"How?"
"Tell me about it."
"Hurry up and tell me."
The three people in the hall said almost at the same time.
"Hey, we Chinese say: 'You have a plan, I have a ladder.'" Zhao Xiaohai laughed. "Since your foreign trade company is tightly controlling the funds for normal trade, let's try a 'civet cat for the prince' strategy and find a way to allocate some funds from the normal trade funds that they don't know about."
The three of them looked at each other, all confused. Obviously, they had no idea what Zhao Xiaohai was talking about.
"Two leaders, I have a question for you," Zhao Xiaohai said with a smug look on his face. He walked to his chair, holding the back of the chair with one hand, and said, "You said that the people at the foreign trade company will closely monitor every foreign trade transaction of yours, including shipment volume and capital transactions. All of this is within their supervision. Well, tell me, are their people good at things like steel? To be more precise, can they distinguish between hot plate and cold plate, can they distinguish between ordinary steel and special steel, and can they distinguish between type one, type two, and type three steel? Well, to put it simply, I have a batch of steel, can they tell the quality of this steel?"
"Of course not," Zyuganov replied without hesitation. "They are only good at regulation and making money. As for the quality of steel, they are all laymen and can't tell anything."
"That's easy," Zhao Xiaohai said with a smile. "We can set up a trading station and, under its name, purchase steel from you. For example, let's say we purchase 10,000 tons of steel at a time, and we require 2,000 tons of high-quality Section 3 steel and 8,000 tons of inferior Section 1 steel. Your foreign trade company will then collect payment based on this contract. We'll deposit the payment for this batch of steel into the foreign trade company's account on time, and the rest of the transaction will be completed between the two of us. Just imagine, if you switched the steel and actually gave me 8,000 tons of high-quality Section 3 steel and 2,000 tons of inferior Section 1 steel, how big would the price difference be?"
"The price difference is indeed significant, but you have to be able to take advantage of it," Sophia said disapprovingly. "Think about it, once you get this batch of steel, how are you going to ship it to China? It still has to go through customs. You might be able to get past our foreign trade company, but customs are very strict on this. How can you justify your 8,000 tons of one-section steel turning into 8,000 tons of three-section steel overnight? When the foreign trade company reconciles the accounts with customs, won't all your flaws be exposed?"
"That's right." Zyuganov nodded in agreement.
"Who said I was going to ship all this steel out at once?" Zhao Xiaohai curled his lips and said disapprovingly, "If I only shipped 2,000 tons of Type 1 steel and 2,000 tons of Type 3 steel at once, would anyone notice anything unusual?"
"That's no problem of course, but in this way, you won't be able to realize the price difference and you still won't get the money." Sophia said disdainfully.
"Sophia, don't interrupt. Just listen to what Mr. Zhao has to say." Zyuganov frowned and scolded.
"Hehe, actually my idea is very simple. Just like going to the police when in trouble, when businessmen like us are in urgent need of money, the first thing we should think of is the bank." Zhao Xiaohai didn't mind Sophia's collision. He smiled and continued, "Well, now we have 8,000 tons of high-quality Type III steel and 2,000 tons of inferior Type I steel. But according to your foreign trade company's records, we still have 8,000 tons of Type I steel and 2,000 tons of Type III steel. We will use the 2,000 tons of Type III steel and 2,000 tons of Type I steel to export through formal channels.
When this batch of goods entered the Chinese market, I received a complete set of trade documents issued by your steel mill, your foreign trade company, and the customs of both China and the Soviet Union. Unfortunately, just as I had found a buyer for this batch of steel but had not yet completed the transaction, my company encountered problems and urgently needed funds.
So, I can take our complete trade bills to our Chinese bank to get a certificate, and then apply for an "export package loan" from your bank. Because the bills are complete and there are certificates from your foreign trade company and our Chinese bank, we should be able to get this loan with a period of two months easily.
This way, we have the first cash we desperately need. However, judging from the current situation, this amount of money obviously cannot meet your requirements. But don't forget, our company's warehouse actually has 6,000 tons of high-quality three-section steel in stock.
Given the current demand for steel in the international market, high-quality, premium Type III steel is a hard currency and easily sold. Hoarding it without using it is clearly irrational.
But how do we use it? Hey, hey, of course, we'll go to a bank. But this time, we can't go to your bank. We need to go to a Western bank. I think the Industrial Bank in Irkutsk is a good one. These Western banks don't have much connection with your banks or foreign trade companies, and they have a better understanding of international market conditions. Therefore, if we use this high-quality three-section steel as collateral, it should be easy to apply for a short-term mortgage loan from them."
"Give us these two loans as an emergency measure," Sophia said, cleverly understanding Zhao Xiaohai's intentions. She slapped the cunning Chinese man hard on the back of his head, then scolded him with a smile, "Then wait two months, when our trade routes are established, this batch of steel will be able to enter China via North Korea. Then, we can repay the two bank loans. You cunning fellow, you're a parasite to this world!"
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