Chapter 535

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Protagonist:

Chen Yi

The "Salon" formed by Chen Guoliang grew larger and larger; later on, those who felt their status was insufficient quietly withdrew one after another, leaving their places to newcomers.

This natural shift foreshadowed the future contact relationships between the Chen Clan and the other families.

The upper echelon of the Chen Clan was naturally headed by Chen Zhongguo, but the ones actually doing the work were the vigorous Rulers in their prime. Chen Guoliang was fifty-six, precisely the right time for grand ambitions.

Chen Yi and Chen Ye sat by the bonfire opposite the "Salon," sipping wine and tea, sampling snacks, quite leisurely; before long, people came over to curry favor.

It started with people of comparable age seeking out Chen Ye; upon seeing Chen Yi, they clung on even more unwilling to leave. A man wearing a jade Guanyin pendant joked with a laugh: "Heard today that Mr. Chen manages the colony's Channel; was just wondering how I could meet you, and here we meet. I am Li Renchao."

"Mr. Li." Chen Yi, upholding a spirit of humility and modesty, shook his hand, but had no interest in speaking further.

Li Renchao laughed to himself: "Mr. Chen, I heard the Zhang Clan proposed a requirement to increase Channel capacity; did you agree?"

"They fought the vanguard battle; merit-based reward should be theirs. Under the condition of a 5,000-ton capacity increase, allocate 1,500 tons to them." Chen Yi saw no need to conceal this. The Zhang Family had suffered heavy losses; after a day and night of political maneuvering, granting compensation was only right and proper.

Li Renchao laughed heartily, his oily large hand stroking the jade Guanyin, smiling: "Then if I can devise a method to raise the Channel's throughput by one-third, can I get a 5,000-ton reward?"

"You seem not to have been to the West Continent, have you?" Chen Yi expressed doubt.

"I understand transportation; whatever your Channel is like, as long as it can be improved, I can help." Li Renchao twisted his buttocks, occupying the sofa armrest nearest to Chen Yi.

"You're quite confident." Chen Yi praised a sentence, did not answer the reward question, while simultaneously guessing which family this fellow belonged to.

The Chen, Zhang, Zheng, and Tong families all count as members within the Chen Clan, but this does not mean the Chen Clan consists entirely of family members. In fact, those who can make a name for themselves in the circle are eight or nine out of ten outsiders by surname. They are either trusted core confidants, or "talented individuals" who have been spotted, or simply in-laws by marriage. In terms of ability, outsiders recruited broadly are naturally more formidable; but in terms of authority, it naturally falls to the major family members within the Chen Clan — sometimes, blood ties make it easier to command submission. If Chen Yi were merely an ordinary official, even if he grasped the Magic Subway, Chen Zhongguo would not mobilize all his strength for him. It is precisely because his bloodline naturally guarantees the Chen Clan's interests that his demands can powerfully shelter the entire system's demands, so everyone is willing to take such risks for it.

Li Renchao clearly wanted to fight for tonnage on behalf of some family. Or perhaps he himself wanted to fight for it?

Chen Yi smiled faintly: "Regardless of whether your method can raise the Channel's throughput by one-third, giving you 5,000 tons is out of the question."

"Why do you say that?"

"The Channel's tonnage is not purely tonnage; it represents a family's contribution to the colonial enterprise. You have not an inch of merit..." Chen Yi spoke halfway, then shook his head: "Even if you establish merit in transportation, I would rather use cash or other methods to reward you. The Channel's tonnage — no."

Li Renchao grew anxious: "What if I represent the Tong Family?"

The words left his mouth, and he regretted them.

Chen Yi and Chen Ye exchanged a glance and smiled; the latter then said: "Your words haven't been agreed to by the Tong Family, have they?"

Li Renchao gave an embarrassed laugh, his hand again stroking the jade Guanyin, smiling: "The Dharma is not transmitted to six ears; only telling it to you, Mr. Chen, is most effective."

The first phrase that popped into Chen Ye's mind was: lucky break!

Judging by Li Renchao's age, at most early thirties; even as a Division-level cadre in a Ministry/Commission, he would be exceptionally young, fundamentally lacking the qualifications to enter the Chen Family Lao Zhai.

By such judgment, he must be an Aide of the Tong Family.

In the capacity of an Aide, bypassing the master to offer strategy to Chen Yi — if not to seek a lucky break, what else could it be? Assuming he successfully obtains 5,000 tons of Channel tonnage and presents it to the Tong Family, the ultimate purpose is still to raise his own value.

Such conduct, whether success or failure, carries considerable risk.

Chen Ye looked around and further felt this fellow's nerve was large enough. A circle of a dozen people; who knows when the words would be passed out.

Chen Yi's faith made it inconvenient to expel Li Renchao, so he simply spoke: "If your method truly can raise the Channel's tonnage, what harm in giving you 100 million?"

"5,000 tons of Channel tonnage — how could it be measured by a mere 100 million?" Li Renchao wore the air of a heaven's favored son, head held extremely high in arrogance.

Chen Yi laughed: "The West Continent's Channel tonnage will certainly increase; perhaps today, perhaps months later. But your method, unless you sell it to me today, will only continuously depreciate; until one day another person proposes it, it becomes worthless. This is called market supply-and-demand regulating price. I am a big corporation; you are a small inventor. My giving you 100 million is to encourage future inventors; giving you 5,000 tons of Channel tonnage would damage shareholder interests."

Li Renchao, itching to wave a fan, had his jade Guanyin come to a sudden halt.

"Clap clap clap!"

Beside him, an official with a face black as charcoal clapped his hands in applause; others followed suit. As for whether these words were truly that wise and martial, that was debatable.

Chen Ye started, hurriedly leaned close to Chen Yi's ear and said: "The first to applaud was Xi Tan's father, Xi Rong."

Seeing his movement, Xi Rong laughed without concealment: "Mr. Chen, thank you for the helping hand extended the other day. I thank you on Xi Tan's behalf for letting him off the hook."

Chen Yi had to stand and smile: "General Xi, this is blaming me; at the time, there was no chance for much hesitation."

"I'm no General now." Xi Rong stroked his beard and laughed heartily.

Chen Yi's attitude had a reason; never mind that Xi Tan is known as the "Blue Eagle," his father Xi Rong is merely a Division-level cadre after retirement/transfer. Those who know the inside story all know Xi Tan's path was paved by Xi Rong many years ago; if not for retiring from military service in a special era, Xi Rong might have gone further, bringing the Xi Family to a completely different height.

Li Renchao, currently at the center of the storm, saw this would not do. If Chen Yi and Xi Rong got along swimmingly, his earlier groundwork would all become a laughingstock; he would gain no benefits and lose the Tong Family's trust — let alone jumping ship to re-enter, he would never have a chance to come to the Chen Family Lao Zhai again.

To seize the opportunity, Li Renchao took the initiative to mock: "General Xi comes here — in the name of the Xi Family, or in a personal capacity?"

This was what Chen Yi wanted to know but was too embarrassed to ask. Li Renchao's words, though not very polite, caused no great harm.

Xi Rong put away his amiable smile, replied indifferently: "In my personal name."

"Then that means the Xi Family has split?" Li Renchao immediately drew a conclusion.

Seeing the expressions of those around, Xi Rong's face showed displeasure as he replied: "Leaving aside splitting, but Xi Tan and I have decided to follow Old Master Chen's lead."

Xi Tan, to secure his position, forced the family onto the stage. Chen Yi did not know the specifics, but from the current situation, the Xi Family must have suffered losses and not received corresponding compensation — this is only natural; if a desperate man defects and immediately receives elder-level treatment, the latter's resentment would be heavy — if Xi Tan and Xi Rong consequently incur displaced anger, treating this bare-chested charge as an investment pledge and joining the Chen Family in turn is also a very desirable move.

Only from then on there would be no family as backing.

This decisive handling method matched the impression of Xi Rong very well.

Li Renchao also understood, smacked his lips in praise: "Then from now on we're all Allies; the two Generals Xi will certainly be two fierce generals of the Chen Clan."

A defecting general who surrendered, aside from serving as a vanguard officer as a fierce general, rarely has any other way out. Such praise counts as no good words. Xi Rong endured silently, did not answer.

Li Renchao, having pulled back the situation, seized the chance to turn his head: "Mr. Chen, my method is precisely a potent pill."

"Oh?"

"I have two moves; first move, price 100 million — how about it?" With so many watching, Li Renchao extended his fingers, quite pleased with himself.

Chen Ye kept a straight face: "You're still haggling."

"Naturally one must haggle."

"Depends on your method, whether it's worth 100 million." Chen Yi lifted his chin: "Speak."

Li Renchao clapped his hands and said, "I don't know if Mr. Chen has heard of the troop reinforcement method the Russian army once used on the Siberian Railway. They had only a single railway line; to increase capacity, trains arriving at their destination did not return but were simply overturned onto the other side of the roadbed and blown up. Now capacity is tight on the West Continent, so why not imitate the Russians' story?"

Chen Ye said sarcastically, "Overturn the trains?"

"Build a railway at the port, connecting directly to the Channel. Trains whistle in without braking or decelerating, crashing into it, as long as they don't explode. The carriages are split apart—only in, never out. It seems to waste some tonnage of train cars, but it can greatly increase Channel transport capacity. Based on this alone, a one-third increase in capacity can be expected."

A train isn't cheap, but compared to Channel tonnage, it's truly not worth mentioning.

Chen Yi secretly thought that the space inside the Magic Subway seemed endless. If trains were intentionally driven into the door and derailed, the speed of transporting goods would definitely be much faster than by truck.

If this suggestion were expanded to establish extended heavy-haul train dedicated lines, with thousands of train cars driving in every day, it would be faster than any Water Land God Box.

Chen Yi unconsciously nodded, then said, "This plan is feasible. I'll give you 100 million."

Becoming a billionaire so easily, Li Renchao instead felt unaccustomed, stammering, "Really... really give?"

"Really give. What's the second one?"

"The second... the second is a suggestion about getting a suggestion." Success came so fast that Li Renchao's face flushed red. He didn't discuss conditions further, but said softly, "Use Channel tonnage as a reward, asking everyone to think of ways to improve work efficiency. Once a method is adopted, give a reward. Those who know the Channel are all capable people—why ride a donkey to look for a donkey?"

Speaking, Li Renchao's courage grew, and blushing he demanded, "If you let me manage Channel efficiency, I guarantee that within one year, I will conduct 10,000 necessity assessments, 1,000 small-scale experiments, 500 actual experiments, and finally produce 100 efficiency improvements. Increase Channel tonnage by 100% every year!"

Shocking words or no rest. His voice was very loud, and many people therefore looked over.

... (Unfinished. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian. com) to vote for Recommendation Tickets and Monthly Tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)