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Chapter 477: Chapter 388: Negotiations, the first export product (Subscribe please!)_2
As for other things, Tang Qing really didn’t feel that they could export anything from here. It was also the reason why he was mostly making money these days and seldom purchasing stuff from his territory. He simply didn’t have anything that Tang Qing needed.
Now, having heard that Ling wanted to sell things out, wouldn’t Wangsa be surprised?
"Commander Wangsa, please look at this." Ling handed him a box.
Wangsa curiously took it, opened the box and saw that it was a mobile phone, a flip phone, no brand. Wangsa looked up at Ling with confusion and asked, "It’s a mobile phone, so what?"
"How much do you think it’s worth?" Ling didn’t answer directly.
"How much? It should be around two hundred dollars, right?" Wangsa played around with it and said. He was not out of touch with technology and loved all kinds of electronics; he knew the market. Such smartphones were not cheap, and although Thailand had its own mobile phone brands, there was no industrial chain or manufacturing technology, so they mostly relied on importing parts for assembly, or directly importing whole devices for sale.
Given the specs of the phone, it should be worth no less than two hundred dollars.
"We will be producing these in the future," Ling said slowly.
These words struck Wangsa like thunder; he stood up abruptly, unable to believe his own ears, "Leader Ling, did you say you’re going to produce mobile phones? You must be joking."
Ling shook his head, "I’m not joking. How much do you think the cost of production of this item is?"
At this moment, Wangsa was starting to believe Ling. This was not the kind of man who liked to joke around. As he thought, he said, "The factory price for assembly is about one hundred and thirty dollars. I have a friend who manufactures phones, so I have a bit of insight. If it’s imported as a whole device, including various taxes, it’s at least one hundred and fifty dollars."
"What if I told you our manufacturing cost is just seventy dollars?" Ling dropped a bombshell, causing Wangsa to feel somewhat dizzy.
Seventy dollars?
The figure spun around in Wangsa’s head.
It’s almost half the price of an assembled phone.
What did that mean? It meant this product would completely dominate the Thai mobile phone market with its price. No, it would dominate the high-end mobile phone market.
Wangsa’s eyes gleamed.
"What about the quality of the phone?" Wangsa hadn’t lost his sense yet. As long as the quality issue was addressed, this business deal was on. If it was even ten dollars cheaper, he would make a fortune. A price war? Who the hell could win that?
Even if Ling sold it himself, it wouldn’t work. In Thailand, no one could lay claim to the money his family wanted to make.
"The quality won’t be lower than what’s available in the market," Ling said.
"You’re not going to ask me to import the parts, are you?" Wangsa asked. It was a stupid question since he knew that the cost of such parts alone exceeded seventy dollars, but he asked it anyway.
"Of course not. We will source most of the mobile phone parts from other channels. You don’t need to bother with that," Ling said. In the beginning, they had better not reveal too much and scare people away.
In the future, some of the raw materials for mobile phone production would be imported from Wangsa, and the other parts would be obtained from other places via the teleportation node.
You can’t put all your eggs in one basket.
They couldn’t be entirely dependent on Wangsa.
Upon hearing that he didn’t need to import the parts, Wangsa didn’t think much of it. His initial concern was to inquire about the supply channels for the parts, but it wasn’t a big deal, just a casual inquiry. 𝖓𝔬𝔳𝔭𝔲𝔟.𝖈𝖔𝔪
Knowing that everything else would be taken care of by the other party, Wangsa started to get ideas. The business deal was possible, but how big it should be, he would have to discuss it with his father first.
"Leader Ling, I’m very interested in this business opportunity, but I need to discuss it with my family first before I can give you an answer," Wangsa said.
Ling went on, "No problem, I’ll wait for your good news. Later, I will send you a supplementary purchasing list. Please manage to deliver it within a month."
A month was enough to get some factory buildings ready and train workers. Having completely skilled workers was impossible, so they would definitely use robots extensively. When the time came, they would just start producing.
With the crazy reduction in costs and decent product quality, they would have no worry about not being able to sell.
"Okay, as long as it’s not something dangerous or restricted, I will find a way to get it," Wangsa assured.
"Rest assured, they are all common items," Ling nodded.
"Leader Ling, there’s one question I want to ask, and it’s on behalf of my family as well, who exactly are you all?" Wangsa didn’t want to come away empty-handed or play guessing games any longer. Ignoring his father’s advice to subtly probe for information, he asked directly instead.
Hearing this, Ling paused for a moment, and for the first time, he smiled at Wangsa, "Good, Commander Wangsa, you have courage to ask this question directly. For the sake of our future cooperation, I can tell you, but can you keep it a secret for me?"
Seeing that the key part was coming, Wangsa quickly said, "Rest assured, our family will definitely keep it a secret for you." It was a promise he could make.
"Good, I trust you. Actually, we used to be a small militia group with our own territory, living peacefully. But then we were attacked by several leaders of the surrounding forces. Unable to resist, we escaped here. Finally, having learnt our lesson from the defeat, we decided to change our approach.
Without a strong militia force and economy, we have no say. Relying solely on farming is a dead end. So we decided to take over this place, develop the economy, improve people’s livelihoods, all to avoid being lambs to the slaughter. We want to use our fists and our economy to defend our right to live, and no one, not any country or force, can challenge that." Ling spoke with fiery passion, but it sounded all too perfunctory to Wangsa.
He couldn’t possibly believe this ghost story.
But at least he could now report back, for the meaning behind Ling’s words was coming into clearer view, particularly the last sentence which explicitly dissociated them from any relationship with the Myanmar government.
As for whether it was true...
Did it matter?
No, it didn’t.
"Leader Ling, I’ll take my leave now. You’ll have an answer by tomorrow at the latest," Wangsa said as he took his leave.
"Alright, take care."
Command Room.
Watching Wangsa leave...
A faint smile appeared on Tang Qing’s face.
This ghost story was something he had made up. It had no technical depth whatsoever. But the truth was no longer important; what mattered was the attitude.
On the other side.
Upon returning to the camp, Wangsa immediately relayed the situation to his father.
After a moment of silence...
Wangsa’s father gave the answer: "Meet all their demands. As for the mobile phone business, we can do it. Clay has been doing it for a while now. We just add a bit of money and sell it directly to him. It’s a favor that comes with the flow and can save us some foreign exchange. God damn, for importing these high-tech products, these foreigners only accept dollars, causing us to lose a lot of foreign exchange every year. If the quality is indeed not an issue, we can save quite a bit for military expenses."
"Yes, father, I’ll contact them right away and take ten thousand units to test the waters. If it’s feasible, we’ll make large scale purchases later," Wangsa immediately responded.
"Hmm."
PS: Third Chapter, goodnight everyone...
Look forward to the intense plot, no spoilers though.
