpected way.

'Contracting an oil field' wasn't an unrealistic pipe dream but a business that already had solid case studies.

ExxonMobil had energy deals all over the world. Could they handle it on their own? In the end, a significant amount of work would be outsourced to major oil drilling companies.

Their approach effectively raised the cost of oil drilling, and that's why Saudi Arabia was so powerful—because their per-barrel oil drilling cost was only around ten US Dollars, making it a profit within a profit!

America had enormous oil reserves, with shale oil production ranking first in the world, but why did a large number of shale oil companies eventually go bankrupt?

Going bankrupt while holding an oil well is a fantasy that seems logical only in America.

In addition to market reasons, high costs were also a major issue. An average extraction cost of 40 US Dollars per barrel was a tremendous burden.

OPEC could simply make a move, and the fluctuation in oil prices would be enough to bring down those shale oil companies.@@novelbin@@

Don't try to apply the 'meat in the pot' theory to discuss America's shale oil industry; business is business.

Unless there's a world war, shale oil simply can't compete with Middle Eastern oil on the commercial front because its extraction costs are high, and transportation costs are high as well.

The major oil-consuming countries on the Eurasian continent are a bit far from America.

Iraqi crude oil is one of the critical pillars of the world energy industry. It's not that Joe can't make money by contracting oilfields, but how can he make a lot of money?

Huge management costs, labor costs, and security costs left those foreign oil companies in Iraq in dire straits.

What made Joe think he could be any different?

Especially when he was entering the game in such a manner??

After pondering for a long time without finding the key, Chris frowned at Joe Ga and said, "Hu Lang, I think I roughly get what you mean. You enter Iraq under the guise of logistics, then establish good relations with both the Iraqi Government and the militia to secure the contracting rights for an idle oilfield.

But have you considered that half of the profits don't seem worth it..."

Joe Ga looked at Chris with contempt and said, "You've gotten used to being a bandit, huh?

The equipment at the oilfield is ready-made, and the pipelines are too. How much could it cost to send some people there to restart operations?

If I can sign a tripartite contract with the Iraqi Government and the militia, as long as the profit-sharing numbers are reasonable, isn't it expected for the militia, who actually controls the oilfield area, to ensure its security? The Iraqi Government wouldn't block us from exporting oil, would they?

I'll take half in the first year. If there's a second year, I can settle for 45%, and then decrease by 5% each year until it reaches 30%.

Do you think the Iraqis would be happy with such a contract?

Iraq's international situation isn't great right now; domestic affairs are even worse.

After so many years of civil war, they certainly desire stability. If ISIS is driven away, and we have cooperation contracts with the government and the militia, would we be able to maintain that supply route? How much money do you think we could make then?

I'm providing them with basic supplies; they won't be so bold as to talk to me about tariffs, right?

Iraq has millions of people—that's a market of millions. If you can secure a safe supply route from the Persian Gulf to Mosul, how much do you think we could make?

You have to understand, as long as we're willing to engage, this route will be protected by all the warlords within Iraq from the start.

The power of inertia is immense. Once they get used to simple basic supply replenishments, they won't easily switch to someone else.

At worst, we all get rich together. Later on, we can supply the goods to them at wholesale prices, letting them sell or distribute them on their own territory."

Having heard all this, Chris looked at Joe Ga as if he were looking at a deity and said, "Do you know how much needs to be invested to manage such a business, and how many people it would take?"

Joe Ga casually waved his hand and said, "All I know is, if you distribute the difficulty among many people, then it's no longer difficult.

Don't always think about taking the fattest slice. Bring capable people on board, let everyone share both the risks and the profits.

We may not take the largest profit, but as long as we hold the reins of control, this cake will grow like a snowball."

With that, Joe Ga looked at the stupefied Chris and said, "Do you know what this kind of business is called in Europe and America?

Charity!!

We have no competitors because we demand so little, so little that someone like you might think we're doing something stupid!!"