Twenty years of cold chain

Compared to the last time they cooperated, Tongxing is indeed different now. Jiang Zhipeng has a keen eye for Tongxing's expansion path and has seen the rising and large-scale Yuncheng Transit Center. He has become incredibly insightful and capable.

Jiang Zhipeng hopes that through in-depth cooperation, Qingyuan, which has returned to its old ways, will have access to a wider range of channels than it had ever had before. This is the deeper meaning behind his visit to Hu Shutong.

Normally, Hu Shutong would have carefully considered this matter, and even considering his relationship with Jiang Zhipeng, Tongxing wouldn't have stood idly by. But this time, Hu Shutong couldn't allow him to act so rashly.

"Old Jiang, you must still remember Qiangrui Building Materials, the company you helped a lot with the bidding for Mozi County back then. Now they're over a billion yuan in debt, and the court just seized and confiscated 100 million yuan of their assets. At this point, just surviving is a blessing. I'm not saying you shouldn't change things, but you have to wait for this storm to pass. We have no choice but to wait."

The "storm" that Hu Shutong refers to can be traced back to last year and has spread wildly this year. From the global stock market crash at the beginning of the year to the global liquidity crisis, the massive injections of funds into the financial markets by central banks in many countries have failed to stop its spread. Currently, this financial crisis is out of control, with banks in many countries going bankrupt.

The financial crisis was triggered by a combination of factors, but a crucial one was the rampant real estate speculation in the United States. Starting in 04, the Federal Reserve began to raise interest rates in an effort to curb inflation, which led to a rapid decline in housing prices.

This has made homebuyers who are subprime borrowers increasingly uneasy. For example, if a house was bought for $100 million and the mortgage originally required repayments of $80, but after only two years, due to a sharp drop in housing prices, the house is now only worth $50, who would be foolish enough to still be willing to repay that $80?

So, mortgage holders stop paying their loans, and if the banks pressure them too much, they give up on their houses altogether. The key issue is that even if the bank takes back the house, it's only worth 50 yuan. What happens to the 80 yuan the bank lent out initially? This is the financial bubble created by massive leverage.

When assets are deemed impaired, and when this becomes widespread, the only recourse is for government bailouts. However, the simultaneous capital flight and credit defaults only exacerbate the situation, leaving the country mired in a bottomless abyss despite any attempts at intervention. The entire financial system is caught in a bind; aside from banks, individual investors and securities institutions are not spared, leading to a complete collapse!

Overly loose monetary policies and unchecked market speculation led to the malignant expansion of financial bubbles, ultimately resulting in an irreparable disaster.

Global trade is an iceberg; if the iceberg collapses, everyone will be buried under the icicles.

my country's exports plummeted, severely damaging the entire manufacturing supply chain. Small and medium-sized enterprises and labor-intensive businesses faced a wave of bankruptcies, leading to a significant increase in unemployment. The stock market was devastated, a painful memory that will never fade.

The logistics industry has also been severely affected. Cold chain logistics has barely managed to survive thanks to strong demand, but everyone is struggling. Hu Shutong, like everyone else, is "waiting for spring." This financial disaster can only be resolved by the introduction of policies at the highest level.

Jiang Zhipeng, however, insisted on continuing to mortgage at this critical juncture. Regardless of whether the banks would lend, with all industries in decline, he stubbornly charged forward. Some countries had even gone bankrupt, making the efforts of individuals and businesses seem insignificant. Yet, he took a "deviant approach," relying on a theory that was difficult to refute.

"These days, you can advise anyone, but you can't advise people to wait. Old Hu, don't you think this is a restructuring of the entire dairy industry? After a major disaster comes a major boom. If Qingyuan waits, I still won't get the first hand after the shuffle. It will still be the same as before, while other people's milk is already in the milk tanks, and my dairy cows haven't been decided yet."

"Jiang Zhipeng, wake up!"

"Old Hu, I swear to God, I swear to you, I will never touch milk powder again. Give me your Tongxing distribution channels, and I can make a name for myself!"

Looking into Jiang Zhipeng's bloodshot eyes, like a gambler who's just a thousand yuan away from winning everything, Hu Shutong felt utterly powerless. "National spending power is declining, unpaid wages and unemployment are not isolated cases, everyone is tightening their purse strings. You're rushing to the forefront at this time, Lao Jiang, what kind of sky are you trying to gamble with your family's resources!"

"What opportunity doesn't involve risk? Even at its worst, Qingyuan can't be worse than it is now. Everyone is hesitant, but Qingyuan is striding forward. The market will recover sooner or later, and then they'll only be able to follow behind!"

"Not much worse than now? Where do you get your optimism? What if you end up with huge debts to the banks and Qingyuan's sales don't pick up? Do you know what that means? I know your position in the group is precarious right now, but revitalization isn't something you can do on a whim. Listen to me, wait a bit. The government will definitely have a bailout plan. Don't overdraw Qingyuan's resources at this time!"

"Who knows if it will be one year, three years, or five years? All I know is that by then, Qingyuan will be irrelevant to me, and the new strategy will allow us to quickly emerge from this vortex!"

Hu Shutong gave a helpless bitter smile. The matter had actually been portrayed as a way of shifting blame. How could Jiang Zhipeng not know the domestic and international situation? Yet he still insisted on his own way, which only showed that he was deeply trapped in his own set of logic. He wanted to join in during the reshuffling, to roar like a tiger in the mountains when everyone was in a slump. In Hu Shutong's view as an outsider, he was full of irrationality, wanting to seize a whole state after losing a county, and full of self-justification, even to the point of psychological problems, in order to get rid of doubts in one fell swoop.

"I'll just ask you one question: if Qingyuan needs to ship its goods out someday, will you help me with that?"

"But who will take care of the stockpiling?"

Jiang Zhipeng was initially delighted, but then became suspicious. "Aren't all the shipped and stockpiled goods here with you?"

In an instant, Jiang Zhipeng's eyes narrowed like half a lightning bolt, and he poked Hu Shutong's chest with his index finger. "You really think I'm here to beg you? Hu Shutong, I'm giving you a chance! Do you really think only Tongxing has cars and garages? I'm telling you this calmly because I still care about our old classmate! If it were anyone else, I could make them kneel down and listen to me, believe it or not! I'm the sugar daddy, and the sugar daddy is like a father!"

Hu Shutong gritted his teeth and gripped Jiang Zhipeng's fingers. "Jiang Zhipeng, as long as I, Hu Shutong, am here, your goods won't get through. I'd like to see which company is so brainless as to risk their life to support you!"

Jiang Zhipeng stared at Hu Shutong, and after a while he couldn't hold back anymore. He let out a loud laugh, as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world.

At the same time, he felt that Hu Shutong was completely unfamiliar to him.

They had never said such harsh words to each other before.

……

I've loved cold chain logistics for twenty years.