Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 77: Suffering from Lack of Splitting
Zheng Yi’s biggest problem now is that there is a severe shortage of available manpower, which is totally insufficient.

He is really not the kind of person who is reluctant to give up power. Now he is willing to give a chance to anyone he can trust a little bit to see if he can stand on his own.

But the problem is that he really doesn't have that many people.

Or perhaps it could be said that he is currently responsible for too many projects.

All in all, Zheng Yi has been in Nanyang for only about two years. In those two years, he has developed from nothing to where he is today. It is so fast that his team members cannot keep up with his development speed at all.

Even though Zheng Yi positioned himself as a scientist, who should focus on research and at most give some advice on major policies, he had too many projects, each of which was crucial. Even if he only focused on major issues, it was enough to keep him busy like a top.

Currently, Zheng Yi believes that the key projects he is working on are:
Taiyou Machinery is responsible for the industrialization foundation of Nanyang.

Penang Iron and Steel Plant Project.

Penang powered trike/motorcycle project.

Singapore, a rubber vulcanization and deep processing base.

An electrical company that is still in the learning stage of cooperating with ASEA.

Penang Arsenal.

These are all on the right track.

The projects that are not on track or are still in the planning stage include:
Underground tunnel excavation project in Penang.

Zheng Yi's goal is to turn it into a fortress-type city like Gaza. He has to keep an eye on the huge scale of this project. The key is that no one except himself can understand the importance of this project these days.

A bicycle/rickshaw production factory.

The project itself was opened to take care of his fellow townsmen from northern Fujian. After all, many people from Fuqing are pulling rickshaws, and there are more than 2000 rickshaw dealerships in Nanyang. They have a foundation in this industry, and the project itself can also be profitable.

Being from Fuqing and Xinghua, Zheng Yi's roots in Southeast Asia are now his. If he wants to secure his position as the president of the Northern Fujian Chamber of Commerce, but is unwilling to spend money on donating to schools and doing charity, he must do something practical for the vast community of Northern Fujian people.

This is the rule in Nanyang.

But the problem remains, he is too busy and really can't spare the time.

Making a bicycle is both difficult and easy. It mainly involves making the mold and making the machinery and equipment to manufacture the bicycle.

To this end, he even teamed up with ASEA to develop a wire cutting machine at the electrical factory.

But other equipment was not so easy to make. Just finding time to draw the design drawings of those machines was enough to kill him.

Needless to say, the Chinese armed projects in Perlis, Perak and other regions. Although Zheng Yi can't really help much, he has been paying attention to them.

If Zheng Yi can become the tax farmer of Penang, it would also be a good thing for the Chinese who are starting businesses in the northern region.

There is also a textile factory project in Nanyang, which is also a key project he wants to take on.

and also……

Damn, Zheng Yi felt a headache when he thought about it.

Is he fucking crazy? He has taken on so many projects.

Moreover, he simply won't be able to spare much time to invest in the above projects for quite some time in the future.

For at least the next one or two years, most of his energy will be devoted to the largest project: the petrochemical synthetic materials project in Penang.

In fact, this is also the reason why Zheng Yi, although happy to see the Penang Kapitan happen, is not too concerned. He also knows that Henry is doing this to please him. This is really an awesome gift, and in fact, he is very grateful to Henry.

Everyone has different levels and perspectives. If the Chinese were to do this, it would be extremely difficult, but if Henry were to do it, it would be much easier.

Since Shell Oil was going to invest heavily in projects in Penang, it was only natural for the Colonial Bureau to have the final say on Penang affairs.

Since Zheng Yi is a partner of Shell Oil, handing over Penang to Zheng Yi for management is at least a feasible option.

The influence of Shell Oil on the British Colonial Office is hard for these Chinese people to imagine. In fact, Wang Qiaoyun was right. The information she got from Henry was that the matter of the tax farmer had basically been decided, and the rest was just a matter of going through the procedures.

During this half month, DuPont successfully launched their mass-produced nylon products on the market. As in history, this first batch of nylon was all used to weave stockings for women.

Americans simply love these magical socks. Once they were launched, they immediately caused a huge market sensation. Countless women would even give up their virginity for a pair of stockings.

In the entire American market, stockings are hard to come by and of course they are sold at extremely high prices, making a fortune every day.

Even European women, especially the ladies of the upper class, are now crazy about a pair of stockings.
This thing even became an entry ticket to the upper class and quickly became popular in the public opinion field throughout Europe. Whoever could get the stockings was the big brother, and whoever could give a pair of stockings as a gift would feel particularly proud.

Although Henry didn't know how much profit this thing could bring, he knew that the raw material for this thing was fucking heavy oil, which was the waste left after the oil was extracted during the oil refining process!

He didn't know the exact output, but according to the design drawings that Zheng Yi discussed with him, the monthly output of this thing seemed to be at least tons.

Isn’t this turning waste into treasure?
Although, during the negotiations with DuPont, DuPont also said that the nylon production line would not be sold, nylon was only produced in the United States, and the Penang factory only produced Zheng Yi's acrylic and polyester.

But according to Zheng Yi, acrylic and polyester are similar to nylon.

It doesn't have to be almost the same. If nylon could sell half as well as he does, he would wake up laughing in his dreams.

Such a small thing can revitalize the entire Shell Oil.

Henry has realized that the competition in the oil field in the future will no longer be about who has more oil wells or who has higher oil output, but about the ability to process these oils.

Everyone extracts oil and makes diesel, gasoline, and lubricants, but whoever has a higher utilization rate of the waste materials after oil production will come out on top in the future oil competition.

It is precisely for this reason that Henry is extremely concerned about the cooperation project in Penang. At present, the funds for the project have not yet been in place, but he has already begun to drag Zheng Yi to select a site in Penang.

It’s such a big project, and in less than half a month, Zheng Yi has almost finished the engineering plan.

Henry was naturally very concerned about the matter of the Penang tax farmers. As the general manager of Shell Oil, he personally confronted the Colonial Office and the officials of the Colonial Department to urge them to handle the matter.

It is almost impossible to do it.

It took half a month to get it done, but he still felt that the efficiency of the Colonial Office was low, which affected his ability to show off in front of Shell's important partners.

But the problem is that Zheng Yi really feels a bit powerless in managing Penang’s government affairs.

There is no one available and I am too busy to handle everything.

You can't be a tax farmer in Penang but not be in charge of Penang's government affairs and just collect taxes, right?

"Hey~, let's go back to Kuala Lumpur tonight and visit the Li family."

"what?"

"Ask the old man if he's willing to move our family to Penang. The Lee family is the one I trust most in Southeast Asia. If they're willing to help me, I can still manage things in Penang. I'm so busy now that I'm afraid I'll die suddenly."

"Hey, hurry up and eat. After dinner, come with me to the Powered Delta Wing Factory. I'll take you to familiarize yourself with the situation. If that doesn't work out, you'll be the one managing this place from now on."

(End of this chapter)