Chapter 169

Page 169

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Time flew by and the new millennium arrived. During these ten years, Ye Jianchuan had not been idle. After experiencing the economic crisis in Japan, Ye Jianchuan quickly shifted his battlefield to the Russian big brother in the north.

After all, in 91, the world's largest country will disintegrate. Although the "eldest son" that emerged from the disintegration will still be the world's largest country in terms of land area, its strength is clearly no longer sufficient to become one of the world's "two poles".

Although Ye Jianchuan still harbored some goodwill towards Russia, after all, the existence of this country represented a completely different path from that of the United States.

During the period when the Soviet Union was still in existence, the world was at least relatively 'fair'. However, in the post-Soviet era, the United States has become a 'rogue state' and has begun to swagger around the world.

This was naturally something Ye Jianchuan didn't want to see. However, Ye Jianchuan was, after all, just an ordinary person, and such a major event couldn't be changed by him alone. Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union had become an inevitable occurrence, then... let's make the disintegration of the Soviet Union somewhat meaningful.

At least... it was somewhat valuable to Ye Jianchuan. Okay, having said all that, Ye Jianchuan was actually no different from those oligarchs who came after him. To put it bluntly, they all wanted to seize this opportunity to make a fortune.

In fact, Ye Jianchuan did achieve his goal. Using the cash he obtained from the small notebook as 'capital,' and taking advantage of the severe devaluation of the ruble after the collapse of the Soviet Union, he successfully profited from the Soviet Union's collapse. This profit, in total, was worth 9.7 billion!

Moreover, this 9.7 billion was the value in the early 1990s. It was with this windfall that Ye Jianchuan suddenly became a 'super rich man'.

In this way, Ye Jianchuan suddenly had the capital to participate in those high-tech industries that the system had previously provided that were relatively unviable.

So, after fully monetizing the share of the pie he had received from the Russians, Ye Jianchuan quickly began high-tech research and development in 93.

Moreover, it covers an extremely wide range, to an astonishing degree, starting with engines, then moving to the automotive industry, and then directly extending to the aviation industry.

With the system's help, Ye Jianchuan was able to easily save a huge amount of R&D costs and then directly use the engine blueprints provided by the system for subsequent production.

Therefore, Ye Jianchuan's industrial chain has been profitable ever since it started production, and the profit margin is also quite impressive.

Furthermore, because Ye Jianchuan had made ample preparations, he had divided some of his 'civilian' products and some of his more important core products into several different companies for manufacturing. So unless you dig deep, it is estimated that no one could connect all of these things together.

The reason for doing this is actually to guard against potential sanctions from the US and other Western countries. There's no other way; if sanctions were imposed, the impact on Ye Jianchuan's businesses would be quite significant.

As for why he was sanctioned... well, it's because Ye Jianchuan's businesses didn't just produce civilian equipment; he also produced a considerable amount of 'military equipment'.

As mentioned before, Ye Jianchuan has been involved in the engine industry, from engine parts to automobile engines and aircraft engines.

So... do you think Ye Jianchuan's system could be able to create an engine that would give domestically produced fighter jets a significantly enhanced combat capability?

The answer is definitely yes! In fact, there have been quite a few related 'reports' about this abroad as well.

But what do these things have to do with Ye Jianchuan? The owner of that engine manufacturing company isn't Ye Jianchuan!

The cars and small civilian aircraft produced by Ye Jianchuan all come from companies under his name. While these companies use engines from that engine company,... no one has stipulated that they can't buy finished products to use, right?

So even though the entire vehicle was made in China, or even produced by Ye Jianchuan, these vehicles still managed to become export products very smoothly.

After all, even if you want to sanction me, you can't produce any evidence that I have any cooperation with the military.

Engines are just one of the high-tech industries Ye Jianchuan has ventured into. Apart from engines, Ye Jianchuan's biggest investment project is in information technology.

Chapter 381 Entering the High-End Realm

The reason he chose information technology as his investment focus is actually a bit funny... Ye Jianchuan felt that Huawei from his previous life was still very respectable.

It's a pity that Huawei in its previous life failed to find a trustworthy and powerful ally; otherwise, we would definitely have had an absolute advantage in those issues related to 5G technology.

Ye Jianchuan's choice to invest in information technology means that Huawei has gained a completely reliable ally. Perhaps... Ye Jianchuan will become the leader in the future, and Huawei might even become the helpful ally.

Regardless, this is something we must do. After all, Ye Jianchuan, who came from the future, knows that one of the main reasons why the United States can be so arrogant all over the world is that their satellite-controlled information technology is indeed very powerful.

Putting aside the fact that communication satellites and the Global Positioning System are fine to use in peacetime, but if a conflict really breaks out, will you still be able to use the American system?

Back then, information technology was extremely advanced. If high-tech weapons didn't have the assistance of the Global Positioning System, wouldn't they be like snipers without eyes, unable to exert their due power?

Therefore, Ye Jianchuan's choice of information technology not only satisfied his future sense of national pride, but also received support from higher authorities.

Aside from these nationally significant projects, Ye Jianchuan was also involved in two other very important businesses. The first business was... the arms trade.

In fact, Ye Jianchuan never intended to develop in this direction at all, and he didn't actually have any technology to support this development.

But who told Ye Jianchuan to choose the path of engines? Since engines already involve some large-scale military equipment, it wouldn't be difficult for Ye Jianchuan, with his advanced ideas, to join the military industry.

Moreover... to Ye Jianchuan's surprise, the system seemed to have discerned his goal. After Ye Jianchuan began developing military-grade engines, the system started providing him with military design blueprints from time to time.

Then... Ye Jianchuan inexplicably began to get involved in the arms industry. Of course, Ye Jianchuan didn't want to develop too 'deep' in this area, so he mainly focused on cooperating with the state, and Ye Jianchuan himself didn't show up too much in this regard.

Aside from the military industry, Ye Jianchuan is also a semi-industry leader in the energy sector. Moreover, unlike most other energy tycoons who are only involved in one type of energy industry, Ye Jianchuan is involved in several energy industries.

Ye Jianchuan has dabbled in everything from oil and natural gas to new clean energy sources like electricity!

Of course, the electricity involved goes without saying. This is because Ye Jianchuan had previously collaborated with the country to develop battery technology, and the country reciprocated by giving Ye Jianchuan a substantial share of the profits from civilian electricity.

This allowed Ye Jianchuan to make a fortune when pagers and similar products began to become popular. Moreover, as time went on and electricity became increasingly portable, Ye Jianchuan's earnings from these sources only increased.

We already know about electricity resources, but what about oil and natural gas resources?

The answer is very simple: when Ye Jianchuan robbed the Russian bear, he also used a very ruthless method!

Of course, it's unlikely that someone like Ye Jianchuan could handle such a matter. After all, Russia isn't stupid. Even if Russia were to disintegrate, it wouldn't be easy for just any foreigner to buy control of oil and natural gas.

But... what if Ye Jianchuan could find a trustworthy Russian to act as his proxy? Wouldn't that easily solve the problem?

Then... Ye Jianchuan actually found such an agent. As a result, Ye Jianchuan naturally didn't hesitate to use the large amount of cash he had, and directly took a big bite out of the bear's corpse.

Of course, on the surface, this lucrative opportunity has nothing to do with Ye Jianchuan, but in reality, he still has control over it.

Aside from those industries where even the slightest mishap could trigger international disputes or national conflicts, Ye Jianchuan has also not forgotten to develop his more 'ordinary' industries.

The initial success of Master Ye goes without saying. After promoting the self-heating series of products to Europe and America, Ye Jianchuan finally figured out how to make money from these foreigners.

As long as the products are packaged in a more 'Western style', these guys will naturally take the bait. So Ye Jianchuan quickly created a lot of similar 'fake foreign brands' like the self-heating series.

With these fake foreign brands alone, Ye Jianchuan was able to earn hundreds of millions of dollars in profits from the European and American markets every year. Moreover, because these brands were registered in tax havens such as the Cayman Islands, they were very much in line with the 'style' of the Americans at that time.

So if no one specifically conducts an investigation, it's unlikely that anyone would discover that the snack brands they frequently see in their lives are actually all from the brand 'Master Ye (or Master Li Zhao)', which they don't particularly like.

Besides snacks, Ye Jianchuan also successfully used marketing tactics to sell mineral water at exorbitant prices. First, of course, he used the old trick of setting up a company in Rui Si and then using the name of this company to "book" a large area of ​​snow-capped mountains.

Then they started advertising, claiming it was pure natural snow mountain spring water, rich in minerals, and that the water quality met XXX standards.

Okay, although it's been hyped up to the skies, it's actually just ordinary mineral water. Water, no matter how high-end it is, how high-end can it be?

However, this marketing strategy was very popular among the "aristocrats" in Europe and America. As a result, the "Snow Mountain Ice Spring" that Ye Jianchuan created, which had no name before, became one of the world's top mineral waters, with a 500ml bottle costing around ten euros.

Chapter 382 The 'Big Name' Created Through Hype

Moreover, after his mineral water business had made a name for itself, Ye Jianchuan quickly used the name of the mineral water to acquire a French winery.

What makes a fortune? There are many answers, and red wine is definitely one of them. Since it's so profitable, Ye Jianchuan naturally wanted to make a good profit from it.

And then... Regardless of whether my winery was famous before, now that I've taken over, all the water used for making wine will be from our company's 'Snow Mountain Spring'.

Although Ye Jianchuan knew that there wasn't much difference between them, he couldn't resist the gimmick.

This is a bit like... our cows usually graze while listening to music, and people even give them massages!

And then, needless to say, after a few maneuvers, Ye Jianchuan's Bingquan Red Wine successfully made a name for itself among the wealthy in Europe and America, with each bottle eventually fetching a price of three to five hundred euros.

Keep in mind that this is a red wine that is only two or three years old. Even for well-known wineries like Bordeaux and Lafite, a wine of this age would generally only cost around 360 euros.

As for those exorbitantly priced red wines that everyone is familiar with, such as the '1982 Lafite,' they are so expensive mainly because they are relatively rare and have been around for a long time.

This shows just how prestigious this winery that Ye Jianchuan created out of thin air actually is; however, it's simply because Ye Jianchuan grasped their 'psychology'.

Unfortunately, apart from these things, Ye Jianchuan's other plans to enter the European and American markets all fell through. For example, in terms of beverages, Ye Jianchuan actually wanted to sell his beverages in the European and American markets at the beginning.

Even if it's not a product like cola, doesn't something like iced tea have a certain audience in the European and American markets?

However, Ye Jianchuan soon discovered a problem: the review system for various beverages abroad was far too strict.

For example, if you want to sell bottled milk tea, then the question arises: what kind of milk do you use to make this milk tea? (blank) 698925850 milk, from which dairy farm and from which cows? After processing, is this milk low-fat, skim, or whole milk? All of these need to be clearly stated.

Moreover... the milk issue only requires a little effort and isn't particularly troublesome, but milk tea, besides milk, doesn't it also contain some tea ingredients?

So here's the question: what kind of tea do you use for this? You should know that in some regions, certain types of domestic tea are banned.

Therefore, it is quite difficult to create a beverage in Europe and America.

As for why the previous iced tea didn't encounter this situation, the reason is very simple: because Master Ye's iced tea actually doesn't contain any 'tea' elements.

Even if a little bit of 'tea' flavor is needed, it's basically just adding a couple of packets of black tea powder to a bowl of iced black tea concentrate to adjust the taste, and that's it. The rest is all kinds of additives and saccharin that perfectly meet American standards.

Furthermore, when iced tea entered the American market, the restrictions weren't as strict, which explained the situation. As for now... making iced black tea, iced green tea, or iced dark tea is now extremely difficult.

Aside from the beverage industry facing significant obstacles in its expansion into the international market, or more specifically, into the European and American markets, Ye Jianchuan's clothing company also encountered a siege when it tried to enter the European and American markets.

At first, everything was fine. Ye Jianchuan's clothing brand wasn't actually intended to follow the luxury brand route like LV or Gucci. In fact... Ye Jianchuan hadn't even decided on the exact direction his brand should take at the beginning.

However, as time went on, after the clothing brand finally managed to gain a foothold in the domestic market, Ye Jianchuan's clothing brand quickly began to expand into the Southeast Asian and Latin American markets.

Then... the choice of path was passively determined. Why is it said to be passively determined? The reason is very simple: all the endorsements Ye Jianchuan initially found in Latin America were various kinds of star athletes.

Since they are star athletes... then most of the people who choose to buy this brand's clothing because of their influence are probably 'sports fans' or similar athletes, right?

At first, things were fine, but as sales gradually improved, overseas users started asking about things like 'signature sneakers'.

Then... Ye Jianchuan felt he had found a good way to make money, so he immediately transformed himself and embarked on the path of a sports brand.

It's worth noting that there were actually a lot of sports brands back then. Besides the classic American brand Converse, there were also Nike, Adidas, RIB, Darby, and others. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that there was a 'hundred flowers blooming' of competition.

Ye Jianchuan was thinking at the time, since there were already so many competitors, then... it shouldn't be a problem for me to also get involved a little, right?

Moreover, Ye Jianchuan, with his forward-thinking approach, directly signed the "alien" from the Samba Army. The "alien's" performance in the 1990s was terrifying, especially after the 1994 World Cup, when he joined a top European club, and his influence became even greater.

Just when Ye Jianchuan thought he could use these future top-tier football stars he had signed in advance to launch his clothing brand in Europe, a bolt from the blue struck: this alien, under the influence of the Europeans, actually betrayed him!

That's right, this guy flipped the table. Under the influence of the Europeans, he directly said that he was 'deceived' into signing the endorsement contract.

However, Ye Jianchuan did not actually deceive him at all. It was just that this guy was tempted by the huge sums of money from those top European brands, and compared that with the "extremely long term, extremely low pay" contract Ye Jianchuan had offered him, he felt unbalanced and thus turned against him.

Chapter 383 A Slip-Up in the Gutter

Moreover, once this guy turned against them, those old-fashioned "guardians of morality" in Europe stepped forward and began to spread all sorts of rumors about Ye Jianchuan's clothing brand.

And then... well, that's basically it. After all, Ye Jianchuan didn't have much influence internationally, or rather, there weren't any media outlets on his side that could speak out for him.

So apart from some clarification in China, the reaction in Europe and America was definitely explosive.