Chapter 622 Power and Money
On August 24, the Beijing Olympics closed, and a group of athletes from the Korean Peninsula were exempted from military service.
For almost the entire month of August, people on the Korean Peninsula were immersed in cheering for the athletes.
Li You was also invited to the Blue House dinner. Given his status, it was actually a bit embarrassing for him to enter the main hall.
Normally, only high-ranking officials from the Korean Peninsula would attend such occasions, and it would not be appropriate for a "big entrepreneur" like Li You to come.
But the guests were very grateful. When a disaster occurred before, Li You had given tips through Emperor Cui Chang, which saved countless lives and properties. It was the guests who took the initiative to invite Li You.
The security of the Blue House today was at its best. When Li You arrived at the gate of the Blue House, there was a special person to greet him, and extra people were asked to leave the area.
In the minds of this generation of government officials, Li You's identity is really too special.
The merit of following the dragon?
More than a decade later, Li You will indeed be able to say to Musk, "I did it before you did it."
Of course Li You's status was high, so he could avoid other people and talk directly with Emperor Cui Chang.
When the heads of the cabinet departments met Li You, they also had to bow their heads and salute first. Probably except Roh Moo-hyun.
But right now in the political arena, Li You’s identity is too wrong.
Apart from the positions of mayor of Seoul and Busan, Li You has almost no connections in the political arena. His nonchalant attitude does not seem like he is trying to bide his time.
In fact, there were also some senior officials in Choi Changdi's cabinet who wanted to show goodwill to Lee You. Logically, Lee You should spend some time and money to do some things to recruit them, so that he could maintain a certain influence in the political circle.
But Li You did nothing and just let it go, allowing the Kinmen Group's influence in the political circles to become increasingly weaker.
The blue-gray glazed tiles of the Blue House were not very obvious in the evening night. When Li You walked into the main hall, there was some soothing music and the casual conversations of people.
He looked at his watch and the time was just right.
The formal meeting has been completed, and the dinner has not yet started. Everyone is still communicating with each other.
This deliberate timing came at just the right time.
Roh Moo-hyun, now the Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, was talking to Moon Jae-yoon, who also checked the time. "Chairman Lee arrived just in time. He didn't steal the show, nor was he late."
"I'll go say hello," Wen Zaiyin bowed slightly to Lu Wuxuan and walked quickly towards him.
"President Li."
"Councilor Wen."
The two men loosened their hands after shaking them, and Li You looked at Wen Zaiyin and said, "Councilman Wen looks better now than before."
"President Li is still as charming as ever," Wen Zaiyin smiled and shook his head. "The President and the distinguished guests are all in the inner hall. Can I lead the way for President Li?"
He deliberately spelled out the word "distinguished guests" very clearly, but only saw Li You smile, "Member of the Council of Law Wen is here."
The two walked one after the other, and didn't talk about anything that was in line with the environment here.
It was not until their leather shoes stopped not far from the door that Wen Zaiyin turned slightly and said softly, "It's just in front. President Li, please pay attention to etiquette."
"Okay, thank you Councillor Wen for the reminder."
When Li You was searched again and walked into the inner hall, he heard the sound of a friendly conversation coming from inside.
Emperor Cui Chang and his secretary general were talking to the guests in front of them with sincere faces, and the translators of both sides were also brainstorming quickly, paying attention to the fluency of words and sentences when translating accurately.
"Chairman Li, whom everyone wants to see, is here," Cui Changdi laughed.
Li You bowed thirty degrees to Emperor Cui Chang and also saluted the two guests, all of which were very solemn etiquette.
He gave Emperor Choi Chang enough face in front of the guests, and also avoided exposing the power of the chaebols to the public.
The two guests who came today were very interested in Li You. After a cordial handshake and conversation, they smiled and pulled Li You to sit down and drink tea.
"Chairman Li, have a taste," Choi Changdi personally poured tea for Lee Woo as a token of his gratitude for the solemn ceremony just now. "This is good tea that the guests brought."
The wafting fragrance of tea leaves also confirmed this to Li You.
Li You held the teacup steadily in his hand, and there was not a ripple on the surface of the water in the celadon cup.
“I would also like to express my gratitude to President Choi and Chairman Lee for their help at that time.”
Li You not only reminded Emperor Cui Chang, but also donated a large sum of money for reconstruction, but he still had a cautious smile on his face.
However, when Li You communicated, he still used his native language from his previous life, especially without the bad accent, which made the two guests smile more appropriately. "It is said that autumn comes earlier in Seoul than in Beijing. Chairman Li's tweed suit is a perfect choice."
As they talked, they began to expand the topic.
The older guest said, "Visiting Cheonggyecheon Stream in Seoul is also on the itinerary for the next visit. I wonder if Chairman Lee is interested in coming as a tour guide."
Li You knew that this was an invitation for further communication.
After their private meeting, the dinner went smoothly and no one dared to cause any trouble.
The next day, Li You and his guests toured Cheonggyecheon Stream. It was not a big river, but it did give people a very natural feeling in the city.
“It’s time to start preparing for the naturalization and greening of the city,” the older guest nodded appreciatively.
The scenery meant nothing to them, just that.
The key point is to launch greening projects in polluted cities.
When Li You returned to the manor, he was still thinking about the sentence, "An archaeologist once said that human beings' pursuit of precision things is engraved in their genes."
Li You went directly to Kinmen Electronics, and the first thing he did was to hold a management meeting.
In the past, Samsung’s semiconductor business established in-depth multi-dimensional cooperation with the other party, including but not limited to technology research and development, production and manufacturing, etc.
In the entire 1924, Samsung's semiconductor sales in the United States reached 65 trillion won, even exceeding its sales to the United States.
The proposal Li You put forward at the meeting was not difficult for the management to accept. "Through localized production, we can avoid possible geopolitical risks, while enjoying the industrial chain subsidies and tax incentives related to major countries."
During the meeting, Li You made it clear to them that they wanted to further strengthen the strategic position of the Chinese market.
This cooperation is not determined by the will of certain people, but is an inevitable choice driven by the market.
Li You asked them to come up with a cooperation plan as soon as possible, requiring it to cover relevant research on technology licensing, production localization and in-depth market development.
This kind of cooperation was a win-win situation for Samsung and China in the past, and now Li You has seized this opportunity.
It will promote the upgrading of China's semiconductor industry chain and also help Golden Gate Electronics consolidate its leadership in global memory chips.
"Daojun," Li You instructed Chen Daojun, the executive officer of Kinmen Electronics, "make sure the cooperation goes smoothly. You can make appropriate concessions, but you must win the market."
By September, there was still no movement on Lee You's side, but the political arena on the Korean Peninsula exploded.
On September 6, 28 members of the Seoul City Council were charged with bribery for accepting votes in the election for the city council president. The number of members exceeded one quarter of the Seoul City Council, and all the members involved were
A city councillor from the ruling Grand National Party.
Who did this?
Without a doubt, it is Cho Tae-seop, who is currently the most popular figure in the political arena.
For a moment, many members of the Grand National Party's parliament were furious. At this time when Cho Tae-seop was in power, they had to act cautiously, but they did not expect that the Seoul city councilors under them would cause such a big trouble for their Grand National Party.
The current Grand National Party leader Park Jin-sun was also furious. She had wanted to recreate the glory of her father, but now this happened.
Every city councillor is considered a big shot in the eyes of the public, but 28 of these big shots were taken away by prosecutors for investigation, and all of them were members of the Grand National Party.
This kind of large-scale investigation and prosecution will 100 percent affect the reputation of the Grand National Party.
One can imagine the public opinion at this time.
"Is there any feedback from Chairman Li?" After dealing with the media in a stressful manner at the press conference, Park Jinshan frowned and looked at his secretary.
"No." The head of the secretariat shook his head. "President Li hasn't even responded yet."
"Why?" Park Jinshan was stunned, and realized that this was their problem, "."
After the presidential campaign, Lee Woo's relationship with the Grand National Party gradually became distant.
The Grand National Party led by Park Geum-sun does not want to be deeply bound with Lee Woo, the "public enemy in politics". They prefer the same cooperation as before, that is, the model of "If you think I can succeed, you give me money to invest in me."
But Lee You acted very decisively and basically severed ties with the Grand National Party.
This also means that the Grand National Party’s current financial support is not very rich, which may be the reason why these city councilors accepted bribes.
After all, the money that the chaebols invest in politicians is not used on one person, but to build relationships and connections from top to bottom.
These city councillors who accepted bribes may have thought that this was a trap set by Cho Tae-seop, but they needed the funds to maintain their extravagant lifestyle that was not that of "politicians" and to build their connections.
After a moment of silence, Park Jinshan sighed, "First, contact the prosecutors, judges, and lawyers that can be mobilized to exert pressure and fight for the right to investigate the case, and try to delay them as much as possible."
"I'll think of a way."
Park Jin-sun of course called Lee Yeon-chang, who was from the Grand National Party, "Chairman nim."
After retiring, Li Lianchang served as the chairman of the Seoul Leehwa Association, which is also the patriarch of the Jeonju Lee family.
"Is it a case of a city councillor taking bribes?"
"It's obvious," Park Jinshan glanced at the few silent congressmen named Li next to him, "This matter has already caused an impact on the Grand National Party. Once it is implemented, I am afraid that under the influence of public opinion, the position of the largest party in the Congress will change. If the Congress is not controlled by the ruling party, then..."
“No matter what strategy the ruling party has, it will probably be strangled in Congress.”
"What should we do?" Li Lianchang had served as president for several years and fulfilled his long-cherished wish. After retiring from politics, he basically did not get involved in politics. Of course, he was more inclined to Li You, who was considered his nephew. "Party leader Park wants to ask Chairman Li for help?"
"I persuaded you at the beginning that it is not a bad thing for the Grand National Party to be tied to Chairman Lee, but your reason was that more than half of the members of the parliament preferred the past cooperation."
"This," Park Jinshan sighed, "is indeed the choice of the members of the parliament. You should also know from the members of the Lee family that even though I am the party leader, I cannot make this place a one-man show."
"Come on," Li Lianchang said bluntly, "You just feel that this model is not glorious enough because of your father's influence, and you look down on these chaebols."
"But you ignored them when they offered money to cooperate with you. Now that you are in trouble and you rush out to ask for their help, don't blame them for not saying a word."
Park Jinshan remained silent. Of course she had selfish motives.
Her biggest dream in life is to have others say that she has the spirit of her father. Of course, she looks down on the chaebols who were supported by her father Park Kaka and beaten by her uncle Jeon Kaka.
But not liking it doesn't mean you don't need money
Who knew that Li You would be so ruthless and cut off all contact directly, not even wanting his political connections anymore.
In other words, the Grand National Party still has its foundation and can withstand this wave of public opinion for a while.
If the trend continues for a while and it goes far beyond this momentum, many members of Congress may "defect" from other parties.
After all, in politics
"Loyalty" is not a good word. Being able to jump back and forth shows that you know how to be a good person.
"Cho Tae-seop has been eyeing the right to speak in Congress for a long time," Park Jin-sun kept thinking about various scenarios after hanging up the phone, and remained silent for a full five minutes. "He is eager to make the Grand Unified Democratic New Party the largest party in Congress, and the one who will be most hurt is President Choi."
"But President Choi cannot easily intervene in this matter. Otherwise, if it is exposed by political opponents, it will be a devastating blow to his reputation and he may even be impeached."
Zhao Taixie still gave face to Emperor Cui Chang and did not drag him into the water directly.
Seeing Park Jinshan was silent again, a member of the Legislative Council named Li finally couldn't sit still anymore, "The party leader is right, but now instead of worrying about this kind of thing, we should think about how to solve the problem at hand."
"We can't be targeted by others and think that they are targeting us well, right?"
The few councillors who had just walked in were also a little annoyed. They listened to the complaints of the councillors surnamed Li and retorted, "When we decided not to be deeply tied to Chairman Li and return to the strategy of 'separation of power and money', didn't you all agree? Why are you still complaining here?"
"If urging is useful, I can find ten thousand urgings!"
"I only know that the Jinmen Group and we were originally very happy to cooperate. We are from the same clan as Chairman Li. I don't know who took the initiative to propose the strategy of 'separation of power and money' at the meeting without even informing us. Later, when voting, they began to 'kidnap' and 'coerce' us. We were forced to reduce our contact with Chairman Li."
"Have you ever considered our situation?"
"Enough!" Park Jinshan shouted.
(End of this chapter)
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