Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 4 Young Master Li Xiaoshi
"My name is Li Xiaoshi. I was disrespectful just now. I hope you won't blame me. Sir, do you want to smoke?"

As he spoke, the eldest young master took out a cigar from the drawer of his office and gave it to him.

"Thank you."

Zheng Yi took the cigar. Knowing that Li Xiaoshi was testing him, he was not in a hurry. After taking the cigar, he cut the head and started to roast it easily.

But in his heart he muttered: 'So, the eldest young master is Li Xiaoshi. The Li family in Kuala Lumpur is actually this kind of Li.'

In his previous life, he had worked on a project in Malaysia and had stayed there for a long time. He knew very well that the name Li Xiaoshi still had some weight in Malaysia.

This person is a double master of law and economics at Cambridge University, president of Cambridge's student union, and a classmate of King George VI of England.

It is said that when King George VI visited Singapore, he refused to take the bus arranged by the Colonial Office but took the private car of his old classmate, and Lady Elizabeth also called him "Angkou Li".

This person raised a total of 10 million yuan during the Anti-Japanese War. Like Mr. Chen, he was the patriotic overseas Chinese who donated the most to China.

The first bomb dropped by the Japanese in Kuala Lumpur did not hit any government or military base, but the mine of the Li family. After occupying Kuala Lumpur, they even offered a reward of 60,000 US dollars for him.
During World War II, he served as a colonel staff officer in the British Far East Operations Department. At the same time, he also secretly worked as a spy for Baldy to gather information about the British army and act as a liaison officer, also as a colonel staff officer.

It's just that he was too deeply involved with the British and did not stand firm in the British anti-Chinese movement after World War II, so he was also branded as a British running dog.
Later, he founded the Malaysian Chinese Chamber of Commerce and became one of the founding leaders of Malaysia. He was also the first Chinese Finance Minister, which seems to be the highest official position a Chinese has ever held in Malaysia.

A Malaysian who loves both China and Britain.

Of course, Li Xiaoshi was also observing him. Seeing him cut the cigar, roast the cigar, and smoke the cigar, he was extremely natural and smooth. It was obvious that he had smoked cigars before, and he couldn't help but laugh.

Cigars are very expensive these days. To be honest, the lives of ten piglets are not as valuable as the cigar in his hand.

"With your knowledge, bearing, and skills, you shouldn't have fallen to the point of being a piglet, right? Could you... tell me about it? Of course, if it's inconvenient, forget it."

Zheng Yi also knew that he had to pass this hurdle. After all, it was outrageous that a piglet could repair this kind of machine imported from Germany. If he couldn't explain it clearly, people might think he was sent by a competitor.

Fortunately, Zheng Yi was prepared for this and said, "I'm actually from Fuzhou."

"Fuzhou? Very few people from Fuzhou go to Southeast Asia."

Zheng Yi smiled and said, "Yes, many people from Fuzhou go to the United States. My father went there early in his life and made money from business. He paid for my university education there, and I got a master's degree from MIT."

"After my father passed away, I didn't like the United States very much, so I sold my family property and returned to my hometown to start a business."

Zheng Yi put on a wry smile and said, "I didn't expect the waters back home to be so treacherous. I lost my composure and was scammed out of everything. I also... well, I'm lucky to be alive."

"Oh~, so that's how it is."

Li Xiaoshi did not doubt him and actually nodded sympathetically. The waters in China are indeed very complicated. His family also has businesses in China and they have a deep understanding of this.

Of course, the water in the South Seas is not necessarily shallow.

"Mr. Zheng, do you think the German machines I bought all have similar problems? Is there any solution?"

"Master, you can just call me Zheng Yi. I cannot bear the title of sir. If you can get a full set of German spare parts, I can handle the routine maintenance.

If it breaks, as long as it's not a serious problem, I can probably do some simple repairs."

Li Xiaoshi: "Then I will call you Brother Zheng, how about that? And don't call me Young Master. I'm a few years older than you, so just call me Big Brother."

"Okay, big brother."

"Ah."

Li Xiaoshi nodded happily. He had received a Western education, studying in Hong Kong Island and Cambridge respectively. He did not like many traditional Chinese things, including being called "Young Master" by others.

Li Xiaoshi said, "I'm afraid... it's still a bit troublesome to get German spare parts. These machines can only be purchased through connections. They are actually smuggled goods. If we want spare parts... can we buy a lot at once? If we buy them as needed, it's not practical."

"Oh~" Zheng Yi understood after hearing this. It was trade protectionism.

British Malaya was a British colony after all. There was no reason for a British colony to sell German goods. It was good enough to be able to buy American goods.

In fact, in the field of mechanical equipment, German products are far superior to British products in terms of both price and quality. If Britain and France had not joined forces to exclude Germany in their respective colonies, there would not have been two world wars.

"Brother Li, how many German machines are there in the mine?"

"Taiyou has nine mines, and Jinluntai has sixteen. Each mine has about a dozen types of large and medium-sized equipment. Taiyou's mines use more German equipment, while Jinluntai uses more British equipment."

Zheng Yi thought for a moment and said, "Actually, any piece of machinery has both specialized and general spare parts. I wouldn't say much about specialized spare parts, but as for general spare parts, they're basically just filters, seals, valves, instruments, and lubricants. The only difference is the standards."

"We can't handle lubricating oil and instrumentation, but we can actually produce filter elements, seals, and valves ourselves. Even if the maintenance cycle is a little shorter, at least we can get a bargain."

"If the technology matures, you can also form an engineering team to go to other mines and factories to take on equipment repair and maintenance work. This can not only generate income, but also improve your prestige among our overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia.
More importantly, it will also help us Chinese get rid of our dependence on foreign technicians. If I'm not mistaken, big brother, you've suffered a lot from them, right?"

"With our own Chinese parts and based on this, maybe in the future, we will have our own equipment factory."

Li Xiaoshi's eyes lit up when he heard this.

"How much does it cost to build this parts factory?"

"I'm sorry, I can't give you a specific number right now. Mainly because I'm not very familiar with the prices here. I need to do some research."

"No matter how much money I put in, I'm determined to build this factory! Even if I have to sell everything I have, it's worth it just to see machinery and equipment made by us Chinese people!"

You have to know that in British Malaya, the British were too lazy to care about the affairs of the Chinese. The Kapitan that existed has now been abolished, and the Chinese Advisory Council that was later established has become a joke because of Tan Kah Kee's withdrawal.

In Southeast Asia, if Tan Kah Kee participated in the Chinese Advisory Council, this would be the highest authority of the Chinese. But if Mr. Tan withdrew, this crappy department would be worthless.

Why is Tan Kah Kee so awesome?

Two words: prestige.

In the Chinese community in Southeast Asia, whoever has prestige is the actual manager of the Chinese.

And no one can really explain what prestige is.

The reason why wealthy Chinese people in that era were so willing to donate money to the country was not necessarily because they were kind-hearted or patriotic, because in many cases, the more money they donated, the more prestige they had. Ordinary people might not know what you have done, but everyone still knows who donated the most and who is a great philanthropist.

In Li Xiaoshi's view, simply donating money to gain prestige is ultimately somewhat inferior.

If the Chinese could have their own technology, repair their own machines, or even make their own machines, how much prestige would that give him?

Li Xiaoshi was ambitious. With his family's property and his friendship with George VI, it was not difficult for him to become the leader of the Guangdong overseas Chinese community.

But his prestige as a leader of overseas Chinese in Guangdong was far inferior to that of Tan Kah Kee, a leader of overseas Chinese in Fujian.

In history, this guy was determined to compete with Tan Kah Kee in terms of donations for the Anti-Japanese War. He insisted on donating as much as Tan Kah Kee did. Who would believe that he did not have the ambition to match or even surpass Tan Kah Kee?

Compared to prestige, money means nothing!
"Brother, would you like to settle down in my business and work as a technical expert for a while? Don't worry, I will definitely satisfy you with the salary."

"Brother Li, you're joking. I'm just a piglet bought by the eldest lady. If I don't work for the Li family, where else can I be?"

It was also a coincidence that just as they were talking here, Xiaohuan knocked on the door and came in: "Master, this is Mr. Zheng's indenture and IOU."

Li Xiaoshi took it, tore it into pieces without even looking at it, and said, "What piglets? My Li family never uses piglets. Brother Zheng, you can leave if you want to, or stay if you want to.

It is an honor for us at Taiyou Mining that you have joined us. We two brothers will join hands to build a backbone that belongs to us Chinese people. This will be worthy of our reputation as great men who stand tall and proud! "

(End of this chapter)