What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 695 Became Number One in the World

In fact, this is not the first time that the Maritime Joint Defense Team has helped the Navy with training. Bai Hantao has already brought three batches of naval academy students here.

However, these students from maritime schools already possess considerable skill after years of study, and going to sea is merely to gain more practical experience. Once they officially enter the navy, they will all become officers, and the navy's biggest shortage is in basic crew members.

Many of these crew members are recruited from the community, and there is a huge shortage (currently about 20,000). Including logistics personnel, a total of about 40,000 to 50,000 are needed to meet the demand.

The training conditions for ordinary sailors are far inferior to those for cadets. Cultural education is relatively easy, but practical training often relies on imagination and self-made models. Onboard training is even less frequent.

The maritime joint defense force currently has one aircraft carrier, four battleships, four cruisers, and nine destroyers, which would require 15,000 personnel at full strength. Even without the armaments, it would still require around 10,000 personnel. However, the entire crew of Geykin only has 2000 personnel, and considering that only a little over 1,000 are on duty during normal shifts, large-scale deployments are extremely rare.

Helping to accommodate some crew members is a minor matter, and it can also solve the problem of insufficient patrol force in the Natuna-Nansha area that has been giving Tang Wen a headache, so as to better combat illegal fishing activities across the border.

The sailors sent by the Navy for training have all completed cultural courses and basic skills training, and they are able to get up to speed faster than the sailors trained by the Dawang Technical School itself.

"That is indeed a good idea."

Old Zhang thought this measure would be quite useful, since practice can educate people faster than theory, and the maritime joint defense team is deployed very frequently and often goes to the far seas. He estimated that after half a year of training, they would be qualified sailors.

As for Tang Wen's request for him to take the lead in the training plan, he could roughly guess what it would entail. It might involve leading the maritime joint defense team to rampage around Southeast Asia.

Tang Wen was interested in a large number of highly qualified personnel who had undergone screening and initial training, while the Navy was interested in the rare practical experience; both sides could benefit from it.

Therefore, he has the confidence to be more frugal with the training fees.

"The training fee is approximately..."

"cough"

Tang Wen, who was not usually concerned about money, interrupted him:
"They can only enter as students, and of course they have to charge tuition."

Old Zhang immediately realized his mistake and, realizing he had almost made a big mistake, quickly followed up by saying:

"That's right. The allowances and sea subsidies for the trainees will definitely be paid by the Navy. Food, lodging and training costs will be calculated separately, based on the quotation from the Maritime Joint Defense Team."

Tang Wen then nodded:
"Don't worry, the decision of the Goose City Fisheries Association to accept trainees into the Maritime Joint Defense Team is also a joint effort between the military and civilians. We will only charge the cost price."

"...It's good that the military and civilians help each other. I'll go back and report now."

Seeing the closed door, Tang Wen had already begun planning the expansion of the maritime joint defense team.

The two Iowa-class battleships sold to Art have already begun construction, so Geigin himself can't keep using that bunch of old stuff. He has to add a few new ones as his flagship... Montana, Columbus, or the super-battleship Louisiana?

……

BCC: Millersavich expresses willingness to discuss the Coswa issue.

CCN: Richard Holbrook arrives in Belgrade with the investigation team to mediate the conflict.

Tang Wen had just returned to Echeng from Yangjiang when he witnessed Millersavich's decision.

Compromise, peace.

Undoubtedly, the empire, stretched thin, accepted Millersavich's humble stance, but could this bring peace?

He vaguely remembered that the Southern Alliance had also reached a peace agreement in the second half of the original timeline, but the continuous air raids in 99 still started anyway.
But in any case, the empire, overwhelmed with its own resources, did temporarily accept this peace... and so on.

Tang Wen seemed to have thought of something, and after pondering for a while, he went to Gaijin Network Technology Company first.

Upon entering his private office in the new office building, Song Nan immediately reported on the company's achievements:

"Our registered users have officially exceeded 2000 million, and our daily active users have surpassed 400 million. DaWang BBS is now the most popular forum in the world!"

Tang Wen, who was deep in thought, couldn't help but interrupt his thoughts:
"So fast? There are only a little over 100 million internet users worldwide, right?"

Song Nan's expression was a mix of amusement and exasperation:
"Boss, is there any other company in the world that can compare to us? Back then, you mobilized almost all netizens with your lottery events, and we have a unique upgrade mechanism, algorithm-recommended trending posts that regularly create explosive topics, and the million-dollar bounty you offered a few days ago... Apart from losing a lot of money, BBS is all good!"

"..."

What kind of new compliment is this?
However, upon closer examination, it becomes clear that BBS, thanks to Tang Wen's continuous hype and antics, does indeed offer a much richer content experience than its competitors.

What is the essence of the internet? It's memes, emotional value, and sharing (getting things for free), and only a sufficient amount of rich content can generate this.

In fact, Tang Wen did not intentionally manipulate it, but the tricks of the internet in later generations were already ingrained in his bones. Sometimes he would subconsciously operate in that way, and unknowingly became the internet overlord of the grassroots era - but apart from Gai Jin, the rest were indeed just small fry.

As for whether such a large size and status will be investigated under the guise of anti-monopoly, especially since the vast majority of netizens are in the United States?

This simply doesn't exist. Putting aside Tang Wen's position in the FCC, on the other hand, the internet is not profitable at all in the current era, and Da Wang BBS's daily losses are setting records.

In order to maintain a smooth experience in this era of extremely limited network speeds, BBS didn't even bother with pop-up ads.

In reality, the FCC and even telecommunications departments worldwide perceive BBS and Twitter as follows: some oil tycoon has too much money to spend and wants to find a place to show off.

Newcomers like Yahoo and Google were trying to find ways to generate revenue, but Company X and Gaijin Network kept optimizing their products without ever considering making money. The more users they had, the more they lost, which even made the most financially powerful investors hesitant.

The reason why BBS, a wildly popular product, wasn't resisted by its competitors was that Gaijin Network and Company X placed a large number of server orders with manufacturers such as Dell, HP, and IBM to operate the world's largest forum, which caused a boom in the chip market and inadvertently helped internet companies drive down server prices...

However, Tang Wen had no objection to being the "victim" in this case. People at present have not fully realized the power of discourse and new media tools. Even decades later, 400 million daily active users will be a well-known product.

"Since both of them broke records, we can't leave without doing something. Let's give them some small gifts... Find a few good clothing and toy factories, customize a batch of Golden Snail dolls, baseball caps, and hoodies, and give them away in a lottery based on price and quantity."

"Yes, I feel that once this post is published, the daily active users might exceed 500 million."

Song Nan thought to himself, "If this is done all the time, which user wouldn't like surfing the BBS?"

However, just as he was leaving, Tang Wen called him back and turned him around:

"Wait, I almost forgot the important thing. Arrange for a few people to help me search for news from the last two months."

Song Nan immediately became serious:

"What kind of news are you referring to?"

"that is……"

Tang Wen lowered his voice and explained, and Song Nan was surprised by the request but still immediately went to arrange manpower.

A moment later, there was a knock on the office door. Tang Wen turned around and saw Song Nan and a beautiful female college student next to her... "Panpan?"

When Guo Panpan heard him greet her, she just waved shyly and then immediately lowered her head. She was clearly well-versed in the ways of the workplace—always prioritize obeying your immediate supervisor and avoid communicating with superiors.

But it was obvious that Song Nan knew the identity of this person with connections—he already knew her identity when he was first sent to the Greater Bay Area from Giant Company!
Although it's not obvious on the surface that this young lady and the boss have any intimate relationship, who can say for sure about such things?

He quickly stepped forward and said:
"Guo Panpan came to the company as an intern at the beginning of the summer vacation, but she is definitely a genius. She optimized the post recommendation algorithm on her own and is also very knowledgeable in web scraping technology."

However, she'll be returning to school soon, so it's not convenient to assign her too many tasks. Now, I'll help you gather news.

"alright."

Upon seeing Tang Wen nod, Song Nan immediately slipped away, not forgetting to close the door behind her.

The moment Guo Panpan closed the door, her slacking off vanished, her carefully constructed facade crumbling instantly. She collapsed onto the guest sofa, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.
"Is this the atmosphere of the CEO's office? I wonder when I will be able to reach such a level."

Tang Wen couldn't hold back any longer:

"Where did you learn to use these words?"

"Isn't this what you wrote in 'Urban God of War'? Everyone's using it."

"..."

I almost forgot, Tang Wen initially wrote a novel called "King of Soldiers, Divine Doctor, Urban Fantasy, Rebirth, School Beauty, Dragon King's Son-in-Law, Invincible Protector" to attract traffic to the BBS. Later, he only updated a few chapters occasionally when he remembered.

However, due to its novel subject matter and the combination of various famous scenes, many popular memes on BBS today come from "Urban War God".

However, seeing Guo Panpan half-lying on the sofa swinging her legs, Tang Wen felt it was necessary to maintain the president's dignity, so he lowered his voice:
"Woman, do you know what you're doing? Get up!"

Since "Urban War God" hadn't yet reached the domineering CEO plot, Guo Panpan immediately stood up obediently. Seeing Tang Wen's teasing expression, she realized he was just playing a prank, but still decided to report on her work first:

"The news categories you need are small and easy to find. I can find them all in two days at most, and I will compile them and send them to you on the third day."

"Very good... Where's my niece? Didn't she come in with you?"

"..."

"Jingjing is in Beijing. When she came here, she went to the animation team. She got along well with Teacher Han and then went to study painting."

"You're quite good at drawing."

Tang Wen sincerely said that although Yan Jing's professional civil engineering will be incredibly brilliant in the future, there are also plenty of pitfalls, and she will be finished when the investigation is carried out.

"Let's go back to school soon, I'll treat you to dinner."

"Um...can you come to my house for a meal? My mom said you've helped us a lot and we've been wanting to thank you in person."

"also."

After Guo Panpan went to school, Tang Wen didn't really go out of his way to help her, but with him around, An Yu, a soon-to-be widow, was spared a lot of trouble, and her life became much more comfortable thanks to the tourists.

Seeing that Tang Wen agreed, Guo Panpan was obviously much happier. Although she was still a little uneasy on the way back, it was clear that the atmosphere of the workplace gradually faded away, and she returned to the state of a soon-to-be junior in college.

Tang Wen was somewhat dazed when he realized this. He had just graduated from high school the summer he came here, and in the blink of an eye, he was already of working age.
At that time, Guo Panpan seemed to be a naive young girl who lent him her novels, but now she is a junior intern whom he needs to avoid at all times... and so on.

What are you wearing?

In the late summer, Guo Panpan was only wearing a T-shirt, and under the light, some outlines could be seen underneath... It wasn't what one would imagine; it looked more like some kind of protective gear? Or even a bit like a bulletproof vest?
"This? BackJoy, Jingjing bought it for me. She said that wearing it every day will help me keep my back straight and my posture good, but it's a bit tight and uncomfortable to sit on."

Tang Wen had also been controlled by this thing when he was a child, and in an instant, the ancient memory was awakened, and his face immediately darkened:
"This damn thing is useless; wearing it might even have the opposite effect."

"Huh? Why?"

As Tang Wen in the back seat earnestly discussed the evolution of the spine from quadrupedal crawling to bipedal standing, the importance and necessity of its natural curvature, and the dangers of losing the spine's curvature, Li Daqiang, driving in the front, silently shook his head.

Is it reasonable for young men and women to talk about human anatomy in a car?

……

In Goose City, it gets dark very quickly at the end of August. When Tang Wen walked out of the Guo family's house, it was already quite dark outside.

An Yu was cleaning the house when Guo Panpan was pushed down by her to see him off.

Tang Wen glanced at his tree-lined avenue. Although the car lights were on, Li Daqiang hadn't gotten out. So he turned around and met Guo Panpan's eyes.

The warm light of the incandescent bulb shone on the courtyard gate, which was full of life. Only then did Guo Panpan realize that Tang Wen was so young, but his face was still serious.

"You really look like an old man, always with a long face."

"Have it?"

Tang Wen subconsciously forced a smile, but what he saw was Guo Panpan's disgusted and terrified gaze, as if he were seeing the smile of a clown killer.

"..."

I almost forgot, his mental age is almost 30, which means he's considered a middle-aged man.

To be precise, it's not that he doesn't smile, but rather that the innocent smile of a college student no longer belongs to him. After all, whether as a core figure in Gaijin or the emperor of the lost empire, his position carries a heavy burden.

However, he refused to admit defeat verbally:
"This is the constraint of knowledge. The more knowledge you have, the more profound your laughter; the less knowledge you have, the more simple and unadorned your laughter. If you don't believe me, go to the west and find a boy who can ride a horse to try it out."

"Don't believe me."

After Guo Panpan finished speaking, the two fell silent again. Almost a minute later, when Tang Wen was about to say goodbye, she suddenly spoke:
"What my mom said today... don't overthink it."

The distance between them allowed Tang Wen to involuntarily breathe in the fragrant and slightly refreshing scent, which, though faint, made his heart beat faster.

Even though Tang Wen felt he was very calm, he couldn't escape the influence of his evil instincts.

He wasn't the clueless male protagonist in youth literature. His rich experience of navigating the upper echelons of the world with both light and dark forces passively honed his keen insight. In fact, from the very first glance he saw her again, he sensed something in her eyes, and this became even clearer during their time together after their reunion.

(End of this chapter)