The Tyrant Billionaire

Meanwhile, Huo Qingtong had the cooks come ashore to prepare meals. Even though there were many people, a ship with a 7,000 ton capacity would take some time to fill.

The meals were simple, but the white rice was unlimited.

There was also a pot of soup and steamed salted fish.

A bowl of rice with a spoonful of meat soup and a piece of salted fish—this was already considered decent food for the hardworking men.

The workers started their ant like labor, dismantling the rusted weapons, piling them up, and then having others carry them onto the ships.

"Ha, an airplane! A Japanese airplane! I wonder if dismantling this is worth more. I’m going to take apart a plane today!"

"Whoa, look at this pile of guns here. These are Type 38 rifles. Back on the battlefield, if you had one of these, everyone would be envious."

"What is this...?"

Someone kicked around in the dirt and uncovered a pale white skull.

Startled, the person took a step back.

A middle aged man in his forties standing nearby glanced at the skull and said calmly, "It’s just a skull, what’s there to be afraid of?"

"Do you think it’s an American skull or a Japanese skull?" the young man asked.

"It’s definitely a Japanese one. The Americans won, and after the war ended, all the American soldiers’ bodies were collected. No one bothered to deal with the Japanese remains. You’ll see, as we keep working on this island, we’ll come across many more skeletons, all of them Japanese."

On the island, they found all kinds of valuable items:

Rifles, machine guns, anti aircraft guns, cannons of various calibers, and mortars.

There were also many artillery shell casings, most of which were made of copper, making them much more valuable than scrap iron. They were easier to transport, too—tying up ten shell casings to a pole and carrying them off to the ship in no time.

In fact, more than half of the materials on the island were left by the Americans. During their assault on the islands, the Americans, with their vast resources, would abandon anything that was even slightly damaged. In some cases, they left things behind simply because it was too much trouble to transport them.

Now, in Huo Qingtong’s eyes, all these things were money.

The laborers worked like ants, silently but efficiently carrying everything onto the ships. Don’t underestimate the power of ants; their steady labor achieved surprising results.

The workers put in a lot of effort, knowing they couldn’t afford to slack off for fear of losing this lucrative job. In just three days, one of the freighters was completely loaded, and it immediately set sail.

The workers didn’t board the ship but stayed behind to continue dismantling and filling the second freighter.

For meals, they had rice and salted fish. Occasionally, they even found some canned food left behind by the U.S. military on the island, which became a treat for them.

For sleeping, they had tents—the same U.S. military tents sold by Hardy’s company.

When it got cold, they had wool blankets—U.S. military cotton blankets.

Under these conditions, the workers felt they were being well taken care of.

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Huo Qingtong sailed with the ship. This time, the ship was full of his own people, and instead of returning to Hong Kong, they sailed directly north, heading for Tianjin.

By this time, Tianjin had already fall under the CCP.

Before setting off, Huo Qingtong had already contacted the Chinese buyers and asked if they were interested in scrap metal from the islands, explaining that it was leftover from the war. The Chinese buyers expressed great interest.

The CCP was in desperate need of resources.

The scrap iron from the tanks and battleships was highly valuable in their eyes, but they knew their usual barter system wouldn’t work this time.

The Hardy Group wasn’t limited to doing this kind of business with just the C.C.P like before. He had plenty of other customers willing to pay in hard currency, and the Chinese Communist Party realized this quickly.

When the freighter arrived at the port in the middle of the night, people were already waiting to unload the cargo. They initially thought it was just scrap copper and iron, but were pleasantly surprised to find many valuable items. Thousands of rifles, mortar barrels, field guns, howitzers, and even partially dismantled vehicles filled the crates.

Among them, copper shell casings stood out, as copper was in short supply within the country.

This wasn’t just scrap metal; it was a treasure trove. Over 7,000 tons of material, valued at $220,000, awaited a fair trade. However, this time Hardy profit wasn’t a 100 to 1 as such he wasn’t going to accept whatever they had.

Huo Qingtong, was sent to negotiate the deal. The CCP’s representatives arrived to settle the payment.

"We’ve brought some of the finest teas, medicinal herbs, and traditional items," one of them began, but Huo Qingtong raised a hand, cutting them off.

"Those items are worthless in the international market," he stated flatly. "We have buyers lined up elsewhere who can pay in proper currency. If you can’t offer gold or valuable goods, this deal won’t happen."

The CCP negotiators exchanged nervous glances. They had hoped to settle the deal like they had done in the past—by offering goods that were plentiful in China but held little value in Western markets. they were running out of options.

Reluctantly, they opened a few wooden chests, revealing gold bars, jewelry, and gemstones. Their prized teas and medicinal herbs were quickly dismissed as useless. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Gold and jewelry," Huo Qingtong confirmed as he inspected the contents carefully. Several boxes of gold bars gleamed under the dim lights, each stamped with banks marks to verify their purity. "This will suffice."

Satisfied, the freighter stayed just one day at port before setting sail back to Hong Kong, heading straight to Hardy’s company’s container dock. The cargo was unloaded, stored, and Huo Qingtong made sure the gold and jewels were secured.