Chapter 235: Opening of Changxing Shopping Mall and Unofficial Members of Parliament

"Five ships?" Fukada Shigenobu was very surprised, but still said, "Mr. Yang, our Mitsubishi Shipyard can definitely build them for you in the shortest possible time."

Through previous communication, Shigenobu Fukada already knew that this time the Chinese customers were more concerned about the delivery cycle.

I originally thought that as a first-time customer purchasing a new ship, buying one or two would be enough, but I didn't expect that they would buy five ships at once. This kind of purchase volume is usually only possible with large shipping companies.

"How long?" Yang Wendong asked in return. He did pay more attention to the delivery cycle. After all, it was only 67 years away from 5.

Even if you pay a little more, after 67 years, you may be able to earn back the cost of the ship in one year. In this case, time is more important than money.

Shigenobu Fukada said: "We will build multiple shipyards at the same time in one and a half years. The first ship will be delivered in the tenth month, and another one will be delivered in the next month and a half."

"As for the technical requirements and some other factors, Ms. Zheng will communicate with you." Yang Wendong did not say whether he was satisfied with the time.

He cannot express his opinion now. If he expresses too much, the other party may adjust the subsequent negotiation requirements based on his attitude.

Large-scale transactions are actually like diplomacy between countries. Conversations are actually tests. One sentence may cause one side to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Fukada Shigenobu bowed slightly again and said, "Okay, please take care of me in the future, Ms. Zheng."

Zheng Yuhua nodded and said, "Okay."

After a brief greeting, Fukada Shigenobu left and Zheng Yuhua went to her room to sort out the documents.

Su Yiyi looked at the somewhat leisurely Yang Wendong and asked, "Buying five new ships at once, this is a lot of financial pressure, right?"

"The pressure is certainly great, but the shipping industry is just like the real estate industry, which is dependent on banks, or even more so." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "As long as we use the bank's funds to the greatest extent, the pressure is actually not too bad.

As long as the business is going well, you can slowly use the profits to repay the loan. This is how the Hong Kong shipping tycoons operate. "

No matter what industry you are in, if you want to develop quickly you have to use bank funds. Otherwise, no matter how capable Bao Yugang is, it would be impossible for him to become a shipping king with a tonnage of 20 million tons in just 2000 years.

Real estate and shipping will be two of our main industries in the future, and we will naturally make use of bank funds.

Before coming to Japan, Yang Wendong went to meet with Sanders and verbally negotiated the cooperation on this loan.

Even if the human resources team here was not insufficient, buying a few more ships might not be a problem.

"Yeah." Su Yiyi didn't ask any more questions, but said: "During the past few days in Japan, I also visited many clothing stores, and I found that what you said before was really correct. The largest number of clothing stores are those that sell ordinary clothes."

"Yes, this is the norm." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "My supermarket will also serve ordinary people. High-end consumer groups are only a minority after all."

Su Yiyi added: "Well, I'm here too, and I feel like I've learned some useful knowledge."

Yang Wendong said with a smile: "There will be plenty of opportunities to come back in the future. It's only a few hours flight anyway."

"Okay, then I'll think about it more when I go back tomorrow." Su Yiyi said.

"Well, if you want to do business well, you do need to think about a lot of things," said Yang Wendong.

In the early days, I made patented products. Although there were piracy, with the cooperation with distributors, I could easily take up a certain share of the market. In addition, the scale was small in the early stage, so there was not much market pressure.

But in a normal industry, competition relies on various business methods, which depends on personal ability.

Service industries like Walmart and Uniqlo have emerged from fierce competition.

On October 10, Yang Wendong, Su Yiyi and several others returned to Hong Kong, while Zheng Yuhua and several others stayed in Japan to discuss the ship transaction worth nearly 27 million US dollars.

Such a deal would not be finalized in a few days even if it was done quickly. Even before coming to Japan, people from Changxing Shipping had already visited various shipyards.

After Zheng Yuhua's team has finalized all the transaction details, the boss Yang Wendong will be responsible for the final decision.

After returning home, Su Yiyi naturally went to see the child first. Yang Wendong did the same and played with the child for the whole day.

October 10, Sunday, is a good day to open:
On this day, many people in Hong Kong knew that the Cheung Hing Shopping Centre located on Tak Fu Road in Central opened.

At the front entrance of the mall, countless people were already waiting for the opening, including many reporters.

"Congratulations, Mr. Yang."

Yang Wendong stood in front of the shopping mall, welcoming guests from the political and business circles.

In Hong Kong, the opening of a building or a large shopping mall is a grand event. Even for large conglomerates such as Jardine Matheson and Swire, when their shopping malls open, the boss and a group of senior executives will basically attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony, and they will also invite many heavyweight guests to participate.

"Mr. Yang, congratulations." A man in his 30s walked in and said congratulatory words.

Yang Wendong saw the visitor Zheng Yutong and asked, "Thank you, Mr. Zheng. I heard that Mr. Zheng is also planning to open a shopping mall in Central?"

Zheng Yutong laughed and said, "That's true, but the scale is much smaller than Yangsheng's mall, and the location is not comparable.

The core areas of Central are basically controlled by British companies, so it is difficult for us Chinese to get a good location.”

"It's okay. British capital started earlier, so it's normal for them to have an advantage." Yang Wendong said nonchalantly, "But I believe that sooner or later we Chinese will catch up with them."

"I hope so." Zheng Yutong said with a smile.

Yang Wendong added: "Mr. Zheng, go inside and take a rest first. I will come back to accompany you after the ribbon-cutting ceremony."

"Okay." Zheng Yutong agreed and went to the other side of the door. There were already many business colleagues here, and it was a rare opportunity for everyone to get together.

In the following half hour, many friends from the business community arrived one by one, and Yang Wendong greeted them one by one.

"Mr. Bao." Yang Wendong saw an acquaintance again, the future shipping tycoon Pao Yu-kong. Pao Yu-kong said, "Congratulations, Mr. Yang, you have such a building in Central, which is really enviable."

"Haha." Yang Wendong said, "If Mr. Bao wants, even if this location may not be available, there are still ordinary locations in Central."

In the early 60s, Hong Kong real estate was just one of the important indicators of the overall economy, unlike 20 years later when it became almost the core.

Shipping tycoons and industrial tycoons are not unable to buy buildings, but they just want to build their own industries.

Many people even refuse to invest in the real estate industry because they are afraid.
Bao Yugang shook his head and said, "With this money, I might as well buy a ship. I heard that Mr. Yang plans to buy five cargo ships in Japan at one time? That's a big deal."

“Yes, I have enough confidence in the future of the global shipping market,” Yang Wendong admitted.

The purchase of a large cargo ship is not just a matter on our side, but also involves several shipping companies and multiple banks. There are many people involved who know the inside story, so of course it is impossible to keep it absolutely confidential.

It is not difficult for outsiders to know, especially those in the industry.

Bao Yugang nodded and said, "I am also optimistic about the future shipping market, but I don't have enough funds to support rapid expansion."

After listening to this, Yang Wendong asked, "Mr. Bao, since you are short of funds, why don't you consider my last proposal? I can invest some money in your company."

Bao Yugang thought for a moment and said, "I have considered this before, but the problem is that our shipping companies are all highly indebted and not valuable in themselves. The money you invest may not even be enough to buy half a ship."

"That's true." Yang Wendong thought for a moment and said, "It's indeed difficult to reach a consensus on this matter. Let's discuss it separately later.

Even if we fail to reach an investment agreement, we can still cooperate in various aspects in the future.”

Asset-heavy industries all have one characteristic, which is that their market value is far less than the amount of funds they drive, such as real estate companies:
The market value of a real estate company may be only 10 billion, but through bank loans, pre-sales of buildings, delayed supplier funding and other models, it can leverage funds that are dozens or even dozens of times the amount with minimal capital.

For example, the company owned by Mr. Xu, the most famous person in his previous life, had a market value of only 5000 billion Hong Kong dollars at its peak, but its debts exceeded 2 trillion.

The same is true for shipping companies. Everyone is operating with huge debts, buying ships and then slowly repaying the loans. However, the company's value is not much after deducting the debts, and there is not much money for further financing.

"Okay." Bao Yugang put aside what he was thinking and said, "Then I'll go over there first and not disturb Mr. Yang."

After saying that, Bao Yugang also went to the side. However, he was the only one who worked in shipping here. Most of the people here were from real estate, industry and even some Hong Kong government officials.

When it was 10 o'clock, the opening time, in the presence of the media, Yang Wendong invited the Hong Kong government secretary, a white foreigner named John, to help him cut the red line while the media took pictures.

Afterwards, the mall door opened and a crowd of people rushed in.

Inside the mall, each store has already made preparations to welcome customers with the most appropriate prices.

Yang Wendong and his group came to an open space on the third floor. Through the empty space, they could see most of the people in the mall.

John smiled and said, "Eric, your mall looks very successful. I have attended many mall openings on behalf of the Governor, but this is the first time I have seen so many people."

"I am also very happy to be able to serve more Hong Kong citizens." Yang Wendong also said with a smile.

In fact, the reason why there are so many people is because we now control the media.

The Hong Kong Chinese Daily takes a high-end approach and its customers are high-spending groups, who are also frequent visitors to Central shopping malls.

At the same time, Yang Wendong also has good relations with many newspapers such as Ming Pao, Galaxy Daily, Ta Kung Pao, etc., so it is naturally not a problem to pay them for publicity.

Another one is the Commercial Radio of Hong Kong. This radio station also has more than 100,000 viewers in Hong Kong. Families with radios cannot be said to be wealthy, but at least they are not poor. These people are also potential customers of the shopping mall.

John said: "The Governor also hopes that Hong Kong citizens can live a life like that of British society, which requires business people like Mr. Yang to run the business well."

"Thank you for the compliment." Yang Wendong replied politely.

John added, "Mr. Yang, in addition to participating in the opening of Changxing Shopping Center, I also need to tell you one thing. Your application to serve as a non-official councillor in Tsim Sha Tsui has been approved and will be sent to your house in a few days."

"Oh, thank you." Yang Wendong said politely with a smile.

More than half a year ago, when negotiating the 10,000-person industrial park with the Governor, Governor Robert Black said that Yang Wendong could be a non-official member of the Legislative Council.

This position does not have much real power, but it is considered as an official position, which is always good. Later, the Hong Kong government sent people to help Yang Wendong apply, and then he just waited for news.

Today, I have finally received an accurate response.

John explained: "Mr. Yang, the application for MP is once a year, usually in August, so even if you applied in March, you will have to wait until the result is out soon."

"I know, and I was told before." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "It is also my honor to be able to serve the citizens of Hong Kong."

Although they do not have much power, they can still make suggestions in many cases. After all, those who can become councilors as non-officials must have prestige or financial resources in the local area.

"That's good." John replied, "Someone from the official in Tsim Sha Tsui will contact you."

"Okay." Yang Wendong nodded.

Most of the stores in the mall are similar to those in other malls. The only difference is that there is a large "grocery store" on the underground floor. In addition to the grocery store, there are also many snacks.

After entering, many customers were surprised to find that all the goods were placed on the shelves with price tags on them.

"This thing is just left here, and no one is watching it?" A middle-aged woman was very surprised, and so was her companion, looking around.

At this time, a young woman in a yellow work suit came over and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, there are baskets over there. You can take one each. You can put any goods from the shelves in our Carrefour supermarket into the basket.
When you have finished shopping, you can go to the front to check out and pay in one go. If you have any questions about the products, you can directly ask me or the staff in yellow work clothes. "

"We can just take whatever we want?" The middle-aged woman looked a little incredulous.

PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)

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