Chapter 362 Sai Kung Training Base
After discussing with Su Zhixue, Lin Haoran fully respected his opinion and ultimately decided to establish the headquarters of Huanyu Investment Company's U.S. branch in the world's largest metropolis—New York City. The reason was simple: the famous New York Stock Exchange was located there.
Since investment naturally revolved around listed companies, being near the stock exchange was far more convenient.
For Lin Haoran, whether it was New York, Chicago, San Francisco, or Los Angeles, it made no real difference. After all, it would be Su Zhixue who would be stationed permanently in the U.S., not him.
Lin Haoran still intended to spend most of his time in Hong Kong, his home base.
After finalizing the discussion with Su Zhixue, he tasked him with making the necessary preparations.
Considering it was a transnational relocation of the office, heading to the distant United States, ample time was certainly needed for preparations.
A key factor was the willingness of the employees; not everyone would be willing to relocate to the U.S.
Lin Haoran and Su Zhixue had agreed that if the number of employees willing to relocate fell short of expectations, it would not be an issue. Their plan was to establish a foothold in the U.S. first and then recruit new employees locally.
Compared to Hong Kong, New York had an abundance of talent in the securities investment sector, so they were not worried about finding suitable candidates.
After leaving the 31st floor, Lin Haoran did not rush out of Wanqing Building but instead went to the Wanqing Group office located on the 29th floor.
In Burton's office, Lin Haoran attentively listened to Burton's work report, occasionally nodding in approval.
Burton was undoubtedly an outstanding professional manager. As to why Lin Haoran had never heard of him in his previous life, it was probably because Burton had never been given the opportunity to showcase his abilities at Qingzhou Cement.
Now, in less than two years, Qingzhou Cement had risen to become one of the three largest cement companies in Southeast Asia, with sales in the region far surpassing those in Hong Kong.
Clearly, the greatest credit belonged to Burton, the president of Wanqing Group.
Kowloon Bus had successfully entered the Malaysian market. Although it was still some time away from turning a profit, taking the first step towards international expansion was undeniably a positive signal.
At the same time, Wan An Real Estate Company had rooted itself in Singapore and was currently cooperating with the Kerry Group to jointly develop a real estate project.
Everything was progressing steadily and positively.
Burton's loyalty rating of 92 inspired Lin Haoran's deep trust in him.
Moreover, the steadily improving financial reports every month left Lin Haoran highly satisfied.
The most profitable subsidiary under Wanqing Group was Qingzhou Cement. Last month alone, Qingzhou Cement had contributed a staggering 43 million Hong Kong dollars in profit to the group.
Reflecting on the situation two years ago, before Lin Haoran took over, Qingzhou Cement's monthly profit barely reached two or three million Hong Kong dollars.
Now, in just two short years, profits had increased twentyfold!
Of course, the low profits back then were mainly due to embezzlement by the former chairman.
Even without such corruption, Qingzhou Cement would have struggled to make 10 million HKD a month in profit.
Thus, achieving over 40 million HKD in monthly profits now was truly remarkable.
Maintaining such a profit level would mean annual profits of around four to five hundred million HKD!
Only subordinates who could generate wealth for him were truly valuable.
Besides Burton, the contributions of the Guo family were also significant.
Thus, Lin Haoran felt a heavy debt of gratitude toward the Guo family.
If he didn't marry Guo Xiaohan in the future, he really wouldn't know how to repay this favor.
After a deep discussion with Burton for over an hour and having lunch at Wanqing Building's cafeteria, Lin Haoran finally left the building.
Checking the time, it was already past 1 PM.
Lin Haoran returned to the underground parking lot and got into the car again.
"Weidong, let's head to the Huanyu Security Consulting Company training base in Sai Kung," Lin Haoran instructed directly.
"Yes, boss. We'll leave right away!" Li Weidong responded and started the car, driving out of the Wanqing Building parking lot, crossing the Hung Hom Cross-Harbour Tunnel, and speeding toward Sai Kung.
Currently, the twenty preliminary-selected Dark Guard candidates screened by Cui Zilong from Manila, Philippines, were undergoing rigorous training at the Sai Kung Huanyu Security Consulting Company training base.
To enhance their professional skills, the company had specially hired an international security expert from the United States to teach key techniques such as identity concealment, counter-surveillance, and anti-eavesdropping methods.
As for other training programs, the elite bodyguards of Huanyu Security were already well-versed and highly capable.
The current focus was on addressing any deficiencies, striving to bring them up to Dark Guard standards as quickly as possible, thereby providing Lin Haoran with a stronger security guarantee.
Although Lin Haoran now traveled with more than a dozen bodyguards wherever he went, providing ample security, it was simply too conspicuous.
Thus, the Dark Guards were a much more discreet and appropriate choice.
Every day recently, whenever Lin Haoran stayed at home, Li Weidong would visit the Sai Kung training base and report back with detailed updates.
Thus, Lin Haoran was thoroughly familiar with the situation there.
However, given that these individuals would be responsible for his safety in the future, and he had yet to meet them in person, it was obviously inappropriate.
With his ability to assess loyalty through his golden finger, Lin Haoran naturally intended to put it to good use.
He decided to personally visit the training base to evaluate these candidates. Any personnel with insufficient loyalty would be decisively eliminated.
After all, the higher the loyalty of those protecting him, the greater the security.
The journey from Central to Clearwater Bay in Sai Kung was neither particularly near nor extremely far.
It took about forty minutes to reach the destination.
The last time Lin Haoran had visited the training base was several months ago, when he had just returned from Yangcheng in the mainland. At that time, there was no training base established in the Philippines yet.
Since then, after the Qingzhou Cement Company's Philippine branch in Manila had been threatened with extortion, the main operations of the Huanyu Security Consulting Company had shifted to the Philippines, and Lin Haoran had not visited the Sai Kung training base again.
Nevertheless, he was aware that although the main force had moved to the Philippines, Yang Mingyi had continued recruiting veterans from Guangdong Province.
Today, the Sai Kung training base housed over 300 members.
Roughly half were from mainland China, and the other half were locally recruited in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong had a serious problem with illegal immigration, especially from Vietnam. Many of these individuals were battle-hardened from the wars and had strong combat abilities, making them valuable assets for Huanyu Security Consulting Company.
Additionally, the company had recruited some wandering Eastern Europeans and Africans living in Hong Kong, who were physically imposing and had combat experience, making them formidable additions.
As long as they were obedient, their nationality didn't matter. For Huanyu Security's goal of international expansion, relying solely on Chinese bodyguards was clearly not viable.
Thus, rather than declining, the Hong Kong training base continued to grow stronger.
Moreover, members from Sai Kung were regularly sent to the Philippines for special training.
The Philippines, after all, had significant advantages over Hong Kong in this field.
Gun ownership was free there, unlike in Hong Kong.
Also, frequent gunfights allowed for real-world combat experience.
In contrast, Hong Kong's organized crime mostly used knives and sticks, and firearms were a rare commodity.
Moreover, local gangs didn't dare offend someone of Lin Haoran's stature.
The ease with which 13K surrendered to him was evidence enough.
Thus, the Sai Kung base mainly conducted procedural training, while real combat training was primarily done in the Philippines.
The training base was situated in a remote mountainous area of Clearwater Bay, facing the sea with its back to the hills—perfect for conducting a variety of complex training exercises.
Before setting out, Lin Haoran had already called ahead.
Thus, as soon as his convoy arrived at the entrance, the head of the training base came out to greet him.
"Boss, hello. I'm Peng Donghai, head of the Sai Kung training base of Huanyu Security Consulting Company, responsible for assisting Director Cui Zilong with all operations here," said a sturdy middle-aged man as he opened the car door for Lin Haoran. Lin Haoran had never met him before.
However, seeing the loyalty rating of 88 floating above his head, Lin Haoran felt completely at ease.
"Coach Peng, hello! Thank you for your hard work," Lin Haoran smiled and shook hands with him.
"Director Cui said he would be here within half an hour," Peng Donghai added.
Lin Haoran nodded and took a careful look around.
The training ground covered more than 300,000 square meters and was well-organized, with all necessary training facilities.
Several new buildings had been added, and the old makeshift iron shooting range had been replaced by a magnificent five-story building.
"Take me to see the twenty trainees first," Lin Haoran ordered directly.
These individuals would soon be responsible for his safety. Although they could not match the importance of brothers like Li Weidong and Li Weiguo, Lin Haoran understood that his future safety would heavily depend on them and thus valued them highly.
"Boss, please follow me!" Coach Peng responded immediately, leading Lin Haoran, Li Weidong, and Li Weiguo onto a transport vehicle to head toward a training ground.
A few minutes later, the vehicle stopped steadily.
"Faithful in heart, defenders in action. We vow to fulfill the boss's trust with our lives!" twenty young men in uniform training attire shouted in unison, their voices loud and full of momentum.
Lin Haoran looked at them, each with their loyalty rating clearly visible above their heads.
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