What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 471 Disaster to Chiyu
Tang Wenrun came to Guangzhou to avoid trouble. Before leaving, he specifically instructed others not to reveal his whereabouts and to decline all visits or phone calls.

After a morning of "fantasizing" with Changbus, he went to Shuangyashan University in the afternoon, both to see his two "nieces" and to experience the legendary wonderful university atmosphere of the 90s.

However, how to sneak into the school became a problem. Tang Wen might be able to get away with it because of his looks, but the ship girl was too conspicuous.

Finally, the two sneaked to a corner of the wall, called Yan Jing to ask for backup, and then climbed over the wall. As soon as they landed, they heard a sound from the bushes:

"What are you doing here? Outsiders are not allowed in!"

Two security guards rushed out at once. One of them was surprised for a moment when he saw Tang Wen's face, and then looked at the blonde woman next to him.

As everyone knows, the biggest gossip about Tang Wen is that he always has a foreign girl by his side and frequently makes public appearances with her. In this day and age, it's hard not to attract attention.

……

"Mr. Tang, on behalf of the school, I warmly welcome you!"

"Uh uh uh……"

Tang Wen shook hands with Principal Lin Zhengyin with great embarrassment, tacitly covering up what had just happened.

Although the principal tried his best to assure him that the story would not be leaked, he could already imagine that for a long time to come, Shuangyashan University would have a legend about the richest man climbing over the wall to get in.

One more dark history point in this timeline.
The sudden shift to a public visit made Tang Wen somewhat uncomfortable, but the school leaders were overjoyed.

Something has been happening in university circles recently:
In addition to moving the aviation machinery factory back from Shanghai, Tang Wen also moved the technical school, which was originally supposed to be merged into Tongji University, along with its staff, to Goose City.

To satisfy the teachers and students, he not only paid for their resettlement expenses, but also approached Southeast University of Technology when he landed at the aircraft factory in Guangzhou, hoping to turn the technical school into their affiliated college and obtain the same graduation certificate.

Southeast University of Science and Technology was of course willing, because Tang Wen donated a building and also invested in the establishment of a laboratory to develop a part of the electrical system for the domestic production of McDonnell Douglas 11.

This time, there's some dirt on a big shot who circumvented the Great Firewall, so surely something must have been left behind, right?

Sure enough, before they could even speak, Tang Wen couldn't resist offering hush money:
“I happen to have a friend studying here. I heard that the computer class is not very well equipped. Gaijin Network is willing to donate 500 of the latest high-performance computers and also contribute one million yuan to organize a computer competition to develop everyone’s interest in computer technology.”

"Thank you so much, you are so generous."

Lin Zheng immediately grasped his hand, and millions were in his hands in an instant!

Tang Wen didn't actually feel like he was losing out. These early programmers he trained would most likely end up working for Gaijin Network, and who knows, he might even find some top-notch tech talents among them.

After the two made a deal, they began to wander around the campus discreetly. Tang Wen couldn't wait to match the surrounding scenery with the scenes in "Fleet of Time," and he really felt that special sense of the era that was both old and trendy.

As they walked, Lin Zhengyin's eyes suddenly lit up, and he led Tang Wen to a person and introduced him:
"I almost forgot, this is Academician Zhang Bingyuan of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, who also happens to be here today."

Tang Wen had no recollection of this person; after all, he could hardly remember any academicians from later generations. However, after exchanging greetings, Zhang Bingyuan took the initiative to strike up a conversation:

"Hello Mr. Tang, speaking of which, we might have some business dealings... Do you know about the Xue Long icebreaker?"

"Xuelong? A polar research vessel?"

Tang Wen suddenly remembered that the Xue Long was an icebreaker under construction by the Alliance before its sudden collapse. It was later bought by China and its construction continued, becoming China's first 10,000-ton polar research vessel. At this time, it should have only been in service in China for two or three years.

However, due to a lack of experience and Er Mao's perfunctory work, the early Xue Long had many problems. It wasn't until the new century, after extensive modifications, that it began to be deployed more frequently. Zhang Bingyuan's statement suggests that the Xue Long might have encountered problems.
"When the Xue Long made its maiden voyage in 95, we discovered many improvements. It is still being upgraded in the dry dock. Who knows, we might ask the Geyser Shipyard for help someday."

Zhang Bing was just making a polite conversation, but Tang Wen suddenly thought of something and asked:
Are there any plans for further research in Antarctica in the near future?

"Not now. There's been some trouble in Antarctica lately, with the Hans incident. We'll have to wait until things stabilize. Right now, everyone at our research station is preparing to evacuate."

However, I can't just sit idle; the expedition team will be heading to the Spratly Islands next.

"The Spratly Islands? Is that related to polar expeditions?"

"It's all geology, so I need to find something to do, and besides..."

Zhang Bingyuan's expression became confused, and after hesitating for a moment, he still said:

"Isn't your geological model from Gejin quite different from the mainstream theory? The supercomputing institute has calculated the Lile Beach area many times, but it's still not quite right. Now, the Ministry of Petroleum and the Geological Bureau are preparing to conduct a large-scale hydrological re-survey of the entire South China Sea to develop a more complete theoretical model."

Tang Wen: "..."

……

This was the longest Friday ever for Young Master Li.

In fact, it's not just Cheung Kong Holdings; all major shipping companies and import/export trading businesses are experiencing declines, but Cheung Kong Holdings has been hit by multiple blows:
In the real estate market, the pack of wolves Hughes gathered weren't there to help Tang Wen; the latter had simply pointed out a target for them to prey on. Who wouldn't want to tear a piece of flesh from it?
In terms of public opinion, Tang Wen has been clamoring for more restrictive measures, which immediately caused many people to become unsettled at this critical juncture.

Shipping was the third and final obstacle that brought them down.

The Yangtze River stock market triggered a cooling-off period and fell by 10% as soon as the market opened this morning. Fortunately, although it continued to fall afterward, it stopped at a dangerous 8.5%.

After all, it was a starved camel, and shareholders still didn't believe that such a commercial empire would collapse so suddenly. Moreover, Li Xiaochao was doing his best to borrow funds to save the market.

Around noon, good news arrived:

The Imperial Navy announced that all submarines in the two canals had been sunk and reactivated its emergency response to strengthen escort operations on key shipping routes, indicating that the mere U-boats were no match for them.

This caused the downward trend in prices to begin to recover. After all, shipping was booming during the last war, and two submarines were not enough to terrify people.

At noon, it was reported that several U-boats appeared on the east and west coasts of the Empire, announcing a unilateral blockade of the waters surrounding the Empire.

The imperial authorities immediately issued a statement denying the rumors, stating that the two oceans were impregnable.

Before the advent of mobile internet, the truth could not be verified, but an hour later, there was solid news confirming that the Japanese shipping company had forced three car carriers bound for the west coast of the empire to turn back.

The empire is not only the world's most powerful industrial nation, but also the largest consumer market; once it is affected, it is almost equivalent to affecting the entire world.

As a result, the market groaned again, and with financial speculators frantically selling off their holdings and spreading false information to confuse the public, Cheung Kong Holdings triggered its second cooling-off period.

Even more unexpectedly, the global aviation industry also encountered unimaginable setbacks during the same period:
Several airlines have begun canceling or postponing transoceanic flights to the Empire State for unknown reasons.

(End of this chapter)