Chapter 174 — The King of Gamblers

Karls nodded. Indeed, these past few days he had been studying the map of Country X; many places were in ruins awaiting revival. In the past, apart from the capital, the border cities of Country X had all been occupied by various armed factions, so there had been no need for construction at all. But now things were different: those armed factions had been wiped out one by one by Li Qiang and his men, and Karls had recovered the cities formerly occupied by those factions. Thus construction had become a rather serious problem. "Can we postpone the construction for a while?" General Karls asked with a sigh. "Start construction after the tax revenue from this area comes in?" "Some of it can wait... some of it cannot... With those armed factions gone, we must establish local administrative offices to effectively maintain order in the cities. Otherwise the residents there may riot, or even emigrate en masse." General Karls nodded. Indeed, these things could not be delayed. A region could not be without administrators. Previously those armed factions had governed in their stead, but now... "How much money is needed?" General Karls asked.

"At least five billion US dollars..." The secretary was rather helpless too. After all, the project was enormous.

"That much..." General Karls was rather helpless. "Do you have any good ideas? Let's hear them." Karls knew his secretary well. Normally, he only came to him after he had already made a decision, so by now he should already have a plan—only that plan was probably rather difficult. "Mr. Karls, what do you say... we apply to Mr. Yang for... a temporary loan of funds?" the secretary suggested. "That... I'm afraid it might be rather difficult?" General Karls shook his head at once.

"Every year we still have to pay Captain Li Qiang military funds. Now we haven't even paid the military funds, and we're going to borrow money from them—would that work?"

"I think it should work!" The secretary nodded and analyzed, "Although we are the rulers of Country X, Mr. Yang is the true power behind the state..."

"That is true as well!" Karls, hearing his secretary's analysis, felt it was indeed so, and so he hesitated no longer. He picked up the phone and dialed Li Qiang's number.

Of course Karls would not call Yang Juehuan directly to discuss such trifles, knowing how busy Yang Ce was every day. He had left Li Qiang here precisely so that Li Qiang would have full authority over all affairs here. "Captain Li, hello. This is Karls!" Karls said, concise and to the point. With Li Qiang he had no need for pleasantries; he had already adopted the manner of a colleague at the same level, for Karls understood that he and Li Qiang were both subordinates of one man—one managing civil affairs, the other military affairs.

"Hello, Karls. What is the matter?" Li Qiang asked.

"Well then—"

"It's like this—right now my finances here are very tight. Do you think you could draw some funds from your side and lend them to me? I would use them for the city's construction," Charles said.

"Your finances are very tight?" Li Qiang was taken aback. "Once those armed forces are cleared out, won't a great deal of mineral resources be left behind on their territory? The rent collected from those mines alone should amount to quite a lot of money, shouldn't it?"

"The owners of those mines all hold contracts signed with the former armed forces. What I want is stability—I'm also afraid of provoking large-scale mutiny and riots."

"So that's how it is." Li Qiang nodded, then said, "Let me check with Brother Yang, and I'll get back to you."

"All right, then I'll trouble you, Captain Li." From Li Qiang's tone, Charles could tell that this matter was more than likely to succeed. He breathed a sigh of relief at once.

After hanging up on Charles, Li Qiang placed a call to Yang Ming.

"Brother Yang, this is Li Qiang!" Li Qiang said. "Charles just called me about a situation—is it convenient for you to hear me out?" "Go ahead." Yang Ce had only Wang Yanqiu by his side at the moment, so it was easy to talk. "After the war, Country X needs large-scale reconstruction, but Charles's side lacks funds and wants to borrow a sum from us," Li Qiang said. "I suggested he take back all the mines in Country X and then conduct unified investment promotion and allocation, but he doesn't dare do it." "Money is no issue," Yang Ming said. "However much it is, have him draw up a plan and send it to me—I'll look it over and transfer the funds to him. As for the mines, do it this way: take your people and reclaim all the mines, then conduct unified public bidding and competitive tender." "Understood, Mr. Yang," Li Qiang said.

"By the way, I hear Li Zhizhen's family also owns an iron mine in the north. Look into it, and then bring everyone inside back to me," Yang Ce said, suddenly recalling the matter of the Li family of Singapore, and instructed Li Qiang accordingly.

"I understand. Rest assured, Mr. Yang." Li Qiang noted down every word of Yang Yanzhou's instructions.

When Charles learned that Yang Ce had agreed to lend the money, he was overjoyed. It seemed Yang Juehuan truly intended to support him in earnest—which made it all the more important that he perform well and manage Country X properly.

As for Li Qiang's proposal to reclaim all the mineral resources and conduct unified tendering, Charles had no objections whatsoever. If Li Qiang was willing to handle it, so much the better—it would make management easier as well; otherwise these people were a thorn in Charles's side and a constant headache. What delighted Charles most was that Li Qiang also agreed to send troops to garrison the more remote cities to maintain local order for the time being—at the very least, military administration would be implemented before the administrative offices were established.

To Yang, the affairs of Country X were merely a minor interlude—a tiny patch of land; let Charles and Li Qiang stir up whatever they liked. If they truly produced some achievements, Yang Duoran would be pleased as well.

At six in the evening, Alice's car arrived punctually at the gate of the old Buffon estate. Yang Ce had not brought Wang Yanqiu along; he went out alone.

"Just you?" Seeing Yang Duo emerge alone, Alice found it somewhat odd that Yang Ce had not brought Wang Yanqiu with him.

"Just me—does gambling require other people to take part?" Yang Ce shrugged.

"You're not bringing your girlfriend? Don't most men have a woman sitting in their lap when they gamble?" Alice asked, as though somewhat unwilling to let it go.

"You mean Yanyan? She's tired and resting." Yang Ming smiled. "Aren't you here?" "Me? We'll talk after you win the match," Alice said. Seeing Yang Cen say this, she said no more, opened the car door, and let Yang Ce get in.

The driver was a middle-aged woman, likely Alice's full-time chauffeur. Yang Shuoxuan asked nothing and sat side by side with Alice in the back seat.

Yang Ming did not recognize Alice's car—it was a rather uncommon brand, or perhaps specially custom-made, with no brand at all. But Yang Shuoxuan cared nothing for such things.

"The man you're playing today is called Park Chul-nam, a gambling king from Korea, very famous in Macau and Las Vegas." Once Yang Ce was in the car, Alice began introducing Park Chul-nam's credentials. "At last year's Macau Asian Gambling King Tournament, Park Chul-nam took second place in the Asian Gambling King Championship—a fine result, second only to the gambling king tmg from Korea. Three years ago at the Las Vegas World Gambling King Tournament, he also achieved a fine fifteenth place." "Are you telling me all this to undermine my confidence?" Yang Mo listened to these meaningless numbers with some amusement.