Homo Sapiens

Inside the restaurant.

The workers eating their meal were chattering amongst themselves.

"Damu, are you planning to go back to Meng Dong, that small town in the Golden Triangle?"

"What for?"

"But the project will end eventually."

"I’m planning to use some of my money to sign up for a welding course. Then I’ll stay here in Dongzhi."

"Oh, I see!"

"I’m so jealous. My wife and kids are back in my hometown."

"Heh, you just can’t bear to part with that half-acre of paddy field, can you?"

"Aren’t the gangs setting up some kind of cooperative? Just sign your paddy field over to them. It’s not like farming makes you much money all year round anyway."

Fang Xinwu knew a little about this.

The gangs in the Golden Triangle that had suddenly changed their business operations had indeed established agricultural cooperatives in the area. They even created a Golden Triangle Agricultural Cooperative Association.

In reality, these local administrative bodies, masquerading as gangs, were also using the "conveniences" afforded by their gang status to violently annex land.

Currently, 83% of the arable land in the Golden Triangle had been consolidated for cultivating oil palms, hybrid rice, genetically modified corn, and genetically modified soybeans.

The genetically modified corn and soybeans were copied from America by the Qingye Group. As long as they used slightly different primitive varieties as the parent stock for their genetically modified products, there was nothing the other party could do to the Qingye Group, even if they found out.

The real issue with genetically modified crops wasn’t safety, but the control of production technology. Any region that blindly promoted GM crops without mastering the technology would just end up being taken advantage of by America.

With its tropical climate and sub-plateau geography, the Shan Plateau was perfectly suited for large-scale terraced agriculture.

This so-called large-scale terraced agriculture was essentially an advanced version of traditional terraced farming. It utilized the temperature variations caused by differences in elevation within the plateau to strategically arrange various crops.

The entire Shan Plateau has an average elevation of 750 to 1,200 meters and a total area of about 170,000 square kilometers.

Of this, river valley plains account for roughly 32,000 square kilometers, low hills for 58,000 square kilometers, and high-altitude primeval forests for 45,000 square kilometers. The remaining 45,000 square kilometers are difficult-to-utilize alpine meadows, rivers, mines, and the like.

Therefore, the large-scale terraced agriculture of the Shan Plateau can be broadly divided into three tiers: the river valley plain zone, the low hill zone, and the high-altitude forest zone.

Developing agriculture on the Shan Plateau requires a high initial investment in transportation due to the terrain. However, once the transportation infrastructure is in place, the pace of development is bound to accelerate.

This place was truly vast and sparsely populated. With an area of 170,000 square kilometers, it had a population of only 6.6 million, averaging about 39 people per square kilometer.

If fully developed, at least 100 million mu of agricultural land could be reclaimed.

In fact, Hongsawaddy was a place of enormous potential. Its population was only 54.58 million, yet it had up to 130,000 square kilometers of plains, along with vast expanses of low hills and sub-plateaus.

Compared to Luzon, which is composed of a large cluster of small islands, Hongsawaddy’s agricultural potential could definitely support the food needs of 200 to 300 million people.

Right now, Qingye Group and the other shell companies of its Hongsawaddy Branch were frantically building infrastructure. Their goal was to unlock this agricultural and mineral potential.

Fang Xinwu observed that many workers didn’t want to return to their hometowns, mainly because they were captivated by the superficial prosperity of Dongzhi. They had no idea that Qingye Group’s plan was to completely strip them of their land.

Once they lost their land, these people could only become hardworking laborers, toiling for Qingye Group for the rest of their lives.

And after annexing vast amounts of land, Qingye Group could then use mechanization, large-scale farming, and economies of scale to transform this land into the agricultural production bases it needed.

This kind of behavior could be called "malicious urbanization."

Fang Xinwu didn’t grasp the key details of this process. He only saw the booming prosperity of cities like Dongzhi and the constantly rising wages of the workers. He overlooked the fact that the land in their hometowns was being rapidly annexed by Qingye Group.

During the meal, the workers’ conversations mostly revolved around work, family, and children.

Fang Xinwu committed all this information to memory.

After lunch, they took a break until a little after three. Then, Fang Xinwu and his two subordinates left the hotel and began to wander the streets.

The afternoon sun was still scorching, but the elevation of the Dongzhi Basin was relatively high, so the temperature was similar to that in southern Yunnan.

Arriving at the west side of the Dongzhi City District, they saw workers laying down tracks for the railway connecting to Rui Niang Town.

Not far from the railway, there was also a parallel highway that had already been completed.

"Boss, there are a lot of people over there," Mao Shuihe said, pointing to a large, factory-like complex to the south.

Fang Xinwu turned his head to look and saw the sign and name on top: Qingye Hospital.

’This company again...’

Seeing a building with "Qingye" in the name, Fang Xinwu knew it was another property of the Qingye Group. The company had extensive operations in the Golden Triangle Region, and he had secretly investigated it before.

But most of the information was superficial. For example, the founder, Li Qingye, was once the son of the chairman of a major domestic conglomerate before he went abroad to establish Qingye Group.

Relying on his years of experience in intelligence work, Fang Xinwu knew there was something very fishy about this story.

After all, why would the heir to a hundred-billion-yuan group spurn what’s close at hand to start a business in a chaotic place like Hongsawaddy?

Especially after Fang Xinwu learned that Li Qingye’s parents and older brother had died under mysterious circumstances, he understood that the waters here ran very deep.

Still, Fang Xinwu had to admire Li Qingye for being able to give up his inheritance back home and burn his boats to start a business in Hongsawaddy.

And now, the scale of Qingye Group’s operations in Hongsawaddy truly astonished him.

From Daqili Town on the border of Siam all the way to Dongzhi City, he had seen an unbelievable number of businesses with "Qingye" in their names.

For instance, there was Qingye Hospital, Qingye Construction, Qingye Bank, Aoyama Supermarket, Qingye Transport, Qingye Building Materials, Qingye Cola, and so on.

It had penetrated nearly every aspect of life in the entire Shan State. According to his friend in Dongzhi, Qingye Group was moving its headquarters to Dongzhi City because Li Qingye had an incredibly close relationship with the local General Mao Gu.

And Fang Xinwu, of course, knew of this Mao Gu. The man had emerged as the ultimate winner in the recent Bamana incident and was now one of the three giants of Hongsawaddy, controlling the vast majority of the armed forces and police departments.

Just as he was lost in thought, someone tapped him on the shoulder, and Fang Xinwu immediately had a stress reaction.

"Don’t be tense. It’s me."

Hearing the familiar voice, Fang Xinwu’s body finally relaxed. He then grumbled, "Old Ma, can’t you just greet someone from the front?"

The middle-aged man called Old Ma, who had a handlebar mustache and weathered lines on his forehead, joked, "Just testing your reflexes. Care to go for a drink?"

"Sure! Let’s go!" Fang Xinwu didn’t hesitate.

The group headed toward the city district.

Old Ma led them through a series of twists and turns to a bustling street lined with small stalls selling trinkets, daily necessities, and agricultural products.

"Don’t the security patrols do anything about this?"

Old Ma shook his head. "This is the pedestrian street they designated. They’re the ones collecting fees from all these stalls."

"Keeping up with the times, I see," Fang Xinwu said with a laugh.

Old Ma shrugged. "It’s better to channel it than to block it. Besides, who would want to set up a stall here if they weren’t struggling to get by?"

Fang Xinwu didn’t respond. After all, some things were better left unsaid, as they could sound inappropriate.

Before long, they arrived at the small restaurant that Old Ma owned.

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