If we trace back the history of trade between China and the Soviet Union, it can be traced back to two or three hundred years ago. In the 1920s, trade on the China-Soviet border was in full swing.
But after the Japanese invaded, trade was interrupted for a while. It was resumed when the People's Republic of China was founded, but trade was interrupted again after the two countries became hostile in the 1960s.
In 1984, the General Secretary visited Heihe and encouraged the development of private trade.
Since 1985, border residents of the two countries have taken advantage of the winter closure of the river to conduct sporadic trade on the surface of the Heilongjiang River, but the scale is very, very small, so small that it can be ignored.
In China, any daily necessities can be traded, while the Soviet Union can only supply a very limited variety of goods, mostly products such as fox fur, mink fur, fur hats, wool coats, and leather boots.
Wan Feng looked at the Daheihe Island which was still under construction, and he always had a premonition that the Daheihe Island could not be put into use before the river was closed.
The Heilongjiang River is usually closed in late November. It is only the beginning of August now. If we wait for the river to be closed, it will be too early. There are still more than three months left.
If that were the case, he would have come early.
If you come too early, you can only lean on it here.
He has no choice but to rely on others. Zhang Xuan has also gone to Jiangwei, and his two wives are there. Even if he wants to vent his anger, he can't find anyone to do it with.
Although there are now people engaged in the flesh trade on the small street in front of the warehouse, Wan Feng is not planning to catch these fireflies.
I have to find something to do to kill this boring time. Wan Feng thought for a long time and asked Qu Yang to notify Liang Bingyu to go to work. Since I am free anyway, I might as well take this time to learn Russian.
You are not required to be able to write, as long as you can speak simple English.
Anyway, I have money, so I just have to pay the other party three hundred yuan a month.
I sent a message to ask Li Mingdou, Li Yong and He Xiao to come to Heihe and learn Russian for me.
Liang Bingyu, with a cold expression, became a Russian teacher for a group of men. Yang Pao and Wang Zhonghai also came to join in the fun, saying that they wanted to learn Russian well to contribute to the future Sino-Soviet trade.
Just looking at the way these two guys are scratching their heads doesn't seem to be the case.
Han Guangjia, Yang Jianguo and other four people with military experience studied very seriously. Wan Feng also studied very seriously. Even Zhang Shiqian studied attentively, but Li Yong and his father and He Xiao were a bit perfunctory.
Especially Li Mingdou, he hasn't even learned Chinese well, asking him to learn Russian is more painful than killing him. He fell asleep in class several times.
"Let me tell you, your future daughter-in-law is on the other side of the river. If you don't learn this, you two will have to use your hands to communicate in the future."
Li Mingdou's mouth twitched on the spot, and his actions at that time were very similar to Keiji Yokomichi in the movie The Chase.
"Actually, this is just rote memorization. If you put in the effort, you can really learn it. If you learn Russian, you can earn a pretty good annual income as a translator."
Wan Feng tried to persuade Li Mingdou earnestly, but he himself did not believe what he said.
If Li Mingdou could be a translator, he would feel like an eight-legged donkey.
After a month of study, those who concentrated on learning could almost communicate in simple Russian, while Li Mingdou only learned three words: Harashao, Vodega and Heileba.
Among the three words, Wodega means liquor and Heileba means bread, both of which are related to eating.
During this period, Qu Yang obtained a trade license for Wan Feng, and the business scope was quite broad, covering clothing, small groceries, daily necessities, steel, agricultural supplies, etc. In other words, Wan Feng could operate many projects besides energy and arms.
During the same period, Guo Wu and Jiang Ming's groups each sent a batch of goods. Wan Feng's warehouse is now full of eleven, and the cost of the goods has reached 250,000 yuan.
Wan Feng has temporarily stopped stocking up, and the remaining warehouses have to be kept to store the goods from the trade, and there seems to be no sign of trading starting before the river was closed.
There are more than 200,000 tons of goods in the warehouse, so the intensity of vigilance is naturally increased.
The dozen or so guards patrolled day and night, guarding the warehouse like an impregnable fortress.
Heihe Port is a port open for trade all year round. In summer, people cross the border by ferry, while in winter, people travel back and forth by car.
The reason why Daheihe Island has not been put into use is that the investment has been increased and the scale of the construction project has been expanded. It has 5 trading halls of various sizes, more than 300 stalls, and a hotel parking lot.
The current scale cannot be achieved in a few months, and it is said to take many years to build.
This is the message that Qu Yang conveyed to Wan Feng.
Wan Feng's heart sank.
If it takes several years to build, all the goods he imported will be lost!
If the money he earned from the goods was lost, then so be it. He could just consider it a loss in business, but did he have to wait here for several years?
Qu Yang shook his head: "It's not as serious as you think. That's just the official operation period. Before the construction of Daheihe Island is completed, we will implement a trial operation. It won't delay your business."
After hearing this, Wan Feng felt relieved.
“When will the trial operation begin?”
"The original plan was for September, but now it seems that it will be postponed to October. It will start in a month. In fact, it is more convenient to cross the river in winter. By then, the two ice passages will be open and we can transport bulk commodities back and forth."
The business that Wan Feng wanted to do was bulk commodity trading. He was not here to deal in Soviet leather boots and telescopes.
Blagoveshchensk is the third largest city in the Soviet Far East. There are thousands of companies of various types in this city alone, and these are the companies that Wan Feng wants to trade with.
The opening of trade in another month as Qu Yang had promised was not realized, but was postponed until mid-November.
Just as Wan Feng had anticipated, trade was not resumed until the river was closed.
The taste of waiting is extremely painful. Wan Feng has been here for the past two months. The only benefit is that their Russian level has improved significantly, and they can conduct most of the spoken conversations without a translator.
The way Heilongjiang freezes in winter is very different from other places. The river is not frozen all at once.
The closure of the Longjiang River lasted for half a month. In the early stage of the closure, the Longjiang River was always in a state of alternating ice formation at night and melting during the day.
The frozen river surface at night will melt when the temperature rises during the day, forming a spectacular sight of ice floes running all over the river.
After experiencing more than a dozen freezes and thaws, the Longjiang River was finally completely blocked.
This kind of river closure will cause two unique results. One is that the river surface is extremely uneven. Because the river surface is finally frozen, it is composed of large and small ice floes, so it is bumpy. This is not similar to the freezing of other inland rivers.
Another result is that the ice is very thick.
The thickness of ice on the surface of ordinary rivers is about 30 centimeters to one meter, while the thickness of ice on Longjiang River is generally between one and a half meters and three meters.
The ice layer is thick enough for trucks weighing 20 to 30 tons to drive on it, but it is bumpy and difficult to drive on.
On November 23, 1986, the long-awaited trial operation of Heihe Port trade finally began.
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