Since the abolition of compulsory military service in 1960, Britain has implemented a voluntary military service system until now.
In other words, young people are not forced to serve in the military, everything is voluntary.
Compared with the compulsory military service system, the service time of soldiers under the voluntary military service system is based on personal wishes, often ranging from 3 years to 22 years.
For this reason, there are many soldiers who have served in the military for too long, especially after participating in wars, and are unable to adapt to normal social life after retirement. Especially after the Afghanistan war, the number of soldiers who choose to join private military companies after retirement has increased significantly.
The employees that Protector Company recruited in the UK this time, especially the military security personnel, required experienced veterans with more than five years of military service. After interviews and physical examinations, the first batch of more than 100 people was quickly filled.
At the same time, near the Billew Castle Estate in Northern Ireland, Barron set aside a plot of land to establish the Protectors' training base in England for the training and training of new recruits.
As mentioned before, the Devonshire family still owns three castle estates to date, namely Chatsworth House near Derbyshire, Callan Castle in Scotland, and the last one is Billow Castle Estate in Northern Ireland.
Currently, Chatsworth House and Callan Castle have begun the latest renovations, but Billow Castle has never been developed again due to funding constraints and has been maintained in its original state.
Near Billow Castle, the Devonshire family also owns more than 20,000 acres of land, most of which belongs to the Devonshire Ecological Agriculture Company for farm cultivation. A small piece of land that is not suitable for planting is used as the Protector Company's British "recruit camp".
Because time is urgent, this group of highly experienced employees, all from the British Army, will go to Iraq after a week of security training and become military outsourcing personnel employed by the British government.
The Protector Company will continue to recruit, and after the new recruits have undergone more than two weeks of training, they will go to Iraq to perform missions.
As for the equipment of these people, Protector has signed an agreement with the British Army and will directly use the British Army's standard equipment after arriving in Iraq - of course, all of this equipment needs to be purchased by them, so after buying Protector, Barron's offshore company subsequently invested another 20 million pounds in it.
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"Compared to other estates, the scenery here is more beautiful, but because it is far away from the city, it is not as convenient as Chatsworth House and Callan Castle for tourism development, and requires greater investment."
Walking on the corridor of Bilu Castle, Yulia said to Barron.
Bilu Castle was built on a high place, and there was an observation deck on the edge of the cliff. When the two walked up there, they could feel that the wind had become much stronger.
Northern Ireland has a temperate maritime climate, and the temperature changes between the four seasons here are not that obvious. Before, this place has always been used as a summer resort for the Devonshire family. After purchasing this manor, no large-scale development has been carried out.
Seeing the wind blowing Yulia's long hair, she shrank her shoulders slightly. Barron walked forward, took off his coat and put it on Yulia.
"Funding is not a problem now, and the unique scenery here is still very attractive to those middle-class and above people who have been living in the city all year round."
Barron's voice rang in Yulia's ears. After he put the coat on her, she felt that his hands did not loosen, but instead he held her in his arms.
Yulia felt her heartbeat quicken a bit. After struggling slightly, she did not continue to move. Instead, she calmed down, deliberately looked at the scenery in the distance, and said:
"Isn't it a bit hasty? I think it would be better to wait until the operation of Kalan Castle is stable and Grace Cultural Tourism Group has more profits before starting the development here."
At present, the renovation of Callan Castle has been completed and it can be fully opened to the public. In addition, Devonshire Callan Castle Hotel has also opened at the same time. From the current situation, although there are some visitors, it cannot be said to be satisfactory. It is far inferior to Chatsworth House, which is supported by the reality show "The Traitors" and the TV series "Downton Abbey". The reservations there are now scheduled until the end of the year, and even Grace Cultural Tourism Group is considering increasing the opening hours.
Of course, this is also related to the fact that the large-scale renovation of Chatsworth House is still in progress and many sites are restricted.
"Then just wait a little longer."
Now that Yulia said so, she thought about her many other plans recently, and for now, she could only start to promote the new season of "The Traitors" reality show after it was filmed and broadcast in Kalan Castle.
It seems that, just as Yulia said, the Bilu Castle Manor also needs to wait for the right opportunity to promote it and is not in a hurry to carry out large-scale renovations and open it.
He looked at the farm in the distance and said:
"The ecological agriculture company can start increasing the area of organically certified farms."
"Well, we are working on this. Duke's Choice Supermarket now has more than 10 stores, covering most of the wealthy areas in London. Correspondingly, sales are also increasing, so the demand for high-quality organic food is increasing, and sometimes we even need to purchase from outside..."
In Europe and the United States, organic certification is carried out by professional organizations and is very strict, often requiring re-certification every year.
The first condition for becoming an organic certified farm is that the ingredients used do not contain any synthetic chemicals, such as fertilizers, pesticides, antibiotics, food additives, and genetically modified animals and plants.
This requires these farms to hire more people to carry out manual pest and weed control, and the product growth cycle is longer, resulting in much higher costs than ordinary agricultural products.
Of course, the selling price of organically certified agricultural products can be 50% or even several times higher than that of ordinary agricultural products.
Just like what is sold in Duke's Selection Supermarket, all of them are certified organic foods. Rich people are very concerned about quality. That is why Duke's Selection Supermarket is currently increasing its sales volume due to its reputation, and it needs Devonshire Ecological Agriculture Company to provide more products.
Currently, the products of Duke's Selection Supermarket are mainly supplied by the farm belonging to Chatsworth House, which is closest to London. They have established a special full-process cold chain logistics transportation to the constant temperature warehouse in London, and then distributed to various stores.
However, after the Duke's Selection supermarket in London is almost saturated, it will also open stores in other cities in the UK, which will require more organic farms to supply goods.
"I'm going to Asia soon, so you can come with me then."
Hearing Barron say this, Yulia asked in surprise:
"I...will go too?"
"In addition to traveling, there are many wealthy people in countries such as Japan, China and South Korea. I also hope to promote our Grace Tourism Group so that more wealthy Asians can come to the British castle to hold parties and weddings, thereby increasing our revenue."