Chapter 208: Chapter 208: Building a Lair
September 3, members of the new Iraqi government elected by the Iraqi Interim Governing Council were sworn in in Baghdad.
In fact, as early as the beginning of May, the President of the United States had announced the end of the main war in Iraq.
But in fact, that was not an end, but the beginning of more attacks against the joint forces. The war only changed from a frontal confrontation on the battlefield to sporadic armed conflicts.
Currently, the Protector Military Company has more than 500 personnel of various types in Iraq. By accepting military contracting commissions from the United Kingdom and the United States, it can be said that it has made a lot of money.
You know, later in the original time and space, according to the Associated Press, in the 10 years after the start of the Iraq war, the United States spent 60 billion US dollars on post-war reconstruction in Iraq, an average of more than 15 million US dollars a day.
According to calculations by the Congressional Budget Office of the United States, total expenditures over the past 10 years - including military spending, embassy expenses, reconstruction and aid, have reached a huge amount of 767 billion US dollars.
With so much money invested, the US energy and military industry groups have certainly made huge profits; the relevant dignitaries and institutions have also made a lot of money; private military contractors like Blackwater and Protector Military Corporation have also made a lot of money...
What Barron cared about most was not the income that Protector Military Company earned from orders from the US and British governments, but the fact that Protector Military Company was developing rapidly by taking advantage of this opportunity.
In addition to being able to train personnel in such an environment, the weapons and equipment of the Protector Military Company can also be updated and stockpiled.
Of course, this is not achieved through open and legitimate means - at least not for the most part.
At this time, the Protector Military Company's mainstream equipment had been replaced with British Army standard equipment.
Part of these equipment was purchased through formal channels through agreements with the military - to put it bluntly, it was directly "distributed" from the supplies of the British troops stationed in Iraq.
And more equipment came from the "loss" of the British and American coalition forces in the war...
Well, according to the reports sent to the country, these equipment, including individual equipment, artillery, military vehicles, and even armored vehicles and helicopters... have all been consumed in the war.
But in fact, most of them have been transported to the Munger base of the Protector Military Corporation.
Anyway, even if they don't buy it, these equipments will still be difficult to escape from the underground arms black market. This way, without going through middlemen, it will be more pleasant for some senior military officials and the military companies that protect them.
At this time, the munitions inventory in the Munger base is enough to equip a brigade...
It is no exaggeration to say that if these equipments were combined with the quality of their military personnel, a regiment would be enough to sweep across many small African countries.
As we all know, with the excellent matching mechanism in the African region, if the military quality is relatively good, it is not surprising to be able to defeat ten people alone here.
These 100 local soldiers were hired from the Munger base of the Protector Military Company after careful selection. They were trained to just meet the minimum standards of the Protector Military Company's military personnel, which drove many instructors almost crazy.
…
Initially, Barron was planning to renovate Billow Castle in Northern Ireland as a tourism development site for the Grace Tourism Group, but later he changed his mind.
Now Billou Castle is still undergoing renovation and reconstruction, but unlike the previous renovations of Chatsworth House and Callan Castle, the renovation and reconstruction of Billou Castle is to reinforce it and re-plan the use of some rooms...
The Bilu Castle had a defensive function from the beginning. The entire castle has three floors above ground and two floors underground, with a total of nearly 60 rooms.
Now, except for a part used as a warehouse, most of the two underground floors of the castle have been transformed into solid dungeons.
These were carried out before the arrests of members of the "London Star" gang began.
After all, Barron considered that sooner or later he would need to interrogate these people, or even meet them in person.
For safety reasons, he would not go to the turbulent Africa in the short term, so it was necessary to choose a safe and inconspicuous place in England. After consideration, Billou Castle was the most suitable.
You have to know that the location of Bilu Castle can be said to be sparsely populated, and the nearest town is more than ten kilometers away from the castle!
Near the castle is a training base of the Protector Military Company. At that time, even a team of military personnel can be stationed in the castle for guarding. It can be said that it is extremely safe and easy to keep confidential.
After Barron starts security business in the UK with the Protector Military Company, he plans to expand the training base and make it his "home base".
A few days ago, during the arrest of Soslan Tigiyev, a core member of the "Raphael" organization and the main culprit of the "London Star" gang, a female "important figure" was unexpectedly captured.
I don't know if Soslan was really stubborn or he really didn't know much about the woman. Anyway, after a series of interrogations, he just revealed more information about the "Raphael" organization, but as for the woman, he just said that she came to cooperate with "Raphael". As a result, the two were captured by the special operations team on the day they met.
Originally, the most direct approach would be to interrogate the woman.
However, facing the interrogation prepared by the special operations team, the woman directly stated that she could tell her secret, but she must first meet the boss behind them because the secret was too important.
When Barron learned about this, he ordered the special operations team to bring her from Munger Base to England and send her to the Billu Castle.
Now they are on the boat coming from West Africa to Northern Ireland.
As for how to bring such a "captive" into the camera, think about how those gangs send those trafficked women to Europe. The Protector Military Company will have a better way than them.
…
"Your Highness, we have proposed to Huawei that we would like to invest in them, but Mr. Ren from Huawei refused."
Barron was not surprised by the response from O2 Telecom CEO Barry Trelles.
After all, Huawei has always been a very special company. In 2022, before Barron's rebirth, Huawei ranked 111th in the Fortune Global 500, with revenue of 639.6 billion yuan and net profit of 214.5 billion yuan. Both revenue and profit were twice that of Bank of China and five times that of Moutai. No A-share listed company could be compared with it. Until that time, Huawei had not been listed and had not issued corporate bonds.
At this time, Huawei is 100% controlled by Huawei Investment Holding Co., Ltd., which in turn consists of two shareholders: Boss Ren holds a 1.01% stake, and the Trade Union Committee of Huawei Investment Holding Co., Ltd. holds a 98.99% stake, which will continue until 2023.
Since Huawei has never accepted investment from other companies, let alone foreign capital, in its previous life, now that Huawei has gotten on the right track, it is likely that it will not accept investment from O2 Telecom. This is also the reason why this company will be able to receive great support from China in certain things in the future.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone