Chapter 78: 77, Convincing The Tung Oil Merchant, Era’s Wisdom: Airplane Leasing
Taishan Airlines Aviation Training Center’s first batch flight apprentice training class has opened.
Twenty apprentices are training on the small square next to the airport dormitory building.
The instructor training them is the same one who trained the security team.
These flight apprentices have never undergone militarized training, and many are not adapting well.
But they are all still managing to hold on.
Fang Wen and Shao Sishen walked over, watching the training while talking.
“Shao Sishen, you don’t need to worry. China Airlines has agreed to lend the land for training. Last time, our company’s security team also completed their training here.”
Shao Sishen, who could no longer fly, had put all his energy into aviation teaching and was very attentive to all matters at the training center.
“General Manager, I also need to report to you on other matters at the aviation training center.”
“Mm, go ahead.”
“The supplementary teaching materials were originally going to be sent to the publishing house for printing, but later one of our students said his uncle could print them much cheaper. Considering cost savings, I entrusted the printing of the teaching materials to Hua Tao Printing House.”
“Hua Tao Printing House—is that the one run by Boss Yang?”
“Yes. He did mention that he knows you from before.”
Fang Wen suddenly felt a headache coming on.
Back when Shanghai Night Flight was distributing leaflets, it was Boss Yang at Hua Tao Printing House who printed them.
As a result, that guy had printed advertisements for their printing shop on the back, even including his own name.
Since it was him, the student was probably Pan Jiafeng.
Fang Wen had a very good impression of Pan Jiafeng. Back when he was driving the Rhine NYP-2 for aerial bombing over the Huangpu River, this kid was the bombardier.
Though young, he was not afraid of trouble and didn’t flinch at all in such a dangerous situation.
So he carefully looked at the group of flight apprentices, searching for where Pan Jiafeng was.
From right to left, from short to tall, Pan Jiafeng was at the far right, the tallest and most robust among the students.
He walked over and said something to the military instructor.
Immediately, the military instructor said: “Pan Jiafeng, step forward. The General Manager wants to talk to you.”
“Yes.” Pan Jiafeng jogged out of line, came in front of Fang Wen, and immediately broke into a smile. “Master.”
“I’m not your master, don’t call me that.” Fang Wen hurriedly refused.
Although during the night flight bombing back then, Pan Jiafeng had said he wanted to become his disciple to learn flying, he hadn’t agreed at the time.
To be honest, it wasn’t that Fang Wen didn’t want to be involved in teaching; it was that he felt his foundational theoretical knowledge was insufficient, relying more on mechanical perception ability.
A victory achieved through such ability—how could it be turned into experience to teach others?
His words did not discourage Pan Jiafeng; instead, he said something full of jianghu flavor: “I know I’m not qualified yet, but one day, I will definitely be able to become your disciple.”
This felt a bit like a scene from a wuxia novel. Fang Wen couldn’t help but think of Fang Shouxin and his eight fellow disciples moving their master’s grave and erecting a monument, paying respects every year. The master-disciple tradition in the Republic of China seemed different from the future.
For some reason, he felt inclined: “Alright then, study and train hard. If you’re truly qualified, I’ll take you as my disciple.”
Pan Jiafeng clenched his fists tightly and shook them. “Thank you for giving me a chance. I’ll go back to training.”
Watching Pan Jiafeng run back to the group, Fang Wen turned and continued chatting with Shao Sishen.
“Are there any problems with the teaching?”
“For theoretical teaching, it’s mainly basic flight principles, aerodynamics, airplane construction, and flight performance, etc. There are also meteorology courses for safe flying in different weather conditions. With so many courses, I can cover at most one-third; the rest is beyond me.”
“Don’t worry about that. Actually, hiring foreign flight instructors isn’t expensive. Once the tung oil for airplanes project is settled, I can have Boeing Company prioritize providing a batch of professional flight instructors.”
Speaking of the tung oil for airplanes matter, Shao Sishen completely couldn’t understand Fang Wen’s operation.
He asked doubtfully: “General Manager, I can’t figure it out. In this whole thing, it seems like nothing has been invested—why are you so sure it will definitely succeed?”
This involved many future business theories, so Fang Wen didn’t explain.
As for skepticism about the tung oil for airplanes project, it wasn’t just outsiders like Shao Sishen; the tung oil merchants were the biggest problem.
Fang Wen needed to have a good talk with the tung oil merchants from production and sales areas.
Two days later, the Boeing 80, having completed a day of routine round-trip flights, returned to base.
After getting off the airplane, Fang Wen carried the shrine back to his residence.
Fang Shouxin brought a suit.
“Young Master, the custom suit has arrived. Try it on to see if it fits. If not, I’ll have Cheng Li’s tailor come over tomorrow to alter it.”
Handing the shrine to Fang Shouxin for safekeeping, Fang Wen took off his jacket and changed into the suit.
“It’s fine, feels like it fits. No need to call the tailor to alter it.”
After putting on the full suit and changing into leather boots, Fang Wen left the residence and headed to the Taishan Airlines Office.
There, some important guests were waiting. If the talks went well, the tung oil for airplanes project could proceed normally.
A few minutes later, arriving at the Taishan Airlines Office, the staff hurriedly came to report: “General Manager, Mr. Neil is in your office. We’ve arranged for the others to wait in the first-floor conference room.”
Noisy voices came from the first-floor conference room, but Fang Wen didn’t go in directly; instead, he went upstairs to his own office.
There, Neil Toledo was puffing heavily on a cigar, his inner restlessness making him loosen his collar tie.
For today’s meeting, he had specially dressed up, wearing a tailcoat vest.
Seeing Fang Wen arrive, he stood up quickly: “Fang, you invited so many people—can it work?”
“Whether it works or not depends on what comes next.” Fang Wen didn’t make any promises either. He brought out that set from the future. Though there was no internet, it could still produce results. That model, when it first came out, hadn’t been optimistic about either. So, it mainly depended on whether he could convince that group of tung oil merchants in the upcoming negotiations.
The two went downstairs and directly pushed open the conference room door to enter.
In the spacious conference room, tung oil merchants from the Southwest Region and Jiangsu and Zhejiang Shanghai areas had gathered.
As soon as he entered, Fang Wen delivered his prepared draft.
“Gentlemen, thank you all for coming to Taishan Airlines for this negotiation. This is Neil Toledo from Boeing Trading Company.”
“Everyone is wondering now how the tung oil for airplanes will proceed, right?”
A tung oil merchant from Jiangsu and Zhejiang spoke first: “Actually, we’re more concerned about whether we can get payment for goods after selling the tung oil.”
Fang Wen scanned the room, and from the reactions of those present, everyone had the same thought.
He nodded, turned, and wrote on the blackboard.
“The agreement we’ve reached with Boeing Trading is 10,000 tons of tung oil per year.”
“According to the agreement, Boeing Company will provide Taishan Airlines with airplanes of equivalent value. These airplanes will be put into immediate use, and the profits generated will pay your payment for goods.”
“And we can implement three transaction methods with you tung oil suppliers:”
“First, direct cash payment after transaction, but the price will be 10% lower than market price—after all, this is bulk trading, so we get wholesale price discounts.”
“Second, transaction at normal market price, but with a six-month credit period, full payment after six months. Guaranteed by us at Taishan Airlines and Boeing Trading.”
“Third, also at market price, but payment for goods is converted to airplane lease. Tung oil suppliers choosing this will gain partial ownership of the airplane. Taishan Airlines will lease this airplane and pay rent monthly.”
After explaining the three transaction methods, the room immediately buzzed with discussion.
Fang Wen glanced at Neil Toledo, signaling him not to be nervous, and the two sat down at the front seats.
The discussion below continued, mixed with various dialects—Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Hunan, Xiang River, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Shanghai dialects, all different. Many who could communicate were from the same area.
Understanding it all wasn’t easy.
After a while, when the discussion quieted down, Fang Wen stood up.
“Gentlemen, what are your thoughts on these three methods?”
In business, you have to ask what needs asking, and immediately several people raised their hands.
Fang Wen randomly selected one.
That person spoke in Sichuan dialect.
“The first one works for us merchants in the southeast areas. We already bear our own freight charges via water transport to sell here. 10% below market price isn’t a loss for us, but there’s no extra profit either—same as before.”
“The second one, six-month credit—even if Taishan Airlines is big and can guarantee it, my small business can’t hold out for six months. This is probably an option for the big bosses in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.”
“The third one I didn’t quite get, but it sounds interesting—can you explain it again?”
This person’s words were clear and represented what most tung oil merchants wanted to say, so fewer hands were raised now. Everyone looked at Fang Wen, awaiting his response.
Fang Wen, having prepared his draft, replied: “To put it simply: I sell your tung oil to Mr. Neil Toledo next to me. Then Neil Toledo doesn’t have that much US dollars or silver dollars to pay me, so he offsets with airplanes. Of course, gentlemen, holding airplanes yourselves isn’t that useful, so you lease them to our company for operation, and we pay you rent on time each month.”
Explained this way, many people immediately raised hands to ask questions.
“Will the airplanes really be ours? How to prove it?”
“There will be airplane sales certificates issued by Boeing Trading Company. Everyone willing to do tung oil for airplanes will receive a certificate stating how much payment for goods corresponds to how many shares in the airplane. This certificate will be advertised in major Shanghai newspaper agencies for public notice. Do you think such proof is acceptable?”
The questioner smiled and nodded. Airplanes were rare things. Owning ownership—even partial—as long as it was acknowledged by everyone, not to mention rent, it was face just to show it off.
Another questioner was selected.
“How much rent per month? How to collect it?”
“Monthly rent mainly depends on the airplane’s sale price. Regarding Boeing Company airplane sale prices and the types of aircraft Taishan Airlines accepts for leasing, we’ve printed the information—distributing it now for everyone to see. Also, collecting rent is simple: on the 3rd of each month, come here, and Taishan Airlines’ chief accountant will arrange staff to pay you the rent.”
After Fang Wen finished, he opened the door, letting the Taishan Airlines staff outside come in to distribute the information.
Some looked at the information, while others still had questions.
Fang Wen selected another.
“How to guarantee we can keep collecting rent? And what if your company has problems?”
“No need to worry about that. Taishan Airlines is a very profitable business. Though I can’t say exactly how much it earns per month, everyone should have an idea. Plus, rent is calculated as a fixed amount based on airplane sale price—about three years to recoup investment, and pure profit after that. Do you think Taishan Airlines can’t operate for three years?”
Pausing, Fang Wen scanned the tung oil merchants before him and emphasized: “I think if Taishan Airlines went under within three years, you should be happy. With airplane ownership, you could buy out the bankrupt Taishan Airlines and start your own airline company, right?”
Yes, in this era, civil aviation was just emerging, and Taishan Airlines was renowned for safety and stability, with booming business.
If it went bankrupt, their own tung oil business would probably have gone under long ago.
Amid a burst of laughter, the tung oil merchants accepted Fang Wen’s words.
Then, Fang Wen had the airline company staff bring a stack of papers.
“These are letters of intent. If you’re willing to cooperate, you can sign now, select your preferred cooperation method, leave your contact address for future contact. For those choosing the third method, please specifically note the amount of tung oil you can provide.”
Immediately, a tung oil merchant asked: “Why?”
“Because Taishan Airlines can’t take on too many airplanes at once. In the first batch of cooperation, the tung oil for airplanes quota is limited to a maximum of 4 airplanes. So the third option is first-come, first-served—pause once the quota is full.”
At these words, tung oil merchants immediately grabbed ink pens from the airline company staff hands, selected the third option, filled it out, and handed it to the staff.
Seeing him, others reacted too, and the conference room suddenly became lively.
Neil Toledo, who had been standing by like a prop and hadn’t said a word from start to finish, watched this scene in surprise.
He then looked at Fang Wen, full of admiration for his series of operations.
The first batch tung oil for airplanes plan was successfully achieved.
Quite a few tung oil merchants chose the third airplane leasing project.
And this matter spread in business circles.
Everyone was surprised by this unique operation mode and discussed it enthusiastically.
But to be fair, trading tung oil for airplane owner status plus stable rent was very worthwhile.
At gatherings, when chatting about what you have and what I have, saying you have an airplane—others probably couldn’t top that.
Already many merchants were inquiring when the next round of tung oil for airplanes plan would restart. Even if not tung oil merchants, they would find ways to get in on it.
