Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 54 Pressure
half a month later.

"what!"

At midnight, Zheng Yi suddenly woke up from his sleep, covered in cold sweat.

"What's wrong? What's wrong, Master? Are you having a nightmare again?"

Wu Wenhao in the next room was not asleep either, and hurried over to check on the situation.

"Master, how about we go to the hospital tomorrow? This is the third time you've woken up in the middle of the night."

"It's okay. It's my own body. I know that I couldn't sleep in the middle of the night. No matter who it is, you are not allowed to tell anyone. Understand?"

"Oh……"

In fact, Zheng Yi knew very well that he was not sick, he was just under too much pressure.

He Shili was actually right. His appetite was too big and he could easily choke to death.

During the day he tried hard to appear calm and confident, but in fact he was very panicked.

He knew that he was indeed at great risk of choking to death.

It has been a year since he crossed the Nanyang Sea. Without being modest, he said that he had indeed brought tremendous changes to the Nanyang Sea during this year.

However, whether these changes are a good thing or not is hard to say until the final conclusion is made.

"The Jews of the East" became a bestseller in Malaya. A large number of British plantations and mines went bankrupt. Although the Chinese did make more money, could they keep the money?
When the Chinese began to develop the military industry, the biggest obstacle would undoubtedly be the British Colonial Office. In fact, even Penang was just a nuisance to the British, not something that could not be destroyed.

At least for now.

There is also a British naval garrison in Penang.

Zheng Yi certainly had a specific plan to win over the British and check the Colonial Bureau, otherwise he would not have dared to make the daring move of taking over the Northeast Army's legacy.

However, regardless of whether the plan itself is perfect, it cannot conceal the fact that Zheng Yi is now walking on a tightrope and taking strategic risks.

He is not even a tycoon himself. He is just relying on the power of others to bully others. He needs to act as a go-between and contact the Chen, Li, Xu, Hu and other tycoons in the Chinese world to do things for him.

In fact, after the Siamese coup this year, when the Thais fired the first shot in the fight against the Chinese, the Southeast Asian countries were indeed ready to make a move. For these Chinese tycoons to say they were not panicking, that was impossible.

In particular, people like Yi Guangyan from Siam were extremely interested in his military factory production plan, and took the initiative to say that if Penang could build a military factory, he would be willing to invest unconditionally. The Teochew people now also have a huge demand for arms.

However, they were truly panicked, and of course they were extremely interested in Zheng Yi's goal of building a Chinese military-industrial system. But when it came time to actually start, how many people dared to take action? Although Zheng Yi repeatedly and confidently stated that he could handle the Colonial Bureau,

But these tycoons have to believe it too!
What if the Chinese are crushed by the Colonial Office before they have basic armed capabilities?
In general, the vast majority of people are currently extremely interested in what Zheng Yi is doing, but lack confidence and are in a stage of serious observation. Only the Chen family, the Xu family, and some Chinese businessmen who escaped from Siam have given him financial support.

But the steel furnace was about to be delivered, and the Northeast Army also stated that there were about 2,000 workers and corresponding equipment that could be transported to Penang. Hedong even arranged for a special ship in Tianjin to bring it to him within a month.

He has already started doing things.

But no one knows whether it can be done.

So Zheng Yi has been having nightmares every day these days. One time, he dreamed that he had no money left for his project and all the tycoons refused to invest in him. He went to the bank to apply for a loan, but even with all the debts he had, it was still a drop in the bucket. In the end, he was crushed by the heavy debts and could not pay the workers' wages, so he was beaten to death by the angry workers.

Another time, he dreamed that the plane he sold to Zhou Zhirou did not go to bomb the Japanese, but went to bomb Jiangxi instead. He accidentally killed several important figures who must not be mentioned in the novel, thus changing history. He became a sinner of the nation.

He once dreamed that his military industry had attracted the attention of the Colonial Office, who sent in the police force to arrest him and, as an anti-colonial activist, to execute him. Another dream involved unemployed Indians rioting and beating him to death.

Etc., etc.

Anyway, it's a miserable death.

In his previous life, Zheng Yi had always been engaged in technology in state-owned enterprises. Although he had led a team, he actually had no real entrepreneurial experience.

He was not someone who could handle much pressure.

In fact, he always knew that he was actually quite ordinary, just an ordinary technician. In his era, he had such a high starting point and his skills were not weak. If he really had the ability, he would have started his own business long ago.

Most of his classmates who obtained master's and doctoral degrees and stayed in China have become their own bosses and are living better than him. One of them even became the chairman of a listed company.

As for him, as a technical leader in a state-owned enterprise, he has no ambition to make progress and has never thought about starting a business. He is only slightly better off than those who go abroad and lives a down-to-earth life.

It's not a question of ability, it's purely a question of mentality. He is actually not someone who can withstand pressure well.

But now that he is in Nanyang, he has really started enough businesses in this life that he had not been able to start in his previous life. Especially after talking with Li Xiaoshi that day, he now has no boss to support him except Taiyou Machinery, and he can only bear it himself if something goes wrong.

In the environment of my previous life, the worst consequence of failing in entrepreneurship was to become a deadbeat.

If you fail in starting a business in this life, it could cost lives and you might even become a national sinner.

It is no exaggeration to say that in the past month or so, he felt that he had grown faster than in the entire year since he came to Nanyang.

His growth this year was faster than his growth in the past ten years at the company.

He also knew that he must never let others know about the pressure he was under and could only bear it himself. He had to give confidence to his investors, the Nanyang tycoons.

Asked Wu Wenhao: "Why aren't you sleeping yet?"

"I, I'm studying."

"You're still studying so late?"

"I... I thought, I need to learn quickly so I can help you, Master. I know you're doing great things, and I'm useless."

Hearing this, Zheng Yi patted Wu Wenhao's head and said, "You are already very good. Master has been too busy recently and can't take care of you. Master is a little sorry for you.

But don't worry, I'm only busy for a while. I have a nearly perfect plan. I have one, no, two, incredibly powerful technologies. As long as I use them, all the problems will be solved. When Master has time, I'll definitely teach you."

"Ok!"

Wu Wenhao nodded heavily: "Master, I believe in you. You can definitely do it. That super powerful technique you mentioned will definitely work!"

"hehe."

Zheng Yi smiled and patted his head. "Go ahead, go to sleep. You can't rush into studying. You're still growing up. Lack of sleep will harm your body, and you won't necessarily learn as well as you should. It's important to balance work and rest."

"Oh, okay, Master, I'm going to sleep."

(End of this chapter)