Seeing the villagers grow more and more excited, Su Jie threw out his final bombshell, announcing the benefits of joining the Security Department.
"Those who want to sign up for the Security Department, come over here on the right to sign your names. After screening, you can become a member of Jieko Security.
"At the same time, I solemnly announce that anyone who joins the Security Department will receive medical coverage from Jieko Company if their family members fall ill. Their children can attend school for free, and they will also receive a monthly salary of 4,000 Hua Yuan.
"If you are injured in a battle assigned by the Security Department, the company will subsidize your wages. If you die, then besides a generous compensation payment, Jieko Company will also support your family. We will care for the elderly until the end of their lives and raise their children to adulthood.
"The Security Department has only one goal: to protect the safety of Jieko Company's employees and property, and strike at every organization and force that wants to persecute Jieko Company—including the Mande United Army I mentioned. Are you willing to join?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the villagers, who had originally only been fired up in the heat of the moment, became even more excited.
Such a generous salary and benefits package was almost ten times what they had earned in the past.
With the other advantages and benefits added in, even the villagers who had originally wanted to back out were now scrambling to sign up.
Even serving as soldiers and risking their lives for the Zen State government would offer far worse conditions than this.
What was there to fear about risking their lives?
They were already living wretched lives anyway. As long as there was money, who would still be afraid?
For a while, the registration point was practically bursting at the seams with villagers.
Those lining up were not just young men. Even middle-aged men and women in their forties and fifties came running over.
When it came to fighting, the people of the Zen State had always been fierce and martial. After all, it was a multiethnic country, and the wars brought about by conflicts between the various ethnic groups over the years had long seeped into their very bones. As a result, they felt no psychological burden or fear whatsoever.
"Don't be nervous. We're the ones in control of Mande City now. They're the ones who should be afraid."
Su Jie walked down from the platform. Sensing the fear and unease in Liu Yingying's heart, he naturally offered her a word of comfort.
"Are we going too far with this?"
Liu Yingying did not doubt whether Su Jie could accomplish it. It was just that Jieko Company, which she had once thought was an ordinary business, had now suddenly turned around and was preparing to do something as momentous as overthrowing the local warlord's rule. She simply could not adjust to the change all at once.
"They're already trying to plunder our property. Are we not allowed to fight back?"
Su Jie patted Liu Yingying on the shoulder and chuckled. "Look at these villagers, burning with enthusiasm to join our Jieko Security. That alone proves that we're walking the right path."
Liu Yingying hesitated for a long while before finally nodding.
Even if she wanted to object now, it was already impossible. Su Jie's will was not something she could sway.
"Su Jie, you're right."
Biting her lip, Liu Yingying made up her mind.
"You'll see me succeed. From now on, this place will become Jieko Company's territory, where we can take whatever we want."
Su Jie stroked Liu Yingying's delicate, pretty face, making no attempt to conceal his ambition for the Mande City region.
Looking at the confidence and boundless ambition in Su Jie's eyes, Liu Yingying's heart inexplicably began to pound faster and faster. Somehow, the man before her seemed even more charming now.
After Jieko Company announced the establishment of the Security Department, it swept through more than a hundred villages and towns around Mande City in just three days.
The Jieko employees who had previously gone into the countryside to purchase Poisonous Insects transformed into recruiting officers. Carrying megaphones, they went from street to street conducting publicity campaigns.
After hearing the news, applicants came in an endless stream, and every recruitment station in the townships was packed with villagers.
After three days of screening, eight thousand able-bodied young men formally became employees of the Security Department. That was even after the strict selection process.
If the gates had been opened wide, the number would have multiplied several times over.
Jieko Company's sweeping move had been far too fast. Before the Mande United Army could react, Jieko Security had already been established.
And the newly established Jieko Security, after a brief period of training, received orders to wipe out the Mande United Army—the poisonous tumor that had entrenched itself in Mande City for years.
For a time, along the muddy roads leading from the villages to Mande City, rickety tractors, minibuses, and three-wheeled vehicles were packed with people.
The members of Jieko Security, dressed in blue uniforms, carried spears, shouldered homemade guns, and clutched detonators. Sitting in the tractor beds, they formed one long dragon after another, setting out for Mande City from all directions.
In front of a police station in Mande City.
Several police officers stared dumbfounded at the endless, mighty procession of tractors rumbling toward them.
Black smoke rose and coiled from the tractors, almost covering half the sky. From a distance, it looked like an iron torrent composed of tanks and armored vehicles.
"What's going on? What are they trying to do? Are they rebelling?"
One police officer was filled with confusion and bafflement, but before he could figure it out, the dense sound of gunfire came roaring over.
Bang bang bang!
The homemade guns had terrible range and accuracy. The Security Department members in the tractor beds merely aimed in the general direction, and even they had no idea where the bullets flew.
Unfortunately, these police officers were no elite force either. On the contrary, they spent their days indulging in eating, drinking, whoring, and gambling, drawing salaries while doing nothing. When it came to a real fight to the death, they did not have the courage to draw their guns at all.
"Don't shoot, don't shoot! Don't kill us! We surrender, we surrender!"
A group of police officers lay trembling on the ground. Even after the barrier gate was smashed apart and a large number of Jieko Security members disarmed them, they offered no resistance from beginning to end.
"This is for bullying people all those years!"
A group of Jieko Security members grabbed the police officers. Some of them had even been bullied and extorted by the police before, so naturally, they could not avoid giving them a thorough beating now. The officers wailed like ghosts and howled like wolves.
After this brief interlude, the mighty army of the Security Department entered Mande City in grand fashion.
The city's residents were just as bewildered. Then they saw the Security Department members, guided by some Jieko Company employees, divide up their duties clearly and charge toward the casinos, brothels, opium factories, scam compounds, and mansions where powerful figures lived.
All of these were Lu Wenbo's industries, as well as those of the officials and powerful figures who had colluded with him.
Lu Wenbo had lorded it over Mande City for years and had long since become a local emperor.
Countless people in Mande City had colluded with him. These industries had also been developed and expanded by him, becoming the Mande United Army's money trees.
Lu Wenbo had not stationed many guards at these industries, and their weapons were outdated, with few firearms.
In his eyes, he, Lu Wenbo, was the supreme emperor of Mande City. Who would be bold enough to provoke him?
Thus, when the Security Department members arrived and these scam-compound and casino thugs faced thousands of ferocious Security Department soldiers charging toward them, they were dumbfounded.
Even though the Jieko Security members carried only homemade guns and hunting rifles, and even though Jieko Security was likewise a ragtag mob, when two inept forces clashed, they still easily beat the other side into complete disarray. In fact, most of them simply raised their hands and surrendered.
In just a few hours, Mande City had been completely seized by the Security Department.
Besides Lu Wenbo's industries, they also took control of critical locations such as the local power station, government building, television station, airport, and grain depot.
The various groups captured and imprisoned numbered as many as seven or eight hundred, most of them Lu Wenbo's lackeys and the officials who had colluded with him.
Only at this point did Lu Wenbo, far away at the military camp, receive the news—and he flew into a thunderous rage.
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