After Wang Hongcheng left, Xu Qingyi and Guo Fengsheng looked at Lin Yifeng with worry in their eyes.
"Brother Feng, are you sure you can fool this guy like this?"
"And then there's the Gongcheng government. They're going to be a problem. If they find out we tricked them, our reputation in Muye City will definitely be ruined."
Lin Yifeng raised an eyebrow.
"A hoax? A discovery?"
"I just told them what Wang Hongcheng said, and they actually thanked me."
Xu Qingyi and Guo Fengsheng gave each other helpless, bitter smiles.
They hadn't expected Lin Yifeng to make such a big fuss in order to deal with the Japanese company.
That evening, in order to ensure the success of the plan, Lin Yifeng also took the initiative to call Wu Kang.
The phone call was simply about a few minutes.
Wang Hongcheng was able to stay in Gongcheng.
However, this project requires substantial funding. If Gongcheng cannot demonstrate its sincerity, Professor Wang will have to consider returning to Northeast China so as not to delay his subsequent research.
When the news reached them, Wu Kang and Li Chengxuan were overjoyed.
"It's done! It's done!"
"Old Li!"
"This can be done!"
Wu Kang excitedly shouted to Li Chengxuan.
Lee Seung-hyun smiled and sighed.
"It still has to be Boss Lin."
"They get things done efficiently."
"Once this is all over, we should thank Lin Yifeng properly."
Wu Kang nodded repeatedly.
"Yes, yes, yes!"
"We must not forget our gratitude and we must thank Kobayashi properly."
Sure enough, Wu Kang and Li Chengxuan received a call from Wang Hongcheng early the next morning.
On the phone, Wang Hongcheng rambled on for a while before getting to the point, proposing to discuss Gongcheng and his future development and preparation plans.
This made Wu Kang and Li Chengxuan extremely happy.
That noon, he drove to a teahouse in Makino City to meet Wang Hongcheng.
As soon as they entered the teahouse, Wang Hongcheng, holding a small teacup, glanced at the two of them out of the corner of his eye.
Wu Kang and Li Chengxuan carried the gifts and smiled apologetically.
After taking his seat, Wang Hongcheng didn't linger.
"I've thought about it."
“This can be done, but I need your commitment.”
"You must guarantee the funding for my opening in Gongcheng."
The two had already received notification from Lin Yifeng.
Wu Kang and Li Chengxuan were already mentally prepared.
Lee Seung-hyun poured tea for Wang Hong-sung, and both of them stared intently at Wang Hong-sung.
Wu Kang asked cautiously.
"Professor Wang, you said we would definitely support your project."
Wang Hongcheng raised a finger and took a small sip of tea.
"One million!"
When this number was announced, Wu Kang and Li Chengxuan were completely stunned.
They originally estimated that no matter how much Wang Hongcheng asked, the research funding would be at most around 500,000 yuan.
To their surprise, the other party made an outrageous demand, asking for a million.
Wu Kang and Li Chengxuan exchanged a glance, both looking troubled.
"One million, we can definitely guarantee it."
"That's not really a problem."
Lee Seung-hyun nodded repeatedly and made his assurances.
"Professor Wang, don't worry, we certainly won't shortchange you on funding. We can't let you hinder your contributions to the country!"
Before they even arrived, the two had already made up their minds to take down Wang Hongcheng.
But a price of one million is indeed too high. Their annual budget for a mere city like Gongcheng is not much, and they also have to cooperate with Japanese companies to provide assistance.
Now that Wang Hongcheng has offered such a price, they can only consider slightly diverting government funds and reducing the benefits for Japanese companies.
But to their utter surprise, Wang Hongcheng only said half of what he meant.
"One million, this is just the initial funding."
"It is estimated that an additional two to three million may be needed."
"This is only the current annual volume; the majority of the work involves purchasing materials, acquiring factory buildings, and building laboratories."
“My money will also be invested in this area.”
Wu Kang and Li Chengxuan were completely dumbfounded.
Is one million just the initial investment?
The total cost will start at four million.
Over the course of the year, their government spent approximately four million just to help Wang Hongcheng conduct experiments.
Their total annual budget is less than five million, of which one million is to ensure the normal operation of local government agencies and to guarantee the livelihood of the farmers under their jurisdiction.
At most, Gongcheng can only come up with four million to attract investment, which means they still have to lend money to Wang Hongcheng.
Of course, this doesn't even include the Japanese companies over there.
If all the quota is given to Wang Hongcheng, what will happen to the Japanese company that is about to finalize the deal?
Even in the face of such a predicament, Wu Kang and Li Chengxuan dared not refuse at all, nor did they dare to ask Wang Hongcheng to reduce the budget even slightly.
Lin Yifeng had informed them long ago that if they didn't meet Wang Hongcheng's conditions, he would turn around and go back to the three northeastern provinces.
Even if they wanted to invite him back then, it would be very difficult.
The two men were stunned by Wang Hongcheng's offer.
Wang Hongcheng, however, remained completely calm.
He traveled to various local governments in Northeast China and knew very well how much available funds a county town of Gongcheng's size could mobilize in a year.
Wang Hongcheng estimated that it would be around seven million. If he took half of it and the government continued to operate normally, even if the Japanese companies wanted to build factories, Gongcheng would not be able to come up with enough money to support them.
Even just helping with land acquisition, their remaining two million is far from enough.
Unfortunately, Wang Hongcheng miscalculated one thing: the three northeastern provinces were major industrial provinces at that time, the foundation of the country's production.
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