Chapter 49: Poaching on the Spot

A barrage of questions left Tang Wen speechless; the Gaijin Shipyard could only keep costs so low by building ships out of thin air—if they actually sourced from suppliers, wouldn't they go bankrupt?

But if he couldn't explain it clearly, the bank certainly wouldn't dare lend the money, and the order would be lost.

Now even Huang Dongfu's gaze had turned strange, and the situation was becoming dire.

To break the deadlock, Tang Wen could only pretend to be calm, his mind racing as he began to fabricate:

"I'm afraid you all have a question: why is the Gaijin Shipyard's thousand-ton ship so cheap? The main reason is that we do not purchase steel from the market."

Huang Dongfu and the bank staff were all stunned; the former immediately asked:

"Boss Tang, if you don't buy steel, how do you build ships? You can't be smelting iron yourselves, can you?"

"No, we have another cheap steel channel, and we guarantee the quality."

Tang Wen turned to look out the window, pointing at the sea surface outside the shipyard.

Huang Dongfu was still thinking, but the vice president's eyes suddenly lit up:

"Mr. Tang, can you get cheap steel from abroad?"

"Ah? Yes!"

Tang Wen nodded instinctively; he hadn't even thought of what to say, but hearing that reason, he immediately went along with it.

"Then there's no problem! Domestic steel prices are indeed too high right now."

The vice president sighed with relief, leaving Huang Dongfu somewhat puzzled.

"President Zhang, what do you mean by steel from abroad?"

"Hey, you just don't understand:

Since the policy came down in '92, development zones have been popping up everywhere; the newspapers say there are nearly eight thousand of them.

Construction sites are everywhere, steel prices have already exceeded three thousand, and no one knows when it will end; it's hard even to buy.

If Boss Tang can get steel from abroad, it must be cheaper than domestic steel, at least a thousand yuan cheaper."

Huang Dongfu suddenly understood, and Tang Wen slowly nodded.

That's right, that's exactly it.

President Zhang looked at Huang Dongfu and continued:

"Steel is steel; where does it matter where it comes from? If that's the case, I'll authorize the loan myself. After all, our approval depends on the ship's progress.

It will take at least three or four months to finish this ship, so how about we approve the loan for four months?"

Being from the coastal region, President Zhang had seen and experienced things; he had no objection whatsoever to engaging in some maritime free trade.

Bringing goods in proves you have ability, you have skill!

Moreover, in this era, everything prioritizes the economy; that's what counts.

This order of several million is still used to develop local manufacturing enterprises, so there is a special quota available for it.

"Four months is too long; actually, our shipyard... can launch in just over two months."

One month might be too exaggerated; Tang Wen didn't want the money delayed that long, so he compressed the time by a little more than half.

"Just over two months?"

Both Huang Dongfu and President Zhang were somewhat surprised; that was a speed only large shipyards could achieve, but since Tang Wen dared to say it and the shipyard couldn't run away, he smoothly changed the cycle to three months.

The salesperson nearby was rapidly modifying various contracts; once all three parties signed, the first bank loan and deposit totaling two million would be released to Tang Wen.

The bank was quite fast at using templates to write contracts, but when they handed them to Tang Wen, it gave him a headache.

He couldn't understand the thing at all, and there were too many clauses; involving such a large sum of money, he didn't want to risk signing.

Fortunately, President Zhang spoke up in time:

"You can review this contract for a few more days before signing; just stamp it and mail it back to the bank."

"Wait."

Tang Wen looked at the salesperson who had no presence, a woman in her thirties who looked very shrewd and had been very efficient just now.

"What's your name? What's your education?"

"Uh... my name is Hu Li, secondary vocational school accounting."

Hu Li didn't understand, and the next second she heard Tang Wen say:

"What's your current salary? I'll give you double; how about coming to work at the shipyard?"

"Boss Tang!"

President Zhang was shocked and interrupted, reaching out; he was still here, how could you poach people like this?

Besides, Hu Li was a top performer the branch had just promoted; how could he bear to let her go?

"This is our bank's deputy manager; your behavior is not very appropriate."

Hu Li also seemed somewhat stunned and waved her hand, saying:

"Sorry, Boss Tang, I have no intention of changing jobs."

"One thousand five?"

Tang Wen remembered that the average wage now should be only a few hundred; one thousand five should count as a high income.

"Sorry..."

Before Hu Li could finish, Tang Wen forcefully interrupted her:

"Two thousand?"

"Eight hours of work per day, two days off a week... no, work four days, rest three; a three-month bonus at year-end, and a five-year contract with a guaranteed base."

Hu Li: "..."

"Alright, Dawan Village is a bit remote; we can provide a car for transport... or give you five hundred yuan monthly for travel expenses; is two thousand five in total okay?"

Watching Tang Wen keep adding conditions, Hu Li's breathing became somewhat rapid.

One thousand five was already scary enough; her highest earnings including commissions were just over one thousand, but her usual base of six or seven hundred was also a high salary others envied.

And work four days, rest three? What kind of divine system is this?

And five hundred for travel expenses?!

If she refuses once more, will Tang Wen give up or continue to raise the stakes?

Having worked at the sub-branch for over ten years and finally climbed up to the city, Hu Li originally thought she had reached her limit, but the huge pie suddenly thrown at her nearly made her faint.

With a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity right before her eyes, Hu Li's breathing quickened; she dared not look at the vice-president beside her and summoned her courage to say:

"I... I need to think about it."

President Zhang:??!

Wait, you're defecting already?

However, Tang Wen was not satisfied with this answer and gave Hu Li no time to think:

"Move into Dawan Village immediately. A settling-in fee of five thousand will be given. You have five seconds to decide. Five, four..."

"I agree!"

As soon as Hu Li finished speaking, she nearly lost all strength, showing none of her originally sharp and capable demeanor.

Tang Wen nodded, seeming not the least bit surprised:

"Good. You are now the financial director of Gaijin Shipyard. Please check these contracts for loopholes and give me your reply before three o'clock this afternoon. After that, you can clock off."

"Good!"

President Zhang and Huang Dongfu stared with mouths agape as Hu Li stood up, sat on the sofa on Tang Wen's side, and immediately buried her head to start organizing the contracts.

These were the very drafts she had just revised, and the template was already familiar to her by heart; she immediately found many areas that could still be improved:

"Boss, look here. The loan cycle here can be compressed. A seven-day audit is too long..."

Hu Li knew clearly the limits the bank could accept and the maximum preferential terms it could offer. Just now, seeing the makeshift team of Gaijin Shipyard deliberately set many terms in favor of the bank, shifting all the risks onto the shipyard and the fishing company.

Now, as she put forward improvement suggestions one by one, they all struck exactly at President Zhang's pain points.

The latter, having roamed the world for decades, had truly never seen such a move and was genuinely broadening his horizons.

Huang Dongfu even raised his thumb, instantly seeing through many of the subtle intricacies:

"Old brother, awesome!"

How much is lost by not reviewing the contracts properly, and how much does it cost to poach one person?

Hu Li's annual salary is at most twenty or thirty thousand, but avoiding pitfalls in just this one deal would surely be worth far more than that.

He originally thought Tang Wen was too young to know how to do business, but he never expected that with one move, Tang Wen would open his eyes wide.