Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 45: Awesome
Damn mechanical design is not my forte.

For a moment, these Nanyang bosses all showed extremely strange expressions on their faces, and Chen Jiageng's cheeks even twitched.

Suddenly, someone stood up and asked, "Mr. Zheng, I'll be frank. I have a question that I've been thinking about for a long time. I hope you can answer it for me."

"You ask."

"I heard that your production line uses a lot of Japanese motors. Is that true?"

Oh~, you are here to cause trouble.

They should be people like Zhang Yucai and others who will most likely be left behind in the wave of mechanization.

Zheng Yi didn't shy away from the question and said, "That's true. Whether it's the rubber production line or the production line of other products, the most important core imported component is the motor, and currently all of it is imported from Japan."

But then the man stood up and shouted, "How ridiculous!"

"What is the current relationship between China and Japan? We are now relying on Japanese motors to do our work. Isn't this giving them a handle? These motors will become bullets shot at our soldiers!"

"What if the Japanese stop selling motors to us in the future?"

Zheng Yi: "You're right, so I have another plan. I'm going to use American products. They're about twice as expensive as Japanese products. You can buy American products."

"........."

"Beautiful, beautiful, American products... You, you, you are only treating the symptoms and not the root cause! I..."

Zheng Yi interrupted, "Of course, we are also developing our own motors. The Nanyang Motor Factory, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Taiyou Machinery, has been established. We have also transferred some key personnel from Taiyou Machinery to work there, attempting to manufacture our own motors."

"If China doesn't have the ability to manufacture its own motors, then the so-called industrial development will inevitably become a castle in the air and a castle in the sand."

"This factory is not a subsidiary of Taiyou, but is completely independently operated. We welcome everyone to join us in financing and let us jointly manufacture China's first electric motor."

"But there is one thing I want to make clear to everyone: mechanical design is definitely not my forte, especially when it comes to motors. This motor factory, at least so far, has no profit potential, and the investment is a bottomless pit.

Even if the product is made, it is almost certain that it will not be cheaper than Japanese motors, not to mention the quality. But my elder brother and I both think that this is an indispensable step for domestic substitution. If it does not make money, there is no other way.
We solemnly express here that we welcome every patriotic senior who is unwilling to use Japanese electrical appliances to invest money and hold shares here. What is the name of this senior?

Would you like to invest a little and we can jointly manufacture China's own motors?"

"…………"

For a moment, the person who was looking for trouble lost his temper.

The investment is a bottomless pit, the finished product is nowhere in sight, and when the finished product comes out, it is sold at a higher price than Japanese motors, and the quality is not good, so it has to be sold at a loss.

If I have that spare money to invest with you, how about I invest it directly in education and charity in China?

Immediately, this person sat down with an embarrassed look on his face, not daring to respond to Zheng Yi's words at all.

Zheng Yi, however, seemed determined not to let him go, and continued to speak to himself, "Of course, it doesn't matter if you don't invest. My eldest brother and I have already agreed on the matter of the motor factory. Even if we have to fight alone without any investment, we will continue this business to the end, and use the profits from selling the production line to support the machinery factory."

After saying that, Li Xiaoshi stood up at the right time, nodded at everyone, and made his presence felt.

Suddenly, Chen Jiageng said, "Let me invest some money too. As elders, we can't let you, nephew Li, do all the work alone. Losing money doesn't matter. Money is meant to be spent. As long as it's worth spending, why should we feel bad about it?"

How about this, Mr. Zheng, since the motor factory is independent of Taiyou, I will first take out 50 Malaysian ringgit as an initial investment, and you can take whatever shares you want.
Whenever you run out of money, you can come and ask me for it. I can promise you that as long as I have it, I will definitely give it to you. What do you think, Mr. Zheng and Mr. Li?"

Zheng Yi: "Mr. Chen truly deserves to be called 'the pride of the nation and a role model for overseas Chinese.' Ah, it's a great honor to meet you today. The initial investment in Nanyang Machinery Factory is only over 60 yuan. Since Mr. Chen has invested yuan, I will give you % of the shares. What do you think?"

Tan Kah Kee: "Haha, that's all fine. I'll just listen to you."

A factory that is destined to be unprofitable and in which he cannot have a dominant position has no effect, so what does it matter if he has more or less shares?

On the side, Li Xiaoshi also stood up, said a few polite words to Tan Kah Kee, and then sat down. However, his smile looked a little stiff.

After sitting down, he glanced at Zheng Yi, a slight snort of dissatisfaction, a bit of a face. Indeed, he was a little jealous.

What about the pride of the nation, the role model of overseas Chinese? This is a bit too exaggerated.

The most infuriating thing was that Li Xiaoshi and Zheng Yi were already very familiar with each other, but from Zheng Yi's words and actions when he received Tan Kah Kee, he clearly realized that Zheng Yi had an emotion towards Tan Kah Kee that he didn't even have towards himself: admiration.

Or rather, admiration.

An absolute feeling of admiration.

He has been in contact with Zheng Yi for so long, he knows that Zheng Yi is actually very arrogant at heart. He actually just respects his bosses and his father. Although he is just an employee, they have always been on equal terms.

As a capable person, Li Xiaoshi can understand and respect him.

But you can't treat them differently!
Especially since Zheng Yi is from Fujian.

He actually knew that Chen Liushi had given him 400,000 yuan.

Aren't you being partial?
Is it just because he, Tan Kah Kee, is from Fujian like you?
There were some things that Zheng Yi himself had not actually noticed, but Li Xiaoshi was particularly sensitive to them.

In fact, these were all his instincts, things that came from his heart. After all, he was Tan Kah Kee, so naturally he was different from others.

He was a Fujianese in his previous life. Young Fujianese people today don’t know this, and some people may really not know who Tan Kah Kee is.

But how many Fujianese of his age do not admire Tan Kah Kee?

A big capitalist, the richest man in Southeast Asia, could say that China's hope lies in Yan'an.

This is all hard to understand.

Not to mention the financial and physical contributions during the Anti-Japanese War, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, he even dared to sell his property and return home. Moreover, the remaining savings from the sale of his property were donated during the Korean War, and he bought cotton-padded clothes for the soldiers through his own channels overseas.

Nanyang was not short of patriotic capitalists; Li Xiaoshi was one of them, but few of them were pro-Yan'an. After all, wealthy tycoons, in that era, were generally...

Don’t say that this was for power. With Tan Kah Kee’s reputation, if he had stayed in Southeast Asia, it is hard to say whether Singapore would still be called Lee. He was the common leader of all the Chinese in Southeast Asia and the Fujianese.

In Zheng Yi's superficial, vulgar and selfish view, all of Tan Kah Kee's actions were against human nature and common sense.

But it is precisely because of this incomprehension that Zheng Yi admires others.

In Nanyang, if anyone dares to say that he makes money not for himself but for the country and the people, Zheng Yi will assume that this is just pretense and bragging.

But if Tan Kah Kee said so, then he really believed it.

The banner of overseas Chinese and the pride of the nation, this is the final verdict given to Mr. Chen by the great man.

They really deserve it.

As a result, Zheng Yi would instinctively feel reserved when in front of others.

That is the unique excitement that fans feel when they see their idols.

Then Li Xiaoshi naturally cannot compare to him.

He really didn't notice that Li Xiaoshi would be jealous of his attitude towards Tan Kah Kee because of such a small matter.

Even if he knew, he would definitely just roll his eyes and complain about him: stingy.

　Today I saw a comment where someone said they had no idea who these forces were.

　　I'd like to ask, if others don't know him, does that mean even Tan Kah Kee doesn't know him anymore? Do young people today really no longer know who Tan Kah Kee is?
　　
　　
　
(End of this chapter)