Restarting life in Siheyuan

A figure left the teahouse and entered an ordinary hotel. After some simple arrangements, he entered the room and stayed there for more than two hours until an attendant came in to report.

"We have investigated and found out what the situation is."

"We don't have a branch here. We got the information from the market. This company does exist and its business scale is not small."

Although he believed that Zhu Xuefeng would not lie to him, for the sake of safety, he still had someone check Dongsheng Company.

"That means there is nothing wrong with this company. It is engaged in foreign trade transactions."

"This company is indeed fine. It is now well-known in Hong Kong. It is mainly engaged in foreign trade transactions. The main traded goods are motorcycles, radios, clothing, local specialties, wood, minerals, etc. There are many varieties. In addition, it has been published in Hong Kong newspapers. The boss of this company has also cooperated with several financial groups to form an airline. The route is expected to be put into operation next year."

"Is the Hong Kong government so lenient towards them? Can they still allow Huaguo to come here and start an airline? The people of Huaguo are very capable."

These news greatly surprised Black Shadow. He really underestimated the Flower and Fruit people. In order to break the blockade, he also contacted many companies outside and opened up many channels. However, in order to avoid surveillance and sanctions, the amounts were very small and could not solve the current difficulties at all. He did not expect that the Flower and Fruit people in the same situation could not only purchase bulk food openly, but also cooperate with British capitalists to open up new routes.

"There must be something I don't know about this, Yinghao, do you think we need to deploy personnel here to collect intelligence? I think this place can also be a breakthrough for us. If our people want to survive and the country wants to develop, this place is very important. Moreover, I am very curious about this company. Where did they get their ability?"

He was very curious. He had already put forward a demand for tens of thousands of tons, and the other party, apart from requiring payment on time, did not raise any issues with bulk grain purchases and ocean freight. This proved that all their business activities were recognized by the Hong Kong government and that they were quite powerful.

Not everyone can transport tens of thousands of tons of ocean freight, at least not now. Not to mention the ocean freighters, even the navy was almost destroyed last time, and there has been no relief in these years, and they are not able to add a single new ship.

"But we don't have that kind of money. We have already investigated and calculated that maintaining a team of 20 people here would cost about $30,000 per year."

Black Shadow was in a lot of trouble, as he had a sum of money in his hands, about 1.2 million US dollars, but this was related to his foundation. It was the maintenance fund for the guard corps he was in charge of, and he could not embezzle it easily.

He was already twenty years old and had to make some achievements to secure his position. This was the main reason why he had chosen a different way to come to Hong Kong. Getting several hundred tons of grain from Huaguo was indeed an achievement, but those were not his.

"First, arrange for a team of five to stay and allocate $8,000 per year to speed up intelligence gathering and find opportunities and directions for cooperation. We must create a breakthrough for us. Later, send a few economic experts to investigate and consider how to operate according to the situation. That's it for now."

After much consideration, Black Shadow made a decisive decision to set up an intelligence team. If Huaguoren could do it, there was no reason for him not to give it a try.

The black shadow returned to the room again and this time it took a long time before he walked out of the room. He looked at his manuscript again and handed it to his entourage.

"Yinghao, have them send this back quickly. Arrange double shifts tonight. No matter what time it is, inform me immediately when you receive the news."

...

In an office in Rangcheng, a middle-aged man looked at the urgent telegram he had just received, took out his pipe out of habit, and then found a Cuban cigar...

The office was very quiet and it was completely dark. The man stood up and glanced at the stars that had quietly appeared outside the window. He had been weighing the issue for a long time.

"This idea is quite interesting. I didn't expect that he could find a new breakthrough when so many channels failed to work."

He put down his pipe, quickly drafted a document, and pressed the pager on the desk.

“Someone come…”

The guards from the escort brigade outside quickly appeared. Ever since the big purge six years ago, he has always been surrounded by a escort brigade, which was one of the reasons why he arranged a guard regiment for his son.

"Send this back quickly and inform Comrade Li Minghao to come see me immediately..."

...

"Okay, my family agreed with my suggestion and gave me full authority to conduct this negotiation. They also gave me strong support. That's great."

After reading the telegram, the black shadow stood up excitedly and said, "Comrade Cui Yinghao, I order you now to contact Miss Wu as soon as the sun rises. No, no, no! Wait!"

"There's nothing to do tonight, go get some rest and we'll talk about it tomorrow."

He was indeed a little too excited. The black shadow secretly reminded himself that he had a heavy burden on his shoulders and he had to remain steady and wise. The impulsiveness of youth was not suitable for him. This was a negotiation involving tens of millions of people and he could not be impulsive. Converted into Hong Kong dollars, the total amount would reach several hundred million.

Zhu Xuefeng, who had just completed a transaction worth hundreds of millions, had calmed down. The two of them washed up and lay in each other's arms again.

"Hubby, if they come again, I'll really have to deal with it alone."

"Of course. You are the head of the trading company, and I am just a student here to inspect. It would be unreasonable for me to interfere in such a big business."

"Hubby, you are such a jerk. You always like to hide behind others and do bad things."

Zhu Xuefeng was moved again by the fragrance of the beauty beside him. He turned Wu Qianqian over, hugged her from behind, and said with a wicked smile.

"Is that so? You don't like it!"

Wu Qianqian was so frightened that her soul was about to fly out of her body. She kept begging for mercy, "No, let's talk about business..."

"In bed, this is where we get down to business..."

After a long time, the two calmed down again and hugged each other casually. Wu Qianqian no longer had the energy to ask about the subsequent arrangements, but Zhu Xuefeng was still in high spirits. However, he could do nothing but hug each other gently.

"He will definitely come to you. Don't have any baggage. Just treat it as a normal business. Whatever happens, buying food for them is a big favor to them. So you should make the money you deserve. This person's family should have a lot of gold and silver mines. Judging from the tone of his voice, he should be reluctant to give it up. There is no need to force him."

"I see. My husband has set his sights on their gold mine."

"I can't hide anything from you. It's not a good thing for a woman to be too smart."

"Then just make me stupider. People say that women become stupider when they get pregnant. Isn't it said that pregnancy makes you stupid for three years? After giving birth, you will be stupid for another three years."

Yes, Wu Qianqian is not young anymore, she is two years older than Zhu Xuefeng. People nowadays get married early, and most of those of Wu Qianqian's age already have children. In the past few years, Wu Qianqian was only focused on climbing up the career ladder at HSBC and did not consider her personal affairs. She had no hope of following me for the past two years.

"Want a baby?"

The man leaned over, looked into their eyes, and asked gently.

"Husband, don't look at me like that. I was just saying it casually. The company is so busy right now that there's not even a replacement. I dare not have a child. I won't have time to accompany her, and it will delay the child's growth." Although Wu Qianqian denied it, she even considered the child's growth. It is impossible to say that she has never thought about this issue before, but now is not the time. Wu Qianqian can realize it, and Zhu Xuefeng can only sigh that his woman is sensible.

"Hubby, let's stop interrupting and get down to business."

"Well, you talk and I'm listening." Zhu Xuefeng felt a surge of pity in his heart. He supported his head with one hand and leaned over to gently stroke Wu Qianqian's hair. Wu Qianqian felt the man's love and was a little moved, but still tried to stay awake.

"Hubby, I'm not worried about the specialties. The Japanese people particularly value Korean ginseng, and the gems are also particularly popular among Europeans. There's no problem with the caviar, but if he brings other minerals, I won't be happy.

Zhu Xuefeng was a little out of his element at the moment, and seemed a little surprised. "Why are you not happy? Isn't it all about making money?"

"The minerals are cheap and take up a lot of shipping capacity. Now we don't have a shipyard and we don't have a fleet. It's very tight to rely on Chen Dong's fleet alone, and you don't agree to entrust it to someone else."

Of course, this kind of thing cannot be delegated to others. The cargo ship has to be delivered to the other party's port, so it must be done by a reliable person.

"Think about it. If we can take over the steel mill as you said, then the ore will have a ready-made user. There's no need to ship it out for sale. There won't be any problem now, right?"

Wu Qianqian moved in the man's arms and found a more comfortable position to lean against.

"Hubby, have you thought about this a long time ago?"

"How is that possible? I didn't know I would meet him, and I didn't know he wanted to sell the ore. In fact, they also have a steel plant. You can ask them to do the rough processing before shipping. This will save trouble and be more covert. You can just do the fine processing when you come back."

"Well, that's good. After thinking about it, I think there are still some problems with the transportation capacity. We can't stop selling food to the country."

Zhu Xuefeng slapped his butt in annoyance, "Why do you even need to ask? Helping him delay our own important work, isn't that missing the point?"

"I'm not stupid, I'm just asking."

Wu Qianqian closed her eyes, turned over, and found a comfortable position to continue snuggling. "But there may be a problem with transportation capacity. If you didn't agree, I wouldn't want to take his business. In grain trading, the middleman makes too little profit. Besides, there is no way to sell ore for the autonomous region. This thing takes up transportation capacity and doesn't make money. When Chen Dong and others go to dig guano, they will definitely take a few ships with them. Our own fleet is ruined now, and there will definitely not be enough large ships by then. Transporting food for him will delay our own money."

Yes, now they have to ship goods to Fuso, North America and Europe every month, and all the ships are large. In order to avoid empty trips, they just happen to transport a lot of food back to the country. If they want to do this for him, all the cargo ships coming and going will have to squeeze out the boats to transport goods for them. Chen Dong’s fleet must be tight, and he doesn’t have many large ships.

"Didn't I tell you that they have their own smelter? Let them make steel or iron billets directly and then transport them. Forget about the raw materials. It does take up too much transportation capacity and increases costs. We can go to the Hong Kong government in a few days and ask for another piece of land, or just buy the current Xiangjiang Steel Plant. This way, they don't have to transport ore, which should save a lot of transportation capacity."

"I think there is hope for buying the steel mill. In the past, they had demand for shipbuilding, so the steel mill orders were OK. In recent years, these demands have disappeared, so they rely on the current real estate demand to survive. We can still talk about it, but forget about asking the Hong Kong government for land. We have obtained two plots of land, but we have only been greening them and not developing them. The Hong Kong government is watching them."

Regardless of the Hong Kong government's attitude and since there is no legal provision prohibiting the hoarding of land, they just keep an eye on it. Everyone does the same. Several real estate companies that have acquired the land are eager to start projects.

"Don't worry about it. Just give it a try. It seems that building a steel plant is a matter of time. If it is built, the autonomous region can also smelt iron embryos and send them over. It will save trouble. It will also be good if we don't have to sell the minerals to Fuso in the future."

In the past, the autonomous region had no smelter and could only sell minerals. Although Zhu Xuefeng requested that mineral exports be restricted, a lot of iron ore was still sold in order to have funds to develop the autonomous region. Now that there is a smelter, of course they will not sell it anymore.

"Send a telegram to them and tell them to process the wood into squares before selling it. This will reduce the transportation cost and also sell it at a higher price. The lumber mill over there is now able to process the wood."

"Well, I mentioned it to them last time. Selling trees is too unprofitable."

Fuso now imports large quantities of timber, and even leaves its own trees uncut. The autonomous region cannot compare with it. If it wants to develop, it can only rely on export resources for subsidies in the early stages.

"Husband, you said they are so short of food, can the autonomous region use the food to hire them to work? I heard that there is a serious shortage of labor for road construction there."

Zhu Xuefeng patted her white buttocks excitedly, "Yes, you are really considerate, this is a good idea. If we can have 10,000 or 20,000 people to help build the road, I estimate that Li Jun and his team's westward expedition mission can be completed much earlier. This is a good idea. Qianqian, tell me, what reward do you want?"

Wu Qianqian closed her eyes in fear, "Hubby, just reward me by letting me have a good sleep. Maybe they will come to our house tomorrow, and you don't want your woman to go to see them listlessly. You will lose face then."

"Little demon, I won't bother you. I just want to know that the current grain production in the autonomous region can support millions of people. I need Song Yan and the others to think of a way to attract more people."

I don’t know how the last arrangement is going. This kind of remote control, without the real-time communication means of later generations, is indeed very troublesome.

The unrest and demonstrations in the south are a golden opportunity for the autonomous region. There are also a large number of overseas Chinese in the south, more than the total number in the north. It is said that there are millions of overseas Chinese. They occupy businesses and banks, as well as a large number of factories and export industries, and have enormous wealth. If these people can migrate here, the development of the autonomous region will inevitably be greatly accelerated.

The autonomous region is now seriously short of population. We are not worried about not being able to feed them. After conquering Jiesha, we have obtained countless suitable lands for development into fertile fields, but we are short of labor. The autonomous region does not have much else now, but there are many mountains, mines, trees, land, and food. The population is relatively small. "

I have an immigration plan, which is now being implemented by Zheng Xun, but it will take three years, which is too long. There has been some success in attracting people from the country, including nearly a thousand people who took the initiative to stay and continue the construction. But considering the current huge labor gap, a thousand people are still too few, and many of these thousand people will go back after the construction is completed.

If the South develops as it has historically, there will be major changes in a few years, and those overseas Chinese who migrated there early will lose their wealth and freedom and become second-class citizens.

There are quite a lot of people here, close to one million, but it's a pity that there is no way to lure them here now. There is no shortage of all kinds of talents here.

There is a long way to go! Zhu Xuefeng sighed. Many things cannot be done openly now. "Qianqian, when you negotiate with them, you can do this..."

At noon, Wu Qianqian received a call, and the other party said that he wanted to discuss cooperation in detail with Dongsheng Company.

Zhu Xuefeng stayed alone in the Repulse Bay, boredly perfecting the blueprints. The blueprints were not complicated, they were all some mechanical and electrical things. They were originally prepared for shipyards and docks, and were dock take-off and landing equipment used to improve loading and unloading efficiency. They were not difficult to make, and there was something square, which was a container. Containers had not yet been introduced in current shipping, and no one knew that the emergence of containers was an important milestone in changing shipping.

Zhu Xuefeng knew that all shipping from North America now was done by bulk carriers, and the transportation cost was extremely high. The shipping cost for one cubic meter of goods was about thirty to fifty US dollars. But with the advent of containers, it could be turned into box-type shipping, and the cost could be reduced to one seventh, that is, five to seven US dollars. This was Zhu Xuefeng's ultimate trump card for acquiring the shipyard and developing ocean shipping.

With containers and loading and unloading equipment, loading and unloading efficiency can be improved countless times, avoiding the waste of idle time. You know, the waiting time for two loading and unloading times is sometimes longer than the shipping time.

Taking a one-way shipment to North America as an example, the sailing time is affected by the climate, and the sea voyage usually takes fourteen to sixteen days. However, from loading to unloading, it usually takes more than fifty days. The extra thirty days are the biggest bottleneck restricting the cost of shipping.

With containers and supporting loading and unloading equipment, all these problems can be easily solved. In the same amount of time, Dongsheng can make two and a half trips while others can make one trip. No other shipping company can match this profitability.

Let's talk about Hong Kong's current loading and unloading capacity. Although the Wharf Terminal boasts that it can unload 10,000-ton cargo ships in three days, the waiting time is usually seven to ten days, sometimes even longer.

But even so, there are no large cargo ships going to the other two docks to unload cargo. The inconvenience of docking for increasingly large ships is a major flaw of the two shipyards. This is because they have not kept up with the development of the times and have not updated and built suitable deep-water berths in a timely manner.

The emergence of containers can also avoid various accidental losses during transportation, prevent goods from being collided or lost, and reduce seawater pollution to goods. These are all important factors that push up the cost of ocean shipping. With compliant cargo ships and containers, space utilization can be greatly improved, and shipping costs can be reduced to a level that outsiders cannot imagine.

Originally, the negotiations failed and these drawings would not be used for the time being. However, Comrade Yuri's proposal to exchange iron ore for food aroused Zhu Xuefeng's interest again. The drawings included loading and unloading equipment and various cranes, etc., which could be produced slowly by themselves.

(End of this chapter)