I'm in the county town, and you say I'm a big shot?

Chapter 821 "What he wants to do is actually very simple. It's like being China's Elon Musk."

In early spring, the morning mist hangs like a veil among the layered tea mountains, tender green buds are covered with dewdrops, and the air is filled with the refreshing aroma of tea.

Dressed in dark casual attire, Ma Yun walked among the tea bushes, accompanied by Alibaba's current CEO Zhang Yong, MYbank President Huang Hao, and others, inspecting the implementation of Alibaba's "Great Tit" project here.

"Great Tit" is a rural satellite remote sensing credit technology system launched by MYbank, a subsidiary of Alibaba. It uses satellite imagery to identify farmers' plots of land, crop area and type, thereby assessing yield and value, and ultimately providing farmers with convenient loan services.

The name was proposed by Fang Qingye, president of Jinghai Bank, at the Lujiazui Forum in July of that year, with the idea of ​​using high technology and big data to solve the risk control difficulties in small agricultural loans.

However, Jinghai Bank had limited resources, so Ma Yun borrowed this idea and used Alibaba's strong capabilities to conduct pilot programs in some areas of Guizhou Province, with Pu'an, Guizhou being one of the pilot areas.

This area produces black tea, especially "Pu'an Red," which stands out in the tea industry for its unique charm of being "ancient, early-maturing, pure, and fragrant." It is also one of the important clients of MYbank's microloan program.

Today we are visiting the Hongfu Sisters Planting Farmers Professional Cooperative, founded by the four Ran sisters. They lead more than 500 villagers to plant thousands of acres of tea trees and have created the "Dongfang Ran" tea brand. It is a model of poverty alleviation in the area.

Ran Yinghuan, general manager of the Hongfu Sisters Cooperative, was showing Ma Yun on his phone a loan he had just secured. "Teacher Ma, that's amazing!"

Ran Yinghuan's dark red face was full of smiles. "I didn't go to the bank or submit a bunch of documents. I just tapped on my phone, and the money was approved very quickly! They said that the satellite in the sky helped me 'see' the growth of my tea garden and estimated its value."

Huang Hao, president of MYbank, explained in detail: "Teacher Ma, this is the core of 'Great Tit'. By analyzing multispectral satellite remote sensing images, we can accurately identify the geographical location, boundaries, and area of ​​tea gardens in various sister cooperatives, and even determine the tea tree variety and health status by the color and density of the leaf crowns."

"This AI model can predict his approximate output and value this year with relatively high accuracy. With this 'airborne risk control officer,' we can be more confident in providing credit support to farmers who lack traditional collateral."

"This is precisely the pain point we need to tackle next," Huang Hao frankly stated. "Currently, we rely on data from multiple remote sensing satellites both domestically and internationally, but there are indeed bottlenecks in terms of the frequency and customization of data acquisition. If we can acquire or deeply cooperate with more exclusive and flexible satellite resources, or even build a remote sensing constellation optimized for agricultural finance, the 'Great Tit' satellite's insight and accuracy will achieve a qualitative leap."

Ma Yun nodded in agreement.

The group rested in a pavilion by the field, enjoying freshly brewed Pu'an black tea.

Huang Hao seemed to recall something and casually remarked, "Speaking of which, there's an interesting trend in the industry. Fang Qingye's Tuofang Technology just acquired a controlling stake in 'OK Micro Aerospace' a couple of days ago. OK Micro's core team comes from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and focuses on the research and development and operation of micro satellite constellations that integrate communication and remote sensing. Their technological approach seems to coincide with our future needs."

"Fang Qingye acquired a company that makes microsatellites?" Ma Yun's hand holding the teacup paused in mid-air for a few seconds. He didn't continue speaking immediately, but slowly brought the teacup to his lips and took a sip.

"Yes, that's confirmed. Through an off-exchange public equity transaction, 35.67% of the shares of OKMicro were transferred from Zhuhai Orbita Company for RMB 3450 million, making it the largest shareholder of OKMicro," Huang Hao said.

"Oh," Ma Yun replied, then suddenly asked Zhang Yong, who was sitting next to her, "Zhang Yong, do you understand what Fang Qingye is trying to do?"

Zhang Yong pondered for a moment, then habitually adjusted his glasses before answering:
"Fang Qingye's move was somewhat unexpected. Tuofang Technology's core strengths lie in the internet and finance, and its sudden foray into the hardcore satellite manufacturing is quite a leap. He is laying the groundwork for the next generation of communication infrastructure for its core businesses such as ByteDance, Ele.me, and Jinghai Bank, addressing key needs such as global content distribution, unmanned delivery networks, and precise risk control that may be encountered in the future. This is a strategic investment with a long-term vision."

Ma Yun quietly sipped her Pu'an black tea, her gaze fixed on the boundless tea mountains outside the pavilion. Only after Zhang Yong finished speaking did she slowly place her teacup on the table, making a soft, crisp sound, and look at him.

"Zhang Yong, your analysis is excellent. You've calculated Fang Qingye's 'business account,' but have you considered another aspect? Is it really worthwhile for him to independently build and operate a satellite constellation that could cost tens or even hundreds of billions of yuan for his own video, food delivery, and bank risk control businesses?!"

"Fang Qingye's vision extends far beyond this. He's not building a 'private road' from point A to point B; he's drawing up a 'space internet' that covers the globe and connects everything. What he wants to do is actually quite simple: be China's Elon Musk."

As he spoke, his gaze unconsciously drifted towards the sky.

Under a blue sky and white clouds, a flock of unidentified birds flew merrily by.

A brief silence fell over the tea pavilion.

A Chinese Elon Musk? A Chinese version of Starlink?!
Is this idea too simple?!

Zhang Yong's expression turned serious as he fell into deep thought. After a while, he slowly spoke, "If Fang Qingye really builds a Chinese-style Starlink and becomes a 'basic service provider' for the future digital world, just like cloud services are today, then we need his data today, and tomorrow our cloud, our e-commerce, and our global trade may all have to run on this 'space orbit' he has built."

Ma Yun nodded, but a hint of regret showed in her eyes.

The successor in front of me, the helmsman of Alibaba, still lacks vision and strategic thinking.

Of course, he couldn't say this aloud in front of everyone.

He then looked at Zhang Yong and asked, "Have you watched the TV series 'Bright Sword'?"

Zhang Yong was taken aback. He was thinking about how to deal with this sudden situation as the CEO of Alibaba, and he didn't expect Ma Yun to ask this question.

After a moment, he smiled and replied, "I've watched it on and off. This drama is quite good. It's not a ridiculous anti-Japanese war drama. It perfectly captures Li Yunlong's spirit of 'the brave prevail when paths cross'."

"That's right. There's a part where Li Yunlong attacks Ping'an County, and his comrades and even allied troops come to help."

Ma Yun's tone turned serious and meaningful, "This time, Fang Qingye wants to build China's Starlink, and I, Ma Yun, will also lend a hand!"

"Are we, Alibaba, cooperating with him?" Zhang Yong hurriedly asked.

Ma Yun didn't answer directly, but smiled slightly: "He builds satellites, we'll build rockets! He has the stars, I have the arrows!"

(End of this chapter)