Chapter 240: 239, Suspicion And Trust, Feasibility Analysis Of 200 Aircraft In Two Years
Fang Wen was very familiar with the name Kawashima Yoshiko.
Whether in his previous life or now.
This person had once been a passenger on the airplane that Fang Wen piloted from Shanghai to Jinan.
After that, she disappeared without a trace, probably going to the Kwantung Army in the Northeast.
He never expected her to be connected to Yue Jinping.
Fang Wen suddenly realized that using Yue Jinping to lure him was likely Kawashima Yoshiko’s doing.
But what had happened to Yue Jinping in Tianjin?
Fang Wen didn’t ask; this was surely something Yue Jinping didn’t want to mention again.
Unexpectedly, Yue Jinping brought it up herself.
That night, after being shot, she fainted from the intense pain, and when she woke up, she had been locked in the prison of a Japanese intelligence institution.
There, she received treatment, and because she was the only woman, she got special care.
The reason for the preferential treatment was that the person who organized this operation was Kawashima Yoshiko.
But this preferential treatment didn’t last long; Kawashima actually demanded that she betray and lure Fang Wen over.
Yue Jinping refused, so she was subjected to torture; the scar on her right eye was left from that.
Listening to Yue Jinping’s words, Fang Wen felt a sense of vigilance.
As the years of war drew closer, Fang Wen, having experienced danger, naturally developed a suspicious personality.
He wanted to trust Yue Jinping from the bottom of his heart, but there were too many unknown factors in between, preventing him from opening his heart.
Some suspicions that he thought he shouldn’t have arose involuntarily.
Had Yue Jinping really held out until the end? Did she betray? What is her purpose now?
It was precisely because of these questions.
Fang Wen didn’t tell Yue Jinping that the reason she was able to get out was because he had carried out the rescue.
The two stood by the railing in front of the alarm bell tower, the wind from the river surface making their clothes flutter.
Yue Jinping said melancholically: “Thank you for battling the Japanese in the air to save me. We may never see each other again.”
“Why?” Fang Wen asked in surprise.
Yue Jinping looked at the alarm bell tower behind her: “This used to be the Yellow Crane Tower. Since the Tang Dynasty, no matter how many fires it has suffered, it has always been there. In the future, the alarm bell tower will be demolished, and a new Yellow Crane Tower will be built. The Yellow Crane Tower is always there, but people are not. Once stained with impurity, one will not be trusted. I have been dismissed. To seek revenge, I applied to become an intelligence officer at Shanghai Station.”
There are only two years left until all-out war; the National Government Shanghai intelligence branch is the most dangerous and will be purged by the Japanese again and again.
Fang Wen couldn’t help but worry: “Don’t go to Shanghai.”
“No, I must go. Only this way can I wash away my shame, for myself and for my family,” Yue Jinping replied firmly.
At this moment, Fang Wen suddenly understood.
In any era, people carry different fates and missions; Yue Jinping has her own path to follow.
Ignoring the shocked gazes of passersby, Fang Wen embraced his confidante and softly said: “Go ahead, I support you. If there’s anything, remember to find me, no matter when or where.”
Yue Jinping rested her chin on Fang Wen’s shoulder, her left eye moist, and nodded vigorously.
As if using all her strength, she pushed Fang Wen away: “Alright, I’ve seen you, and the knot in my heart is untied. I should go back.”
With that, she turned around, strode down the stairs, and her figure gradually faded into the distance.
Watching her receding back, her former graceful charm merged with her current upright posture; Fang Wen waved goodbye.
He had so many words, yet couldn’t say them.
With Yue Jinping gone, Fang Wen’s worries also disappeared.
After explaining things to his wife, Shopkeeper Liu, Fang Shouxin, and the others, he piloted the Yunhe back to Yangon.
Back in Yangon, Fang Wen continued his management work at the aircraft manufacturing plant.
His goal was clear: to participate in resisting Japan and saving the country in the way he was best at.
If before 1937, the land of China could have a large number of seaplanes that could be converted for wartime military use, it would definitely help in the future war.
To realize this idea, Fang Wen specifically calculated an economic account.
One Shuiyun 1-type airplane, external selling price 40,000 silver dollars, cost 30,000 silver dollars.
Equivalent to 20,000 US dollars selling price, 15,000 US dollars cost.
The original Boeing 247 selling price was 65,000 dollars; now with the US dollar devalued by half, the selling price has risen to 80,000 dollars.
In comparison, the Shuiyun 1-type airplane was much cheaper.
Not only was the cost price cheaper, but its performance and specifications were also very competitive.
【Shuiyun 1-type seaplane】【Boeing 247】
【Water landing and takeoff】【Requires specific airport runway】
【Passengers: 10】【Passengers: 12】
【Crew members: 1-2: pilot, flight attendant】【Crew members: 3-4: main and co-pilot, flight attendant】
【Range: 1500 km】【Range: 1200 km】
【Cruising speed: 290 km per hour】【Cruising speed: 300 km per hour】
【Payload: 2 tons】【Payload: 2 tons】
It could be said that Taishan Aircraft Manufacturing Plant could make a splash on the land of China with the affordable and high-quality Shuiyun 1-type airplane.
Fang Wen set himself a two-year plan.
Prioritize the market, not profits.
Without losing money, expand the capacity of the China aircraft market.
But how to achieve it?
Regarding expanding the China aircraft market, Fang Wen made his first feasibility plan since rebirth.
He sat alone in the bedroom and picked up a pen to write.
【In the Republic of China period, China was in a critical period of modernization transformation, facing internal troubles and external threats, with national defense construction particularly urgent. Aviation industry, as an emerging strategic industry, is of great significance for enhancing national military strength and promoting economic development. However, limited by factors such as technology, funds, and resources, China’s aviation industry developed slowly.】
【But this situation has partially changed. I brought an oil refinery, aircraft manufacturing plant, and rich raw materials reserves, which will be the foundation for expanding the China aircraft market.】
After writing this, Fang Wen smiled faintly, tore it up, and burned it with a kerosene lighter.
Continued writing.
【Current foundational advantages】
【1. I have a joint-venture oil refinery in Yangon: annually supplied with 30,000 tons of crude oil from Myanmar and 80,000 tons from Persian Gulf, with annual production capacity of 50,000 tons of fuel. This fuel will be exclusively supplied to Taishan Shuiyun series airplanes, solving the key problem of aircraft fuel supply. In today’s era, domestic oil resources are scarce, fuel import costs are high and supply unstable. My oil refinery not only ensures self-sufficiency in domestic aviation fuel but also reduces aviation operation costs and enhances market competitiveness.】
【2. I own Taishan Aircraft Manufacturing Plant in Yangon Industrial Park: current capacity 50 airplanes per year, target capacity 100 airplanes per year. This capacity increase will greatly promote the development of domestic aviation industry and reduce dependence on foreign airplanes. At the same time, with expanded production scale, unit production costs will gradually decrease, further enhancing market competitiveness. In addition, the aircraft manufacturing plant can adjust product structure according to market demand, develop aircraft for different uses, and meet diversified demands.】
【3. Raw materials reserves: enough for producing 500 airplanes. This advantage ensures the long-term stable development of the aircraft manufacturing plant, avoiding production halts due to raw materials shortages. At the same time, ample raw materials reserves also provide strong support for technological innovation and product upgrades.】
The first two points were strengths that Fang Wen already possessed.
But the third point had not yet been implemented.
If all-out war broke out in two years, it would be too late to stockpile supplies then.
To procure, he had to do it now.
The anti-Japanese gold fund that Fang Wen had obtained from the Young Marshal’s vault in the Northeast finally had a use.
He needed to exchange this gold in the United States at the high price of 35 dollars per ounce into US dollars, then purchase a large amount of supplies and transport them back to Asia.
After determining the massive supplies purchasing plan, Fang Wen began to take action.
He first went to Guangzhou to find his father-in-law to exchange gold certificates.
32,000 gold bars had been exchanged into gold certificates two years ago and stored separately in Guangzhou Gold Bank.
But now gold prices had soared, and wanting to withdraw them all at once put his father-in-law Kuang Shanming in a difficult position.
“Son-in-law, you are truly too shrewd. You deposited the gold in the gold firm at 20 dollars per ounce, and now at 35 dollars per ounce, you want to withdraw it. Now everyone is selling their gold, and I can’t give you that much gold at the moment.”
“No gold is fine; other alternatives like US dollars or US dollar debt are okay,” Fang Wen replied.
Kuang Shanming wiped his forehead: “Give me some inside info—what are you planning to do with so much money?”
“Aircraft manufacturing needs materials; I want to stockpile more materials before Japan launches all-out war,” Fang Wen replied honestly.
“Japan’s all-out war?!” Kuang Shanming was incredulous, but his son-in-law’s judgments had never been wrong.
He realized his son-in-law was playing a big game, one that might even affect China.
This was beyond the courage limit of ordinary businessmen, making Kuang Shanming suddenly realize.
His own son-in-law really had guts of steel!
“Alright, you’ve got the guts, so I’ll go crazy with you. I’ll take those gold certificates; you’ll get the money tomorrow.”
“Father-in-law, doing this isn’t good for the Kuang Family, right? I can wait and let the gold firms raise the money slowly.”
“No problem. Once I take your gold certificates, I become the creditor to all those gold firms. With my relationship with them, collecting some interest each year and paying back slowly is fine. Anyway, the Kuang Family has no business now; collecting debt interest is not bad,” Kuang Shanming explained with a smile.
“Can the principal be recovered within three years?” Fang Wen was still worried.
“No problem, 32,000 gold bars are a small matter,” Kuang Shanming replied.
Fang Wen was touched but did not accept his father-in-law’s suggestion; 32,000 gold bars were no small amount, and if Guangzhou fell in three years, the Kuang Family would suffer heavy losses.
He would rather recover less funds than burden them with such a huge favor.
Immediately, Fang Wen and his father-in-law went to Guangzhou Gold Exchange.
They sold the gold certificates at 34 dollars per ounce.
One dollar less per ounce immediately attracted many gold buyers.
Seeing that it was gold certificates jointly issued by major gold firms, they realized there was profit to be made and flocked to the counter to trade.
32,000 gold bars, each 312.5 grams, totaling 10,000,000 grams, or 1 ton.
1 ton is approximately 35,274 ounces, or 1,199,316 US dollars; after deducting the gold exchange fees, about 1.18 million US dollars.
This 1.18 million US dollars, plus the 4 million US dollars Fang Wen brought back from the United States, became the principal for this raw materials bulk purchase.
For this, Fang Wen had Lin Shuiwang in the United States negotiate procurement prices with various suppliers.
United States.
Taishan International New York headquarters.
Called headquarters, but there were only about 30 staff; besides President Lin Shuiwang and the managers’ office, finance department people, the rest were from the shipping company.
In this year, after stripping off a large amount of debt, with the recovery of US trade, Taishan International’s shipping business finally came back to life.
Not only did the business volume of the two cargo ships increase greatly, the company also bought a new ocean cargo ship.
But compared to the company’s gambling business in Las Vegas, the shipping business was still too small.
This led to the situation where the branch company was more powerful than the parent company.
This phenomenon had been mentioned multiple times by the professional managers hired by Taishan International to Lin Shuiwang, suggesting he reclaim the subsidiary’s power.
Lin Shuiwang rejected it without hesitation.
He knew very well that both he and Zhao Jiu were working for Fang Wen; those foreigners didn’t understand the rules at all.
No matter what, he and Zhao Jiu would not fight each other.
But long-term work in the United States made Lin Shuiwang miss home, especially his mother who wanted to return to China to spend her old age in peace.
For this, he used the company’s commercial telegraph office high-power telegraph every week to contact domestically.
And on this day, while checking the telegram from domestic, he saw the general manager’s special secret letter.
The secret letter could only be translated into real content using the password known to a few insiders of Taishan Company; Lin Shuiwang hurriedly took the secret letter to the office.
He carefully recalled the phonetic password taught by Fang Wen and translated the telegram message.
After reading the content, he was surprised: a materials purchase contract worth over 5 million US dollars, to be negotiated by him.
This was no small matter.
Immediately, he gathered the company’s management and started work.
Purchasing 5 million US dollars worth of materials was an enormous deal with current US dollar purchasing power.
For this, relevant suppliers: Alcoa, Boeing Propeller, Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Engines, and some parts suppliers all came to New York for negotiations.
At the same time, peers who received the news also rushed to New York, wanting to join the deal and kick out competitors to take their place.
Lin Shuiwang encountered this situation for the first time and immediately sent a telegram back for instructions.
His intention was to wait for the general manager to make the decision.
The reply he got was: Decide yourself, prioritize original suppliers, drag to lower prices.
It seemed the general manager wouldn’t come to the United States; Lin Shuiwang earnestly comprehended the general manager’s 12-character mantra.
It meant to stall, using other peers as pressure to force the original suppliers to lower prices.
He understood this and executed it, appearing to negotiate with others on the surface while actually playing hard to get.
Under this performance, Alcoa, Boeing Propeller, and Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Engines all got the illusion that the big order was about to be snatched by others.
They certainly didn’t want to give up this fat piece of meat; in the subsequent bargaining negotiations, they proactively lowered prices and finally secured Taishan’s big order.
Time was getting tighter; Fang Wen couldn’t go to the United States to waste precious time.
He could let Lin Shuiwang handle the business negotiations fully, but sending 5 million US dollars in cash to the United States was a troublesome matter.
If he didn’t personally bring the money, it would be hard to legitimize the inflow of so much cash.
Especially for a listed company, every penny had to match the accounts.
For this, Fang Wen had to use another method: establish a Taishan Aviation branch in the United States, then conduct transactions between Taishan Aviation USA Branch Company and Taishan International.
The funds for Taishan Aviation USA Branch Company came from the European branch via bank telegram remittance.
This formed a legitimate circulation channel for materials purchasing, allowing smooth shipment from the United States to Yangon.
And as the 5 million US dollars procurement negotiation was about to end, Lin Shuiwang learned a piece of news and reported it to Fang Wen by telegram.
