Rebirth: My 80s

Chapter 1197 Terrifying Capital Operation
When the news that Zhejiang Province and Kunlun Chamber of Commerce had reached a cooperation intention to jointly operate 100 key factories spread, the whole country was shocked.

The media was full of reports about this incident.

As expected, the print media started to argue a lot, with people expressing all kinds of opinions, but generally speaking, there were two views:
1. Opponents believe that this is a loss of state-owned assets.

2. Supporters believe that it is better to let capable people run the business than to let it rot in their own hands.

The debate was heated and difficult to determine the winner.

While the debate was going on in the print media, people in the streets were also busy. Nowadays, when walking on the streets, you can see people talking about this issue everywhere. This is especially obvious in Hangzhou, after all, it is a matter concerning our province.

Because they had to let the news fly for a while, or in other words, give the higher-ups time to make a decision. How could they really do something so big without consulting them later? After selecting the 100 factories to be joined in the joint venture, Li Jiankun was able to relax.

It was a sunny morning that day, and some plants on the bank of the West Lake had secretly blossomed with colorful flowers, attracting bees and butterflies, which was extremely beautiful.

Li Jiankun, who was dressed casually, wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses, led Dong Da, the son-in-law of the boat charter king, and a few others, who were dressed similarly, for an outing around the West Lake. He acted as a tour guide. Their bodyguards did not follow them as it was not necessary. However, Li Jiankun knew that the West Lake Police Station had still arranged some plainclothes police around them, so it was better to be safe than sorry.

After visiting Broken Bridge with Snow, Su Causeway in Spring Dawn, and Watching Fish at Flower Harbor... there are so many attractions in West Lake that I kept replenishing my energy and eating a lot of snacks.

Like the rich, they have two eyes and one mouth. They will also be greedy when they see roadside snacks, and they will still fart after they are full. People who must eat fresh seafood for every meal are actually not presentable.

When Dong Da came to the mainland this time, the Dong family gave him the task of working in the kitchen, asking him to bring back some small sweet potatoes produced in Ningbo, the Dong family's ancestral home. Now, Ship King Dong, who can only rest in bed and has a shorter and shorter life span, likes this kind of sweet potatoes the most. The staple food for the old man's breakfast and dinner is sweet potato stewed porridge.

So at noon, no one had any intention of eating lunch. Instead, when they passed by a teahouse, which was becoming increasingly rare in later generations, everyone stopped in their tracks. It was true that they were a little thirsty.

Li Jiankun took the guests' initiative and also wanted to broaden their horizons, let them experience the local tea culture and listen to storytelling.

West Lake Longjing tea is naturally well-known.

The best Longjing tea is the special-grade Shifeng produced in the nearby Wengjiashan Village. The color of the dry tea is not pure green, but a mixture of yellow and green, with a rich orchid fragrance.

You can’t drink it in ordinary teahouses, but the teahouses here might have it.

As for storytelling, it has been firmly ranked among the top three most popular entertainment activities of the people in this era. However, it is actually on the decline nowadays. Televisions are becoming more and more popular, and there are more and more entertainment methods. A few years ago, the most important entertainment activity for adults and children after dinner was listening to storytelling. The storyteller could rely on his own strength and eloquent words. He could inspire thousands of troops with just a touch of his sharp teeth and travel in his mind to his homeland with a flick of his sharp teeth.

In the 1980s, many famous storytellers emerged, such as the well-known Shan Tianfang, Tian Lianyuan, Liu Lanfang, etc. These people deserve the title of "Mr.". In that era when books were scarce, while they were telling stories, they were also popularizing literary and historical knowledge among the people.

Storytelling is also a very profitable profession. During this year's Asian Games, many storytellers donated generously and in an open and aboveboard manner. For example, Mr. Hou Baolin donated 10,000 yuan.

When I walked into the teahouse, I was surprised to find that the occupancy rate was about 80% during this time period.

Most of the tea tables around them not only had tea, but also dried fruit snacks. It seemed that many people, like them, had already filled their stomachs with snacks and planned to skip this meal.

However, the expressions of Li Jiankun and others looked a little abnormal.

The lobby of the teahouse was very lively. There was a storyteller on the stage, but he was not telling a story at this moment. Instead, he was well versed in keeping up with current affairs and chatted with the guests. They were talking about the joint venture between the province and the Kunlun Chamber of Commerce.

"...I guess you guys don't know much about the Kunlun Chamber of Commerce yet. Let me explain it to you in detail..."

The storyteller probably has his own channels of information and knows more than the average person.

It felt very strange to listen to people talking about themselves in disguise, but they wanted to listen. Li Jiankun and his companions found an empty seat in the corner and sat down. They asked the waitress if they could really drink Shifeng Longjing from Wengjiashan Village. They also asked the waitress to pair it with some dried fruit snacks. The waitress looked at them curiously and asked if they were foreign guests. Li Jiankun said no.

The storyteller on the stage was very eloquent. He made the Kunlun Chamber of Commerce sound mysterious and whetted the appetite of the guests. Some of them held their tea cups or dried fruits to their mouths, forgetting to eat or drink.

"...It can be said that all the wealthy Chinese people you can name are members of the Kunlun Society. As for the president of the Kunlun Society, he is none other than the famous Li Jiankun, who is from our country."

The storyteller paused strategically.

There were many people in the audience applauding and cheering.

Dong Da Chong gave Li Jiankun a thumbs up.

At this time, the storyteller changed the subject and said, "Let's go back to the previous topic. Is it a good thing or a bad thing that the Kunlun Chamber of Commerce wants to jointly build 100 key factories here..."

Following the storyteller's rhythm, the guests in the audience started discussing enthusiastically.

Someone said: "I think it's a good thing. Li Jiankun's patriotism is beyond doubt. Since he is the leader of the Chamber of Commerce, he will definitely safeguard national interests."

Someone retorted: "Should he protect the interests of the Chamber of Commerce? If the people in the Chamber of Commerce suffer, who would be willing to follow him in the future?"

Before the two men finished arguing, another voice rose and said, "There have been arguments in the newspapers, and those who oppose are simply worried about the loss of state-owned assets. However, the terms of cooperation between the two parties have been announced. One of the terms clearly states that if Kunlun Chamber of Commerce wants to resell its shares and operating rights in the future, our management unit has the right of first refusal. This means that the initiative is still in our hands. What is there to worry about?"

Someone immediately said, "You said that lightly. Come, I'll mention two possibilities, and you tell me what to do. First, if the Kunlun Chamber of Commerce plans to resell the shares and management rights of a company, and the Japanese want to buy it and offer a very high price, our management unit simply can't afford it; second, if our management unit doesn't want it at that time, you know what I mean, as the saying goes, money makes the devil work, and collusion between officials and businessmen is not uncommon in history..."

The person who spoke earlier was silenced.

Dong Da and others looked at Li Jiankun, and Li Jiankun sighed.

As long as someone thinks you have ulterior motives, he can always find a reasonable excuse.

You have to know that this is our province. Since the decision to cooperate has been made, the province’s attitude is very clear. So what kind of public opinion storm is there in other places?

After leaving the teahouse, everyone lost interest in the fun and went straight back to the hotel. Li Jiankun learned that Xu Fangguo had gone to the TV station.

Rather than giving a TV interview, it was more like explaining to the people of the province and even the whole country why he was actively promoting this matter.

Provincial TV station, Studio No. 1.

Under the spotlight, there are two single-seat wooden sofas, separated by a red lacquered coffee table of the same color, on which is placed a pot of ordinary orchids. Xu Fangguo and Fei Min, the host of the provincial TV station, are sitting on the two sofa chairs respectively.

In response to Fei Min's interview, Xu Fangguo elaborated on his three views:
1. Enterprises are in a difficult situation and unable to cope with their own needs. He talked about the current overall economic situation and a specific factory in detail, and gave two examples to illustrate that there is an overcapacity of goods, coupled with the external impact of the market economy, warehouses are full of goods, and goods are seriously unsalable. They have considered other methods, such as exporting goods, but their goods lack competitiveness.

He mentioned that products must be improved and innovated. But the problem is that it is difficult for us to find such talents and we cannot afford the R&D investment.

So he brought the topic to the second point.

2. A penny can make a hero fall. Many factories have a hard time maintaining their operations, not to mention continuing to invest. Their business is already in a slump, and they are also affected by triangular debts. Which factory can still come up with considerable cash on its books? In fact, the real situation is that the workers and their families are all crying out for food. For example, among these factories, no employee has received full wages so far, and it is still unknown where the wages for next month will come from. What is more frightening is that examples of bankruptcy are not uncommon. These workers are at risk of unemployment at any time. By then, what will happen to their families? Will they starve to death?
In addition, a large part of fiscal revenue depends on these factories.

Now these factories are struggling to take care of themselves, how can they contribute much to the fiscal revenue? If the fiscal revenue is too low, roads cannot be repaired, bridges cannot be built, and dams cannot be constructed, how can development be achieved?
3. Introduce management models and learn business skills. Xu Fangguo mentioned that the tide of market economy is unstoppable and we are currently in a critical period of change. However, our corporate managers have been managing and operating factories according to the planned economic model for decades and are accustomed to following orders. They do not have many opinions of their own and do not know how to change themselves efficiently to adapt to the new situation. We do not have much time for them to explore on their own. The fastest way is to introduce excellent management models and learn experience and skills from the management talents sent by the joint venture partners.

Such a joint venture factory can radiate to a certain surrounding area. One hundred joint venture factories are equivalent to one hundred teachers.

Finally, Xu Fangguo concluded that he did not think there was anything absolutely impossible to do, and that this move was very necessary under the current special circumstances.

The words are sharp and powerful.

That night, Li Jiankun watched the show frame by frame in his hotel room and couldn't help but smile knowingly.

Who can question this man's devotion to his country and his people?

In fact, there is one thing that Xu Fangguo did not mention and Li Jiankun did not say. There is no doubt that this cooperation is a huge event. It is still okay for him and Kunlun Club to deal with it. If they just look at it as a business, they will just give up if the business fails. But if this cooperation is finally stopped, it will have a huge impact on Xu Fangguo. Why does he have such courage?
Apart from devoting himself to the country and the people, he even neglected to take care of his family.

Now, he had nothing to lose.

----

The next day, Li Jiankun accepted an interview with the media.

There were so many media outlets wanting to interview him that he simply held a press conference at the West Lake Hotel.

At the meeting, Li Jiankun answered questions from all reporters.

Reporters ask questions about the hottest topics and what people want to know most. Some questions are like spears piercing you.

Li Jiankun has an open heart and has nothing to hide.

A reporter: "From the published contract, some clauses seem to be more favorable to the local management unit. On the other hand, the Kunlun Chamber of Commerce will be bound by the contract. Therefore, some opinions in the newspapers questioned what the Kunlun Chamber of Commerce wanted to do by doing this?"

Li Jiankun joked, "People who hold this view are very gloomy inside. Do we need to study conspiracy theories for this matter? Of course, it's for profit. The four words 'businessmen pursue profit' seem to have a derogatory nature, but this is actually the same as farmers seeking harvests. If they don't pursue profits, how can they eat and feed their employees? Kunlun Chamber of Commerce is optimistic about the development prospects of the mainland and has rich business experience and resources. The Kunlun Chamber of Commerce is confident that the 100 factories in the province that are unable to make ends meet will achieve positive development and generate profits. So, do you think Kunlun Chamber of Commerce should make money?"

A reporter: "Some experts believe that the value of many of my country's current state-owned assets is seriously underestimated. The Kunlun Chamber of Commerce's acquisition of shares on such a large scale, aside from other things, these shares themselves will appreciate many times in the future."

Li Jiankun chuckled and said, "Expert? Bricks, bricks. If you can say that, you might as well go home and pack up all the things at home and bury them in the ground. After a hundred years, they will definitely appreciate more than ten times. Let's talk about the factories we plan to invest in this joint venture. Many of them are on the verge of bankruptcy. Only if they survive the current difficulties can they become more valuable in the future. If they can't survive, is there any point in talking about the future here?"

A reporter: "It is said that long before the Kunlun Chamber of Commerce came to the local area, the provincial investment promotion office was contacting a foreign businessman who was also interested in investing in the local area and even inspected the factory. In the end, he was squeezed out by the more powerful Kunlun Chamber of Commerce. Is this true?"

Li Jiankun stared at the reporter who asked the question for a few seconds and replied, "Yes."

Hey!
The sounds of shutter clicks and pens falling suddenly became rapid.

Big news!
Li Jiankun added: "But this matter has nothing to do with Kunlun Chamber of Commerce. It was me who personally asked him to get out."

The reporter raised his notebook to his chest and held a Hero pen in his right hand. "Go away? We set up an investment promotion office to show how much we value investment promotion. Now that the economy is sluggish, we need to attract foreign investment to help development. Aren't you singing a different tune by doing this? Or do you think the other party is stealing your business?"

Li Jiankun looked away from him and scanned the room, saying, "The foreign businessman he mentioned is named Huang Hongnian. He just registered a company in Gangcheng called Zhongce. Before Huang Hongnian came to Hangzhou and took a fancy to several large factories such as West Lake Brewery and Hangzhou Rubber Factory, he had already taken over the Shanxi Rubber Factory. He just established a new joint venture company and did not send any soldiers. Gangcheng Zhongce Company also did not send any personnel. In fact, although this company has many financial backers, it is a shell company. After Huang Hongnian left the family business to develop independently, he has been in the financial circle of Southeast Asia and has never done any industry."

"Will such a person buy a number of factories, calm down and manage them patiently to earn this slow money?"

Li Jiankun answered his own question: "He had bad intentions. That's why I asked him to get out."

The reporter who asked the question said, "I have also interviewed people from the Investment Promotion Office about this matter. They said that you suspected that Huang Hongnian would sell off the acquired shares and management rights, but this is just your guess after all. Even if Huang Hongnian really did this, the people who took over those factories should have intended to run them well. What's the difference between this and your Kunlun Chamber of Commerce? With all due respect, this still cannot rule out the idea that your Kunlun Chamber of Commerce wants to monopolize the benefits by relying on its power."

Li Jiankun discovered that this reporter might not have been bribed. He might have used more clever tactics than that. Someone had instilled a set of things in him, and there was a sense of hatred for evil in his expression.

"You underestimate Huang Hongnian and the financial backers behind him. They bought some factories from the mainland and resold them. How could they be content with such a small amount of money?"

Li Jiankun shook his head and said, "Huang Hongnian and his team have two steps in their plan. As for why I know this, I will reveal the reason at the end. The first step is to acquire a number of factories in mainland China in batches according to the nature of the enterprise, such as the Shanxi Rubber Factory and Hangzhou Rubber Factory mentioned earlier. This is actually a proof. We can regard the rubber industry as one of their goals. After acquiring ten or eight large rubber factories, Huang Hongnian and his team will use the business management rights to bundle these large rubber factories together into a rubber group, list them overseas, and raise more funds. Then, they will use the money of foreign shareholders to come to the mainland and acquire more companies. For example, in the beer industry, after acquiring ten or eight large beer factories, they can promote a beer group to go public, further raise funds, and then come to the mainland to acquire, and so on..."

The reporters present were all stunned.

Someone couldn't help but ask, "Can we do this?"

In his previous life, Huang Hongnian's capital operation methods, which were regarded as miraculous by some people, were all reflected in Li Jiankun's words.

It has indeed shocked the Chinese people who have no idea what capital is in this era. The people in this room right now are just reporters. Once today's news gets out, God knows how many businessmen will be shocked beyond words.

"The second step is that they have long anticipated that this behavior cannot go on forever. By then, Huang Hongnian will consider selling the equity and management rights of the company he owns. Then the financiers and friends behind Zhongce will take over the companies they want. They don't have to pay too much because they are investors themselves. Except for the initial capital, the rest of the money is all raised from foreign stock markets. In other words, they only pay the cost of acquiring the first batch of companies, and they can get the management rights of all the companies acquired later. After obtaining the management rights of a group of large companies in a certain industry, they can dominate this industry in our market to a certain extent..."

All the reporters in the audience were stunned.

Li Jiankun finally said: "Why do I know this? First of all, it's very simple. I understand finance and capital operations. Secondly, if I tell you who the financial backers behind Huang Hongnian are, you will understand which financial backers don't care about small-scale operations. They include the Sinar Mas Group, one of the four largest financial groups in Indonesia, Itochu Corporation, one of the six largest financial groups in Japan, and several large investment institutions in the United States including Morgan Stanley..."

Quiet.

You could hear a pin drop in the huge hall.

This set of capital operations is simply appalling.

Many people present suddenly thought of a question at the same time: if there was no Mr. Li, what consequences would it cause if Huang Hongnian and his team really succeeded in this capital operation?

What will we lose?
Thinking hard.

(End of this chapter)