30: Chapter 30 Finding New Clients

After Mannila finished the negotiations in Beirut, he did not travel to Syria with Lieutenant Colonel Haidari.

Having received his 20 million USD commission, he was still in a state of excitement and planned to enjoy himself in Lebanon for a while.

As a region with a very long history, Lebanon possesses many World Heritage sites and is a famous tourist destination; its many cultural and historical monuments are well worth a visit.

Furthermore, Lebanon has unique natural scenery ranging from snow-capped mountains to the sea, with a pleasant climate, making it an excellent choice for a vacation.

The only regret was that due to Israel's invasion, a large amount of infrastructure had been destroyed, and combined with numerous internal issues, the country was frequently in a state of war.

What was originally a very wealthy small nation was now on the brink of bankruptcy.

Military conflicts between Lebanon and Israel still occur from time to time, leaving the national economy with no hope.

While Mannila was traveling in Lebanon, he often saw the silhouettes of military vehicles on patrol.

This suddenly reminded Mannila that he could also promote the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missiles to Lebanon.

After all, Lebanon also needed to defend against Israel's air raids.

Incursions by Israeli fighter jets into Lebanese airspace occurred frequently.

As Mannila thought of this, his interest in making money outweighed his interest in sightseeing, and he immediately prepared the information on the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missiles.

After some networking, Mannila finally met with Major General Moss, a high-ranking official of the Lebanese military, at a military station in Beirut.

As soon as they met, Mannila said, "Major General Moss, have you heard recently that the USA's Global Hawk crashed?"

Major General Moss felt that Mannila was talking nonsense; why meet with him to talk about the USA? He replied perfunctorily, "I've heard of it."

“I'll tell you some news: it was shot down by a new type of anti-aircraft missile I am promoting.”

“Really?” Major General Moss became interested.

“Yes, the negotiations for that arms deal took place right here in Beirut. After the negotiations were completed, the arms dealer launched an anti-aircraft missile to verify the combat performance of the new missile,” Mannila said with conviction.

“Which country provided the anti-aircraft missile?”

“It wasn't a country, but an emerging arms dealer. According to my analysis, they might have a background from China, but that doesn't count for much—it's just a guess.”

Major General Moss was skeptical but secretly speculated, "If it really is China, they might actually be able to shoot down a Global Hawk."

“Is the arms dealer still offering this new type of anti-aircraft missile?” Major General Moss inquired.

“I don't know yet. Are you interested in purchasing this new anti-aircraft missile?” Mannila didn't say explicitly; he hadn't contacted Li Yi yet and didn't know if he would continue to sell the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missiles.

“If it truly has such good combat performance, we could consider purchasing a batch. Do you have the data on the new anti-aircraft missiles now?”

Mannila took out the information on the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missiles, handed it to Major General Moss, and gave a brief introduction.

“There are four models of anti-aircraft missiles here. The Tianlei Type I Anti-Aircraft Missile is a man-portable missile, even more powerful than the Stinger. The Tianlei Type II and Tianlei Type III are both superior to their counterparts. The one that shot down the Global Hawk was the Tianlei Type IV Anti-Aircraft Missile.”

Major General Moss flipped through the materials as he listened. As a high-ranking military official, he naturally understood the types and uses of anti-aircraft missiles. He silently compared the missiles he knew with the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missiles and indeed found that the specifications in the materials were more excellent than any he had previously encountered.

“Is this data all real?” Major General Moss looked up and asked.

“It's definitely real. After all, it's the missile that shot down the Global Hawk; why would they fake the data?” Mannila dispelled Major General Moss's doubts.

“What are the price quotes for these Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missiles?”

Mannila quickly handed Major General Moss the pricing materials Li Yi had given him during the last negotiation.

Major General Moss looked at the quotes for the Tianlei Type I through Type IV missiles; the more you bought, the cheaper they became. Although the price per missile was lower compared to similar types, they were still considered quite high.

To be honest, the Lebanese army was not equipped with many anti-aircraft missiles. When Israeli jets came, they could only watch helplessly, not daring to move.

It wasn't that Major General Moss hadn't applied to the Lebanese Ministry of Defense to purchase anti-aircraft missiles, but no country dared to sell them to Lebanon, and the exorbitantly high prices also made Lebanon back down.

Now seeing the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missiles, Major General Moss was somewhat tempted. He just didn't know if he could secure the military budget.

While Major General Moss was pondering, Mannila was in no hurry. He knew Lebanon; the economy wasn't doing well, and the quantity they could purchase wouldn't be large, but he figured he might as well take a shot—there might be an unexpected harvest.

“Does the arms dealer only accept payment in US dollars?” Major General Moss suddenly asked.

“The arms dealer didn't say explicitly, but gold or US dollars are both fine. Even oil can be used directly for payment.”

Payment in oil? But Lebanon was not an oil-producing country and had almost no oil. Major General Moss thought of Lebanon's iron ore, but considering the small output, he immediately lost heart. They didn't have much gold either; it seemed they could only use US dollars.

But if they paid in US dollars, Lebanon didn't have much in the way of dollar reserves, which led to a dead end.

Major General Moss held onto the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile materials and said, “I'll keep the materials for now. If there's a need to purchase, I'll contact you again.”

Mannila looked at Major General Moss and applied a bit of pressure, saying, “It's better to give an answer as soon as possible. The arms dealer has already started delivering a batch of missiles to a client, and I don't know how much stock is left.”

“I'll be as quick as I can.” Major General Moss ignored the pressure about potential stock shortages. It wasn't that Lebanon didn't covet various advanced weapons and equipment, but their own economic conditions limited the replacement of their arsenal.

“Alright then. Goodbye.”

Mannila had come with hope, but seeing that an agreement could not be reached immediately, he was still a bit frustrated.

Although he knew that arms deals couldn't always be concluded as smoothly as the last one with the Glass House, he still felt a bit down when he encountered this.

After Mannila left, he began to wonder if he should visit all the surrounding countries that were being bullied by Israel.

There were many oil-producing countries around Israel. If they could pay with oil, there should be some very large orders, right?

As Mannila thought about it, he suddenly found his next goal.

One cannot pin all their hopes on a single tree. Since there were no immediate results in Lebanon, he would set out from Beirut and travel around the region.