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Chapter 488: Chapter 398 Economic Penetration, A Stirring (Seeking Subscriptions!)_1
As for these ’fixed’ assets that are buried underground and cannot be cashed out, Talents wished he could give them all away for money, thus having another source of income. As for what the other party wanted these resources for, he didn’t care at all. He didn’t think they could be used to manufacture guns or cannons. He only supposed that there might be a need for them on the Thai side.
As for these people using these resources for steel smelting?
Heh, don’t be ridiculous.
He admitted that the opposition was quite ’progressive,’ having already started banking and printing money. However, this did not mean that the conditions here could allow for industrialization. Not only money, but also equipment, technology, trained workers, the market, and so forth would be needed. No matter how hard a bunch of ’illiterates’ try, they can only produce a bunch of inferior products.
Who wants that? Are they supposed to absorb it?
Therefore,
Talents, after weighing the pros and cons, agreed.
As long as there was money to be made, that was all that mattered.
Moreover, in Talents’ view, this was also a bridge to maintain relations. A direct refusal during this special period would not be a wise choice.
"There’s no problem with that. We have a fair amount of minerals here. The only issue is that mining and transportation require large equipment and vehicles. If you can provide those, we can extract them and sell them to you," Talents revealed the difficulties and his choice, which was to mine these resources himself and to let you buy them. Selling the mineral rights directly would be like inviting the wolf into the house, and he wasn’t that foolish.
"That’s fine. Our Myanmar Bank can provide equipment. If you don’t want to pay in cash, we can also provide Asia Dollar loans, but loans are only for purchasing equipment," the Fighter revealed his real purpose.
The Fighter dared not help in rebuilding the roads, lest Talents starts to overthink. Poor transportation is both a disadvantage here and something these powers rely on for survival. Extending your reach into someone else’s core territory by building roads and bridges... no one is that foolish nowadays.
Loan?
That term seemed a bit novel to Talents.
Although it means the same as high-interest lending.
"Myanmar Bank?" Talents asked, frowning.
He then remembered this institution that issued the Asia Dollars.
"Yes, this is a bank we established ourselves. You can borrow from us to purchase equipment, interest-free. You helm the extraction, and we take care of the recycling. Before the loan is repaid, the price of minerals can be settled in Asia Dollars to offset the loan. After the loan is repaid, you can choose to receive USD or other currencies," the Fighter slowly explained.
Did Tang Qing really set his sights on the mines here? Of course not... well, maybe a bit, since having an additional mining area means an increase in production. But the true objective was to expand the influence of the Asia Dollar and, incidentally, to ease the tense situation between the two parties.
Actually, when the profits from business far exceeded the income from peanut farming, a large number of people under Talents were sent to work in trade and commerce. These people could easily stop engaging in the peanut trade. After all, why should a person engage in peanut-selling when the benefits from his job outweigh those from peanut-growing? Is it fun?
This is Tang Qing’s strategy. Since Talents’ side can’t be directly conquered, why not change the way production is done on his side, to see if they can ’defect’ and make him give up planting peanuts. That would be a good deed.
Even when the opportunity arises,
They could completely take over this place peacefully, by then, Talents would have lost his ability to resist.
Once Talents accepts this loan and starts the transaction, he won’t have a way out.
Talents has been a leader for many years. He doesn’t know much about economics and only looks at things from a simple interest point of view. Obviously, this business can be done.
After carefully considering the logic within,
Talents, frowning, raised his head and asked, "Are you saying that we only get our money after we have repaid the loan?"
"Yes, as long as you borrow, even though you owe us money, those pieces of equipment become your assets, don’t they? After all, we can’t be the ones to put in everything while you just collect the money. What’s the difference between that and rent? Would you agree to rent it to us for mining?" the Fighter retorted. No interest? Heh, just a quick calculation of the money to be made from the minerals and equipment would show that the potential profit was much greater than any interest they might charge.
Interest?
It’s no longer important.
"Um..."
Talents shook his head, there was no way he would be willing to rent. This was no different from selling a mine. He didn’t want to allow anyone on his territory.
"Alright, I agree. I will borrow money to buy the equipment, and you guys train our people how to operate and maintain the machinery. Once we start making money, we will repay the money for the equipment first," Talents decided.
Right now, he was starting to have second thoughts. It felt like such a hassle. However, having already discussed things this far, if he were to reject the offer outright, he could potentially ruin these hard-won negotiations.
Upon hearing this,
Tang Qing, who was observing the conversation from the command room, smiled.
It was settled.
The expansion of the Asia Dollar would start with you.
Having completed his task, the Fighter said, "Chief Talent, let’s hope for a pleasant cooperation. Do you have any oil or coal resources here?" The surface mineral resources here had already been explored by the fighters a long time ago. But they couldn’t just go saying what was where within your territory, now could they?
Petroleum could solve the territory’s fuel problem, and the byproducts of refining oil are important chemical raw materials. Coal, on the other hand, could be primarily used for generating electricity. Once these issues are addressed, the territory would have the groundwork for take-off.
Transportation.
Electricity.
These are the foundations of a modern economy.
"Yes, we seem to have an oil source somewhere here. It’s seeping out of the ground. As for coal, we have plenty of it. The people here are accustomed to burning wood, and there’s always firewood available in the mountains. It’s not cold here in winter, and we don’t know how to refine oil, so we haven’t mined or used these resources," Talents quickly replied.
"Great, let’s start our collaboration from these two places. We will send technical personnel to train and monitor the mining area — not too many, just a few. There’s no need to worry about damaging the equipment and not knowing how to fix it, which would delay mining and cause losses," the Fighter said.
"No problem," Talents agreed. He had no fear of a few technical personnel. He took one step back earlier, and taking another step back didn’t seem so tough now. He speculated that these technical staff must be from the equipment ’manufacturer’.
The Fighter stood up and said, "It’s getting late, I’ll head back first. Tomorrow morning, we’ll continue discussing the mining and loan issues. As for the purchase price, we can negotiate it in detail according to the quality."
"Alright, take care, young man," Talents stood up to see him off.
"Chief Talent, please stay."
Watching the Fighter depart in the distance,
Talents felt a bit dizzy. He had so absentmindedly became an ’ally’ and, just the same, a trading partner. It was simply... how unpredictable life can be. He didn’t know if his rash decision was a mistake, but for now, it seemed fine.
After thoroughly reflecting on his own gains and losses, Cai Su then fell asleep in a dazed state.
...
Though the night had already fallen.
Yet the soldiers in the new territory had not slackened or knocked off at all.
They rapidly organized manpower and took turns to tally and store the confiscated supplies.
At the same time.
After the dust of the battle had settled, Tang Qing didn’t plan on keeping the civilians in his territory in the dark. Hence, after Qiu Wei’s village had migrated, he arranged for each village to broadcast this news.
Even now, Cai Su didn’t know about Qiu Wei’s village collectively "fleeing in secret". Otherwise, his previous conversation wouldn’t have been so harmonious.
At the same time, fixed-point broadcasts.
Thus.
All the people within the territory knew that their Leader Ling had taken over two more areas. 𝓷ℴ𝓋𝓅𝓊𝒷.𝒸𝓸𝓶
They were in an uproar.
"Did you hear? Leader Ling conquered Mara and Chek’s territory."
"Dude, my ears aren’t blind. The radio is so loud, can you think before you speak?"
"Ah, isn’t this just my excitement, do you think that Leader Ling will give us money out of happiness?"
"Dream on. But if he really does give money that would be great."
"You two can go dream on. We didn’t do anything. Why would we be rewarded? But those soldiers will definitely be rewarded."
"Hmm, I just wonder how much."
"They’re all busy right now. None of them have come back."
"..."
The public opinion within the whole territory developed in a "strange" direction.
Actually, it wasn’t strange. If a country wins a war, the sense of national honor and pride would definitely explode; but this was a local power, winning was just something that surprised them, and it didn’t generate any empathy.
Upon learning about the public opinion in his territory, Tang Qing also couldn’t help but give a bitter smile.
But it also served as a reminder to him- this time he had to give the soldiers a bit of a reward. Previous battles never involved common folks, he hadn’t given out a single cent, but now there were a large number of common soldiers who need to provide for their family, he had to consider the issue of rewards and punishments.
"Tang Yi, distribute a half month’s salary as reward into the bank cards of each soldier who entered the new territory, and a month’s wages for those stationed in the territory," Tang Qing commanded. Now, the advantage of having the Asia Dollar currency came into play, he could randomly distribute money... because he was rich, and it came from his own print... it was flawless.
The whole reward only amounted to a few million Asia Dollars, it was literally just a drizzle.
This piece of news from Tang Qing quickly spread throughout the various camps and reached the ears of all the soldiers.
Upon hearing these modest rewards, they didn’t feel unhappy at all.
Because they felt as though they didn’t exert much effort today; it felt like they just came here to clean the territory, everything was handled by the brave predecessors. They were not just in a windfall situation, but practically in a situation where they were winning without lifting a finger.
Therefore, nobody complained about the rewards being too little, after all, they felt like they picked it up for nothing.
No casualties and they brought the opponents down.
How much more money do you want?
The news of winning the war reached the citizens within the territory.
Ge Dan and Sang Jin were no exception.
They had been sightseeing here the whole day.
When they returned in the evening, while they were excited about the things they saw and experienced, they heard an even more ’shocking’ news - Ling had conquered the two forces around them. This news only came out in the evening, without any prior preparation.
"Team leader, what should we do?" Sang Jin asked.
"Notify our HQ, what else can we do?" Ge Dan sighed. Thinking about the previous gift from Ling, he didn’t expect it to be this, and it came so suddenly and so shockingly, his heart was still racing.
"Okay."
Saying that, Ge Dan took out the satellite phone, walked towards the window, and dialed home.
When Yangon received the news, they were also taken aback.
Something big happened.
The head of the intelligence department immediately made calls to all the big shots in Yangon.
In less than half an hour.
The big shots were wide awake, gathered together.
In the conference room.
It was filled with smoke, like some sort of ’fairyland’.
PS: Chapter Four.
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