Abandoned the Immortal Cultivator, returned to his hometown to farm and sing

Chapter 1330, Section 1317: A Bigger Deal

Mansour pointed out that when China previously discussed bonded warehouses, free trade ports, currency swaps, and exclusive economic zones with Dubai, it had promised to invest in infrastructure construction in Dubai.

It covers environmental protection, energy, transportation, power supply, water supply, and more.

The infrastructure of a smart greenhouse can be used just in time.

The use of this clause is required.

Dubai has money, but it can't just "spend recklessly," that's called being thrifty.

"This..." Zhang Xuesong and the others were at a loss.

I can't decide.

It's okay, call in more people, call them up.

The next day.

Experts from the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Beijing Think Tank, and even the all-rounder Uncle Li were all present.

They were already prepared and were just waiting for Luo Yihang to reach a preliminary agreement.

The same applies to Mansour's side; he has to report back to China after each meeting.

He also has his own father and older brother as advisors.

Now we move on to the second phase.

The old chieftain Abdullah and the eldest son Amar were also present.

Both sides formed large negotiating delegations.

Mansour then repeated his request.

The Chinese side raised a new question: when the trade port was discussed, there was a commitment to infrastructure investment, but investment is expected to yield returns and require equity ownership. How should the equity ownership be calculated?

Mansour's side is also prepared.

The proposal is to split the entire project in two.

The smart greenhouse itself, along with the water and fertilizer integration, irrigation, sewage treatment, and other intelligent equipment attached to it, are considered agricultural projects.

This portion cannot be used to hold shares.

Other projects, such as photovoltaics, seawater desalination, fire protection, surveillance, and communications, are packaged as infrastructure projects, allowing Chinese shareholders to hold a stake, but not exceeding 30%.
Ostensibly for food safety, this split actually turns agricultural projects into the property of the royal family and nobility, while infrastructure belongs to the government.

These two are different.

After some discussion, the Chinese side agreed.

Getting vegetables and fruits from Dubai is useless; we can't just ship them back, that would be crazy.

Making money is one thing, but there's no need to make money off vegetables and fruits on someone else's land.

It would be better to complete some of the trade port agreements while we're at it.

The basic portion accounts for 43%, which is 172 billion out of 40 billion, and 30% is 51.6 billion.

Then deduct the $51.6 billion in committed investment.

This was successfully achieved.

So how will the remaining 348.4 billion be paid? In cash or under other terms?
Abdullah threw a pile of documents at them with a bang, "Use these as payment. Take whatever you want, we'll charge you 90% of the market price."

What the hell is this?
When I took a look, wow, it was all share documents from various European and American industrial groups.

There are dozens of companies of all kinds, including shares in well-known companies such as Ford, Volkswagen, and Michelin.

Even at a 10% discount, the total would still be over $100 billion.

The Chinese team members subconsciously swallowed.

I knew Dubai was extravagant, but I didn't expect it to be this extravagant.

These are the shares they held but haven't yet cashed out after they and Luo Yihang shorted the European and American Industrial Group.

Dubai and the UAE have no intention of developing industry. Neither their population nor their infrastructure can keep up. They don't even have water. What kind of industry can they develop?

Wouldn't it be better to just honestly mine oil, get involved in finance, or run a tourism business as a middleman?

Keeping these shares only means receiving dividends, and the dividends are hardly any money.

As for selling them to cash out, let's not even talk about the fact that selling is not allowed now. Even if selling is allowed in a few years, as long as they dare to sell, the price will plummet and they'll all be stuck with it.

Selling slowly and steadily? There are simply too many options; it would take forever to sell them all.

Last time, Luo Yihang earned over 10 billion yuan, and he had the least amount of capital.

Mansour's family earned 30 billion.

It's unknown how much the Dubai royal family, other nobles, and the royal families and nobles of several other emirates in the UAE earned from contributing.

Even Europeans and Americans don't know this.

That time, the short selling caused a market crash, and then the market was dumped again. The series of actions were too chaotic. There were countless people trying to profit from the chaos. We can only know the general outline, but we can't find out the exact number.

Anyway, they've already put out hundreds of billions.

This still deducts some company shares that they could actually use.

The costs were already recovered during those two months of volatility; these are all profits. Rather than letting them sit in our hands as assets, we should take them out and exchange them for something useful.

But it's different for the great Eastern power.

These are all high-quality items that you can't buy even with money normally; they won't sell them to you if you want to.

They hold these shares and will never sell them. They don't care about dividends; what they want is a global supply chain layout.

By simply setting up a few layers of overseas shell companies or financial companies to hold shares, no one will be able to detect it.

When there's a major move, like an acquisition, an acquisition, an acquisition, they can jump out and put on a show; it's incredibly useful.

Anyway, these shares are better than cash.

There's a master on the other side.

That's right, Qin Shubao, that China expert, didn't stay here for nothing all these years.

Now, there are shares worth hundreds of billions of dollars in front of them. They want them all, but they can't bear to part with any of them.

But the project only has a mere four hundred... and now it's worth over three hundred billion, not enough to go around.

Look at this word choice, "merely".

Yesterday it was a big deal, today it's a small trinket.

Do we have to choose one over the other?
Adults don't see the concept of trade-offs; they want it all.

The official sent by the Ministry of Commerce was quick-witted and immediately started advocating on behalf of the Chinese side.

"How about a solar power plant? The newest one, with a molten salt tower, it's incredibly efficient. The wind must be pretty strong where you are, how about we build a wind-power complementary system?"

"During the day, we generate electricity to supply the city. If we generate too much, we can use it for seawater desalination. We should build a large seawater desalination plant. You must be short of water there, so we won't waste any of it."

"We can sell the extra electricity we generate, and we can also sell the water. It's easy to sell."

"We also have the technology to raise fish, shrimp and crabs in the desert. Tilapia, grouper, prawns, lobsters and salmon can all be raised. Fish and shrimp excrement is excellent fertilizer, organic fertilizer."

“These things all conform to the doctrine, right? We can’t just eat vegetables and not meat, what if we lack protein? High-tech aquaculture technology produces a lot of products, and we can make money from them.”

"We have vegetables, meat, and fruit, and we can't neglect staple foods either. We also have the technology to grow rice in the desert. With direct seeding and soil improvement, we can transform your wasteland into high-yield farmland. It's not afraid of drought, and the yield is over 500 kilograms per mu. It can also reduce sandstorms, prevent sand erosion, and improve the climate and ecological balance..."

Upon hearing this, Mansur became interested. "Rice? We have our own favorite rice varieties. I wonder if we can grow them. We also really enjoy eating noodles."

The Chinese side didn't hesitate at all, saying, "No problem, we'll do special research for you. If we can't figure it out, we'll cultivate it ourselves. As long as the money is there, everything is negotiable."

As she spoke, she pointed at Luo Yihang and said, "Young Master Luo's skills are renowned; he can get you anything you want."

Luo Yihang could only laugh. "Okay, okay, no problem, leave it to me." The Chinese representative hadn't had enough. After discussing rice, they moved on to the next topic. "I see that agricultural projects will need to source steel pipes, mulch, machinery, equipment, and even cement from here. The shipping costs are considerable. We're good friends, how about we use cargo ships?"

“We have plans to export the vegetables and fruits we grow, right? Transportation is not easy. Fresh vegetables are fragile, and it’s hot where you are. Do you need refrigerated trucks? Also, professional cold storage and vegetable preservation technology.”

"And then there's the packaging. Modified atmosphere packaging plants extend shelf life, make it look more upscale, and can command a higher price. Xiao Luo's company has been using the same technology and equipment all along."

"There are also cooking utensils, a gas stove, a refrigerator, seasonings, bowls, plates, and a steamer for steaming crabs..."

The Chinese side listened intently, their eyes darting around, and they all fell silent.

Ugh, how shameful! They're obsessed with money...
-
But the other side is different.

Mansour and his men were green with envy after hearing this introduction.

Nodding eagerly, wanting everything.

Besides pots, pans, and gas stoves.

They have plenty of these things; Super Oriental Commodity City has them all.

The Super Oriental Commodity City is also Mansour's achievement.

This was the main reason he was able to control the negotiations; his personal relationship with Luo Yihang was a secondary reason.

The royal families and nobles in Dubai and the UAE felt that this young man was not selfish, knew how to share, and thought of everyone when it came to making money.

They're having a blast trading gold.

Those foreign workers and foreigners, with only a few loose silver coins in their pockets, were able to scrape together enough to buy whole pieces of gold.

How did they get their brains? They were born knowing how to do business.

Next, Mansour, with his clever mind, began his performance again.

They proposed that this was a new transaction, therefore new conditions needed to be proposed.

There are two in total.

First, this system, including agricultural facilities, has been successfully implemented in Dubai. When China replicates this model in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, and other countries, Dubai must be involved, investing and holding a stake. The specific amount can be discussed later, but they must have a share.

Hmm, this young man is something else. His local connections are still very limited, and he's already planning to rip off his fellow villagers the moment he picks up a pen.

Abdullah was deeply gratified; his youngest son had grown up and learned to think long-term.

After some discussion, the Chinese side agreed to this.

The original plan was to make Dubai a benchmark and a model.

We're all good friends, so we should definitely take care of our own people, especially those who came first.

It's like spending a fortune to buy horse bones, especially since the fortune was spent on horse bones that the person himself had to pay.

The second condition.

The originally planned 300 square kilometers of grassland is not enough.

Mansour made an outrageous demand: "I want one thousand square kilometers!"

This... I'll have to discuss it with Luo Yihang.

I'm going out for a short meeting.

The main question is about production volume.

"Yield? Ha." Luo Yihang chuckled. "Don't underestimate the yield of Super Malan Grass. I've prepared seeds for 50,000 square kilometers next year, as long as the inulin can keep up, because the compound inulin is extracted from the inulin."

"So, can the production of Jiaoqiqi keep up?" Uncle Li asked.

Luo Yihang nodded, "Of course, we received 17 billion yuan in investment from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, and a total of 15 billion yuan in revenue from the Miracle Grassland and the Ningxia photovoltaic power plant. Nongsheng Group also borrowed 20 billion yuan from banks. All of this money was invested in farm construction. This year, 3 million mu of Jiaoqiqi will be put into production, and it is expected to produce 900,000 tons of rubber, which will directly offset the import volume of natural rubber. Now we are only worried about not being able to sell it."

"So much? It only cost less than 40 billion?" the Ministry of Commerce representative who had been speaking so eloquently asked in surprise, as he was still not quite aware of the situation.

Luo Yihang chuckled, "This thing is just like growing radishes, and it uses all saline-alkali wasteland, so it's cheap."

Everyone gave him two thumbs up in unison. "Young Master Luo is awesome!"

Then the rest is easy: just sell more rubber.

People from all departments are here; we'll go back and submit the application to include tires in the national subsidy program to boost consumption.

There are also tax rebates, subsidies, and increased exports.

There are plenty of tricks up your sleeve.

As for Mansour's conditions...

Upon returning, he immediately agreed.

"One thousand it is fine. We don't need the four billion US dollars for the three million square kilometers mentioned earlier. We'll give you thirteen million square kilometers of grassland as a gift!"

It's so arrogant.

This has become a benchmark.

Super Malan Grass is not sold separately; it is only given as a gift with other items.

The interests of Luo Yihang will be compensated by the project stakeholders.
-
Wait, that was so easy.

There are also unexpected gains.

Mansour kept praising his good friend.

With a quick glance, another new condition emerged.

“I also want willow and peach trees planted along both banks of the Dubai Creek,”

This guy is really taking advantage of my kindness. "What, you want to build a Su Causeway?" Luo Yihang said irritably.

Mansur shook his head. "It's Peach Blossom Island. Brother Luo, you don't know the scenery of Tianhan as well as I do. The peach blossoms and willows are breathtakingly beautiful!"

He even threw in a few words of Chinese.

Hey!
Peach Blossom Island?
Luo Yihang still needs to think about it. It seems to be Sanchagou Reservoir, where there is a Peach Blossom Island scenic area.

Isn't that a farmhouse inn? When did this kid wander over there?
Still peach blossoms and willows in bloom?
"Don't you know that Dubai Creek is a saltwater river? It's essentially the sea, the sea! And the surrounding area is desert! How can we plant willow trees for you?"

Luo Yihang continued to complain.

Mansur shook his head and emphasized, "It's a desert, not a wasteland. They're different."

Is this the key point?
"What's the difference? They're pretty much the same. You can't grow willows in either of them! And you certainly can't grow peach trees!" Luo Yihang felt that this kid was getting cocky today. "Besides, when the peach blossoms are in bloom in late spring and early summer, there's a sandstorm over there. Are you going to eat a mouthful of sand while you're enjoying the scenery?"

Mansour shook his head slightly: "I have 1,300 square kilometers of grassland. I want to enclose Dubai City without sand."

...I forgot about that.

"If we're talking about willows, how about tamarisk?" Zhang Xuesong thought of one, which is drought-resistant, salt-tolerant, and can grow in the desert.

Mansur smiled and countered, "We have tamarisk where we're from. Do you think it's the same thing?"

Zhang Xuesong fell silent. Red willow is a shrub; without "ten thousand green silk ribbons hanging down," it cannot grow "the spring breeze of February is like scissors."

After rejecting Zhang Xuesong's suggestion, Mansur and his two sons discussed it.

It is recommended that negotiations be suspended.

First, they have to digest so many new ideas and discuss them with the domestic authorities.

They also requested a detailed description and quotes for each item.

Secondly, they do desire the peach blossoms and willows lining the banks of the Dubai Creek, and we request that the Chinese side do its best to accommodate their wishes.

“It’s not free; you can pay for it,” Mansour concluded.

You should have said so earlier! It's settled, I'll try my best to get it done for you...

(End of this chapter)