Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 122 Penang Two Years Later, Inestimable Profits
The Buick sedan drove all the way back to Penang from the southern suburbs. As soon as it entered the city, Marshal Mai's first impression was that the road was good.

The road was flat and extremely wide. There was no shaking or bumping when sitting in the car. It was obviously paved with cement and concrete, and this main road into the city was actually a four-way lane.

This road alone was not much narrower than New York's "Broad Street", which he had never seen in Asia.

"Professor Zheng, you're really willing to invest in infrastructure."

Zheng Yi smiled and replied, "It's okay, it's okay, mainly because the city is small."

In order to welcome Marshal Mai's arrival, Zheng Yi even ordered people to control traffic in Penang in advance. There was not a single car on the entire road except for the convoy they were welcoming Marshal Mai.

There were even girls holding flowers on both sides of the road to warmly welcome him, which could be said to be giving him enough face.

Mak: "I heard that Penang's population has been expanding rapidly in recent years?"

Zheng Yi nodded and said, "It's really fast. Penang's population is now basically three million. Two years ago, it almost broke through one million.
But at that time, most of the people were young and middle-aged. After the Home Ownership Scheme was introduced, in the past two years, many of them brought their families back home, and the population has skyrocketed. In fact, the growth in the working population has not been that much."

Marshal Mai: "But no matter what, in the three years since you took over, the city's population has increased seven or eight times. The population pressure must be very great."

Zheng Yi smiled and said, "Fortunately, in the past two years, apart from me, all the tycoons in Penang have been engaged in real estate and upstream and downstream companies related to the construction industry.
They have built quite a few houses, including some owned by other wealthy Chinese in Southeast Asia, such as Mr. Li Qingquan and Mr. Wang Yuting from the Philippines.

Upon hearing this, Marshal Mai said with a half-smile, "Indeed, in recent years, many wealthy Chinese businessmen in Manila have been selling off their properties and investing in Penang."

Zheng Yi laughed heartily upon hearing this and said, "What you are seeing now is South City. South City is mainly a residential area, and most of it is welfare housing and affordable housing."

"These six- and seven-story buildings, all in a standard format, are social housing built by our Chamber of Commerce. Anyone who works in Penang, pays taxes, has served in the military, and has city residency can apply for one at a low, socially-friendly price."

"It seems that each household's house is not very big."

Zheng Yi: "The standard for a family of three is 1 square meters, which means each person has square meters. Compared to the Chinese in Southeast Asia, this is already very good. What's more, there is water and electricity, no down payment, and the mortgage interest rate is only %."

These days, the average living space for the lower-class Chinese workers in Nanyang is less than two square meters, and most of them live in dormitories.
The so-called dormitory is actually a large bunk bed with more than ten or twenty people lying together, similar to the detention center in modern society.

Zheng Yi provided them with a ten-square-meter house each, with water and electricity, at a price that was almost free. He was already a living Bodhisattva.

“Are only Penang locals and people of Penang origin allowed to own houses?”

Zheng Yi said: "Of course, we also take into account the situation of migrant workers who have not yet obtained citizenship or are unable to buy a house.
So those houses you see over there, those are probably four stories high. They are welfare ancestral houses, also built by my construction group, and the monthly rent is only a few cents."

Marshal Mai: "How many square meters per capita is this?"

"It's less than five square meters, and you can't cook. It's essentially a dormitory, but it's better than living on the streets or even on a boat."

"Mr. Zheng, you are really willing to spend money on welfare issues."

Zheng Yi smiled strangely and said, "It's not that bad. Actually, we didn't lose much money. With these welfare houses, it's much easier to collect taxes. The construction costs of the houses can be gradually recovered through the rent of the ground floor shops."

There are almost no asset taxes in Penang. They only collect consumption tax and income tax. In essence, the rich do not pay taxes, but only the poor are taxed.

If these poor people are not given houses, it will be difficult to collect this kind of tax, not to mention now before World War II. As far as he knows, after the old immortal came to power in India, Kukukaka messed around and the tax rate never exceeded 12%. It is likely that it was whitewashed by the media, and the actual number of people paying this kind of tax on the poor was less than 5%.

In Penang, the tax payment rate is almost over 70%.

If you don't pay taxes, you won't have welfare housing to live in, and it may even affect your children's welfare housing allocation in the future. In fact, Zheng Yi makes a profit in every aspect and can also gain a high reputation.

Marshal Mai looked curiously at the densely packed houses on both sides. The houses on both sides of his main road were already completed and occupied.
Behind it are areas under construction and unfinished projects one after another. Penang is still a big construction site.

Just by looking at the completed parts, you can clearly feel that the place is crowded and bustling, which is quite good, at least in Asia.

After passing the South City and driving into the North City, one can clearly feel that the cityscape has changed. There are obviously more green plants, the houses are obviously taller and more spacious, and the entertainment facilities such as the ground floor shops also look more prosperous.

“Is this commercial housing?”

"Yes, they are all commercial housing. The businessmen in Penang are centered around the Chamber of Commerce. A system has been established. A Chamber of Commerce must undertake two welfare housing projects before it is eligible to undertake one commercial housing project.

The government doesn't make money from land, but in general, the more welfare housing projects it undertakes, the higher the volume ratio will be when it comes to commercial housing."

"Houses here are generally over 80 square meters, and there is also a purchase tax, so the housing prices are generally very expensive.
Mortgage interest rates are mostly around 3%, and most of the buyers are middle-class people such as technical backbones and middle-level managers in various factories.

"Further north, you will reach the foot of Penang Hill. There are villas all over there. If converted into Malaysian Ringgit, the cheapest one will cost nearly 200 million Malaysian Ringgit.
The overall design is similar to Victoria Peak in Hong Kong Island, where the higher you go the more expensive it is, and my own house is at the very top.”

“Overall, Penang’s real estate business, for me, the government, and the banks, has basically broken even, but the economy has been revitalized.”

Marshal Mai: "I heard that you in Penang do not prohibit the people from owning guns, and there is a shooting range open for citizens to practice.

"With so many buildings, they would be like fortresses in times of war, especially the welfare housing in the south. Even if there were only 100,000 guns in this city, it would be a foolish dream for the British to take them back now."

Hearing this, Zheng Yi smiled sheepishly and said, "So far, we haven't even produced 100,000 guns yet. We should only have over 80,000. We will strive to expand production a bit more in the next few years. We will definitely not let you down, Marshal."

Marshal Mai: “…………”

What fucking expectations.

As they spoke, Zheng Yi and his companions turned eastwards towards the coast. Zheng Yi introduced the situation, saying, "Marshal, please allow me to solemnly introduce you to Penang's industrial zone. This is the real foundation and lifeblood of Penang."

"Wow~"

Even someone as knowledgeable as Marshal Mai was shocked for a moment, especially the three large oil refineries in a row. Marshal Mai was almost unable to control himself. The scale of these chemical plants was even larger than any he had seen in the United States.

This is simply a steel city, and every piece of equipment is as big as a building.

"This factory is Penang Petrochemical, invested by Penang Chinese, your country's DuPont, and Shell Oil from the UK and the Netherlands.

It is also the first chemical company in the world to produce acrylic, polyester and other chemical fiber fabrics. The entire Penang has achieved its current development thanks to this factory.”

"This factory... is world-class, right?"

Zheng Yi smiled upon hearing this and said, "Simply speaking, based on processing capacity, these three plants are indeed among the top 20 oil refining plants in the world."

Marshal Mai: “When was it completed?”

"Among the three petrochemical plants, the Penang Petrochemical was the first to be completed, having been under construction for half a year. The slowest one was the Persian Oil plant, which was completed just last month.
The three plants have similar oil processing capacities, around two to three million tons, but their primary focus is on post-processing.

"However, under my coordination, the post-chemical operations of the three factories have formed a perfect complement to each other."

"The three plants combined are designed to process 700 million tons of refined oil, 80 tons of chemical fibers, 100 million tons of plastics, and 30 tons of various chemical products. As for asphalt, paint, dyes, etc., we don't count them; they're not worth much."

Marshal Mai frowned upon hearing this and said, "You actually have so many by-products! No wonder all the world's famous oil companies are vying to cooperate with you, Mr. Zheng. You're incredible."

"No, no, it was just luck. Our refining technology and processes are indeed a bit different from the current mainstream in the world, and we also pay more attention to these by-products."

“What’s the profit?”

"Profit... that's really hard to say, hahaha. Basically... the finished oil product can cover the cost of refining, and the remaining by-products are all profit."

Marshal Mai: “…………”

In this era, although people have begun to pay attention to petroleum by-products, the focus is still basically on refined finished oil products, and the by-products are very fragmented.

Especially plastics and chemical fibers.

Although plastic already exists, it is not affordable. In the United States, it is still fashionable to buy things in plastic bags. At least General Mai has never heard of the unit of plastic being "millions of tons".

How much money can this make? As he spoke, Zheng Yi took Marshal Mai out of the car and handed the sample to Marshal Mai from the staff who had already prepared it.
"The plastics I make are completely different from the plastics on the market before. Most of the plastics on the market are just artificial resins with limited application scenarios. The most popular product on the market is polyvinyl chloride, which is hard plastic.

It is suitable for making pipes and building materials. Through the extrusion process, it can be made into cables, slippers, toys, etc.
I heard that Germany has been trying to use polyvinyl chloride to replace natural rubber, but so far, it seems that the results are not very satisfactory. "

Upon hearing this, Marshal Mai took out a piece of Zheng Yi's plastic and placed it in his hand. He couldn't help but frown and said, "Your plastic is completely different from any plastic I've ever seen. It's actually completely transparent?"

"Yes, this is polyethylene. It contains less chlorine, which greatly reduces production costs and increases output. It is lighter, more transparent, completely insoluble in water, and corrosion-resistant.

At present, the use of this thing is relatively simple, mainly as a substitute for glass, making containers,

Although it is a new thing, our current customers already include beverage brands such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Bordeaux Red Wine, Budweiser, and Blue Ribbon Beer, as well as snack brands such as Wrigley, Morinaga Confectionery, Wafer, and Spam.

The most important thing is that, from invention to industrialization and then to mass production, everything has been done by me alone. In other words, this is actually a unique business, one of a kind."

Marshal Mai: “………………”

Although he is not from the chemical circle and is not very clear about the difficulty, he is the only one who does everything from research and development to production. Why does this sound so magical?

With an annual output of millions of tons of new materials, he couldn't even imagine how much profit this thing would bring.

"That means it's cheaper to produce and produces more than any other plastic on the market, right? So, the price..."

“The price is very cheap.”

Zheng Yi smiled strangely and said, "The production capacity of my factory is equivalent to more than 90% of the world's production capacity.

How can something with an annual output of over a million tons still be so expensive? The current bulk price is only $2000 per ton. Small profits but quick turnover, isn't it?

Upon hearing this, Marshal Mai couldn't help but think in his mind.

2000 US dollars per ton, 2000 tons is million, and million tons is...

30 billion???

US dollars???

These guys make so much money?????

Of course, this algorithm is not actually that correct. After all, this thing is still a new material and no one has seen it before, so it is a high-end product. Although its purpose is to replace glass, it does not mean that it is sold cheaper than glass.

As the subsequent production increased, the market also adapted to this thing. It is impossible for such a large-scale product to maintain a high-end status, and the selling price will definitely drop due to the influence of supply and demand.

But no matter how much it declines, at least in the first few years, the profit will definitely be in the billions.

Zero cost!

The cost is covered by refined oil!

Although the bulk of the profits still belonged to the multinational corporations, Marshal Mai did not know how much shares Zheng Yi and the Nanyang Chinese held in these industries.
But with only these three chemical plants, Marshal Mai is now thinking about more than just building an air force base to provide protection.

He had already begun to consider whether he could simply seize Penang.

But when I thought about the fact that everyone in this city is armed with guns and there are not very tall buildings everywhere, I suddenly felt a headache.

The city itself is an island, and it is almost impossible for armored troops to enter. If they only use light infantry to fight in the city, if they really have 80,000 guns, they will not be able to fight at all. Without an army of more than 100,000, they will not be able to break in.

This is based on the assumption that the citizens' will to resist is not strong.

If he really wanted to seize this city, Marshal Mai found that he actually had no idea how to do it.

And it seems that there is really no need to rob them, as these companies are all from the United States and the United Kingdom.

Damn, why are there still British companies!

Thinking of this, Marshal Mai wanted to deal with these British guys again.

It’s just a naval base with a dozen warships. It’s not impossible to do it.

"Besides this plastic, this other stuff..."

"Look, Marshal Mai, these are synthetic fibers. This piece of fabric is acrylic, and this one is polyester. Besides being used alone, they can also be blended with other fabrics to reduce production costs. It's a shame that neither of these two materials can fetch the same high price as nylon."

"I heard that stockings in the United States cost more than $1 each. Oh, it's not comparable, it's not comparable."

Marshal Mai: "After all, the production of nylon is limited. I heard that it's only a few hundred kilograms per year, so..."

"No, Marshal, I don't know how much DuPont produces in nylon each year, but I don't make nylon because I have an agreement with DuPont. My factory won't produce nylon. If I were to start production... I'd probably start with at least 100,000 tons."

Marshal Mai: “…………”

I couldn't help but start to imagine: the retail price of stockings in the United States is $1.5 per pair, and the wholesale price of the materials is $1 per pair.
A pair of stockings weighs only one or two ounces, a kilogram is twenty dollars, a ton is twenty thousand, and one hundred thousand tons is...

Fucking grab him! We have to grab this place!

When I get back, I will report to the gentlemen in Congress that I want to declare war on Britain's Far East Navy!
With so much money, it would be fine for Professor Zheng and the local people of Penang to take a small part of it. After all, it would be difficult for everyone to have guns. He is not the kind of person who disrespects science.

Why do British companies take away nearly half of it?
This profit is enough to cover the military expenditure of our great America!
No wonder the fucking British brought so many warships to Penang.

You are guarding against me, right?
Seeing that even Marshal Mai's breathing was heavy, Zheng Yi quickly explained: "Marshal Mai, please don't misunderstand me. These by-products of mine are far less profitable than nylon.

Although we have an output of 800,000 tons, we cooperate with Toyota in Japan to weave, dye and print them into finished fabrics and even sell them as ready-made garments.
The wholesale price of a piece of fabric is only $3-4, and we predict that the price will continue to drop after the novelty wears off. Ultimately, it is very likely that each piece of fabric will only sell for $1-2."

Hearing this, Marshal Mai couldn't help but glance at Zheng Yi.

I couldn't help but have the urge to kidnap him.

No wonder he said that asphalt, paint and dye are not expensive.

In comparison, isn't that money?

The revenue and profits of these three refineries are probably comparable to the financial situation of many small countries.

Of course, this money cannot be earned for a long time. To put it bluntly, what Zheng Yi is doing is all about the materials industry. And for materials, the output and price are definitely inversely proportional. It is estimated that such high profits will only last for five or six years at most, and the price will definitely fall within ten years.

Hair g! ! !

He has made a fortune in the past ten years!!

Besides...

"Professor Zheng, if I'm not mistaken, the remaining seven oil companies should have sent people to contact you."

Zheng Yi nodded calmly and said, "Yes, they have come to me. The refinery built by Standard Oil of California before only had the refining part, without the post-chemical part. Now I regret it. I originally set up a separate chemical plant, but now they have also invested in it."

"At present, the three companies I have worked with, Shell, Persian, and Standard, have already mastered these technologies.
We are currently rebuilding new chemical plants in the UK and the US, with the overall design approach being similar across all three plants. In Penang, we are also considering expediting the second phase of construction.”

"The remaining four of the Seven Sisters... they all came here to set up their petrochemical plants in Penang.
Of course, we Nanyang Chinese also want to invest, but we are still discussing how to invest and how to build the factory.
But I'm not in the talks anymore. My good brother, Li Xiaoshi, is in contact with them. I'm not really clear on the details of the talks."

Marshal Mai: “…………”

(End of this chapter)