The train driver in the courtyard

time.

It's like a thirty-year-old man's belt—getting shorter and tighter.

In the blink of an eye, a week has passed.

A large number of scooters shipped from the mainland arrived in the port city and were then transferred to Hextech's factory.

Distributors from all over the world received the notification and waited in the warehouse early.

European dealers are fine; they're well-off and can easily pay for their cars by borrowing money from banks.

Middle Eastern distributors may lack funds, but they can settle accounts with oil.

Those dealers in South America were having a tough time and tried to pay for their cars with white laundry detergent, but Yang Jizong kicked them out.

He even specifically warned them that if these guys dared to sell laundry detergent here, he would send men to their hideout to wipe them all out.

Hextech now truly wields such power, and its South American distributors instantly became obedient.

There was no other way; these guys had to scrape together a large sum of money, even emptying their savings.

If anything happens, they don't need to take a boat back; they can just swim across.

How can we not be more proactive?
Seeing trucks driving into the factory, the dealers finally felt relieved.

Hextech is really generous!

"Excellent credit!"

"From now on, you can buy laundry detergent on credit if you purchase less than one ton."

"roll!"

"."

Amidst laughter, the dealers opened the wooden crates and were all excited to see the colorful motorcycles.

"This time there are 100,000 vehicles, we're going to make a fortune."

"They on the mainland really do what they say. We feel safe doing business with people like that."

"These headlights are just like last time, big, round, and smooth. The curves are still so rounded. Good stuff, really good stuff."

The dealers' eyes sparkled; they looked at the motorcycles as if they were beauties in a beauty pageant.

Indeed, for these people, beautiful women are not a scarce resource; on the contrary, scooters can only be purchased from Hextech.

Yang Jizong clapped his hands.

After the dealers quieted down, a decision was announced: "From today onwards, all sales operations must be conducted according to the headquarters' arrangements. You will transport this batch of motorcycles back to your warehouse and store them there until June 1st."

The dealers were puzzled when they heard this.

"Mr. Yang, the sooner we sell, the sooner we can make money."

"Yes, time is money."

"If we delay the sale by one day, the sales of Little Wolf motorcycles will increase."

Amid the murmurs, Yang Jizong clapped his hands again: "According to information from headquarters, Bentian Company is planning this year's production and preparing the materials needed for production based on annual sales. It is said that there is enough to meet the needs of producing 100 million motorcycles."

The distributors looked somewhat surprised upon hearing this number.

However, they quickly came to terms with it. Last year, Little Wolf Motorcycles sold as many as four or five million units, so preparing materials for one million motorcycles in advance wasn't too much.

The distributors understood Hextech's plan, exchanged glances, and nodded in agreement.

"Um...we'll do as headquarters says."

"We're all in the same boat, and the headquarters is the captain."

"Anyone who dares to sell without authorization, don't blame me for being impolite."

"Let all of Bentian Company's materials rot in the warehouse!" someone shouted.

In particular, the shipment also included products such as engine oil, lubricating oil, antifreeze, and cycling apparel, which will form a huge industrial chain.

These distributors have banded together tightly because of their shared interests.

The motorcycles were loaded onto the cargo ship at the Yang family's dock. Several envious families felt that Hextech was up to something big and urged sailors to board the ship for inspection.

As soon as the sailors approached, John Bull's dealers handed a large bag to the leader.

The dealers all held titles and were superiors to the sailors' masters. Boarding the ship for inspection would be tantamount to courting death.

The sailor, seething with anger, turned around and gave those families a good beating.

Once the cargo ship leaves the port city, the dealers, who have extensive connections in the area, will find it even more impossible to conduct an investigation.

And so, motorcycles were transported to all parts of the world.

****
At this time, at the headquarters of Bentian Company, Bentian Sheng also received a report from his subordinate executives.

"The materials delivered from Kangaroo's house have arrived at the warehouse, but..."

"What?" Ben Tiansheng's eyes widened.

"Hammersley informed us that steel prices will increase by 30 percent next quarter." The executive lowered his head.

Ben Tiansheng's brows furrowed instantly, and he tapped his fingers on the table.

"These guys are taking advantage of the fact that we can't get iron ore from Africa for the time being, so they're raising prices on the spot."

"Yes, I heard that several other mines have also started raising prices."

"If we had taken over Kangaroo's house back then, we wouldn't be in such an embarrassing situation now." Ben Tiansheng sighed deeply, feeling particularly frustrated.

Thinking back to the great situation of previous years, Honda was filled with grievances. They had not lost and still had a team of millions. They were deceived and had signed the surrender document.

But discussing the past now is pointless; it can't undo what's done. Ben Tiansheng took a deep breath and made a decision:
"Here's what we'll do: purchase another batch of materials, the same quantity as last time."

“But we no longer have enough funds,” the executive worried.

"You don't need to worry about the money, I'll take care of it."

Ben Tiansheng is very confident in his ability to raise money.

Now, Little Wolf motorcycles are selling well all over the world, and they are also developing cars. In the eyes of banks, this is definitely a high-quality asset that can be lent out in large amounts of money.

After the executives left, Ben Tiansheng picked up the phone and called Wu Teng to come to his office.

Wu Teng comes from a noble family and has a wide network of connections in the upper class, making him perfect for this task.

Upon learning that they needed to borrow 50 million, Wu Teng was somewhat worried: "Mr. Ben Tian, ​​aren't we taking too much of a risk? We haven't received that many orders yet. What if..."

"Are you questioning my decision?" Ben Tiansheng's face darkened.

If it weren't for Wu Teng's top-notch management skills and his role in developing Little Wolf motorcycles, he would have been kicked out long ago.

Ben Tiansheng took a deep breath, his expression softening slightly: "This is an opportunity for our Ben Tian company. If we succeed, we will become the world's greatest motorcycle manufacturer. Wu Teng-san, this is also your dream."

Wu Teng knew that Ben Tiansheng wasn't the type to listen to advice, so he could only nod and agree.

With Wu Teng's help, Bentian Company used its own assets as collateral to obtain a large loan from the bank.

Bentian Company purchased a large quantity of materials from various material suppliers.

Kangaroo home.

Port Hedland.

As the massive ship carrying a small notebook flag slowly sailed away from the port, Yang Jizong opened the door of his luxury car and stepped out.

Old John, the head of Hammersley, quickly walked over and hugged him.

"Yang, thank you so much. The board of directors just gave me a bonus of 100,000. Tonight, I'll treat you to a great show at a bar in the harbor."

"Come on, your strippers could pass for miners if they changed into work clothes. If they dared to drink a glass of my wine, I'd kick them out." Yang Jizong offered him a cigarette.

Old John took the cigarette and gave an awkward smile.

Indeed, how could such a big shot from the port city possibly look down on such ugly and deformed people?

"Yang, how do you know that even if steel prices increase by 30%, the Japanese will accept it?" This was what Old John couldn't understand.

In fact, Hammersley has plenty of inventory and has no intention of adjusting prices at all.

However, this old friend he met in the grain trade suddenly provided him with this information, which led to Hammersley's price increase.

"Trade secret." Yang Jizong gave a mysterious look.

He was also puzzled as to why Li Aiguo knew so much about Bentian Company and was able to judge its decisions.

"Haha, you Easterners are so clever." Old John didn't press the matter further.

Yang Jizong continued, "I heard your company plans to outsource the ore refining?"

Upon hearing this, Old John's expression changed drastically. He couldn't help but take a step back and looked Yang Jizong up and down: "You, how did you know?"

Yang Jizong sighed inwardly, it seemed that his patriotic brothers had guessed correctly again.

After successfully acquiring development rights to several mines in Africa, Red Star Mining has now moved on to the next step: establishing a smelting plant.

However, the output from Africa is still insufficient to meet the smelting needs of large smelters.

Li Aiguo set his sights on the Kangaroo family, intending to reach agreements with several of their large mines.

Yang Jizong thought it was somewhat impossible at the time, after all, the Kangaroo family was engaged in smelting themselves, so why would they outsource this work?

Yang Jizong didn't reply. Instead, he lit a cigarette and took a deep drag: "Trade secret."

Old John paused for a moment, looked around, and lowered his voice: "Smelting is a troublesome business, and it doesn't make money. The company's senior management is indeed planning to shut down the smelter, but they have to keep it running because they haven't found a suitable downstream factory."

“Our Red Star Mining plans to establish a large-scale smelter.” Yang Jizong patted Old John on the shoulder. “If we can successfully cooperate, it will be a win-win situation.”

Old John's eyes lit up, and he nodded in agreement to help make the connection.

If this collaboration is successful, his status within the company will rise accordingly.

Hextech's smelters are also trustworthy, so this is a win-win situation.

Subsequently, through John's introduction, Yang Jizong met with senior executives of Hammersley Company. Both sides expressed goodwill, and Hammersley Company seemed to be very enthusiastic.

In the evening, after returning to his residence, Yang Jizong informed Li Aiguo of the situation.

Li Aiguo was not surprised by Hamersley's attitude.

Kangaroo Country is the world's richest region for iron ore.

Take the Pilbara mining area as an example: ores with an iron content of less than 34% are not included in the reserves statistics.
People consider this a stone, but this kind of iron ore is considered a relatively high-quality iron ore in my country.

其铁矿储量500亿吨（含铁量达到64%），要是计算上含铁量在30-50%的矿石，储量是64000亿吨。

In this situation, the kangaroo family discovered a problem: smelting was not profitable enough.

All that hard work in smelting doesn't even amount to as much money as selling ore directly.

In addition, the kangaroo family's smelting industry has a major drawback—a lack of water.

In later generations, for these reasons, the Kangaroo family only produced iron ore and did not engage in smelting themselves.

Most of our iron ore comes from the kangaroo country.

Because smelters and steel mills banded together, iron ore prices remained high, leading to a situation where pricing power was taken away and large companies bullied their customers.

Having come to this era, Li Aiguo would naturally not tolerate such a thing happening.

As long as the customer is powerful, they can still bully the shop.

However, this kind of cooperation involves many aspects and even relates to higher levels, so we can't rush it.

Li Aiguo gathered his thoughts, picked up the secure phone, and called Lou Xiao'e.

Lou Xiao'e has already made preparations and will begin promotional activities at the scheduled time.

"In three days, the various distributors will begin to act according to the plan."

"Don't worry, Brother Aiguo, I'm fine here." Lou Xiao'e is no longer the naive young girl from Beijing; she has grown into a true strong woman.

After hanging up the phone, it was already noon. Li Aiguo rode his motorcycle back to the courtyard house.

He went to Liu Haizhong's house and told him about welding the metal plate over the door.

“That’s great! Patriot, I’ll just go to the factory this afternoon and get a few iron plates to weld together.” Liu Haizhong immediately agreed.

"Second Uncle, then I'll have to trouble you."

"Don't mention it."

"I'll pay for the steel plates." Seeing Li Aiguo about to take the money, Liu Haizhong quickly stopped him: "Aiguo, it's just a few steel plates, are you trying to embarrass your second uncle?"

"Alright then." Li Aiguo didn't stand on ceremony, chatted for a bit, and then strolled home.

Aunt Er came out of the house, somewhat puzzled: "Haizhong, we have to pay for this steel plate ourselves, right? It must cost two or three yuan, right?"

"How could I not know? Aiguo doesn't ask for help easily, so how could I let him pay for it? Besides, Guangqi might need Aiguo's help later."

Mentioning Liu Guangqi instantly soured Aunt Er's mood.

When Liu Guangqi returned to Baoding, his situation was even more difficult than before. His original workstation was gone, and he could only work as a temporary worker.

Although Liu Haizhong no longer paid attention to his son, he was still his own son, and he couldn't just stand by and do nothing.

"Sigh, Guangqi is such a worry." Liu Haizhong sighed and stood up, then saw Liu Guangfu shrinking back at the door.

"Guangfu, come in!" Liu Haizhong picked up the brass-buckled belt.

Liu Guangfu: "."

at dusk.

Liu Haizhong returned to the courtyard with the welded steel plate and placed it on the threshold, which puzzled the residents.

"Second Uncle, what are you doing?"

"Aiguo felt that the threshold was too high, so he asked me to make this board. Everyone can give it a try."

The residents timidly stepped onto the metal plate, tried it out, and found it quite sturdy, which immediately made them laugh.

"Wow, this thing is really useful."

"Yes, from now on, the children and elderly in the compound won't have to worry about tripping over the threshold."

Yi Zhonghai was also watching the commotion from the sidelines. He was initially quite pleased, but when he heard that it was Li Aiguo's idea, his face instantly darkened.

"Hai Zhong, where did this steel plate come from? Did you bring it from the factory?"

Liu Haizhong rolled his eyes: "You think everyone's like Sha Zhu, who likes to steal things? I bought this from the logistics department!"

"That can't be right. You paid for Li Aiguo to make the board?" Yi Zhonghai felt he had caught Liu Haizhong out; Liu Haizhong wasn't the kind of person who was generous.

"Patriotism is also about thinking about the residents of the compound. As the second uncle, do I need your approval, the eldest uncle, to do my part?"

Liu Haizhong emphasized the words "old man" very much.

The onlookers burst into laughter.

It's one thing for Yi Zhonghai not to help, but to nitpick is just too much.

Yi Zhonghai was genuinely surprised that Liu Haizhong had contributed money, and he blushed deeply on the spot, giving an awkward laugh: "I was just worried that you would make a mistake, Haizhong. Now that you're a leader, you should set an example."

After saying that, he turned around with his hands behind his back and slunk away.

Li Aiguo was unaware of these things, and even if he had, he wouldn't have cared, because it was already April.

On April 1st, at eight o'clock in the morning, the whole city of London began to bustle.

People get out of bed early in the morning to go to work.

Some people drive cars, some take buses, but no matter where you are, the majority of people take buses.

The bus was extremely crowded, almost like a can of sardines.

Those who were nearly suffocated by the crowd began talking about their plans to buy Little Wolf motorcycles.

The price of the little wolf motorcycles is much cheaper than cars; they can afford to buy one by saving up for half a month's salary.

The only downside is that the Little Wolf motorcycle only comes in one color, and because it's a semi-bend motorcycle, it's not suitable for ladies wearing skirts.

As a fashion-conscious Londoner, not wearing a skirt is simply unacceptable.

Suddenly, a cool breeze blew in through the window, and someone shouted, "Look, what's outside?"

Passengers looked out the window and saw a dozen or so girls in long red dresses riding a very nice motorcycle past the bus.

The red dress and the blue motorcycle complemented each other, adding a touch of brilliance to the gray London.

"This motorcycle is really beautiful."

"Why isn't there a crossbeam?"

What kind of motorcycle is this?

"Didn't you see the flag ahead? Red Star Scooter!"

"I like this motorcycle." On the bus, people immediately forgot about the Little Wolf motorcycle.

The Red Star scooter has a rear storage box and a basket in the front for storing odds and ends. Its elegant design instantly captures the hearts of these office workers.

In particular, Hongxing offers a wide variety of scooter models, including women's scooter models specifically designed for women, as well as commuter scooters designed for men.

When the passengers arrived at the bus stop, they didn't even care about going to work, because the bus stop was covered with advertisements for Red Star scooter motorcycles.

[Red Star Pedals, Your Perfect Commuting Partner]

If you love her, give her a Red Star scooter.

Buy a Red Star scooter and get a free safety helmet.

The poster also indicated the price, which was several tens of pounds more expensive than the Little Wolf motorcycle.

One is an ugly dual-air-cushion underbone motorcycle, and the other is a beautiful scooter. The passengers have already made their decision.

"I heard they sell it at the department store. Let's take the day off today."

"But what if I don't have enough money?"

"Didn't you see that they can get loans and even enjoy discounted interest rates?"

"Really, that's great!"

John Bull's dealers had already contacted a loan company.

The majority of scooter customers are young people, mainly office workers, which makes them high-quality customers for loan companies.

At the same time, Red Star Entertainment brought in Audrey Hepburn to film an advertisement.

In the advertisement, Audrey Hepburn, dressed in a long dress, gracefully rides a Red Star scooter down the street, attracting envious glances from countless passersby.

Hepburn stopped her motorcycle, gave a classic head shake, and uttered the advertising slogan: "Red Star scooters, making women more beautiful."

The advertisement caused a sensation in Europe and America as soon as it aired.

One drawback of old-fashioned motorcycles is that the riding posture is not at all ladylike.

Imagine a lady in a long dress riding a dark, rickety motorcycle.

At that moment, reporters happened to discover that several famous movie stars had red star-shaped step stools in their garages.

During the interview, the reporter happened to ask, "Why do you like this kind of motorcycle?"

The other party casually replied, "This car is nice, small and compact, with a good driving experience, and it can help you avoid traffic jams."

This made Red Star scooter motorcycles a huge hit in the European and American markets.

In Europe, the phone lines were ringing off the hook, with many people coming to the dealership to register and place orders.

Two days later, Red Star scooters appeared on the streets of London.

Young people who had just bought cars sped around the streets, attracting envious glances.

Television stations also started reporting on the sales of Red Star scooters; in just one day, five thousand scooters were sold in London.

The combination of seeing Red Star scooters in real life and seeing their sales figures on television led young people to quickly conclude that Red Star scooters would become a trend.

In modern times, people's lives have become more affluent, but their spirits have become empty, and they have begun to pursue popular things.

They want to have what others have, and this has created a trend.

That's why some ugly dolls can sell for thousands of dollars.

This trend quickly spread from Europe to North America, South America, and Asia.
Even several chiefs in Africa have asked Red Star Mining to help them import a batch of Red Star pedals.

Soon, Red Star scooters began to appear on the streets of Tokyo.

Those little girls in short skirts, speeding along on the red star-studded pedals, were just too cute!

Young men with long hair and a rebellious air can drift on Red Star scooters. Although they are not as fast as big motorcycles, they are safer.

"As expected of a masterpiece produced by the British Empire."

"What? Didn't you see? This is a Hextech product."

"It's a motorcycle from over there. But if it can conquer the people of the British Isles, then it's a good thing. It doesn't matter where it's made."

The author, who has always been proud of Western culture, felt somewhat discouraged upon hearing the news, but quickly found a reason to justify it.

Some fashion experts have even analyzed that the reason why the Red Star pedals are so beautiful may be because they hired top designers from Europe and America.

This is what is meant by "once you become powerful, great scholars will naturally come to help you debate the classics."

When the Red Star pedal first became popular, Bentian Company didn't pay much attention to it.

In the past two years, some motorcycles have stood up to challenge them, but they have all been suppressed by a series of measures.

Faced with the aggressive expansion of the Red Star pedal, Bentian Company first advertised, claiming that its technology was superior and fuel-efficient.

However, real-world road tests of the two motorcycles soon appeared on television. Under the same road conditions and with the same fuel, the Red Star scooter had a range that was a full third longer than the Little Wolf motorcycle.

This sweet company has pulled out its second trump card: price reduction.

Little Wolf Motorcycles is offering a 10% price reduction and launching a massive global promotion.

However, Red Star scooters have now become synonymous with fashion and trend, while the price reduction of Little Wolf motorcycles only gives people a cheap feeling.

Sales, which were already meager, have been halved again.

Just then, the Little Wolf motorcycles that were sold recently experienced a large number of quality problems in the South American region.

The plastic windshield of the Little Wolf motorcycle is too flimsy; cracks appeared after a period of use.

This isn't really a quality issue; the key point is that the Red Star pedals use engineering plastics, which are as strong as aluminum alloy.

They're all plastic, so why does yours break so easily? Did they cut corners in the manufacturing process?

The dealer initially wanted to shift the blame to the customer, claiming that the customer was being unreasonable.

However, when those customers embrace the great truth, they possess the reasoning.

Little Wolf Motorcycles were already struggling to sell, and now they're receiving a large number of returns. The dealers are panicking and are all asking me to come up with a solution quickly.

Otherwise, they demanded that all the motorcycles be returned.

The executives at Bentian were also dumbfounded. They had planned to make a quick profit by relying on low costs, but then Red Star Scooter suddenly appeared.

The executives could only report the matter to Ben Tiansheng.

Ben Tiansheng panicked and quickly sent people to investigate.

It was only then that they discovered that the Red Star pedal was actually a product of Hextech, a company with close ties to mainland China.

More importantly, the mountain bikes that were released recently were made by Hextech.

Ben Sweet's team has already arranged to race on the Isle of Man with Red Star Racing this year.

"What should we do now? The distributors have already started returning the goods." The executives were somewhat panicked.

Bentian Motorcycles offers a wide variety of models, but its large motorcycles face strong competition from brands like BMW and Harley-Davidson, resulting in relatively low sales.

On the contrary, the inexpensive Little Wolf motorcycles are the main source of profit.

Our company currently has materials for over a million motorcycles stockpiled, and hundreds of thousands of motorcycles still in our warehouse. If we can't sell them, we'll be in big trouble.

Most importantly, our company currently owes a large sum of bank loans, and if we cannot repay them by the due date, the company will go bankrupt.

Ben Tiansheng quickly realized that Hextech had taken confidentiality measures from inventory preparation to sales to prevent them from becoming suspicious in advance.

They then launched a series of combined attacks, almost driving Little Wolf Motorcycles out of the market.

They came prepared.

The crucial point is that Bentian Company lacks effective countermeasures.

Ben Tiansheng was so angry he almost vomited blood: "Retaliation! This is Hextech's revenge on us!"

(End of this chapter)