My Lord, you need to stand up!

Chapter 45 My Lord, I Really Didn’t Mean to Steal the Spotlight

Weidong personally experienced the 1990s when material resources gradually became abundant, followed by the rapid development of the new century. Then, e-commerce decimated the real economy, and finally, internal competition broke out among e-commerce companies.

He didn't understand the big principles, but as long as he worked in the mail room and could make a living regardless of the weather, he felt that food, clothing and other necessities were getting cheaper and cheaper.

"Oranges are bought from the village for three cents a pound. If a family sells 2,000 pounds, it's worth the price of a pig. As long as you have an orchard, growing 2,000 pounds of oranges is much easier than raising pigs all year round. Farmers are better off. In the past, they didn't dare to plant every year because they couldn't transport the fruits, so they would rot in the fields. Isn't that true?"

The leader, smoking a cigarette, said nothing.

Let Weidong follow up: "The factory purchase price is 7 cents, and there is a 4 cent profit in the middle. 500,000 kilograms means a gross profit of 20,000 yuan. The transportation company costs 180 yuan, and the transportation personnel and porters cost about 3,000 yuan. These factory workers made the transportation process easier. At this time, I made about 17,000 yuan, but I lost this money in the sand and gravel transportation. Because business is not guaranteed to make money on every order, it is normal to have losses and gains."

The leader was obviously a little confused, but his eyes were firm and he was not easy to persuade.

Rang Weidong simply borrowed a common self-media commentary on e-commerce brick-and-mortar conflicts: "What's important isn't the completion of the process from the trees in the countryside to the hands of consumers in the market, but how many people are supported by this production process, making every link profitable. Farmers are willing to open up wasteland to plant more fruit trees, and workers are willing to work overtime to produce more canned goods. The money they earn can buy more goods and afford better goods. This is a huge virtuous cycle, not relying on rationing and subsidies to survive. People need to have a goal to live, and then collect taxes from commercial activities. The more developed the business, the more taxes can be collected, which can help alleviate poverty and drive backward areas to become better, so that everyone has a goal to live."

The leader narrowed his eyes seriously and said, "You are better at speaking than You Qili."

Weidong was being forced into a job. "Actually, after you approved my driving training at the transport company, I didn't go right away. While transporting goods at the dock, I met a salesman from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. He took me from Jiangzhou to Jiangsu and Zhejiang and then to Shanghai to deliver goods. I truly witnessed the prosperity of commerce in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai, from rural towns to big cities..."

Listening to his detailed description of the prosperity of those lands of fish and rice, the leader couldn't help but listen attentively.

Weidong got a bit excited, saying, "...I even met an expert who said Shanghai is going to build a highway. It's going to cost hundreds of millions per kilometer. They're going to connect Shanghai to Zhezhou, and from Suzhou to Shanghai. In the future, they're going to connect Shangzhou to Jiangzhou, and even Chengdu. Cars will be able to reach the provincial capital in just a few hours."

The leader's cigarette butt froze in his hand. "A few hundred kilometers?! Spending so much money just to go faster?"

Weidong strained his brain to recall those words. "This is called major infrastructure. The government, local governments, or even commercial companies pay to build roads, and then collect tolls to recoup the investment. Doesn't this construction process support thousands of families and provide jobs? And if the roads are built, won't it be convenient to export our citrus products? Will we plant more citrus and trade in them? Businessmen will also be willing to come here to do business and build factories. Wouldn't this place prosper?"

How could a determined leader be so easily persuaded? "No way, absolutely not! This is totally the same thing. It's going to cause big problems!"

Rang Weidong also understood: "But the reporters who came to interview me said that they cleaned up and rectified the situation to create a better order in order to promote reform and opening up and improve the business environment."

The leader put down his cigarette and snorted twice, not bothering to comment on such nonsense.

Rang Weidong didn't argue. "After discussing what you consider speculation and what I understand as business dealings, let me tell you about this trip back from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai. I met a company there that specializes in producing special pipelines for the oil sector. Because they are so important, this type of pipeline must be made of titanium alloy for durability. In the past, only small quantities could be imported from abroad, and it was very expensive. There are two factories in China that can produce it, one in the northeast and one in the southwest. I happened to move goods for this factory before, so I went to look for them when I returned to Jiangzhou."

You Qili likes to brag and make the scenes sound very grand, while Weidong only talks about the details of the cases. Ganju talked about titanium alloy again and again.

Even if a lot of water was added, the framework remained unchanged: "Military factories, third-line factories, are the kind you mentioned that the state arranges them to do this, and they don't know anything else. In the past, the state took the titanium ingots and sent them to the satellite aviation industry in western Sichuan for scientific research. But now it's been restructured. Since February and March last year, not only has Jiangzhou become a separately planned city, but this military factory under the Ministry of Metallurgical Industry has also been pushed into the market, fending for itself, because the state-owned commercial institutions and production plant models you mentioned can no longer sustain themselves. They don't even know where to sell the titanium ingots. Thousands of people in the factory don't know what to do. What do you say?"

He gestured, "The entire factory has diligently produced titanium for decades and made so many contributions. Now the country is facing economic difficulties, the satellite and aerospace industries have been suspended, and even those who make atomic bombs have to sell tea eggs to support themselves. The factory director cries when he talks about this. He's the leader of this factory, and everyone depends on him for a living. Do you think this factory should be designated as an impoverished county and receive subsidies?"

Almost all of the counties under the prefecture-level city of Shangzhou are national-level poverty-stricken counties.

Even though you are poor, you still try your best to maintain your dignity. Then don't ask for poverty subsidies, just be more stubborn and starve to death.

As if his weak spot had been hit, the leader stared at the young man in front of him with a resolute and tough look, spitting fire.

It seemed as if a slap on the coffee table would summon someone to throw Rang Weidong into a cage. Rang Weidong was unfazed. "I helped them sell titanium ingots, so they allowed me to take on the sales work, including the car. At least that solved the factory's food problem during the Spring Festival. Then I drove back from Jiangzhou and, at the suggestion of the Jiangzhou police, visited another military factory. There were about five or six optical equipment factories. They were said to be the strongest production bases in the country for telescopes, gun scopes, and other things. They were also undergoing a transformation, forced to convert military to civilian use. A large area that used to be like several cities, combined to be a prefecture-level city, had to fend for itself. The peaceful life that was once entirely supported by the state was completely shattered."

There are relatively few third-line factories in Shangzhou area because the industrial foundation is weak and it is difficult to provide supporting facilities in the surrounding areas.

But state-owned factories almost all behave in this way: "I really like the feeling of a state-owned factory. From cradle to grave, everything is taken care of by the state. Cinemas, libraries, schools, hospitals, everything is there. It's like a paradise. But the world is too big, and development is so fast outside. If we continue to follow this slow, inefficient, step-by-step production and life, foreign countries are already ahead and will surpass us by a long way. Therefore, this factory model must be eliminated and transformed. It is the inevitable choice of the general trend."

As farmers, we understand this clearly: "We're already implementing household contract farming in our countryside. Once we've divided up the land, we work much harder. This is completely different from the old commune and brigade work, where people slacked off. It's the same with the orange transport this time. The same fleet is inefficient at the transport company, but their enthusiasm skyrockets when doing external commercial work. If the factories in developed regions of China become this active, the backward production in the southwest and inland areas will be severely impacted, and these factories will be left with nothing!"

If someone can be easily persuaded, he wouldn't be called a stubborn old man.

But there was definitely a change in his eyes, and he stared at Weidong closely to see what he could say.

She didn't refuse the cigarettes Rang Weidong offered her. "You can consult the relevant departments about the situation at the Hongguang Factory. The same goes for the Optical Instrument Factory. They started converting observation mirrors into cameras a few years ago, hoping that people could take pictures of their homes and record their beautiful lives. But they don't know how to sell them. In the past, the government took away their products. So after the Spring Festival, I plan to help them sell cameras. I won't do business in Shangzhou. All those who want to do business are quietly leaving Shangzhou because You Qili and his team are a lesson for us."

When mentioning You Qili, the leader seemed to recall something: "What do you think of what he did?"

Weidong thought about it carefully. "I'm just a young man who just finished the college entrance examination this year. I became a porter to pay for my father's medical treatment. My father is facing paralysis and needs treatment. According to the household registration system, I can't even make a living in the city. But no one wants to be disabled for decades, just like no one wants to suffer poverty for a lifetime. So we really need people like You Qili to lead the way."

He was quite frank: "Watching You Qili and his colleagues doing business in the old street, there were indeed some problems of boasting, deception, and exaggeration, but it also inspired me to learn more. He may be an explorer who will be remembered in the history of reform and opening up, or he may be a fraudster who will be infamous forever. All of this should be left to time to test, just like whether reform and opening up should revitalize the commodity economy. This will also be left to time and the people to judge."

It should be said that the last emotional card was played well.

The leaders in their fifties and sixties looked at the energetic young people in front of them.

It is definitely much more pleasing to the eye than that half-bald middle-aged man with Mediterranean hair, You Qili. At least it is not greasy.

It really seemed like the sun at seven or eight o'clock, with its red enthusiasm but without any cunning calculations.

So he slowly lit up his cigarette: "If we are both explorers of reform and opening up, you appear to be more down-to-earth and steady than You Qili, so this situation should be shouldered by you."

The old security guard at the tax compound had never been the protagonist; he had always been a bystander.

Now I am a little confused: "What responsibility?"

The old leader smiled again, just as he had when they had just met, and nodded. "The provincial investigation team will be arriving in the next two days. I have a clear conscience. You will face it."

Let Weidong?

Isn't this stealing You Qili's limelight?

I never wanted to stand in front of him.

　Well, so the chapter was blocked again. I have tried my best to avoid it. Some things about the characteristics of the era cannot be avoided, so it is more important to read it. The changes are not the original ones.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)