1988: Back to the human world for a few years

Chapter 607: Cause and Effect (1)

Two days later, a dusty guest arrived in Texas and slipped directly into Yang Mo's office.

………………

"Hey, hey, hey, Lao Wang, this is too unkind. Last time you sent Huang Dan, this time it's even better, you just brought two bags of Huilong tea to my door... After all, you are a Beijing official now, can't you bring some better tea?"

Yang Mo took the bag and opened it in front of Wang Yinuo without any courtesy, then showed a look of disgust, as if he was going to push this stingy guy out the door in the next second.

Wang Yinuo glanced at him unhappily: "Calling a Shanghainese a Beijing official in front of him, how polite is that?... After all, I am one level higher than you, and it's already very considerate of me that I didn't come here empty-handed!"

After saying that, he stretched out his hand, as if he was going to take the item back: "If you don't want it, return it back, so as not to waste this tea. A small reputation doesn't mean that the tea is bad. You are a tea drinker, but you don't even understand this principle... Hurry up and return it. I am happy to keep it for myself. It is not easy to ask someone to bring this tea all the way here!"

Huilong tea is a specialty of Lianghe County, which is located in Dehong in southern Yunnan, and is exactly where Wang Yinuo went to work in the countryside. Therefore, this tea has a special meaning to him. In addition, transportation is inconvenient nowadays, and it takes some effort to ask someone to bring it from such a remote place. Moreover, this tea is really very good. Although it is not as famous as Longjing and the like, it is much stronger and sweeter than those famous teas. It is really Wang Yinuo's favorite.

Seeing Wang Yinuo reaching out to grab it, Yang Mo chuckled and quickly protected the bag in his hand: "There is no reason to ask for a gift back... Huilong tea is Huilong tea, as long as it is not Oolong tea, this tea... I will accept it with reluctance."

Seeing Yang Mo looking so lazy, Wang Yinuo looked at him speechlessly. The slight sense of strangeness that had quietly grown after not seeing each other for several months disappeared, and they felt familiar with each other again.

"Speaking of which, Lao Wang, I thought it would take you five or six days to reach an agreement, but you came here so quickly... What's going on? Have you come up with a conclusion?"

Yang Mo led the man to the sofa, sat down, then took out a cigarette and walked away.

Wang Yinuo took the cigarette and said in a joking tone, "How dare we delay such an important matter? If it takes five or six days to get a preliminary result, wouldn't the opportunity be gone by then... The Wei family won't sit there and wait quietly for such a long time."

Yang Mo shrugged his shoulders: "As expected, we all hang out in the capital, and we know each other's personalities very well... Indeed, at noon, Wei Hongjun called me again and wanted to invite me to dinner in the evening, but I perfunctorily refused."

Wang Yinuo laughed, but saw his daughter coming over. After handing him and Yang Mo a cup of tea respectively, she quietly picked up a notebook and sat down in a corner of the sofa.

He hesitated for a moment and said, "Yang Mo, how about...let Xiao Xin do it first."

The next conversation between the two was not about family matters, and Wang Yinuo did not come to see Yang Mo just on his own behalf. Today's topic was not only sensitive, but also quite private.

It would be extremely annoying if an unrelated third party was present in such an occasion.

Yang Mo glanced at Wang Xin, who had a stern face, and laughed: "I don't think it's necessary. Didn't you ask me to take good care of our little niece? Only by participating more and listening more can she grow up quickly... Besides, Xiao Xin will go to Xijiang to cooperate with Lao Zhang in the future. After the application for the bonded warehouse is approved, do you think there are some things she can avoid?"

When Wang Yinuo heard this, a trace of reluctance that only an old father could have flashed in his eyes, but he finally nodded: "That's right."

After saying that, he gently put down the lighter he had just taken out, leaving the unlit cigarette between his fingers, obviously worried that his smoking would smoke his daughter who had never looked at him in a good light.

Seeing this, Yang Mo couldn't help but feel a little sympathetic towards him, and immediately got straight to the point: "Old Wang, what do you guys say now?"

Speaking of business, Wang Yinuo's expression became serious, but after glancing at his daughter who had just entered society, he hesitated for a moment. In the end, he did not answer questions quickly as usual, but explained patiently.

(More than a thousand words deleted here)

"That's why I came to you and offered you such conditions."

"Those super-large commodity wholesale centers with incubation effects are one thing, but what's more important is you as a person."

"But this is normal. Although you are only a department-level cadre, at this point, everyone generally regards you as a figure on the same level as You Yakun, or even a very important figure in that level. Therefore, the things used as bait must be of higher weight."

At this point, Wang Yinuo glanced at his daughter, who was in shock, and laughed softly: "As for me, it stands to reason that in everyone's impression, all Shanghainese should be complete ***;"

"But in fact, not all Shanghainese are what you imagine... Especially those who were born before the founding of the People's Republic of China, who have seen all kinds of things in the old society, and who have experienced the earth-shaking changes in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China."

"In fact, this is understandable. Although Shanghai in the old society was the most prosperous place in China, it was also a place where hell and heaven coexisted. The difference between the two extremes was so great that I dare say that no one in any other place could feel it more than those Shanghainese. Therefore, from the moment the soldiers entered the city, the light brought by the new China gradually settled into a belief worth pursuing."

Glancing at Wang Xin from the corner of his eye, Wang Yinuo shrugged at Yang Mo and said, "In ancient times, some prostitutes were more loyal than ordinary decent women after they became good women... Although this metaphor is not very appropriate, it is very vivid when used to describe this group of Shanghainese who were born before the founding of the People's Republic of China."

"And unfortunately, I was one of them... When the soldiers entered the city, I was already more than ten years old. The soldiers who slept on the streets but never harmed anyone left a very shocking impression on me. From that moment on, I never felt that anyone was superior to anyone else;"

"That's why everyone thought I was weak when I was the general manager of the drilling company... It's simple. I always felt that using the privileges of the general manager to force things forward was both a sign of incompetence and a disrespect for all the cadres and employees."

Wang Yinuo sighed a little when recalling the scene in his youth, but quickly picked up the teacup to cover his eyes: "Of course, there are many types of northern schools in Shanghai. There are absolutely moderate technical schools and relatively radical ones. People like me should be classified as moderate reformists... Of course, I am also the most unpopular group of people."

"As the saying goes, poor couples bring bad luck to everything. In our view, humans are creatures that have both animal instincts and social moral attributes. Whether they are humans or animals depends largely on their material living standards and education levels. Therefore, those general debates are actually meaningless. Instead of spending energy on those things, it is better to find ways to do more practical things... So we tend to agree with what the designer said, no matter whether the cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice, it is a good cat... At least in the field of economic construction."

"Fortunately, many of my classmates share the same ideas as me, and some of them have developed very well. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to help you coordinate with the Shanghai Urban Construction Foundation some time ago, or to help you leverage the opportunity of Pudong's development."

After explaining the general background in very straightforward words, Wang Yinuo looked at Yang Mo seriously: "Yang Mo, in terms of status and influence, we moderate reformists are mostly middle-level people. Even if there are some who have developed very well, there is still a clear gap between us and the people of the Wei family;"

"As for the conditions we can offer, we can't even come up with the bargaining chips that Wei Hongjun gave us... There's nothing we can do. We used to focus more on technology and enterprises. Although we have administrative resources in breadth, they are not high enough. Even though the country has finally made up its mind to focus on economic construction in recent years, due to the short time, this situation has not changed much."

After stating his weakness without hesitation, Wang Yinuo stared at Yang Mo calmly: "But, if possible, I still hope that you can cooperate with us on the projects of those super-large commodity wholesale centers in East China... Of course, if you refuse, I won't blame you. After all, there is indeed a gap between us and those people in the Wei family in all aspects."

Yang Mo smiled and said, "I was too embarrassed to ask before, but now I have no choice but to ask. Who are the so-called you? Just mention a few representative figures."

In fact, he had already noticed something when the other party suggested that he should not stay in Zhao's home for too long during his last visit to the capital. However, he could still play dumb and develop himself in the past by relying on his status as a department-level cadre in a central enterprise. But now, there are some things he must clarify.

Wang Yinuo didn't hesitate and blurted out a series of names, and also said their current identities - it was obvious that Yang Mo was balancing the pros and cons, so this kind of thing could not be concealed. There were some people Yang Mo had heard of in the future, and some he hadn't heard of, but without exception, none of them were particularly important at the moment, and the best ones were only at the level of Gao Qingfeng. There were only five or six people at the same level as You Yakun, and there was no one at the level of Zhao Lao.

It is no wonder that the other party is so concerned about those super-large commodity wholesale centers located in the Shanghai economic circle. Several of these people are members of the Shanghai administrative system. A project that can help incubate a large number of main halls is far more important to them than Wei Hongjun.

After a moment of silence, Yang Mo suddenly asked, "What conditions can you offer for cooperating with you?"

Wang Yinuo looked at him with some surprise: "Compared with those people in the Wei family, the help we can give you in terms of administrative resources is really not that great. The only thing we can help you with is in the business and industry fields."

"I won't go into the rest of the details. Apart from promising to help you coordinate some funds and commercial loans as much as possible, the only thing that might interest you is that we can try to help you coordinate a group of Hong Kong manufacturing companies to settle in Texas... Of course, the prerequisite is that their place of registration must be in Shanghai, and the factories opened in Texas can only be in the name of branches or subsidiaries."

Manufacturing companies in Hong Kong?
Yang Mo looked at him in surprise.

Although Shanghai is the largest foreign exchange city in China, it has very intensive business exchanges with Europe, America, Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, and even Africa. Therefore, it is not surprising that it has a relatively abundant client resources of Hong Kong enterprises.
Texas is now actively seeking industrial upgrading and has basically made preparations to undertake the transfer of industries from other places. Therefore, if it can attract a group of Hong Kong companies that have neither lack of market orders nor technology and can bring relatively advanced management experience, it will be very attractive to Yang Mo - and it is different from the attraction of Wei Hongjun. This is an endogenous attraction. It is hard to say which is better or worse. After all, Yang Mo has always believed that a blacksmith must be strong himself.

But the problem is that Shanghai itself has a very developed industrial cluster. Those Hong Kong companies, especially high-quality Hong Kong companies, will give priority to Shanghai, which has a better industrial foundation and more favorable policies, even if they want to set up factories in the mainland. Why would they come to Texas?
You know, when the Greater Bay Economic Zone was being vigorously developed in later generations, many Hong Kong companies did not invest after Huizhou, and were even reluctant to go to Zhaoqing. This was because their main economic connection points with the mainland at that time were Shenzhen and Guangzhou. According to their theory, once the distribution range of a complete industrial chain exceeds 50 kilometers, it will not have obvious investment value... Although this theory seems a bit nonsense in the mainland, based on Hong Kong's short-term and fast business ecology and the long-standing model of front-store and back-factory, you can't say they are wrong.

Now, as the entire East Asian region is reaping the benefits of manufacturing transfer, and adjacent to the mainland, which is a commodity value depression, although companies in Hong Kong do not need to consider the 50-kilometer industrial distribution range limit, one is a port in the south, and the other is inland in the north, so the two are too far apart.

Seeing this, Wang Yinuo smiled and explained: "Yang Mo, you should know me. Since we have said it, it means that we are still relatively confident that we can do it."

"In fact, Hong Kong started out as a manufacturing industry. In the 5s and s, Hong Kong's manufacturing industry was actually very strong, and it is still very strong now. However, after the designer and Elizabeth reached a consensus on the return issue seven years ago, European and American capital, led by the United Kingdom, deliberately manipulated the land development and use rights in the area south of Boundary Street. In the past two years, Hong Kong companies north of Boundary Street have been troubled by super land rents (the northern part of Boundary Street was the main concentration of Hong Kong's manufacturing industry at the time, with more than companies). Therefore, quite a number of companies have considered relocating... some moved to Europe and the United States, some moved to Southeast Asia, and the other part planned to move to the mainland."

"Although it stands to reason that Shenzhen, which is closest to them, is the most ideal place to relocate, or Shekou is also OK, but you know the current situation in Shenzhen and Shekou. The rent is indeed cheap and the policies are also good, but the public security issue still makes people hesitate... We all know that in addition to operating costs and operating risks, companies also have non-operating costs and risks. If the environment is too uncontrollable and the overall cost is too high, it will not be worth the loss. Besides, Shenzhen is inland after all, not the Hong Kong they are familiar with."

"So, by comparison, Shanghai, which is more secure in all aspects and has huge business opportunities, has become the first choice for many Hong Kong companies, especially those manufacturing high value-added products... It just so happens that Shanghai is seeking to fully develop Pudong, and the two sides can be said to have hit it off."

"In order to speed up the development and construction of Pudong, Shanghai has offered generous conditions for attracting investment. In order to ensure the smooth return of Hong Kong, the organization has tacitly agreed to give Hong Kong businessmen far more care and preferential treatment than those of Japanese, Korean, European and American companies. Not only is the land rent extremely low, but the tax exemption and tax refund policies are also given to the maximum;"

"Since the environment in Hong Kong is much more realistic than that in Japan and South Korea, these companies planning to relocate to Shanghai have the same concerns as other foreign companies (as mentioned above), or even more so... If you have dealt with these Hong Kong companies that have been around in the 1970s and 1980s, or even the 1950s and 1960s, you will know that if you don't put forward conditions, they don't even dare to come."

“So, I personally think that many companies can accept the idea of ​​registering in Shanghai Pudong, enjoying the benefits of not violating policies, and opening a branch factory in Dezhou… After all, Dezhou’s public security is already one of the best in the north, and Dezhou is also close to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei economic zone. The markets of the capital and Tianjin are also very attractive!”

Yang Mo suddenly understood.

It is well known that housing prices and rents in Hong Kong are expensive. However, starting from the mid-1980s, they soared in just over a decade to a level that far exceeded the growth rate of residents' income, even to a devastating level. This cannot be simply explained by market supply and demand.

You should know that when residential expenditure exceeds 10% of residents' income, it can be called a land rent economy; if this expenditure ratio exceeds 30%, it can be called a super land rent economy; and in later generations, the proportion of residential expenditure in some areas even reached 76.9%, which is no exaggeration to say that it is a super super land rent economy.

With such an exaggerated spending ratio, it is not surprising that the manufacturing industry is fleeing Hong Kong.

In fact, according to Yang Mo's later memories, of the original 1 manufacturing companies in Hong Kong, about 4/ moved to the mainland, or just over . A considerable number of them were high value-added industries such as electronic products, pharmaceuticals, home appliances, watches, and various labor-intensive industries. Therefore, if Shanghai could selectively coordinate some companies to settle in Texas, it would be a huge help to Texas... Of course, dealing with Hong Kong businessmen also involves a lot of trouble. The negative impact of a large number of Hong Kong companies settling in the local area on the social and cultural ecology is also obvious.

(I will not expand on the history and content of this part, as well as the concept and impact of super land rent, so as to avoid my readers always saying that I am not good enough. If you are interested, you can search for Lu Linyuan’s videos, or just buy his book “Who is the ***” to read… Although I personally do not agree with some of his views, I think he still touched on the depths of this part.)
Thinking of this, Yang Mo hesitated.

If a large number of Hong Kong companies move here, it would certainly be a very helpful thing, but as Wang Yinuo himself said, the conditions offered by the other party are indeed much worse than those of Wei Hongjun.

It's very simple. Yang Mo actually has no shortage of foreign resources. He has been deliberately slowing down the pace of attracting investment in this area in order to maximize value. It's only three months before his southern tour speech, and he will have no psychological burden to introduce a large number of Japanese and Korean companies by then... The only advantage of the condition offered by Wang Yinuo is that the policy consequences of these companies are completely borne by Shanghai. This is a very powerful condition at the moment, but it may not be the case three months later.

But to be honest, the other party's most important bargaining chip is not the conditions they put forward, but Wang Yinuo himself.

Yang Mo, with its unstable foundation, is in great need of talents, especially high-end talents like Wang Yinuo who are experienced, capable and capable of standing on their own. People like him who have rich experience as the head of a central enterprise and have administrative perspective and experience are top talents no matter what era they are in.

In fact, Zhao Yongde's guess was correct. In the past year or so, Wang Yinuo had indeed helped Yang Mo with a lot of ideas. Yang Mo, who benefited a lot from it, also valued this military advisor hidden behind him very much. If Wang Yinuo did not have his own ambitions and ideas, Yang Mo would have used all his means, even if it meant giving up a super project, to find a way to transfer this guy back to his side to form a team.

Therefore, in fact, for Yang Mo, the other party had two important conditions: one was the group of Hong Kong companies that promised to coordinate, and the other was Wang Yinuo.

He doubted whether or not this guy would continue to help him unreservedly as he had done in the past if he chose Wei Hongjun's side; but on the other hand, if he chose to cooperate with this side... not only would both sides remain the same, but Yang Mo's dream might even come true.

On one side is the great temptation of exogenous nature;

On the other side is endogenous supplementation;

How to choose? It’s so troublesome!

At this moment, Yang Mo was hit right between the eyebrows by the bullet shot two years ago.

If I had known earlier, I shouldn’t have helped that fat guy Zhang Wenshun to push Wang Yinuo away!
Ring ring ring~!

As I was hesitating, the ringing of the phone broke the brief silence in the office.

Yang Mo frowned and looked up, and saw that it was the red phone on the desk ringing.

He raised his hand, signaling Wang Yinuo, who was planning to avoid the call, to not avoid suspicion. Then he stood up, walked to the desk and answered the phone.

"Hello... Gao Chang? Why did you think of calling me today?"

Hearing the familiar voice coming from the phone, Yang Mo was surprised and couldn't help but frowning...

(End of this chapter)