Chapter 622
The Light Boat Has Passed Ten Thousand Mountains
Chapter 622 The Light Boat Has Passed Ten Thousand Mountains (Seeking Monthly Tickets!!!)
In Zhang Yunqi's view, the provincial capital, Lijin City, was very different from his hometown, Jiangchuan. The basic logic of reform and opening up was also different. This city has been known as an internet celebrity in later generations, and in the next thirty years, the tertiary industry will always be its economic lifeline.
The core of the tertiary industry is services and consumption.
In the era before the rise of the internet, services and consumption relied heavily on offline business settings and foot traffic, making commercial real estate's importance to the city self-evident. This was especially true in the mid-to-late 1990s, when the era of commodity shortages had ended and consumerism was gradually gaining momentum.
Located in the heart of Tianxin District, Huangxing South Road connects Wuyi Square in the old town center of Lijin with the railway station business district. It has always been a golden corridor for the flow of people in Lijin. The construction of Qingwu Commercial Pedestrian Street on Huangxing South Road marks the transformation of Lijin's consumer service industry from the extensive model of street markets to a three-dimensional and experiential modern business model.
This is a benchmark project for urban modernization.
Zhang Yunqi has lived in Lijin for over twenty years and possesses a forward-thinking understanding of the historical changes and development potential of Qingwu Street. He firmly believes that whoever controls Qingwu Pedestrian Street currently holds the largest foot traffic entrance in Lijin, controls brand access and traffic allocation, and reaps the greatest benefits from the consumption upgrade brought about by reform and opening up! Whoever shapes the business format of Qingwu Pedestrian Street can define the city's character and consumer culture. This soft power of definition represents cultural and symbolic capital, a higher form of capital than economic interests!
From the historical perspective of Lijin's reform and opening up, he even believes that Qingwu Street is the most concrete, scarce, and leverage-effect strategic asset in Lijin's continuous growth into a consumer city. Whoever controls this prime commercial street will hold the key to unlocking the next commercial era in Lijin and will have the opportunity to control the discourse power of consumption upgrading and city branding in central China over the next thirty years.
He came from humble beginnings and has spent many years working in the agricultural consumer goods and electronics manufacturing industries. It wasn't just about making money for himself—he already had more money than he could spend in several lifetimes—but rather that these were relatively reliable and stable jobs that genuinely helped his hometown, created jobs, generated tax revenue, and improved the lives of those around him. However, he also clearly understood that from the mid-to-late 1990s, China's problem of overcapacity would persist for thirty years, worsening over time. After its international expansion, even the US was struggling and demanding that China balance its production capacity. Therefore, for a hardworking nation like ours, the key to the real economy has never been manufacturing, but rather finding a direct channel to consumers.
In 1996, Qingwu Street was a terminal sales channel that could rank among the top ten in the country!
Once he takes over Qingwu Street, Zhang Yunqi will be able to use this street as a traffic entry point and brand high ground to empower his agricultural and manufacturing industries, creating the prototype of a local business empire that combines front-end consumer brands with back-end physical manufacturing! This aligns with the country's current encouragement of the integration of industry and trade, and is a development path that is rooted in the local area, combines production and finance, and is based on real industry.
Lu Yuanzhou, however, was different.
It could even be described as vastly different!
He is a pure, sophisticated, and shrewd capital hunter. What he values is the extreme financial attributes and monopoly of the Qingwu Commercial Pedestrian Street on Huangxing South Road!
On the eve of the 1998 housing reform, the financial attributes of commercial land had not yet been fully recognized or exploited. Lu Yuanzhou could launch, acquire controlling stakes, package, spin off, or securitize land at low cost to quickly cash out and achieve huge capital appreciation in a short period of time.
In fact, he has already done it!
Moreover, Huangxing South Road, a pedestrian street ranked among the top ten in the country, can drive the surrounding land prices to increase exponentially. Zhang Yunqi has every reason to suspect that after Lu Yuanzhou obtains the fulcrum to leverage the real estate development of the entire region, he will inevitably package it for trust financing or overseas listing to seize ten or a hundred times the capital.
In later generations, this was a very typical predatory path of capital accumulation through financial operations, value extraction, and rapid monetization.
So, what will the consequences be?
Who will ultimately bear the consequences?!
Zhang Yunqi was well aware of these things, but Yang Jiarong, who had only recently arrived, couldn't handle the matter, so he took over himself. However, this was not a contest for a pedestrian street, but a contest for the dominant power in the development of Lijin City over the next twenty years. It was a rehearsal of two economic models, two types of wealth classes, and even two reform ideas on the micro-battlefield!
This is the sole reason why Zhang Yunqi is willing to risk everything, even his life, in this high-stakes gamble! If he succeeds, he will become the builder of Lijin's business ecosystem, and his foundation will transform from a single enterprise into the very foundation of a city!
However, he failed.
Lu Yuanzhou, leveraging his financial expertise, has targeted Zhang Yunqi. He is about to complete a classic capital hunt on Qingwu Commercial Pedestrian Street, proving that his financial capital operations can easily reap the core benefits of the real economy and open the door for the forces behind him to manipulate the development of Lijin City with capital!
In the two days following Chunlan's trip to Zhang Yunqi's hometown of Yunxi, Zhang Yunqi rallied his spirits and repeatedly reviewed why he had failed and which step or link he had made a mistake in.
He didn't find it; his strategy was correct.
To acquire the Qingwu Commercial Pedestrian Street on Huangxing South Road, he needed to cripple Lu Yuanzhou's cash flow. And to do that, targeting the restructuring of Xiangtai Pharmaceutical was the best opportunity he could see at the time. His strategy of shorting Xiangtai Pharmaceutical's stock price, leveraging the restructuring and the audit team's involvement, was also sound.
The only problem is that Lu Yuanzhou seems to have a money-printing machine, with seemingly unlimited ammunition and unfathomable financial strength. Faced with such an unlimited amount of money, Zhang Yunqi's strategies are useless, and no one can help him! This far exceeds most people's reasonable estimates of a private enterprise's cash flow.
So, where did Lu Yuanzhou's money come from?
Although he had the strong support of a trust institution, the other party was just a partner. Lu Yuanzhou could not possibly have so many Xiangtai shares pledged to the other party to borrow so much money. Moreover, as a real enterprise, Xiongsen's cash flow could not possibly support such a massive financial battle.
Was Lu Yuanzhou engaging in high-interest lending, or was there another source?
Zhang Yunqi couldn't understand it at all. But given the current situation, even if Lu Yuanzhou borrowed money at high interest rates, or brought in funds from other sources, it seemed to be too late.
He leaned against the bedroom window and lit a cigarette.
His desk and bed were covered with recent news articles from Rizhao about him and Lu Yuanzhou, as well as a large amount of information about the Xiongsen Group. He had Xiao Wu deliver them overnight. Lu Yuanzhou's cash flow didn't make sense; he knew Lu Yuanzhou must have overlooked some crucial information. Whether it worked or not, he had to figure out the ins and outs.
Just then, a bolt of lightning rolled across the sky.
Zhang Yunqi looked out the window and saw thick black clouds rolling in the low-hanging sky. Soon, raindrops began to fall, turning into a fine drizzle that grew heavier and heavier.
The wind was like a knife, carrying torrents of rain that enveloped the entire river valley. The sweltering heat of the past few days quickly dissipated, but a sense of oppressive impending doom, like a mountain rainstorm threatening to destroy a city, surged forth.
Zhang Yunqi stubbed out his cigarette and turned back to his desk.
He sat down in the dim light of the desk lamp and buried himself once again in the mountain of documents. His enthusiasm was much stronger than when he was preparing for the college entrance examination.
As Zhang Yunqi flipped through the newspaper, he came across a news article: "Life-or-death rescue at Huangtuling! Security guard bravely saves woman attempting suicide."
Zhang Yunqi glanced at the woman's face and recognized her name: Wang Xiufen.
This is Ma Rulong's mother. Zhang Yunqi already knew about this. Xiao Wu mentioned it to him yesterday when he came over, saying that Ma Rulong's mother had threatened to jump off a building to demand money back from the bank for her investment, but she was eventually rescued, so he hadn't paid much attention to it.
Zhang Yunqi unfolded the tabloid and began to read it by the light. The report was detailed, and what particularly alarmed him was that it mentioned that Ma Rulong's mother had purchased a wealth management product from Yongxin Trust at the Huangtuling branch of Lijin Rural Commercial Bank.
He knew about Lijin Rural Commercial Bank and Yongxin Trust, especially since the president of Lijin Rural Commercial Bank was Zhang Jing, Ji Ling's mother.
Zhang Yunqi rubbed his temples, feeling that something was not quite right. He was also worried that Zhang Jing might be involved in this matter, so he immediately took out his phone and dialed Zhang Jing's number.
As soon as the call connected, before Zhang Yunqi could even speak, Zhang Jing blurted out, "Where are you right now? The whole of Lijin is buzzing with news about you, it's all over the place."
Zhang Yunqi said, "I went back to Jiangchuan a few days ago. It's alright, Aunt."
Zhang Jing immediately retorted, "You're still not okay? You're about to go from being a billionaire to a billionaire in debt."
Zhang Yunqi was speechless.
Zhang Jing sighed, her voice calming down a bit: "But it's good that you have this mindset. Look forward. Is there any possibility of turning this situation around?"
Zhang Yunqi replied, "I'll tell you about that later, Aunt. There's something I'd like to ask you about. I just saw a news report in the Lijin newspaper about a middle-aged woman who jumped off a building. It's related to your bank. The middle-aged woman who was about to jump was my classmate's mother. She bought a Yongxin Trust wealth management product from your bank. Do you have a cooperative relationship with Yongxin Trust?"
Zhang Jing on the other end of the phone was silent for a moment, then said, "That's a fraudulent transaction. It was done by a loan officer at the Huangtuling branch. He had his employees use their positions to recommend Yongxin Trust's wealth management products to customers who came to deposit money. I'm dealing with this matter right now."
Zhang Yunqi, of course, knew what "flying orders" meant. His thoughts were gradually becoming clearer, and he breathed a sigh of relief. He nodded and said, "I understand. Aunt, I'll come to Baizhupo to find you tomorrow."
He hung up the phone, put on his clothes, grabbed his car keys, and went downstairs.
The sounds of the stove and spatula clattering came from the kitchen; Zhang Ma was preparing dinner.
Zhang Yunqi called out towards the kitchen, "Mom, I'm not eating dinner. I have something to take care of and need to go to Lijin right away."
Zhang Yunqi rushed out of his house and jumped into the Mercedes.
Just then, Zhang Ma and Mao Mao rushed out, carrying a plastic bag of rice dumplings. They stuffed the dumplings into the car, saying, "Why are you in such a hurry? Drive slowly and be careful! You can eat the rice dumplings on the way if you get hungry."
"Okay, Mom, Chunlan has her college entrance exam tomorrow. Tell her not to be nervous. After the exam, I'll take her to stay in Lijin for a while." Zhang Yunqi replied, stepped on the gas, drove out of the courtyard gate, cut through the rain curtain of Jiangchuan under the night sky, and sped directly towards the provincial capital, Lijin City.
The ground was shrouded in darkness, and rain poured down.
Mercedes-Benz travels along the Hunan-Jiangxi Highway, crosses the Nanling Mountains, and cuts through the wind and waves along the Luoxiao Mountains, like a light boat sailing through thousands of mountains.
Along the way, Zhang Yunqi kept making phone calls to call for more people.
His first call was to Wang Guibing, where he quickly gave three instructions: "First, use whatever means necessary to thoroughly investigate Yongxin Trust. I need results in two days. Second, find a way to investigate those who purchased the 'Xinyu·Fumin Wealth Management Plan No. 1' wealth management product. I need the list within two days. Third, have Xiao Wu tell Wang Xiufen that I will cover all of her son Ma Rulong's medical expenses. If the provincial hospital can't treat him, we'll send him to Shanghai Yanjing Hospital. Of course, we must recover the wealth management products she purchased from Lijin Rural Commercial Bank!"
In the 1990s, the road from Jiangchuan to Lijin was all dilapidated provincial highways and rural dirt roads, which were very difficult to travel. Zhang Yunqi drove for almost an entire night. When he reached Panlong Mountain on the border of Lijin, the heavy rain had stopped.
He lit a cigarette, pushed open the door, and stood by the roadside to urinate.
At the edge of the sky, a ray of morning light drifted up, piercing through the dark clouds that shrouded the heavens, and sprinkling onto the Hunan land in the height of summer.
******
PS:
Happy New Year, brothers!
I hope everyone can sit back and wait for money every day, reap rewards without sowing, enjoy the fruits of others' labor, rise to the top in one step, and become rich beyond measure.
Of course, the most important thing is that my penis is always perfectly hard. New year, new partner, different every day.
Finally, let me reiterate the progress of this book. In December, I updated at least 28 chapters consecutively, each chapter containing four to five thousand words. I remember saying at the beginning of the month that I would update at least 20 chapters this month, and I fulfilled my promise. I gave it my all. With only a few chapters left, this volume will be finished. I hope the final plot will be well-written, giving the readers who have been suffering through this story a satisfying conclusion.
I will strive to correct any shortcomings in the new volume and in the new year!
It's past midnight, and it'll be a new month. To be honest, the subscription rate is really bad right now. I hope everyone can vote with more monthly tickets to help this book get a little more exposure and improve its performance!
Let me write it all in one go, I plan to finish it in July this year and then start a new book!
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