My Lord, you need to stand up!

Chapter 600 The Way of the Snake and the Rat
After at least ten minutes of testing and explanation, Wei Dong vaguely recalled a term in his mind, which might be the legendary "Second Brother Big"?
He had heard online that around the time mobile phones first appeared, there was a type of low-powered mobile phone that appeared briefly, not the later PHS (Personal Handyphone System), but coexisted with the big mobile phone for a period of time.

Ultimately, it was eliminated from the market due to its poor communication quality.

But that's not entirely true.

Chen Wenliang explained it simply: it's just a high-powered cordless phone.

To be precise, it's called an ultra-long-distance, high-power cordless telephone.

The cordless phone that Wei Dong's family used was brought back from Hong Kong by Chi Shiming.

This made it convenient for Dong Xueying to make phone calls even while she was working in the kitchen.

However, the power of the ordinary civilian version is very low. It's okay for a coverage range of tens or hundreds of meters, but it becomes intermittent beyond that.

This kind of thing can be turned up as high as possible, and can achieve a range of three to five kilometers in urban areas and more than ten kilometers in open areas!

Even in densely populated areas with tall buildings, you can make calls within a kilometer or two.

Damn, in many small county towns with limited urban areas, installing this and connecting it to a landline would essentially give you the same mobile roaming functionality as before!
Moreover, communication between extensions on the same line is free with this type of cordless phone, and if multiple extensions are connected at the same time, it can even be used as a walkie-talkie.

At least Shangzhou can use it, and at the very least Beijiaochang New City can use it completely, or use it within the entire factory area itself.

This will definitely improve communication efficiency between different departments and units!

Oh, oh, oh, it even reminded Wei Dong of his own construction sites. With this thing in place for each position, the safety level would be much higher.

Why bother with walkie-talkies?

He immediately nodded and said he wanted to buy a few sets, of course, he would take them back legally and legitimately.

This was to let Wei Dong know that this thing violated radio communication regulations; at least in later generations, almost all walkie-talkies used by security guards were considered "illegal use."

But now he's a little different; he knows this is an era where nothing is forbidden or permitted, and all new technologies can be tried.

The purpose of taking it back and discussing it through formal channels is not to make a huge profit for myself, but to maximize productivity at this stage.

That could become an alternative solution.

Chen Wenliang immediately inquired about the total quantity he needed, how many sets he wanted, and what he wanted to buy, saying he would give them to him as a gift.

Teochew people have a kind of generosity that comes from precise calculations when doing business.

Wei Dong laughed and said, "Now that I run a deep-water port terminal, how could I dare to get involved in such illegal activities? So, Uncle Chen, are you interested in stopping your ships at my port to transship cargo and do legal business?"

He must be thinking, "Why import it, especially illegally, when I could just take it back and copy it?" He must have lost his mind.

The technology involved in cordless phones is so advanced that it's definitely feasible to make them domestically.

Chen Wenliang exclaimed in surprise: "Last year you were still in the automobile manufacturing business, and this year you've started a dock business. You've really gone too far!"

Wei Dong was unaware of other illegal activities, but in the short videos he watched, the sea area at the border of Guangxi and western Guangxi, specifically the Labakou River area next to the Pengzhen Wharf Industrial Zone, were quite famous.

Jokes about the Toyota Crown and the blimp are flying everywhere.

Those high-speed boats with a row of propellers, loaded with cargo, frantically weave through border patrols, rush into rural residential areas crisscrossed by waterways, and disappear into any backyard shed or reed bed.

This phenomenon will be commonplace even 30 or 40 years later.

But Wei Dong's thinking was that after your early, aggressive accumulation of wealth, you have to clean up your act. You've already reached the level of being able to act as an IBM agent, so you should start thinking about doing legitimate business.

Even if you're begging for food at sea, can you turn over a new leaf?

He reached out to Mao'er for a map to explain the location: "We are a legitimate port, dealing in import and export container business."

Chen Wenliang suddenly realized: "We've been building for two or three years, and you've actually started getting involved in this level of business. You're quite the young man."

But he was moved but refused. They make money by bypassing tariffs and price differences. How can they make big money by honestly using the regular channels for loading and unloading at the port?

Just by talking to Wei Dong about the dock, he really didn't realize how dangerous it was. A shipping container is just a metal box, what's so special about it?

Old Fang didn't explain it to him in detail, probably thinking that this business genius knew everything.

It was only after the veteran Hong Kong businessmen mentioned various details that Wei Dong communicated with Chen Wenliang again, and they suddenly realized that the port for import and export trade was far too easy to be the site of major tax evasion cases!
The veteran tax gatekeeper still knows he has to keep an eye on this gate.

Then let's not talk about imports, but about computer exports: "How are computers selling in Southeast Asia?"

Chen Wenliang spoke of his profession with great familiarity: "Singapore has the largest demand. Don't underestimate it just because it's small. It's affluent and has plenty of demand. The combined demand from Thailand and Malaysia is only a fraction of what Singapore has. Not to mention the frequency of power outages in places like Fabiden and Indonesia. Last year, we sent tens of thousands of units to these areas. Do you have any?"

To clarify that Wei Dong was shipping the goods legitimately: "Yes, I have an Apple computer factory in Shanghai, which currently produces over 100,000 units per month. I can sell them to legitimate businessmen at the most standard market wholesale price. As for where they go afterward, you probably don't know."

Chen Wenliang's eyes lit up: "Great! I can definitely sell it for you!"

In Wei Dong's eyes, this group of guys was a sales team that evaded taxes.

Domestically, we need to prevent tax evasion from entering the country, but internationally, if I legally sell in Hong Kong, a free port, it's none of my business where the other party dumps it.

The key point is that he wanted to use this sales model to both justify building the contract factory in Shanghai and increase revenue, thus taking over Apple's general distributor in Hong Kong.

This further helped Apple completely erode IBM's market share in Southeast Asia. Only by helping Steve Jobs sell Apple computers well could the contract manufacturers benefit, and the entire domestic industry chain reap the rewards.

Not to mention that if Apple could really disrupt IBM's product development, things would be different from the last time, which made Wei Dong feel that it would give domestic computer production and R&D a chance to catch up.

Southeast Asia may be poor, but it has a large population.

It's said that computer ink pads are subject to a 50% import tax plus a luxury tax!
There's a lot of room for maneuver here.

We can sell more even at low prices, which is equivalent to using foreign money to sponsor our research and development.

Of course, this also helps the port generate export revenue.

Since Weidong's main export channels are all in Shanghai, they need to establish shipping channels here in order to export from the Pengzhen Wharf Industrial Zone.

As for IBM's regional distributor performance, who cares!

This made Wei Dong show some of the cunning and treacherous nature that a lord should have. When Chen Wenliang asked him how to proceed with the sales agents, he postponed it until tomorrow to discuss it with the other party.

In any case, the first batch is to quickly transfer 10,000 computers from Shanghai to Hong Kong for export.

Upon hearing the ex-factory price, Chen Wenliang, showing great business ethics, paid in full upfront for the goods.

You pay as soon as you pick up the goods at the dock.

That's nearly twenty million US dollars!
It's much more reliable than some agents.

The wealthy and powerful Chan Man-leung also revealed a piece of information to Rang Wei-tung: because he had acquired the computer distribution rights in a daze, he only started paying attention to the computer sales situation from Hong Kong to Southeast Asia last year.

Hong Kong has about 30,000 units, which is half of what Singapore adds, but 40,000 computers are transshipped from Hong Kong.

The latter is the situation that Wei Dong mentioned intentionally or unintentionally.

It was sold in Hong Kong, but quietly resold elsewhere. As for where it went and through what channels, who knows?

In the end, they naturally had a very pleasant conversation.

Chen Wenliang's desire to make money was much stronger than that of those families with billions or billionaires.

Moreover, he was already operating on the edge of profit, which made him even bolder.

With a wink from Wei Dong, Qin Yuye casually paid the bill.

Chen Wenliang then tossed the two Black Pearl cameras to Wei Dong, letting him experience them for himself.

Then, as they were about to say goodbye, Wei Dong caught a glimpse of a car on the side of the road, an MPV that looked somewhat like the Buick GL8: "Hey, what kind of car is that?"

Chen Wenliang's underlings are focused on this line of work: "The Dodge Caravan is a brand new car that just arrived at the beginning of the year. It has a market price of HK$200,000, but we can get it for HK$130,000."

Wei Dong was surprised: "Isn't Hong Kong a free port? Doesn't it have a car tax?"

He's far too sensitive about taxes; Hong Kong doesn't need smuggling, does it?

The younger brother explained in great detail: "This car would cost around HK$100,000 in North America, and it's tax-free. But the initial registration tax for a new car is 90%, so it would be around HK$170,000 to HK$180,000 plus shipping costs. We got a 99% new used car from there, you know what that means."

So this trick of selling new cars as used ones was already popular in capitalism back in the 1980s.

Qin Yuye quite liked the boxy Citibank style: "Hmm, I think I saw this car at the press conference in North America. Let's order one for us."

As a result, someone suddenly appeared out of nowhere and drove off in a car, haha, swiped their card and drove away.

So they asked the Rolls-Royce driver to leave first, and the bride could drive.

Wei Dong was itching to do it, but he held back.

Qin Yuye comforted him, saying that as long as he got the temporary ID card, he could apply for a driver's license immediately.

It's actually quite similar to Rang Weidong's four-wheel drive minivan.

The second row features a sliding door short sofa, and the third row features a three-seater long sofa.

But from the steering wheel and gearshift to the air conditioning, cassette player, and audio system, especially the soft leather seats with stitched details, everything exudes a luxurious Citibank feel.

Wei Dong, holding the baby and leaning against the passenger seat, turned around and said, "So, don't you think it's so great to be rich in a capitalist society?"

At that time, the word "爽" (shuǎng, meaning "satisfying" or "great") was not commonly used in China to describe psychological feelings.

But the Beijing girl in the cheongsam truly understood: "I've heard uncles and aunts talk about all sorts of things about going abroad, but none of them have ever been like you. It's like you've suddenly become... become..."

To help Wei Dong understand: "Freedom, it's a kind of freedom that comes from the heart. Especially when it comes to money, you can do whatever you want. That's why those who are capable are desperately trying to go abroad. Do you want to go abroad?"

Jingniu is different: "I kind of understand what you mean. When we are strong enough, we can go anywhere. Hehe, I'll still learn from you. Look how easy it is to go abroad now, and how easy it is to come back."

That was said a little too early; I almost got stuck on that easy expectation.

(End of this chapter)