Chapter 1122: A Win-Win Plan

Lu Zhenghong said, "This old gentleman Hou has helped you too much. When you have time, I would like to pay a visit to him."

Su Xinghui said, "Sure. After I go back, I will ask the old gentleman when he is free, and I will arrange for you to meet him."

Lu Zhenghong said, "Good."

Su Xinghui said, "By the way, Uncle Lu, I have another idea."

Lu Zhenghong said, "What idea?"

Su Xinghui said, "The Notte United Steel Company is a giant in the French steel industry. They have very strong capabilities in special steel manufacturing and a very high technical level. If we can get them to cooperate with our Jianggang to set up a factory, it is possible to raise Jianggang's technical level in special steel to a new level."

Lu Zhenghong's eyes lit up, and he began to ponder. This suggestion from Su Xinghui was, of course, a good one made with the public interest in mind. The current situation of China's steel industry is that steel production is increasing rapidly, but the vast majority of this increase is in common steel, which has little technical content, while special steel, which does have technical content, has seen very little growth.

This is, of course, because China has lagged behind European and American powers for many years in steel industry technology. China cannot produce many types of special steel itself, yet the demand is very high, making imports necessary. It is unknown how much foreign exchange is spent on this every year.

With the technical strength of the Notte United Steel Company, if Jianggang could cooperate with them to set up a factory, and if it goes well, it could take Jianggang's special steel capabilities to the next level. This would have a strategic impact on China's special steel industry.

Special steel has very important applications in many critical industries, such as machinery, aerospace, automotive, electrical appliances, and military industry, all of which require the use of such special steel.

Take the automotive industry as an example: in order to reduce the weight of a car, many parts require ultra-thin steel plates, and to ensure safety, these ultra-thin steel plates must be of very high strength. Our country currently cannot manufacture this kind of ultra-high-strength steel plate, which is also an important factor constraining the development of our automotive industry.

However, although Lu Zhenghong is the Vice Governor in charge of the economy, he cannot manage Jianggang. Jianggang is a ministry-level enterprise, directly under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Metallurgical Industry. Its main leaders are directly under the management of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, and their General Manager and Party Secretary are both high-level cadres at the deputy ministerial level.

Lu Zhenghong said, "Xinghui, your suggestion is excellent, but will the Notte United Steel Company agree to cooperate with Jianggang?"

Su Xinghui said confidently, "I think they will agree, because cooperating with Jianggang is also beneficial to them. First, Jianggang can provide them with raw materials such as pig iron, saving them a lot of trouble. Second, in terms of recruitment, Jianggang can provide them with convenience, allowing them to hire enough skilled workers. Third, Jianggang's connections in China's metallurgical industry can also bring many benefits to the cooperative enterprise."

Lu Zhenghong nodded repeatedly as he listened; these reasons were indeed enough for the Notte United Steel Company to consider cooperating with Jianggang.

If the Notte United Steel Company builds a factory, they will most likely build a short-process electric furnace steel plant to produce special steel. This would require a lot of scrap steel, but China's industrialization process is far from complete, and the amount of scrap steel is not large. If Jianggang can provide them with pig iron or iron, their raw material problem could be solved.

And if the Notte United Steel Company wants to build a factory in Pengjiawanzhen, workers are also a problem. They can hire enough general laborers locally, but they cannot hire technical workers and skilled workers. However, if they cooperate with Jianggang, this problem would be easily solved.

Jianggang is a behemoth with over a hundred thousand workers, and it is currently facing the problem of surplus personnel. Jianggang is carrying out reforms in this area, and their approach is to establish other non-steel service companies to divert surplus personnel. The number of workers that need to be separated reaches tens of thousands.

Steel workers naturally do not want to go to service companies, but there is no other way, so some people always need to make sacrifices. However, if the Notte United Steel Company cooperates with Jianggang to set up a factory, some technical workers and skilled workers could enter this cooperative enterprise to work, which could also avoid the waste of talent.

In addition, Jianggang has its own metallurgical college, which is a junior college specifically for training their technical personnel. However, in recent years, their graduate placement problem has also encountered trouble because Jianggang has surplus personnel, so graduates who could originally enter Jianggang's research department directly cannot all enter the research department now, and some have even been pushed into society.

By the same token, in the future, some of them could also enter the research department of the cooperative enterprise, which is a good thing for both sides.

And Jianggang is also a behemoth enterprise that plays a pivotal role in China's metallurgical industry. Their connections in China's metallurgical industry are significant. If the two sides establish a cooperative enterprise, the Notte United Steel Company could save a lot of effort on many issues.

Lu Zhenghong smiled and said, "Xinghui, your brain is indeed sharp. This is truly a good idea, but our provincial government cannot manage Jianggang. How about this: I will help you contact Uncle Yu. He is now the Minister of the Metallurgical Industry, and Jianggang happens to be a ministry-level enterprise under their jurisdiction. With his introduction, the things you want to do will go much more smoothly."

Yu Yan'an had moved up a level after the New Year, becoming the Minister of the Metallurgical Industry, and Jianggang is indeed a ministry-level enterprise under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Metallurgical Industry. The General Manager of Jianggang would certainly have to give face to him.

Moreover, this matter is beneficial and harmless to Jianggang. As long as the General Manager of Jianggang is thinking about Jianggang, he should not refuse Su Xinghui's suggestion.

Su Xinghui nodded and said, "Okay, then please help me contact him."

Lu Zhenghong said, "But if the Notte United Steel Company really cooperates with Jianggang, aren't you afraid they will build the factory in Jiangcheng?"

Su Xinghui smiled and said, "If they really cooperate to set up a factory, I estimate that Mr. Noel would be even less likely to build the factory in Jiangcheng. Jianggang's influence in Jiangcheng is too great. Isn't Mr. Noel afraid that the cooperative enterprise will become a vassal of Jianggang in the future?"

Lu Zhenghong burst into laughter. He pointed at Su Xinghui and said, "You really are a little fox. Before you suggested they cooperate, had you already thought of this point?"

Jianggang is a behemoth in Jiangcheng, paying over ten billion yuan in taxes and profits alone every year. Their employees and their families add up to hundreds of thousands of people. Their status in Jiangcheng is, of course, transcendent; one could even say it is a city within a city. The influence of such a super-large enterprise in Jiangcheng is not something an ordinary person can imagine.

If the factory built by the Notte United Steel Company in cooperation with Jianggang were built near Jianggang, the pressure on Noel would, of course, be enormous, and they would also lose room for development. This, for Noel, is, of course, also unimaginable.

Su Xinghui can see that Noel is still a person with great ambition. Cooperating with Jianggang is fine, as it is beneficial to both sides, but becoming a vassal of Jianggang is absolutely out of the question.

It is precisely because of this point that as long as the Notte United Steel Company agrees to cooperate with Jianggang, the best location they can choose to build the factory is only Pengjiawanzhen.

Pengjiawanzhen is fifty kilometers away from Jiangcheng, neither too far nor too near. It is conducive to the cooperation between the two sides and can also ensure the relative independence of the cooperative enterprise. Moreover, Pengjiawanzhen has convenient transportation, flat and open terrain, and sufficient water sources. Where else in the vicinity could one find a better location to build a factory?

Listening to Lu Zhenghong's teasing, Su Xinghui smiled sheepishly and said, "Isn't this also because I was forced by those people in the Jiangcheng Investment Promotion Office?"

The smile on Lu Zhenghong's face disappeared instantly: "Those people in the Jiangcheng Investment Promotion Office really don't do proper work; they specifically cause trouble. For their own selfish interests, they can do anything. However, if they act like this, one day they will pay the price."

The Jiangcheng Investment Promotion Office's repeated provocations against Su Xinghui are, in fact, provocations against Lu Zhenghong and Gu Shanmin. It's not like they haven't fought with Su Xinghui before; don't they know that Su Xinghui is Lu Zhenghong's prospective son-in-law? This made even the usually calm Lu Zhenghong unable to suppress his anger.

Su Xinghui said, "Uncle Lu, then I'll go upstairs to write the article."

Lu Zhenghong nodded and said, "Go ahead, I'll call your Uncle Yu."

Su Xinghui left the study and saw Lu Xiaoya sitting between her grandmother and mother, holding her grandmother's hand with one hand and her mother's hand with the other, looking very intimate. She hadn't been home for a long time, and it was only natural for her to be affectionate with her grandmother and mother when she came home.

Su Xinghui said, "Xiaoya, Uncle Lu asked me to write an article, so I'm going upstairs."

Lu Xiaoya knew that since Lu Zhenghong asked Su Xinghui to write an article, it must be an extremely important one, so she nodded and said, "Okay, go ahead."

Su Xinghui went upstairs and spread out paper and pen to start writing the article.