Twenty years of cold chain

These days, what's happening outside the park at night is alarming.

Around one or two in the morning, you can hear motorcycles speeding around in the surrounding wasteland, seemingly having deliberately removed their exhaust pipes, making rattling and even booming sounds. Not only does it disturb people's peace at night, but it also carries a provocative tone.

Yu Dajun was furious and drove to catch them several times in the middle of the night, but these people would run away as soon as they saw the lights, only to return shortly afterward, making the entire construction team grit their teeth in anger.

Hu Shutong thought about it carefully. The first night these people appeared was the day after Tongxing signed supply agreements with the three agricultural markets of Gannan, Zhengqu, and Donghe. These three agricultural markets were all undergoing expansion and renovation and were expected to officially open in April of the following year, which basically coincided with the start of Tongxing Cold Chain's operations.

The farmers' market has a wide variety of vegetables and fruits, and some fruits are supplied by suppliers from other places. A lot of work needs to be done in advance. Tongxing is responsible for the supply of eleven major categories of vegetables, including cucumbers, green beans, potatoes, and spinach. It has to be said that this is a very large order.

Making such a commotion at Tongxing Industrial Park is undoubtedly a warning.

The thing Hu Shutong feared most still happened.

A year ago, around this time, when he was collecting field data in the five counties north of the city, he noticed a hidden chain. Everyone knows that the vegetables in the farmers' market come from various vegetable vendors who go deep into the fields to collect vegetables truckload by truck and sell them to the farmers' market to make a profit from the price difference.

However, in Qingyan, the seemingly independent vegetable vendors are actually working for larger vendors, who can almost be called vegetable tycoons. The entire Qingning Province has a huge vegetable production, and what seems like a difference of a few cents is actually a highly profitable industry. In Qingyan City, for example, almost every county's vegetables have an unseen hand that can control their flow.

A hundred miles north of the five counties north of the city lies Hu Shutong's hometown, Mozi County, where similar problems exist, which explains Hu Shutong's keen awareness. The "Boss Bao" from Luanqi Town who was suing back then was a major peddler behind the vegetable merchants in Mozi. Because Hu Shutong challenged Qujiaying, the entire wholesale market tacitly refused to accept Hu's vegetables, demonstrating the extent of the control that major peddler exerted over smaller vegetable vendors.

When Hu Shutong was traveling through the five counties, he discovered a large number of grass-green transport vehicles. The entire vehicle was covered with green cotton blankets on a metal frame to form a "box". These were the vehicles used by large vegetable vendors. They sent people to investigate, and many vegetable vendors actually earned commissions, which did not cover the price difference between the farmers' market and the market.

These large-scale vegetable vendors are actually very secretive. First, they have strong self-control, focusing on one county at a time and resolutely refusing to expand their operations beyond their control. Furthermore, these large vendors all have their own physical stores; don't be fooled by their unassuming shopfronts, the power and influence they wield is astounding.

Over the years, this system has become very mature. The big vegetable vendors have their own set of industry rules and rely on their strong influence to do things. At the same time, they are an indispensable link in the agricultural market connection.

Influence is also a great skill, and Hu Shutong fully understands how to make a lot of money through it. But sometimes some absurd things happen. The larger the quantity of vegetables, the more picky the buyers become. They never supply in large quantities, but rather select vegetables batch by batch, and the amount transported away always remains at a fixed level.

This results in high market prices even during the peak season for a particular type of vegetable, because while production has increased, supply hasn't. So what about the vegetables that weren't picked up in time? They all want to hold out until tomorrow's truck, but tomorrow there will be new vegetables, and only the freshest, brightest, and best-sized ones can fetch a higher price, so why bother with anything else?

These large vegetable vendors lack storage capacity, but they cannot afford to forgo profits, so controlling the quantity becomes the optimal choice, thus forming an "invisible balance."

The three major farmers' markets account for 40% of the supply in Qingyan City, making them a highly coveted prize. The five counties north of the city each have their own major produce; some are known for leafy greens and melons, others for radishes and potatoes. Tongxing's attempt to "share the spoils" has offended them all, subtly impacting the interests of many.

In reality, Tongxing's competitiveness at this stage was far from posing a threat to these large vegetable vendors. In addition to supplying Qingyan City, there were also supplies to various counties and cities. This was originally a huge basket, and Hu Shutong thought that everyone could "go their own way."

Given Tongxing's current situation, Hu Shutong never intended to compete with these large vegetable vendors for their livelihood. However, sometimes, once you get involved in something, you either have to follow the same path or you have to fight against it.

But this also served as a wake-up call for Hu Shutong. It's better for something to happen today than for something to happen unexpectedly in the future. The three major farmers' markets are the first step for Tongxing. If they can't get enough vegetables and can't solve the supply problem of the three major markets, Hu Shutong won't be able to explain it to anyone.

He must guarantee a steady supply of vegetables once the market opens; otherwise, no explanation will be of any use. Therefore, the issue of vegetable procurement is not something to be addressed months from now, but rather something that needs to be resolved immediately.

Three days later, Hu Shutong pretended to have spotted the addresses of several front-end field assembly warehouses and dumped some cheap plywood there. Sure enough, just one night later, the plywood was either stolen or smashed beyond repair.

Thus, Hu Shutong was completely certain that there was a group of people who gave him a lot of face and took him seriously. They were "brothers" with the motorcycles coming and going outside the park. Judging from their posture, they were determined to remove this thorn in their side!

Yu Dajun was deeply worried about Hu Shutong. If things really came down to it, neither side would back down. The real problem was this kind of shaky situation—there was nowhere to explain things, and no one was willing to listen. Rationally speaking, people can never defeat the system, especially something that has been matured and bound together for so many years.

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He advised Hu Shutong not to worry about vegetables for the time being, as there was no need to confront those people head-on at this time. With the fish from Panzhu, they could get through the period without any problems.

But for Hu Shutong, the first mile is the original intention of Tongxing Cold Chain, and focusing on the food basket is Tongxing's inherent mission. Moreover, the large orders from the three major agricultural markets are hard-won. If this opportunity is missed, Tongxing, which has lost its momentum, may not be able to regain the trust of these markets even if it spends a thousand times more effort.

On the surface, Hu Shutong seemed to agree with these words.

But in reality, Yu Dajun felt that the person in front of him had prepared knives and guns and was about to go to the battlefield!

……

Hu Shutong guessed correctly; the big vegetable vendors hadn't paid him any attention in all these years.

He not only alarmed the major vegetable vendors in the five counties, but also found out seven or eight tenths of their origins and past.

These people are well-informed and resourceful, and they understand the importance of "nipping problems in the bud." They know that Hu Shutong's land was specially approved, and its future functions and influence are immeasurable. If they can't nip it in the bud from the start, they'll inevitably face repercussions later. The scale of that cold storage is also chilling; with that kind of capacity, it will sooner or later become Qingyan's "vegetable giant air conditioner." If they don't stop it now, when will they?

At a vegetable supplier's store, the roller shutter door was pulled up only half a meter off the ground. Four people were playing cards idly, waiting for the famous "Master Long".

A short while later, a fierce-looking man in a green overcoat walked in. This "Master Long" was far from being old enough to be called a "master," but his seniority was undeniable. The Li family had been in this business for over thirty years, and everyone in charge was called "Master Long." The man before them was only in his early thirties. However, these "Master Longs," despite their great influence, didn't have wide-ranging influence. They rarely showed their faces unless absolutely necessary, and when they did, it was usually because their own people were being challenged.

Looking at everyone, Master Long's brows furrowed even more. He only uttered one sentence after entering—

"This guy surnamed Hu, who can even get a single vegetable, is a complete swindler. Everyone, get out of here!"

……

I've loved cold chain logistics for twenty years.