My Lord, you need to stand up!

Chapter 563 Bomb Disposal Expert
An economic collapse would be terrifying.

Just as mainland netizens will visit places like Yilang and Beihan in 30 or 40 years because they are blocked by the international community, some countries in Southeast Asia and South America will do so because of economic crises.

It has always been in a state of turmoil.

Based on Wei Dong's own experience, when he and Zhang Lanzhi bought that sanitary napkin machine at the Guangdong Trade Fair two years ago, the exchange rate to the US dollar was approximately 2.3.
Last year, when I was trading foreign exchange for automobiles and computer parts, the exchange rate was already above 3.

The black market exchange rate has long since exceeded 5.

Most ordinary people in this era would find it difficult to understand the significance of the exchange rate against the US dollar. Even Wei Dong, a security guard from a later generation, understood that it could be understood in a simplistic way as a stock price.

A rising currency value indicates an improving economy, while a sharp decline usually indicates economic problems.

Leaving aside the manipulative currency wars and financial tactics that use appreciation to restrict exports and devaluation to plunder assets, this is how it can be judged under normal circumstances.

The sharp decline in exchange rates over the past two years is a clear indication of what's going on in the international market.

The cost of buying things from overseas is getting higher and higher. For example, the same Cherokee parts that cost $9140 will now cost twice as much to buy from overseas!
Of course, this made a fortune for exporters like Wei Dong and Qin Yuye. A pair of jeans that cost twenty dollars could now be sold for over a hundred dollars!

It earns ten times more than selling a pair of pants domestically.

However, there are very few companies in China that can make money from foreign trade in this way.

To solve this kind of problem, there's no place for Wei Dong to utter a sound.

But since we're already here, we might as well do something we can.

When the car company dormitory building opened for sale last October, didn't the relevant leaders say that it was a test before the housing reform?

It has been seven or eight months now, and the main structure of the building is about to be completed, and there haven't been any problems.

Could we put this largest item on sale?

What trouble could ordinary people who honestly buy houses possibly cause? It's usually the real estate developers who run into problems.

If something really goes wrong, they could kill the developer. It's Chi Shiming, not Wei Dong.

The lord is secretly chuckling behind him.

The reality is that, at present, Weidong's other two advertised products, computers and cars, cannot be sold openly to ordinary consumers.

Currently, the banking and financial system is purchasing and picking up goods at a rate of 1,000 units per month at a group purchase price of 80% off, mainly supplied by the Jinling factory.

The private sales company of Xishan Computer Corporation on Weidong's side only charged about 220 yuan per unit for the 6502 chip, the case, and the keyboard and mouse.

The complete assembly of other components, including the monitor, motherboard, and plug-in cards, costs approximately 1,500 yuan. The monochrome monitor, which costs about 1,100 yuan, uses a picture tube from Shanghai Vacuum Electronics Factory and is manufactured by Jinling Factory. Xizhou Factory mainly provides the plug-in cards.

Moreover, in the seven or eight months from last October to now, the same price for a monitor has increased from 12 inches to 14 inches.

This is the result of having the ability to produce independently.

It even used 14-inch computers earlier than Apple computers, and was much cheaper.

To be honest, the production line with the best yield rate produces color picture tubes for Apple computers to make flat right angles, the second-class products are supplied to the education and banking systems, and only the third-class products are sold in the market.

At that time, all the monitors sold nationwide were black and white, emphasizing text and technical attributes, because black and white CRT picture tube technology was mature, more precise and suitable for text display, and was very good for programming and typing.

The exact same computer, keyboard, and mouse produced in Jiangzhou sell for over 600 yuan. You can just take it home and connect it to your TV and it will work in black and white or color.

Given that most dual-income families earn less than 200 yuan a month, few people would buy this, especially since they would also need to buy a black and white television set that costs over 700 yuan.

It cannot be used to plug a breach.

Needless to say, the Cherokee is currently in a state where selling one car is painful for foreign exchange, so it is basically not sold to external parties, and Wei Dong is not going to compete with the capable people in Pingjing.

The 212 Jeep sold over two thousand units through Dongsheng Trading's various branches and sales companies, at 28,800 yuan each. From Rang Weidong to the salespeople, no one received a commission or made any money!
However, you can pick up the goods yourself in Pingjing before other county leaders across the country receive theirs!
Only if a certain region has a good cooperative relationship with Dongsheng Trade can they help buy such a vehicle "through connections." No money is involved, and kickbacks are strictly prohibited. This is to prevent anyone from using the pretext of reselling scarce national resources to target Wei Dong's troops; if there's no profit, it's not reselling.

However, this "privilege" of being able to obtain scarce goods through connections can actually bring more commercial benefits.

For example, the people who deal with the branch offices and sales companies in various places are either managers of trading companies or managers of local department stores.

In Jiangsu, Zhejiang, the Central Plains, southern provinces, and even the Northeast and Northwest regions, there are already some guys who have made some money and are eager to show off immediately.

For example, there is a county next to Jiangsu and Zhejiang that actually bought twenty Jeeps in different colors as a reward for its national sales manager!
Upon hearing this, Wei Dong immediately asked the sales manager to give a detailed report on the local commercial sales situation.

The result was that they used a similar method to You Qili later, affiliating themselves with a state-owned foreign trade unit to export soybeans overseas, earning more than 10 million yuan in the past two years.

Especially this year, with the exchange rate plummeting again, he's made even more money.

So they started opening sales offices across the country, building a nationwide sales network, and even organizing a fleet of ships...

The latter half of this is not just similar to Rang Weidong's, it's practically identical.

However, the sales manager who reported the news mentioned a detail that Wei Dong would never make: he secretly kept part of the US dollars he earned on the black market for exchange.

Although this man is currently a local VIP and a reform entrepreneur, Wei Dong immediately realized that this guy was bound to fall sooner or later.

Given the current severe shortage of foreign exchange, some officials are actually willing to cross the line in order to double their returns!

While instructing the sales manager to quickly sever ties with the other party and settle all accounts receivable and taxes payable, he kept a close eye on the other party's situation.

Saying that the rabbit mourns the fox's death is a bit too harsh; just take it as a reference anyway.

Wei Dong has become so cautious that he is almost obsessive. He sells the 212 for 28,800 yuan, which is several thousand yuan more than the internal purchasers who are queuing up within the system. He absolutely does not allow anyone to participate in the charging and profiting at any stage. He does not even earn the transportation fee from picking up the goods in Beijing to deliver them to various places. He only provides this channel and lets the seller pick up the goods in Beijing and drive them away.

The goal is to further help Pingjing Automobile Factory expand its sales figures, which can also be considered as Lao Cheng and himself taking over Pingjing Automobile's performance.

It's also to help these sales managers and staff involved in the localization of auto parts to get started. Even the bosses in related industries don't own cars, so how can they talk about making auto parts? What do they know about these parts?
Therefore, in this situation, only real estate can be used to anchor the current soaring price index.

Wei Dong was convinced of one thing: this was a production-oriented investment. The more houses sold in China at this stage, the more it would drive the development of building materials and labor. As long as this positive starter got the whole engine running, it would be better than the current chaotic situation of everyone being speculators.

The person Lao Qi reported to clearly thought the same thing, and the Economic Commission quickly called Wei Dong: "Do you think the housing reform has such a significant effect?"

Wei Dong had also thought about it repeatedly and brought up that detail again: "Yes, but the key is whether there is any red line-breaking activity such as selling land. Selling land use rights can definitely alleviate the financial problem immediately."

The other end immediately rejected the idea: "Absolutely not, Weidong, you absolutely must not cross that line at this time."

To make Wei Dong understand that there would be a debate that would last for many years, he simply brought it up to indicate that this was an option.

“Okay, excluding land use rights, we're just selling the ownership of the houses on the land. People always dream of having a place to live, and the pursuit of better housing should be above all else. We can show you the unit price we paid last year for selling houses in Jiangzhou and Shangzhou, and for the housing construction we did in Pingjing, to prove that housing prices haven't gone up!”

The huge rock blocking the gap is almost terrifying.

The Economic Commission was quite surprised: "I remember it was 550 yuan per square meter last year, but I've checked now and it's very difficult to achieve!"

Let Wei Dong explain: "Just like we emphasize on TV that developing production and improving production efficiency can reduce costs, construction is also a commodity. Our Jiangzhou Urban Construction Company comes from a military-style construction army, and we have indeed done a solid job in reducing costs and increasing efficiency in building materials and labor. The costs in Beijing are definitely higher, but if the construction scale is larger... sigh, I really don't want to do real estate, but this job is really helping to share the burden. Our scale in Jiangzhou and Shanghai is relatively large, so we build our own cement plant, purchase and transport sand and gravel, and use the designated steel from Jianggang. Only this model can reduce costs. But if it were a state-owned enterprise, the costs would immediately rise again because of the egalitarian system. I don't want to step into the minefield, but I'm also a bomb disposal expert. What do you think I should do?"

Even with a busy schedule, he laughed heartily: "I know, you haven't even started on that two-million-square-meter foreign-related community in Shanghai yet. How's the progress of localizing automobile production?"

Let Wei Dong give a report: "Selling cars isn't profitable. We're promoting car use among some companies. Currently, there are about two hundred companies conducting tests. We'll try to make a summary this summer. The outsourcing business we're doing for Apple should earn us some foreign exchange to help fill Pingqi's shortfall this year. This can't be done overnight, can it?"

The other side also understood: "Everyone has seen your contributions. It's normal to have some concerns about exploring minefields, but you are a young comrade who can withstand the test. We have all watched you carefully defuse the bombs... Yes, that's a good analogy. As long as you are a comrade whose purpose is to defuse the bombs, not to keep them for yourself, we will definitely cherish and protect you. The Economic Commission will officially allocate a piece of land for you to carry out this price-protected construction."

Wei Dong hurriedly said, "If you demarcate it a little off-center, no one will care, and they won't even think about it. Let's make some real contributions to the people of Pingjing."

This made the other side laugh: "You little rascal, I think you really are a bomb disposal expert. Okay, then let's disarm it like this."

(End of this chapter)