Ji Yang’s first destination was the Midong Copper Mine project, which had an investment of fifty million Hua currency. However, it was said to be occupied by an armed force, and even Tao Guangming did not dare to send anyone to investigate the situation there.
After reviewing all the information, Ji Yang discovered that the investment had been made by a company in the province in partnership with the local government. But very soon, trouble had arisen, and although the company’s personnel had managed to escape back, the money invested had disappeared without a trace.
The more he looked into this, the more Ji Yang felt that the domestic company must have been duped. It seemed as though local government officials had used the pretext of anti-government armed groups to pocket the money, effectively seizing the invested mining area.
Those people probably also understood that no one from companies in Hua Country dared to continue operations there. Even if someone did venture there, they could easily take care of the dispatched personnel, with the goal of ensuring the company from Hua Country wouldn’t receive a single mineral resource.
Soon after, the provincial company’s representative in Myanmar was called over.
This person, named Yidaping, sighed with a wry smile upon seeing Ji Yang, "Leader Ji, you must have heard about our project. Initially, the cooperation between both sides was quite good, and money was invested. But then suddenly trouble arose. The Myanmar government said the area had been taken over by some armed force. When we tried to make contact with the armed force, they completely ignored us. Now we’re utterly helpless, with nobody to turn to. If only we knew it was going to be , we never would have invested here."
Ji Yang looked at him; he had already read up on this in the files. Initially, the conditions set by the other party were quite attractive, and the company, thinking they were getting a bargain, rushed in. What they didn’t know was that they were walking into a trap.
"How many people are in that armed force, do you know?" Ji Yang asked.
Shaking his head, Yidaping replied, "We’re not sure. We only know that the copper mine would be able to recoup the investment very quickly."
"What does your company intend to do now?"
"What can we even think of doing? If we could just withdraw the invested capital, that would be great, but unfortunately, it doesn’t seem very likely."
Ji Yang nodded, "I plan to ask the people of Myanmar to help reclaim the area. At that time, you’ll need workers, right? How about subcontracting some of the specific duties to them?"
"As long as operations can run normally, any arrangement would be acceptable."
After concluding the discussion with Yidaping, Ji Yang began to prepare.
Now it was up to Le Qin and his people to investigate.
Two days later, Le Qin found Ji Yang.
"The people I sent have returned. The situation is indeed as you suspected; there aren’t many anti-government militants there. To say there are anti-government armed groups is less accurate than saying that some local officials have organized a group and received support from the local military forces, to seize foreign investments for themselves. Especially profitable projects like the copper mine—they wait for foreign companies to finish building everything up, then they take over. With some high officials covering for them, foreign powers have no way to intervene."
"What’s the situation with the military forces?"
"Nothing special, they were just given some benefits. Actually, the military force there is not very strong."
Ji Yang began to ruminate. So many issues had arisen, all with some official backing. If he were to act, he wasn’t sure what kind of situations could unfold.
Still, Ji Yang understood that he could not simply sit idly by; he had to stir up some noise. Otherwise, when the new Chinese management staff arrived, he would still be charged with inaction, further hampering his career development.
Therefore, Ji Yang now clearly realized that not only did he need to take action, but it also had to be grand.
"How many men can you bring to the forefront now?"
"We have five hundred!"