Chapter 3515

The opposition's core leadership was angry, but they could tell Hamid was just showing off his combat strength.

However, Hamid had just proven his army's combat strength through action, and it was indeed far superior to theirs.

Now Hamid was asking them to pay up—extortion was only part of it; more importantly, he wanted to humiliate them.

This was just like the 19th-century great powers: invade a country, promise something, then demand war reparations afterward.

The opposition's core leadership had risen through rebellion; back in the day, with their rough origins and lack of political cunning, they would never have swallowed this insult, even if it meant fighting to the death.

But now things were different—Hamid held the fate of the nation in his hands, and if they kept fighting to the death over every little thing, this江山 would likely be lost within two years.

So the leader grabbed the phone and said: "Hamid, let's stop playing riddles—just tell us how much money you want!"

Hamid thought for a moment; since they said that, it meant they accepted this humiliating compensation, which was another win for him.

But he also needed to set a limit on how much to demand—if he asked too much, he might reignite their anger; if they could agree on a suitable amount...

After a moment's consideration, Hamid made his demand: "You wounded three of my brothers—pay me three million US dollars in cash, and we'll call it even."

Three million dollars for three brothers—and in US dollars, no less—this demand made the opposition leader furious.

But then he heard that three million would settle the matter, and suddenly it sounded like a bargain.

Three million US dollars was nothing to him; although many people in Damascus were still starving, they controlled the economic lifelines, so three million was just a drop in the bucket.

He asked Hamid: "If I give you three million, will this truly be settled once and for all? Will you never attack our oil fields, our outposts, or our troops again?"

Hamid laughed: "Of course—I'm different from you. First, I value contracts deeply; second, I don't have such great ambitions. I don't want your territory—I just want to manage my own land well and keep it safe. So as long as you honor your promises, we'll live peacefully, each minding our own water."

"Good!" the opposition leader declared firmly: "Three million it is—I'll have the cash prepared and sent over right away!"

A few hours later, an old American-made Humvee rolled up, kicking up several meters of dust, all the way to Hamid's base.

The vehicle stopped at the mountain pass entrance to Hamid's base, and two soldiers jumped out from the back, each carrying a large military-green canvas bag full of the cash to be handed over.

Hamid didn't show himself—he sent a few of his men to the pass for the handover. After receiving the money, they thoroughly inspected the bags for bombs or listening devices, and only then brought the cash back to base.

Inside the base, Hamid was holding an awards ceremony following Ye Chen's suggestion.

This time, he wanted to honor the elite performers who stood out in the oil field attack, especially the three soldiers who were heroically wounded.

Before, Hamid's army had mostly been a loose band of fighters—disorganized, lax, with unclear internal hierarchy and no defined promotion path for soldiers or officers.

Appointments and removals of leadership positions were made solely by Hamid based on personal preference, lacking sufficient credibility.

This time, he decided to follow Ye Chen's advice and push for a merit-based military system: henceforth, whoever earns merit gets rewarded; whoever gets rewarded gets promoted; whoever gets promoted gets wealthy.

In Ye Chen's view, managing an army cannot rely solely on material incentives—the more you reward officers and soldiers with money, the more they will inwardly turn into mercenaries.

Mercenaries fight for personal gain above all and can never possess any spirit of sacrifice or dedication.

To instill a spirit of dedication in one's soldiers, one must first give them sufficient honor.

So Hamid emulated the structure of major powers' armies, preparing to implement a merit system from now on: every officer promoted in the future must have clear military achievements to back their rank—this will not only win hearts and minds but also boost enthusiasm for earning merit.

The soldiers and officers receiving awards will not only get cash in US dollars, but also Hamid's conferred "Victory Medal," which he modeled after the Iranian military and calls the highest honor medal.

The three wounded soldiers received the slightly lower "Courage Medal," each also getting fifty thousand US dollars in rewards, while their ranks were promoted on the spot and their monthly pay increased by one level.

This move made the troops realize: as long as they perform well, even if they don't play a decisive role in battle, merely showing commendable courage can earn recognition and approval from superiors.

Once recognized, it's not just empty praise—they'll get real, tangible benefits, which will make his soldiers start craving the next battle.

Even ordinary soldiers hope to be at the front next time, and even if wounded, they believe they can still earn the commander's recognition and reward.

Morale was thus raised to its highest point.

Next, Hamid selected an officer who had earned merit in this operation and announced on the spot the formation of a new unit: the Oil Field Defense Force.

The Oil Field Defense Force consists of three hundred soldiers, divided into five reinforced platoons, each at full strength of fifty, plus a transport platoon of the same size.

The five reinforced platoons are responsible for guarding the entire oil field and will immediately garrison the newly secured oil field; the transport platoon handles the armed escort of the oil field's output.

Based on a daily output of around five thousand barrels, the daily crude production is at least seven hundred tons. Using heavy oil tankers, at least thirty to forty trucks would need to be filled daily, requiring a medium-sized fleet that runs nonstop—personnel rest, but vehicles never stop.

Hamid established the transport platoon specifically to escort these oil shipments, ensuring a steady flow of crude to the Wanlong Palace garrison.

However, the current problem is that Wanlong Palace cannot yet set up its own refinery—if built to a design of one million tons per year, it would require at least hundreds of millions in investment and no less than two years.

Until then, the oil field produces daily, and figuring out how to sell it has become a thorny issue.

Hamid is merely a small warlord without global trade capacity; if he wants to sell and monetize this oil, his only options are to dump it at ultra-low prices to local makeshift refineries or smuggle it to Turkish merchants.

Local refineries have low capacity and pay poorly, offering little profit—but if smuggled to Turkey, although the price is slightly higher than selling to small workshops, one must bear the risks and costs of smuggling. In Syria, it's easy: the opposition's operations are chaotic, and border checks and customs are practically nonexistent. But Turkey is a medium-to-large country, and its border controls and customs would never easily allow Syrian black oil to enter.

Fortunately, Ye Chen has his own Yisu Shipping, so he can offer Hamid a third option: transport the crude oil to the Wanlong Palace garrison.

The Wanlong Palace garrison is by the sea, with its own simple dock, which is constantly being upgraded and improved—fully capable of loading onto Yisu Shipping's oil tankers here, then shipping the oil back to Huaxia. Once the refinery is operational, heavy oil can be shipped directly from here to nearby shipping lanes, where it can refuel Yisu Shipping's cargo vessels.

Given the scale of Yisu Shipping's fleet, this amount of output is far too little to meet the fleet's annual heavy oil consumption—so by then, all the crude oil could be fully self-produced and self-consumed.