I was reborn without dreams

Chapter 210 My 120,000-ton Ship

The leading players in the domestic retail and wholesale sectors are still unclear at this time. It will take another ten years or so for various industry giants to gradually emerge in the segmented markets.

However, it's not that secure. To be honest, those who have maintained their dominant position in the industry for a long time, in both the retail and wholesale sectors, are basically closely related to the subsequent explosion of the internet economy.

However, this stability only lasted for about ten years. Tools like instant messaging software don't generate much revenue themselves; the user base is the key asset, and money is made by converting the user base into other profit modules.

The reason Zhang Da'an didn't vigorously promote instant messaging software was that he didn't have the time or energy to do so; it would be a complete waste of his time.

"Boss, a fax from Beijing."

"Ah."

Zhang Da'an nodded. "Have the 'Labor Force Development Division' allocate some personnel, and have the person in charge of the Northeast region temporarily go to Beijing. Someone from the local Youth Development Foundation will come to coordinate the project."

"Yes."

After saying that, Zhang Da'an picked up the receiver again. The new call was from the Youth Development Foundation of Jiangkou Province. Under normal circumstances, they were not qualified to speak directly with him, but this time the situation was a bit special.

Head Coach Zhang not only wants to generate buzz for "Golden List Comics," but also wants to become the leading figure in the toy industry in Wudu City and Chongzhou City.

It's just a matter of convenience.

Taking down someone like Shi Xiangdao is just a piece of cake. When a heavy truck runs over a speed bump, does it even care if the speed bump causes injury?

Unexpectedly, when Head Coach Zhang went to the "Top Scholar Class" to hold a meeting to celebrate the "Top Scholar Class" winning the top scorers in 25 districts and counties, Qiu Jianmin made a special trip back to Shazhou from Jiangning and found Zhang Da'an to tell him about the situation.

"This Wang Yongzhi is a small commodity wholesaler in Wushang City, mainly targeting the Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern markets. He is a son-in-law who married into the family; he is the eldest son-in-law of Cha Jizu."

"Takeover gate group? Which gate?"

"查 (cha) is the same character as the 查 (cha) in 检查 (chajiao), but the pronunciation is different."

"Very old eggs?"

"Absolutely. He has connections in Commonwealth countries. More than ten years ago, he was the one who brought the denim washing business from Hong Kong to Dongguan. Because of the ancestral recognition conference he organized, he was already quite influential in the cultural circles, and now his influence is even greater. Some of the material supply stations in the urban area of ​​Zhejiang were originally set up by Cha Jizu."

"So old and stupid?"

This surprised Coach Zhang a bit, because more than ten years ago, the profit margin for washing jeans was not low, but the technical difficulty was quite high at the time, with various performance requirements.

Aside from being highly polluting, it is also, strictly speaking, a high-value-added industry.

Typically, this is the business of the local "low-key family". Cha Jizu, an outsider from Zhejiang, has managed to make a name for himself in Dongguan, a place with a strong clan atmosphere, which shows he has some ability.

Even twenty years later, the industrial distribution in Dongguan City is still based on "towns". No one mentions streets or anything like that. Which town is invested in by which local "Kshatriyas" is all clearly defined.

If outsiders want to seize territory, only companies like Foxconn can simply parachute in a super industrial park and suppress the Kshatriyas.

The self-built factory of "Petal" Company is this type. Even the "Brahman" families in the district and county can't handle such a behemoth. Usually, they just make a little extra demolition compensation and don't have to think about anything else.

"So what's the current stance?"

"Wang Yongzhi went to Luzhou to make some moves, hoping to talk to you. The gist of it was that he wanted to let Shi Xiangdao off the hook, and then apologize in the newspaper or in person. He also offered to compensate seven or eight factories in Chongzhou and Wudu with a sum of money."

"Why would Wang Yongzhi, a wholesaler, speak up for Shi Xiangdao?"

Zhang Da'an became even more curious; this was completely unrelated and inexplicable.

Qiu Jianmin, whose rank was now considered high, immediately laughed and said, "I had already inquired about it when I came. That son of a bitch must have taken Cha Jizu's instructions and was planning to protect Shi Xiangdao. The reason, I heard from people in the province who do foreign affairs, is that someone from Kadoorie's side is acting as a mediator."

"Is it the Kadoorie Hotel from the Peninsula Hotel?"

"Correct."

"Whoa..."

Originally, Coach Zhang's "dump truck" ran right over Shi Xiangdao, and now someone has actually reinforced this "speed bump" called Shi Xiangdao.
That's getting interesting.

He figured it was just a small thing to do.

"What good would it do to protect an old good-for-nothing like Shi Xiangdao? I don't quite understand."

"I reckon they're on the same road."

Qiu Jianmin was also very knowledgeable. Moreover, he was a company commander many years ago. He had eaten pork in the early days and had naturally seen pigs run in the early days.

"Old man, you're quite skilled."

"Look at me, do you really think I used to eat bran and wild vegetables in the bureau?"

Qiu Jianmin, shaking slightly, held his teacup and said with a smile, "I remember a long time ago... when my father was still alive, we made a joke about 'taking turns being the dealer'. I definitely don't know Shi Xiangdao, but I've met people who are similar."

"Wearing a tall hat, and then being walked around like a dog in the street?"

"........."

With a twitch of his skin, Qiu Jianmin cursed inwardly, "No wonder you, Zong Sang (beast), are called a 'remnant' by others. That's really how you are."

Qiu Jianmin, of course, did not agree with Zhang Da'an's words, but said instead: "Anyway, the fighting was quite fierce, and at that time, the textile factory was exporting, so many people ran away."

"Is there anyone from Cha Jizu's family?"

"Why did they run away? He was the vice president of Wudu Silk Company a long time ago. He had nothing to do with Cha Jizu. I mean, they were similar types of people."

"I said so."

Zhang Da'an smiled, neither confirming nor denying.

People's impression of "sweatshops" is actually somewhat biased. Many people think that they are concentrated in the "Pearl River Delta" and are the typical examples.

Actually, the timeline needs to be adjusted. The "sweatshops" in the Pearl River Delta have been constantly changing. They initially took shape twenty years ago, then began to spread. With the flow of labor, they gradually reached their peak ten years ago, and then the peak period has remained largely unchanged until now.

As for the conclusion, it was the urbanization process that forced "sweatshops" to become secondary in the Pearl River Delta. The landmark change was the real explosion of Bao'an City, which caught up with Luzhou in terms of industrial quality.

While Luzhou City boasts the most complete range of industrial sectors, Bao'an City has many shortcomings, but its strengths are significant, resulting in high-quality products.

Besides the Pearl River Delta, the second largest "sweatshop" in the country, as many people think, is the Yangtze River Delta. But that's not accurate. To be more precise, the majority of them are the township and village individual economies in Zhejiang Province.

When Yuhang District, the provincial capital, was expanding, there were still a large number of textile factories in the light industry surrounding Yuhang, with workers working more than twelve hours a day. Of course, after the expansion, there were still a large number of such factories, but the number has decreased relatively, and not by much.

However, the owners of these factories were also very hard on themselves when they started their businesses. They worked more than twelve hours a day when they were starting their own businesses, so the employees didn't have much to say.

The surge in the number of migrant workers occurred relatively late in the timeline, coinciding with the booming internet economy. This offset the impact of the two factors, leading to a situation where everyone had access to new media tools. The idea that "996 is a blessing" became a prevailing view, and the barking of programmers far outweighed that of mechanical engineers, mechanics, and other frontline manufacturing workers. Eventually, the era of such practices came to an end.

In this process, those who can turn small commodity wholesale into international business are not good people in the literal sense.

Since Cha Jizu was able to do business in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, or rather, he had his eldest son-in-law Wang Yongzhi do this business, he must have some real skills.

not simple.

From a general cognitive perspective, since Cha Jizu and Wang Yongzhi's business activities were mainly in Zhejiang, Lingnan, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, people's first impression would certainly be that their backers were in those areas.

What puzzled Zhang Da'an was that Wang Yongzhi's hometown was Chengdu. Although he was a son-in-law who married into the family, his ancestors were the "Wang family of Hanzhou". They had lived in Sichuan for over a thousand years. Even the "Witch King" Zhang Xianzhong couldn't kill them. What really damaged them was their participation in the encirclement and suppression during the "Long March" and their use as fertilizer by the "transportation captain".

Wang Yongzhi has six registered companies in the UK, three of which are in normal operation. Two of them are trading companies, one of which is engaged in trade between the UK and Japan, and he also has a joint venture trading company in Japan.

In Japan, small and medium-sized trading companies typically engage in "buying and selling," and Wang Yongzhi's business is no exception. However, it involves an extra intermediary, with a large portion of the business completing the final processing in Japan at the bonded zone factory before being shipped to the UK.

Finding these things still requires some effort.

Maintaining the operation of "social engineering" is not cheap. Fortunately, Zhang Da'an's network is good at both the lower and upper levels. If the information provided by front-line workers is only one or two pieces, it is not very useful. But if there are three or five hundred, seven or eight thousand, or fifty or sixty thousand pieces, that is big data, which can be included in the important reference indicators of data analysis.

As for the news from higher-ups, it's all to confirm that "big data" is not wrong.

Qiu Jianmin spent some time in Shazhou City for a few days, watching the "Top Scholar Class" achieve new glories. He was also very emotional. It was a pity that there was only one "Top Scholar Class". There was no "Top Scholar Class" at the Jianggao Campus and Mazhou Campus.

Furthermore, the "top scorer class" is included in the statistics of the students' original school registration location, which has nothing to do with Shazhou City. Shazhou City does not promote this, but only promotes the city's brilliant achievements in this year's college entrance examination.

"How's the investigation into Wang Yongzhi going?"

During the college application fair, Qiu Jianmin strolled over again and picked up some gift boxes to take home.

At his current level, it's not that he actually wants Zhang Da'an's boxes of peaches and grapes; it's purely to maintain a relationship with Zhang Da'an within his family.

"They're definitely not simple; they have a very strong background."

It would have been better if they hadn't investigated. The investigation shocked Zhang Da'an. People's impression of Hanzhou was that of the "Liu brothers" of Hanzhou many years later. As iconic figures of a dynamic social group, they were famous throughout the country, which meant they were indeed quite something.

Wang Yongzhi was one of the "Liu brothers'" financial backers, and could be considered a semi-backer. The reason he was only a semi-backer was because Wang Yongzhi's father died early, and now only his mother, an old lady, was left. When it came to finding connections, it depended on personal relationships and whether she would give him face; there was no guarantee of anything.

But this is already better than a large number of "outsiders," after all, it's ancestral property in Hanju.

These local bullies are really hard to deal with.

The old comrades and subordinates who were related by blood or marriage were not just scattered throughout Sichuan and Chongqing; they included the Southwest F4, including those from Guizhou whom Zhang Da'an had previously mentioned to the Policy Research Office as wanting to cooperate.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg. What's truly impressive is that the judiciary is equally powerful. Students and grand-students from various law schools have to address Wang Yongzhi's mother as "Uncle-Master" or "Grand-Uncle-Master."

Apart from that, in the industry, as long as it's bulk retail, everyone is related or connected; there isn't a single outsider.

It's not that there are few outsiders, but that there aren't any.

No matter what kind of grain it is, we only have our own people as agents. People from other places are only fit to pull carts. Otherwise, why don't you go find some "foot bath water"?
Looking at it this way, the fact that "foot bath water" can become a "soy sauce-flavored technology" of A-shares is actually just a foil.

"Foot bath water" is just expensive; it won't kill off adulterated liquors that try to capitalize on the "foot bath water" name.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. After a brief investigation, Chief Instructor Zhang felt a chill run down his spine. Fortunately, this kind of operation in Jiangkou Province had been interrupted repeatedly. Otherwise, if the clan forces in Jiangkou Province were to rise from the ashes, given the local resource integration capabilities, the situation would likely be even worse.

In that situation, being reborn a hundred times wouldn't help.

"Isn't this an eye-opening experience? Hahahaha..."

Qiu Jianmin sipped his grapes and then said with a smile, "You don't know, I joined the army more than 30 years ago. One of my comrades from the local area took someone else's place to get in. After that, fewer people from Shazhou wanted to join the army, but it was still pretty much the same in the local area. It's not easy for people in the lower ranks to get ahead. Wang Yongzhi, I think he was in the same class as your uncle. His old regimental commander later did very well in Liaoning Province, and even went to Shandong Province to build a bridge."

Based on the preliminary information gathered, this is actually much more impressive than the Hu family. The old man of the Hu family did not receive a title or a high-ranking official position, while Wang Yongzhi's side, although not, is about the same in terms of scale.

The various types of "academic cliques" are quite complete, covering industry, academia, law, and international relations. Except for the absence of a "provincial-level military clique" or "regional-level military clique," it has everything else you would expect.

It's much better than being a "brain in the county town," and Wang Yongzhi even has to be a live-in son-in-law, which shows that his father-in-law, Cha Jizu, can offer even more.

Regarding Cha Jizu, Zhang Da'an had assumed he would be a "Justice of the Peace," but it turned out he had not become a citizen of Hong Kong or the United Kingdom, but instead obtained French citizenship.

This was something Zhang Da'an hadn't expected; it seemed completely unrelated.

However, some of the students' parents were quite well-informed. During a break over tea, someone said to Zhang Da'an, "Teacher Zhang, those who used to pursue serious literature and advanced art studies all immigrated to France. It's kind of a circle."

"Is there really such a thing?"

“It’s normal not to know if you don’t hang out with them. In the early years, all that ‘avant-garde art’ was driven by people who immigrated to France. The collaborations with art academies and colleges in some universities in China were all done through them, earning at least one or two hundred million euros a year. Before, Professor Zhang, you caused a huge uproar, and many people almost went bankrupt. I heard that the biggest loss was two or three billion yuan, the savings of three generations.”

"Holy crap... How come I didn't know that? I thought it was just a few old professors barking like dogs. Turns out it's not just the Hu family that has investments in Jiangkou Province."

"That's nothing, the lion's share is all in the capital..."

The speaker raised his hand and pointed upwards, his expression meaningful.

No wonder the policy research office personally hosted a dinner in the "western suburbs" of Luzhou; apparently, there were still things they hadn't revealed.

No wonder he was recruited into the government so early. Given his level of "rebellion," he was just a "black whirlwind." The bigger "rebels" were Wagang or Fang La, who were much more organized than him.

To know the ins and outs of these small circles, one must naturally possess some skill. This family's grandfather, back when he was living in a cave dwelling in Yanzhou, was a frontline cultural worker. He wasn't just someone who could play music and dance; he was a master at writing plays.

Some local folk songs adapted to support the army, as well as some short excerpts adapted from local operas, were one of the important entertainment activities during the front-line rest periods in wartime.

His father was even more remarkable; he was an arts and culture soldier in North Korea and returned alive from there. Both he and Zhang Qihong were incredibly lucky.

It must be understood that after entering Korea, there is no rear area in the strict sense; it is all front line. The so-called "rear area" is also within the bombing range of airplanes and artillery. In such a battlefield environment, regardless of whether they are combatants or non-combatants, the danger they face is only a matter of great or extremely great.

The fact that he could complain to Zhang Da'an about this situation clearly shows that he was somewhat dissatisfied with it.

"Okay, since it's about serious literature and art studies, then I understand."

"Holy crap, Teacher Zhang, you're really something! Are you going to keep yelling?"

"I not only curse, I hit. What am I afraid of?"

"Brilliant."

The parent gave Zhang Da'an a thumbs-up, only able to express his dismay. He explained that when verbal battles escalate to a certain point, they can trigger policy changes in certain regions. A single change can involve hundreds of billions or even billions of dollars, and the stakeholders involved could go bankrupt if things go wrong.

Every year we hear about industry leaders jumping off buildings, and many people analyze market changes and policy shifts, giving serious reviews, talking about how labor-intensive industries are doing or how technology-intensive industries are doing...

In short, it seems there's some compelling reason why they had to fail.

However, sometimes the truth is quite brutal. In highly urbanized areas, if someone in a profession that makes quick money suddenly falls from grace and runs off to jump off a building or overdoses on pills, then you have to look at whether that person worked as a driver, guard, or communications officer when they were young.

Not to mention distant places, there is an island in the middle of the river northwest of Xindongwei Port Middle School, where a golf resort has been involved in such shady dealings.

Of course, there are also all the furniture stores within the Wudu metropolitan area. Those who were able to make this business successful were all former soldiers.

As for what kind of soldier I'll be in and where I'll serve, we'll talk about that later.

Changing gloves is a natural thing to do.

Currently, due to the aggressive nature of "Zhang An Education," the "international education business" has undergone significant changes. In addition, private capital is more willing to follow the related companies of "Zhang An Group." Under normal circumstances, this should lead to a surge in "international education" in major cities, with a large amount of capital flowing into this emerging market.

However, the capital market can't create a bubble right now. The reason is simple: no matter how big you are, can you be as big as "Zhang An Education"?

"Zhang An Education" is the biggest name; no matter how much you promote it, you have to anchor it to "Zhang An Education".

In the past, all you had to do was get a new batch of sycophants to hype up "Zhang An Education," saying it could make 1.8 trillion yuan.

Unfortunately, it couldn't be done. Zhang Da'an had already spoken to his "friends" in the media from various places, forbidding them from boasting.

After the "Dialogue of Talented People" event gained momentum in Luzhou, everyone in the circle knew that Head Coach Zhang was rich and powerful.

It's really thick; a single breath from it could kill a person.

As for the situation in Beijing, it's even simpler. They've already torn off all pretense of civility. If you come here now and start bragging, even a dog would know there's something wrong.

If there's no way to hype it up, then the only option is to lock in the upper limit. Locking in the upper limit also locks in the possibility of listing. Either rebrand it and list it in Hong Kong, or list it in New York with US dollars. Whether or not to go for a "pink stock" listing is another matter.

The existence of "Zhang An Education" is both a cause for joy and sorrow. However, since the circles are different, when it comes to the competition between them, it's all about costs and gains.

Currently, it seems that people have no choice but to make painful sacrifices, and if they keep fighting to the death, no one knows how this education industry will end up.

To put it bluntly, the only skill required to play this game in Beijing is to play it in Beijing itself.

In Beijing, it's practically the same as following the policies; you won't fall into any major pitfalls.

Zhang Da'an's approach is quite hardcore; he binds himself to his clients. As long as the college entrance examination remains valid and is still the fairest selection mechanism, his business can continue.

What is meant by "core business"?

Now that we know where the mountain peak that we need to protect for the road comes from, things become much easier.

Wang Yongzhi wanted to negotiate with him...

No way!

Even his father-in-law, Cha Jizu, couldn't help him.

It's not that he wanted to make an example of someone or anything; he didn't have such profound thoughts. It was simply that Wudu City and Chongzhou City had expressed their stance: as long as Chief Instructor Zhang eliminated Shi Xiangdao, the future development of related industries in both cities would follow Chief Instructor Zhang's lead.

After all, they put in a lot of effort.

In the eyes of Wudu City and Chongzhou City, this is just about making friends with tens of millions of yuan. After all, the toy industry mainly focuses on exports, and they can only make a pittance domestically.

However, Chief Instructor Zhang had his own plans. When he made grand promises to the "team of a thousand painters," he thought it would take at least five to eight years to settle all sorts of people in Jiangkou Province.

Now that two out of twelve cities support him to run for "Toy King," he has naturally decided to lead everyone to the moon.

Offering stones to the roadside as a sacrifice to the flag is a very traditional practice in order to show one's determination.

As for how to do it, that's simple.

Humanities education without scientific literacy is meaningless.

Head Coach Zhang, who doesn't care about anything else, went straight to a major local newspaper in Jiangkou Province and put an editorial on the front page.

The signature is still "Flying Boat".

As the saying goes, "the waves can stop a flying boat," I wonder what kind of waves you all intend to use to stop my 120,000-ton ship?
(End of this chapter)