Chapter 184 Who Cares About the Battlefield? (Bug Fix): She is first and foremost the top leader of Jiangdong.

Ivanov admired the flight attendant's pretty face and graceful figure for a while, and even threw several flirtatious glances at the flight attendant who brought him coffee. Finally, his gaze fell back on Wang Xiao, who was writing furiously, and he still didn't stop himself from showering her with sweet words: "Wang, you're right, you are my white moonlight."

Wang Xiao didn't even look up, and directly refused: "I'm not."

Ivanov, feeling snubbed, decided to put on an act.

But Wang Xiao didn't look up, so there was no need for him to flirt with her. He simply leaned closer and asked curiously, "What are you writing?"

"The next step is to open a branch in China after we've already opened one in Japan." Wang Xiao explained in a low voice, "The next step is to open a branch in China after we've already opened one in Japan."

“But there are already clothing stores.” Ivanov said, puzzled.

Although he wasn't particularly concerned with the specific affairs of the Huaxia region, he knew that Wang had opened a clothing store in Jinning, and that the branches had already spread to two provinces, with the next step likely to be nationwide.

At the same time, she is also working on pedestrian streets.

Good heavens, they are such generous spenders.

Wang Xiao shook his head slightly: "It's different. The clothes in the stores we run now will be standard affordable styles in ten years."

This was the fate of most popular brands in the 1990s. There are many reasons for this, but Wang Xiao personally believes it is related to the strong impact of foreign culture and changes in trade policies after China joined the WTO in 2001.

She's a businesswoman; only business people who ride the wave of opportunity can make even a pig take off.

By then, they will need new business to fill the vacant middle-class market.

Ivanov roughly understood her explanation, but was still confused: "Wang, isn't the biggest selling point of our clothing stores in Japan good quality at low prices? Affordable styles. That's not what the middle class is looking for."

“The two countries have different levels of development and different definitions of the middle class. An ordinary salaryman in Japan would definitely be considered wealthy in China.”

Wang Xiao remembered the data she had seen before she traveled through time: in the millennium, the average worker in China earned no more than a thousand yuan, only a few hundred yuan.

A hundred or two hundred yen was nothing to Japanese people at the time, when the starting salary for college graduates was 15,000 yen; it was a piece of clothing they could easily buy.

However, for ordinary Chinese people at that time, this was a considerable expense.

Ivanov couldn't read minds, nor did he know his companion was a time traveler, so he was greatly shocked: "You mean, you believe that in another 10 years, China's national income level will be far lower than Japan's?"

Wang Xiaoqi was puzzled: "Even a starved camel is bigger than a horse. Japan is a developed capitalist country. It has suffered from an economic crisis, but it still has an international leading advantage in many industries."

What a joke! It's only been 10 years. Even in 30 years, until the time she traveled through time, the general income level of Japanese citizens was still higher than that of China.

Ivanov was deeply jealous and felt that God was being extremely unfair.

Both Russia and Japan faced major crises, but Russia suffered a crushing defeat, while Japan managed to hold on and remain standing.

That's right. The essence of revisionism has never been capitalism, but rather feudalism disguised as socialism.

It is perfectly normal for feudalism to be utterly defeated by capitalism.

Beijing time is only one hour different from Tokyo time. When the plane arrived at the airport, they didn't need to adjust to the time difference. They got on the car directly and headed to the small third-tier factory recommended to them by Jiangdong Province.

The leaders of the Jiangdong Provincial Government did indeed find a suitable factory for them, just as Wang Xiao had requested.

Just by looking at the factory location, you can see that although the construction of the Third Front was rushed at the beginning, all aspects were really taken into consideration.

The factory is located in Huaixi County, a place with jagged rocks, crisscrossing ravines, and overgrown thorns, rarely visited by people. However, just 6 kilometers to the north, there is a highway that connects directly to the railway. 12 kilometers further east, there is a sizable waterway wharf, and to the south, there is a highway connecting Huaixi to Jinning City.

The military factory was built in the 1960s and officially started construction in 1970. After operating for 15 years, the entire factory was moved back to Jinning City.

In the early years, in the mid-1980s, as an enclave, this place was able to survive by taking some of the orders that slipped through the fingers of the main factory.

However, by the late 1980s, the main factory itself was struggling, so where would it get orders? The factory gradually shut down, and the remaining workers and those recruited locally either retired or left.

Since the year before last, this place has been completely abandoned.

However, it is precisely because of several years of perseverance that the factory has largely remained unchanged. Otherwise, if it had truly been idle since 1985, the factory buildings, without any people to maintain them, would probably have collapsed by now.

As a small third-line factory that was originally a military factory, Wang Xiao felt that the builders at the time had indeed put in a lot of effort.

Like most third-line factories, the military factory in Huaixi was a typical independent society with integrated production and living areas, complete with hospitals, post offices, dormitories, canteens, schools, and so on.

Even the technical advisors brought in by Dongli couldn't help but admire the facilities when they saw them, saying that the builders had really put their hearts into it.

But this did not stop them from conducting a thorough and rigorous inspection, and then listing more than a hundred things they thought should be rectified.

In particular, the accommodation area that Ivanov particularly admired—well, it was a typical Soviet-style building—had a total of twenty or so items picked out that needed to be seriously modified.

Ivanov couldn't resist any longer; he thought the dormitory conditions were quite good.

Seeing that he was about to start rambling on, Wang Xiao gave him a wink, and Ivanov quieted down again.

Alright, alright. Since we've already spent a lot of money to bring them here, we can't just not give them a chance to perform.

Ivanov looked around, focusing on the key question: "Where are the workers? Are they also looking for workers in the surrounding villages? Do they know how?"

He believed that Chinese people are skillful and that every woman could make clothes.

However, textiles are a technical job, especially fleece, which is a new fabric. There are so many processes involved that it is impossible for non-professionals to learn it in a short period of time.

Wang Xiao shook his head: "We will not recruit local workers for the time being. The first batch of workers are technical school interns from the textile factory."

The so-called factory technical schools were specialized technical schools established by large state-owned enterprises in the late 1970s to supplement their shortage of technical personnel after the resumption of the national college entrance examination.

In the days when factories had many orders, these technical school graduates were guaranteed job placement and would go directly to work in factories after graduation.

However, the winds of change are blowing too fast, and the problem of overcapacity seems to have emerged all at once.

Students are graduating one batch after another, but with the factory not expanding its production scale and older employees not having time to retire, the problem of difficulty in job placement after graduation naturally arises.

When Wang Xiao said she needed textile workers with at least a junior high school education and strong learning abilities, the Jiangdong Provincial Government directly recommended students from a textile technical school to her and even offered to help the factory, which had not yet been officially registered, establish an internship base.

The leader who made the suggestion wasn't ashamed at all. This factory had Japanese experts providing technical guidance, all the equipment was brand new, and the fabrics they produced were new fabrics that weren't available domestically. It was definitely worth learning from.

It's good for students. They're young, and seventeen or eighteen-year-old girls have no family burdens, making them ideal for learning new knowledge and technologies. Besides, they're like blank slates; they don't need to correct old habits and can directly learn new things, making it easier for them to remember them.

Once their internships are over, they'll fall in love with working in the advanced factory and be willing to stay and work there.

The leader dared to make this guarantee because she was knowledgeable in the industry; she had genuinely visited textile factories in Japan. The machinery there was so quiet, and the workshops were impeccably clean. Unlike textile factories in China, where after a few years, everyone speaks in a loud, booming voice.

There's no way around it; anyone's ears would get tired of the constant roaring of the machines in the workshop after a while.

Given the right conditions, who wouldn't prefer to work in a quiet and comfortable environment?

Especially today's young people, who were born after the country had passed the famine period and life had become better, are even less able to endure hardship.

As for the factory being in a remote location with no places to have fun nearby, the management didn't think it was a problem; they could watch TV. Young girls these days love watching TV, and there are videotapes available now.

There are also ping-pong tables and basketball courts, so they can exercise after get off work.

But Wang Xiao felt it wasn't enough.

She called Chen Yanqiu, the chairman of the trade union, and found out the two most popular leisure activities among young people in Jinning City.

One is ice skating. Many people enjoy roller skating these days and can play for half a day without stopping.

Another activity is singing karaoke. Fewer people sing karaoke because it's expensive, but there are a lot of people who are obsessed with it.

Wang Xiao immediately decided to renovate the factory area, adding a karaoke room and an ice rink so that the workers would have a place to play.

As for those who want to learn, open universities are very common now, and you can learn by watching TV and reading the materials.

She also sought advice from Japanese technical advisors.

In the 1980s, Japan's economy experienced explosive growth, leading to a shortage of land in urban areas and the emergence of numerous suburban factories and new suburban communities. Building factories in remote areas was a basic practice, and Japan had extensive experience in operating them effectively.

If these renovation plans are pushed forward one by one, it is estimated that they will definitely not be completed before August.

Wang Xiao plans to have the construction company send more people to the site to complete the project as soon as possible.

Winter comes early in Russia, and it's already late May. If the trade city doesn't hurry, they won't be able to get the new fleece clothes in time this year.

Director Zhao of the Provincial Government Investment Promotion Office, who accompanied them on the site visit, exclaimed, "President Wang, you are truly efficient and decisive."

This factory in Huaixi County was one of the options she had recommended to Wang Xiao just a few days ago.

Director Zhao originally thought that Wang Xiao would at least visit each place in person before making a decision.

As a result, she only looked at the international fax she sent and asked a few questions over a long-distance call, and then directly finalized the deal with the factory in Huaixi.

This time, she even brought Japanese technical experts with her when she first visited the factory, and they immediately began to offer suggestions for improvement.

According to Director Zhao, even with the most streamlined process, it would still take at least two or three months to get this done.

If we switch to someone else, the whole process, from start to finish, takes less than a week!

Wang Xiao smiled and flattered the other party: "This is also thanks to the leaders of our Jiangdong Province. They reserved the best positions for me. I can't believe it, but do you think I don't trust Director Zhao's judgment in our investment promotion office? I'm satisfied with whatever you chose."

She certainly exaggerated in what she said, but her foundation wasn't too far off.

Firstly, the reason she directly requested the repurposed small-scale factories in the Third Front construction was because, although the Third Front construction was hastily initiated, it was treated as a top political task at the time, so all aspects were considered and the overall situation was quite good. No matter which option she chose, it wouldn't fall below the passing grade.

Secondly, she initially went to Xiaozhou to set up the factories of Aizhili and Yiyou, which made people in Jiangdong feel like their homes had been stolen.

Deputy Secretary Cao had mentioned to her several times that there were suitable small third-tier factories in Jiangdong and hoped that she could invest, but she always found excuses to delay.

Now she has taken the initiative to express her desire to leave the factory buildings idle; unless the leaders in Jiangdong are all incompetent and there is not a single one who wants to improve, they will make the best factory buildings available no matter what.

As a traditional economic powerhouse, Jiangdong, despite not receiving preferential policies from the central government after the reform and opening up, such as being designated as a special economic zone, has still managed to carve out its own path. This has ensured that the official circle in Jiangdong Province is generally economically astute and highly motivated.

Therefore, she was confident that she could solve the problem once and for all.

Even if she made a mistake, the factory Jiang Dong recommended to her was so bad it was practically worthless.

Since she's already here, she could have easily refused on the spot and then taken the Japanese textile technical advisor to another factory to take a look.

When capitalists face government leaders, they will definitely say nice things first, but when it comes to actually spending money, not one of them will hesitate to do so without any hesitation.

Conversely, the same applies to government officials.

The two sides were happily praising each other when the sound of cars came from outside, followed by a large entourage coming down.

Because of the backlighting, Wang Xiao couldn't even see the other person's face clearly when they entered the workshop.

It wasn't until the lady at the front of the group reached out her hand and greeted her, "Ms. Wang, it's been a long time!"

She suddenly realized that the other person was Wu Haoyu's mother!

Director Zhao regretted his overreaction; he hadn't recognized the leader by the silhouette in the sunlight and rushed to greet him immediately.

At this moment, she could only desperately try to salvage the situation: "Secretary Fang, you've arrived."

Wang Xiao was stunned.

No, the impact is quite significant.

Wu Haoyu's mother is actually the newly appointed top official in Jiangdong Province this year!

Holy crap, I've transmigrated into a novel about high-ranking officials?

Wang Xiao took a deep breath and shook Secretary Fang's hand with a big smile: "It's been a long time. I didn't expect you to make the trip in person, Secretary Fang. We are truly flattered."

"Of course," Secretary Fang said with a friendly smile. "I originally wanted to pick you up from the airport, but I couldn't get away from the meeting. How was the factory visit? If you have any ideas or need the government's help in coordinating anything, just let me know."

Wang Xiao actually did mention it.

For example, transportation; the road from the factory to the highway needs to be rebuilt.

For example, with so many employees in the factory, the local government needs to help coordinate the daily supply of non-staple foods.

Secretary Fang agreed very readily: "That's all easy to solve. Road construction, we'll arrange that immediately. As for food—"

She turned around and called out, smiling, "Mayor Li, did you hear that? We've brought you business. This factory is so big, and so many people need to eat and drink; they're all counting on you."

Mayor Li was about forty or fifty years old, with a protruding belly, but his skin was dark, suggesting he had worked in the fields.

He smiled and nodded repeatedly, assuring me again and again: "No problem, no problem. Director Zhao told me before that we can definitely supply the canteen."

Just kidding, this is a cash cow delivered right to his doorstep. With such ready-made results in attracting investment, it would be strange if he wasn't enthusiastic.

Even if the textile workers and machine repairmen in the textile factory are not recruited locally, but are their own staff, then what about the others? People are needed to cook and help in the canteen, and to clean and sweep the factory area.

Even if things don't go well, with so many people in the factory eating every day, they still need to buy chicken, duck, fish, meat, and vegetables locally; it all costs money.

Wang Xiao nodded and smiled at the other party, "Then I'll trouble you to take good care of me, Mayor."

She turned her head and said a few words to Ivanov in Russian, who immediately nodded and smiled at Mayor Li.

Goodness, Mayor Li almost took two steps back.

That Russian is something else, he looks like a bear, you can tell he's not someone to mess with.

With the provincial leader in attendance, it was natural to inspect the factory thoroughly again. Any problems that could be resolved on-site were addressed immediately by the leader.

In this way, most of the major problems have been solved.

Under Secretary Fang's personal instructions, a new bus route was even opened from the factory to the town and then to the county seat to facilitate everyone's travel.

Mayor Li clicked his tongue in amazement; attracting investment was truly impressive.

Since the last bus stopped running in 1990, their town has submitted applications and made requests every year, but the county has never been willing to plan any more bus routes.

Wow, the big boss just opens his mouth and the bus comes right away. It's true what they say, when one person attains enlightenment, even their chickens and dogs benefit.

It's getting late, and Secretary Fang should return to Jinning City. She has an important banquet to attend tonight.

She took Wang Xiao's hand and said with a smile, "Mr. Wang, I've been wanting to have a good chat with you."

Ivanov was instantly both alert and excited.

Alarmingly, with the help of his bodyguards and assistants, he finally realized that the Chinese female cadre in front of him was not Deputy Secretary Cao, whom they had dealt with before.

It's no wonder he's like this; all the female cadres in China have the same hairstyle and the same style of dress; to him, a foreigner, they all look pretty much the same.

So, if the bodyguard hadn't reminded him, he would have had no idea that the leader had been replaced, and that the replacement was Wu Haoyu's mother!

Good heavens, what a hellish scene this is!

So he was both nervous and excited. He absolutely had to be there in person to see what Wu Haoyu's mother was going to talk to Wang about alone.

Ivanov raised his hand enthusiastically, indicating that as Wang's business partner, he also looked forward to further exchanges with the leaders of Jiangdong Province.

But his gossipy spirit was destined to never ignite.

This year, Secretary Fang's position is that of the top leader of Jiangdong Province, not Wu Haoyu's mother.

She nodded slightly and agreed to Ivanov's request, taking him into the car with her.

Once in the car, she got straight to the point: "President Wang, before Minister Cao Xiulan was transferred to the ministry, she had a long talk with me about chips and LCD screens."

After the Spring Festival, Wang Xiao also vaguely heard rumors that Deputy Secretary Cao would be transferred to the ministry, but he could not confirm it.

It's normal; the promotions and transfers of domestic officials are often unpredictable.

Some people were even called in for a talk by the organization the day before, thinking it was a sure thing; but overnight, things changed, as if nothing had happened.

It wasn't until late April, after Wang Xiaoren had already gone to Moscow, that Deputy Secretary Cao officially confirmed his transfer to the ministry.

Around that time, Secretary Fang was transferred to Jiangdong and became the top leader.

In all honesty, it's not that Wang Xiao is indifferent to the political changes in Jiangdong; rather, every era has its own characteristics.

Although her business in Jiangdong was thriving, she had virtually no dealings with the top official in Jiangdong. Deputy Secretary Cao had a closer relationship with her because he was in charge of the economy.

Wang Xiao's business principle has always been to maintain good relations with the government, but not to have overly close personal relationships with officials.

She doesn't act as anyone's money bag.

So even though a misunderstanding occurred, she is quite calm now, and even nods in agreement: "When Deputy Secretary Cao was in Jiangdong, he always wanted to promote the industrial upgrading of Jiangdong."

"I've read your letter," Secretary Fang affirmed. "The idea is good, and we really need to seize the opportunity to get started. Before I came to Jiangdong, I mentioned it in a meeting as well. Jiangdong has the potential to develop LCD screens. Computers are developing very rapidly now, and laptops are indeed very convenient."

Wang Xiao listened attentively, finally getting to the heart of the matter: "If it's a joint venture, which company do you think is the best fit?"

“No joint venture.” Wang Xiao emphasized again, “If we were to form a joint venture, this business would not be viable. It’s a money-burning machine, and new entrants can’t afford to lose $100 million a year. Even if they stop losing money, the money would have to be reinvested in the next level of production lines, or they would be eliminated immediately.”

Secretary Fang smiled slightly: "Can you afford to lose money?"

Wang Xiao shook his head, a hint of youthful cunning in his eyes: "I can't afford to lose money either. We've already fully acquired the Sakhalin Island oil and gas field project, which is a money pit, requiring an initial investment of 1 billion US dollars. We can't stop the oil and gas field project; the shareholders won't agree. We also can't allocate that much capital to fill the LCD screen."

Secretary Fang pressed further: "So you're going to subsidize the routes to Africa?"

Wang Xiao nodded and then shook his head, looking quite melancholy: "We've reassessed the situation and believe that relying solely on routes to Africa probably won't be enough to fill the gap. This is because the economic development level of the local countries is far behind that of the CIS countries and Eastern Europe. Their people's purchasing power can't keep up."

Secretary Fang chuckled and nodded, saying, "Then tell me, what else do you want?"

The government specifically organized experts to evaluate the chips and LCD screens.

Everyone agrees that this is the next big opportunity, of extraordinary significance, and could even change the global economic landscape.

But if we invest in this, who will provide the money?

In the chip sector, Shougang has taken the initiative to take the lead, and has already formed a joint venture with Japan.

But for the LCD screen, it's really impossible to find anyone.

The company that manufactures LCD screens in China is a vacuum tube factory.

For example, the Beijing Electron Tube Factory was the largest electronic component factory in China and the strongest in Asia before the 1980s. It had already successfully trial-produced a TN-LCD liquid crystal screen in 1981, but the project failed due to lack of funds.

Like most military factories in China, Beijing's electronics factories are now struggling to survive due to a lack of orders.

Can you believe it? This mega-factory with 14,000 employees had a total revenue of only 80 million last year, with a debt ratio as high as 90%.

If you asked them to come up with hundreds of millions of dollars right now to develop LCD screens, even if you slaughtered the entire factory and sold them by weight, you still couldn't raise that amount of money.

It was precisely because of this background that the authorities were willing to allow Wang Xiao, a private businessman, to enter the market.

But precisely because they understood the importance of LCD screens, the directive was to try to secure joint ventures as much as possible; if that didn't work, then let them do it themselves. As long as the factory remained in China, they would provide the necessary support.

Wang Xiao straightened his expression and said seriously, "I need more taxi licenses; I need them to make money."