Chapter 459: Only My Method Chapter 459: West River Association

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Protagonist:

Chen Yi

500,000 gold coins equals 120 tons, plus the considerable amount of platinum and gold Chen Yi brought back; this one time alone increased his precious metal reserves by over 250 tons, not counting silver.

With such a massive amount of precious metals deposited into Jiangning Bank's vault, Gao Qiu couldn't sit still again. Current precious metal inventory was around 100 tons; adding another 250 tons meant the vault's holdings would exceed 80 billion RMB in value — forget bandits, even retired old-timers who'd washed their hands of crime probably couldn't resist.

Although one or two tons of gold and platinum had to be released daily, this amount was decreasing.

At the biweekly Bond Committee meeting, Gao Qiu raised the issue: "Our precious metal reserves are temporarily sufficient; should we temporarily reduce some imports? Also, Jiangning Bank plans to build a new Head Office and vault, already reported to the Central authorities; approval should come soon, and we'll need to increase guard numbers then."

He assumed Chen Yi had connections in South Africa, hence "imports"; in reality, most people were convinced Chen Yi had private mines in "South Africa," since most of Earth's platinum is stored there, and the amount of platinum Chen Yi obtained — even exceeding gold — made this extremely obvious.

Chen Yi gave a noncommittal "Hmm"; after all, "imports" were his to decide — if Jiangning Bank had storage difficulties, placing them at West River Water Fortress was the same.

Li Lao, however, took some interest in the new Jiangning Head Office construction, asking a couple more questions; Gao Qiu answered carefully — the chance to converse with Chen Zhongguo's old master's Aide was truly rare.

The meeting proceeded in a warm, friendly atmosphere; after all, with sufficient precious metals, the Gold Bonds could be secured, and the Bond Committee's work would be considered up to standard.

Aside from the opening "Hmm," Chen Yi didn't speak the entire time. As the meeting neared its end, everyone including Li Lao automatically and consciously waited for Chen Yi to speak.

"I plan to expand the Bond Committee's attendance and increase meeting agenda items on odd weeks of each month." Chen Yi voiced his idea, looking at the various representatives.

In reality, he was just looking at Gao Qiu.

In the Bond Committee, aside from Jiangning Bank represented by Gao Qiu — which the Chen Family couldn't replace — everyone else, including Xu Chengchu, listened to Chen Yi.

"I have no objections." Gao Qiu answered without hesitation.

To him, 6:1 voting rights and 60:1 voting rights made no difference. With more people, his say might even increase. In his forties, Gao Qiu didn't have grand ambitions; getting Jiangning Bank to the Four Major Banks' level would be a stroke of incredible luck — normally he just daydreamed about it. But if it really reached that level, there was an 80-90% chance he'd be transferred to the Central Bank.

"Seems everyone agrees." Li Lao played along: "Then, the expanded meeting's attendees and added agenda items?"

He quite admired Chen Yi too — at such a young age, he'd turned a committee into a one-man show; people didn't even ask what the specific proposal was before agreeing. Was this the domineering nature of youth? Or a new era's trait?

Li Lao, nearing 60, found his thoughts in disarray.

His guess was both right and wrong; Chen Yi's domineering nature fundamentally stemmed from his Faith — if his word didn't count, he'd lose not just Reputation but Faith Divine Power. That's why Chen Yi forcefully pushed his promises and paid extreme attention to his wording and content. Unless he had 80-90% certainty, he would never speak lightly.

This approach naturally made his words always pass and become convention. Even when accidents occurred, Chen Yi was often willing to invest unexpected costs to reverse the situation; the past nearly 10 meetings had all been like this.

Chen Yi flipped open a small notebook, pinching the speaking spot with his finger: "I plan to increase meeting agenda items and attendance, mainly to promote Gold Bonds. The specific plan: on odd weeks each month, I'll announce a Purchase Order at the committee, using Gold Bonds as settlement currency. This method maximally reduces participating enterprises' exchange rate risk and expands the currency's applicability. Of course, this settlement only occurs among companies within the committee. I hope Jiangning Bank serves as the settlement institution."

He openly used the word "currency."

Gao Qiu naturally agreed — settlement institution meant massive cash flow. He also knew that if not for the strict national financial system, Jiangning Bank wouldn't land such a good deal. And from the Chen Family's perspective, as long as Jiangning Bank sat in Jiangning, it couldn't escape the Chen Family's palm.

Xu Chengchu considered from his clan's angle: "From what you're saying, the Purchase Order will be huge? Military or government contract?"

"It's my order." Chen Yi tore a page from the notebook: "This is next week's purchase request I prepared; Xiao Lu, make copies for everyone to see."

The Bank OL who'd just returned from the print shop was handling records; her relationship with Chen Yi might already be known to Gao Qiu, but the latter would only cooperate to create conditions, not the reverse.

Li Lao coughed twice; everyone's gazes immediately shifted from the black-silk OL to the Purchase Order.

"Shirts," "Cotton Cloth," and "Silk" underwear, "Labor Protection" gloves, labor protection coats, "Liberation Shoes," cotton quilts, duvet covers, jeans, safety helmets — 18 textile items total, all in units of millions.

Xu Chengchu looked up at Chen Yi, thinking: even at 1 yuan profit per piece, 18 items means over 50 million profit. Most terrifying is the total amount — estimated at over 1 billion.

Though such low-tech orders can't make factories rich, they can certainly sustain hundreds of enterprises; for merchants, profitable months in a year are only two or three; the rest of the time they operate just to survive.

Xu Chengchu thought: if long-term purchasing really happens, Gold Bonds could truly circulate. But with such quantities — could he really be planning to mine in South Africa?

His thoughts had completely drifted far away, like a mouse that mistakenly boarded a plane; no matter how he fantasized, he couldn't guess the world outside the iron skin.

Gao Qiu was drawn to the bottom half: 300,000 tons of cement and 50,000 tons of steel. Aside from ~50,000 tons of high-grade cement, the remaining 250,000 tons were low-grade — almost any city cement plant could produce it; though he felt it was somewhat wasteful, for some bank-affiliated enterprises it was the best thing possible.

As a policy commercial bank like Jiangning Bank, though required to be self-sustaining, policy loans from local governments were indispensable — in other words, equivalent to fending for oneself while still having to generate blood for the government; status roughly equated to a child bride. The bad and dead debts on Gao Qiu's books, 80-90% were caused by local state-owned enterprises. But like tactics foreign companies often use, once a local SOE gets money from the bank, it forms an operational link with the bank; if Jiangning Bank doesn't help drag them out of the mud pit, the only option before being dragged down itself is to sever an arm with all its might.

Such things, during Gao Qiu's tenure, he'd done no fewer than 10 times; if he could get a slice from Chen Yi's Purchase Order to revive a few local SOEs, Jiangning Bank would be liberated.

He immediately felt the benefits of being the settlement structure — who dares owe the settlement institution money? Who doesn't want to borrow from the settlement institution?

"How about it?" Chen Yi spoke again.

Regardless of their thoughts, everyone nodded in agreement.

Fang Yu, representing the Fang Family's vote, waited for a gap and laughed: "Cousin, let me handle these 50,000 tons of steel."

From steel mill to trader to final steel-using enterprise, each layer skims tens to hundreds of profit per ton. If ruthless, 50,000 tons could skim over 100 million in oil.

Chen Yi didn't even blink: "As long as you can outcompete others, giving it to you works too."

Fang Yu chuckled dryly; he wanted to be a middleman — competing on price, he obviously couldn't win.

"Everyone has two Recommendation Ticket quotas; you can negotiate two companies. If they win bids, they can join the next expanded meeting. Also, I'll send bid invitations to some domestic enterprises. All enterprises will conduct open bidding via sealed bids; specific standards will be given to you after the meeting. Of course, bidding enterprises must also pledge to use Gold Bonds as settlement currency. Chen Zhenxing, whether Chen Group participates — you decide."

"Ah... okay." Chen Zhenxing, representing Chen Father's vote, was shocked. This was a huge chunk of authority; sudden delegation left him a bit overwhelmed.

Chen Yi continued indifferently: "Starting next week, odd weeks we hold expanded meetings, even weeks Bond Meetings. Let's give the expanded meeting a new name — West River Association, how about that?"

Naturally no one objected; Li Lao gazed thoughtfully at the young man at the head of the table, but his heart surged with towering waves.

A seemingly simple West River Association, if truly organized and able to exert synergy, would likely rival the chaebols of Japan and Korea — monsters capable of opposing the state machinery. If a backgroundless young man built a consortium, Li Lao would sneer; but as a direct lineage descendant of the Jiangning Chen Family, it might actually be possible.

While copying, Xiao Lu also saw that messy Purchase Order, but what she noticed was the casual, free brushstrokes above.

If anyone else prepared such an important speech, they'd surely print a formal document, fearing insufficient preparation; Chen Yi just casually wrote in a notebook. Yet his handwritten Purchase Order seemed to instead eliminate the hassle of proposals and such.

This man is famous for keeping his word; his handwriting is like his words — full of masculine character. As Xiao Lu made this evaluation, she felt she needed to change her silk stockings.

... (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian. com) to vote Recommendation Tickets, Monthly Tickets; your support is my greatest motivation.)