Chapter 53: Agency

After Wu Lao Er finished developing the resources around Dawan Town, he went to Echeng to find sales channels for diesel engines.

Of course, he did not intend to sell diesel engines to city dwellers, but to seek other manufacturers or units in need.

After all, individual buyers can only purchase so much; scattered and unstable sales are a hassle to manage.

However, local manufacturers and units in Echeng already had their own fixed partners; the 25-horsepower diesel engines were too single in variety, and no reliable manufacturer offered a warranty, so relying solely on low prices made it impossible to break in.

Although he managed to sell a few units after much wandering, Wu Lao Er remained unsatisfied.

It was not until he accidentally met a fellow villager from a neighboring province that he discovered the Yunnan and Guangxi regions had a quite rich tractor market.

The roads in these two provinces were muddy, and the terrain was mainly hilly; transporting tea leaves and cutting trees required shuttling through mountains and forests, so four-wheel tractors were commonly used, needing large diesel engine heads of over 15 horsepower.

Moreover, the environment in those regions was more humid and hot, with machinery constantly dealing with water and mud, causing them to break down particularly quickly.

The durability of diesel engines was only relative; their main feature was ease of repair, not that they would never break.

Current domestic diesel engines generally had inadequate quality control and were not cheap either; locals preferred to spend a bit more to use tractors with imported diesel engines.

Although problems occurred frequently, the chance of leaving people stranded on the road was much smaller.

In the red soil of humid forests, a fully loaded tractor breaking down could block the road entirely, impossible to even tow out.

However, imported diesel engines were not only expensive but also scarce, making them very difficult for local manufacturers to purchase.

Wu Lao Er immediately seized the opportunity, contacted a purchaser from a Guangxi Province tractor factory in Echeng, and stated he could provide high-quality, low-priced diesel engines.

This tractor factory was also very interested in "Northeast Andong-produced" diesel engines, and even more interested in cost-performance ratio.

Being able to buy a 25-horsepower machine at the price of 15 horsepower was a very worthwhile deal, as long as the failure rate was not too outrageous.

If he could secure an order from this factory, it would be at least 50 units a month, and it would open up the local market much faster.

The only requirement from that tractor factory was that the diesel engines must come with a warranty policy and corresponding parts maintenance services; one-off deals were not accepted.

This meant at least one non-shell company had to guarantee it, conducting formal agency business rather than broker deals.

Wu Lao Er called to test Tang Wen's attitude; if there was no stable supply and he disliked the small profit, they would definitely have to give up.

But if Tang Wen could supply stably and was willing to expand the diesel engine business further, they could use the shipyard as the agency party to reassure buyers.

"Do it. We can sell these diesel engines in the name of the Gaijin Shipyard; we can provide warranty services."

Tang Wen was quite confident in the quality produced by the System; even if a small portion suffered human damage, he dared to guarantee it, and replacing with a new one was not expensive.

Moreover... Dawan Port came with its own repair function; diesel engines should be repairable too.

An order of 50 units a month yielded profits exceeding 200,000, with annual revenue over 3 million; standing alone, this could be considered a pillar industry for the township.

As for agency?

Just slap the Gaijin trademark on it directly; the shipyard was basically equivalent to a small-to-medium machinery factory, so what was strange about making diesel engines?

Tang Wen also thought of his plan to establish external shell companies and suddenly had an idea:

"Old Wu, are you interested in working with me?"

"What?"

"The original factory of Andong Diesel Engines sold me the technology and manufacturing equipment too; from now on, we will make them ourselves.

I plan to establish a dedicated diesel engine company; once produced, this company will sell them.

Whatever you sell, you get that much commission; let's base it entirely on performance, how about that?"

Wu Lao Er understood immediately upon hearing this; this meant splitting into two brands.

However, could locally produced diesel engines be as reliable as the original factory?

To this doubt, Tang Wen only told him to rest assured, guaranteeing it would be exactly the same as before.

Although Wu Lao Er was very tempted, he did not agree immediately, stating he needed to consider it.

Tang Wen did not press, simply explaining he would soon come to Echeng to meet with people from the Guangxi Province Tractor Factory.

Early the next morning, before 7 o'clock, Tang Wen got into a jeep to pick up the village head, and soon drove into the town.

The Willys jeep was not large, so Tang Wen brought only one bodyguard/driver, Tang 22.

Now he also felt the System's blunt numerical naming was too ugly, so he asked Tang 22 to think of a name.

The latter had recently read a few naval warfare documents brought back by Tang Yi and named himself Tang Xuefeng.

Apparently, after seeing the Combined Fleet's destroyer "Yukikaze" survive several major battles unscathed, he hoped to take this name to protect the commander's safety.

Tang Wen immediately broke out in cold sweat; while Yukikaze did indeed survive the war unscathed, all the important warships it escorted had sunk.

He hurriedly changed the other's name to Tang Feng; at least it sounded somewhat like a human name.

As for the others, let Tang Yi use a dictionary to arrange combinations.

Tang Feng's driving skills were very solid—literally solid.

The 1940s jeep looked imposing but was actually extremely difficult to drive.

This thing was not only manual transmission but also lacked synchronizers; to shift into the specified gear, one had to use the throttle to bring the engine speed to match the required speed.

Every gear shift required pressing the clutch twice and precise throttle control.

Otherwise, it would either fail to engage lightly or grind the gearbox and stall heavily.

With the already uneven rural roads plus iron seats, Tang Wen and Chen Yonggui both wished they could squat to sit; otherwise, their buttocks would truly suffer.

In comparison, Zheng Hai's van was simply enjoyment.

After a bumpy ride to the town, the three first chose to have breakfast.

It was still the Guo family's small shop; today was not a market day, so there were few people, and the three found an empty table and sat down upon entering.

Guo Panpan, who was just serving noodles, saw Tang Wen with some surprise and hurried over to ask:

"What do you want to eat? We have noodles, rice noodles, and porridge."

Looking at Guo Panpan wearing an apron and holding a small notebook, Tang Wen inexplicably remembered the young waitress in the noodle shop from "Unleashed".

Especially the youthful temperament and the 1990s environment were exactly like the movie.

Tang Wen recalled Wu Yanzu's line, stroked his chin, and said:

"Three bowls of noodles: one thick, two thin. The thick one without scallions, the thin ones cooked harder. How long will it take?"

Guo Panpan: "..."

Chen Yonggui: "..."

Tang Feng: "..."

After a few seconds of silence, Guo Panpan turned her head expressionlessly and shouted toward the kitchen:

"Mom, three bowls of noodles, cook them softer and add more scallions!"

"Okay."

Hearing the voice from the kitchen, Guo Panpan glanced sideways at Tang Wen, then turned and walked away.

Tang Yanzu: "..."

"Tang Wen, don't tease that young Miss."

"I just quoted a movie line."

"But I want to eat pork-killing rice noodles."

Chen Yonggui looked helpless; he loved slurping rice noodles.

But by now the noodles were probably already in the pot; it was too late to change the order.

"Eating noodles replenishes carbohydrates."

The three of them waited only a few minutes before three bowls of noodles were served.

When Guo Panpan handed the bowl to Tang Wen, the killing intent in her eyes was almost tangible, making the latter suspect the noodle soup might contain saliva.

"Ahem, sorry, I was just joking earlier."

"Bring me three bottles of soda?"

"Alright, thanks for your help. I bought many books I need; this is my gratitude to you."

Tang Wen took out a silver coin. This time Guo Panpan finally spoke, took it, and examined it curiously.

Its unfamiliar size and battleship relief made her think it came from some arcade.

"You thank me with an arcade token?"

"Of course not. This is... a battleship silver coin made by overseas naval enthusiasts, also called the Silver Lion.

It is basically pure silver, but some alloy was added to increase durability."

Guo Panpan looked utterly disbelieving; if it were truly a silver coin, this single piece would be worth several thousand yuan.