Hong Kong Island: From a small stall to a global supplier

In five days, apart from Anderson Mine, which was still able to transport quarries out as planned, the other two mines, Lam Tei Stone and Lei Yue Mun, were basically paralyzed, with the mined quarries piling up in the freight yard. But this morning, trucks drove in one after another, and the two major quarries became lively again.

Lu Zhihe swallowed his pride and borrowed transportation capacity from various construction companies within two days. At the same time, Wang Yaotang also received information. The people he had arranged to block the entrances of various construction sites had not only persuaded most of the transportation company owners and drivers, but also collected the license plate numbers of those trucks, and determined the source of the trucks immediately through the license plate numbers.

The old bastard is quite capable of causing trouble. After all, he has been working in the market for 30 years. After receiving the news, Wang Yaotang sighed for a while and then ordered that they be taught a lesson.

……

On Anderson Road, a pickup truck approached the Anderson Mine, made a U-turn, and slowed down. A young man wearing leather gloves was sitting in the back of the truck, grabbing barbed wire from a plastic bucket and scattering it onto the road.

After spraying a 10-meter section, the pickup truck accelerated slightly, drove more than 200 meters, slowed down again, and then sprayed barbed wire on another 10-meter section of the road.

The spilled the confetti intermittently over three sections of road before driving away and disappearing from sight.

At the Anderson Quarry, after being loaded via conveyor belt, a 25-ton truck slowly started and drove out of the mine. Once out of the mine, it gradually accelerated, quickly reaching a speed of about 60 kilometers per hour.

After driving a few hundred meters, the driver saw 'gravel' scattered on the road. It's perfectly normal for a road used by a quarry to have gravel, so he drove on without a second thought.

"boom!"

"boom!"

Amid the explosions, a truck weighing over 40 tons sped off, singing "Nothing can stop you from yearning for freedom"...

The out-of-control truck sped off and then slid dozens of meters further down the road, scattering the more than 20 tons of gravel it was carrying everywhere and completely blocking the road!

……

To ensure the smooth transport of the goods, Lü Zhihe arrived at the Landi Stone Mine before dawn and personally witnessed the first batch of eight trucks arriving at the storage yard.

"Mr. Lü, that's good now," Gu Yuanbin said with a smile.

Lu Zhihe smiled and said, "Well, the problem is temporarily solved. But you can't guard against thieves forever. They can't help us forever. We still need to open up the waterway."

“I urged them,” Gu Yuanbin said seriously. “I visited the Marine Police Headquarters the day before yesterday, and the director promised that I would send people to patrol the docks and waterways.”

"Hmm, well done, but we can't let our guard down and rely solely on the water police. Arrange for more people to patrol the waterway entrance and the dock. If any broken wooden boats come close, just ram them. Don't worry about losses. Tell your men that the company will cover medical expenses and provide bonuses for any injuries," Lu Zhihe instructed.

"Yes, boss." Gu Yuanbin replied, and then continued, "Boss, don't worry too much. Even if that guy surnamed Wang had a few more guts, he wouldn't dare to provoke the major families, unless he doesn't want to stay in Hong Kong anymore."

Lu Zhihe nodded slightly, agreeing with this point. The Li, Li, Xu, and Zheng families were all powerful families that could shake Hong Kong with a stomp of their feet!
Just then, the phone on the table rang, and Gu Yuanbin immediately went over to answer it. "I am Gu Yuanbin... um, um? Say it again? What's going on!"

Lu Zhihe's heart skipped a beat, and he frowned as he looked over.

"What? How dare he!"

"What's there to ask? Hurry up and clean up the scene!"

After hanging up the phone, Gu Yuanbin said with a gloomy face, "An Dachen called. The truck just had an accident and overturned, blocking the road. Our people found a lot of metal triangles scattered on the road, which should have punctured the tires and caused the vehicle to overturn."

There is no evidence, but it must have been Wang Yaotang who did it!

Lu Zhihe's lips began to tremble with anger. There were so many gravel scattered on the road; it would take who knows how long to clean it up. This section of the road was covered with spikes; what about the sections beyond?
How do we get there?!
"Arrange for a few vehicles to clear the road in advance and search back and forth for me." Lü Zhihe took a few deep breaths to quickly calm himself down.

"I see."

After Lu Zhihe finished speaking, he frowned, feeling as if he had overlooked something. He looked out the window and suddenly stood up abruptly. "Quick, quick, don't let the trucks out! That bastard has definitely set up camps outside all three mines!"

Gu Yuanbin also suddenly realized what was happening and turned to rush outside.

There are no telephones now, and communication within the mine is done using walkie-talkies, but only those are provided to the mining area. Too many would pollute the lines. If we suddenly need to contact the loading and unloading team, we have to run over there to notify them.

The loading and unloading team worked quickly, after all, the big boss was watching, and everyone worked faster than usual. When Gu Yuanbin came running over, panting, he found a lot of people gathered near the gate, and his heart sank.

I rushed over, parted the crowd, and looked out. About 200 meters away, two trucks had overturned on their sides, and a cloud of dust was billowing up on the road.

Finished!

At the same time, a car also overturned in Lei Yue Mun...

The barbed wire scattered on the road wasn't cleared away, so rescue vehicles couldn't get in at all. The ambulance arrived an hour later, took the injured driver away, and then used a crane to lift the overturned truck and tow it away. A bulldozer cleared the gravel scattered on the road to both sides.

The passage wasn't reopened until noon, but the truck drivers refused to drive out.

Once fully loaded with ore, the weight exceeded 40 tons. They had seen the terrible state of the drivers ahead of them. Why risk your life for a few thousand yuan a month!
Even if Lü Zhihe wasn't their boss, even if Li Xiangjiao were standing here...

It's not that it can't be opened...

The super-rich are still extremely attractive to ordinary people.

However, it's clear that Li Xiangjiao won't speak up at this time; the company manager can handle this small matter.

In reality, the general manager wasn't even needed. The transportation department manager stepped forward, patted his chest to guarantee that the roads had been cleared, and then used the guise of bonuses to coerce and entice the drivers, quickly persuading them.

Ordinary people are easily swayed and can easily believe that signing a confession will solve everything...

The trucks were back on the road, driving slowly and carefully. And just as the company manager had said, the debris on the road had been cleared away, and it was safe. But the vehicles felt increasingly heavy, as if the fuel tanks were filled with fake oil…

Once we entered the city, we finally realized there was a problem. Cars were parked on the side of the road, and when we got out, we saw that the tires were completely deformed and leaking air.
After wasting a lot of time, we finally found the phone number and contacted the company. The team leader shouted, "Someone spilled nails on the road, and all the cars in the convoy have been punctured. There are as many as eight nails visible on one tire..."

Just as I returned to the company, the transportation manager received this devastating news. After hanging up the phone, he started cursing and swearing with a dark expression.

Changing a tire?

How do you change a tire on a truck weighing over 40 tons that is on the road?

The names of Cheung Kong, Henderson Land, Hip Hing, Swire, New World, and Lai Sun cannot increase the armor of their tires; a ton of nails is enough to bring all their teams to a standstill!

Lu Zhihe hung up the phone. It was the general manager of Hengji Construction who had just called. He had already done what he could to help. He couldn't very well ask them to fight with Wang Yaotang, and then have to suppress his annoyance and say something like, "I've caused trouble for the other party. I'll treat you to dinner to thank you later when I'm done with this."

Li Xiangjiao, however, personally called Lü Zhihe to offer his condolences and ask if he needed any help.

Lui Chi-wo simply smiled and thanked him, saying that unless Li Xiangjiao could persuade Wang Yaotang to give up, even the Hong Kong government wouldn't have a good solution in this situation.

The two sides have been fighting for several days. Hong Kong's demand for stone quarries will not stop just because his stone quarries cannot be shipped out. Wang Yaotang's side is sending ship after ship of crushed stone and river sand to Tuen Mun. Relationships cannot be used as a substitute for stone quarries. Even if there are no stone quarries from K Wah, there is still Yiu Ming Building Materials.

“Mr. Lu, if he can scatter nails, so can we. Let’s all stop doing this and force the Hong Kong government to intervene,” Gu Yuanbin said anxiously.

Lu Zhihe shook his head. He had just borrowed someone else's car, and now he was going to scatter nails. He would have ruined all the goodwill he had built up over the past 30 years. That bastard Wang Yaotang hadn't attacked anyone at first, so how could he now?

Looking at Gu Yuanbin, Lü Zhihe still couldn't tell whether the guy was truly loyal or just pretending.

"Keep your men calm. I, Lü Zhihe, have been in this industry for 30 years. I'm not going to fall so easily." He patted Gu Yuanbin on the shoulder and strode out.

Ultimately, mining is different from other industries. Technology and management are not the most important factors, and even mining rights are not necessary. The core of mining is force. If you can't win, nothing else matters.

But before that, he had to arrange for his family to go abroad...

Tsim Sha Tsui, Holiday Inn Harbour View Hotel, Suite.

A muscular, middle-aged white man walked in, pulling a large suitcase. "The equipment has arrived."

"So fast!" exclaimed a black man with curly hair. "Isn't it said that Hong Kong has a complete ban on guns and that customs checks are very strict?"

"I'd rather believe I'll win the lottery tomorrow than believe those politicians," said a white man with tattoos all over his neck, sitting on the sofa.

"Looks like those advertisements were all fake." The black man pouted his thick lips.

"FUCK!" The tattooed man raised his middle finger.

"Shut your stinking mouths or I'll shove a gun barrel down your asses! Come over here and check your equipment, who knows if this stuff even works!" the middle-aged white man cursed.

After opening the box, you'll find the gun barrel bound together with duct tape and foam, the gun body tied together with rope, magazines in black bags, and a small iron ammunition box.

……

Tsim Sha Tsui, Ocean Paradise.

Lü Zhihe admitted that he was getting old and was no longer the young man he once was.

At the age of 22, he borrowed money to buy a large amount of mining machinery left by the US military in Okinawa, Japan, and transported it to Hong Kong. At the age of 25, he fought desperately with Yuan Jie and finally obtained the mining rights of Anderson Mine. Now he is over 50 years old, with a net worth of over one billion, and is a well-known mining tycoon. He has a happy family and two children.

Now he's thinking more about how to preserve his current wealth and status so that his family can continue to thrive. It's no longer possible for him to work as hard as he did more than 30 years ago.

So, he wanted to call a halt.

Last time it ended badly, so this time Lü Zhihe needs to find a mediator to make things easier.

As Wang Yaotang's partner, Zhang Yaorong had been keeping a close eye on Wang Yaotang's every move. Besides, he came from the construction industry, although he switched careers because he couldn't compete with others. But he was well aware of the recent conflict between Wang Yaotang and Lü Zhihe.

When Lü Zhihe came to his door today, he could guess without even asking that Lü was there to seek peace.

Ha, even the old bastard has his day. Although the two of them didn't have any grudges before, they were both struggling in the construction industry back then. He himself was forced to retire in disgrace, while this guy became a stone quarry king. He was still very envious and jealous.

He was overjoyed to see the quarry tycoon come to him for help today. His smile never faded from the moment he answered the phone. Although he knew it wasn't polite to smile in person, it just felt so good!

Before Lü Zhihe arrived, he had already called Wang Yaotang. Of course, it was better to talk than to continue fighting.

They didn't chat much at Ocean Paradise before getting into their car and heading straight to the Union Building.

As I stepped out of the elevator, there were four security guards in black uniforms standing at the door. After passing through two alloy security doors, I finally saw Wang Yaotang sitting on the sofa in the reception room.

"Brother Wang, you seem quite relaxed," Zhang Yaorong greeted him with a smile.

"Haha, where's the leisure? I spent half a year preparing, and someone almost stole the fruits of my labor." Wang Yaotang laughed as he stood up.

“Nothing is ever smooth sailing; some setbacks are normal. As long as the outcome is good, that’s all that matters.” Zhang Yaorong smiled and pointed at Lü Zhihe. “In business, bumps and bruises are inevitable. Let’s chat.”

"Alright, let's give Brother Zhang some face." Wang Yaotang looked at Lü Zhihe. "Last time, Boss Lü refused to admit he was too old and wanted to try his luck with a young upstart like me. How did it go?"

Zhang Yaorong raised an eyebrow. Lü Zhihe hadn't mentioned going to see Wang Yaotang before. "Come, come, sit down and let's talk."

Lü Zhihe smiled and said, "The younger generation surpasses the older generation. You win, and I'm withdrawing from this auction."

"And then?" Wang Yaotang asked with a smile.

"According to the rules, you should offer tea as an apology, right?"

"Ha, trying to fool me?" Wang Yaotang sneered, pointing at Lü Zhihe. "What I hate most about you old guys is your pretentiousness. You jumped out to try and steal the credit, so you tried. Now that you can't win, you want to just say sorry and get rid of it? Who the hell do you think you are?"

"You!" Lu Zhihe's face darkened; it had been many years since he had spoken to him like that.

After years of hard work and building up such a great reputation, if he were still scolded like this, wouldn't he have wasted his life?

"What do you mean, 'you'? If you're wrong, you should admit it. If you're going to be hit, you should stand up straight, don't you understand? Don't try to act tough just because you're old. You're a damn 'stone quarry king,' let me tell you, that doesn't work here!" Wang Yaotang retorted with a stern face. "Either you hand over the Blue Earth Stone Mine and we'll let this go, or you continue like this. Let's see how long you can hold out!"

"You're over 50 years old, you should do more good deeds for future generations!"

Lü Zhihe suddenly stood up. "You want the Blue Earth Stone? Aren't you afraid of stuffing yourself to death?"

"I don't know if I'll die from overeating, but I know that if this drags on, you'll definitely die first."

"Impossible! Don't even think about it. I'll pay you 2000 million, and we'll call it even!"

"Are you fucking senile?!"

"Are you really going to kill them all?"

"Ha, so what if I wipe you out completely!" Wang Yaotang sneered.

After giving Wang Yaotang a deep look, Lü Zhihe turned and left, saying, "We'll see!"

Wang Yaotang waved his hand, preventing anyone from stopping him.

After the two started talking, Zhang Yaorong didn't say anything more until Lü Zhihe left, at which point he said, "He would rather sell the Blue Earth Stone Mine to someone else than transfer it to you."

"Huh?" Wang Yaotang was taken aback. "Just because I had a little argument with him?"

“That’s not it.” Zhang Yaorong shook his head. “He used to be in charge of the Hong Kong stone mining industry. If you get Lam Tei Stone, plus Shek O and Lamma Island, you will be able to get more than half of the market. If you add the mainland, he will not only completely lose his voice, but Anderson and Lei Yue Mun may also be squeezed out of business by you. For him, this is not just ceding territory and paying reparations, but simply the destruction of the country and the ruin of the family.”

“It’s like building a house. You can sell it for as much as you want with your story, and there’s no impact on each other. It’s like a nightclub. It won’t stop others from making money just because you open one. But it’s different in mining. Once you gain control of the market, the mining industry will only face ruin.”

"Yes, just like Lü Zhihe did back then, he squeezed everyone else out of the industry."

“If I were him, I would sell the mining rights to the Li family, the Xu family, or the Zheng family, but I would not sell them to you.”

Wang Yaotang frowned deeply. He really hadn't thought of this. It felt a bit like the Australian iron ore market manipulation, forcing all the domestic iron ore plants to lose money.

"I can't let someone else reap the rewards!"

"My suggestion is that you should talk to the people from the major families beforehand," Zhang Yaorong said softly.

"Okay, I understand." Wang Yaotang nodded.

……

At the Holiday Inn Ocean View Hotel, a middle-aged man answered the phone, "Okay, I understand."

After exchanging a few words, the call ended. The middle-aged white man looked up at his men. "The employer called. One million dollars. Get ready to move!" (End of Chapter)