I was reborn without dreams

Chapter 198 Selling Cell Phones, Getting a Boost of Morale
"Uncle, do you still know how to use a gun?"

"Let the fart go."

After finalizing the aquatic product sales and agency business with his colleagues from Yuzhang Province in Jiangning City, Uncle Zhang was about to return to Pengcheng without stopping.

I was supposed to take the train, but I couldn't buy a ticket and was too lazy to buy one, so I continued driving my beloved 1.8-liter black manual Volkswagen Santana.

The train was chosen because the fighting has been fierce lately. Zhang Da'an isn't afraid of the "nannies" anymore; they can just be taken in after they die. But strictly speaking, he only has two or three relatives, and Uncle Zhang is one of them.

Normally, Zhang Zhengdong's rank wouldn't qualify him for bodyguards, but Zhang Da'an borrowed two from the "Imperial Guard" in Jiangning City.

The "Imperial Guard" typically operates this business overseas, using the "consulate" or "embassy" system.

So Zhang Da'an first arranged for Jorge Gonçalções to have the title of staff member of the Portuguese Consulate in Luzhou, with the position of Special Technical Expert for Mongolia.

Why Mongolia?

Because another function of the Portuguese Embassy in China was to handle diplomatic affairs related to Mongolia, it was just a side job.

Even a dog on a leash can do it.

Jorge Gonçalvis couldn't get this position on his own, but Zhang Da'an could.

Incidentally, Santos Jr. was also an expert on Mongolian affairs for Portugal.

Although they didn't understand Mongolian or Cyrillic, the secretaries did all the work anyway.

With this connection established, the Portuguese consulate applied for security protection, which was in principle for the "Imperial Guards" in Luzhou. However, at the repeated requests of the Portuguese consulate, the "Imperial Guards" in Jiangning temporarily took on the job.

The two "Imperial Guard Instructors" were also accompanied by translators, but they were never used.

Upon arrival, we were informed that Professor Jorge Gonçalvis planned to conduct an in-depth investigation of Pengcheng in Jiangkou Province and had formed a deep friendship with Mr. Zhang Zhengdong, the county magistrate of Fengyi County in Pengcheng City.

You go first.

How deep is this friendship?

It was about 30 centimeters thick, a full foot of Euro cash.

Spending this much money in Portugal is quite extravagant. Even people from ordinary families who can get a job have to be careful when buying a bottle of Coke. These days, in some remote areas, a Coke can cost as little as 0.8 euros or even 1 euro.

Big cities are a bit better, but not by much.

A foot of euro cash...

With an excited heart and trembling hands, even Manuel II would have to step aside.

"The Hu family's personal gunmen are not in Hongdu these two days, so be careful. Don't drive yourself, let the two young men take turns driving."

"Do you have a gun? If so, give me one. I'm the best shot in the whole company and the third best in the whole regiment."

"..."

Seeing Uncle Zhang's matter-of-fact expression, Zhang Da'an gestured with his thumb and forefinger to indicate that he had a gun. "Here, take it and use it."

"..."

The two dark-skinned "Imperial Guards," who had been keeping a straight face, were amused by the conversation between the uncle and nephew.

Couldn't help it.

"What are you laughing at! Step forward! Run to Pengcheng!"

"Yes!"

Zhang Zhengdong shouted, and the passenger in the front seat suddenly straightened up, instinctively responding and preparing to get out of the car.

"Are these two people who were invited not mentally sound?"

"..."

"..."

Looking at the "Imperial Guard" who had come to his senses, Uncle Zhang turned to look at Zhang Da'an and said, "If this level of skill were in my time, it would have been a hindrance."

"Alright, stop pretending. Uncle, I might be planning something big around National Day. You and Auntie should stay in Pengcheng and not go back to Shazhou."

"And what about your grandfather?"

"He's still traveling, don't worry about him, he has so many comrades-in-arms."

"I'm leaving."

"Aren't you going to ask me about it?"

"You."

Zhang Zhengdong pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He had actually quit smoking, but he still offered one to his two bodyguards. He then gave the rest to his two bodyguards. With a cigarette in his mouth and his eyelids drooping, Uncle Zhang said, "If you were going to die, you would have died long ago. Let's go."

"..."

Only those familiar with the uncle and nephew would understand the subtext.

They're more dangerous than a menace; at worst, they'll be seriously injured, but dying isn't that easy.

With a launch start, the Volkswagen Santana sped off in no time.

They sped along the road, and it was easy to drive north through Yangtai, except for the traffic. Uncle Zhang really liked this road.

However, he was accompanied by quite a few vehicles, including a minibus. Besides comrades from some impoverished counties in Yuzhang Province, there were also people from the provincial Ocean and Fisheries Bureau and the Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, who were communicating with Yuzhang Province about exclusive sales and agency sales. If it were just about domestic sales, there would be no need for such a complicated arrangement.

There are also experts in the food processing industry, not just people from "Zhang An Foods". Yu Chi De has limited experience in meat product development, but he has many friends in Luzhou and Northeast China. Coincidentally, because Zhang Da'an was about to start a full-scale war with the Hu family, the rumored official mediation was also seen, which shows that other forces were involved.

The main reason is that Zhang Da'an had just broken ties with the Hu family when he immediately attended a provincial briefing.

The meeting summarized its main points in one sentence: effectively carrying out the re-employment work for laid-off workers is crucial to the overall situation of reform, development, and stability, and has significant political, economic, and social implications.

The full-scale conflict between Zhang Da'an and the Hu family could create a considerable number of jobs.

That's not just the case in Jiangkou Province, where local residents are draining resources. At the end of last year, the re-employment service center had 6.8 million registered unemployed people. Zhang Da'an, this "Nine Thousand Years Old," is now essentially destroying his family and wiping out his land. The "Single Whip Law" would be a waste for Zhang Juzheng, but it works quite well for Zhang Da'an.

The difference lies in their approaches: one is upright and honorable, the other is wicked and heretical.

The key point is that Zhang Da'an didn't do it out of any ideals; he simply wanted to destroy the Hu family, and there was no other reason.

This puts many organizations at ease, since in a sense, Comrade Zhang An is sincere and doesn't have any particularly bad intentions.

It was indeed quite bad.

From a multi-sectoral perspective, the total new wealth generated by society is more than enough to distribute to the 12 to 13 million new workers each year.

However, the reality is quite harsh: only about eight million new jobs are created each year, while there are still 150 million surplus rural laborers who need to be transferred to other areas.

That's strange, why is that?
Now there are two people with the surname Zhang, one named Zhang An and the other Zhang Zhengdong. Their craftsmanship in Jiangkou Province is truly exceptional.

The title of "three-time champion" is too prestigious to be discussed here; however, the case of the "dog meat county head" is very instructive because the Jiangkou Rural Education and Employment Pilot Demonstration Zone has achieved benchmark results in the transfer of surplus rural labor.

Zhang Zhengdong can go to Beijing to receive the award directly next year without any problem. However, because his achievements are getting bigger and more numerous, it would be better to postpone the queue to the year after next or the year after that.

To ensure that the results were not unrealistic, the organization stationed researchers like Lao Li and Xiao Niu to obtain firsthand information.

Nowadays, a significant portion of those conducting theoretical research prefer to focus directly on the overall data, adopting a "one-size-fits-all" approach. They calculate the added value and job creation of an industry, and by comparing the figures, they can determine whether the distribution is reasonable.

Zhang Da'an's wealth accumulation is quite staggering. While his reputation as a "three-time champion" certainly played a part, the amount of money he spent was not small. Previously, the salaries and labor remuneration of the coaches at one campus alone amounted to more than five million yuan. Now, the amount has long since increased, and the exact amount has not yet been tallied. However, a preliminary investigation has led the relevant provincial departments to "hold back the money and not distribute it."

Even so, the influence still led people like Chen Jingxiu to jump out and demand more money. Although it did not escalate to the point of demanding unpaid wages, the group of top-level teachers in Jiangning City was shaken, let alone the other eleven cities.
Looking back, Zhang Da'an was already making huge profits, so what kind of incredible situation is it that his competitors, whose total output value was lower but whose total profit was higher than Zhang Da'an's?

Meanwhile, going back to the stage when the "strategy of revitalizing the country through science and education" began to spread widely, a bunch of people started to blast the horn of "competing with the people for profit," and it goes without saying who this disgusted.

Zhang Da'an wasn't suddenly thrust into the position of Wei Zhongxian or Liu Jin; he wasn't a real "Nine Thousand Years Old" (a high-ranking official), nor was he a "Grand Eunuch in Charge of Seals."

However, the work they did was somewhat similar. Some guys deliberately tried to sow discord among their superiors, turning the "three-time champion" into the "Nine Thousand Years Old," but they forgot that Zhang Da'an was no saint.

If you dare to use this nickname, I dare to use it to run rampant.

If you were to actually become a "Nine Thousand Years Old," you wouldn't be willing.

Zhang Da'an's current itinerary is kept extremely secret, making him unique in Jiangkou Province. It is precisely because of this uniqueness that Zhang Da'an is even more unscrupulous.

He doesn't do illegal things, but he commits crimes when others do.

If a sentence can be handed down, it should be handed down sooner rather than later; if not, that's just the natural course of history.

The biggest selling point this summer is the "Top Scorer Class," which has the potential to produce a provincial top scorer. Zhang Da'an has also secured an endorsement contract; if the student achieves the provincial top score, he'll then provide comprehensive support to create an "idol." Movie stars are stars, sports stars are stars, and academic stars can certainly be stars too.

Therefore, in this year's college entrance examination, the pressure on the "top scorer class" is not to get the top score in their hometown district or county, or even the top score in the prefecture or city. The real pressure is to get the top score in the province.

After seeing Uncle Zhang off from Jiangning, Zhang Da'an first went to "Zhang'an Electronics" to check on the production of "Jinbang Mobile Phones". Most people wouldn't dare to stock up on them, but Zhang Da'an not only did so, but he also set the price to match that of Siemens and Sony Ericsson.

Actually, at this time, a "domestic" high-end mobile phone was still in the works, and it wasn't a mainland brand. It was the dopod686 launched by the newly established Dopod, which was equipped with Microsoft's Windows Mobile system and was priced at nearly 8,000 yuan.

What's impressive about this phone isn't that it can play the movie "Hero," but that it's named XDA by O2, the UK's second-largest mobile operator.

A 3.5-inch touchscreen, the ability to watch movies, listen to MP3s, browse the internet, and use office software... When Jobs "invented the phone for the second time" a few years later, the technological path to all these functions was already in place, but it had not yet been fully developed.

The resistive screen is not a capacitive screen, the screen resolution is still 240x320, and it retains the three major "physical components".

However, the concept of "PDA phone" has already emerged both domestically and internationally. Even "pig farms" endorsed celebrity companies' "Super Smart King" and "Wireless Email King," and their operating logic already had the prototype of the later smartphone.

Similarly, despite its lack of innovation, the "Fantasy" company also launched the Dimensity XP100, which is equipped with the Chinese version of Microsoft's newly released embedded operating system, PocketPC.

The two teenagers who sell white goods, wearing only underwear, actually approached Coach Zhang at the beginning of the year, intending to collaborate on creating a "smart learning phone." However, Coach Zhang refused, so the two teenagers in underwear created their own smart phone, "Athena," also known as the "Multimedia King PDA Phone."

In Zhang'an Electronics' current testing lab, there are a bunch of competing products, including Athena.

Fortunately, Chief Instructor Zhang couldn't possibly be a Saint Seiya, so he wouldn't protect other people's "Athena".

The currently launched "Golden List Mobile Phone" is divided into three series. The "Champion (VICTOR) Series" is competing with the current PDA mobile phone in the high-end market. Its product name is "Champion V1".

The use of the Latin word "Champion" instead of the English word "Champion" also carries the connotation of "conqueror."

If you really want to talk about any amazing features, there isn't really one. It's mainly because of the large number of copyrights. Using MIDI music as ringtones is only related to the phone's storage space, and the largest copyright holder of these music copyrights is Zhang Da'an.

The two little boys in their underwear refused to sell refrigerators and instead tried to approach Coach Zhang because they were truly desperate.

Who would have thought that a mobile phone manufacturer like you would be so shady, stockpiling the copyrights to this thing in advance?

In fact, some people had already realized the significance of Zhang An Culture and Zhang An Electronics' early moves, but it was too late to discuss copyright libraries at this point, as Zhang Da'an was unavoidable.

Because Coach Zhang had already burned through all the copyrights before they even planned to raise money to buy them.

So no matter what mobile phone company it is, whether you create "Athena" or "Sun Wukong", you have to pay to use the local ringback tone function and set the ringtone.

It's hard to say about small companies, but for legitimate companies, they're almost always successful in lawsuits.

Moreover, fines aren't like those imposed on individuals like "Zhu with thick eyebrows and big eyes" and "Chen with shifty eyebrows and rat eyes," which involve hard-won hundreds of thousands of yuan in large-scale infringements. Within the framework of the World Trade Organization, fines are based on sales volume.

To put it bluntly, the "Qualcomm tax" will be collected in the same way as the "Zhang An tax" is being collected now.

The only difference is that Qualcomm collects money for the processor and baseband, which are tangible things; Zhang Da'an collects money for the intellectual property rights of mobile music in its early stages, which are intangible things.

When dealing with ordinary domestic copyright companies, there's really nothing you can do. If they don't want to give it to you, they just won't, and they'll drag it out for three to five years.

However, "Zhang An Electronics" is different. Its products are not only sold domestically. In the previous copyright transaction process, "Zhang An Culture" had already signed cooperation agreements with several trading and copyright agencies in Southeast Asia. When it initiates litigation overseas, the infringing party will be unable to sell its products.

The "Zhang An tax" was not actually intended to be collected in a proper manner. The policy research office also stated that the goal was to inject vitality into the domestic economy through the "three consecutive top scorers," rather than just focusing on the injection.

Therefore, the two young brothers wearing only underwear, along with their "Athena," actually received over a million yuan in copyright fees from Coach Zhang.

It makes sense.

Of course, there are also shameless ones, such as "Fantasy" company, which simply pretends not to know and secretly uses the product without paying. "Zhang An Culture" did not file a lawsuit, after all, "Fantasy" company stopped using it and started criticizing it.

In this respect, Head Coach Zhang was quite restrained.

Currently, the mobile phone market is dominated by brands like Nokia and Motorola, so there's no point in competing with companies like Fantasy in terms of sales volume.

The Beijing municipal government originally hoped for fair competition, meaning that "verbal sparring" was acceptable, but Chief Coach Zhang disagreed and drew a red line: no one except himself was allowed to bark.

Anyone who barks at him will be charged according to international practice.

Of course, since the Policy Research Office personally intervened, Zhang Da'an also promised not to be the first to criticize Beijing for not having its own "Silicon Valley".

Zhang Da'an has quite a knack for being disgusting, which is why the competition in the industry is relatively harmonious right now.

He just didn't expect that there would be a "mole" in the province who colluded with the Hu family to leak his itinerary, which caused this "World Cup" to expose that what he originally only wanted to secretly earn four or five hundred million US dollars had turned into a small-scale, public earning of one billion euros.

This severely disrupted Zhang Da'an's plan to take revenge on society, and indirectly forced "Jinbang Mobile" to resume production.

Previously, the plan was to take advantage of the special nature of the college entrance examination season and launch "Champion V1" with a single, decisive shot, much like the advent of the first-generation missile.

This is a high-end series that rivals international brands, with a target of selling 100,000 units a year.

Now, both the mid-to-high-end and entry-level series are on the agenda and have all been registered. It's hard to say when they will go on sale. Previously, the entry-level series was scheduled for next year. Now everyone knows that "Zhang'an Electronics" has strong financial resources, and local state-owned investment companies in the province have also expressed their full cooperation to launch the full-scale campaign.

The mid-to-high-end models are sold in telecom stores and are tied to "Godslayer" game cards and some equipment. If the entry-level models are rolled out across the board now, there will be many problems.

High-end sales are easier to achieve than low-end sales; it's all about getting the job done. But then it all comes down to the skill level of the frontline sales staff.

The mid-to-high-end models are called the "Enterprise Series," with the first generation being the "Enterprise E1/EP1," and the international version being called "EP1."

The main purpose is to capitalize on the fame of Star Wars and American aircraft carriers.

If both series can sell 150,000 units, it will be a huge profit.

However, now that an entry-level model has been added, it would be difficult to achieve the annual sales target of 150,000 units under normal circumstances; so we can only use unconventional methods. Originally, we only signed contract phones with the mobile company in Jiangkou Province, but now we have directly secured contracts with the mobile companies in Yuzhang Province and Jianghuai Province.

These days, apart from domestic brands, there are basically no cheap contract phones. The "Champion V1" and "Enterprising EP1" from "Jinbang Mobile" are the two most expensive ones.

Especially for the "Champion V1", since it is not a major customer, the price of purchasing foreign screen panels is three times higher, not to mention that the customized battery also had to be a 1,500 mAh standard from the manufacturer due to the high customization cost.

To overcome the difficulty of not being able to customize a large battery, "Jinbang Mobile" had to choose to include two extra original standard batteries in order to support the "Champion V1".

Meanwhile, the touch-activated system of the "Champion V1" is internally codenamed "magictouchOS". It was prepared for PDA by a former classmate of Li Jingwu from Jinghua University after he went to study in the United States.

However, it never sold due to too many competitors. In addition, after the emergence of "Dopod", HTC, the company behind Dopod, had similar technology, so it became even more unremarkable.

However, this is the first time in China that self-developed software and hardware interaction technology has been applied to technology product terminals.

Unfortunately, touchpad patents are very complicated. Although the "team of a thousand artists" has made breakthroughs in related technologies, those were designed for drawing interaction. When the hardware is scaled down to the size of a mobile phone, it is impossible to make them.

In short, there are also shortcomings in the field of integrated circuit design.

In addition, the software and hardware patents for mobile internet access require payment, and the design and color matching of mobile phones also cost a lot of money. In order to ensure that "Champion V1" does not die out after one generation and that "V2 missile" can be born, the "color management technology department" established behind the "team of thousands of painters" has frequent contact with the top domestic dye and chemical companies in the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions, which are responsible for the color matching of polymer materials.

Establish a color chart for our own use, with a minimum investment of 60 million, priced in US dollars.

The logic is simple: established companies have accumulated years of experience, and if you want to overtake them by taking a shortcut, you can only burn money.

Furthermore, there's no way to overtake them. None of the equipment needed for color matching is cheap. Zhang Da'an will only be able to get the whole set of equipment this month.

They registered a company in Portugal, then formed a joint venture with an agent in Porto, and purchased second-hand equipment from Germany, France, and the Netherlands.

Then they smuggle it.

There's nothing we can do; this piece of junk is also on the COCOM list, which makes things very difficult.

Even for ordinary design companies, buying color swatches isn't just about buying one color. Printing series are divided into several categories, and in twenty years, more than two thousand colors will cost around a thousand dollars.

But now...

fifty thousand.

And that's just one option. If you also want textile design, sorry, extra money; plastics, even more!

The second-hand colorimeters smuggled by Zhang Da'an cost 150,000 euros for a complete set. They are available in China but not in the domestic market. It is almost impossible to buy them through normal channels, and there is no point in buying them.

Handheld colorimeters, colorimeters, and color difference meters are basically not produced in China. With these, Zhang Da'an can also achieve Nokia's "technology based on changing the shell".

Very few companies can match Nokia's polycarbonate color matching. In fact, to a certain extent, if it weren't for Steve Jobs' "second invention of the mobile phone," Nokia might have been able to create a "color of the year" trend in the mobile phone industry.

That's exactly right. Nokia was just a hair's breadth away from success, but it made every possible mistake it could, which ultimately ruined its mobile phone business.

However, Nokia doesn't rely on mobile phones for its livelihood; its core business remains as stable as ever.

The core technology of "Zhang An Electronics" is actually very complex. Unlike the core technology of "Zhang An Education," which is Zhang Da'an himself, the core technology of "Zhang An Electronics" is the integration of software and hardware, human-computer interaction, and copyright moat, which are relatively rare in China.

With the imminent explosion of MMS and ringback tone services, this wave of quick money could easily lead people astray. How to get employees to continue following him in his quest to take revenge on society is a major concern for General Manager Zhang.

However, the necessary "chicken blood" still needs to be injected, especially now that they are busy destroying the Hu family. The Hu family happens to be quite powerful in mineral resources, and Zhang Da'an is thinking about whether to directly inject "chicken blood" into his research team and set a grand goal for them: to become a major consumer of rare earth resources.

The choice of words—whether to be pretentious or to play the victim—has stumped Coach Zhang.

(End of this chapter)