Chapter 2659

The matter of the joint venture between the Hujiang Machinery Factory and foreign capital finally settled. In the end, the one that signed the cooperation agreement with the Hujiang Machinery Factory was the Hong Kong Mi Group. The conditions they proposed were still the original ones, which had not changed.

In fact, the conditions they initially proposed were already quite generous. If it weren't for some external factors, their cooperation with the Hujiang Machinery Factory would have been a foregone conclusion.

Even so, the fact that the Mi Group was able to successfully sign the cooperation agreement with the Hujiang Machinery Factory this time was only finalized after Hujiang Mayor Dong Yichen personally spoke up.

After successfully signing the cooperation agreement, Mi Xiuyuan immediately called Su Xinghui to tell him the result, which made Su Xinghui breathe a sigh of relief.

Su Xinghui knew that Dong Yichen speaking up personally must have had the factor of Premier Nan involved. Dong Yichen was an old subordinate of Premier Nan, but for a leader like him, without clear instructions from superiors, he would mostly not express a clear opinion designating the Mi Group.

Mainly, this matter involved the Japanese and was a diplomatic event. Dong Yichen had been the Mayor of Hujiang for several years and was now in a critical period hoping to advance further. For such sensitive events, he would not easily speak out.

For Su Xinghui, the most important thing was that the cooperation agreement was not signed with the Ono Corporation. The conditions of the Ono Corporation were completely unequal treaties. If that cooperation agreement had really been signed, national interests would have suffered huge damage, which was not what Su Xinghui wanted to see.

After the Mi Group signed the formal cooperation agreement with the Hujiang Machinery Factory, they immediately sent people to station themselves at the Hujiang Machinery Factory and began their cooperation. This involved a considerable number of matters, such as financial auditing, capital injection, equity division, and of course, most importantly, changes in management.

The General Manager of the joint venture was sent by the Mi Group, which was clearly stipulated in the cooperation agreement. In the future, the management of the joint venture would basically be carried out by the Mi Group. The original management of the Hujiang Machinery Factory would undergo re-interviews and assessments to determine their stay or departure.

The middle-level cadres of the entire factory would also undergo re-interviews and assessments. Those with outstanding abilities could hold higher positions, while those whose abilities did not meet the requirements would be demoted or even dismissed.

For ordinary employees, their labor skills would also be assessed, and their positions and income would be determined according to the level of their skills. If their skills completely failed to meet the requirements of the joint venture, they would be given another chance to be re-assessed after three months. If they still failed, they might be dismissed.

These conditions of the joint venture were truly very generous. For the leaders of the Hujiang Municipal Government, they naturally hoped to cooperate with the Mi Group, at least because this would reduce a lot of pressure on employment for them.

If they cooperated with the Ono Corporation, they would at least lay off seven or eight thousand people. Wouldn't these people flowing into society increase the pressure on the Hujiang Municipal Government? Their previous indecision was just because of some external factors.

After the Hujiang Municipal Government finally decided to cooperate with the Mi Group, they notified Ono Taro of this result. When Ono Taro heard the news, he sat blankly in his hotel room for a long time. His subordinates and that translator Wu dared not disturb him.

For the past few days, Ono Taro had been jumping up and down for this joint venture project, using all his strength and making who knows how many promises, but in the end, he had failed. His mood now could be imagined.

Usually, when he was angry, he would vent his anger on his subordinates. This time, his subordinates naturally wouldn't come to him to ask for trouble.

Ono Taro felt a sense of despair at this moment. For the joint venture project with the Hujiang Machinery Factory, he had truly given a lot, but now he had failed. This not only made his previous efforts go to waste but also made the future of the Ono Precision Machinery Manufacturing Corporation look bleak.

A leader of the Hujiang Municipal Government did hint that they could provide another enterprise for him to talk about cooperation, but this enterprise was much smaller, with only a thousand people, and it was an enterprise producing agricultural machinery, which had nothing to do with his precision machinery.

Ono Taro did not commit, but he basically had no interest in cooperating with this enterprise.

Ono Taro had already received a notice from the corporation's headquarters in Japan, saying that the banks that had lent them money had already sent them several payment reminders, saying that if they didn't repay the loans, they would sue in court.

If that really happened, the capital chain of the Ono Corporation would have serious problems, the stock price would definitely plummet, and under the chain reaction, the Ono Corporation would be in a difficult situation. The final result would likely be bankruptcy.

Thinking that the Ono Corporation, with more than fifty years of history, was about to end in his hands, Ono Taro felt a sense of sorrow. He sat blankly in the room for two or three hours, neither speaking nor moving.

It wasn't until it was almost time for afternoon dinner that his subordinates felt something was wrong. They ran over to knock on his door, shouting "Mr. Ono" loudly. After calling several times without an answer, just as they were clamoring to find a waiter to open the door, the door opened.

Ono Taro appeared at the door. His face was frighteningly haggard, as if he had aged ten years all at once, which startled everyone.

A subordinate said, "Mr. Ono, are you okay?"

Ono Taro said, "I'm fine, thank you for your concern, gentlemen!"

The subordinates hurriedly said, "It's good that Mr. Ono is fine."

Suddenly, Ono Taro bowed deeply to his subordinates and said, "Thank you for your care during this time, and thank you for your hard work over these years!"

The subordinates looked at each other. Had Ono Taro been drinking secretly in the room? Or had he been stimulated too deeply and his brain gone wrong? Why was he acting so out of character? Usually, he wasn't like this. Hearing such bad news, it would be good if he didn't hit people; why would he be so polite?

Ono Taro continued, "I plan to return to Japan tomorrow. Tonight is our last time staying here. To thank everyone for their hard work during this time, tonight, I invite everyone to eat and drink at the best Japanese restaurant here. Let's drink until we're drunk!"

If it were normal times, the boss inviting everyone to eat and drink would make everyone happy, but today's atmosphere was unusual. Everyone gave a somewhat numb "Hai" and then followed Ono Taro out.

Everyone went to the best Japanese restaurant in Hujiang. Now in Hujiang, there are many Japanese restaurants, and business is quite good, but many are opened by Chinese and are not authentic.