That year the flowers bloomed 1981

Chapter 1666 Tenfold Righteousness

Following Wen Guohua's instructions, Li Ye and Ma Zhaoxian quickly submitted their analysis reports on the passenger car import project and the acquisition of Southwest Heavy Truck.

Then the introduction of the car production line became a key project. The higher authorities solemnly decided that Wen Guohua would take the lead and preside over all matters related to the introduction of the car production line, and required relevant units to fully cooperate.

This news immediately sparked heated discussions among many onlookers.

"Didn't expect that, did you? Yi Mingzhao thought he could make Li Ye suffer in silence, but he turned out to be the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. Now he's not only disheartened by his subordinates, but also annoyed by his superiors, ending up pleasing neither side."

"Old Yi was indeed too hasty and too greedy in this matter. I heard that after receiving the plan he issued, everyone at Jingnan Group vehemently opposed it."
Now it's a market economy. Whoever can make money for the higher-ups and bring them prestige is their prized possession. Old Yi still thinks that rank matters like before, little does he know there's always someone higher up.

"If you ask me, this matter can't be entirely blamed on Lao Yi. That Li Ye is too unruly. Yi Mingzhao is his direct superior, after all. Couldn't he have expressed his opinions privately? Why did he have to embarrass him in front of so many people?"

As far as I know, Yi Mingzhao isn't a good-tempered person. I think the real show is yet to come!

"I think so too. Director Wen only oversees one or two projects, but Yi Mingzhao manages the Jingnan Group. He has plenty of opportunities to make things difficult for Li Ye, and might even sabotage the car import project."

"."

The general public almost universally expected Li Ye to face retaliation from Yi Mingzhao, but surprisingly, Yi Mingzhao showed no reaction whatsoever. He barely participated in the car import project overseen by Wen Guohua, leaving it entirely to the Jingnan Group.

This almost cowardly behavior surprised everyone and made some people extremely anxious.

On Tuesday morning, Li Ye received another call from his former colleague, Yue Lingshan.

Yue Lingshan's voice was noticeably hoarse: "President Li, when is our company going to acquire Southwest Heavy Truck? Everyone's getting impatient."

Li Ye asked in surprise, "Who told you we were going to acquire Southwest Heavy Truck?"

Yue Lingshan asked in surprise, "Could it be... that the acquisition is off? But everyone was saying that Jingnan Group was going to acquire it!"

Li Ye smiled and said, "That's not true. Others may not know, but don't you know, Sister Yue? Southwest Heavy Truck is a bottomless pit right now. No amount of money can fill it!"

Yue Lingshan was stunned for several seconds, then suddenly asked in a tearful voice, "Li Ye, are you really not going to acquire Southwest Heavy Truck? Don't lie to me! You told me to wait and see how things go, why aren't you acquiring it now!"

Li Ye was also taken aback for a moment, then said, "Sister Yue, why are you crying? Even if we don't acquire Southwest Heavy Truck, aren't there other companies? I heard these past two days that several car companies have been in talks with you."

"It's all a lie!"

Yue Lingshan angrily cursed, "Today they say they want to acquire this company, tomorrow they say they want to merge with that company, but they're all bloodsuckers! They don't care about external debts, they don't care about retired workers, they don't care about anything, and they don't even care that the company's stock is suspended from trading!"

Even if you let me acquire it, I won't care!

Li Ye mentally complained, then suddenly realized something was wrong. Ordinary workers only care about their pensions, why would they care about stock suspensions?

So Li Ye couldn't help but ask Yue Lingshan, "Sister Yue, do you still have shares of Southwest Heavy Truck? Didn't you sell them when the price rose to fifteen yuan?"

"Yeah, I have 10,000 shares. When will trading resume? I'd be happy to sell them at ten yuan each!"

Yue Lingshan finally burst into tears, her intense sorrow and regret palpable even through the phone.

The feeling of never having had wealth is completely different from the feeling of having had wealth but then losing it.

I'm not reconciled, I'll never be reconciled.

Just like how her requirements for a partner are completely different depending on whether she has ever sat in the passenger seat of a BMW or has after sitting in the passenger seat of a BMW.

I used to be worth fifteen yuan, and now the price has dropped by ten yuan, which is a blessing you can't even ask for by burning incense. And you still dare to haggle with me over the bride price?

The problem is, if you couldn't even sit comfortably in the passenger seat of a BMW when you were young and naive, why would you expect to sit in the passenger seat of a better and newer luxury car when you're older?
. . . . . . . . .

Yue Lingshan has stocks that were once worth over 100,000 yuan, so of course she is most concerned about when Southwest Heavy Truck will be able to resume trading. But what others are concerned about is something more "great."

Businesses need to produce goods, workers need to eat, and local governments need to collect taxes. The collapse of a large enterprise has far-reaching consequences.

More than half a month after Southwest Heavy Truck was investigated, it was finally determined that the company's problems were too big and too numerous to be "self-healed" on its own. It needed strong external support to be able to come back to life and resume normal operations.

As soon as this news came out, Southwest Heavy Truck's various creditors became anxious.

The bank, having received the news immediately, rushed to the scene, marking all the factory buildings and equipment with ownership tags and even sealing them off. Meanwhile, the suppliers, holding their invoices, were sleeping soundly outside the finance department.
Out-of-town dealers who heard the news rushed over because they had paid deposits months in advance. They were fine with not being able to get the cars now, but at least they wanted their deposits refunded!

But Southwest Heavy Truck is too busy to refund deposits right now. They can't even pay their workers' wages. Tens of thousands of workers are like a powder keg that could explode at any moment. Who do you out-of-town dealers think you are?
But misfortune never comes singly. Several car companies that had previously expressed interest in acquiring Southwest Heavy Truck were also frightened by the ever-deepening and increasingly dark hole it was in. They all backed out, not caring about the amount of investment or even if it were given away for free, they all shook their heads and showed no interest.

A goddess appears glamorous and charming on the surface, but a credit check reveals that her Alipay, gold bar, and online loans are all overdue. How much courage do you have to take her on?

It's unbearable for anyone to suddenly find themselves ignored by everyone, but reality is reality. While the goddess herself remains slow to react and unperturbed, her parents are already furious.

As a result, Li Ye received a series of phone calls from people asking if he was willing to marry the goddess from Southwest Heavy Truck.

"President Li, Southwest Heavy Truck has a history of cooperation with you, and some of their current managers are key personnel from Beijing, so your cooperation is a natural and logical step."

"Several car companies have recently expressed interest in cooperating with Southwest Heavy Truck. If you don't make a decision soon, others might beat you to it."

"."

"I'm so sorry, we're currently busy with a new project, and both funding and manpower are very tight. We won't delay the development of Southwest Heavy Truck."

"Oh, it's all about mutual development! You said back then that after you separated, you each had another competitor. It's mutually beneficial for you to cooperate."

"We're just too busy, too busy!"

Faced with all sorts of excuses, Li Ye didn't believe them at all, and rejected them all by saying he was too busy.

But the more Li Ye refused, the more persistent they became. Moreover, some of them were incredibly resourceful, managing to connect with the Asset Management Bureau in Beijing through the local Asset Management Bureau in the Southwest, seeking an opportunity for a "second collaboration" with Jingnan Group.

Wen Guohua is currently in charge of the car import project of Jingnan Group, so after a little effort, the task of coordination and negotiation fell to him. He then immediately informed his brother-in-law, Li Ye.

"Hey, Li Ye, Southwest Heavy Truck has delivered itself to our doorstep. Tell me what conditions you want first, so I'll have a better idea of ​​what to expect."

Li Ye chuckled and said, "Brother, last year they refused the kindness from the capital. How come the people in the capital are so magnanimous? They agreed so readily?"

When the company was transferred to local authorities, the Beijing authorities extended an olive branch to Southwest Heavy Truck, requesting that they not separate from the Light Truck Company and be placed under the local management of Beijing. They were encouraged to make any conditions or requests they had.

However, the Southwest region was unwilling, and in the end, Southwest Heavy Truck was transferred to the Southwest local government. In just over a year, things have come to this point.

This is like breaking up for a year and then asking to get back together. Things have changed, and the situation has reversed. If the people in Beijing had any temper, they wouldn't have agreed so readily.

You should know that people who work in government agencies are very vengeful. If you don't give me face today, I might get the chance to make you pay dearly the next day.

Wen Guohua chuckled and said, "There's no such thing as broad-mindedness! It's all about weighing the pros and cons. Didn't I tell you a few days ago? Southwest Heavy Truck needs to put out the fire, so we need to prioritize the overall situation."

Li Ye immediately understood. A few days ago, Wen Guohua had told him about Southwest Heavy Truck's need to "suppress trending topics," so he guessed that a powerful figure had mediated and resolved the previous grievances.

Li Ye thought for a moment and said, "Brother, the situation at Southwest Heavy Truck is very complicated. We don't have time to argue with them in detail. I'll just offer 30 million to buy out all the troubles. No matter how much debt or dispute they have, it's all irrelevant to us."

In addition, I can retain all the front-line workers at Southwest Heavy Truck in principle, but I will only retain 20% of the management personnel, and I will decide on their job positions.

Wen Guohua said in surprise, "You only have these two conditions? Li Ye, don't be too generous. We're just covering for the government, we can't let ourselves suffer losses."

Li Ye smiled and said, "If these two conditions can be met 100%, then it's really not a loss."

The two conditions proposed by Li Ye seem simple, but they are actually very difficult to implement.

Southwest Heavy Truck's various debt disputes are too complicated. If they cannot be "packaged" out, they will inevitably cause endless troubles in the future.

Just like getting married, the dowry, hardware, car and house are the obvious "big money" that can be seen at a glance, but there are countless "small money" that cannot be seen, such as clothes, wedding dress, wedding car, banquet, money for changing the address, money for leaving the mother, red envelopes for blocking the door, and iPhone 17 for the sister-in-law.

So you might as well buy it out now for a fixed price, like 300,000 or 400,000, to avoid feeling more and more disappointed and regretful as you calculate the final price.

As for retaining only 20% of the management personnel, it was a helpless move by Li Ye. If he said he would not retain any of them, it would inevitably cause a strong reaction. But if he retained 20%, then the conflict would shift to how to fight for those 20%.

. . . . . . . . . .

After Li Ye reported the two conditions to Wen Guohua, he thought it would take some time to get a result, since such a complex merger project would involve many steps just to go through the procedures.

However, Li Ye never expected that the government could be so efficient these days. Just three days later, Wen Guohua informed Li Ye, asking him to select a suitable management team and prepare to go to the southwest to take over Southwest Heavy Truck.

Li Ye asked in surprise, "Brother, is this a trap? Such a big thing was decided in just three days?"

Wen Guohua laughed sarcastically, "If I hadn't insisted on 25 million, we would have finished negotiating in two days. How about that? I saved you 5 million in one day. Not bad, right?"

"Okay, not bad."

Li Ye simply couldn't believe that the fate of a large factory with tens of thousands of employees could be decided so hastily. Just how anxious and scared were those people?

Whether Li Ye believed it or not, the official notification came down the next day.

Jingnan Group invested 15 million yuan to purchase 55% of the shares of Southwest Heavy Truck, established the group's Southwest subsidiary on the original site of Southwest Heavy Truck, and absorbed Southwest Heavy Truck's production equipment and some personnel.

As for Southwest Heavy Truck's original foreign debt, part of it was converted into shares of the new company, and part of it was assumed by the Southwest Heavy Truck's remaining branch.

No wonder it was resolved in just a few days! Turns out, those who owed it paid it, and those who wanted to renege on it did so!

Li Ye had to admire the ruthlessness of this era. It was not easy to default on the debts of powerful groups such as banks, so he gave them a portion of the shares. If the new company grew and prospered in the future, they could make a fortune.

The smaller creditors are in a worse situation. After a series of mergers and reorganizations, Southwest Heavy Truck has become a shell company. Even if it admits to these debts, what can you do?

Li Ye couldn't manage these situations; he couldn't possibly manage them all even if he wanted to. He only needed to take care of those workers who had worked hard all their lives but were almost destitute.

So after receiving the official notification, Li Ye and Lu Zhizhang led their men to the southwest.

Upon arriving in Southwest China, Li Ye sensed a strong atmosphere of resentment permeating the interior of Southwest Heavy Truck. Many workers gave the visitors from Beijing very unfriendly looks.

Lu Zhizhang had planted spies within Southwest Heavy Truck beforehand, and quickly obtained firsthand information.

“Starting the day before yesterday, some people have been spreading rumors among the workers that we are going to lay off 80% of the workers. Many workers have their whole families working in the factory. Let alone laying off 80%, we can’t even stand 50%!”

"Tch, someone really is up to no good!"

Li Ye smiled sarcastically and ordered someone to immediately draft a notice, which was posted that afternoon.

The notice was simple: the new factory has a sufficient number of frontline worker positions, and as long as workers abide by the new factory rules and regulations, they will not be laid off.

The second point of the notice was even simpler—everyone would receive a month's salary the following morning.

Originally, the workers at Southwest Heavy Truck, instigated by certain individuals, viewed Li Ye and others as enemies. However, when the payroll announcement came out, everyone erupted in enthusiastic cheers.

Ordinary workers don't actually have that much demand. Getting promoted and making money? They might think about it occasionally, but most of the time they are more concerned about whether they can feed and clothe their families.

Li Ye's solution was also very practical: whether you work or not doesn't matter, just give you a month's salary first, so that your family won't go hungry.

This one trait alone makes him ten times more righteous than Shang Bin and Dong Shan were before.

(End of this chapter)