America: My Time

Chapter 705 Accelerating the Layout
Chapter 695 Accelerating the Laying Out
John's stay in Taiwan was short. He didn't linger because of Wang Zuxian's appearance, nor did he forget his plans because of the presence of two more beautiful women. Although there were still many problems in Taiwan, he needed to speed things up instead of staying. After all, many things couldn't be resolved in a short time, especially the Phoenix Group, whose integration would take a long time.

The situation of loving beauty more than power did not apply to John. He did not forget his plans for this trip and would not change his plans or itinerary because of the appearance of a beauty. After the issues in Taiwan were basically resolved, John took Sonny to China to make his new round of investments.

John didn't stop or say anything about Wang Zuxian's dedication to acting, but Sonny could sense John's change, so she explained, "Zuxian has no choice. After all, she has a contract, and breaching it would affect her development in the industry and her reputation."

“I know I have no complaints about her, I’m just amazed at how fast time flies. So many years have passed in the blink of an eye, and you’ve both changed, in two completely different directions. She’s passionate about acting and living life to the fullest, while you’ve chosen to retire and become more introverted. Maybe I shouldn’t have sent you to Japan, to let you see that cruel side of life. Perhaps you would be happier if you hadn’t seen it.” Although Sonny didn’t say anything, John could sense that her change stemmed from the impact of her trip to Japan. It was a trip to Japan that had a significant impact on her, leading her to give up her hobbies and make the decision to retire.

In John's eyes, Wang Zuxian had become more unrestrained, and her enthusiasm for acting wasn't entirely for fame and fortune, but more for a sense of self-expression. Perhaps she had always lacked a sense of security, and only in this way could she feel secure. Sunny, on the other hand, had undergone a different change. John sighed inwardly at all of this. What's done is done; they could only move forward on their own. His interference would only make things more dangerous.

Time changes everything. In John's eyes, Wang Zuxian and Sunny have changed, and so has he. He is no longer the person he once was; he has adapted to this era and is no longer the person he once was. That's life. In the journey of life, external changes will inevitably lead to changes within ourselves.

"I'm perfectly fine now. Actually, I don't care about fame or fortune. As long as I can live freely, I'm content!"

If these words had come from someone else, John would have been offended. How many people can withstand the test of fame and fortune? But in Sonny's case, John agreed, because her choice to become a nun showed that she had very little desire for fame and fortune. Moreover, in the past few years, she truly didn't care about her acting career. Otherwise, with the vast resources of Phoenix Group, she wouldn't have remained lukewarm; she would have soared to fame like Wang Zuxian. Perhaps this is due to her true nature; in her heart, acting is just a hobby. Without the pressure of life, her true self has been fully released.

When John left Taiwan, all the old guys in the US knew about it. They paid close attention to John's whereabouts. Morgan didn't care what John was thinking or doing, but it was different for Rockefeller and the other old guys. They were worried that John was making some kind of deal with Akio Morita, a deal in the gaming market, and even worried that John would fly to Tokyo, since those guys in Japan were cunning and treacherous.

Market research is just an excuse. John will not hold back when it comes to investing in China, because he knows that the current investment will yield returns of a hundredfold or even more in the future. No one can refuse such an investment, so market research is not a real issue. It's just a question of how much capital he can currently allocate for further investment.

Today, the Mandarin Oriental Group is accelerating its development and is also investing heavily in land acquisition and construction. The commercial center is one of the core investments of the Mandarin Oriental Group, which involves real money. They will not hesitate to acquire any land they can get. In short, money is not a problem.

Many were surprised to see that John's first investigation wasn't into the automotive market, but rather the Mandarin Oriental Group. While the automotive industry is profitable, it pales in comparison to real estate. John's next focus wasn't the automotive sector, but the petrochemical industry, where he conducted an in-depth investigation into Western Energy's crude oil reserves in China. These reserves were crucial to his calculations regarding Japan. With the Gulf War underway and rising oil prices, how could he profit from the Japanese without sufficient reserves? Larger reserves now would allow him to reap greater profits from them later.

Compared to transporting crude oil from the Middle East, transshipment through China, South Korea, and Southeast Asian countries is much easier and safer, and it's also easier to reach deals with those guys in Japan, since this is crude oil that they can actually see, unlike crude oil from the Middle East that they don't know if it can even be transported.

“Mr. John, you place great importance on petrochemicals and crude oil reserves. International crude oil prices haven't changed much. Isn't Western Energy's massive reserve buildup a bit excessive?” “Excessive? Not at all. Without sufficient crude oil reserves, the impact on the company would be significant if crude oil prices rose. Although China currently exports crude oil, its large population and booming economy mean it will soon become a crude oil importer. Moreover, storage costs in China are the lowest, as labor costs are negligible. Furthermore, increasing crude oil reserves also promotes the development of steel mills. For a long time to come, we will continue to increase our crude oil reserves in China. And these reserves aren't just for China; we've also made corresponding preparations for South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and even Southeast Asian countries to protect against fluctuations in the crude oil market.”

“If Mr. John is worried about the crude oil supply, we can cooperate to find oil fields in China, which would reduce the pressure!” As a member of the Ministry of Energy, upon confirming John’s emphasis on crude oil reserves, she immediately proposed the idea of ​​cooperation, after all, the man in front of her was a very wealthy man.

"In principle, I have no problem with cooperation, but it requires professional personnel to complete, and it can't be done in a short time. After all, Western Energy and Quantum Mining need time to adjust their development. The intention to cooperate can be reached first, but it will take time to actually start. Both Western Energy and Quantum Mining need a lot of time to make changes. After all, the technical personnel of both companies have a lot of tasks, and it will be difficult to spare personnel for cooperation before they are completed!"

China is naturally aware of the situations at Western Energy and Quantum Mining. Western Energy is currently focusing most of its efforts on developing North Sea oil fields in Europe. It was initially thought that Western Energy's withdrawal from the UK would present an opportunity, but the company's transformation has been remarkably swift. Quantum Mining's situation is not much easier. Although it has sold a large number of mines to Japan, Quantum Mining's development has not stalled. While it appears to be transforming towards smelting, its mine development plans have never ceased.

"If there are no other issues with our cooperation, Quantum Mining and Western Energy will jointly establish a resource company in China, independent of the two major groups. The investments of the two major groups in China will be managed by this company!"

As time went on, John naturally needed to make better arrangements for his investments in China in order to complete his plans as quickly as possible. He would separate the investments that needed to be separated from the original company to avoid future troubles. The same was true for the semiconductor factory in Shanghai. After ASUS completed its transformation, the semiconductor factory in China would also be separated from ASUS.

John quickly reached a cooperation agreement with them regarding energy and mining. As for investing in automobiles, he did not hesitate at all. After the factory was confirmed, he immediately took action. With the current strength of the Bentley Motors Group, this was not a difficult task. Moreover, the war in Britain had changed the Bentley Motors Group's mind.

Mary Barra originally had a good impression of the British, but now she no longer has that feeling at all. If it weren't for the fact that Bentley Group's investment in Britain is too large, she would have been willing to move all the manufacturing of all the brands directly, because the British have such a bad reputation, and no one knows when these guys will play such a trick again.

Because of the British people's questionable credibility, Mary Barra fully approved of John's intention to increase investment in China, seeing it as the best option. This investment not only covered the entire production and manufacturing of trucks but also increased investment in parts manufacturing. Now, thanks to Quantum Mining's steel plant and the technical support from the Russians, many auto parts were no longer a problem, and machine tools were no longer an issue. While they couldn't obtain the most advanced technology, the Russians still possessed machine tools they had seized from Germany years ago. These old machine tools could still be put to good use, and the Russians had sold them to John at scrap metal prices.

However, the biggest driving force is John's network in East Germany. East Germany's machine tool technology was highly advanced, so the production line issue was not a problem; it could be completed quickly if he wanted to. John has already poached many experienced engineers from East Germany, so this time John's investment is not only in automobiles, but also in heavy industry and machine tools.

(End of this chapter)