Chapter Seventy-Two What's Different

  PS: Recently, I finally understood what it means to have a gloomy and desolate atmosphere for thousands of miles. I also realized how difficult it is to be a newcomer and how hard it is to endure the hardships of writing a new book. Although I feel a little lost, seeing the recommendation votes slowly increasing makes me know that there are many people silently supporting me. Thank you for your support. As a small token of gratitude, I will add an extra chapter on Thursday noon.

  Success is a term exclusive to the victors, victory is the greatest symbol of success. Successful people talk about the way to success, pointing out the mountains and rivers, writing with pride, all of which are the must-do's for the proud after their victory. This is necessary for them, otherwise they cannot find a better way to show off their victory, singing the praises of their greatness... The losers, it's best to keep silent, and listen to the victors' words, because they are losers. Since society follows the law of the jungle where the strong win and the weak lose, they can only silently accept everything given by the victors.

  Only thirty-odd countries participated in the World War, but more than a thousand people came to attend the Paris Peace Conference. Except for some unimportant people, there were only seventy or eighty people with weight among the thousands of people. They had weight not because they were heavy, but because they could speak and have an impact. However, those who really had a decisive role were only the "Council of Ten" composed of the heads of state and foreign ministers of the five main victorious countries: the United States, Britain, France, Japan, and Italy.

  This council of ten, with its weight and speaking power, was also composed in a way that was too complex and contradictory, so it was actually very difficult to make effective decisions. From the opening session on May 10, 1920, there had not been a week before the foreign ministers withdrew from the committee, and by the afternoon of May 16, only the heads of state of the three major powers, namely British Prime Minister George, French Premier Clemenceau, and US President Wilson, were left to dominate the committee's decisions.

  When the Council of Ten had not yet made any decisions, other national representatives basically had nothing to do, and whatever efforts they made were in vain. They might as well go sightseeing in groups in Paris or visit the battlefields of Verdun and Somme, anyway, it was idle before the committee made a decision, and national representatives sometimes did private work while sitting there.

  "Ha Wei, you're finally free?" As soon as he walked into the lobby of the AsiaMei Group's French subsidiary, Wen Zhenghua spotted Ha Wei sitting on a long sofa chatting and joking with a group of people. Next to him, Deng Hualin was telling another joke, and many people were laughing so hard they were bent over at the waist.

  "This man needs no introduction, he is our god of wealth!"

  Wen Zhenhua smiled and introduced the domestic representatives present at this time, Cao Guichuan returned to China before he was the director of the financial department of the Asia-America Group. The people present liked to hear that Director Cao had approved the new year's salary plan, year-end bonus plan, etc., but they didn't want to hear about how many orders were delivered and what efforts the group had to make in some aspects. In short, they had mixed feelings towards Director Cao.

  "Who are these two?" Gao Wei stood up and shook hands with Xiao Naitian and Wu Donglin, while the others also came over to greet them.

  "This is Xiao Naitian, he will be the one to give a speech on behalf of our autonomous region at this conference! The person next to him is Wu Donglin, both are students of Gongda University. Xiao Naitian just finished his graduation thesis defense and rushed over, while Wu Donglin is still a junior student in the College of Aeronautical Engineering..."

  Wen Zhenghua walked up to Xiao Naitian's face, indicating that the clean and neat white-clothed bookworm was indeed Xiao Naitian, while a slightly dark-skinned and short country-faced young man standing beside him was obviously Wu Donglin. Wen Zhenghua introduced the two students with a smile all over his face.

  Xiao Nai Tian is a Zhuang ethnic minority, but his family background is quite well-off, so he doesn't have the dark skin like Wu Dong Lin who was born into a farming family. With his fair and clean complexion plus a pair of glasses, he looks even more book-smart and weak, while Wu Dong Lin's short and sturdy appearance makes him look even more ordinary.

  "Xiao brothers seem to have a bright future, this Paris conference is a rare opportunity to show your face, you must grasp it well! To be on the safe side, I still need to teach you..."

  Deng Hualin, this arms dealer, has always been very smooth. With the war over, he was almost out of a job and had nothing to do but get bored. At that time, the autonomous region sent these two treasures over. Director Cao is someone you can't afford to offend but can avoid, while Xiao Naitian is also a slippery character. The two of them sang in harmony and went wandering around together.

  "Wu Donglin, since you're here, consider this your home, don't be too formal." Gao Wei, as the host, seeing Deng Hualin only brought Xiao Naitian, hastily and warmly invited Director Cao and others to sit down. "Since the top decided to send you, there must be some consideration. The company will provide all conveniences for your work..."

  "Don't worry about us!" Cao Guichuan said with a mysterious smile, looking around at the familiar faces. He then took out a letter and handed it to Wen Zhenghua, saying with a smile: "Before I came, Chairman Zhang Yusheng wrote a letter and a list of names, and asked me to give them to you. After reading the letter, you will naturally know what to do."

  After receiving the letter, Wen Zonghua first browsed through the contents of the letter and then handed it over to Gao Wei opposite him. Then he looked at that list again, pondered for a moment, and asked Cao Guichuan with a puzzled expression: "It's estimated that completing this task is a bit difficult! The people on the list are too scattered, we need some time to find them, can't we persuade..."

  "This is none of my business, it's already been said in the letter. It's best if they can be found, as for persuading them, just leave it to the professionals!"

  "What do you mean? Our leader will be Wu Donglin!" Gao Wei was a bit skeptical of his own speculation, and after re-examining the letter, he stared at Cao Guichuan and Wu Donglin again, finding it hard to believe this task.

  "Wu Donglin's ability is outstanding, so please rest assured. The people on the list were all confirmed after consultation between Wang Zhi and Zhang Shuai, and I believe they will agree to work in China after communicating with Wu Donglin. This matter will be settled here, next I'll talk about my purpose for coming..."

  Not only Gao Wei, the head of the French branch, but also Wen Zhenghua, the head of the European region, was a bit overwhelmed. This autonomous region had always been considerate to them and had never assigned any special tasks. Finally, after waiting for so long, they got one, but it came suddenly, one after another.

  "This is not a task of finding someone, but something we have been thinking about for a long time." Cao Guichuan stared mysteriously at Wen Zhenghua for a long time, until Wen Zhenghua was about to get goosebumps, before slowly saying: "Director Wen, do you remember the letter you wrote to Chairman Zhang? You talked a lot about the strength of Germany's industry, and how they would inevitably pose a threat to our dominant position in the automotive market. Now that the opportunity has come, our long-planned acquisition case has finally been approved, it's time for us to make a move on the German auto industry..."

  Although Cao Guichuan did not accompany Zhang Yusheng to Morgan's estate for negotiations, Tang Guishen, the current chairman of the AsiaMei Group, did go and even negotiated with various major powers, resulting in significant gains. One major recognition gained by AsiaMei was absolute dominance over the US automobile market. The plan to merge Ford and General Motors had been studied for feasibility before Wen Zhenghua's proposal, and if not for the existence of antitrust laws in the US, it is likely that the behind-the-scenes bosses of Ford and GM would have changed hands by now.

  "We need to hurry up and revise the plan, Germany's national situation has changed, the original plan must be greatly modified. Wen Zhenghua is an impatient person, he stood up and prepared to take action. I have to rush to send a telegram, let Germany's Lao Ji and Britain's Xiao Lu come here, we will strive to complete the revision of the plan within a week."

  "Lao Wen, what's wrong with you? Don't you know it's a chaotic time in Germany right now? We need to be well-prepared if we want to gather together."

  Cao Guichuan nodded, and Wen Zhenghua immediately sat down. This finance minister in charge of money and grain was indeed effective as soon as he opened his mouth. Wen Zhenghua hastily took a seat, and this small play made Wu Donglin, who was sitting on the side, dizzy. But what they discussed next was even more incomprehensible to him, so he could only sit there drinking tea and eating fruit, watching the three old men whispering among themselves.

  ………

  Three days later, still in this office building, but the conversation place has been changed to the conference room. Wu Donglin, the loyal listener three days ago, had long been taken away by Xiao Naitian and others to play together, following Deng Hualin who was good at talking and wandering around, all the famous scenic areas of Paris were visited, during which Deng Hualin discovered that Xiao Naitian, who had received a university education, was even more eloquent than him, Wu Donglin was not as dull as imagined.

  "This time going to Paris for the conference, we all know that as a poor and weak China, we definitely won't gain any benefits, our work focus is not on this either."

  Cao Guichuan began distributing materials to the attendees of the meeting, including Ji Youlin from the German branch, Lü Zhengren from the British branch, Gao Wei from the French branch, and Wen Zonghua, the head of the European region. All these important figures were present. After distributing the materials, he left a 10-minute interval for everyone to browse through them. Ten minutes later, Cao Guichuan began assigning tasks.

  "This time I have brought two tasks, the first is to find those people on the list and try to persuade them to work for Asia, mainly to go to China voluntarily. If not, let our special envoy Wu Donglin handle it. This task is relatively simple, but the second one requires everyone's cooperation!"

  Before the end of the war, the autonomous region government had already started to adjust the production plan of its directly affiliated enterprises and actively guided private enterprises to make corresponding changes. However, plans could not keep up with changes, and the exact timing of the end of the war was unpredictable. Just as Zhang Yusheng had speculated at the beginning, Britain and France withdrew many orders immediately after the war ended, and the orders for military supplies were directly cancelled. They only paid a certain amount of liquidated damages, and the matter was settled. However, this was not just a simple compensation for the autonomous region.

  For many years, the autonomous region has been relying on huge foreign trade export benefits to support its development and prosperity, especially the great stimulation brought by war has made many people rush to become rich. The government of the autonomous region not only gained a lot from the enterprises it controlled but also obtained large sums of tax revenue due to the rapid development of private enterprises. This is why they dared to launch dozens of large-scale projects, implement free compulsory education for all citizens, and establish a social security system... But once the war ends, without saying that everything will be gone, it's certain that there won't be good days like during the war.

  "We still have a lot of surplus materials, and after sealing some as emergency reserve materials, there is still a large amount of surplus that cannot be sold out. Many private enterprises will find it difficult to obtain liquidity, and therefore do not have the conditions for production transformation. This will inevitably hinder the economic development of the autonomous region. Therefore, before doing the second task, we must think of ways to sell out the remaining 600,000 tons of materials in the autonomous region..."

  "Six hundred thousand tons? That's so little?"

  "What do you mean?" Cao Guichuan looked at Ji Youlin in surprise, wondering if the old general in charge of the German branch was going to give him some kind of surprise. "Do you have a way to quickly dispose of these supplies? I'm not joking with you, these supplies were originally planned for use by the Allied forces for a month, and the war ended earlier than our estimates..."

  "Director Cao, please rest assured, I'm not joking with you!" Ji Youlin said, and then took out a document from his bag and handed it to Cao Guichuan, saying: "I had done my homework before coming here, but unexpectedly the main topic of this meeting is not about this. I thought it would be submitted after the meeting, but unexpectedly it's useful now!"

  Ji Youlin felt an indescribable joy in his heart. The reason for the defeat of the German Empire was not that its military was at a disadvantage, but rather that the country's strength was clearly inferior to that of its opponent. "After the Weimar Republic came to power, the chaotic situation within Germany had already begun to improve, but the entire German nation was still in a difficult period. The people lacked not the courage to revive, but the hope to survive! It is very clear that if we can distribute these materials at low cost or even for free within Germany, it will undoubtedly bring great benefits to our group and even our country..."

  "It's impossible to send, most of these materials are from domestic private enterprises, we can't do good deeds by ourselves. However..." Wen Zhenghua hadn't seen the report submitted by Ji Youlin to Minister Cao, but he could already infer the general meaning from Ji's words. Relying on his own experience and understanding, he added: "Why don't we listen to the second task first, and then make arrangements?"

  At this time, Cao Guichuan also finished reading the report. The situation in Germany is now turbulent and the people's hearts are floating. If AMI wants to truly enter Germany, it must win the battle of winning over the people's hearts. With these urgently needed materials for the Germans, isn't it an opportunity for AMI?

  "The acquisition plan has been agreed in principle, and as the government's consistent style of doing things, it's just a matter of time. In the US, led by Chairman Tang, the automotive market deepening group has already started making preparations. Before I returned to China, they had planned to make technical and capital investments in Ford and General Motors. According to initial plans, Ford will become a mid-to-low-end car manufacturer in the future, while General Motors will be transformed into a mid-to-high-end car manufacturing company. We also need to take action against Daimler AG, Mercedes-Benz, and Bosch as soon as possible..."

  "We have an advantage that is even better than the US side, which is that we have a large amount of materials at our disposal. Wen Zhenghua stood up to supplement Cao Guichuan's words. "At this time, for the German people, money is not important, but rather food to survive, warm clothes, and medicine to cure illnesses, these are what matter most. We can achieve the best results at the lowest cost, and the final outcome will inevitably be better than that of the US side."

  "When will the materials arrive in Europe?" Lü Zhengren usually doesn't like to speak, but whenever he speaks, it always hits the key point.

  "The first batch will arrive at the port of Marseille next weekend and is expected to be shipped to Germany by the following Wednesday after clearance...". Cao Guichuan calculated carefully for a while, then said: "That means we have fifteen days to a month to complete the plan, and the earliest we can execute the plan is in early June. As far as I know, Chairman Tang and his team are also planning to execute their plan around June!"

  It is obvious that for Cao Guichuan and others, perhaps the second task is the most important. However, the more they are underestimated, the more important they are. All of this is for the better development of the autonomous region. What difference does it make between light and heavy?