(The first shift that just woke up after staying up late at work last night)

1991, Berlin Arms Exhibition. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

A model of a violent aesthetic masterpiece with a nest of 24 rockets, a Hind gunship, and an American UH1 helicopter with four 7.62mm M134 machine guns, two products of an arms race are being pointed at each other with cold muzzles. The T72 tank, assembled with composite armor, stands out against the Merkava main battle tank and the M60 tank, as if it is ready to crush everything in front of them. There is also a rugged MiG-21 fighter docked on one side, and the foreign trade version of the R33 air-to-air missile is suspended, which attracts onlookers and admiration from arms trade representatives of other countries.

There are no so-called UN arms restrictions here, no protests by peaceful organizations, and all buying and selling is freely licensed. Because the leaders behind the exhibition are the five permanent members of the United Nations who collectively control the global arms trade, and those who often claim to be righteous are the ones behind the genocide and regional disputes.

And these international arms exhibitions are the dream paradise and private clubs of arms dealers, the Cold War is not over, the deal is often a cooperation between governments, and all the arms sales representatives and chairmen, those who represent a country's arms trafficking minions, are almost always in the chairmanship for life.

They often only need to keep in mind the iron rule when dealing arms, and that is not to sell weapons to the enemies of the country you represent.

If anyone notices it, there is a man with messy hair in the arms exhibition hall, who looks neither like an arms dealer nor a purchasing representative, but like a wandering idler, looking around with a keen interest in these killing machines.

Of course, people who know his other identity may not think so, Victor Bout. A rising star in the world of arms dealers, from an obscure Russian suddenly turned into an international arms dealer, showing a strong talent for arms sales, with the status of a sales representative of a newly established arms foreign trade company in the Soviet Union, In almost a month, a deal worth up to $980 million was reached, a record high, and what is even more terrifying is that Victor Bout's business partners are almost always refused, as long as the other party can afford to pay, even if it is a Colombian drug lord or Islamic religious extremist forces, he is still willing to sit at the same table with the other party and talk about business happily, and finally shake hands and reach a consensus.

Victor's credo is that as long as the other side is not an enemy of the Soviets, who cares whose blood their hands are stained red?

And this aggressive "disruptor of the balance of interests" is particularly low-key, no one knows who his true identity is, and some of his peers have given him the nickname "Death Merchant".

Viktor Bout appeared at the Berlin Arms Show at this time, not to look for a target to hunt, but to follow the Soviet delegation to broaden his horizons. Yanayev did not let Viktor interfere in these open arms deals at all, and Chemezov personally mediated with the government delegation. Yanayev once told Viktor that his trading talent should be used in the black and gray income zone, and not wasted on the false courtesies of those who already knew the results.

Suddenly, a shiny man with his hair combed stopped in front of Victor, holding up a brochure in his hand, and enthusiastically introduced his company's products to Victor.

"Sir, sir, I am a representative of the International Missile Defense Corporation, are you interested in seeing our SAM-7 surface-to-air missile, an outdated model copied by China, which may no longer be able to be used on modern military fighters, but it is still more than enough to deal with commercial airliners."

Seeing that Victor didn't seem to be interested in the imitation Sam-7 missile, he changed his tone and said, "The price is only $850, that's right, the missile is only sold for $850, which is equivalent to giving it to you for nothing." ”

Victor tried his best to get rid of this guy's entanglement, and said impatiently, "I'm sorry, I'm not interested in buying obsolete products, please get out of the way." Then he pointed to the Indian delegation not far to the left, and said, "Maybe you should try to recommend it to the Indian delegation with white hoods, maybe they will be happy to accept this outdated weapon." So for God's sake, don't bother me, what I sold to the Indian Army is the SA19 Gustinka anti-aircraft missile, which is not comparable to an anti-aircraft weapon like yours, which is more than ten or twenty years behind. ”

"This guy is simply inexplicable." The quick-mouthed and dry-mouthed sales rep who spoke to Victor gave Victor a white glance at his back. Ignore the nervous guy anymore.

Victor carefully paid attention to it, and the delegation of the entire arms exhibition was divided into two parts, one was the circle dominated by arms dealers from various American companies, and the other was the Soviet-made weapons delegation headed by Chemezov, just like the theme of this exhibition, with NATO's war machine on the left and violent products of the socialist camp on the right.

Of course, there will always be some wobbly wallgrass, and what Victor does is try to get them and make a deal. For example, the representative of the Republic of Mozambique, who is still looking around. Victor mentally studied the pronunciation of Portuguese, and then greeted him.

"Hey, my friend, how are you?" Victor's enthusiastic attitude made the other party a little inexplicable, he stretched out his hand and shook Victor's hand politely, and asked with some confusion, "May I know you?" ”

"Has our great socialist allies forgotten about our big Soviet brother?" Victor said with a smile, the scale of politeness and demeanor was just right, and it didn't seem to be pretentious at all.

"Oh? Are you from the Soviet delegation? The representative of Mozambique was a little flattered, he did not expect that the Russians would come forward to greet him. You must know that the United States has always refused to do business with the Republic of Mozambique, which has always disliked the fact that the amount of purchases is too small and the profits on the weapons purchased are too low.

"Yes, my friend. My name is Viktor and I am the sales manager of the Soviet Foreign Trade Company in Arms, and this is my business card. Ignoring Yanayev's advice, Viktor decided to play with his eloquence.

The other party took Victor's business card and replied, "I am the New Zealand delegation from the Mozambican delegation, and it is like this, we plan to purchase a batch of firearms and anti-tank missiles, but many companies are not willing to accept my business because our offer is too low." ”

"Kalashnikov rifle or RPG rocket launcher?" Victor asked, and his previous experience in Africa had also made him understand what was going on in those countries where guns were rampant, and how much money they could afford in countries where a chicken could be exchanged for a gun.

"All of them." Newsecal said cheerfully, but then his eyes darkened, "But we can't afford to pay $250 a rifle, and you don't want to accept other trades. ”

Speaking of this, Victor suddenly realized that the Newsecal delegation was not without money, but because other formal companies were unwilling to accept the trade of Africa's underground currency, "blood diamonds". But on Victor's side, everything is much simpler. Even if the Colombian drug lord pays for drugs, he can exchange them for dollars in the American market. Of course, the last guy who paid for drugs and goods was directly chopped into several pieces by the retired Signal Banner member who protected Victor and sent back.

Victor's unreasonableness is to let everyone know that in front of the Soviet Union you can only do things according to my rules. Otherwise, we dare to turn your base into ruins with thermobaric bombs.

"On someone else's side, maybe not, but in my case, diamonds are just as much a currency that can be circulated." Victor blinked and asked, "How many AKM rifles do you need, and how many RPG rocket launchers do you need?" ”

Seeing that the other party was so neat, Nussikar no longer hid it, "1,500 AKM rifles and 300 RPG rocket launchers, we need 200,000 rounds of bullets, diamond deals, how about it?" ”

"Absolutely." Victor readily agreed to Newcical's request, but finally added, "Since your president, Zamora Moises Machel, died in a crash in 1986, you have been unable to control the pressure of the Mozambican Republican Front, have you?" No matter how much military and economic aid is given from the outside world, you are still in a tug-of-war with the opposition. ”

"That being said, don't you feel that Mr. Victor's words are a bit interfering with the political system of our country? If Mr. Victor is not willing to do business with us, he can ignore me, but there is no need to humiliate people like this. Newcicar frowned dissatisfiedly, a little annoyed by Victor's humiliation.

"No, no, no, you're mistaken, Newsickl." Victor smiled and patted him on the shoulder, "If there is a paramilitary organization that specializes in intervening in regional disputes and paying profits to settle the goals set by customers, would you like to try it?" Of course, if you don't want to, I won't say it, but if you nod yes, I can introduce you to the person in charge. ”

"There is such a company?" Newsica was somewhat stunned, he had learned that South Africa's Strategic Resources Company, which used other countries' energy as collateral, could help customers to neutralize all enemies, and although it was effective, it had limited results due to UN restrictions.

As if seeing through the other party's thoughts, Victor approached him and said softly, "As for the United Nations, you don't have to worry at all, the company that uses war as a profit point is the backer of the company, but it is the supreme leader who occupies a legitimate position in the permanent members of the United Nations." ”

Newcical swallowed a mouthful of water, looked at Victor with an expression of disbelief, and took a deep breath before saying, "You mean this is a political intervention?" ”

"Political involvement? Oh no, my friend, you're thinking too complicated. Victor's expression was a little gloomy, and he said word by word, "It's a business, my friend." ”