Chapter 852: The poorest place in the Middle East

Saudi Arabia.

A military camp.

This place is located in the desert, with endless yellow sand and flying dust.

When Liu Tao arrived here, the mercenaries in the military camp had already assembled.

These mercenaries were fully armed, wearing camouflage uniforms, bulletproof vests and bulletproof helmets, and each was equipped with a 78-type automatic rifle and a 78-type pistol.

Even an ordinary mercenary was equipped with a 78-type pistol.

In terms of equipment, there are anti-aircraft machine guns, 80-type self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, 80-type main battle tanks, 81-type heavy tanks, 81-type light tanks, 81-type infantry fighting vehicles and other armored vehicles, military transport vehicles, and vehicles.

There are 5,000 mercenaries in this military camp.

There are two military camps like this in Saudi Arabia, with a total of 10,000 mercenaries.

Saudi Arabia signed an employment agreement with the mercenary group, with a term of employment of up to 10 years.

The two mercenary groups are responsible for part of Saudi Arabia's national defense tasks and help train the Saudi army.

Even though the total strength of Saudi Arabia's conventional armed forces is now maintained at 500,000, Saudi Arabia still feels that hiring mercenaries is still necessary.

Liu Tao looked at the faces of these mercenaries. The youngest was only 18 years old, and the oldest was only 35 years old.

Many mercenaries who participated in the Gulf War chose to leave the mercenaries after the war and return to their lives as ordinary people.

Liu Tao inspected this mercenary. The flag of this mercenary was very special, with an iron-eating beast as the flag.

After inspecting the 10,000 mercenaries, Liu Tao went to the mercenary group headquarters.

There were three maps hanging in the headquarters, namely the world map, the Middle East map, and the Saudi Arabia map.

Especially the Middle East map and the Saudi Arabia map, they are all military maps.

Military maps and civilian maps are two different things.

For example, the Middle East map has the main mountains, rivers, valleys, important military targets, and main transportation networks marked on it.

As for the Saudi map, it is much more detailed. The entire Saudi topographic map is complete, and where there are mountains, rivers, deserts, and oases in the desert are clearly marked.

The head of the mercenary group, Li Fen, is introducing the mercenary group to Liu Tao, as well as the latest situation in the Middle East.

Li Fen, 38 years old this year, once participated in the "Red Dragon Roar" operation. After retiring, he joined the armed department of Panshan Group. Later, he went abroad as a mercenary, and gradually worked his way up from squad leader to the current head of the mercenary group.

During the Gulf War, Li Fen was still the deputy head, but before Pang Hu left, he recommended him, and Li Fen was promoted from deputy to full head.

To be honest, Li Fen has thought about leaving the mercenary group, returning to family life, and accompanying his wife and children, just like the mercenary commander Pang Hu.

After all, he has been a mercenary for more than ten years, and he is tired of seeing the light of swords and swords and making a living on the edge of swords.

Moreover, his income has not been low over the years, and his savings are enough for his family to live for a lifetime.

But he can't leave, because of responsibility!

He has to shoulder the responsibility.

A mercenary group like theirs is already considered a large mercenary group in the world.

Many mercenary groups have dozens or hundreds of people, and those that can grow to a thousand people are considered large mercenary groups.

If he doesn't take on this burden, no one in this mercenary group is suitable to be the head of the mercenary group.

A snake cannot survive without a head!

He must take on this responsibility until someone appears who is qualified and capable of being the head of this mercenary group, and then he can step down.

There is no war in the Middle East at present. Iraq has been hit hard and is licking its wounds silently. Persia is also licking its wounds from the Iran-Iraq War and is unable to provoke Iraq.

With the Arab coalition and Saudi Arabia playing the role of the leading brother, the Middle East has rarely calmed down.

Even Israel has been very calm these days, and even began to soften its tone on the establishment of the Palestinian state.

"But Saudi Arabia may attack Yemen." Li Fen analyzed, "Currently, public opinion in the Middle East is very unfavorable to Yemen."

"Attack Yemen? Are you crazy?" Liu Tao frowned, obviously he was a little surprised.

Yemen is located at the southernmost tip of the Arabian Peninsula. It has a sufficient population, rich oil resources, and superior trading ports. However, Yemen is a very backward country with corrupt government, poor people, and social chaos. Even the oil business that can make money lying down is not doing well.

Yemen has a land area of ​​528,000 square kilometers, bordering the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea. The coastline is 1,906 kilometers long. The climate in the mountains and plateaus in the country is relatively mild. It now has a population of 15 million.

The country has proven oil reserves of about 2 billion barrels and has huge offshore oil fields. Its non-oil resources are also relatively rich, and the main metal mines are gold, silver, lead, and zinc.

But Yemen is the least developed place in the world and the poorest place in the Middle East.

In people's impression, the Middle East is known as the world's oil center, and Middle Eastern countries have made a fortune by relying on oil trade. The so-called hard life of not being able to afford food, housing, and cars seems to have nothing to do with Middle Eastern countries.

But this happened to Yemen.

Even Iraq, which was hit hard in the Gulf War, lives a much better life than Yemen.

Some experts believe that Yemen is a typical country trapped in the "Malthusian Trap". The so-called Malthusian Trap is a population trap, which means that the population growth of a country (a country that has not yet achieved industrialization) cannot exceed the corresponding corresponding growth rate of the country. The level of agricultural development, after all, the population of a region must be equal to the level of agricultural production in the region.

As for Yemen, there are no pillar industries in the country that can support the country's economic development, and Yemen's food production capacity is also extremely low. Therefore, Yemen's population is in a state of new growth but rapid extinction. In other words, Yemen has a high birth rate, but a low survival rate. Many children will not survive to adulthood, so Yemen is in a state of talent gap.

The land conditions in Yemen are very harsh, water resources are scarce, and arable land is also in short supply. Although Yemen has oil resources, it has not seized the opportunity to develop oil resources like Saudi Arabia. Therefore, no matter how much oil is underground, it will In vain.

Not only that, countries such as Europe and the United States are eyeing the oil fat in the Middle East, and Yemen has excellent oil reserves and excellent trading ports. Therefore, European and American countries frequently intervene in Yemen’s domestic politics, which makes it difficult for Yemen to obtain a With loose space for development, national turmoil, national distrust, and armed riots in some places, the Yemeni government is unable to manage such a large country and complete the industrialization process.

Of course, there is another aspect, that is, there are more than 400 tribes in Yemen. In some countries in the Middle East, tribes are in charge of all affairs in a place, ranging from every plant and tree to the national ideological trends. These are closely related to the tribes. After the establishment of a country in Yemen, it was obvious that the government could not defeat the regional tribes, and conflicts between tribes continued.