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

"Fuck your mother!" Wang Yaotang grabbed a teacup and threw it at the Annamese man in front of him. "You fucking came all this way just to tell me this?"

Among Southeast Asian countries, Annam is closest to Hong Kong. After the start of the Annam War, many Annamese of Chinese descent and Annamese fled to Hong Kong, and Annamese refugee camps were even set up. However, these Annamese did not fare well.

Even in the underworld, the Annamite Gang was looked down upon.

Take rice as an example. Annam is a major rice producer and is closer to Hong Kong. During the process of the British Hong Kong government reducing its rice production and importing foreign rice, Annamites only consumed 12% of the rice.

The whole society hates them.

In 2025, Pham Nhat Vuong, who has been Annam's richest man for 13 consecutive years, will have assets of US$69 billion...

Wang Yaotang leaned forward slightly, looking at the pale-faced Annamese in front of him. "They have the right to choose when to start a war, but I decide when to end it. What's the rush? Let me tell you clearly, over the years I've climbed up from the bottom, enjoyed overnight riches, beautiful women, delicacies, and being a guest of honor in the local government. I've been second only to the emperor, and I've had the power of life and death. There are fewer and fewer things that can give me excitement or excite me."

These words left the Annamese speechless, and then a deep chill ran up from the soles of his feet, making him feel as if he had fallen into an ice cave.

Ordinary people, no matter how much they indulge their desires, have a negligible direct impact on society. But it's different for those in power and influence. This group has a very high threshold; they are capable of anything, and the harm they cause can affect a country or even a region!
"In the last two years, I've discovered that a man's true romance is blood and fire, steel cannons and warships, and fucking war!"

"I haven't had enough fun yet!"

"So, get out!" Wang Yaotang waved his hand, and several security guards immediately came up and dragged the man out.

The news quickly reached Hu Zhiming, which enraged Ruan Wenhai so much that he smashed up the office, and his cursing could be heard throughout the entire floor.

We can talk about interests, and we can talk about reputation.

But how can we talk about it if it's because you like it or because it's exciting?
There was nothing he could do but curse Wang Yaotang as a madman, a scoundrel, and a butcher. After venting his anger, he thought for a moment and went to Ruan Wenhai to call over a few of his confidants, instructing them to cause trouble for Wang Yaotang's businesses, sabotage his operations, and force him to submit.

After a group of people went down and looked through various documents about Wang Yaotang, they were left somewhat bewildered. Wang Yaotang had no business dealings with Annam.

Wang Yaotang's businesses were located either in Hong Kong and Macau, in neighboring countries, or in Siam and Myanmar, and had extensive connections with local communities, making it difficult for the government to intervene. Annam's relations with various countries were very poor.

In other words, they can only resort to dirty tricks, such as shootings and explosions.

Regardless of the extent of actual damage it may cause, this behavior itself violates the rules.

Putting aside face, the Annamese have little face to lose now, but they can use it while Wang Yaotang cannot.
Fighting at sea would damage national interests, but it could also lead to attacks...

Given Wang Yaotang's vindictive nature, they themselves will be the ones who suffer the loss.

Of course, considering Nguyen Van Hai's feelings, the only options were to come up with some mild measures, such as holding a press conference, defining the Umbrella Corporation as a 'terrorist organization,' banning Wang Yaotang from entering the country, declaring his businesses illegal, and prohibiting domestic businessmen from doing business with him.

Nguyen Van Hai's face darkened. He could only grit his teeth and accept it. What else could he do? Annan was part of the Russian camp, which couldn't influence Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, or Singapore (part of the Commonwealth camp), nor could it influence the Philippines and India (part of the US camp). Siam, which was neutral but leaned towards the US, was also constantly causing conflict and friction...

It stinks!
On the other hand, the morale of the Umbrella Fleet improved after a period of rest, and half a month later, the intensity of their attacks on the transport routes suddenly increased.

Wang Yaotang... Somalia ordered more than 3000 naval mines at once, and they were scattered all over the entire transport route, including the area around Nanwei Island, like eggs being laid.

Nguyen Van Hai was completely numb!

The working principle of a minesweeper is to tow a "cutting minesweeper" at its stern. The main body is a high-strength steel cable, which is equipped with a serrated cutter and a float to keep the cable at a specified depth. The minesweeper travels at a speed of 3-5 knots, and the steel cable is spread out laterally. When the cutter touches the mine's cable, it uses the drag force of the ship to cut the cable. After the mine loses its anchor, it floats up and is then destroyed by ship's guns or explosives.

A single mine floats on the surface, requiring ten to twenty times the amount of artillery shells to detonate. Not to mention the cost, the transport efficiency is reduced by more than five times due to the speed of only 3-5 knots.

Coupled with the frequent attacks, the Annan army felt as if they were entangled by countless seaweeds, unable to shake them off, wipe them away, or move. The entire army was in so much pain that they felt like they were about to explode.

Based on current consumption levels, for every $1 Wang Yaotang spends, they have to spend $3 or even more, resulting in a costly and detrimental outcome. Haijun's military spending this year has significantly exceeded its budget.

It's no longer a question of whether Nguyen Van Hai wants to fight or not; it's that the military and the finances can't hold on any longer!
A country is certainly larger than a single billionaire...

Right ...

In any case, every penny has its purpose; it's impossible to spend it recklessly.

From the moment the shipping routes were disrupted, Wang Yaotang shifted his attention. The South China Sea Commander's shipping capacity was insufficient, and the construction of Yongxing Island was too slow. At this time, manual labor was still the main method, with cargo ships, tugboats, and shuttle boats transporting supplies from the mainland thousands of miles away to the islands and reefs.

When I met Wei Jinzhong on Yongxing Island a while ago, I discovered that they were still using underwater blasting technology to clear rocks in the shallow waters. This not only causes significant pollution and damages the environment, but it is also extremely slow. I heard that they later mobilized more manpower, bringing the total to 5000 people...

To be honest, the speed was quite fast, fully demonstrating the saying that many hands make light work.

Wang Yaotang also plans to build islands and reefs, and he will need the help of the South China Sea authorities. So he arranged for a group of working vessels to be dispatched from Hong Kong in advance to get them used to each other.

The four reclamation projects in Hung Hom Bay, West Kowloon, Wan Chai in Central, and Green Island started construction in 1987. All kinds of advanced machinery and industrial vessels used for reclamation were readily available. It didn't matter who they were working for, so it wasn't difficult for Wang Yaotang to assemble a fleet.

This includes: cutter suction dredgers, grab dredgers, barges, tugboats, piling vessels, and crane vessels.

In 1985, when the Tai Po Industrial Estate was reclaimed from the sea and the Tolo Harbour shoal was transformed into industrial land, cutter suction dredgers were used. These dredgers were manufactured by IHC of the Netherlands and Mitsubishi of Japan.

Dredgers use rotating cutters to break up seabed sediment, mix it into slurry, and then transport it directly to the reclamation area through pipelines, achieving integrated operation. The dredging depth can reach up to 30 meters, and even port terminals can be excavated in one go.

The arrival of the fleet was indeed a novelty for the officers and soldiers, and what they saw when the work began was even more astonishing. With a buzzing sound, the tanks, more than half a meter thick, spewed out mud and sand, and a piece of land visibly grew out.

Think back to when they were doing it. The loud explosions made everyone on the island tremble. The blasted rocks had to be tied up and hoisted by hand, and people were injured all the time...

The contrast between the two is truly striking.

The Governor of the South China Sea expressed his gratitude repeatedly upon receiving the news. In order to keep up with the progress of the industrial ship's operations, he increased the allocation of materials and reported the matter to higher authorities. Guangzhou Shipyard, Shanghai Shipyard, and the Engineering Design Institute all sent personnel over.

They call it: supporting construction!
Guangzhou Shipyard and Mogok Shipyard had long known that Hong Kong used these industrial ships for land reclamation, which were a thousand times more efficient than manpower. The key was their speed. Guangzhou and Mogok are alluvial plains, and these ships were not only useful for dredging and excavation at the docks, but if they could produce these industrial ships, they could immediately fill a gap in the domestic industry...

Everything is very positive.

People in design institutes are relatively simple; they just want to learn.

In the past, construction methods and processes were all designed to complement manual labor. But the country is developing in the future. What if industrial ships are available and their construction plans can't keep up?
Similar ideas have been proposed before, but the ships won't even let them get close.

"Let me introduce you. This is Mr. Simons from HAM Company in the Netherlands, and this is Mr. Qin Bingwen, our engineering consultant."

Sun Weihao introduced the two sides.

"In the coming period, Mr. Sun's team will help Mr. Simmons better complete the work on the Ballast Nedam, is that alright?" Sun Weihao asked with a very gentle smile.

The Ballast Nedam was previously responsible for Phase 8 of the container terminal and the West Kowloon reclamation project, and its equipment and technology are industry benchmarks.

“Sun, this is against the rules.” Simmons frowned. Putting aside the issues of equipment familiarity and confidentiality, how could anyone be allowed to board the engineering vessel so casually? It would affect the work.

Qin Bingwen and the people behind him felt somewhat uneasy.

Sun Weihao smiled and pulled a pistol from his bag, pressing it against Simmons' head. The scene fell into a sudden, deathly silence.

"Is it in accordance with the rules now?" Sun Weihao wasn't like this before. When he was at Cheung Kong Holdings, he was very particular about business rules, but ever since he came under Wang Yaotang's command...

It feels fucking awesome to use force to coerce someone!

Simmons' face was stiff as a corpse, his eyes darting around hoping his colleague behind him would speak up for him, but...

Wang Yaotang's warship was moored outside; this was the vast ocean.

Qin Bingwen and the others were dumbfounded. This was not what they expected. Why did they pull out guns right away?

In their minds, if Wang Yaotang were to pull some strings, spend some money to bribe the Dutch, and say a few kind words, the Dutch wouldn't be able to refuse out of politeness. Even if they made things difficult for the Dutch later, they could just bear it; it was nothing, as long as they could learn something.

But pulling out a gun and pointing it at his head? What the hell? That's too, too, too...

He didn't know how to express his feelings at that moment; foreigners are all very tough!

They're notoriously inflexible!
They only talk about the contract!

That's what everyone's saying in the readers' magazines!

Be alert and don't lose face!
"Rules? What rules?" Simmons looked bewildered. "Isn't our job to cooperate with the client and do our job well?"

“I knew Mr. Simmons was very adaptable. By the way, you wouldn’t deliberately make things difficult for them, would you?” Sun Weihao asked with a grin.

Simmons pursed his lips and shook his head, cursing inwardly at the locals for their rudeness!

He was very familiar with the Chinese community and the influence of the Chinese underworld, as the Netherlands was the main base of the Chinese underworld in Europe.

Wait, you should refuse verbally!

Qin Bingwen and the others were filled with astonishment. Why did you bow your head?

How could you bow your head?

Wouldn't that make us look like... Well, we would never do something like pointing a gun at our heads.

Sun Weihao put down his gun, smiled, and patted Simmons on the shoulder. "I knew Mr. Simmons was a good friend of ours. Don't worry, Boss Yao never lets his friends suffer losses."

As he spoke, he raised his chin, and a subordinate handed him a handbag.

Simmons' eyes lit up. He opened the bag and looked inside. There were five stacks of US dollars, all in denominations of $100.

“Thank you, my dear friend.” Simmons laughed heartily.

"No, I should thank Master Yao."

“Yes, yes, thank you, waisty!” Simmons immediately exclaimed.

Qin Bingwen and the others naturally understood that it was a simple matter of giving a slap followed by a sweet treat. It turned out that these foreigners weren't so rigid or inflexible, and they didn't care about the so-called contract at all...

Of course, you have to slap them first, then give them a treat.

Wang Yaotang didn't care much about the Yongxing Island project. He was just floating at sea, surrounded by his own warships. He could say whatever he wanted, and no one dared to say a word against it!
After finishing his business in Hong Kong and spending two days at home with his wife and children, he decided to take the whole family to Shenzhen to avoid them complaining that he was away from home all year round and leaving them to live like widows.

Let's not even talk about ordinary residential buildings in Shenzhen, which are definitely uninhabitable. But even in Yijing Garden and Yinhu Villa District, the houses are only two and a half stories high with only five or six rooms, which is simply not enough to live in.

This time, he plans to take the opportunity to talk to the authorities, follow the procedures, and bid for a small plot of land to build a large villa on his own.

During dinner that evening, seeing the haggard-looking four-eyed guy, Wang Yaotang subconsciously said, "Seriously? You're even bringing women into your lives? Can your slender frame handle it?"

"Woman my ass!" The bespectacled guy angrily grabbed his chopsticks and threw them at her, shouting, "I'm fucking exhausted here, and you're doing fine? Fine, fine, you can do the rest yourself."

"Really?!" Wang Yaotang's eyes widened.

The bespectacled man took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes wearily.

His secretary, Cui Xincheng, explained, "Brother Yao, President Guan is really busy."

“We’ve never done industry before, this stuff is really inhuman!” The four-eyed guy leaned back in his chair with his eyes closed and waved his hand. “Explain this to Brother Yao.”

"Sit down and talk," Wang Yaotang said, gesturing to a chair.

"Thank you, Master Yao." After sitting down, Cui Xincheng was a little unsure of what to say. He organized his thoughts for a moment before saying, "Importing finished cassette tapes from Japan is relatively simple if it's just about cutting and assembling them, similar to making clothes. But producing them from scratch is too difficult!"

“There are 42 manufacturers that provide us with equipment, of which all the key equipment is imported, mainly from Japan and Germany, totaling 29 companies.”

"To assemble these devices into a production line, engineers from 29 different companies need to work together. If one of them has a problem, the entire production line will not be able to operate."

"They've given them too much face. They still dare to act tough when they're in my hands. Damn it, they don't know what death means!" Wang Yaotang said with a dark face.

"What Yao said is true. At first, some people were indeed acting like big shots, dissatisfied with the hotel, the food, and the working hours, all in front of so many people. Our men just went up and punched them, knocking them down and dragging them away. Hehe, the other Japanese guys were dumbfounded on the spot. Three of them were shouting, saying they were going to hit us, sue us, sue the company, etc., but they were also knocked down and dragged away. The rest immediately quieted down!" Cui Xincheng said with a smile.

"Give them a good beating, then make them call home. When they hear someone is at their house warning them, they immediately start crying, begging, and kneeling on the ground, kowtowing. They're all worthless bastards!"

"After we released them, those Japanese devils immediately became obedient. They weren't exactly enthusiastic about their work, but they didn't dare to fool us. Our engineers answered all our questions without being perfunctory, but they wouldn't answer anything unless asked."

"How can we not be proactive? Are we going to have to call them over again when there are problems later?" Wang Yaotang frowned. "They need some kind of energy booster!"

“Okay, Brother Yao.” Cui Xincheng felt a chill in his heart.

"What about the Germans?"

"Pretty much. At first, they were all arrogant, but after our people put stun guns on their butts and shocked them until they vomited, they all behaved themselves."

"Damn it, this is disgusting, time to eat!" Wang Yaotang cursed.

Four-Eyes chuckled. "Those Germans always say things like kicking your ass, stuffing your...things into your ass. I feel like all those white Europeans are fucking perverts who like to play with shit, so they had someone shock their ass."

Wang Yaotang was speechless for a moment. From the perspective of art films, they did like this.

Forget it...

"Did they call the police?"

“No, I warned them,” Cui Xincheng said. “They’re going back to Germany via Hong Kong. If they cause trouble, we’ll turn them into animal feed when they get to Hong Kong.”

"Speaking of which, the workers we recruited from our hometown were all dumbfounded, especially the engineers. They had never seen foreigners so easy to talk to. They said that when we brought in equipment before, these people were not allowed to watch the assembly process. They only worked 6 hours a day, not a minute more, and they wouldn't say a word more. Even after 6 hours, they would still dawdle. If they wanted to ask anything, we had to spend a lot of time with them and coax them to drink. Only when they were drunk could we get some information out of them."

Cui Xincheng shook his head, his tone carrying three parts schadenfreude, three parts contempt, and three parts smugness.

"I heard that it takes them two or three years to officially start production on a single production line."

Wang Yaotang nodded slightly. That's true. The Xie family's motorcycle factory is still in trial production.

"They are who they are. Do you think my money grows on trees? I'll hold a meeting with them later and tell them clearly that they must officially start production within six months, and the product qualification rate must meet the standards. If they can't do it, they can go back to their country and wait to die. May their whole family be reduced to ashes!"

"There was only coercion, no enticement, just pure, white terror!"

The Yongxing Island incident was best dealt with by giving a slap followed by a sweet treat because it wasn't a big deal, there wasn't much to learn, and the amount of money involved wasn't large, so there was no need to be ruthless.

Unlike the Pengcheng videotape factory, this is more like a siege. Those who rush to the front have to fill the trenches and consume the city's supplies. Nine out of ten of them will die. Who the hell would rush up to their death unless they are driven to the brink?

Cui Xincheng nodded hurriedly, but his face was full of trouble. "Brother Yao, although the production line is assembled, the subsequent production line still needs to be debugged and broken in. If the debugging is slightly less precise, the product will not be qualified after a whole process. Each debugging requires opening the production line, which is very time-consuming."

The bespectacled man opened his eyes and said with a sigh, "Industrial production is really difficult. Even if people from different companies are willing to work hard, they still argue every day when assembling the production line, shirking responsibility. They can't delay the construction period, but they can't actually use the waste as feed, so they can't just ignore it. Everyone has a point. The engineers from Hangzhou and Dalian have never worked with these advanced equipment before and are still in the learning stage. They can offer very little advice. Every day, it gives me a splitting headache."

"If it weren't for Yamashita Matsumoto, I probably would have jumped into the sea by now."

"The thought of having to run and debug the production line makes me want to die!"

"When products fail to meet standards, the first step is to investigate which环节 (link/step) went wrong. Engineers say that most problems recur repeatedly, with multiple环节 (links/steps) causing the same issue. It's really frustrating when you can't find the problem. Later, when the pass rate hits a bottleneck and can't be improved no matter what you do, it could be a worker's problem or an equipment problem. At this point, it's even harder to determine the cause. You can only try again and again. I've heard of some bizarre cases, like voltage problems, lubricant problems, uneven ground, and so on..."

As he spoke, the four-eyed man opened his eyes and stared at Wang Yaotang, making Wang Yaotang's scalp tingle and shudder violently.

"Brother Xiang, um, I have something to do, I'll go first." Wang Yaotang bowed his head and stood up.

"Stop right there!" the four-eyed guy yelled.

Wang Yaotang looked up, walked over, and grinned as he massaged the four-eyed guy's shoulders. "Brother Xiang, you're the pillar of our entire group, the beam that holds the sea together. If it weren't for you, we brothers would have fallen apart long ago. What does it mean to be hardworking and meritorious? What does it mean to be dedicated and conscientious? What does it mean to be naturally intelligent? What does it mean to be quick-witted? What does it mean to have a great memory? What does it mean to be resourceful? What does it mean to be..."

"Alright, alright." The bespectacled guy finally couldn't hold back anymore, twisting his body and shaking off, "Too many words."

"Brother Xiang is right, Xiao Wang will definitely change." Wang Yaotang chuckled, then turned to Cui Xincheng, "What are you looking at? Are you all dead men? What's the point of having your brother if he's working so hard? Can't you think about relieving his burden!"

"If you don't know, go learn. If you don't know anything, go find someone who does. Go find Yamashita Matsumoto. Doesn't he know who has the skills and experience? If you can't hire them, go kidnap them. Do you expect me to teach you everything?"

“Those Germans might be focused on equipment debugging rather than production, so let them call back and ask who the hell knows this stuff, then go and get them over here!”

"Don't you even know what it means to be ruthless and unscrupulous?!"

Cui Xincheng was scolded mercilessly and could only nod repeatedly.

There are some things that even a bespectacled guy can't say, so it really takes Wang Yaotang to step in.

“Ah Cheng is inexperienced too. This is his first time working in industrial production. Don’t blame him. Experience doesn’t just appear out of thin air.” The four-eyed guy stood up and pulled Wang Yaotang aside.

"I have no experience either, how could I have thought of that?" Wang Yaotang snorted, then went back to sit down again.

"So you're a little money god." The four-eyed guy patted Cui Xincheng's arm, and he quickly retreated.

With only the two of them left in the room, Wang Yaotang immediately smiled and served food to the four-eyed guy, saying, "You've worked hard, brother."

The bespectacled guy smiled helplessly, "Industrial production really has a high barrier to entry. We need to do this in the future, and do more of it. Compared to nightclubs that have no technical content, this is the foundation for our business, and no one can take it away from us!"

"That's right, once we're done with this motorcycle factory with the sunshine..." Wang Yaotang said with a grin.

"Get out! Get out right now!" The four-eyed guy immediately lost his composure.

……

As he left the room, Cui Xincheng breathed a sigh of relief. Although he knew there was an element of acting involved, he was still grateful for Four-Eyes' protection.

After years of navigating the complexities of society, I've found that leaders who avoid taking responsibility are the norm... (End of Chapter)