Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 137: Is Penang going to open a branch base?

In Penang today, as long as the plan proposed by Zheng Yi himself is not too outrageous to be understood by others, no one will oppose him.

If it was three years ago when he had just taken over Penang, and he said that digging auxiliary tunnels and air-raid shelters would cause the Japanese to invade, this plan would most likely be completely rejected by the Penang Council on the grounds of being a waste of time and money.

But now he said he would dig, and no one objected.

He said that the Japanese would attack, but no one in Europe and the United States believed him. However, in Penang, everyone was seriously analyzing the possibility of this happening, and most people agreed.

Although Zheng Yi also knew that this recognition was probably just verbal recognition.

Directly renting soldiers from the two generals and having them work for them was naturally outrageous and did not seem like a normal business operation at all.

They even have to rent European and American warships.

But no one stood up to oppose this outrageous proposal. After all, this was what Zheng Yi wanted to do.

Who knows what deeper meaning he has?
Li Xiaoshi said, "Penang is indeed facing a severe population constraint right now. But, Ah Yi, the influx of people can be accommodated, but what if there's not enough food? According to you, Penang needs another one or two million mouths to feed, all young men without families. The food supply would have to double."

Yi Guangyan: "Indeed, if that's the case, even importing rice from Siam might not be enough to feed us. If Siam were to suffer a flood or drought and its harvest were to decline, Penang would be greatly affected as well."

Zheng Yi said, "This is the second important thing I want to tell you. I have come up with a solution to Penang's food problem. Not only do I want to get food, I even plan to turn Penang into a food processing center."

"Food processing center? Huh? What... does this mean?"

This so-called food processing center is really too outrageous, much more outrageous than the so-called rented soldiers.

Qian Qiwen: "Yes, Yilang, Penang is not self-sufficient in food. In addition to purchasing food from Kedah, Perak, and Perlis, it also has to import a large amount from Siam.

The cost of food is extremely high. Even to sustain Penang’s own food needs is already quite difficult. The cost of food is there.”

However, Qian Qiwen and the Li family have now taken the initiative to stand up and raise questions. This idea is really too fantastic.

Tan Kah Kee also said, "Yes, Mr. Zheng, the current labor cost in Penang is not low, but the market is not big. The food processing industry has no technical content and it is difficult to sell at a high price. If we want to enter the overseas market..."

Penang's main market has always been in developed countries in Europe and the United States, and it is an export-oriented city-state that is seriously short of food and even fresh water.

But the food industry.

How much money can you make from food? Even if it doesn't spoil or rot when sold to the European and American markets, is the profit really enough to cover the shipping costs?

Penang is not only facing a shortage of land, but also a shortage of transportation capacity. One port is not enough to handle Penang’s current cargo throughput.
They are working day and night to build a second port, and there are even plans to build a third port.

Where is the transportation capacity to transport things with such low profit?

A city with serious food shortage is engaging in grain processing?

Isn't this nonsense?
When it came to military and national affairs, none of them dared to speak too much or express their opinions, and they all followed Zheng Yi's lead.

However, when talking about business, these veterans in the business world immediately became professional and raised their objections to Zheng Yi.

Zheng Yi, however, said, "Of course, I have considered all of what you have said. However, I believe that Penang has its own necessity and advantages in developing a food processing industry."

“Let’s start with the necessity, which is the food shortage in Penang.”

“We have a population of less than four million in Penang now, but my prediction is that within the next few years, the population of Penang will reach between six and seven million.”

"The food production on the Malay Peninsula alone is not enough to feed so many people. Although the Malay Peninsula is hot, the soil erosion is too serious.
There are many mountains, and even if the Malays and Indians don't eat any food, the grain in the entire peninsula is not enough to feed so many mouths in Penang."

"Currently, Penang's largest source of food imports is Siam, primarily Siamese rice. But don't forget, Siam is pro-Japanese, and the overall social atmosphere there is also hostile to Chinese people."

"It is absolutely ridiculous to rely on a pro-Japanese, anti-Chinese Siamese government for the lifeline of our food supply in Penang. What will we do if they stop selling us rice?"

“I have actually thought about stockpiling food, enough for all the people in Penang, so that they can survive for at least a year if no external food is imported.”

“Everyone, I reiterate to you once again that the Japanese will eventually attack Southeast Asia and attack Penang. This is not my groundless worry, but it is very likely to happen.

Although I do not believe that the British and American navies will abandon Penang, nor do I believe that the Japanese are truly capable of blockading Penang Island under the tenacity of the European and American navies, it is still necessary to be prepared for the worst.

"But simply hoarding, and constantly moving old grain to prevent it from spoiling, is too costly. It's a pure waste of money with no profit, and it's not commercial at all."

"Furthermore, I recently paid attention to the food in the workers' canteen and it was shocking. Penang cannot be self-sufficient in food, so everything is expensive.
Although we have imported a large amount of rice from Siam, other non-staple foods besides rice are in dire shortage.”

"Everyone's life has obviously improved now, but I've seen that the workers still mostly eat rice. Besides rice, they usually have some pickles, bacon, and... lots of curry and fruit."

"Aren't we Chinese? Why do we eat curry and fruit with rice? I asked and found out that fruit is damn cheap, and curry goes well with rice. This eating habit is almost like Indian shit."

Qian Qiwen: "All the food and grain in Penang has to be shipped by sea. Except for rice from Siam, the transportation cost of other non-staple foods is really too high.

Moreover, the indigenous peoples of the surrounding countries are mostly Mumu, and even worship oxen. As for meat, even if you have money, you don’t know where to buy it, so it’s naturally expensive.”

Zheng Yi nodded and said, "So I say that it is very necessary for Penang to develop the food processing industry, not only for exports to Europe and the United States, but also to enrich the dining tables of us Penangites. I really don't want to see the Chinese in Penang eating curry every day anymore."

"I don't like to waste food, rather than store food for no reason and waste a lot of food every year.
Simply storing food for backup is too unbusinesslike, and we'd have to rely on Siam for our lifeline. I think it would be better to do the opposite and expand food imports tenfold, a hundredfold, to become a food distribution center for Southeast Asia, Asia, and even the world."

“Penang now needs to import more than one million tons of food every year. Instead of stockpiling one million tons,
I think it would be better to expand the scale and increase grain imports to 10 million tons, 20 million tons, 30 million tons, or even more than 100 million tons."

"I want all the rich grain in Asia, Oceania, Europe, and America to be shipped through Penang on a large scale. I will also build another port specifically for handling grain and non-staple foods."

“This way, we don’t have to go to great lengths to stockpile food, which is so uneconomical. By then, we can just take a little from the stockpile and it will be enough for Penangites to use.”

"And most importantly, Penang will have a vastly improved supply of food and non-staple foods. I no longer want to see my dear workers, after a tiring day, only able to eat curry and rice. The smell of curry will choke them wherever they walk. Someone who doesn't know them would think Penang is an Indian city."

Li Jiqian: "This... Where's our profit from such a large-scale grain handling and processing? We can't be losing money, right? If this is treated as welfare, then the cost..."

Zheng Yi: “This is about the advantages of Penang. Penang has been developing for such a long time. When has it ever been able to gain a foothold by relying on low costs?
You guys have an outdated business mindset. When doing business, you can't just look at the cost, you have to look at the selling price. Our business philosophy in Penang has always been, screw the cost, we just keep the price high, the cost is bullshit."

As he spoke, Zheng Yi snapped his fingers and Li Lili behind him took out a big bag and took out the contents one by one. However, they were all things that no one present had ever seen before.

"Let me introduce them to you. These are potato chips, these are sausages, these are biscuits, and these are instant noodles. Pass them out and try them to see if they taste good."

"Sir, this is... this is... made of plastic? Using plastic to wrap a snack is way too extravagant."

Zheng Yi sneered, "What's the price of plastic? Isn't it all up to me?"

Everyone: "…………"

"Plastic is expensive now because it's new and it's in short supply. I own over 90% of the production capacity, especially polyethylene. I own % of it."

"The more I ship myself, the faster the price drops, and the lower my profit margin becomes. So if I use the product myself, it can be much cheaper."

"Using plastic for disposable packaging is lightweight, waterproof, moisture-proof, and resistant to oxidation. Take this bag of potato chips, for example. As we all know, potato chips won't be crispy if you don't eat them at night."

"But potato chips wrapped in plastic are completely different. If you inject nitrogen into them, even if you open them six months later, the chips will still be crispy."

As he spoke, Zheng Yi crunched the chips and took a bite.

"Other snacks are similar, like biscuits and the like. This is sausage. This kind of meat can be put into a plastic bag and vacuumed to remove the air, which greatly extends its storage life."

“In short, this is the first and biggest advantage of Penang in developing food processing.

I can offer you relatively cheap plastic packaging, and no one will be able to match this advantage for at least five years, or even ten years.”

"If our competitors want to imitate us, I can guarantee that their packaging costs will exceed our shipping costs."

As he spoke, Zheng Yi solemnly took out a pack of instant noodles and introduced:

"Everyone, look at this instant noodle. It's a flatbread made of flour. We just need to soak it in boiling water and add the seasoning packet, and soon we can have a bowl of steaming, fragrant and delicious noodles."

"Of course, this isn't the most important thing. It's just a tiny, insignificant innovation. The noodles you're eating now were made by my wife at home. They're not industrially produced. If any of you want to make them later, go figure out the flavor yourself."

"What's really important is that I added a chemical element to this dough: benzene. Coincidentally, the raw material for this element is petroleum. If I slightly improve the production process, I can extract it."

"This thing can be used to make preservatives. Just adding a tiny amount to food can ensure that the food will not spoil for a long time. If added in small amounts, it is harmless to the human body."

"Take this flatbread as an example. Originally, the flatbread we made after fermentation and frying would become sour and inedible after being left at home for two days.

But with plastic packaging, which is waterproof, moisture-proof, and oxygen-proof, and with the addition of preservatives, I can guarantee that even if you eat this bag of food a year later, it will still taste as good as it did the day before.

As he spoke, Zheng Yi handed over a bowl of instant noodles and asked them all to have a bite. In an instant, this group of tycoons who usually lived a life of luxury were conquered by the rich flavor.

Of course, this thing is not that delicious, and none of the people here are country bumpkins who have never seen the world. The key is this application scenario, there is so much to imagine.

It is not easy to eat meals cooked over a fire everywhere. In this day and age, even for these wealthy people, when they go out, such as by plane, train, or ferry, to be honest, the food they eat is probably not as good as instant noodles.

The taste of fresh and delicious delicacies is locked in through technical means, so that they can remain fresh for several months or even a year.

Just by thinking about it, everyone immediately came up with many different sales channels.

Biscuits, sausages, potato chips, these things at least have unquestionable and obvious military value.

While plastic packaging is expensive, it can be recycled after use. This isn't a big deal. If Zheng Yi offers a discount, this business could be viable. Currently, Zheng Yi sells most of his plastic to food and beverage manufacturers. Coca-Cola and Budweiser already use large quantities of plastic bottles. By recycling plastic bottles, costs and sales prices can be controlled.

As for the high-end market, it is not difficult. Europe and the United States basically have temperate climates. Most Europeans and Americans have probably never seen tropical fruits.

Even for a few wealthy people, the tropical fruits they eat are always overripe and not sweet enough.

Nanyang is located in the tropics and is rich in tropical fruits. However, the storage and transportation of fruits, especially tropical fruits, are too troublesome.
Things like mangoes rot within three days of being picked and ripe, and cannot be sold far away, so they have no economic benefits.

But if it is made into jam, preservatives are added, and sandwiched between biscuits to become cream mango sandwiches, it is specifically targeted at the upper class in Europe and the United States.

There will definitely be no problem selling it!

How much money does this make?

It’s no wonder that Zheng Yi wanted to set up a so-called food processing center in Penang, a place that doesn’t produce any grain at all.

Some people are even more clever and, after a little thought, realize that this is actually a good way to wash plastic.

Plastic is still very expensive now. Zheng Yi is now selling cheap plastic at a discount to his own people. So everyone can just put a few taels of fried rice in the plastic packaging, and then sell it to customers and let them throw it away.

Seeing everyone taking turns to eat and unable to help but discuss heatedly, Zheng Yi also smiled happily.

If Penang could really become a food processing center that handles millions of tons of various foods every day, then it would not need to store food specifically. The inventory of various companies alone would be enough to ensure self-sufficiency in food during the war blockade.

Even if the Japanese really have the ability to blockade Penang, it will only last for a year at most, and this is already the bottom line thinking.

The United States launched a counterattack in the Pacific battlefield in 42. Considering Penang’s current position as a heavy industrial center, the first battle of the US counterattack would definitely be to rescue Penang.

It’s just a year, at worst we can just eat instant noodles and snacks together.

By the way, it can also greatly benefit the people's supplementary food.

After all, he is a ruler. Although whether the people have enough supplementary food has no direct impact on him.

But if his citizens have more food to eat and live a happier life, he will feel more accomplished.

Zheng Yi lit a cigarette for himself and watched with a smile as everyone discussed how to make food and what kind of food could be produced mechanically and taste good.

After finishing a cigarette, Zheng Yi saw that they were chatting quite happily, so he tapped the table lightly with the pen in his hand, and soon, all the heated discussions stopped.

"Let me briefly tell you about my plan."

"Penang itself has almost no agricultural production, and the Malay Peninsula doesn't even produce enough food for Penang itself. A large amount of land is planted with cash crops, which is basically useless."

"Almost all food must be imported. We must ensure that all import channels are regular and multi-sourced. We must never rely solely on a single source of food."

"At present, it seems that there are only a few categories that need to be imported on a large scale."

"Meat, storable grains like corn, potatoes, and soybeans, staple foods like rice and flour, and tropical fruits."

"There's not much to say about meat. If it's imported on a large scale, there are only a few sources. For beef, it's Argentina.
For lamb, Australia and New Zealand are the best choices. Their cold chain technology is now quite mature, so we can just import large quantities from them.”

"Penang is relatively close to Australia and New Zealand. I encourage Chinese people to go out and start farms there. I also think we can try to raise pigs on a large scale there."

"The imported meat is made into sausages and hams and sold mainly to the British and American armies. There is nothing to say about this.

I just hope that those leftovers, such as lamb ribs, can be placed on the tables of Penang people, so that ordinary people can gnaw on meat bones every now and then, and eat a few sausages every other day, and I will be very happy.

Everyone nodded when they heard this. After all, the situation before World War II was different from that after World War II. Even in developed countries in Europe and the United States, meat was relatively rare. There were only a few countries that could really export meat products on a large scale.

Eating meat is a luxury for most people in most countries.

"As for tropical fruits, there's no need to talk about them. There's a lot of fruit on the Malay Peninsula, Siam, the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, the French East Indies. There's so much, we have no shortage of fruit sources at all."

"We can just buy these things directly from the natives. If necessary, we can also help them open up wasteland.
If there are some virgin forests, they should be burned. Don't worry about environmental protection. This can be considered as Chinese people leading the local indigenous people to become rich together."

“And to be honest, fruits and meat are just icing on the cake for our food processing industry in Penang and are not fatal.”

"The most important thing is the import of agricultural products, especially grains. I believe there are three main sources: domestic, Southeast Asian, and Indian. These three sources complement each other."

"Let's talk about the domestic situation first. General Li wants our support and hopes to cooperate with us.
No problem, I really like Guangxi's sugarcane, taro, tea, and all kinds of aquatic products. Of course, it would be even better if he could sell me rice.

If he is willing to sell, I will buy it. I can give him 10% of the floating profit and buy it in US dollars."

"Doesn't he want industry? I think we can open a few sugar mills over there and export all the sugar produced to me."

Li Xiaoshi frowned and said, "Guangxi isn't wealthy to begin with. If they export crops on a large scale, will it cause food prices to soar?"

Zheng Yi: "With food prices soaring, just let the people join the army. If they can't afford it, just send them to me and I'll rent them!"

Everyone: "…………"

Wow, after taking a detour, I ended up back here.

"Besides Guangxi, I know that the potatoes and corn in Yunnan are very good. Corn flakes, popcorn, and potato chips are relatively easy to make, and they are suitable for all ages. I plan to import large quantities of potatoes and corn from Guangxi and cooperate with General Long."

Everyone was stunned after hearing this. After a while, Hu Wenhu said, "General Long and I are quite familiar with each other. The highland potatoes in Yunnan are excellent. The cores are all sweet.

The locals do eat potatoes every day, the production is huge, and they're quite wealthy, but... Yunnan doesn't have convenient sea transportation, so how do they get the potatoes out?"

Li Jiqian also said: "I have visited Yunnan. There are not only good potatoes and corn there, but also extremely rich mineral resources.
However, transportation is too difficult, and there are mountains everywhere. To be honest, General Long has always hoped to cooperate with us, but his transportation capacity is limited.

Zheng Yi said, "I understand. So, I plan to build a railway from Kunming to Yangon to revitalize Yunnan's resources and put them to good use."

"This is the third point I just made. We need to get food from Southeast Asia. Apart from Siam, the most suitable region for growing rice in the entire Nanyang region, and the region with the largest rice production, is Myanmar. There are also about 190 million Chinese people in Myanmar, right, Lao Hu?"

Hu Wanhu: "Ah... indeed, indeed, there may be even more. Some states, such as Ruogan, are said to have been under the Ming Dynasty. They can change their ID cards and become Han Chinese. If you add these Han-like people... there may be two to three million... probably."

Zheng Yi: "Look, two to three million Chinese. Apart from Malaya, this should be the region with the largest Chinese population in Southeast Asia, right? It may even be not much less than the Chinese population in Malaya."

"We in Malaya are so short of food, and they in Myanmar produce so much. Why haven't they thought of exchanging what they have before? I think there's only one reason: transportation is inconvenient."

"A railway can not only revitalize Myanmar's rice production, but also Yunnan's potatoes, minerals, and other resources such as minerals and oil."

"Finally, there's the third source I mentioned, India. Yangon is actually very suitable as a transit point between Penang and India. We can actually import large quantities of food and resources from India to Yangon, and then divert some of them from Yangon to Yunnan and some to Penang."

"Once this railway is completed, the economies of Yunnan, Penang, Myanmar, and even India will all be revitalized. It's simply perfect."

Everyone was completely dumbfounded when they heard this.

Building railways, shouldn’t this be the job of the state?

We are just a bunch of ordinary businessmen. What kind of railway can we build?
"Mr. Zheng, you, you are not very clear about the cost of building a railway, this..."

Zheng Yi interrupted, "I don't think it's a big problem. From Kunming to Yangon, the whole journey is about 2,000 kilometers. Although the specific cost is uncertain,
But I estimate the total cost is only about 20 to 30 million US dollars. Can't I come up with 20 to 30 million US dollars?"

"Of course, I also know that the terrain this railway passes through is quite complex. It's mainly plateaus. We have to build roads through mountains and bridges over rivers. Some places are really impassable, but that's okay. We can just change to another highway if they're blocked."

Everyone: "…………"

For a moment, it was a little hard to understand.

Just to eat some plateau potatoes.

Spending tens of millions of dollars to build a railway?

Just because you have money doesn’t mean you can be so willful, right?
"Mr. Zheng, Myanmar is not our territory after all. We are not familiar with it."

Zheng Yi asked Hu Wenhu, "Aren't we familiar with Burma?"

"This... is the British side after all... and the Burmese Colonial Administration and the Malay Colonial Administration are not subordinate to each other."

Zheng Yi turned to Li Xiaoshi and said, "Can you talk to the British Colonial Office and ask them to give me Rangoon, just like Penang?"

Li Xiaoshi: "You want to pack Yangon?"

Zheng Yi: "Yes, I have thought about it. Penang Island alone is small, but the idea of ​​self-sufficiency in food is really scary to me.
I've thought of many ways to solve this problem, and I don't think it's a big deal if I can just spend money to solve it."

"If the British agree, we will open a branch base in Yangon to help Penang solve its food self-sufficiency problem. We can even consider relocating some of our light industry there."

Li Xiaoshi: "What if the British don't agree?"

Upon hearing this, Zheng Yi leaned back in his seat, crossed his legs, and lit a cigarette.

"When I said I wanted to take care of it, I was actually giving face to the British. If they nodded, it would be good to me and them. If they didn't nod, I wouldn't give them face."

"Oh, Lao Hu, aren't you familiar with General Long? This railway will definitely be built with him and me. Ask him if it's okay for me to provide the money and materials and he to provide the manpower.
Besides, I was thinking, if you can herd one sheep, you can herd a flock of sheep. Since General Chen and General Li have both raised the flag to resist the Japanese, can you please ask him if he wants to resist as well? I can support him just like I support General Li."

(End of this chapter)