Chapter 453

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Protagonist:

Chen Yi

Sun Shang's facial muscles twitched uncontrollably, as if worms were crawling under his skin.

He had imagined a tough and outstanding negotiation, imagined Chen Yi's cold and merciless mockery, imagined his own endurance of humiliation and burden-bearing; the only thing he had not thought of was those two light, floating words—"Fine."

Military transferred cadre Director Nie likewise lacked enthusiasm, saying: "Xiao Liu has booked our plane tickets; we return to Lhasa in three days."

Sun Shang grunted and asked: "Does Chen Yi return with us, or does he fly himself?"

"No specific explanation, but the takeoff times are roughly the same."

"We can arrange a military transport plane, but it's uncomfortable and would require explanation. Sigh, he's too lazy to negotiate terms with us." Sun Shang felt both secret delight and displeasure.

The secret delight lay in his mission being completed. Before departure, Shen Weirong's two instructions both required "close cooperation" and "guaranteeing implementation" of Chen Yi's promises; three days later, as long as Chen Yi arrived in Lhasa with 10 billion RMB, or over 1 billion USD, he would have achieved complete merit. As for detailed discussions, reaching a deal was naturally good, but failing to reach one didn't matter either.

However, Chen Yi clearly did not regard him as a negotiator; today's meeting was less a discussion than a notification. In Sun Shang's 20-plus years of political career, this was the work most valued by provincial high officials that he had undertaken, but also one of the few times in recent years he had not been valued.

With contradictory emotions having no outlet, Sun Zhuren was like a thin bamboo pole that could bend but not straighten.

If he were in Tibet, Sun Zhuren's anger might burn an entire floor, but in Jiangning, it could only burn a room.

The next day, Chen Yi sent more than half of the Divine Art Knights back to the West Continent. Although the 10-kilometer railway was short, the rails on the sleepers were exceptionally tempting; taking just one section could forge a long spear passed down for hundreds of years, and few could withstand such temptation.

Knights with dignity would not stoop to stealing for the sake of honor, but they seemed not to mind buying stolen goods.

Only Divine Art Knights could deter thieves and villains inside and outside the Water Fortress.

Yu Weichao had once fantasized about using hardwood and paint to make tracks to reduce the poor's prying eyes, but that was ultimately not a long-term plan; on the other hand, the railway from Yun Village to West River Water Fortress functioned to transport goods between Earth and the West Continent, and such heavy loads could not be borne by hardwood.

In fact, problems encountered by China's early railways could all be found in the West Continent. It was only because the railway distance was short enough and precautions strict enough that no major disaster occurred.

Precisely for this reason, Chen Yi and the gentlemen of the Rhombus Conference Hall all knew that before large quantities of metal flooded the West Continent, West River Water Fortress had only one path: strict defense.

He hoped Liu Xinyu's prospecting team could find iron ore or similar heavy metal deposits in a short time; otherwise, they would have to use precious funds to exchange for large quantities of pig iron and steel.

Only after modernization truly began would one discover the shortage of funds and scarcity of supplies. The total monthly supply of materials was actually fixed; due to the large quantity, it was not only limited by port throughput but also affected by the Jiangbei Warehouse Area, transportation from port to Central Storage Area, and the throughput of the Central Storage Area. Yu Weichao's work had long become a decision of trade-offs; he constantly had to rank material priorities and restrict material supply...

Leaving the newly transported 80 tons of gold and platinum at Jiangning Bank, Chen Yi, against the backdrop of Gao Qiu's astonishment, took a private plane to Lhasa.

The local mayor and city high officials lined the road to welcome him; afterward, in the airport terminal, he met the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee Member and the Provincial Party Committee Secretary-General.

This specification was far more powerful than elementary school students scattering flower petals.

For an investor, this was between normal and abnormal.

Chen Yi took it in stride, neither excited nor arrogant. He represented the dignity of the Chen Family's next generation, and besides, everyone dealt with each other often.

Shen Weirong arranged for them to stay at the Provincial Party Committee Guest House and actively hosted them at dinner, accompanied by the Political and Legal High Official, the Provincial Party Committee Secretary-General, and the high official in charge of investment promotion—precisely the few real-power figures businessmen cared about most. He regarded Chen Yi's investment as his own new political achievement and opened by saying: "Thank you, Mr. Chen, for investing in our Tibet; I welcome you on behalf of the Tibetan people."

"Thank you; this is a beautiful place."

Although many people disliked being represented, legally speaking, provincial high officials were indeed among the few qualified to represent the Tibetan people. And his current way of speaking meant he was speaking on behalf of the organization, so Chen Yi responded formally.

"Everyone, take your seats; we'll eat and talk. Today we specially prepared yak meat; you may have eaten it in Jiangning, but please taste it for yourselves."

Having said this, Shen Weirong left the hosting duties to others.

Fang Zhong and Chen Zhenxing accompanied him in drinking and talking, thoroughly tasting a circle of the hardships within the system.

Compared to private enterprises, officials' work intensity was not low at all.

Shen Weirong put away his full smile of the affable faction, reducing it to three parts of a smile, and whispered to Chen Yi: "You're really willing to invest 10 billion in Tibet at once? That's the highest in recent years."

"Not at once." Chen Yi smiled ambiguously. He had spoken with many high officials and officials; whenever they got down to business, he would habitually add an Intelligence Scroll.

Intelligence Quotient couldn't solve conversation problems, but it would reduce missing key points.

Shen Weirong laughed heartily and said: "I heard you didn't discuss investment details, thinking you had no demands."

Chen Yi said calmly: "The money is always mine; even if invested in Tibet, it's still mine."

"Of course."

"Regarding the mine, does the government have any suggestions?"

"I thought you didn't need our help." Shen Weirong instead felt more comfortable, sat up straight, and smiled: "What are your demands?"

"The local area has the most copper mines; I want to focus on copper mines. If the government is willing, I can accept a joint venture method with mineral resources as capital."

Shen Weirong smiled faintly: "Selling you a copper mine is fine, but the remaining money, I want you to invest elsewhere."

Chen Yi's latent merchant genes revived; he smiled inwardly and said: "I want the Gangdisi Mineral Belt east of Renbu."

Shen Weirong, newly arrived and unfamiliar with the mine situation, asked the secretary beside him before saying: "The Gangdisi Mineral Belt currently has 12 discovered industrial mines; which one do you want?"

"All of them." Chen Yi made an exorbitant demand.

The 12 mines were newly discovered; no one knew how many undiscovered ones there were. The entire Gangdisi Mineral Belt was divided into eastern, middle, and western sections; the eastern part was still far from exploration, and the middle and western sections had almost not begun.

Shen Weirong refused without thinking: "All of them? Impossible."

Just one Jia Ma Metal Mine had 200,000 tons of copper, though the grade was a bit low. And 200,000 tons of copper was worth 6 billion yuan. The accompanying 190,000 tons of lead and 140,000 tons of zinc were entirely within the realm of unexpected surprises. In his view, giving Chen Yi one mine and investing the rest in industry was the right path.

"I have no interest in anything outside the mines," Chen Yi said frankly. "Tibet's industrial foundation is too backward; although per capita income is extremely low, labor costs are much higher than in Neidi. In my view, it's simply not suitable for establishing large-scale industry."

The Secretary-General listened with his mouth agape, not even caring to drink his wine.

Shen Weirong, however, said understandingly: "I don't oppose your investing in mining, but I must explain: how many mines you can develop, I'll give you that many."

The high official didn't know the depth of the situation, fearing to scare off the investor, and quickly added: "Resource extraction industries are Tibet's pillar industries, the wealth of future generations; we can't sell them all at once. If the Chen Group establishes mines, we guarantee to provide you with enough mine quantity for development, but if it's too much, that wouldn't be good."

The mining industry in plateau regions did not develop as prosperously as their resources; some copper mines with reserves of thousands or even tens of thousands of tons were left there after exploration, unattended. For example, dozens of large mines along the Gangdisi line had almost no development. The reasons were many: poor transportation, scarce electricity and water, few workers, and ethnic issues... Only extremely large veins would have anyone willing to build supporting facilities.

Of course, if one could stake a claim, buy those minerals at a suitable price first, and wait for future development, surely countless people would be willing, but that was not the investment the government expected.

If it weren't for the local government lacking money, they could have state-owned enterprises extract these resources; just the price rise in the resource market would be enough for them to feast on for a long time.

Shen Weirong nodded in agreement with the high official's words. The reason he was willing to lower the price was for the various benefits brought by the mines, such as employment and supporting industries. Therefore, he could understand Chen Yi's idea of choosing mining, but he supported the purchase of staking claims.

Chen Yi calculated silently for a while and asked: "Is it that as long as I can operate one mine, I can continue to buy mines?"

"Of course."

Shen Weirong gave the answer without hesitation.

After he made his decision, the high official immediately added: "A mine with an annual ore output of 200,000 tons—as long as you can reach a scale of 10,000 tons per year, the 20-year contract will take effect immediately, and we will grant you new mines."

The so-called 200,000 tons refers to ore output. If it is a high-grade mine, those 200,000 tons would provide for food, drink, and expenses for a lifetime.

Chen Yi considered quietly.

Although bacteria metallurgy requires electricity and transportation, it is not as extreme as the blast furnace method.

The Gangdisi Mineral Belt has porphyry copper-molybdenum mines, skarn copper-iron polymetallic mines, and hydrothermal lead-zinc-silver mines, and is not suitable for bacteria metallurgy that has just begun to develop—the specially cultivated super bacteria are very specialized; even if they can be used for a certain mining area within the region, they cannot be used for all mining areas. In that case, small mining areas have no value for bacteria metallurgy at all.

Just the exploration costs to confirm them would drive Chinese mineral owners like small workshops mad.

However, the bacteria from the West Continent are extremely omnivorous. They can swallow any kind of metal and then spit it out, saving countless troubles. Even if the unit speed is somewhat slower, the total efficiency will still increase severalfold.

In that case, using the bacteria from the West Continent, Chen Yi can save at least 70% of transportation volume and over 50% of electricity usage; mining areas closer to the Qinghai-Tibet Highway can start work directly.

Chen Yi was calm enough to arouse suspicion.

Just as Shen Weirong could not bear to speak, Chen Yi suddenly said: "Then it's settled! Deal!"

His right hand held Provincial High Official Shen Weirong, and his left hand held the high official on the other side, as if he were a leader who had just won an election.

... (Unfinished. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian. com) to cast recommendation tickets and monthly tickets; your support is my greatest motivation.)