Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 83 A City of Steel
In just one month, Zheng Yizheng raised 10 million US dollars.

In the whole of Southeast Asia, Zheng Yi is probably the only one who has such strength.

The Li family invested US$100 million, Chen Jiageng and Chen Liushi, uncle and nephew, invested a total of US$300 million, Hu Wenhu invested US$100 million, Zhuang Xiyan invested US$50, Chen Qingquan invested US$50, Yi Guangyan invested US$50, and Xu Shengli invested US$50, a total of US$700 million, and Zheng Yi himself invested US$300 million.

Of course, Zheng Yi's 300 million was all loans. OCBC lent him 200 million and HSBC lent him million, without even any collateral.

Strictly speaking, the investments of those Nanyang tycoons actually all came from bank loans, most of which came from HSBC. The only difference between them and Zheng Yi was that they almost all bet most of their fortunes.

After all, although the US dollar was also used in cross-border transactions and bulk transactions in Nanyang, even Chen Jiageng could not have come up with millions of US dollars in cash.

In fact, if the bank did not know very well that their money would eventually flow to Penang Petrochemical, with so many Asian tycoons taking out collective loans, it would be impossible for them to lend money at all.

From HSBC's perspective, it would be best if these wealthy people could not pay back the money. Then it could directly buy the Penang Petrochemical shares from them. Wouldn't that make a fortune?

The Penang Petrochemical project is already a world-class project. Even in Europe and the United States, it is a major project, and many people around the world are watching it.

It went so smoothly that Li Jiqian couldn't help but sigh. Zheng Yi had no intention of raising money at all. The Li family was able to invest one million to participate in it, which seemed like Zheng Yi was giving them a chance.

Although they had expressed this sentiment countless times, when the time came, they still couldn't help but sigh: Zheng Yi's speed of gaining momentum was really too fast.

Who would have thought that this person was actually the Li family's piglet two years ago?
Even a year ago, when this guy was pursuing Li Jiazhi, they even thought about whether he should marry into their family.

Now, they are a little worried that this guy will abandon them and find a new love.

For example, the woman named Qian Qiwen who is now handling affairs on his behalf and is almost the closest to him.

I heard that she was a prostitute.

Bah! You shameless bitch.

It was not just the Li family who had this idea. In fact, when Tan Kah Kee and Tan Lark Sye were raising money to give to him, they also felt as if they were in another world.

When they contacted Zheng Yi a year ago, they still treated him with the attitude of an elder supporting a younger generation.

It's only been a short time, but it seems like Zheng Yi is supporting them.

I knew he was capable, but I never thought he was so capable.

After nearly two months of preparation, the petrochemical plant project finally entered the preparation stage. Under the strong publicity of the British and American media, the final share demarcation agreement was signed in a lively manner.

The entire project was a typical "oil-based" project in later generations. There were more than 20 sets of large equipment that needed to be installed and constructed.
There are countless small and medium-sized equipment, and the maximum designed processing capacity reaches one million tons of refined oil and 300,000 tons of ethylene.

This number cannot even be considered a large-scale project in modern society. In Zheng Yi's previous life, the processing capacity of the casually designed projects also started at one million tons.

But times have changed, and there is no industrial control system at all. The entire production process can only be controlled by the scheduling of the worker population.

Four words to describe it: world-class.

Shell had never undertaken such a large design project. They took Zheng Yi's design drawings and conducted repeated inspections and experimental simulations with their own internal engineers for more than half a month. No problems were found, so they agreed to start working according to Zheng Yi's design plan.

It is said that the engineers within Shell unanimously agreed that if this plan was really designed by Mr. Zheng Yi alone, then he must be a god descending to earth or a manifestation of Jesus.

Hundreds of world-class scientific engineers have started to think in a supernatural way.

After all, this thing doesn't look like something that can be designed by one person. Zheng Yi alone is responsible for hundreds of engineers in the entire company, and he is a Chinese.

Although what we do is scientific, the things themselves are very unscientific.

Some media in the UK have already described him as a top genius that appears once in a thousand years. This time, they really equate him with Einstein.

Although he is just an applied chemist.

The project is so large that there are more than 300 cranes, excavators, tower cranes and other construction machinery that were temporarily shipped from Europe, America, India and other regions. This scale alone is enough to make the Penang residents who have never seen the world scream in surprise.

The entire factory, including the office area and workers' living area, covers an area of ​​more than 2,000 acres. In addition, according to Zheng Yi's requirements, sufficient space must be reserved for its second and third phases.

The entire factory was built outside Penang, nearly doubling the city's area. Excavating the foundation alone has already involved over 2,000 workers, with excavators working around the clock. And this is just the initial stages of the project.

The people of Penang and the tycoons who invested in this project and helped Zheng Yi raise funds were a little scared by the big move of this project.

They had anticipated that a project with a total investment of 30 million yuan would be huge, but when it was actually being built, they couldn't help but start to doubt what they had invested in.

Are you building a factory or a new city?
When they saw Zheng Yi's design drawings and the renderings of the factory construction at various stages, they all looked like they were going crazy.

Li Xiaoshi and Hunter, Taiyou's vice president of machinery, did not see Zheng Yi's drawings until the project officially entered the construction phase. For a moment, they both felt their scalps tingling.

"This ethylene cracking furnace...how tall is it?"

"Thirty-two meters."

"What about the length and width?"

"Seventy-four and fifty-one meters."

"Is this a fucking machine? Or are they building a building? The Colonial Office's administrative building doesn't seem this big, does it? Ah Yi, are you sure we in Thailand can make this machine?"

"Of course, if I can't build this factory, how can I dare to build it in Nanyang? We can't even think about making those large parts, key components, and core equipment ourselves. They all have to be shipped from abroad by sea or even air. But these ordinary connectors, ordinary pipes, and even these, which are just iron sheets, why don't we make them ourselves?"

"Let's be honest. Once the product is completed, Taiyou will also make a profit. After all, Shell and DuPont are the major shareholders. There is no need to save money on the project."

Of the 30 million project, at least 5 to 6 million will go to Taiyou Machinery. Zheng Yi estimates that after the completion of the project, the gross profit will be at least 2 million US dollars.

Of course, the net profit is not certain, it depends on the management level, and if things go wrong, you may even lose money.

Although Zheng Yi said it lightly, even for those unimportant parts, the machining progress requirements are not high.

But damn, it was so big, he actually felt a little lost.

Li Xiaoshi: "This isn't a question of whether it's profitable or not. It's about this thing. Can we really make it with Thai machinery? This is incredibly advanced."

Zheng Yi: "There are more than a dozen pieces of equipment roughly the same size as the cracking furnace, and countless smaller and medium-sized equipment. Just to build the equipment requires hundreds of thousands of tons of iron. If Thailand doesn't do it, who will? Can European and American companies ship it here? Should they use an aircraft carrier to do it?"

Li Xiaoshi: “…………”

Not only Li Xiaoshi, but other investors, although they could not understand the design drawings, all took a deep breath just by listening to Zheng Yi introduce the size of the equipment.

The tallest distillation tower is over 60 meters high.

You can’t even find a 60-meter building in Nanyang!
If this thing can be built, it will be the tallest building in Nanyang.

Such a big thing, made entirely of steel, how much steel is wasted?
There are actually several such tall iron towers in the entire factory.

In their eyes, this factory is clearly a city not much smaller than Penang, and it has high-rise buildings.

What’s even more fucked up is that these skyscrapers are made of fucking iron.

Each large project team is equivalent to a small steel building, or even a large steel building, in this steel city.

No wonder it costs 30 million to build a factory, and it’s in fucking US dollars.

Just looking at the blueprints, I feel that this factory is scary.

"Is this thing really something that can be found in Nanyang, no, in China?"

Hearing this, Zheng Yi smiled and lit a cigar for himself. "Originally, it really shouldn't have happened, but now that we have me in Nanyang, we have this factory. Of course, the construction of the factory is indeed a test for us Nanyang Chinese."

"I'm not worried about the factory itself not being completed, but the question is, when will it be completed? How many years will it take to build this thing? Dear seniors, the money we used to build the factory is all bank loans with legs."

"Once it's built, I guarantee this factory will be profitable, and it'll be making a fortune every day. But what if the bank interest drags us into bankruptcy before it's even completed?"

(End of this chapter)