50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 444 Revenue Generation at the Base
"Let me give you a simple example. What would happen if our development company brought in a high-ranking official from the M Army base as a shareholder?"

"Mr. Quincy, do you know where the biggest expense in this construction project lies?"

"Materials?" Mayor Quincy asked after a moment's thought.

"That's right, it's the basic consumables such as cement and steel bars that are used the most and have the lowest unit price."

“All of these items need to be transported from Country M by cargo ship, and the shipping cost is three times the value of the materials themselves.”

"Mr. James, what does this have to do with the fact that high-ranking officials at the M Army base are shareholders?"

"Mr. Quincy, aren't you going to build the M Army base? I heard they're also going to expand the port this year."

"Have them send over more materials, then we can just find a base to buy them directly."

"The M country will provide funding for their construction materials and transportation costs. Wouldn't it be better to take a portion of that and sell it to us, thus generating revenue for the base and sharing the profits?"

"I'm sure there are people who would be willing. Isn't M yuan a good deal?"

Mayor Quincy was clearly not stupid; Sun Zhiwei had already explained it so clearly, how could he not understand?

"Understood, I'll find this person."

"Mr. Quincy, you must choose a trustworthy partner." There are always those scoundrels who take the money but do nothing, and the American standards are especially low.

"Of course, I know every high-ranking officer at the M Army base."

As a local strongman, Mayor Quincy may not have jurisdiction over the base, but the base wouldn't offend him either.

The base also relies on the mayor for many things, such as the simplest vegetable supply. You can't expect the American soldiers to grow their own vegetables.

By entrusting the task of setting up the company and attracting shareholders to Mayor Quincy, Sun Zhiwei began to understand the current progress of the project.

From the arrival of the exploration team in Saipan in early February to today, April 23, it has been more than 80 days.

The geological conditions of the entire Anatahan Island have been surveyed, and the construction route for the ring road has been determined.

The navigable waterways around the island have been thoroughly explored, and as expected, the location of the pier is a gentle slope in the southeast corner.

Most of the other waters around the island are cliffs and reefs, but that one spot was suitable; it was also where the Portuguese and their sons landed.

The town is planned on flat land next to the port, with a highway that circles the island and branching off near two freshwater lakes to reach the lakes.

The engineers are drawing up the overall design drawings. A construction drawing of the dock has been produced first, so that construction of the dock can begin first, which will facilitate the subsequent construction.

Two days later, the mayor of Quincy convened the main leaders of Saipan and established a construction company, with everyone fulfilling their respective responsibilities to ensure the smooth development of Anatahan Island.

Sun Zhiwei held a 5% stake in the company and then transferred the first construction payment of 2000 million yuan to the construction company's account.

Of this amount, 1000 million was mainly used to pay for design fees, construction drawings, and dock construction fees; the other 1000 million was used to pre-order equipment for a small airport, wind power plant, and seawater desalination plant.

He now receives three fixed incomes each month: the first is 100 million from the Borneo iron ore mine, the second is 400 million from purchasing gold from a jewelry store, and the third is 100 million from an antique shop.

He currently has around $6000 million in cash on hand, and it's increasing every month, enough to cover the development costs of Anatahan Island.

If that weren't enough, he still had a $20 million credit line from the Bank of California and 22.68 tons of gold from the Federal Reserve as a safety net. On April 26th, after watching the first batch of building materials being successfully hauled out of the M Army base, Sun Zhiwei had no more worries.

He left only the lawyer introduced by Huang Mingyu to supervise the construction, while he himself boarded a plane back to North America.

The reason he was in such a hurry to return to North America was because his farm manager in Maryland sent him a message that the Department of Agriculture had ordered them to stop selling grain to the Russians from now on.

In the late 70s, Russia imported 3000 million tons of grain annually, accounting for 15% of the world's grain exports, with more than half of it coming from the United States.

Previously, the grain on Sun Zhiwei's farm in Maryland was purchased by a broker and then mostly resold to Russians.

Now that the White House has suddenly stopped allowing the sale, the farm workers are starting to panic. If they go a year without income, their families will definitely face serious trouble.

Sun Zhiwei immediately understood what was going on: Jimmy had begun imposing a food embargo on the Russians.

Aside from diplomacy, Jimmy's abilities in other areas are quite limited, and even his staff is rather incompetent.

This kind of game involving major powers was decided so easily, without even considering the consequences of the policy's implementation.

Sun Zhiwei estimates that Jimmy was influenced by his predecessor's harsh treatment of food.

Since the first oil crisis in the 70s, the Soviet Union had reached an agreement on "oil for food".

After that, the White House frequently used food as leverage, threatening to halt food exports at any time, which forced Russia to compromise on several occasions.

Jimmy probably thought he could force the Russians to make concessions again, but unfortunately the Russians did not compromise this time, and the allies were attracted by the high price and turned against him.

Jimmy's plan ultimately failed, causing his approval ratings to plummet. This ultimately led to his loss of the White House in the general election at the end of this year.

However, that's a story for later. Right now, he needs to get back to the farm as soon as possible to reassure everyone.

Otherwise, once all the farm workers have left, finding a new batch of unfamiliar workers will be a hassle.

Don't think that finding a new group of honest and hardworking farm workers is an easy task. There are far too many unruly farm workers at Old M's farm.

Farmers on the East Coast are better off, but on the West Coast and in the southern states, farm workers can easily whip up cavalry units at any time.

After arriving in San Francisco on the 27th, he did not stay there but instead transferred directly to Washington.

A day later, Sun Zhiwei drove to the farm's gate.

He was greeted at the gate by Joseph Mitchell, the farm's manager.

“Mitchell, tell me about the current situation.”

"Boss, the workers are worried that they won't have any income at the end of the year because they heard that they can't sell beans to the Russians this year."

"So what are they trying to do?" Sun Zhiwei was a little confused. This farm belonged to him, and the money from selling it would also be his; the workers were just getting paid wages.

If the harvest is good, the farm will give out some bonuses, but overall it shouldn't have much of an impact on them, so why are they so panicked?

"Even if the grain doesn't sell, it's my problem. They won't lose a single cent. Why are they so nervous? Does someone have some other idea?"

(End of this chapter)