Spy Wars: Red Shopkeeper

Chapter 257 Busy
Upon landing in Shanghai, everyone went home to rest first.

After that, I need to go to Nanjing to resolve Liang Hongzhi's issue.

However, Minister Zhou needs to talk to Gu Yansheng. "You've been away from Shanghai for a while, so you need to get a better understanding of Fu Xiao'an's situation. There can't be any problems with the funds."

After all, it's over 20 million yuan, all of which is the central bank's money. If Minister Zhou wasn't worried, he wouldn't be so carefree.

"Okay, I'll find out the situation as soon as I get back."

Gu Yansheng wasn't worried. The money was in the money shop, which was in He Yun's hands. He Yun was an accountant, and she also had her own stock trading team to supervise her. The probability of the funds running into problems was extremely low.

"Okay, hard work."

After saying goodbye, Gu Yansheng returned to the Huxi Teahouse.

"Minister, you're back." Ma Shiqi stood up to greet him.

"Hmm, how's Shanghai these days?" Gu Yansheng asked as he walked upstairs.

"Nothing serious, official business is being handled normally. Mayor Fu and President Sato of Mitsui Company called, and I informed them that you were on a business trip."

"Sato? Did he say anything?" Gu Yansheng walked to the coffee machine and made coffee.

"I asked, but they didn't say. They just said they'd call me back when they got back."

"understood."

It's nothing more than the pharmaceutical business and the like.

"Anymore?"

"There's one more thing. The assessment period for Xingya Institute is approaching, and they want us to conduct a tax audit. We need to report back in five days."

"Let Wang Rusong handle it. A tax bureau chief can't be visiting brothels all the time. It's his job. I'll just show up when he reports."

The new government is about to be established, and the entire system of the Asia Development Institute will soon be swept into the dustbin of history.

"I've already contacted them. Director Wang is in charge now. It's about how much tax those factories should pay. You'll probably have to decide for yourself whether to continue operating at a loss this time."

"We don't need to operate at a loss anymore. We still need to keep our promise to the Japanese, lest the Asia Development Institute think we're useless."

This is a problem.

The problem isn't with the tax; the problem is that cotton yarn mills only pay taxes when they sell their yarn, and Fu Xiao'an plans to raise the price of cotton yarn to 250 before slowly shipping it out.

"What's the current price of cotton yarn futures?"

"240."

It's about the same, not bad.

Gu Yansheng took a sip of coffee, picked up the phone, and called Fu Xiao'an.

"Haha, Mayor Fu, I heard as soon as I got back that the price of cotton yarn has risen to 240?"

"Minister Gu is back, that's wonderful! I happen to have something to tell you. I'll come find you, and we can talk in person."

"Okay, let's have a meal together then. I'll wait for you."

"You still insist on coming over," Gu Yansheng said, hanging up the phone.

"Shiqi, help me find a restaurant. Mayor Fu and I are having dinner later."

"Ok."

The phone rang again.

"Hey."

"It's me. Did you get Sato's call?" Ding Mochun's voice came through the phone.

Gu Yansheng waved his hand, letting Ma Shiqi, who was stopped by the phone call, continue to make a restaurant reservation.

"I haven't received it yet, but when we went out, the secretary received it, and you received it too?"

"Yes, my secretary said that Sato called. I thought it was most likely related to quinine. I calculated the time, and it is indeed about the one-year deadline we talked about last time. Is he calling to collect the debt?"

"should be."

They received a $400,000 advance payment for two tons of quinine, but only delivered a few dozen kilograms of goods in a year. This amount is not even a fraction of the drugs they smuggled, and they even used Mitsui's customs clearance documents.

From a business perspective, it's somewhat unethical.

There was nothing we could do; our partner was Japanese.

"How do we return those calls? Can't those pharmaceutical companies find another way? People in Southeast Asia can't be so vengeful, they'll just stop selling medicine, right? Everyone needs to eat." Ding Mocun had a headache.

"Let me call and ask about it, I'll get back to you later."

Gu Yansheng put down the phone and redialed He Yun.

"Hello, it's me. Where is Mr. Guo, the owner of Yong'an Department Store?"

"I think he's at the company. He should be at Wing On Department Store around this time."

"Okay, I'll go find him."

Do you need me to come with you?

"Okay, if it's convenient for you, come over here and we can go together."

"Okay, I'm coming now, I'll be there soon."

While Gu Yansheng was having a cup of coffee, he picked up He Yun and went to find Guo Linshuang.

Yong'an Department Store, Guo Linshuang's office.

After exchanging pleasantries, Gu Yansheng asked directly, "Boss Guo, how's the preparation of the cinchona bark I asked you to get last time?"

"Huh? You still want it? I thought you didn't want it anymore." Guo Linshuang looked surprised.

"Did I say no?" Gu Yansheng asked curiously, "Why would you think that?"

Guo Linshuang hissed, "After you mentioned this last time, I did inquire about it and contacted people to prepare to transport it to Myanmar. I was going to leave the rest to your connections, but you haven't mentioned it since, and no one has contacted me. I thought you had given up on it."

I see Miss He often, and she's never mentioned this matter. I thought...

"Why?"

Guo Linshuang laughed sarcastically, "I thought you were just here to trick me into selling shares, and you never intended to deliver goods to the Kuomintang-controlled areas."

"You're overthinking it. Things always depend on timing. It was just that the timing wasn't right before."

Gu Yansheng wasn't in a hurry to sell quinine to the Japanese.

Now that they're urging us, we can just get it done later.

Let's not dwell on that. "So now, if I want to produce ten tons of quinine, how long would it take you to transport it to the border area between Myanmar and Yunnan?"

"There's plenty of stock. There are no buyers in Southeast Asia right now. We have plenty of inventory and can take it away anytime. It just takes a bit of time for transportation. It will take half a month if it's fast, and twenty days if it's slow. It will definitely arrive."

"Okay, then you can place the order. You can discuss the money with Miss He. Miss He, please keep an eye on this matter."

He Yun nodded, "I'll handle it."

"Everything else will be handled as we originally agreed."

After explaining the remaining matters, Gu Yansheng left.

Driving back to the teahouse, Fu Xiao'an had already arrived.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Mayor Fu. I just got back and have a ton of things to take care of. I haven't had a moment's rest." Gu Yansheng greeted him with a smile. "You're a big shot in Mr. Wang's eyes now, of course you're busy. It's no big deal that I'm just here for a free meal."

"Thank you for your understanding, Shiqi. Have you found a restaurant yet?"

"It's already booked, and I guarantee it will be discreet."

"Alright, Mayor Fu, please."

Gu Yansheng and Fu Xiao'an arrived at the restaurant for a meal.

In the box.

Gu Yansheng was actually quite curious. "Mayor Fu, I heard that the price has been raised to 240. This seems to be much faster than the pace you told me last time."

Before his business trip, the price was only 180, but in the past few days the price has increased by 60, doubling his profit.

"Something's gone wrong."

After finishing his meal, Fu Xiao'an put down his chopsticks and said, "I originally planned to wait until the price reached 200 before testing everyone's patience and making more people believe that a price increase for cotton yarn was inevitable."

Things have developed in a similar way. Under my promotion and control, stock investors are now very enthusiastic and have even shouted that cotton yarn futures could rise to 500 yuan.

But isn't this a requirement for the Asia Development Institute to pay taxes?

I thought to myself, this timing is not right. If we delay too long, we won't be able to explain it to Xingya Institute. So I called you to discuss with you about starting to ship the goods slowly so that our accounts will look better.

Otherwise, with so many fewer cotton mills, the tax figures this time would be terrible, especially for your western Shanghai, where the bulk of the revenue comes from cotton mills, right?

Gu Yansheng nodded.

Fu Xiao'an said, "I knew you were away on a business trip, so I had to make the decision myself."

"Oh~" Gu Yansheng understood and generously said, "It's all fine, Mayor Fu, you can decide. The task for Xingya Institute will definitely be completed. Will it go smoothly?"

"Smoothly, too smoothly." Thinking about the process, Fu Xiao'an smiled brightly, took a sip of wine and said, "Brother, let me tell you, it's such a pity you weren't here these past few days, you missed a great show."

Those people in the concession, didn't I set them up and get a bunch of short positions? They held onto them at 155 yuan, and I couldn't bring myself to cut my losses!
Then a few days ago I pulled up to 180 and stopped. Do you know what these people did?
I sold off my shares, and these people at 180 added a bunch of short positions, hoping to recoup their losses in one go!

Fu Xiao'an excitedly tapped the table, "I was waiting for them to place their orders, and then the news from Xingya Institute came, right? I released all the good news at once, and the price went straight up to 200!"

These foreigners completely lost their nerve, chose to surrender, cut their losses and leave the market, then went long! The price immediately surged to 260 yuan!

"All of them were removed?" Gu Yansheng's eyes lit up.

“A portion.” Fu Xiao’an smiled. “I can sense that there are big players leaving the market. If they pull up the price, then I will short it in return. The price can’t rise too fast. It takes time for us to release our goods. We can’t help them carry the price up, right?”

Now that I've sold my shares, they're starting to suspect that I'm going to dump them.

Now they're washing it back and forth at 220, 240, and 260, it's terrifying them.

Cotton yarn is now available for immediate shipment, with the first batch priced at 250 yuan per kilogram at the factory price.

However, these out-of-town cotton yarn merchants are not very accepting of the price now. After all, it's 100 yuan more expensive than in previous years when prices were at their peak, and they're afraid they won't make a profit if they take it back, so they're hesitant to buy it.

"We'll take care of their transportation. Before, they had to give gifts to others and were afraid of being cheated by the Japanese. Now we'll take care of it. They order the goods, and we'll be responsible for delivering them to their cities."

Be firm, or you can set quotas for them directly. Tell them they must buy, and set a uniform price for everyone. If everyone pays the same price, they will definitely make money.

But if you don't buy, they'll raid your home, shut down your factory, and arrest you.

Forced buying and selling? Fu Xiao'an raised an eyebrow. Gu Yansheng was ruthless enough. "It's one way. We have to guarantee our own income."

If the merchants in the Japanese-occupied areas weren't exploited, who would they exploit? If they weren't happy, they could go to the Nationalist-controlled areas to fight against the Japanese. Gu Yansheng didn't stop them.

“Let’s do it this way. We can’t afford to lose money. Minister Zhou has repeatedly emphasized this, Mayor Fu, we need to put our hearts into it.”

“Of course.” Fu Xiao’an nodded. “Then I’ll arrange the spot trading. First, we need to ensure our tax revenue and achieve a remarkable result, at least a 50% increase.”

“Okay, you can arrange it. I’ll have a merchant from western Shanghai contact you.”

A 50% increase is hardly much. The price of cotton yarn is already three times higher than at this time of year, but the cost remains the same, resulting in a terrifyingly high profit margin.

“Sure.” After discussing making money, Fu Xiao’an chatted for a bit, “Brother Gu, did you know? Foreign funds have already entered the Shanghai stock market to buy at the bottom.”

"Really?" This judgment is similar to Gu Yansheng's. "How did you figure that out?"

"In the past, the Shanghai stock market only had so much money. If a few stocks were pulled out, the funds in other stocks would be withdrawn, and the prices would fall. Now, we are involved in cotton yarn, which has gathered a lot of funds, but other stocks are rising instead of falling. The increase is not large, but I can see that international capital is interested in Shanghai."

In other words, we don't have enough money. Once we've finished this cotton yarn project, we can move into other industries and make another profit.

Gu Yansheng was certainly interested in something like ripping off foreigners.

"We'll see how things go then."

After finishing his meal, Gu Yansheng, not minding the lateness, called Sato Seiken of Mitsui.

"President Sato, long time no see. I heard from my subordinates that you called me? Okay, let's talk tomorrow."

The next day, Gu Yansheng went to the Mitsui Trading Company to find Sato.

"Mr. Gu, please have a seat." Sato served tea.

"Mr. Gu is currently very busy, and I hope you haven't forgotten our agreement. The time is approaching, and the headquarters urgently needs this medicine."

“Quinin, of course I haven’t forgotten.” Gu Yansheng smiled and said, “In fact, after the accident with quinin last time, I have been trying to find a way to solve the problem of these merchants being unable to go to the island to buy it.”

I've tried many times and paid a heavy price, but I've finally found a viable path, and I believe we'll see results soon.

"Oh?" Sato suddenly perked up. "I wonder what method Mr. Gu has found?"

Gu Yansheng took a sip of tea. "I analyzed all the possibilities and found the only way to ensure a stable supply. That is to avoid the blockade imposed on Japan and have people in Chongqing place orders with various countries in Southeast Asia. This way, the goods can be legitimately transported to Burma and then through the Japanese military's defense zone to reach the Nationalist-controlled areas."

Sato, quick-witted, immediately grasped the entire operational process: "Are there people in Chongqing willing to help us?"

“It’s not exactly helping us openly.” Gu Yansheng shook his head. “They wouldn’t dare take the risk, and they can’t directly import quinine under the guise of developing medicine, researching quinine production, and importing cinchona bark from Southeast Asia.”

Then it was produced by pharmaceutical companies in the Nationalist-controlled areas.

We paid them money, and local officials provided cover.

We don't say anything, they don't ask, and everyone understands without saying a word.

Even if someone investigates, given their capabilities, it's perfectly normal for the drug production line to be substandard and lack experience, resulting in many products being scrapped.

In reality, the drugs are produced well and then shipped back to us.

"I see." Sato nodded with a slight frown. The situation was indeed a bit more complicated than before, but it made sense logically.

Moreover, given the greed of local officials, they will help them cover this up.

Just
"Is their drug production capacity reliable? The quality of these drugs cannot be too poor; they are for military use in combat, and the military headquarters will inspect them."

Gu Yansheng certainly knew this. Quinine, after all, was used in the southward campaigns, where malaria was rampant, so its quality had to be excellent.

But isn't there no other way?

"I can't guarantee that, but I think it's better to have something than nothing. If you really don't think it's feasible, I think we can order a professional production line to ship it over."

Have a researcher from a Japanese pharmaceutical company write out an operating procedure; that should be fairly accurate.

Sato thought for a moment, "How much tree bark can I buy?"

"It's definitely a few tons, but the exact amount depends on the officials' skill level. I'll have the businessman bribe the local officials. If that works, the quantity will be large, depending on their rank."

"Okay, we'll do it your way. Thank you for your hard work."

For the southward campaign, quinine was a necessity, and Sato had no other choice.

(End of this chapter)