Xinbao Furniture Co., Ltd. is headquartered in Hongmai Town, west of Xinguobang, and is the largest enterprise in this town.

After Ye Ming and others arrived at Xinbao Company, in order not to arouse the suspicion of the deputy county magistrate and the secretary of the development zone, they first visited the company's processing plant, raw material warehouse and finished product warehouse under the guidance of Shi Xin, and listened to a brief report by Shi Xin on the company's future development prospects.

Subsequently, at the invitation of Shi Xin, Ye Ming and others took several off-road vehicles, set off from Hongmai Town, drove west along a simple highway for four or five roads, and then turned northwest and began to climb the mountain.

Shi Xin introduced to Ye Ming: "Secretary Ye, the mountain we are climbing now, called Boka Mountain, is in a northwest-southeast direction, like an arc-shaped fan, enclosing the entire Golden Triangle region in an arc circle. Singuo Bang is located to the east of the arc circle, Nova Bang is located to the west of the arc, and the dividing line between the two states is Meilan Town. To the south of Meilan Town is the center of the Golden Triangle, which is also controlled by drug lords. ”

Ye Ming's eyes swept outside the car and asked, "Your lumberyard is on this Boca Mountain, right?" ”

"Yes. The eastern foothills of Mount Boka are under the control of Nova and Sinko, with the two states being demarcated by the town of Melan at the foot of the mountain, while on the hill of Boka, the boundary is bounded by the peak of Silver Elephant to the north of the town of Melan: the east of the peak belongs to the state of Sinko, and the west to the west belongs to the state of Nova. My lumberyard is in Singuo State, so I can only log on the mountains east of Yinxiang Peak. ”

While speaking, the off-road convoy had climbed halfway up Mount Boca, and there was no road at this time, so everyone jumped out of the car and continued to climb along a logging road under the guidance of Shi Xin.

Half an hour later, Ye Ming and the others heard the sound of "rumbling" chainsaws on the hillside in front of them, as well as the shouts of lumberjacks and the "click" of trees falling to the ground, and knew that the lumberyard had arrived.

After a few more minutes of walking, an open flat field appeared in front of me, and many tree stumps remained around the flat land, but the stumps in the center had been cleared and a dozen tents had been erected. These tents are relatively large, and each tent is estimated to accommodate more than a dozen people.

To the surprise of Ye Ming and the others, around this flat land, there were armed men patrolling in twos and threes. The armed men were armed with rifles or*, wore steel helmets, wore camouflage uniforms, and each had a * around their waists, exactly like the equipment of the regular army.

Shi Xin saw that Ye Ming and the others were staring at those armed personnel, and hurriedly explained: "Secretary Ye, this is the security guard I hired privately. They have two missions: to protect the precious timber, and to prevent drug lords or other criminals from the Golden Triangle from visiting the lumber yards to kidnap workers for ransom. ”

The deputy county magistrate who was following Ye Ming asked strangely: "Mr. Shi, do kidnapping and ransom cases often occur here?" Anyone else came into the mountains to kidnap your workers? ”

Shi Xin nodded and said: "People are afraid of being famous, pigs are afraid of being strong, my company and lumber yard are more famous in this vicinity, and Meilan Town is a three-regardless area where dirt and dirt are mixed with fish and dragons, there are various gang forces in the town, there are also many gamblers who have lost their eyes, and there are countless drug addicts and drug traffickers. My lumber yard is not far from Meilan Town, and in the deserted mountains and old forests, the local armed forces in Xinguo State cannot provide us with protection, so I have to pay for my own money to hire a team of more than 90 people, divided into three shifts every day, fully armed to patrol the vicinity of the lumberyard. Without this security team, it is estimated that lumberjacks and managers will be kidnapped every once in a while, and the ransom paid for this will be much higher than the cost of hiring security guards, so it is still very cost-effective for me to maintain this team. ”

Ye Ming nodded thoughtfully, turned his head and stared at the Silver Elephant Peak in the southwest of the lumber yard with a deep gaze, and asked Shi Xin: "Mr. Shi, how far is Gong Pengju's Honghua Mining Company from here?" ”

Shi Xin hurriedly took him to climb a tall stone in the north, pointed to the southwest with his hand and said, "Secretary Ye, look, one kilometer west from us, is Yinxiang Peak. The Silver Elephant Peak slopes from northeast to southwest, and its ridge is the dividing line between Nova and Singo. Crossing the Silver Elephant Peak to the northwest, is the territory of Novabang; To the southwest, there is a large valley called the 'Valley of the Dragon'. Within a radius of a hundred miles near Youlong Valley, it is the territory of the great drug lord Sun Zhicheng. Gong Pengju's headquarters of Honghua Mining Company is between 'Youlong Valley' and Meilan Town. In fact, his lead-zinc mine is located under the southwest slope of Silver Elephant Peak, and he can reach his mine directly by climbing over the opposite peak. ”

Ye Ming's eyes lit up when he heard his last words, and he hurriedly asked: "Mr. Shi, if you start from here, can you reach Gong Pengju's lead-zinc mine as long as you climb over Yinxiang Peak?" ”

Shi Xin shook his head with a smile and said: "Secretary Ye, this is the case in theory, but in practice it doesn't work, because there is no road on the Silver Elephant Peak at all, only the mountain people who collect medicine can climb the Silver Elephant Peak with the help of tools, and ordinary people can't climb it up with them at all." ”

Ye Ming let out an "oh" with a little disappointment, and asked again: "If you go from Meilan Town to Gong Pengju, how many kilometers are there?" ”

"If you start from Meilan Town, you need to go around half a circle along the southern foot of Yinxiang Peak to reach Gong Pengju's mine, which is about 20 kilometers away."

Ye Ming raised his eyes again to look at the Silver Elephant Peak in the west, sketched a map between the lumber yard, Meilan Town, and Gong Pengju Mine Department in his mind, and then pointed to the opposite mountain peak with his hand and asked, "According to you, if you can cross the Silver Elephant Peak, the straight-line distance from here to Gong Pengju Mine Department is only two or three kilometers, right?" ”

Shi Xin was very surprised when he saw him persistently asking about the route and distance from Yinxiang Peak to Gong Pengju's mine, so he asked in a joking tone: "Secretary Ye, are you a hobby of hiking adventure?" Do you want to hike over the Silver Elephant Peak from here to inspect Gong Pengju's Honghua Company? ”

Ye Ming smiled and said, "Mr. Shi, I don't have this Yaxing, I just ask casually." ”

After visiting the lumber yard for about two hours, the group drove back to Hongmai Town, and after dinner, Shi Xin arranged for Ye Ming and others to live in his company's guest house.

Ye Ming lived in a single room alone, and as soon as he entered the room, his mobile phone rang, and when he looked at the caller ID, it was a local number.

After the phone was connected, a middle-aged man's voice came from the microphone: "Are you Ye Ming?" ”

"I'm Ye Ming, who are you?"

The other party was silent for a moment and replied, "I'm Gong Pengju, have you come to Shi Xin's company now?" ”

It turned out that before setting off from Beishan County, the kidnapper who had been in contact with Ye Ming had a video call with him on another WeChat account, first making Ye Ming sure that Xiao Benben was still alive, and then telling him: When the delegation arrives at Shi Xin's company, Gong Pengju will get the information and will take the initiative to contact him, and then just listen to Gong Pengju's arrangement.