Era: Retired from the army at the beginning and returned home

Chapter 316 Drought in Xiangjiang

It’s already March when I arrived in Xiangjiang later this year. Many places in China are still very cold in March, but it’s already very warm here in Xiangjiang.

After Luo Cheng and Gao Ru arrived in Xiangjiang, they found that the drought here had not eased. It has not rained in Xiangjiang for several months, and some printing plants have stopped. At present, we can only guarantee people's basic water supply, but if this continues, basic water supply may become a problem.

However, this kind of thing does not affect Luo Cheng and the others. The cargo ships traveling to and from the country every day use large water tanks to haul tons of water for use. However, apart from other uses, the water brought from the mainland is only enough for the top management of some factories, and the rest has to be used in the factory. Although the assembly plant does not require much water, workers must be cleaned if they are oiled or dirty during transportation.

But this water is also based on the fact that the water in Xiangjiang River can meet the needs of ordinary residents, so that the factory can operate normally. But as the drought continues, some of the ponds in Xiangjiang have dried up, shops in Xiangjiang have closed, and factories have stopped production. Luo Cheng could only expend costs and use several cargo ships to transport water domestically. Business here in Xiangjiang has declined sharply. Maintaining factory operations is for export business.

By the end of April, the water supply to residents in Xiangjiang was also restricted, with some water points only supplying water for four hours a day. In Xiangjiang today, a large number of residents come from China and live in wooden houses, and not every house has running water.

So it is said that there is a four-hour water supply, but everyone has to queue up to get water. Many people bring water buckets and the like. When it's your turn to get water, you can actually only get water for a few minutes. It takes four days to collect water at a time.

Therefore, the Hong Kong government can only start to request domestic rescue. It is also the closest to Xiangjiang in China, although Xiangjiang is now managed by the British. But Ying had no way to get water from the Xiangjiang River, which was surrounded by the sea, and he was unwilling to spend huge amounts of money to get water for the people of Rabbit Country.

But there are also various issues to consider domestically. After all, Xiangjiang is under British control, and whether it should support it or not is a question. You must know that the country is also in a difficult situation right now, and we are still paying off our debts. In order to pay off debts, many of its projects have been stopped. Whether Xiangjiang should be saved, and if so, in what manner, need to be discussed.

Due to lack of water, Luo Cheng's assembly factory in Xiangjiang also had some minor problems. Workers stole water from the factory to drink. But managers should not be too restrained. As a result, the water transported always disappears within the expected range.

However, Xiangjiang was hit by a drought, and Luo Cheng reaped a lot of benefits. Many factories stopped working or even closed down. Luo Cheng acquired many factories in the name of running movie theaters. Of course, because there are more people willing to sell, Luo Cheng can't really open all movie theaters. Many factories have purchased them. If they are producing people's livelihood products, the direct equipment has also been purchased.

Anyway, it was a very favorable price, and Luo Cheng's real estate assets in Xiangjiang were rapidly rolling over. In addition, in Singapore, factories have begun to be built one after another, and production can begin as long as they recruit people.

In this era, Singapore is actually worse than Hong Kong. It’s about pursuing independence and autonomy. It is also a British colony. Now it has broken away from British rule. It plans to join Malaysia and is voting internally. And because 70% of the population is Chinese, there is still ethnic discrimination internally. The Malays look down on the Chinese and compete with each other. There is no intention to develop the economy at all.

Therefore, the economy in Singapore is actually not as good as that of Hong Kong. Luo Cheng built a factory in Singapore to recruit workers, and attracted countless Chinese to join the factory. However, the Malays said that they wanted to be superior to others, and they had to be managers when entering the factory. In Singapore, it is not enough that they do not need Malays as leaders.

As a result, Luo Cheng was also implicated in the ethnic strife there, and even a processing factory could not operate safely. Fortunately, people in Singapore know about this. For tax issues and local employment issues, they don't want to destroy the processing factory that they finally opened here because of ethnic strife.

The police were directly dispatched to patrol and patrol near the factory. If you want to fight elsewhere, if you still want to make money for food, don't fight here.

Because the business in Singapore is running smoothly, and although there is poverty there, there are struggles. But Gao Ru still chose to take charge of management there. The reason is that she can't stand the atmosphere of Jianghu here in Xiangjiang. Corruption and gangs are everywhere. Sometimes the police station is no different from bandits. If you have money, everything can be done easily. Without money, it is difficult to do legitimate business.

Another point is that she is not Luo Cheng's real cousin after all. Many people in Xiangjiang call her cousin, very respectfully. She felt unrealistic. Being in a luxurious room with butlers and maids waiting on her was very comfortable, but not at ease.

When we go to Singapore, there are also some gangs and fights between ethnic groups. But generally speaking, it's normal. At least people who want to live a simple life will not be provoked if they don't provoke them. In Hong Kong, if you don't provoke others, they will proactively provoke you.

Luo Cheng thought that it would be a good idea for her to go to Singapore. The property sold to him by the Shaw Brothers had many houses to live in. You can even give a set to Gao Ru, the price is very cheap. And in this way, teachers and students in the two places can take care of each other.

It's almost July, and the drought in Xiangjiang has been initially resolved, but it's not that it's raining. It was the domestic decision that was made. Although Xiangjiang is now in the hands of the British, the people in Xiangjiang are our compatriots and cannot sit idly by.

Therefore, it was decided to demolish a huge project worth tens of millions and directly divert the water from Shenzhen City into Xiangjiang River. To achieve the effect of eradicating the problem forever, otherwise, if you help Xiangjiang this time, what will happen next time? You must know that the fresh water in Xiangjiang can only be stored by rainwater. It is surrounded by sea and has no fresh water rivers.

Of course, supplying water from the Dongjiang River to the Xiangjiang River requires a lot of work, and the water is too far away to quench thirst. Therefore, other temporary measures are also being implemented. Like Luo Cheng, ships are used to transport water to the Xiangjiang River twelve hours a day. Ships are also dispatched from the Xiangjiang side, and domestic efforts cannot be limited.

In Xiangjiang, Luo Cheng finally understood why an island like Xiangjiang, which was short of water, could still take off economically. Think about it, except that the country helped it before it took off, even if the ownership rights have not returned to the country, they are all compatriots, how could they sit idly by and do nothing.

Therefore, after domestically handling the water shortage problem in Xiangjiang, even if everything in Xiangjiang has not been restored immediately, it is a shot in the arm for everyone in Xiangjiang, and everyone can see hope. Half a month later, through the continuous transportation of water from China, residents’ water supply has been met.

Then there are factories that use less water, and then there are printing plants and the like. If Luo Cheng had known about this situation earlier, he might not have moved the production line processing factory to Singapore. Unless Singapore is also used as an export base in the future, it is also a place with a population of 2 million and lacks basic resources.

Some raw materials can be purchased locally, but some still need to be transported domestically, where they will be processed and transported to Xiangjiang. This adds more transportation steps back and forth, which costs a lot of time and transportation costs.

But this is already the case, and we can only take things slowly. The domestic water supply project has not yet been completed. Once it's done, we can start the processing plant again.

During this period, Luo Cheng also made a trip back to the country. The new graduates are faced with finding a job again. College students and technical secondary school students are guaranteed job placement, while high school students are still not guaranteed job placement. However, they are educated people and are not picky about their jobs. If they cannot find a job in the city, they will go to the countryside if they are willing to do so. , there must be arrangements.

Luo Cheng went back this time mainly because too many people wanted to come to work in the industrial zone. Now they are not only local students, but also students from the province. But many outstanding college students from other provinces, especially those whose studies are related to science, want to work here.

The first time Luo Cheng accepted a large number of graduates from high school and technical secondary school, he told Zeng that they took advantage of the first recruitment in the industrial zone. As long as their character was good, they would not reject them. But now the industrial zone is controlling development, and talent is needed. But now it is no longer a province, but some students from outside the province want to come.

It wouldn't work if Luo Cheng didn't go back to China to solve it, because this is a big matter. If the people below make the decision, Luo Cheng is actually responsible for anything that happens. It's better for him to come back.

Faced with this allocation work, technical secondary schools and universities are responsible for the allocation, but they also give priority to the students' wishes. Therefore, only after the industrial zone refuses will they be reassigned to those who want to come here.

For college students, some factories have none, and medium-sized factories have one or two universities that are like treasures. These days, there are only more than 200 high school students in one county each year, and the entire urban area, including the counties below, only has more than 1,000 high school students. The college admissions rate is only between 3% and 5%, depending on the city. For a city like Nghe An, 3% admissions would be good.

The enrollment of a university is generally for a province, not a city, and even so, the university, let alone, will not have more than a thousand students every year.

Excluding some who are not suitable for their studies, there are only a few hundred college students who want to come to the industrial zone. But these few hundred people account for a fraction of the fresh graduates.

Hundreds of college students just eat them all. As for technical secondary school students, there are many. This allocation does not mean that they can go wherever they want.

Luo Cheng's choice was to take more care of the provinces and districts, and those with average academic performance would be acceptable. As for surrounding cities, only choose excellent arrangements. Vocational secondary school students in Ngee Ann, according to the same standards as those in provinces and regions, are just above average. I can’t ask for them all. Now the industrial zone has its own vocational studies, that is, technical secondary schools. In the future, it is 100% possible for students from their own schools to be arranged in the industrial zone.

This is not from my own school, but from the Ngee Ann area. It is considered good if it is above average.

As for high school students, forget it this year. At most, we can only take care of some related households. You know, just like that, one or two thousand people will be assigned jobs. And it's not a low-level position. It will take several months to digest this group of people. High school students are just better educated and have no expertise. They are just easier to train than ordinary people. But industrial zones no longer need to slowly train people.

After handling the student assignments, Luo Cheng returned to Xiangjiang to work on his career. Because the events in Xiangjiang have slowly begun to unravel, it will be increasingly difficult for domestic personnel to find out his properties in Xiangjiang. But according to theory, his property in Xiangjiang was considered a state investment from the beginning. If Luo Cheng did not take the initiative to report it, he would be making a mistake.

And forget it about Xiangjiang, especially in Singapore. Xiangjiang at least has an ownership agreement and will return sooner or later. Singapore has already begun to become an independent country, and there is no liaison officer there.

The accounts are now being done by some people on the Xiangjiang side, and they are only doing the accounting for the vehicles on the Xiangjiang side. The export accounts are messy because most of them are converted into supplies.

In China, they can only check according to what kind of accounts Luo Cheng gives them. At least the volume is not large, especially after losing most of the purchases from Little Devil, at least Luo Cheng has made up for his export share in Xiangjiang.

Xiaoguizi issued a statement of production origin in China, and after the vehicles were marked with their origin, they did cancel most of the orders. However, Xiaoguizi's production in Japan is limited. Xiaojiizi's industry is to produce and sell products in other countries as much as possible because their local area is small and they do not have so many raw materials. If so, they are already paying attention to development. The principle is to use your own country's resources as much as possible.

All domestic vehicle purchases have not completely stopped, but they have begun to process and produce their own local sales. For sales in other areas, they still purchase directly from the industrial zone, but in this way, the purchase volume is not more than half of before.

In Hong Kong, despite the drought, many industries have been hit, but Luo Cheng's lottery industry in Hong Kong feels like it is rising against the wind. Often when some people face loss and trouble, they will have extravagant desires, wanting to escape the status quo and change their destiny all at once.

It only takes one yuan and a scratch with your hand, and you may become a household worth ten thousand yuan. Of course, if you win 10,000 yuan, you will have to deduct 2,000 yuan in tax, but with 8,000 yuan, an ordinary worker in Xiangjiang will have to work for ten years now.

There was no fraud in the lottery scratching done by Luo Cheng, at least there was no fraud in who could win the prize, because the winners were all from Xiangjiang. If you get a few strangers to win the lottery and then disappear, it's easy for someone to take advantage of them. In fact, it is easy to cheat. If you add one less first prize for every 100,000 tickets, you can save 8,000 yuan. But Luo Cheng didn't feel it was necessary. Not only did he give away a lot of money, but he also asked the newspapers in Hong Kong to record those who won the 5,000 and 10,000 prizes every week. Just publish it in the newspaper. If you don't believe it, you can check it out. In this way, credibility is directly enhanced.

When Luo Cheng came back from China this time, he was worried about something. He didn't originally have the idea of ​​having a child so early. In later generations, there are many late marriages and late children. In his opinion, it is enough to become a father before the age of thirty. But when he was with Sissi, she would basically talk about it, which caused his concept to change, making him think that he had to have a child.

He is the eldest son of the Luo family, but his younger brother Luo Bing's son crawled away in an instant, and he might leave next time he goes back. He had to have a child, but since Sissi couldn't get pregnant, he didn't know what to do. In order to get pregnant, he stupidly listened to Sissi's words from someone he didn't know where, that it was over, don't come out right away, let him go for a while.

After Xiangjiang "overcame" the drought, the advantages of the free port were really strong, and many factories that had stopped production immediately began to resume production. There is even a rebound trend, with orders for films increasing. Overtime work has become the norm in Xiangjiang's industrial industry, and overtime work means more wages.

This has resulted in workers earning more each month. In the past, they were around 60 per month. By September, ordinary workers’ wages had risen to around 80 per month. But this is the result of overtime work, but one thing is that everyone’s income is increasing.

Once we are overwhelmed with orders and need to recruit a large number of people, some recruiters now say that they can earn 80 yuan a month in the factory, but they have to work overtime. In the future, they will be paid 80 yuan even if they do not work overtime. Otherwise, they will be paid 80 yuan a month. Not enough people.

It is no joke that the per capita salary in Hong Kong has increased tenfold in seven years, and Luo Cheng's stay in Hong Kong happened to be the time to witness the economic take-off of Hong Kong.