Material Empire

Xingchuan.

After the central working group left, there was no news. Gao Xuejian, the county magistrate, originally thought that the working group had made a trip, and would pick something wrong no matter what, but after waiting for more than half a month, he did not see any leader at the first level greet Xingchuan County, which surprised Gao Xuejian and felt easy.

The reward for Guo Qiushi came very quickly. The Provincial Propaganda Department issued a document requiring all the cadres in the province to learn from Guo Qiushi's glorious deeds of sacrificing himself to save others. Various honors such as outstanding party members and model workers have been prepared, and they are only waiting to be commended at the right time. After Guo Qiushi was sent to the military hospital in the provincial capital, he enjoyed high-level treatment and care. Wang Yue visited him several times in the provincial capital, and every time he asked him when he would be discharged from the hospital, Guo Qiushi just smiled and didn't answer, as if he planned to stay in the hospital for a long time.

These incidents in the officialdom have not affected the more than 100 small iron and steel enterprises in the county at all. During this period of time, there seemed to be more customers who went to Xingchuan to order steel than in the past. Except for a few familiar faces, most of them appeared for the first time. The small owners of the steel mill didn't care much about this. As long as they could pay, who cares if they are regular customers?

Lu Dashuang recently received a good job. A merchant who claimed to be from the Yangtze River Delta ordered 8,000 tons of steel from him and asked for delivery within two months. Lu Dashuang roughly calculated that if this order is done well, it can at least bring him a gross profit of more than 2 million. With this money, he will not have any problems if he does not start work this year.

The merchant paid a 10% deposit in advance, and agreed that Lu Dashuang would deliver the steel to the designated delivery location in four installments, and settle the cost of the steel delivered each time until the entire contract was finally completed. This condition does not pose any risk to Lu Dashuang. The merchant’s advance deposit is 1.5 million. Lu Dashuang’s first delivery of 2,000 tons of steel costs about 3 million yuan, and he needs to pay 1.5 million in advance. But Lu Dashuang doesn’t have to worry about the other party breaking the contract, because there is a deposit of 1.5 million. If the other party breaks the contract, Lu Dashuang can easily sell 2,000 tons of steel at a low price, and even earn more.

The merchant left after paying the deposit. Lu Dashuang didn't dare to delay, so he immediately contacted the suppliers who provided him with scrap steel and asked them to deliver the goods to him as soon as possible. The supplier is also unusually happy, saying that as long as the payment for the goods is in place, there will be as much scrap steel as you want, and you can meet your needs at any time.

Some of the small iron and steel plants in Xingchuan County have their own iron-making blast furnaces and use molten iron to make steel. But most of them adopt the so-called "short-process smelting", that is, the method of directly melting scrap steel back into the furnace. The cost of making steel with scrap steel is much higher than that of pig iron, but the equipment is very simple. It only needs an electric furnace and a simple casting and rolling device is enough. Lu Dashuang's Tongxin Steel Works uses this short-process steelmaking method, so scrap steel must be used as raw material.

Smelting 8,000 tons of steel in two months has exceeded the production capacity of Tongxin Steel Plant. Lu Dashuang is not worried about this. There are more than a dozen small steel mills in Dongdaogou Village. If he can’t finish the work, he can subcontract to other steel mills to do it, as long as he pays some of the profits to these steel mills. In the past, various steel mills subcontracted each other in this way. The factories with business eat meat, and the factories without business eat soup. Everyone has a very tacit understanding.

However, the situation this time was a bit abnormal. When Lu Dashuang took the order to discuss subcontracting with the bosses of several other steel mills, he unexpectedly found that other people also had large orders in their hands. A factory eager to cooperate.

"How many tons did you receive?"

These days, the small bosses in Dongdaogou Village ask each other questions like this when they meet. Some factories have received thousands of tons, and some factories have received hundreds of tons, all of which are agreed to be delivered within one or two months. For this kind of order cloud situation, the small bosses can be said to be mixed. The joy is naturally that there is business to do, and such a hot business means that the future market is also very considerable. As for the worry, it is whether its own production capacity can keep up, whether the price of scrap steel will rise because of this, and if all factories start work at the same time, the power grid may not be able to bear it.

In any case, having business is a good thing after all, and everyone happily entered into the intense work. Apart from Dongdaogou Village, small steel mills in some other villages also encountered similar good luck. For a while, large trucks pulling scrap steel crowded the road leading to Xingchuan. Since all the small steel mills have to advance funds to purchase scrap steel, Xingchuan's usury business has also boomed.

"Why is the recent steel business so good?"

Gao Xuejian was a little surprised when he received the report from below. The small iron and steel plant in Xingchuan is an important source of income for the county, and Gao Xuejian is very clear about its annual business volume. In just over ten days, all the iron and steel factories have received orders, and the business volume has almost exceeded the total amount of the previous year. No matter how you look at this kind of thing, it seems a bit evil.

"Could it be that real estate in the south is booming, and there is a big gap in steel?" Wang Yue speculated.

"If you don't come early and don't come late, the central working group leaves, and so many merchants come to order steel products. Do you think there is any connection between these two things?" Gao Xuejian asked.

Wang Yue thought for a while, then shook his head and said, "I can't see it...the central working group couldn't have advertised for us, could it?"

"What nonsense!" Gao Xuejian scolded, "I mean, could this be a trick created by the working group?"

"You mean, the working group wants to frame our county? It deliberately found us a business to do it?" Wang Yue said, "I don't think it's necessary, does it?"

"Indeed, if they want to clean up our county, there is absolutely no need to go around such a big detour. Besides, according to the report below, these merchants have paid deposits. It is impossible for the working group to mobilize so many people just to cause trouble for us. Money?" Gao Xuejian analyzed.

This kind of discussion is destined to be fruitless. Gao Xuejian asked Wang Yue to investigate several small steel mills, and the answers he got all said that the customers had names and surnames, and the deposits paid were real money, so they couldn't be scammers. Besides, everyone couldn't see the point of such a scam. It didn't take such effort to catch Xiaogang's pigtails in Xingchuan County.

"Tomorrow is the time to deliver the first batch of goods. When the time comes, I will deliver the goods and ask the other party to transfer the money to the account in person. Isn't there nothing wrong with it?" said Wang Yue, who came to ask Lu Dashuang Said.

"Where is the delivery location?" Wang Yue asked.

"Dalun City." Lu Dashuang said.

Dalun is a port city in Yanning Province. In the past, steel products from Yanning Province were often sold to other provinces and cities by sea. It was a very normal request for merchants to ask Lu Dashuang to send steel products to Dalun. The agreed delivery location is at Dalun's freight wharf, which is a place governed by the laws of the king, so there is no possibility of looting these steel products.

Could it be that this is really an ordinary transaction? Wang Yue couldn't understand it.

Early the next morning, more than a dozen large trucks with a load of 50 tons came to Dongdaogou Village. Lu Dashuang commanded the crane to load the rolled steel onto the trucks, and then personally got into the front of the first large truck and escorted them to the village. The convoy of transporting steel was on the highway and headed towards Dalun.

"Boss Lu, there are quite a lot of goods delivered this time. Have you made a fortune?"

The driver's name was Bai Wanxin, and he and Lu Dashuang were old acquaintances. In the past, an order from Tongxin Steel Works was about a hundred tons, sometimes a few hundred tons, and only three or four trucks were needed. This time, Lu Dashuang asked Bai Wanxin to help find more than a dozen trucks, and promised to deliver them several times, which shows the large quantity of goods. Bai Wanxin is also a knowledgeable person, and after a little estimation of the quantity, he can guess how lucrative Lu Dashuang's profits are.

"Haha, let's be so-so." Lu Dashuang said proudly, "This time, we will send 2,000 tons in total, and there will be three more times in the future, with a total of 8,000 tons. However, there is no profit in steelmaking now, just earn hard money. It’s really not as good as your transportation, there is no cost, and it’s all a net profit.”

Bai Wanxin said with a smile: "Boss Lu is joking, we transport for a year, and the money we earn is not even a fraction of yours. My cousin is in the steel industry. He said that a ton of steel can earn at least 500 yuan. Your 8,000 tons is a full 4 million, is this still so-so?"

Lu Dashuang waved his hand and said, "Earn 500 yuan for a ton of steel? When did this happen? How can there be such a good thing now. This month, not only my family got the business, but other factories also got the business. The price has risen by more than 100 yuan. I can’t even earn 100 yuan per ton of steel now. How much money do I have to spend to clear the relationship. To tell you the truth, I borrowed usury this time to buy scrap steel. Just wait for the payment to be received today, and hurry up to repay the usury money."

"That's right. Those loan sharks are not easy to talk to. If you pay back the money one day late, you will be charged thousands of dollars in interest." Bai Wanxin said sympathetically.

The two of them were talking, and they didn't realize that the convoy had already crossed the boundary of Xingchuan County and entered the neighboring Kangtai County. Turning around a hillside, Lu Dashuang saw a few cars parked on the road ahead, and some people stood beside them, including a few policemen wearing caps.

"Old Bai, what's going on?" Lu Dashuang asked.

Bai Wanxin raised his eyes and said depressedly: "It's probably a temporary inspection, to check whether there are overloading, drunk driving and so on. Our car is a bit over the limit, and it is estimated that we will be fined a thousand or eight hundred yuan."

"It's okay, didn't we agree in advance that the fine for overloading will be mine." Lu Dashuang said, patting his chest. The request for overloading was made by him, so the fine can only be paid by him. The fine of 800 yuan is a drop in the bucket compared to the expected profit, and Lu Dashuang doesn't care at all.