I was reborn without dreams

Chapter 213 The God of Literature is Like This

The influence of local academic societies is generally judged by three factors: government, enterprises, and schools.

In layman's terms, it refers to the strength of factions, capital, and sects. For example, there are several normal universities in Beijing, but only Beijing Normal University has truly formidable hard power. However, in terms of influence, that's not necessarily the case. Local normal universities that rely on the name "capital" have considerable connections in the media circles of North China.

In addition, if there is a dynamic balance where different factions are vying for power, then it all comes down to capital.

Both domestic and foreign capital are considered, but looking at the whole country, the utilization rate of foreign capital may be in the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta. However, the total amount of foreign capital that can be directly controlled is undoubtedly in Beijing, without a doubt.

Luzhou, as an economic center, doesn't even have the qualifications to carry shoes; the gap is precipitous.

Therefore, many "Shanghai natives" who graduated from Aurora University sometimes find it strange that Beijing can establish so many new media organizations in the new era and spawn all sorts of strange media alliances. Essentially, it's because "Shanghai natives" don't have as much money as "Beijing natives," and it's not just a matter of money.

In this process, the Pearl River Delta region has actually been unfairly blamed in the ideological infighting. For example, is the "Southern Clique" really "Southern"?

Just like Bao'an City, is Bao'an City really a local city in Lingdong Province?

Having grasped these basic principles, and looking back at the small-scale conflict between Zhang Da'an and Shi Xiangdao, it's clear that the "Yunnan Studies Research Association," a local academic society that hadn't formed a distinct school of thought, was taking on considerable risks.

Firstly, Yunnan Province is inherently poor, and its infrastructure spending is staggering. The amount allocated to intellectuals is certainly limited, and even less is allocated to those intellectuals working on the front lines. Secondly, the overall focus at the time was on economic development, so the prevailing attitude was that whoever made the most money was righteous – a problem inherent to the times. Thirdly, universities in Yunnan Province were objectively marginalized, whether they liked it or not. This resulted in the relatively weak combat capabilities of sects from Yunnan, making them vulnerable to being outmaneuvered in sect battles.

Under such circumstances, Zhang Deli's actions, with a group of his buddies echoing his sentiments, were definitely not just about flattering Zhang Da'an. Profits were not guaranteed, but the risks were significant.

If Zhang Da'an doesn't know anything, then Zhang Deli, as a relative, has wasted his time.

Fortunately, just as the water conservancy experts in Jiangkou Province had predicted, Zhang Deli made it in time.

"It seems that universities in Yunnan Province have good relationships with universities in Jiangning."

"There is a long history between us, and when the land was allocated, the cooperation between agriculture, forestry, fishery and animal husbandry was also very deep. Mr. Zhang, there is a kind of rice variety called 'Phoenix Rice' in your hometown. The Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Yunnan Vocational College of Agriculture and Forestry have participated in its cultivation and breeding, and have also conducted experiments on its preservation and terraced planting."

"is it?"

"It's true, it's true. If you don't believe me, you can ask the cadres in Shazhou City who did this back then. It was the first batch of high-quality japonica rice with a stable yield of over 1,000 jin per mu."

"Were any of those who spoke up for us inside?"

“At Yunnan Provincial Agricultural and Forestry Vocational and Technical College, there is an associate professor named Yu Ding who published an article in the province’s agricultural magazine entitled ‘Public Intellectuals Are Not ‘Cultural Thugs’’. It received some attention, but since it was only published locally, its influence was limited.”

"Oh? Not bad, not bad."

Zhang Da'an nodded, "Donate two million to the 'Yunnan Studies Research Association' to subsidize local scholars, experts, and technicians who have made contributions in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and animal husbandry. Establish an ethics committee for the use of these stipends to monitor the flow of funds and strictly prohibit their use for researchers in political, religious, ethnic, or other non-material fields."

"Two million... Mr. Zhang, isn't that too much?"

"is it a lot?"

“Our province only has a little over a million, but Yunnan province is giving two million, which is likely to attract criticism.”

"What a joke! Who in Jiangkou Province would dare to criticize me?"

"that's true."

The water conservancy expert was startled, intimidated by Chief Instructor Zhang's domineering aura, after all, this guy's uncle, the "Dog Meat County Magistrate," was causing trouble for the "Chinese Soft-shelled Turtle."

When a turtle bites, it really doesn't want to let go.

After the expert returned to his unit and recounted the incident, a shrewd individual remarked with a smile, "What Zhang An wants is an attitude. The 'Yunnan Studies Research Association' was originally a marginal entity with little influence in academic and cultural circles. But now, by supporting Zhang An in killing Shi Xiangdao, they also gain a legitimate reason to save the local toy industry. As long as Zhang An continues to supply them, they're probably about to take off."

"Isn't two million too much? The donations we received from the province were only 1.2 million."

"During that previous war of words, all the provincial media outlets that stood up were university journals; not a single prominent local intellectual stood up. I guess they've disgusted him. I bet after the Spring Festival this year, the provincial and local media won't get any benefits. At most, they might get some advertisements from County Magistrate Zhang. As for newspapers and magazines, it's basically over."

"Doesn't that mean the journal is about to take off immediately?"

"Let's see what happens next. This time, it's quite a big deal. On June 10th, he visited Latvia. On the 8th, there was a major flood and mudslide in Guanzhong Province. On the 9th, Zhang An personally donated 12 million yuan, and 'Zhang An Electronics' and 'Zhang Xiaobai Technology Co., Ltd.' donated 30 million yuan each. At that time, the war of words had already begun to subside. When the provincial propaganda department held a meeting, I heard that the higher-ups specifically praised Zhang An, as well as 'Zhang An Electronics' and 'Zhang Xiaobai Technology Co., Ltd.'. The outcome is basically clear."

"Then the journal is definitely about to take off."

On the 12th, Zhang Da'an visited Estonia. By then, he was already taking stock of his achievements. Whether Shi Xiangdao would be driven to his death was unknown, but he would most likely be.

It wasn't that Zhang Da'an wanted him dead, but rather that the interest group behind Shi Xiangdao needed to use the life of an old man like him to annoy Zhang Da'an.

Even if it's just a bit "disgusting," it's still a gain. Afterwards, in cultural and even intellectual circles, it will simply create the result of Zhang Da'an forcing Shi Xiangdao to his death.

Zhang Da'an's think tank had all guessed it, especially Fang Daqiao, who had specifically analyzed various possibilities, including the one that Shi Xiangdao was "forced to commit suicide".

Previously, the probability was low, but with the "Yunnan Studies Research Association" and other marginal entities potentially taking off, the nature of the situation is completely different.

The logic is simple: a significant portion of the intellectual community will find that they now have another option for playing frisbee.

In the past, people would catch the frisbees of foreigners, or the frisbees of masters who had shown them "favor" or "favor." Later, people would casually catch the frisbees of top-tier "white gloves." Now it's different. A very capable "three-time champion" has emerged. Is it shameful to catch the frisbee from the hands of such a powerful person with such a title?
Not at all!

On the contrary, this would allow them to conveniently transform the owner of the frisbee, Zhang Da'an himself, into a cultural icon.

It used to be impossible or inconvenient to wash, but now it's different; there are rewards.

The Zhang family provides plenty of nutritious dog food, so why can't we eat it?

Earning yen isn't something you can do every year; it depends on performance. Otherwise, who would be willing to put on such a show in public media?
That's no different from street performance.

In fact, the reason why the "Yunnan Studies Research Association" decided to side with Zhang Da'an was not only because people like Zhang Deli genuinely wanted to bring investment and development to southern and southeastern Yunnan as soon as possible, but also because some simple old scholars were shocked by the scale of Zhang Da'an's donations of money and goods in Guanzhong Province.

From June 8th to June 10th, heavy rainfall in Guanzhong Province triggered severe flash floods and mudslides. Zhang Da'an immediately coordinated with the civil affairs department of Jiangkou Province to transfer 12 million yuan to the fraternal unit in Guanzhong Province.

Even the State Council didn't get involved; it was all coordination between provinces.

Secondly, there are the two companies, "Zhang An Electronics" and "Zhang Xiaobai Technology Co., Ltd.", each with 30 million yuan. Apart from cash, the remaining funds are for communication tools. If the 10,000 "Jinbang Mobile Phones" are converted to market value, that would be 80 million yuan. The various emergency tool software built into the phones is handled by the software project departments of "Zhang Xiaobai Technology Co., Ltd." The daily wage for idle operation is several hundred thousand yuan. Not to mention that a separate server was also set up, and the hardware and software expenditures amounted to several million yuan at once.

In addition to communication and collaboration with telecommunications departments and electronic access technology service companies, even a short-term contract can cost over ten million, whether it's ZTE or "Petal" company, the price is the same.

There's been no reporting on this aspect; most people are just focusing on the amount of donations and making a fuss about it, when in reality, those tens of millions in cash are nothing at all.

The veteran scholars of the "Yunnan Studies Research Association" knew about this because the mobile company in Guanzhong Province had already held an internal meeting, preparing to sign a contract with "Jinbang Mobile" after the disaster. Even if they were stuck with high-end phones, they wanted to forge a friendship with "Jinbang Mobile." It was through the mobile company that the veteran scholars learned the details from the Yunnan Provincial Mobile Company.

This gave us a direct understanding of Zhang Da'an's financial resources.

More importantly, the donations of money and goods and the voluntary services provided by "Zhang An Electronics" and "Zhang Xiaobai Technology Co., Ltd." were all borne by the companies themselves, without requiring employees to pay for them. There was no "forced donation" involved.

This is a very impressive thing, which is why a considerable number of senior scholars in the "Yunnan Studies Research Association" were willing to do this job with Zhang Deli.

Even when robbing and plundering, one must first consider the market conditions.

In fact, when Zhang Da'an met with Zhang Deli and his group in the afternoon, he would also bring along the provincial civil affairs department. This was because if Chief Instructor Zhang wanted to advance the construction of the Mudihe Reservoir project in Panlong City, he could use the civil affairs department as a means to do so through "aid construction" and "investment promotion".

The approval process is faster than for direct investment in infrastructure, but the benefits are relatively fewer, and more concessions need to be made to the local area.

Generally speaking, Luzhou has more "aid" or "support" projects, not only in terms of funding, but also in terms of talent pool. Luzhou is the largest in this regard, which is the source of its confidence to bark at Beijing.

"The disaster in Guanzhong Province this time is quite severe. The torrential rains and floods have affected more than 30 counties and over 300 townships, with more than 2.5 million mu of crops damaged. It came on fiercely and happened too quickly. Mr. Zhang's 12 million was really a lifesaver..."

"Hey, there's no need for that kind of flattery. Let's get straight to the disaster situation. I'm contributing 200 million this time so everyone can witness it. If I can't earn 200 million in Guanzhong Province in the future, then they're in the wrong."

"..."

"..."

"..."

The provincial officials were already familiar with this smell, but for people in Yunnan and Guanzhong provinces, it was quite novel, though a bit pungent.

What's going on with you guys in Jiangkou Province?!
Is it really possible to say something like that without any embellishment?
Is there really no one in charge of this?
Where is the meeting discipline?

What is the spirit of the meeting?

Do they even care about morality and social customs anymore?
Would such a cadre... oh, not a cadre?

That's fine.

"Uh... there are still more than 80,000 houses collapsed or damaged, more than 200 kilometers of power transmission lines and more than 500 kilometers of communication lines damaged. However, the 'Jinbang Mobile Phone' played a role in quickly reporting the disaster situation in some areas with rugged roads."

They said they shouldn't flatter, but they still did when they needed to. The reason for only 10,000 units of the "Golden List Mobile Phone" champion V1 series, instead of the Progressive EP1 series, was simply because the entire "Progressive EP/E1 series" had not yet entered mass production.

Left with no other choice, they had to take out their expensive high-end mobile phones.

Blood loss.

However, it's not too bad, because the mobile company in Guanzhong Province has confirmed that they will sign a two-year contract, which guarantees at least 20,000 high-end units. As for whether there will be additional sales volume, we'll see.

Anyway, we're definitely going to lose money now. We've already spent around 200 million, and we haven't even advertised it widely yet. It's basically a dead cost.

Of course, since Guanzhong Province sent people to Jiangkou Province, they must be trying to find a way to recover the losses for the "philanthropic entrepreneurs" and "philanthropic enterprises".

The main reason is that the propaganda department of Guanzhong Province plans to heavily advertise "Zhang An Electronics" and "Zhang Xiaobai Technology Co., Ltd." before the Chinese New Year.

Previously, "Top Scholar Star" couldn't be sold in Xi'an, the capital of Guanzhong Province. This time it's different. As long as there's a railway in Guanzhong Province, it can be sold.

It won't work for anyone.

Disaster experts in the province all have their own statistical models. At this time, they estimate 1 billion, but the actual situation will definitely deviate from the estimate.

In these times, Guanzhong Province has suffered a severe blow, as resources need to be coordinated for post-disaster recovery.

The problem is that Guanzhong Province is short of money at the moment, and its finances are in dire straits.

This is why the Publicity Department of Guanzhong Province sent someone directly to Jiangning, and also brought a letter of thanks from the civil affairs department.

In addition, the National Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, the Ministry of Water Resources, and other departments sent working groups to Guanzhong Province and a separate group to Jiangning City.

There's no way around it, it's two hundred million.

Zhang Da'an alone has 12 million in cash.

The counterattack against the "Shi Xiangdao" group is a combination of punches. Zhang Da'an is now quite the "pillar of strength," so how could he not come to unite them?

It has extremely high value in united front work, and its economic value is particularly high this time...

That's what the people in the Propaganda Department of Guanzhong Province think.

“Let’s take stock of the local situation. Didn’t Engineer Zhang say he wanted to build a reservoir in Panlong City? I’ve seen that Mudihe Reservoir; it’s part of the ‘Run Dian Project.’ They said the total investment would be around 20 million. I’ll double that and give you 40 million; that should be enough.”

After the disaster experts finished explaining the situation, Zhang Da'an immediately changed the subject, avoiding any discussion of post-disaster reconstruction and instead bringing up investment and construction: "Are there any similar projects in the disaster area, comparable in size to the Mudihe Reservoir?"

“There is a reservoir called ‘Sanhekou Reservoir’, which was built in the first decade after the founding of the People’s Republic of China.”

"You guys see if there's anything you can do locally. I'm not interested in scenic areas. I just want to build reservoirs for irrigation, power generation, and aquaculture. Show me everything you can do, and I'll invest if I think it's good enough. Twenty or thirty million per reservoir isn't much, but don't try anything funny in your province. Package everything up and submit it directly to the State Council for approval. Even if there are ten reservoirs, I'll just invest in projects worth two or three hundred million."

"..."

"..."

"..."

The officials from Jiangkou Province remained expressionless, but those from Guanzhong Province and Yunnan Province were somewhat bewildered.

Wasn't he supposed to be so arrogant?
Then someone from the National Defense Headquarters conveyed the message, and everyone knew that their tone had always been so arrogant.

After all, he was a "three-time champion," so it's quite reasonable for Wenquxing to speak with a bit of arrogance.

He's a bit dazed. According to the way Wenquxing (a Chinese fortune teller), it used to be that the province could build one or two reservoirs, but now it seems like they can do a big project.

(End of this chapter)