money player

Xian Yaowen and his friend were busy until noon, then they crossed the street to the Bank of Taiwan cafeteria for lunch.

The location of the Prince Enterprise is good, but it also has its disadvantages, that is, it is not very convenient to eat. There are only stir-fry restaurants nearby. Even if three or four people dine together, the average cost per person is six or seven yuan. This cost is obviously too high and not affordable for ordinary employees.

Valerie approached Bank of Taiwan to have a chat, and in exchange for providing 200 kilograms of affordable pork every month, she secured the qualification for Prince Enterprise employees to eat in the Bank of Taiwan canteen, and the food was cooked using the Jiangsu and Zhejiang stove.

The backbone of Bank of Taiwan are all people from other provinces, and more than 80% of them are from Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. Even the chefs in the cafeteria are half from Jiangsu and half from Zhejiang. It can be said that Bank of Taiwan is a small world for people from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. However, Bank of Taiwan also has employees from the province, and most of them are at the grassroots level.

Due to the disharmony between Taiwanese and non-Taiwanese people, and the fact that people from Jiangsu and Zhejiang dominate the Taiwan banking industry, non-Taiwanese people are blatantly discriminated against by people from Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Xian Yaowen and his companion came to the cafeteria, holding enamel basins and dining tickets specially printed by TaiBank for Prince Enterprise, and stood at the end of the line waiting for food.

Eating is a time to relax. Many people in the team are chatting in groups of three or four. The only dialect that sounds comfortable is Shanghainese. Other dialects sound like quarrels.

Well, the people from the Bank of Taiwan try to speak softly and pick places with unpleasant accents as their hometowns.

Xian Yaowen, who was listening with his ears perked up, suddenly picked up an accent that made him feel a little uncomfortable. After a little careful analysis, he realized it was a Shaoxing accent. After further analysis, he probably thought it was from Xi Shi's hometown.

Xi Shi was probably extremely beautiful, but her accent was definitely not pleasant. It was basically at the level of “it would be nice if she was mute”. I don’t know how Fuchai, who grew up in the core area of ​​Wu dialect, could like this accent.

Maybe I've heard too many soft ones and I'm not interested in them anymore, so here comes a hard one. Scarcity makes things valuable, and I'm amazed by it.

As the team moved forward, Xian Yaowen found that someone was following him. They were a few women in uniform. They spoke in low voices in a very pleasant Minnan dialect. It was obvious that they were the cashiers at the counter.

After listening to everything he could hear, Xian Yaowen focused his attention on waiting for his meal.

Soon, it was Valerie's turn who was at the front of the line. The person serving the rice, a fat man weighing about 150 pounds, smiled warmly at her. His right hand, which had been shaking violently, suddenly stopped shaking. Pah, four taels of rice went into the enamel basin, and then, splash, a whole spoonful of braised tofu went in. Boom, there was too much salted fish and a piece of it fell out of the basin.

The 200 kilograms of affordable pork is just a public-to-public price. On the public-to-private level, whether it is the canteen staff or the general affairs department above, there is a small token of appreciation.

Valerie walked away and Xian Yaowen filled the empty seat. The rice server's intermittent hand tremor suddenly flared up again. He scooped up three taels of rice with one shovel. When he lifted it up, a corner fell off and poured it into the enamel basin. When the shovel left, it took away another corner.

Damn it, after all this, only 230 grams of rice was served out of 30 grams.

Less than 90 grams of brown rice, how to feed a cat?

The soup spoon was put into the basin, and it was 70% full. It was shaken in mid-air, and 2.5 parts fell off. It was poured into an enamel basin, and there was still a little bit left in the spoon. A rough calculation showed that it was only 40% of the full spoon.

It’s Salty Fish’s turn. Damn, it’s less than one-third of Valerie’s.

Xian Yaowen was too lazy to complain. He caught up with Valerie, holding the enamel basin, and the two of them sat at the only two empty adjacent tables.

As soon as the enamel basin was put down, Valerie teased, "Boss, no appetite?"

Xian Yaowen pointed at the enamel basin and asked, "Our employees can only eat this much?"

"You can't add more dishes, but you can add more rice, but the amount is limited."

“What’s the limit?”

"one third."

Xian Yaowen frowned, "120 grams of rice is not enough to fill me up."

Valerie turned to look at the female cashiers who were walking towards the empty table next to them. After they sat down, she pointed at an enamel basin and said, "They have even less food. They have to wait until the people from Jiangsu and Zhejiang finish their meal before they can get more."

Xian Yaowen glanced at the enamel basin and estimated that the rice was about 60 grams. "Can I add more rice every time?"

"Very little. Even people from Jiangsu and Zhejiang can't eat enough." Valerie pointed to the box on the right, "Only the people inside can eat enough."

Xian Yaowen nodded and didn't ask any more questions. He could give the answers to what he wanted to know.

The root cause of the short supply of rice was Chiang Kai-shek. Without mentioning other aspects, just talking about food, Chiang Kai-shek was quite frugal and ate very little. When the slogan of "overcoming difficulties movement" was shouted out, the Bank of Taiwan naturally had to follow Chiang Kai-shek's example.

As for why there is less rice and no coarse grains mixed in, it is most likely because of the "farting" effect of sweet potatoes. After all, a bank is a high-end place, and it is unacceptable to have constant fart noises.

After eating a few mouthfuls of rice with braised tofu, Xian Yaowen said, "If Prince Enterprises borrows money from the Bank of Taiwan, what is the lowest interest rate it can get?"

"3% monthly interest."

"Single interest rate?"

"Yes."

“Is this the interest rate for commercial loans?”

"The preferential interest rate is only available to the Shanghai Gang. The normal monthly interest rate is 4%."

Xian Yaowen chuckled and said, "36% annual interest is still a preferential interest rate. It seems that opening a bank in Taiwan is the best business."

"It's better to open a money shop than a bank. The money shops on Dihua Street have a monthly interest rate of 5% and are denominated in gold and US dollars."

"I know the money houses. They don't have that many positions. They are engaged in short-term lending business. A monthly interest rate of 5% is not excessive."

"In Kaohsiung, pawnshops and shipping companies charge monthly interest rates starting at 6%, with interest compounded every 10 days; in rural areas, loan sharks charge monthly interest rates starting at 8%, with the highest being 15%."

Xian Yaowen was surprised and said, "The interest rates in rural areas are a bit exaggerated. What do farmers usually use as collateral?"

“Rice harvest.”

“And the rice?”

"uh-huh."

"Under normal circumstances, the annual interest rate is 180%. In times of scarcity, borrowing one dan and returning two dan is considered light. The landlords here are greedy and it's a bit unpleasant."

"I don't think it's excessive. God's servants charge farmers 150% annual interest, with additional conditions." Valerie said disapprovingly: "Jewish money lenders charge farmers 200% annual interest."

"You are talking about the enclosure movement. Whether it was the servants of God or the Jewish moneylenders, the boss behind them was God. The former was grain lending, while the latter was short-term lending to tenants to renew their leases. They were different in nature and occurred at different times."

"Boss, do you mind if I say Jewish moneylender?"

"No, I'm just reminding you that when there's no need to consciously slander a group of people, you should be as objective as possible in your discussion so that you can have the most accurate understanding and judgment."

"Yeah, I'll pay attention."

“Is there any possibility of a lower annual interest rate than 36%?”

"Yes, but it is not targeted at individuals. Party-run enterprises, US aid projects, military units, and Kuomintang party offices can all receive political privilege exemptions, and the interest rates are very low."

“How low?”

"There's no way to find out."

Xian Yaowen nodded, but his eyes were looking at the two people walking towards him. The one in front was a middle-aged man wearing glasses, about thirty-seven or thirty-eight years old. He looked at him with a smile on his face.

He knew the other party, Yu Guohua, the vice president of Taiwan Bank.

He put down his chopsticks, stood up, and when the other party came closer, he greeted, "Manager Yu."

"Mr. Xian, come over for dinner?"

"Yes, Manager Yu is eating at this time?"

"I was so distracted by trivial matters that I forgot about meal time." Yu Guohua pointed to the private room, "Mr. Xian, come over and eat with us?"

"I've already eaten half of it, so I won't bother you anymore. I'll host you another day, and I hope Manager Yu will come."

"Mr. Xian is treating me, I will definitely come." Yu Guohua nodded slightly, then nodded to Valerie, "Ms. Hobson."

"Manager Yu."

"You two take your time eating. I'll go get the food."

"Manager Yu, take care."

Watching Yu Guohua take a few steps, Xian Yaowen sat back in his seat and continued eating, without any ripples in his heart.

Yu Zuoping, the father of Chiang Kai-shek, was a middle school classmate of Chiang Kai-shek. He worked as a secretary for Chiang Kai-shek and died unexpectedly during the campaign against Chen Jiongming. Chiang Kai-shek treated Yu Zuoping's children as his own and took great care of them, especially Yu Guohua, whom he cultivated with all his might.

Yu Guohua lived up to Chiang's expectations and was a natural student. Although he had a lot of wandering in his youth, he graduated from Tsinghua University at the age of 20 and followed Chiang Kai-shek around. On the eve of the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the 30-year-old Yu Guohua went to Harvard and the London School of Economics for further studies. After returning from his studies, he entered the financial system and became a financial technical bureaucrat, and also Chiang Kai-shek's financial steward.

Yu Guohua is capable, has a backer, and has real power. He is in charge of allocating U.S. aid funds, and there are no rumors that he is greedy for money. Such a person is not easy to deal with. Don't be fooled by his polite words just now. He may not come if you really want to invite him.

There is no need for Xian Yaowen to make friends with Yu Guohua for the time being, so he can put this difficult person aside for now.

Among the businesses he wants to develop in Taiwan, only Prince Investment has a certain level of technical content, while the others have almost no technical content at all. Whether the business is good or bad, and whether it will be a favor to others, all depends on the word "connections". If the connections are good, the business will go smoothly.

He likes this kind of business environment. After getting through the difficulties at the beginning, the road ahead will be smooth. Success or failure can be judged in a short period of time. Once the networking fails, there is nothing to say. He will spit, curse, "It's so fucking dark," and quickly pack up and leave.

Business tycoons born from this kind of soil should never dream of going global. The most they can do is to expand to other regions with similar soil. Otherwise, they will be beaten so badly that their mothers won't recognize them.

Xian Yaowen's mind started to wander again, thinking about how to keep the management system of Prince Enterprises from being overly Taiwanese. It would be best to divide people into two categories: those who are rooted in Taiwan and those who are going international. The former are responsible for maintaining personal connections, while the latter are mainly responsible for external business, often traveling overseas and being assigned short-term assignments.

In this way, Prince Enterprises can remain highly sensitive both internally and externally, and its path will become wider and wider.

in the afternoon.

While drinking tea and chatting, Xian Yaowen and Valerie talked about the scapegoat system created by Prince Enterprise.

If you walk by the river often, you will get your feet wet. It is impossible to build personal connections without making mistakes. If something happens to the small personal connections, the Prince Enterprise will naturally be implicated. The Prince Enterprise needs to always maintain its purity. Only individuals can be dirty. The biggest crime of the top management is not being able to judge people well and allowing "bad guys" to infiltrate the Prince Enterprise team.

“Do you know what an Edwardian semi-detached house in Hampstead costs?”

"Between £3000 and £5000."

“What about a three-bedroom terraced house in Clapham at the end of the last century?”

Valerie recalled, "1800 to 2500 pounds."

“How much would furniture rental cost for an entire townhouse in West London?”

In 1939, the UK enacted the Rent and Mortgage Interest Regulation Act, freezing most residential rents at the 1939 level. By 1951, residential rents in London were already far below the actual market value, but this law only applied to "unfurnished" homes. How to calculate the "furniture" was a matter between landlords and tenants, and the law did not regulate it.

So, there was a farce that the rent of a broken stool was far higher than that of a villa.

"10 to 20 pounds a week."

“How much is the annual local tax?”

"About £40."

“What if we adopt the strategy of using artworks as tax deductions?”

Valerie said unhappily, "Boss, I said 40 pounds."

"I asked this question unconsciously." Xian Yaowen spread his hands. "In order to provide for the families of employees who have made significant contributions, and also for inflation hedging and tax planning, it is necessary for Prince Enterprises to invest in real estate in London and purchase townhouses and apartments."

“On a large scale?”

“No, it’s controlled within 15% of annual profit, not only in London, but also in New York, Hong Kong and Vancouver.”

"How do you plan for property rights? I mean the staff."

"It depends on how much contribution you have made. You may only have the right to reside, or you may own multiple properties. Let a lawyer design it to avoid unnecessary trouble."

"uh-huh."

"Don't do anything like eating in the Bank of Taiwan cafeteria anymore. Leave it to employees who are going to make significant contributions."

"clear."

"Speaking of meals, 2:30 to 3:00 p.m. is designated as the company's afternoon tea time. The company provides black and green tea and coffee, as well as snacks or cakes. Individual portions cannot be too large to facilitate distribution.

A one-week trial will be conducted before formal implementation to count food consumption. After formal implementation, twice the consumption amount will be prepared every day, and each employee can eat one portion and take one portion home.

Every Friday, we prepare extra snacks that the children like, one for each person, and distribute them directly to each person. "

“Not every employee has children, and the number of children varies.”

“Regarding the different numbers of children, the company only needs to ensure fairness among employees, and fairness among employees’ children is not our concern.

You need to make a good rule, don’t let welfare become dispensable and tasteless, within the cost budget, based on the opinions of employees, food should be updated frequently, snacks should cover as many age groups as possible, and the spiritual needs of children should be taken into consideration. "

“What are spiritual needs?”

Xian Yaowen glanced at Valerie and asked, "When you were a child, did you envy the little girl next door for having things that you didn't have?"

"Is it okay to artificially create conflicts between children?"

"The world is inherently unfair. We can't take care of everyone. We can only take good care of those who are closely related to us. When children are satisfied and happy, it will infect their mothers and fathers." Xian Yaowen turned the pen in his hand, "Even if our employees are not so sensitive, their partners will tell him or her."

Valerie suddenly realized, "It has a subtle influence and increases loyalty."

Xian Yaowen nodded and said, "Prince Enterprise as a whole tends to be a resource-accumulating enterprise. Most of its businesses do not require much innovation. For example, in sales positions, we are engaged in bulk trade, and there are not many customers to develop. The longer a salesperson works, the more customers he will accumulate.

Although we can implement a centralized customer management model to increase the difficulty for salesmen to take customers away, people will have emotions between each other. Some customers may not recognize Taizi Enterprise but the salesmen. Therefore, if an excellent salesman leaves, it means that we lose some customers. "

“Boss, not everyone likes to start a business.”

Xian Yaowen waved his hand and said, "What you said is only suitable for the Western world, not for the Chinese. China is deeply influenced by Confucianism, and the society is based on a differential pattern, emphasizing the difference between relatives and strangers.

In the five relationships of ruler and subject, father and son, husband and wife, brothers, and friends, although responsibilities and obligations are two-way, they are not equal.

Most of the inspirational stories in Chinese culture are about the transformation from being below others to being above others. The core logic of success is to surpass most people, that is, to achieve inequality.

Deep in the heart of every Chinese person lies a dream of becoming a ‘superior’ person. Some people are easily awakened and are willing to work hard for it. Excellent salesmen belong to this category. Starting a business and becoming one’s own boss will become everyone’s obsession.”

"No exceptions?"

"Of course there are exceptions. If there is no external pressure, China's strong will not cooperate with other strong people. Strong people don't like to discuss, they just like me to give orders and you to execute. Therefore, strong people who can succeed often have very strong comprehensive personal abilities.

Some people have a clear understanding of themselves and know that they do not have this comprehensive ability. They will not be inclined to start a business, but will work hard to climb up in a collaborative team. "

"So Prince Enterprise needs to prevent salespeople from mastering comprehensive abilities as much as possible?"

"You can't stop people who are willing to learn. You don't need to try to stop them. Instead, you should establish an efficient collaboration system and instill the importance of teamwork in employees. Let every employee clearly realize that the team should take a lot of credit for their achievements."

Valerie said thoughtfully: "Every link is elite, there is no shortcoming, and no one person stands out too much."

"Your idea is too superficial. Let's end the topic first. Think about it again. Feel free to talk to me when you have a mature idea."

"OK."

The two naturally ended the topic and went about their own business.

Keelung Port.

Three cargo ships of Taiwan's China Merchants Steam Navigation Company slowly entered the port. On the dock, a young woman in a simple cheongsam was holding a parasol and looking at the cargo ships.

The woman was Jiang Shijingyi, the wife of Chiang Wei-kuo.

The cargo ship was loaded with goods worth three million Hong Kong dollars that Jinji Trading Company was responsible for purchasing. Keelung Port is the main port of entry for Taiwan. Unless there are special reasons, cargo ships and passenger ships will clear customs at Keelung Port.

At this time, it was not yet dark and the cargo ship entered Keelung Port. It was obvious that all goods worth three million Hong Kong dollars would go through customs procedures.

Shi Jingyi came here just to clear customs for the goods, purchasing military supplies in the name of the armored brigade headed by Chiang Wei-kuo. In this way, not only would he be exempt from inspection, he would also not have to pay customs duties.

It was not difficult to get things done. Shi Jingyi used her facial recognition to quickly complete the formalities. A 700-pound Jimsi ten-wheel truck painted in military green drove into the dock and began cargo handling operations.

In the midst of the excitement, no one noticed the reflection of the telescope high up, and there was a pair of eyes watching nearby all the time.

Five p.m.

Xian Yaowen chops wood in his garden.

Half of the households in Taipei use charcoal to cook, nearly 30% use coal briquettes, 15% use firewood, and half use kerosene or alcohol.

Charcoal is the main fuel and is rationed by the government at a price of 6 yuan per catty. A well-off family would burn two or three catties a day. If the ration was not enough, they would have to buy it on the black market. Fortunately, the black market price was not expensive, only 8 yuan.

Firewood is not rationed and can only be bought in the market. Agricultural waste such as rice husks, rice straw, and sugarcane bagasse are sold at 1 to 1 cents, miscellaneous firewood is sold at 5 to 2 cents, and pine wood with a higher calorific value is sold at 3 to 4 cents.

Xian Yaowen was chopping longan wood in preparation for a picnic tomorrow.

Longan wood came from Changhua and was sold at a high price. While Xian Yaowen was chopping wood, his mind was not idle. He played a little question-and-answer game with himself - how to easily make NT$50 from fuel.

This game gave him less than half a minute of passion. The answer was too simple. As soon as his mind started working, a feasible plan popped up.

The typhoon season is coming soon. If the rainfall is a little heavier, the charcoal from Taichung and Nantou cannot be transported to Taipei. It is not a problem for the price of charcoal to double in the short term. A rough calculation shows that the daily charcoal consumption in Taipei will not be less than 23 catties. As long as 100 million catties of charcoal are stockpiled, the task will be completed.

Charcoal is not the only material that is out of supply during typhoons. If you think more broadly, there are many other materials that can be stockpiled. It would not be too difficult to earn millions during a typhoon season.

He doesn't want to make money by taking advantage of others' misfortune, but he doesn't mind using this idea to win people's hearts.

"Cai Jintu, you are lucky. I feed the food into your mouth."

Snapped!
The axe chopped down and a piece of longan wood cracked.

"Sir, a Miss Cai Zhixian is looking for you." While sorting firewood, the third sister came over to report.

"Please ask her to come over."

Soon, flight attendant Cai Zhixian came to him with a bag in her hand.

"Mr. Xian, a package from Hong Kong."

Xian Yaowen turned around, wiped the sweat off his face with the towel hanging around his neck, and chuckled, "Thank you for bringing it over. Don't bother me next time. Just give me a call and I'll have someone pick it up."

"It's not a problem. It's just on the way." Cai Zhixian looked at the firewood at Xian Yaowen's feet. He was quite curious that a big boss was chopping wood here.

"Ms. Cai, please go inside and sit down." Xian Yaowen invited Cai Zhixian to go inside. "You came at the right time. You are in for a treat. I just bought a whole lamb and will prepare a lamb feast tonight."

"Mr. Xian, my family knows I'm coming back today, so they must have prepared a meal for me. I can just go back and eat it."

"Don't be polite. It's very rare to eat lamb in Taipei. Stay and eat until you're full. Bring a leg of lamb back for your family."

As they were talking, the two of them entered the living room. Xian Yaowen asked Cai Zhixian to sit for a while while he went into the bathroom to wash up.

When he returned, he opened the package in front of Cai Zhixian and took out one small package after another. (End of this chapter)