1988: Back to the human world for a few years

Chapter 16
As we all know, since the mid-1980s, various dazzling Ponzi schemes have never ceased to occur on the Chinese mainland.

Therefore, when Yang Mo heard about the ridiculously generous "dividends", he was almost certain that this was another Ponzi scheme.

The reason why I use the word "almost" instead of absolutely.

Firstly, although the 10% "dividend" ratio every month is exaggerated, it is almost at the bottom of the Chinese version of the Ponzi scheme 1.0. Even if it is said that this is a normal private financing behavior of the enterprise, it can barely be understood in this era - if you understand the social background at that time, you will know how difficult it is for non-state-owned enterprises to borrow money.

Secondly, the other party described the collective enterprise in Xialiu Village in great detail, and specifically mentioned that they were learning from the "Daquzhuang Model". He really didn't dare to guarantee that this was a simple Ponzi scheme - you know, there are many unconventional ways these days, and the role model that others were learning from had indeed done so in this regard.

Therefore, facing Sun Jian's relentless pressure, Yang Mo felt it necessary to figure out whether the current situation was a Ponzi scheme under the framework of the [Taihui Model] or a wild fundraising model under the framework of the [Hehui Model].

That's right!

Although there is only one word difference between "tiaihui" and "hehui", their natures are completely different.

………………

The so-called "union"
It is an organizational form that originated in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions and has a history of hundreds of years.

To put it simply, you can understand the original cooperative as a group of local economic mutual aid organizations, which are basically organized by some fellow villagers or acquaintances. Each member regularly contributes a sum of money together, and the leader can mobilize all public funds at one time to do things - the money can be used to purchase and hoard some scarce daily necessities, or for investment, or for children's marriage and buying houses, etc.

To a certain extent, the most primitive cooperative operation model has some mysterious internal similarities with the socialist commune system - the same is the unified allocation of part of the assets, the same is for the benefit of the collective, and the same is distribution according to needs.

It can be said that even though the cooperative has taken on an increasingly commercial tone over time, since the president of the cooperative takes turns on duty and is supervised and constrained by subordinate members, most of the concentrated funds are used to do some practical projects, and a certain amount of interest is also paid to the members. From a historical perspective, this can be regarded as a very good mutual aid model.

In fact, I don’t know if it is a coincidence or not, but whether it is the “ordinary 84th faction” or the “educated youth 84th faction”, throughout the 1980s, any private enterprise or township enterprise that made outstanding achievements, its operating model, especially the operating model of funds, rarely had the shadow of the association model - even many local state-owned enterprises have done similar deformation operations.

This may be related to the macro-environment and social environment at the time. After all, in the 1980s, funds were always the scarcest and most difficult resource for enterprises, so seeking solutions from the private sector became an unspoken choice. However, since the millennium, the country's tolerance for private fundraising has become increasingly poor, and it has even almost equated it with illegal fundraising. Under increasingly severe crackdowns, various funding operation models based on cooperatives have gradually disappeared from everyone's sight.

………………

And "lifting meeting",
It is a Ponzi scheme model that makes huge money in the name of economic mutual assistance. Its operation model is almost the same as the "cactus project", "economic forest project" and "aloe vera project" that were once all over the streets and open to ordinary people in later generations.

what is interesting is……

When talking about the emergence of the "Liaihui model", one person must be mentioned - Li Qifeng

It was precisely because this Wenzhou carpenter fully utilized the wisdom of the Chinese people that the imported Ponzi scheme appeared in China in the mid-1980s without any instruction.

Around 1985, this 27-year-old carpenter, who had been thinking about how to get rich quickly due to his low income, finally figured out the "association model" of playing the game of passing the parcel while appearing to be a cooperative. He then began to appoint himself as the leader of the association and vigorously recruited members.

It has to be said that China has never lacked "smart people".

Although Carpenter Li hadn't even thought of a fundraising project at the time, this didn't prevent him from seeing through the weaknesses of human nature - since he didn't have the ability to think of an investment project that could withstand scrutiny and investigation, then just forget about it, pretend to be mysterious, and then blatantly lure people with huge profits!
How high was the interest rate he offered?

Let me put it this way, in the early days, someone took 9000 yuan to join him, and in the second month he got back 12000 yuan including principal and interest - this rate of return on investment would probably make Buffett cry in the toilet.

After two or three times, people's desire to get rich was instantly ignited, and more and more people came to him to join the club, and some even cried and begged to give him money;
In just one year, Carpenter Li illegally raised more than 4000 million yuan - remember, that was in 1985, and the largest denomination of currency in circulation on the market was only 10 yuan. million was enough to fill two entire houses!

If calculated based on purchasing power, the money in this room is equivalent to more than 5 billion in later generations!

Of course, Carpenter Li's farce ended quickly. Just one year later, this huge bomb exploded. Due to its huge and bad social impact, this incident was immediately reported in the China Daily and remained active in major mainstream newspapers for half a year. It also directly promoted the introduction of relevant laws.

It can be said that in that era, almost everyone who had a TV at home or could read a newspaper knew about this event that had shocked the whole country - of course, due to some considerations, under the Spring and Autumn style of writing, most people only knew that there was such an event, but as for how it was done, they basically did not understand it very well.

Therefore, it is very important to figure out whether Sun Jian and his gang are playing the lifting association model or the joining association model.

If it was the latter, although Yang Mo was equally uninterested, he would turn a blind eye and pretend that it had never happened. He would honestly work hard for another month, then return to the General Office after getting the evaluation report and continue to work hard.
And if it's the former... I'm sorry, although he will turn a blind eye on the surface, he will definitely write the materials secretly in the next two days. Once he finds any abnormality, he will definitely sneak back to the company as soon as possible and report the matter proactively - what a joke, any Ponzi scheme will inevitably explode, and the ones involved are nearby villagers. If he is involved in this matter, his career in state-owned enterprises will basically be over.

Again, if you have not experienced this era, you don’t know how important state-owned enterprises, especially central enterprises, are in the North.

………………

Facing Yang Mo's sudden question, Sun Jian was startled at first, but after hiding the abnormality on his face, he laughed: "Master Yang is indeed worthy of being a college student, he knows a lot of things... But I am a driller who does rough work, and I don't understand what you mean by the "Ji Dangjia"... Fortunately, I have seen the name of the "Taihui" in the newspaper, otherwise, after hearing your question, I almost thought it was a Pao Ge Society!"

After hearing these words that seemed contradictory at first glance, the smile on Yang Mo's face became even brighter.

I just asked you which level of "agent" you were, but you even brought up the Pao Ge Society to scare me...

Well, no need to ask, this is probably just a trick.
And you... must be a core member.

Seeing the sunny smile on Yang Mo's face, Sun Jian suddenly had the urge to rush up and smash his face. However, he was an old hand after all, so he could easily see something from Yang Mo's reaction. He sighed helplessly: "Master Yang, I won't lie to you. This is really not an exaggeration... If you don't believe me, I'll take you to Xia Liuzhuang tomorrow and you'll know... Manager Yan's company is really a serious company!"

Seeing Sun Jian's sincerity, Yang Mo almost laughed out loud.

Would you like to go for a stroll around Xialiu Village with you?
Do I look that stupid?
No matter what, this is also the drilling company's operating base. Even if you have great courage, you dare not attack a college student sent by the government here - he really doesn't believe that the dozens of people in the well team are all Sun Jian's die-hard fans;

But it’s different when I go to Xialiu Village. I can just play some tricks and let them arrest me. Then they can use the methods used by the Southeast Asian fraud gangs in later generations, and they will definitely go offline.

Even if you get me killed, you won't be held responsible as long as you cover it up - you didn't do it directly, and there are so many people in the well team to testify for you. Even if the company suspects you, there's nothing they can do. They can then accuse me of "disregarding company regulations and leaving the camp to play without permission." As the drilling company doesn't want to offend nearby villagers too much, this matter might just be dropped.

Sensing the strong sense of caution from Yang Mo, Sun Jian scratched his head in annoyance, and finally became angry: "Forget it! If you don't believe it, forget it... You speak as if someone is begging you!"

After saying that, he walked away cursing, without even bothering to say hello to Tu Lili.

Seeing Sun Jian's reaction that was totally beyond his expectations, Yang Mo was stunned for a moment - he originally thought that even if Sun Jian didn't dare to really do it, he would at least call a few drillers over to stage a show of force oppression for him.

After all, in his opinion, the fact that Sun Jian would take the initiative to recruit two poor college students who were not familiar with the area to join the group must mean that the capital chain of this group is in danger of breaking - whether you like it or not, according to company regulations, since the drill jam has occurred, part of the year-end bonus will definitely be deducted. In this case, Captain Sun will naturally seek new sources of funds.

Again, in Qilu these days, don’t underestimate the influence of a college student in his own village.

………………

After returning to the small camp, Yang Mo made up an excuse to cover up the fact that Sun Jian left without saying goodbye, and then he leisurely ate the chicken butt while wondering if there was any other hidden story behind this.

And the guy who had been an invisible person in the corner far away for the whole day lost 500 yuan. After hearing that the fierce-looking Captain Sun had gone back, he came over with his summer homework.

"Yang Mo...the one just now, is he the Captain Sun that our village chief often mentions?" Kui Wubai looked at Yang Mo with curiosity, his tone full of awe.

"Huh? Third girl, your village chief has a good relationship with him?" Yang Mo frowned, too lazy to correct the girl's increasingly presumptuous way of addressing him, and then tore off a chicken leg and gave it to her.

Kui Wubai is from Changli Village, which is a little bit far from here. Although it is also a nearby village, it is not among the names mentioned by Sun Jian before.

Kui Wubai looked at the chicken leg embarrassedly at first. After all, meat was a very precious thing in the countryside nowadays, and people could only have some meat during festivals. However, when he saw that Yang Mo had already put the chicken leg to his mouth, he took it reluctantly.

While chewing on the delicious chicken leg, Kui Wubai nodded and said, "It's quite familiar. The village chief said that Captain Sun is a good man who is willing to help us get rich together... Not only the nearby villages, but also many people in our village have lent him money... Even my father's passbook was given to him for safekeeping."

! ! ! !
Hearing this, the hairs on Yang Mo's back stood up...

(End of this chapter)