1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 532: Unite all those who can be united.

Ye Yuqing spoke up. I made so many boasts, just waiting for you, Ye Zhiming, to come back and support me. But you went from being a big shot to being a prisoner. Where does that leave my face?
Are you worried about Ye Zhiming's safety?
Unlike Zhai Yuan, Ye Yuqing didn't call the Ural Barracks every week while in Hong Kong.
She was protected and pampered from beginning to end, playing the role of the eldest sister.

When they saw Ye Zhiming again this time, he was still alive and kicking, so there was no need to worry anymore.

In the end, Boss Zhai shouldered everything alone.

Thinking about how her usual indulgence was all based on Zhai Yuan's leniency of seeing through her but not saying anything, Ye Yuqing's feelings became increasingly complicated.

"Idol……"

Ural Hotel, Yekaterinburg.

Ye Yuqing carefully pushed open Zhai Yuan's room door and saw Zhai Yuan sitting by the window, lost in thought. She called out to him in a nasal voice.

Zhai Yuan was stunned for a moment before he realized that she hadn't called him an idol in a long time.

He smiled and turned his gaze away from the square outside the window, beckoned to Ye Yuqing, and reached out to pull her onto his lap.

"Have you finished talking with Ming?" Zhai Yuan asked, his arm around her waist.

"Mmm." Ye Yuqing responded softly, her voice tinged with grievance, "You've been keeping this from me because you were afraid I'd worry, right?"

Zhai Yuan reached out and pinched her cheek, a smile on his face: "There's no point in telling you about this beforehand, since everything's fine now, isn't it?"

Ye Yuqing sniffled and said tearfully, "How could nothing be wrong? I was so stupid before, relying on having a big shot backing me up, and I often acted unreasonably in front of you, thinking I was so powerful. It turns out it was all fake..."

Zhai Yuan was amused by the slightly reproachful and self-reproachful tone in her tearful voice: "Of course you can be so cool~ But it's none of anyone else's business, I love you~"

Ye Yuqing pursed her lips and looked at him, her heart aching and her eyes gradually reddening at his words.

The conversation she had with her boss in the next room had given her a deeper understanding of the world of fame and fortune. Not to mention that Ye Zhiming had just been released and had nothing, even if he did manage to make a name for himself in the arms trade, compared to Zhai Yuan, who controlled the Far East Bank and was tied to the Moscow interest group, it would still be a game for a kid.

But he was always willing to indulge his naive ideas.

Ye Yuqing's full breasts heaved violently a few times, then she suddenly gripped Zhai Yuan's shirt collar tightly, her red lips close to his, pressing them urgently and frantically onto his eyebrows and cheeks.

Zhai Yuan paused for half a second, then, sensing the woman's wild passion, he patted her back with a smile.

It turned out that he had accidentally landed a critical hit.

Between the lips and tongue,

Ye Yuqing's emotions became increasingly out of control. She gripped Zhai Yuan's shirt collar with her fingertips and pulled it outwards forcefully, again and again.

With a crisp snapping sound as the buttons burst, she lowered her head and began to nibble at Zhai Yuan's neck, her delicate white fingers haphazardly caressing his chest.

Zhai Yuan glanced at the torn shirt and said with a helpless smile, "You've ruined my new shirt. How am I supposed to go out and do business tomorrow?"

Ye Yuqing reached behind her back with one hand and tugged at it a few times. Her clothes slipped down, revealing her voluptuous, snow-white breasts to Zhai Yuan.

Her wet breath sprayed onto Zhai Yuan's chest, and she sobbed, "Buy more! Idol~ Buy more!"

The only sounds in the room were rapid breathing and the rustling of fabric...

…………

The passion fades, and silence follows.

After bringing Ye Zhiming out of the Ural barracks, Zhai Yuan did not rush back to Moscow, but instead began preparing for the establishment of a second bank locally.

Far Eastern Bank, Yekaterinburg Branch.

This industrial hub, in terms of resources and local products, surpasses even the capital city of Moscow.

The more troublesome part is that Hong's Trading Company needs to go through another roundabout way to transfer the supplies for entertaining clients.

"Even if it's troublesome, it'll only be for about a year. Let Honghuang think of a solution."

Zhai Yuan then contacted Hong Huang again. After discussing the matter over the phone, Hong Huang, determined to become the biggest middleman in both China and the Soviet Union, set off directly from Beijing to the Northeast.

Originally, there was only one dedicated line: Beijing – Ulaanbaatar – Moscow.
Another dedicated line will be added to Mudanjiang-Vladivostok-Yekaterinburg.

It is worth mentioning that in 1990, this freight train route through Mudanjiang had not yet received official approval and was entirely managed by the Mudanjiang Railway Bureau, which resulted in a relatively high accident rate.

Zhai Yuan had no choice but to subsidize the price again.

Aside from the material cost of around 8000 yuan per ton on average, Zhai Yuan has added a 100% long-distance subsidy to freight charges, risk subsidies, and miscellaneous fees for manual loading, unloading, customs clearance, and storage. Now, Zhai Yuan simply has money to burn but no outlet for it. When he does act, he disrupts the market and almost wipes out the survival of local small and medium-sized traders.

With the preliminary groundwork and preparations almost done, the next step inevitably involves finding connections.

Being far from the capital, Moscow, meant that most of Zhai Yuan's network of connections could not be directly implemented.
But where is this place? Yekaterinburg!

In Yekaterinburg, the most capable leader was undoubtedly Boris Yeltsin, the leader of the radical faction.

Ye Liqing, who was born into a rural family in Yekaterinburg, was expelled from his position as First Secretary of Moscow and sent back to Yekaterinburg three years ago for his harsh criticism of Gorbachev's policies. The following year, he was also removed from his position as an alternate member of the State Council, and his political career hit rock bottom.

Even so, within just one year, due to the flaws in the Soviet system and other problems, the large and small federal states showed signs of disintegration.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Yeltsin once again wielded the sword of reform, winning the election as a People's Deputy of the Soviet Union with nearly 90% approval rating, and returning to the political arena. The following year, Lithuania, one of the Baltic states, declared independence. Yeltsin again criticized Gorbachev, proposing a series of reform measures at the 28th Congress. After the reforms were rejected by the Congress again, Yeltsin announced his withdrawal from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, causing a sensation in the political arena and truly becoming a symbol of the radical faction openly challenging the president of the Soviet Union, enjoying unparalleled popularity for a time.

At this time, Yekaterinburg, with Ye Liqing's support, was even more economically open than Moscow.
More than 20 joint venture or private banks and financial institutions have been established, and more than half of them are owned by Jewish capital.

"Although Comrade Ye Liqing was of Orthodox Christian origin, he was deeply influenced by the Jews around him. Those shrewd capitalists joined forces with him, and in just a few months, Yekaterinburg's transition to the free market surpassed that of any other Soviet region."

Alexei introduced Zhai Yuan to this currently popular political star, and continued, "The impact of Lithuania's declaration of independence is too great. It urgently needs an economic breakthrough to prove that neither the old system of conservatives nor reformers works, and that only a fully open market economy is the future of the Soviet Union."

Listening to Alexei's words, Zhai Yuan stepped onto the road where the industrial zone and the city center met and entered a Russian-style department store building.

“Take the equipment and staff of the Moscow Far Eastern Bank and bring them here.”

Zhai Yuan looked around the mall, then turned to Alexei and asked, "With a little renovation of the space, could you set up a bank's staff within a month?"

“Of course, no problem, Mr. Zhai.” Alexei said with a smile, “If you only pay in rubles, the workers outside may hesitate, but if you are willing to provide three meals a day, their enthusiasm and motivation will be beyond imagination.”

To reiterate, the Soviet people were not short of money; otherwise, the Moscow Far Eastern Bank would not have achieved such a record of tens of millions of rubles in deposits on its first day.

There's a serious shortage of consumer goods!

Under the planned economy system, the prices of meat, eggs, and dairy products in the Soviet Union have not increased since 1950.

Forty years ago, a loaf of bread cost 0.12 rubles, and it still costs 0.12 rubles this year. In addition, with the implementation of free education and free medical care throughout society, people are accumulating more and more money, while supplies are becoming increasingly scarce.

Every worker in the production line shared the same thought: since they'd only get a nominal fixed wage anyway, they might as well just do a nominal job.
Besides, if you do a good job, you'll get a new quota next year. If you slack off and let the grain rot in the fields, the Ministry of Agriculture will give us a subsidy next year!

“Any worker who helps us will be provided with canned food and bread.” Zhai Yuan patted Alexei on the shoulder and laughed. “We deliver the goods from Mudanjiang. Those Jews have no advantage in this regard. If our first branch can be renovated within a month, I hope we can also get all the permits and licenses sorted out within a month.”

The word "we" is quite interesting. Even though Alexei didn't own a single share, he had a vague feeling of being on equal footing with Zhai Yuan, Orlov, and even Popov, which stirred up his passion.

"Don't worry, Mr. Zhai!" Alexei patted his chest and made a guarantee: "Pavel has already contacted General Alexander of the 7th Artillery Division. He is a close confidant of Comrade Ye Liqing in Yekaterinburg. As long as we follow Ye's market economy policy, why wait a whole month for all these procedures?"

Following Zhai Yuan was Ye Zhiming. Even after being released from the barracks, Ming Ge still had a full beard, which, although trimmed, still gave him a rough look.

In his words, he kept the beard to remind himself to think twice before acting in the future.

However, looking at his bald head, Zhai Yuan felt it was hard to believe, since if a man is balding, he will always try to make up for it in other places where hair is abundant.

At this moment, after listening to the conversation between Zhai Yuan and Alexei, during a brief pause in their conversation,

Ye Zhiming's eyes flickered, and he took the initiative to say, "A Yuan, let me go see General Alexander this time as well."

Zhai Yuan glanced at him and guessed what his brother-in-law was thinking. After a moment of contemplation, he said, "Brother Ming, now that we're doing legitimate business, there's no need to take any more risks."

"Last time I was scammed by that scoundrel named Sergei. If I can get in touch with a general-level figure, I'm sure I can open up this path to wealth this time!"

Ye Zhiming narrowed his eyes, concealing the fierceness in them, and said in a half-joking tone, "Mark from your movies has said it before: I want to prove myself, not to show off my power, but to make people listen to what I want to say. I want to take back what I can't find myself!"

Zhai Yuan smiled upon hearing this, took a few steps forward, leaned against the furniture store counter, lit a cigarette and exhaled a cloud of smoke, silently weighing the pros and cons of the matter in his mind.

Ye Zhiming stood aside without saying anything, waiting for his reply.

Today, Zhai Yuan's capital and network of connections far surpass Ye Zhiming's when he first arrived and only befriended military veterans like Alexei.

If Ye Zhiming continues to run the arms business, the scale will inevitably expand even further, but the risks will also increase.

The Soviet Union was a federal state, but this federation was gradually disintegrating. Even though Mayor Popov strongly supported Ye Zhiming in Moscow, the power of other provinces would not give face to the Moscow leadership once the interests of others were touched.

"I'm thinking……"

Zhai Yuan took a deep drag on his cigarette, exhaling a plume of smoke from his nostrils, and looked at Ye Zhiming again, saying, "If you want to continue in the arms business, it will definitely not be limited to just the arms business."

Ye Zhiming frowned.
Before he could speak, Zhai Yuan added, "Jewish capital has already tentatively entered the Soviet Union. If you want to make a quick buck, relying on Alexander or General Orlov alone is far from enough in the current situation."

As Zhai Yuan spoke, he glanced at Alexei beside him and laughed, "Even if the captain were here, I would still say that corruption in the Soviet Union has reached an incurable level."

Alexei laughed heartily, then made an American-style shrug: "Mr. Zhai, Mayor Popov said that this is just a commission system that evolved from the American tipping culture."

There was a German film called "The Lives of Others" that came out later, which tells the story of the reunification of East and West Germany, a few months before Zhai Yuan's current timeline.

Because it exposed the rampant corruption in East Germany, the film received polarized reviews in later generations.
Young people who cherish memories of the Soviet Union believe this is a shameless attempt by Western capitalism to smear the Soviet Union.

Elderly people who had lived in East Germany criticized the film, saying the plot was driven by East German officials having a change of heart? It was so damn fake!

The director even wanted to film on location at the East German government building, but was refused by the curator of the local prison museum because the script was not factual and there was not a single official in the entire history of East Germany who had a change of heart...

This was also the situation in the Soviet Union.

"Ming-ge, whether it's arms or banking, this is one of the few opportunities we have to access the Soviet power center."

Zhai Yuan stubbed out his cigarette on the solid wood counter, looked at Ye Zhiming and spoke again, saying, "So I hope you won't rush to realize your grand ambitions for now. Helping me is also helping yourself. Start in Yekaterinburg and establish a club."

"We will recruit all Soviet officials who are willing to help us into the association."

Zhai Yuan stepped forward, patted Ye Zhiming on the shoulder, and continued, "Let's start with General Alexander. As long as he's willing to join this club and provide us with a new network of connections, we can discuss money, houses, and cars. In short, only by uniting everyone we can unite can we truly be invincible on this land..."

(End of this chapter)