My Lord, you need to stand up!

Chapter 401 Conquering Cities and Expanding Territory Reveals the True Colors of a Lord
Surprisingly, one of these people was involved in the agency deal: "You even bet on him?"

Wei Dong immediately wanted to slap himself!
Why bring this up?

Hong Kong is so small.

There are only a handful of top-tier billionaires, and the circle that can get involved in the distribution rights for these kinds of computers is extremely small.

This guy is just gossiping about other people behind their backs.

Fortunately, he hadn't mentioned that the other party had compensated his family's foreign trade company and that old mansion. Well, he wasn't going to go to the old mansion either; that was too much of a boast.

In the new-style lane houses, you can just glance at the office and go get things done.

He wasn't afraid of being embarrassed: "What's there to be afraid of? You have to be careful when dealing with them. Isn't doing business all about making money through harmony? Nowadays, unless you have a particularly outstanding contribution or connection, it's basically not allowed to buy real estate in Shanghai. I'm considered a shareholder of the electronics factory. The new factory area I'm building has been exchanged for 10% of the shares of the electronics factory. I heard the stock price has soared."

The cunning Hong Kong businessmen clearly saw that this house was not the same as the one in the story; it looked like a refugee camp. Why would they use it to ask if they wanted to stay?

But they remained silent about the reasons behind it, only expressing surprise that there were stocks with prices in mainland China. They were told that only two stocks nationwide were being tested.

It means continuing to reveal the whole story.

There's no such thing as two million dollars; it's all bullshit. This thing is worthless.

At the end of last year, shortly after the joint communiqué was released, Hong Kong trading companies began to sell off their holdings and withdraw, with one company acquiring a trading company worth several billion Hong Kong dollars.

Not having enough cash on hand and unable to raise funds from banks in advance, they followed the custom of the Chaoshan people to raise money, and it took more than seventy people to gather enough funds.

The idea of ​​bringing it back and rewarding those who contributed was to subcontract the business that the foreign firm had been managing.

The big shots want this piece of land, he wants that house, and the small fry get all sorts of agency rights.

Among them was the IBM computer Greater China agency agreement signed in 79, with a ten-year term.

It's already past halfway through the day, and what is a computer anyway? How big can this business possibly be?

In the past few years, sales have not been very good.

So nobody wanted this thing, and it was forced on a junior smuggler; if he didn't want it, he wouldn't get any points.

The smuggler only touched a computer for the first time in his life after he obtained the agency rights!

You're saying this thing can sell for two million dollars?
Isn't that Grandpa Bei?

Qin Yuye sat sideways in the passenger seat and explained that this was how the Triads described the Jinshan customer who had been scammed.

The van that Wei Dong was driving was filled with the cheerful sounds of Cantonese.

A group of billionaires can have just as much fun chatting about this kind of gossip.

This made it clear to Wei Dong: "What do you mean by 'general computer distributor'? It refers to the distribution rights for IBM computers in Greater China. Selling other brands won't be affected?"

Everyone laughed heartily: "Yes, yes, if it weren't for a stock market genius like Steve, we wouldn't even know there were computer brands besides IBM..."

That's right, IBM is International Business Machines Corporation. You can tell how awesome it is just from the name of this century-old brand.

It is roughly equivalent to a synonym for computer.

They installed the first data processing machine at Peking Union Medical College Hospital back in the 1930s, the kind with pinhole paper tape.

Wei Dong certainly didn't know this before.

This was originally a blind spot for him.

He didn't immediately connect Apple computers, Apple phones, or Steve Jobs.

It was only when I went to Citibank to prepare for the advertising launch that I heard from Qin Zhiming that Apple's biggest competitor in the North American market was the behemoth IBM.

Qin Zhiming gave him a brief explanation: IBM was the first to release the concept of the personal PC, and its annual computer sales accounted for more than half of the world's total.

Then Steve appeared out of nowhere and stole a lot from us.

Ultimately, this resulted in a situation where IBM occupied one-third of the market, Apple one-quarter, and the remainder comprised a large number of other companies.

This is why Steve was favored by the stock market: he managed to snatch such a large share from IBM, which was practically part of Citigroup's national team, making him a super potential stock in the technology sector.

But this percentage represents Steve's peak performance before his coup, when he was at his most triumphant.

Later, he was pressured by various parties to resign, which led to the decline in market share.

The sale of 800,000 Apple computers after the "new model" was released certainly changed this landscape.

But the exact amount was something Wei Dong regretted not having a smartphone so he could check online immediately.

The thought echoing in his mind was: "Then I'll be the natural general agent for Apple computers in Greater China. IBM probably won't be able to sell many computers in mainland China in my lifetime."

He used to think that this two million dollar computer distribution rights were something extraordinary.

It turns out it was just a brand agency right.

He saw computers that cost two or three thousand US dollars in Akihabara, but were selling for twenty or thirty thousand here!
The official exchange rate is only around three, and the black market rate is only four or five.

At most, they could only curse inwardly that these unscrupulous merchants and compradors were truly shameless.

There was no intention to do anything.

He couldn't possibly reverse this situation. Even when the Fifth Ministry of Machinery Industry shoved the Computer Research Institute into his fold, he was still doing his best and leaving the rest to fate. He had no idea how much the learning machine could help popularize computer science, or what stage the 6502 chip would reach.

I just thought that since I was already here, I might as well make some changes.

Now there's a clearer battlefield map. The other side has withdrawn from the computer product market in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Southwest China, so I can't go to other places.

Does that mean I'm assuming Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and the Southwest region are my computer sales territory?

We'll see.

You might not even be as familiar with computers as I am, a security guard with a missing hand.

These days, apart from typists and computer engineers, who among ordinary people would touch a computer?

The security guards in the compound in Shanghai were familiar with Wei Dong.

They were particularly impressed by his two dusty vans and quickly gave them permission to pass.

Then everyone in the city witnessed the reformers from the southwestern countryside, who, after arriving in a rickshaw with representatives of foreign investment worth tens of millions of dollars, came to visit again with a group of Hong Kong billionaires in a Flying Tiger van.

"I used 40,000 yuan to buy four cars for this company..."

Rang Weidong explained the reason to the Hong Kong businessmen: "The vehicles you sent to Jiangzhou are solely for reception purposes. You can easily travel to Jiangzhou anytime, which is not a problem. But I cannot use them... You may not understand, but in Hong Kong or Europe and America, you need to flaunt your wealth to gain more people's trust and do business with you. It's not like that in the mainland. At least if you want to last, it's better not to be ostentatious."

The Hong Kong businessmen immediately thought you guys were crazy.

The main problem is that there are hardly any high-end cars on the streets of Jiangzhou, or even the whole of Shanghai, which is too glaring.

In Pyeongjin, luxury cars are everywhere, so driving a Jeep isn't unusual.

Sure enough, Wei Dong's travel-worn appearance immediately earned him praise from the local leaders: "Just came from the construction site? I heard you're making great progress, very capable, thank you for your hard work."

Don't all government agencies have this little bit of a desire to make a good impression?

Wei Dong picked up his teacup and gulped it down, perfectly embodying the demeanor of a young and capable general: "This is a Hong Kong business delegation from HK. They have invested in some production enterprises and industrial parks in Jiangzhou. Today, they are visiting Shanghai. Let's first discuss whether they can fill my factory site in one go, with them investing in hotels, business centers, and residential housing complexes, and strive to put them into full use next year."

He then handed over the construction application form that Fengchu and the others had hastily handwritten at the construction site.

These days, when people build new houses, they don't even consult the Housing and Construction Commission or the Planning Bureau; this system hasn't been perfected yet.

The leader in charge of the electronics industry development zone listened attentively.

The data above is all familiar to me: the approximate investment in a five-star hotel with more than 20 floors, the number of guests it can accommodate, and the room rates. It mainly targets foreign businessmen, foreign technical personnel, and various foreign officials who come and go in the entire electronics industry development zone.

Wei Dong thought that this area would definitely become densely populated with businesses in the future, and one or two high-end hotels would certainly not be enough.

The other party has already nodded in agreement: "That's no problem. According to policy regulations, it must be a joint venture. You just need to take the lead in establishing it..."

The same applied to the factories in Jiangzhou. At that time, any foreign, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan investment accepted by domestic companies had to be in the form of joint ventures, and the Chinese side had to hold a controlling stake.

In fact, they are all registered under Rang Weidong's name.

He can simply turn around and sign a replacement agreement with the Hong Kong businessman in Hong Kong; it's just a symbolic act of assisted trusteeship.

If Wei Dong's team can earn sales profits along with him, they will make a lot of money.

This hotel holding... forced Wei Dong to own another hotel. Fine, either he has to actually invest in it with US dollars, or he has to exchange the agreement in Hong Kong.

The same applies to business centers. Not everyone who comes to the electronics industry development zone has to be a manufacturer. There are also various sales, development, and research companies. Building a separate large building would take a long time and require a high investment.

Simply build existing office buildings and rent them out.

Some large manufacturers and enterprises can temporarily set up offices in the business center before establishing their own factories.

Even the electronics industrial park development company, which only started construction two months ago, is temporarily housed in a small building belonging to a township enterprise.

These two projects will be very helpful for future investment attraction and can be considered as service projects for the entire electronics industrial park.

So they all nodded in agreement and even offered to elaborate: "Isn't the land to your south vacant? Make a planning map there and submit it. Don't let it affect the scale of your factory area. The city values ​​the leading role of your project."

Wei Dong understood the implication: legitimate high-tech electronics companies were what the city valued most, and these flashy companies around shouldn't distract from the main issue.

Therefore, the issue of Hong Kong businesses investing in the construction and sale of residential properties has definitely crossed a forbidden zone.

Commercial housing hasn't even been officially recognized in Shanghai yet, and the sales performance of the first batch of commercial housing is still attributed to Shangzhou, a prefecture-level city. Jiangzhou hasn't even publicly launched any newly built commercial housing; it's only tentatively testing the waters by selling some existing housing stock. If you suddenly jump into the idea of ​​Hong Kong-invested joint ventures to build and sell commercial housing in Shanghai, it will instantly trigger a real estate boom in the entire East China region.

"We still need to be careful about this. We might as well do it entirely on our own, without using foreign or Hong Kong capital..."

After all, factories, hotels, and office buildings can be considered as learning from "advanced experience and models," and cooperating with foreign and Hong Kong capital is acceptable.

Moreover, these houses were all built with a specific purpose and function.

What advanced foreign experience is needed for this housing? Should we break away from the old-style bungalows and courtyard houses of North America?

The huge mental barrier of treating housing as a commodity is being difficult to overcome.

Nearly ten years later, the people of Shanghai still hadn't completely shaken off the mindset of welfare housing allocation.

Upon hearing this, Wei Dong immediately backed down: "Alright, alright, forget I asked. The real estate exploration in Shangzhou and Jiangzhou is already very stressful. I don't need to get involved in the mainstay of the reform wave in Shanghai. Please understand?"

But the more noble and virtuous he is, the more reliable and dependable he seems.
(End of this chapter)