Chapter Thirteen Entering the City

  Half a month's time has quietly passed.

  Within this half-year period, Li Lan successfully sold 100 AK-47 automatic rifles and 50,000 rounds of ammunition through Muhanmadi. Although these cost $6,250 in base funds, they also brought in a lot of food and fuel, two essential consumables for the base.

  In the past half month, a mining cart in the Mineral Refinery has brought Li Lan a total of 75,000 base funds.

  In the past few days, he has built five magnetic reactors and a mineral refinery. However, it's depressing that even with the mineral refinery, the recovery time of the mining cart hasn't decreased by much, only ten minutes. When Li Lan learned of this number, she was so angry that she jumped up and down.

  Fortunately, within half a month, Li Lan made two mining cars. The first one was after four days, and in the past eleven days, it brought 55,000 funds to Li Lan. The second one was after six days, and so far it has also brought 45,000 funds to Li Lan.

  On the seventh day, he built another ore extraction well on top of the iron mine because one ore extraction well could only meet three mining carts. In these three days from the eighth to the tenth day, there were three more mining carts running around him. These three new mining carts alone brought 80,000 funds to the base.

  Less than a month after arriving in Somalia, Li Lan had basically completed the basic construction of the base. Two mineral extraction wells, two mineral refining factories, and six mining vehicles formed a considerable capital recovery capacity. Although excluding the original mining vehicle, mineral refining factory, and mineral extraction well, Li Lan spent 127,000 base funds for this purpose in half a month, but he also gained an income of 30,000 base funds per day. In comparison, what he paid out was nothing.

  In half a month, apart from spending 6,250 funds to produce weapons and 3,000 funds for five magnetic reactors, the remaining 40,400 funds seemed not small, but now there is not much left.

  The base currently has seven magnetic energy reactors, three barracks, two tank factories, two patrol guns and two machine gun turrets. As a result, Li Lan's funds were reduced to 14,400. A series of land grabbing activities were then carried out, with the magnetic energy reactors being built further away, followed by wall enclosures.

  Under the circumstances of pouring in a large amount of base funds, defensive units are being built every day without stopping. With the base as the center point, the extension of three kilometers is even within the range of the mining pit. The current base is already surrounded by a huge wall that is 8 kilometers long and 6 kilometers wide.

  Not counting the gaps left behind, the total length of the walls reached 28 kilometers, covering an area of 48 square kilometers. The base spent 42,000 funds on these walls alone. Moreover, if we add up the walls built by Li Lan for each building unit, just this one item of walls has used up a total of 72,000 base funds in half a month.

  The occupied area was large, and although there were walls to protect it, sufficient armed forces were also needed. The remaining 72,000 base funds were not spared by Li Lan either. Of course, this was also because he would only dare to use them boldly when there were 30,000 base funds coming in every day.

  Ninety soldiers, thirty military dogs, ninety sets of equipment, ten engineers, and ten trucks. Although each type of item doesn't cost a lot of money, when added up, it's not a small amount either, consuming a total of 31,750 base funds.

  Moreover, to strengthen the training of soldiers, Li Lan also produced a large number of bullets for them to use. In these days, one hundred soldiers consumed more bullets than Li Lan sold in these days. In half a month, 600,000 rounds of ammunition worth 1,500 yuan were consumed, while each person averaged only 40 rounds per day.

  Originally, there were 38,750 funds available. Last night and this morning, Li Lan set off two warning flares at the entrance of the outer wall gate designated by Li Lan. Now, only 28,750 base funds are left for use.

  Money comes quickly, and it goes quickly too. After this busy half month, the base has changed a lot. And currently, the 48 square kilometers occupied by the base are enough to meet Li Lan's development needs for a very long time.

  In the next period of time, Li Lan will put his main energy into the defensive construction work of the base. According to his plan, the outer wall of the main base must be reinforced, at least one more wall is needed, and the defensive force composed of two walls can guarantee safety.

  Moreover, at the outer wall exit, there must be a strong firepower counterattack capability. The sentinel gun is expensive, but its three-kilometer alert range and dual-mounted 30mm machine guns are already worth it. In conjunction with a large number of military dogs running patrols and soldiers on patrol, the base can only have the most basic security guarantee.

  However, Li Lan now needs engineers and cement more urgently. Because inside the base, it's all original mud ground, although the geology is very hard, but the dust is very annoying.

  Cement is not a rare thing in Somalia, but it's not easy to get a lot of cement either. However, money can make the devil grind, this principle basically applies to all human societies.

  Although Li Lan's weapons sales have not been exchanged for cash directly since then, weapons are also one of the main circulating commodities in Somalia, just like US dollars.

  However, there is one thing: the cement in Somalia is all controlled by the local government. Since Li Lan is an illegal immigrant and did not go through the Somali embassy in China for certification, he cannot purchase cement from the local government with his own identity.

  Muhammad didn't have a good channel to get a large amount of cement, so it was obvious that Li Lan had to make a trip to Bosaso. This trip was only a matter of time, and the cement was just a fuse. Later on, there would be many other demands that required him to go to Bosaso.

  He has been preparing for this trip since yesterday. In the base's car page, in addition to trucks, there are two buildable icons: an armed off-road vehicle and an armed off-road four-wheeled motorcycle.

  After Li Lan got ready for work today, he also finished producing four armed off-road vehicles yesterday.

  At noon, four armed jeeps and four military trucks left the base heading east towards Bossaso. The soldiers protecting Lian were led by Ahmed, who also led the soldiers who stayed behind to guard the base.

  As they passed through the village of Muhamedi, Muhamedi was already waiting by the roadside. After Muhamedi got into the armed off-road vehicle where Li Ran was in, the convoy continued to advance towards Bossaso over 200 kilometers away.

  "My friend, you're really punctual." As soon as he got in the car, Mukhtaar greeted Li Ran first, revealing the Somali custom: "I'm always happy to see you, have you had a pleasant time these past two days?"

  "I'm glad to see you too." Li Ran was also very familiar with Muhanmudi's greetings these days, and he had been fortunate several times that he didn't have a camel, otherwise, when greeting, he would definitely ask about the camel's situation as well. However, Li Ran also liked this kind of greeting, which made people feel especially close and friendly.

  "But, my friend, are you going to war?" After some small talk, Muhanmadi asked in puzzlement: "The armed forces you've brought with you are quite powerful, four armored vehicles and four large trucks."

  "They just came to protect me and didn't mean to actively start a fight with other armed groups." Li Lan explained. This time he was very unprepared, bringing out sixty soldiers, with some heavy weapons on the truck.

  "In that case, listen to me, let the large trucks behind not enter the city, just our four armed vehicles will enter the city. Otherwise, others will think you are provoking them." Muhanmudi said this and saw that Li Lan's face did not show any displeasure, so he continued: "Enter the city with me, the armed personnel inside will not do anything to you, at least they won't point their guns at you."

  "Alright, I trust you. At that time, I will let them wait outside the city." Li Ran nodded and did not refuse Muhanmudi's suggestion.

  "Also, my friend, you also know that we Somalis have many taboos, I hope you can remember them." Muhandis also knew that Li Lan didn't understand Somalia well, in order to avoid unnecessary trouble after entering the city, he had an obligation to remind his good friend.

  Here is the translation:

  "In our place, no one is allowed to enter the mosque without permission. Men are not allowed to shake hands with women. It's forbidden to ask a woman's age directly. It's also forbidden to inquire about someone's salary or income. Don't be curious about whether someone is married or not. Don't speak words that harm Somalia as a nation or its people. In Muslim areas, it's forbidden to eat pork, horse meat, donkey meat, mule meat, etc., and drinking alcohol is also prohibited.

  The most important points are: without others' consent, you cannot take pictures randomly, especially of women - this is a big taboo. Also, do not discuss the topic of pirates; it's best not to mention these two words at all."

  "In Somalia, as long as you don't break any taboos, Somalis are still very friendly towards Chinese people."

  "Why can't we ask about pirates?" To these taboos, Li Ran just nodded, indicating that she understood, but for pirates, Li Ran had a lot of curiosity.

  "Listen, I really can't say pirate, because the other side will turn against you at any time. As for the reason, if you have time, I'll take you to understand it in detail." Seeing Li Ran suddenly showing great interest in pirates, Muhanmudi said seriously again.

  "Alright! I remember, what can I say?" Seeing that Muhammad didn't want to explain himself, Li Lan also stopped and changed the subject.

  "If it's someone you're not familiar with, there's no need to say anything, just a normal greeting will do," said Muhanmudi.

  Li Lan then heard some basic information about Bossaso and made as much preparation for this trip as possible.