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

Lin Yang slammed the thick summary report heavily onto the table.

"Absurd! This is utterly ridiculous!"

Lin Yang's voice was icy cold, filled with barely suppressed rage. He pointed at the documents on the table, his gaze piercing Shen Yan like a knife.

"Is this the result of our local officials in charge of the economy working so hard for half a month to negotiate with foreign businesses? Look at these humiliating and exploitative clauses that have been signed!"

Shen Yan's heart skipped a beat. He stepped forward and said in a low voice, "Chairman, the local comrades are eager to attract investment. Every province is vying for political achievements, and in order to bring in foreign investment, they have indeed made significant concessions on some core terms..."

"Concessions? That's like handing over the nation's industrial lifeline!"

Lin Yang suddenly stood up, grabbed one of the documents, and threw it directly into Shen Yan's arms.

"Look at this joint venture agricultural machinery factory that Dongjiang Province signed with a machinery group in Country M! The Chinese side provided the land, the factory buildings, 3,000 skilled workers, and even bore the initial costs of water and electricity infrastructure, holding a 51% stake."

Lin Yang sneered repeatedly, his eyes filled with ruthlessness.

"On the surface, we are the controlling shareholder and have gained an advantage. But look at Article 32 in the appendix! The blueprints for the core engine will not be authorized, the maintenance of the production line's electronic control system must be exclusively handled by engineers from Country M, and we will have to pay an additional 'technology patent royalties' of up to three million US dollars annually!"

"What does this mean? It means we're spending our country's precious foreign exchange to build a military camp for them! The lifeline of our machinery is entirely in the hands of foreigners. If the international situation changes, they can simply remotely lock the electronic control system, and our three thousand workers will be facing a pile of scrap metal that's not even worth as much as junk!"

As Shen Yan looked at the terms on the document, a layer of cold sweat instantly broke out on his forehead.

Having spent years working in the field of macroeconomics, he naturally understood the terrifying nature of this "technological black hole." Local officials only saw the tax revenue and jobs brought about by the joint venture, completely failing to see the fangs hidden behind the contracts by the capitalists.

"Chairman, this phenomenon is not an isolated case." Shen Yan took a deep breath and reported the error truthfully, "Since the country opened its doors, many provincial and municipal leaders have developed a 'foreign investment worship syndrome.' As long as they see blond-haired, blue-eyed foreigners and see them take out a few machines that we've never seen before, they think it's high-tech, and they don't even have the most basic courage to negotiate prices. Ultimately, it's because our cadres... haven't seen the real world."

Lin Yang turned around, put his hands behind his back, and walked to the huge floor-to-ceiling window.

Outside the window, the streets of Beijing are still filled with a massive army of bicycles, with the occasional old bus passing by, belching out black exhaust fumes.

This is a country that has just awakened from isolation, full of vitality, yet insatiable and thirsty.

"Those who are inexperienced will be intimidated by a few fancy tricks; those who are inherently insecure will not be able to stand up straight at the negotiating table."

Lin Yang's eyes flashed with deep strategic calculations. He turned around, his voice resounding.

"Since they've never seen the world, I'll take them out and show them! Let them see for themselves what the capitalist machine eats to grow, and what this industrial monster, which is thirty years ahead of us, really looks like!"

"Shen Yan!"

"arrive!"

"In the name of the National Development and Reform Commission, immediately issue an urgent transfer order to the seven major industrial provinces. Summon all the top officials in charge of industry and economy in these provinces to Beijing! Also, notify Pei Yihong of Hanjiang Province to drop everything and come to Beijing immediately."

Lin Yang's fingers tapped heavily on the desk.

"I want to personally lead a high-level economic delegation. We'll fly directly to Country M across the ocean! No sightseeing, no visitors, we'll go straight into their core heavy industrial zone!"

Shen Yan gasped, a look of shock flashing in his eyes.

"President, organizing such a high-level inter-provincial inspection tour to Country M is unprecedented since the founding of the People's Republic of China. The approval process from the foreign affairs department and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange will likely be extremely complicated, and..."

"No, and moreover," Lin Yang interrupted him coldly. "I'll use the foreign exchange from the National Development and Reform Commission's special reserves. As for the foreign affairs department's approval, I'll personally go to the central government to get the top leader's signature. Within three days, I want to see everyone standing on the airport tarmac!"

"Yes! I'll take care of it right away!" Shen Yan didn't dare to hesitate for a moment, turned around and rushed out of the office.

Three days later, at the airport terminal.

A large Boeing passenger plane, specially chartered, sat quietly on the tarmac.

The atmosphere in the waiting room was extremely oppressive and eerie.

Twelve high-ranking economic officials from seven major industrial provinces were gathered in small groups. They were all dressed in identical dark blue or black Zhongshan suits, carrying briefcases, and their expressions showed a mixture of excitement about their upcoming trip abroad and trepidation at the sudden summons by the iron-fisted chairman.

Pei Yihong sat in a corner chair, his gray jacket still faded from washing. He held a notebook in his hand, rapidly recording data from several newly commissioned blast furnaces in Hanjiang Province. Among this group of high-ranking officials, he, a pure technocrat, seemed somewhat out of place.

"Old Liu, what exactly is Chairman Lin up to this time? Our province's joint venture negotiations are at a critical juncture, and he just pulled me out of it to go to the US for an inspection. I'll be gone for more than half a month. Isn't this just delaying things?" A manager from a southern province lowered his voice, his face full of complaints.

"Who says otherwise?" someone chimed in. "I heard that this inspection didn't even have a clear host organization; it was all done by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) making contact on the spot. We can't even understand a word of foreign language, so what can we possibly learn there? If you ask me, this is just a formality to save face for the NDRC."

"Let's all keep quiet," an older official coughed. "You all know Chairman Lin's temper. Zhao Lichun from Handong is such a tough guy; he can just pull the rug out from under him. We should just obediently follow along."

Just as everyone was discussing it.

The double glass doors of the waiting room were pushed open from the outside.

Lin Yang strode in, wearing a black trench coat without any markings. Chen Feng and Shen Yan followed behind him, one on each side.

The once noisy waiting room fell silent instantly. All the officials immediately stood at attention, not daring to breathe.

Lin Yang walked up to the crowd, his sharp gaze sweeping across each person's face like an X-ray machine.

"It seems everyone has quite a few complaints about this overseas inspection trip," Lin Yang said calmly, yet with a chillingly authoritative aura.

No one dared to speak; the entire hall was so quiet that the only sound was the engine noise of the planes outside.