Eighty-Six: The Outcome

The Second Generation of Leadership had a favorable impression of Wei Hua. He believed Wei Hua was a patriotic man, something he had already sensed during their conversation in the United States, and so he had, in his heart, already accepted Wei Hua’s terms of cooperation. In his view, such cooperation could also be regarded as a form of reform. The country had only just emerged from that political catastrophe and had begun comprehensive economic development, yet the state treasury held very little money. Economic construction could not proceed without funds, so military expenditure had to be pared down as much as possible. He also knew, however, that reducing the defense budget would ultimately affect the army’s combat effectiveness. If the military could raise funds on its own, then research into certain military technologies could continue, and many projects that had been halted or frozen during the Cultural Revolution could be restarted. Faced with military pressure from both the Western alliance and the Eastern bloc, the nation also had to increase investment in military science and technology.

The convening of today’s meeting was itself a necessity. It was an unprecedented event since the founding of the nation, and every possible reaction had to be taken into account. Within the Party, democracy had to be observed; one man could not simply have the last word. After all, the political movement that had just ended still left many people shaken, so the matter had to be resolved through democratic means. The reason so many military figures were invited to the meeting today was precisely to create the impression that the armed forces greatly needed this cooperation, thereby putting additional pressure on those who opposed it. This was political wisdom.

“Since we are talking about reform now,” one of the founding elders who had played a decisive role in bringing that political catastrophe to an end said, “I think we can agree to cooperation. However, for the time being, only Wei Hua may undertake it. We need to see the results first, and at the same time gain some experience. There is no way all of us will think alike, so let us proceed by democratic principle and vote by a show of hands.”

The Second Generation of Leadership glanced at his old comrade and thought that, after all, it was this old battle companion who truly understood his mind. The result of the vote was that cooperation could go forward, and that founding elder’s influence was indeed considerable.

Three days later, Wei Hua met Bai Jianjun at his home and also heard the news he had long been waiting for. When he heard it, Wei Hua thought that the little wings of the butterfly that had crossed time and space had finally stirred up a small breeze.

After Bai Jianjun left, Wei Hua hurriedly informed Jessie and asked her to draft a detailed framework for cooperation. At last, the matter of cooperation between the mainland and the outside world had reached a conclusion, and Wei Hua felt relieved. As long as the manufacturing base of Snow Pool Company in Shenzhen kept launching new products, Japanese electrical manufacturers would have no hope of profiting.

Wei Hua now devoted most of his energy to his chip fabrication plant and wafer plant. At present, the United States and several other countries were imposing a technological blockade on the mainland, and the latest chip-production and wafer-production lines were forbidden from being exported to mainland China. Thus, Wei Hua had no choice but to establish these two factories in Hong Kong.

In the twenty-first century, Hong Kong had three major industrial districts, but at present only the future Taipo Industrial Zone was still in the planning stage, so Wei Hua had no choice but to select that location. His two factories were not small in scale, and he was even preparing to develop them into the largest chip fabrication and wafer production plants in Asia. He did not want to relocate in the future, so he chose to build them within the area that would later become an industrial district.

In late January of 1981, Snow Pool Electrical Manufacturing Company submitted an application to the Hong Kong Planning Department to purchase industrial land. Since it was industrial land rather than commercial land, no auction was required. Accordingly, the Planning Department allocated two hectares of land to Snow Pool Electrical Manufacturing Company in the future Taipo Industrial Zone. In early February, Snow Pool obtained the land ownership certificate, and the construction company Wei Hua had arranged for also began work. The contractor had been introduced by Rong Jiajian.

During this period, Wei Hua and Rong Jiajian became considerably closer. The two of them had dinner together several times and played two rounds of golf as well. But after those two rounds, Rong Jiajian never played golf with Wei Hua again. The reason was that Wei Hua was simply too outrageous. The first time, he had not even known how to hold a club, yet by the second round he had easily defeated Rong Jiajian. Rong felt utterly humiliated, and afterward he never again invited Wei Hua to play golf.

On February 11, Wei Hua returned alone to the United States. The purpose of his trip was the chip production line and the wafer production line. After many days of effort, contracts had been signed for one piece of equipment after another: high-precision, large-zone constant-temperature diffusion furnaces, modular clean rooms, ion etchers, ion implanters, comparison microscopes, deep ultraviolet lithography machines, wire-cutting machines, and more. The main equipment could now be considered complete. At the end of February, Wei Hua returned to Hong Kong once more, and now his production line could finally be said to have a solid footing.

At present, Wei Hua was facing a very serious problem: he had far too few people he could truly trust. He had far too many things he needed and wanted to do, but because his circle of contacts was so narrow—indeed, to put it plainly, he hardly had any circle at all—he had met almost no friends in America except the three women, Kinoshita Sakurako, and the members of the Kinoshita family. As for talent, that was even less worth mentioning. Wei Hua needed large numbers of managerial and technical personnel; otherwise, his enterprise would stagnate.

The chip and wafer production lines were proof enough. With no one available to use, he had been forced to take personal charge himself. Jessie was now traveling all over the mainland, selecting locations for Snow Pool Electrical Manufacturing Company’s appliance stores and the sites for freight transfer depots. With such a vast country and transportation nowhere near as developed as it would be in the twenty-first century, goods had to be transferred en route, so several logistics depots had to be established. Although people from local military districts and subdistrict commands were helping, there were so many stores that Jessie would be busy for quite some time, and personnel training was still a major problem. People in the country simply did not yet have a service mindset, and whether the military-supplied staff could accept smiling service was still uncertain.

To everyone: I am sorry! I broke my promise again yesterday. I had an unexpected matter come up yesterday afternoon, so I will make up for what was owed today! Please continue to support me!!