Courtyard House: From Deputy Division Commander to Civilian, Progressing All the Way

Lin Yang stood up, walked to the map, and exuded an aura of dominance that suggested he controlled the nation's economic lifeline.

"Cold-rolled steel is a good thing. It has a smooth surface and extremely high strength. What is this type of steel best suited for making? Car bodies! Refrigerator doors! Washing machine drums!"

Lin Yang turned around and stared intently at Pei Yihong, his eyes blazing with astonishing ambition.

"Yi Hong, the people are just barely able to fill their stomachs now. What do they need next? Upgrading their 'old three items'—bicycles, sewing machines, and watches! They need televisions, refrigerators, and all sorts of light industrial consumer goods!"

"If we only focus on steelmaking, the lion's share of the profits will go to the assembly plants along the coast. Han River Province will remain a place of unskilled, laborious labor!"

"Therefore, I want you to conduct vertical integration of the industrial chain right here on the Han River!"

Lin Yang strode back to his desk, placing his hands on the surface like a tiger surveying its prey.

"Not a single ton of cold-rolled steel produced by Hanjiang No. 3 Factory is allowed to be sold outside the factory! Within a five-kilometer radius of this factory area, using the land of those small, closed-down factories, build the largest light industrial electrical manufacturing park in the province!"

"I want the steel plates coming out of the Hanjiang No. 3 factory's assembly line to be directly stamped into refrigerator shells in the workshop at the other end!"

boom!

Pei Yihong's brain seemed to be struck by lightning, and he froze on the spot.

Vertical integration of the industrial chain! Locally utilize raw materials and directly produce high-value-added end-consumer products!

In an era still accustomed to "state-controlled purchase and distribution," this advanced economic theory was nothing short of a groundbreaking stroke of genius!

"President...this...this is too massive!" Pei Yihong's voice trembled with excitement, his hands gripping the armrests of the chair tightly. "But, Hanjiang only has steelmaking technology. We don't have the compressor and motor technology needed to make refrigerators and washing machines at all! Even if we could build the shell, the inside would be empty!"

Lin Yang sneered and stubbed out the burnt-out cigarette butt in the ashtray.

"If we don't have the technology, we can buy it. If we can't buy it, we can trade for it on the market!"

Lin Yang turned to look at Shen Yan in the corner.

"Shen Yan, bring Director Pei the 'Guiding Directory of Sino-Foreign Joint Ventures' that our National Development and Reform Commission just released the day before yesterday."

Shen Yan immediately pulled out a document and handed it to Pei Yihong.

Lin Yang pointed at the document, his voice resounding: "This is our biggest bargaining chip! China has a population of one billion, a super market that would drive any Western capitalist crazy at first glance."

"Yihong, I'm giving you the absolute power of the Vice Governor of Hanjiang Province, not so you can fight with thugs at the factory gate every day. I need you to immediately assemble a top-level investment promotion team. Head south, to the special economic zone, to Hong Kong!"

A deep, calculating glint flashed in Lin Yang's eyes.

"Lou Xiao'e's Ocean Shipping Group in Hong Kong has already built a bridge for us. Panasonic and Sanyo of Japan, and Siemens of West Germany are currently facing the dilemma of domestic market saturation. You can take the approval document from the National Development and Reform Commission to talk to them."

"Tell them that Han River Province will provide the land, the world's cheapest skilled industrial workers, and a continuous supply of top-quality cold-rolled steel! All they need to do is provide the capital and the core technology for compressors and motors. Establish a Sino-foreign joint venture home appliance factory in Han River!"

"Seventy percent of the products manufactured in the joint venture will be sold domestically, dominating the domestic market; the remaining thirty percent will be exported through the special economic zone's ports to earn foreign exchange. Profits will be split fifty-fifty. I refuse to believe that those capitalists can resist such temptation!"

Pei Yihong was so excited that he slapped his thigh hard, making a crisp sound.

"Incredible! This is practically a plan to wipe out our entire family line!"

At this moment, Pei Yihong's bloodshot eyes burned with a frenzied drive.

"Use our cheap labor and raw materials to acquire their core technologies. In five or ten years, once our workers have mastered their techniques, we can easily leave them behind and create the best appliance brand in China!"

Lin Yang nodded in satisfaction as he watched Pei Yihong's expression of sudden understanding.

Talking to smart people is so effortless. Although Pei Yihong is a tech fanatic, his keen sense for industrial upgrading is something that many office bureaucrats can never learn in their lifetimes.

"But, Chairman." After his initial excitement, Pei Yihong quickly calmed down and, as the person in charge of the local implementation, immediately thought of the most practical problem.

"Industrial chain integration and investment attraction both require an extremely large logistics system to support them. The Han River is located deep inland. If the transportation bottleneck is not solved, are all those refrigerators and washing machines manufactured going to be transported out by horses and carried on shoulders?"

Pei Yihong walked to the map and pointed to the intricate yet dilapidated transportation network of Hanjiang Province.

"Most of the railways in our province are single-track railways built in the early days of the People's Republic of China. Now, they are already operating beyond capacity just for transporting coal and ore. If we add the massive outbound shipments of light industrial finished products, the railway bureau simply cannot manage the scheduling."

"Without roads, foreign investors wouldn't dare to come in and build factories."

This is a fatal weakness.

In those days, the slogan "To get rich, build roads first" hadn't yet gained widespread popularity. Local governments were dirt poor; they had to beg and plead with higher authorities to build even a short asphalt road of a dozen kilometers, let alone open up a major artery connecting the entire inland province.

Lin Yang walked to the map, his gaze sharp as an eagle's, staring intently at the geographical map of Hanjiang Province.

His finger slid slowly across the map, past the dense network of railway lines, and finally stopped on the massive, well-watered waterway that ran through the entire Han River province, a waterway that had been overlooked for so long.

"If the railway capacity is insufficient, why not use waterways?" Lin Yang's voice was deep and full of pressure.

Pei Yihong gave a wry smile: "President, although the Han River's water system is well-developed, connecting directly to the Yangtze River and reaching the deep-water ports of Donghai Province, the several wharves along the Han River are all dilapidated wooden wharves that can only accommodate small barges of about 100 tons. The river channel is severely silted up, and even a 500-ton cargo ship cannot enter."

"To use waterways, we would have to dredge dozens of kilometers of silt from the riverbed and build a modern, large-scale, deep-water inland container port. Even if we sold the entire treasury of Han River Province, we couldn't raise that much money!"

Lin Yang turned his head and looked at Pei Yihong, whose face was full of helplessness, a cold and domineering sneer curling up at the corner of his mouth.

"As I just said, times have changed."

Lin Yang walked back to his desk and picked up the iconic Parker pen.

"Your local government is short of money because your thinking is still stuck in the era of 'funding'. Why can't you generate your own money?"

Lin Yang's words stunned Pei Yihong and Shen Yan, who was in the corner.