Chapter 94

"Xiao Ye, it wasn't easy for us to conquer this territory; Hao Jian and I ran around for it one by one.

As the saying goes, 'when people leave, the tea goes cold.' If we move our base to Yangcheng, what will we do if someone else snatches our old home? It's not like there aren't people jealous of our business right now."

"Brother Li Ye, didn't you say that distribution channels are our lifeline? We've worked so hard to make a name for ourselves in the surrounding counties; we must keep a tight grip on them.

Last month, a Southerner came to scout things out. He didn't look like a small-time player, but after he saw our prestige, he turned around and left..."

Hearing Li Ye say that he planned to move their "foundation" to Yangcheng in the future, Hao Jian and Jin Peng couldn't wrap their heads around it and expressed their disagreement impatiently.

Of course, they were only trying to persuade Li Ye, not directly oppose him.

Or rather, by now, they no longer had the courage to oppose him.

If it could be said that when Li Ye first led them from a few hundred to twenty thousand, it was just Li Ye taking advantage of a "cultured person's quick mind,"

then now, going from twenty thousand to five hundred thousand, and looking at the million they were about to surpass, Li Ye's image had unconsciously become "deified" in their hearts.

Reverence had taken root in their hearts silently and was growing wildly.

Li Ye handed the few bottles of beer he was carrying to the two of them, took a light sip himself, and asked, "What do you think 'territory' is?"

"'What is territory?'" Jin Peng pondered for a moment and said, "Qingshui County is our territory! It won't do for anyone to snatch our business. I've almost taken down the few neighboring counties too; they're all our friends.

Although the provincial capital is big, when it comes to the clothing trade, we have a say there too..."

Well, Jin Peng, your way of thinking is very dangerous!

Li Ye knew about similar "city bullies" from his later life; they were truly glorious when things were going well, but when they fell, there might not even be bones left.

"Brother Li Ye, I think this territory is your distribution channel. It's a cornucopia, pulling in gold for us day and night. We must keep a good eye on it!"

Hao Jian's awareness wasn't very high either, but he spoke very realistically.

In the few counties where they were currently flipping clothes, they were truly making a fortune every day. The two of them were so anxious they wished they could keep one eye open even at night just to feel at ease.

Whenever an outsider came to compete with them, intimidating them was perhaps the mildest approach.

This was just like when they were buying malt sugar back then; Jin Peng and Wang Jianqiang would reach for a brick at the drop of a hat. Even now, Jin Peng still kept a knife on his waist!

Snatching someone's livelihood is like killing their parents!

Li Ye asked Jin Peng, "Brother Peng, if as you say, you conquered this territory by relying on having many friends?"

Jin Peng nodded, "Yes, but Xiao Ye, don't worry. The friends I choose are all reliable people. If there's anyone who stabs us in the back, I'll handle it myself."

Li Ye understood; Jin Peng was treating the "downstream" of the clothing business as friends.

This was also the way many business people did things in this era; after all, Shenzhou is a place that values human relationships.

"Alright, I'll ask one more question," Li Ye asked Hao Jian and Jin Peng, "Do you intend to just guard this piece of territory in Dongshan for the rest of your lives?"

".........."

Hao Jian and Jin Peng were both embarrassed. That expression was about the same as taking ten thousand yuan to talk business with the richest man, only for him to casually hand you a hundred-million-yuan order and ask if you could handle it.

Don't be so discouraging, alright?

Hao Jian, who claimed to have no shame, blushed a little and said, "No, Brother Xiao Ye, our current territory is just a part of the provincial capital and a few surrounding counties. How could we dare to talk about Dongshan Province..."

Jin Peng interrupted, "Hao Jian, your vision is too narrow. If Xiao Ye says Dongshan Province, then it's Dongshan Province.

Starting tomorrow, I'll run to the east, you run to the west, and we'll occupy the clothing trade in every county in the entire Dongshan Province..."

Li Ye interrupted, "How will you occupy them? By making friends one by one, and setting up banquets table by table? If you do that, you'll die of alcohol poisoning sooner or later."

Hao Peng chuckled and shook his head, "How could that be! We drink good liquor now, the kind that's two yuan and three per bottle..."

Li Ye couldn't be bothered to exchange pleasantries with them anymore. The two stubborn mules were blinded by the small change in front of them, thinking like land-owning peasants who would rather die than sell their ancestral fields.

Li Ye straightened his expression and said, "Capital controls channels and markets, not by drinking or human favors.

It relies on interests and talent. Of course, human favors can be a supplementary means, but ultimately, it depends on how much money you can let the people in the channels earn."

"From now on, you will gradually withdraw from the front line of retail clothing, master the source of goods, select suitable people to cultivate, and let them be responsible for front-line wholesale management.

Additionally, select suitable secondary wholesalers to support, and let them specifically maintain the channels of a county for us. You only need to send people to supervise them regularly."

Li Ye began to explain in detail to Hao Jian and Jin Peng the wholesale industry expansion methods of his later life.

Although he knew them roughly, as long as the general direction was correct, in this 1982 market that was as blank as a sheet of paper, it wasn't impossible to want to rage like a prairie fire.

Moving customers with human emotion? Maintaining the market with friendship?

Just kidding. Expansion is always about poaching people the fastest, with interests coming first.

But just as Li Ye was speaking with excitement, he saw the shock on Hao Jian and Jin Peng's faces.

"What? Capital? Xiao Ye... you're going to make a mistake!"

"Brother Xiao Ye, you can't say things like that randomly. If it were a few years ago, these few words of yours would have caused trouble."

"........"

I'm giving you a lecture on broadening your thinking, and you're debating socialism with me?

Li Ye was very angry and decided to pull out a big move to stun these two stubborn bumpkins.

"Hao Jian, when you sold malt sugar, your daily turnover was a dozen yuan... If you are selling clothes yourself now, at most it's a few hundred yuan a day.

But if you cultivate dozens or hundreds of secondary wholesalers, even if you only earn one-fifth of the current profit... calculate how much that is?"

Hao Jian's eyes went dizzy and stars were dancing, but he calculated mechanically in his heart.

Li Ye added softly, "Don't just calculate East Mountain. What about West Mountain? What about North River? What about the whole country?"

"........."

Hao Jian couldn't calculate anymore; he crashed and froze.

He and Jin Peng both turned into toads with their mouths wide open, having forgotten to breathe.

Li Ye felt a sense of "secret joy" and also a very strange sense of accomplishment.

Thinking back to those years, he was already a corporate slave who had been in the industry for three years. At the company's welcome meeting, watching the big boss, who had long been hollowed out by club models, talk for two hours straight without being tired and becoming more energetic, he really didn't understand.

It wasn't until he saw those new brothers in the industry, each with flushed faces, full of longing for a beautiful future life, that Li Ye understood the reason.

The big boss used a worthless pie in the sky to not only fool the newcomers into being crippled but also to fool himself into feeling great.

Because once a person is crippled, they kneel. They kneel and worship you, respecting you like a god, feeling light and airy, thinking they are omnipotent.

In 1982, god-level legends were everywhere. Although it was certainly not as mysterious as Li Ye said, and the clothing market couldn't possibly be developed by you alone, but... everything is possible.

"No, Brother Xiao Ye, you... you're blowing this too much... you've blown it up..."

Hao Jian suddenly woke up, stood up, and kept circling the big tree beside him, his mouth muttering "blown it up" and "bullshitting" non-stop.

But he held his beer bottle upside down, spilling beer foam all over the ground and onto his sandals, without even noticing.

Jin Peng on the side was super calm, biting the mouth of the beer bottle without moving, making a creaking sound.

Li Ye hurriedly snatched the beer bottle from Jin Peng. It wasn't like he was asking him to perform hard qigong; what was he biting the beer bottle for?

Five minutes later, Hao Jian squatted down again, picked up a bottle of beer, opened it with his teeth, and drank it all in one go.

Then Hao Jian started smoking, one after another.

He came to find Li Ye for five million, but Li Ye drew him a bigger pie in the sky, almost choking him to death.

Li Ye didn't give him much time to digest it and said directly, "What I said are all things for later; we can take it step by step.

But starting tomorrow, large sums of money will not be kept in Dongshan; all of it will be remitted to Yangcheng, leaving only a small portion of funds for emergencies."

"Alright, let's do it that way."

Jin Peng agreed immediately. He was a smart man and knew that for some things, before he had figured them out, following Li Ye, a smarter person, was not wrong.

And Hao Jian was better at thinking proactively and raising questions.

"Brother Li Ye, if according to what you said, we let outsiders control the distribution and retail of a county in the future, what if they rebel?"

Hao Jian still wanted to keep all the joints of retail in his own hands; even if it was more troublesome, he would feel at ease.

Li Ye said indifferently, "We only have five hundred thousand in our hands now, but it's not difficult to play a dishonest distributor to death in a county, right?

Just support another distributor to dump goods at a low price.

When we have five million or ten million in the future... you can figure out how to play it yourselves. Anyway, I don't really understand either; you can cross the river by feeling the stones!"

"..........."

【You don't understand? Then is there anyone who does?】

Seeing Hao Jian and Jin Peng speechless and unable to complain.

Li Ye assumed they agreed; the agreement of the team's opinion is very critical.

"You arrange it as soon as possible, then one will be stationed in Yangcheng, and one will go to the capital with me.

Within two years, don't be too conspicuous in Dongshan. You must learn to be low-key and learn to hide behind the scenes."

The reason Li Ye said two years is because in 1984, the state officially allowed the establishment of private companies, and for the upcoming 1983, it was better to be a little cautious.

Did Hao Jian and Jin Peng's behavior break the law?

No, but it didn't say it wasn't breaking the law either.

This is the gap area; otherwise, how could you earn so much?

And after Hao Jian and Jin Peng heard this, they both suddenly understood.

From the beginning, Li Ye had been hiding behind the scenes of the two of them, and now, they also had to learn to gradually hide behind the scenes of others.