The residential compound

"Chairman, we'll all work hard." At once, all the employees began applauding.

"Chairman, a million is too much. Zhao Jiang hasn't made any profit for the company yet, and I feel guilty taking it."

"Please lower my salary to five hundred thousand. Once the company makes money, you can reward me then.

"Then I'll feel proud to take it," Zhao Jiang said.

"No more discussion. It's settled. The general manager gets a million a year, deputy general managers get five hundred thousand, department heads get three hundred thousand, team leaders get two hundred thousand..."

Next, Tang Wen instructed Zhao Jiang to sell the gold to the major gold shops in Yunhai City under the company's name.

He had taken four hundred thousand taels of silver back on his previous crossing. Buying a noble title through a donation had cost him a hundred and seventy thousand, and miscellaneous expenses had used up some more.

He had exchanged the remaining two hundred thousand taels for twenty thousand taels of gold. Together with the thousand-odd taels he had earned from mirrors and lipstick, he had twenty-one thousand three hundred taels of gold in total.

Since the international silver price had risen again, the gold-to-silver exchange ratio in Yunhai City had dropped to 1:45.

Tang Wen exchanged more than ten thousand taels of gold directly for five hundred thousand taels of silver, then sold the remaining gold for a hundred and thirty million yuan.

However, thirty million went to taxes, leaving him with a hundred million.

He injected thirty million into the company, leaving over seventy million to buy cement and reinforcing steel. He also bought several large freezers and refrigerators.

This time, Tang Wen planned to take back a batch of fresh pork, lamb, beef, seafood, and other food, then keep it frozen in the freezers.

Otherwise, eating cured and dried meat all day was getting tiresome.

Tang Wen called Song Qingyang again and ordered another batch of crossbows, shields, swords, sabers, and bulletproof vests.

He intended to equip another company of the Personal Guard Army.

He also ordered another batch of prefabricated houses. This time, he planned to replace all the tents with them.

After all that running around, he had spent over a hundred million, down to the last penny.

"Zhao Jiang, have you used up the pills I gave you last time?" Once everything was ready, Tang Wen called Zhao Jiang over.

"Almost," Zhao Jiang said with a nod.

"Has your martial arts improved?" Tang Wen asked.

"A great deal. I've now reached ninth grade perfection. Even if I ran into Jet Li, I could exchange a few moves with him," Zhao Jiang said cheerfully.

"Good. Keep working hard and try to reach the eighth grade soon." Tang Wen nodded, taught him the Origin-Harvesting Return-to-Truth Art, and gave him another batch of pills.

"Chairman... Chairman Tang, you've been so good to me. You give me a high salary and pills. You treat me as well as my own parents would." Zhao Jiang grew emotional, his eyes wet. He dropped to his knees and pressed his head against Tang Wen's thigh.

"A man doesn't shed tears lightly. Get up, get up." Tang Wen supported him and said, "Zhao Jiang, I heard Luo Jun mention that your injury wasn't the only reason you left the military back then. There was another reason, wasn't there?"

"Chairman Tang, you're my big brother, my own big brother. Just let me kneel for a while." Zhao Jiang burst into tears, clutching Tang Wen's leg and sobbing bitterly.

Tang Wen stopped trying to pull him up and gently patted his shoulder. "Go ahead and cry. You must have suffered an injustice. Have a good cry and let it all out."

"Back when I competed in the international special forces competition, I made a bet with an obnoxious foreigner. We'd fight in the ring, and whoever lost would get out."

"And you lost, so injury became the reason given for your discharge," Tang Wen said.

"If you make a bet, you accept the loss! As much as Zhao Jiang loved life in the special forces, I still left."

"But I swore I would beat that bastard at least once.

"It's just that several years have passed since my discharge, and I've never been able to improve my strength.

"This time, you've given me a chance, big brother. I believe that if I train for another two years, I'll beat that piece of dog shit until he's searching the ground for his teeth." Zhao Jiang clenched his fists.

"Good. When the time comes, I'll be there to cheer you on and watch that piece of dog shit search the ground for his teeth," Tang Wen said with a laugh.

"I will! I'll bring glory to our country." Zhao Jiang stood, his fierce eyes blazing.

"I want to get a handgun, a small, compact one that fits in one palm. Preferably one that can take a suppressor.

"I probably won't have much use for it, but I still need it for self-defense.

"You served in the special forces. You must have heard about some black markets overseas," Tang Wen said.

"Of course. There's an underground trading market right in our neighboring country, Afghanistan.

"Back then, the state provided us with funds for our missions, and that was where we bought our guns.

"If you want one, big brother, I secretly kept one back then. I'll give it to you," Zhao Jiang said.

That evening, Zhao Jiang brought it over: an M2000. It was a well-known gun made by an American company, and Tang Wen had used one during special training in his previous life.

"Heh, aren't you afraid?" Tang Wen asked with a smile, holding the handgun.

"No!" Zhao Jiang said.

"Aren't you afraid I'll use this gun to kill someone?" Tang Wen asked.

"If you kill someone, so be it. I believe you're a good man, big brother. If you kill anyone, it'll be a bad person. If anything happens, just say I did it. I'm willing to take the fall for you," Zhao Jiang said.

"You're a true brother! Haha, don't worry. I won't kill anyone. It's only for self-defense." Tang Wen patted his shoulder.

"Big brother, the company has moved to its new location, and we've registered it again under a new name: the Tang Su Mei Group. Hengjiang Trading Company is now just one of the group's subsidiaries," Zhao Jiang said.

"You can decide all that yourself. Don't ask me how to run things. I trust you," Tang Wen said, patting his shoulder.

"I won't let you lose face, big brother," Zhao Jiang said resolutely.

A month later, the custom-made crossbows and all the other supplies had arrived, and Tang Wen crossed back to Su Mei Island.

He discovered that exactly three days had passed in Great Chu. The time ratio was remarkably accurate.

"Ding-dong! Your eighth crossing requires you to accumulate three hundred and fifty points of popularity.

"Then your total will exceed one thousand. Once it does, the system will upgrade to 2.0, and some new functions will appear.

"For example, the cargo carried across will be able to remain in the space for several hours."

People! Damn it, people are what I need!

Tang Wen found it a real headache and rubbed his forehead.

Still, extending the time his crossing cargo could remain in the space by several hours would be a great benefit to him.

As things stood, he had to unload his cargo as soon as he crossed back.

If there were too many goods, he did not even have enough warehouse space.

Being able to leave them there for several more hours would give him some breathing room to work out where everything should go.

So he told Zhan Junru to summon Zhan Dongwen, Ge Ziyun, and the others.

"I brought back another batch of goods from the Western Lands this time. I just moved them into the warehouse with the Mountain-Moving Art. Dongwen, arrange for some people to dismantle all the tents," Tang Wen said.

"Dismantle them? Where will we live if we dismantle them?" Zhan Dongwen asked, startled.

"We'll replace them all with prefabricated houses like the one I live in. But the ground needs to be redone and covered entirely with concrete. Before that, we need to install drainage pipes, running-water pipes, septic tanks, and so on," Tang Wen said.

"Our camp covers quite a large area. We'll need a lot of cement," Ge Ziyun said.

"No problem. There'll be enough," Tang Wen said.

To speed up the work, everyone got busy.

Dismantling and packing away the tents was quick, taking only a few hours.

Next, the excavators dug the underground pipe trenches and channels, finishing in half a day. Installing the water pipes and everything else took several more days.

At night, everyone had to sleep on the grass. The mixers worked at full power mixing concrete, and the ground was poured overnight.

A few days later, the concrete had hardened, and assembly of the prefabricated houses began. Work also started on the frame of Tang Wen's steel-framed, sheet-metal warehouse.

Dozens of thick steel columns had already been erected. Fortunately, the Thousand-Leaf Workshop already had a metalworking shop.

Tang Wen selected twenty or thirty veteran craftsmen and trained them in welding, cutting, and other techniques.

These craftsmen already had some basic skills and learned quickly. Within a few days, they had fully mastered the welding process.

Half a month later, several enormous warehouses were complete, with enough room inside for over a thousand shipping containers.

The two-story metal-alloy prefabricated houses had also been assembled, forming a ring around the camp.

At the center was a twenty-thousand-square-meter plaza, convenient for gatherings.

They also built a fountain pool, dug up flowers, shrubs, and trees to plant there, and transplanted the green turf Tang Wen had purchased in Yunhai City.

A simple residential compound had taken shape.

The two-story metal-alloy houses stood six and a half meters high, and their encircling arrangement also made defense easier.

If a large force of pirates ever broke through the barbed-wire defenses, these sheet-metal houses could hold them off for a while longer.

Once the main gate was closed, it would be a fortress with walls of steel.

Moreover, the alloy sheeting used in this batch of houses Tang Wen had ordered was extra thick, with cast-iron columns between the houses for added reinforcement.

Ancient crossbows and arrows certainly could not penetrate them. Even a dozen or more men carrying a huge log would struggle to batter them open.

As for the firearms used in Great Chu, blasting these sheet-metal houses open would probably be difficult too, unless they used a Black-Clad Cannon.