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

Shen Yan pointed to a set of data on the briefing: "The most frightening thing is the flow of funds. Overseas conglomerates and big bosses from Hong Kong and Macau are like sharks smelling blood. In just six months, the investment intentions received by the Special Administrative Region's Investment Promotion Bureau have exceeded three billion US dollars!"

"Three billion US dollars..."

Lin Yang's fingers tapped lightly on the leather armrest, a deep calculation flashing in his eyes.

Three billion US dollars was an astronomical figure that would drive anyone crazy in an era when the country's foreign exchange reserves were extremely scarce.

"The influx of foreign capital is both a good thing and a deadly bad thing." Lin Yang threw the briefing on the table, his voice turning cold. "Capital is never a charity. They bring large sums of US dollars to build factories and invest, attracted by our cheap labor and our almost zero land costs."

Lin Yang stood up, walked to the window of the carriage, and looked at the rapidly receding scenery of the southern water towns outside.

"If we only focus on attracting investment and looking at the GDP figures on paper, the special economic zone will eventually become a giant sweatshop. Westerners will produce the most profitable goods here at the lowest cost and then sell them back to us at high prices. That's called economic colonialism!"

Shen Yan broke out in a cold sweat. As someone with an economics background, he naturally understood the brutal truth behind Lin Yang's words.

"Does the chairman mean we should set up technical barriers in the special zone?" Shen Yan asked tentatively.

"It's not just a technological barrier, it's a complete national industrial defense system."

Lin Yang turned around, his gaze sharp.

"We absolutely cannot allow them to invest all of this $3 billion in low-end OEM industries like garment manufacturing, shoemaking, and toy assembly. I will use the National Development and Reform Commission's administrative approval power to force these foreign investors to bring their most advanced electronic component production lines and precision machine tool manufacturing technologies into the Special Economic Zone!"

Lin Yang's finger drew an invisible red line heavily in mid-air.

"Want to acquire land and build a factory in the special economic zone? Sure! Trade your core technology! Anyone who dares to impose a technology blockade, anyone who dares to only engage in low-end OEM manufacturing and exploit the zone, will never have their factory connected to electricity, nor will they be granted a single plot of land!"

"I want to use this special economic zone as leverage to break the Western technological blockade. I want to steal their core technologies, learn them, and then assimilate them into our own industrial foundation!"

These words, while exuding an almost bandit-like domineering air, also contain a profound level of national strategic wisdom.

Shen Yan was thrilled and immediately took out his notebook to write down Lin Yang's strategic ideas word for word.

The train ran tirelessly on the tracks for two whole days and two nights.

When the dawn broke through the clouds on the third day, the air was already filled with a strong, slightly salty sea breeze.

We've arrived in the Southern Special District.

Instead of stopping at the bustling city center train station, the special train traveled directly along a newly laid internal military railway line into a secluded freight marshalling yard deep in the bay.

The car door opened.

A suffocating heat and humidity instantly hit me.

In November, the north is already bitterly cold, but on this coastal land in the south, the temperature is still as high as 27 or 28 degrees Celsius. The scorching sun bakes the earth, and the air feels so hot you could wring water out of it.

Lin Yang, wearing only a thin white short-sleeved shirt, strode down the iron platform.

There were no flowers, no banners, and no groups of local officials on the platform.

There were only two military green Beijing jeeps covered in yellow mud, and a dozen or so burly men in civilian clothes, but with eyes as wary as wolfhounds.

Standing at the very front was a man with tanned skin, a buzz cut, and sharp, piercing eyes.

He was wearing a gray jacket that was half-soaked with sweat, the sleeves rolled up high, and the outline of a pistol was faintly visible at his waist.

It was Chen Feng, the former chief bodyguard who had been planted by Lin Yang on the southern coast and controlled the security and counter-espionage power of the entire special zone.

"Commander!"

Seeing Lin Yang get out of the car, Chen Feng's rugged and cold face immediately erupted with uncontrollable excitement. He strode forward, his feet snapping together, and gave a standard military salute full of killing intent.

Lin Yang stepped forward and patted Chen Feng's solid, rock-like shoulder.

"You've gotten tanned and thinner." Lin Yang looked at his beloved general, who had followed him through thick and thin, his tone unusually gentle. "These past six months in the south must have been tough, haven't they?"

Chen Feng lowered his arm, grinned, revealing a set of white teeth, his smile carrying a strong sense of bloodlust.

"Sir, this place is a den of iniquity." Chen Feng lowered his voice, his tone instantly becoming cold and professional. "The moment the door opens, all sorts of monsters and scoundrels crawl in. In the last few days alone, I've led my men to deal with three groups of overseas gangsters and corporate spies who have crossed the border. There are at least ten gasoline drums sunk to the bottom of the bay."

A glint of satisfaction flashed in Lin Yang's eyes.

He placed Chen Feng here to act as a vicious dog guarding the bottom line of the nation's borders. In a place like the special economic zone, where all sorts of people mingle and capital grows wildly, absolute violence is necessary to establish the underground rules.

"Let's talk after we get in the car."

Lin Yang didn't linger and got into the back seat of the jeep. He Yuzhu and Shen Yan also quickly got in.

The convoy left the hidden marshalling yard and headed towards the heart of the special economic zone along a newly paved dirt road full of mud and potholes.

The view outside the car window was breathtaking.

This is simply a crazy steel jungle.

Tower cranes dozens of meters high were everywhere, as were bulldozers and excavators. Countless construction workers, shirtless and drenched in sweat, toiled like ants under the scorching sun.

Simple prefabricated houses and reinforced concrete frames under construction are rising from this once weed-covered fishing village land at a terrifying speed visible to the naked eye.

"Sir, the core starting area of ​​the special economic zone is just ahead." Chen Feng, sitting in the passenger seat, turned to report, "It's changing every day now. Many bosses from Hong Kong and Macau come here with suitcases full of US dollars, and they dare to sign contracts just by pointing at a piece of wasteland."

"How's the security situation?" Lin Yang asked coldly, looking at the frenzied scene outside the window.

Chen Feng's expression instantly turned serious.

"It's terrible. Although I've laid a tight net on the outside to block most of the infiltration by foreign gangs, the chaos inside is still a major headache."

Chen Feng pulled out an internal file from the storage compartment and handed it to Lin Yang.

"With the influx of large amounts of capital and migrant workers, serious problems of smuggling, underground banks, and violent seizure of construction projects have emerged in the special economic zone. Some local clan forces, relying on their status as indigenous people, have gathered a group of thugs to forcibly monopolize the supply of construction sand and gravel, and even dare to smash and vandalize the construction sites of foreign-funded enterprises in broad daylight, demanding 'protection fees'."

"Can't the local security department handle this?" He Yuzhu interjected from the side, his brows furrowed.

"Manage? How can we manage them?" Chen Feng sneered. "Those village bullies and local thugs often gather hundreds of old, weak, sick, and disabled people to block the entrance of the Security Bureau, causing a ruckus. Local officials are afraid of escalating the conflict and affecting the overall situation of 'reform and opening up,' so they're always trying to smooth things over. Many foreign investors are suffering terribly because of this, and several joint venture projects have already been halted."

Upon hearing this, Lin Yang's eyes instantly turned extremely cold.