National Tide 1980.

Ning Weimin didn't expect to see Huo Yanping looking a little disappointed today.

Perhaps it was because Director Huo always maintained a firm and confident attitude in front of him, and never showed any hesitation.

So this sudden contrast surprised him very much, and he could not help but stare at Huo Yanping for a long time.

However, he quickly realized that Huo Yanping's ability to show an unusual side in front of him was undoubtedly a sign of trust.

To put it bluntly, I became more open to him and treated him as one of my own.

Ning Weimin's gratitude was not false. He also knew that Huo Yanping was a good official with moral integrity, and he could understand how much work pressure Huo Yanping was under.

He was especially touched when he saw that Huo Yanping seemed to have significantly more white hair than last year.

So he bit his lip and said directly, "Leader, what difficulties have you encountered at work? How about...you tell me? If you don't mind, please give me a chance to learn. Although I am young, inexperienced, and have limited understanding of the international situation, I may not be able to really help you. But after all, I am a businessman doing business in a foreign country, and I have to pay attention to changes in the financial environment. I have to be flexible and adaptable. Maybe I can provide you with some additional ideas. Of course, the nature of your work is extraordinary. If it really involves state secrets, I won't ask..."

The kindness and concern expressed by Ning Weimin made Huo Yanping feel somewhat comforted.

He really trusted Ning Weimin. At least he knew that he acted in a disciplined manner, knew his limits, and had the national interest in mind.

Even though I didn't really believe he could help me, there were some things I had been holding in my heart for so long that I really needed to talk them out.

So he didn't act pretentiously. He thought about the problem that he was worried about and realized that even if it was leaked, it would not be worse than it is now. So he told Ning Weimin in a casual manner.

It turns out that Huo Yanping is now in big trouble in his official duties.

He needs to work with the Ministry of Commerce to obtain large quantities of industrial raw materials from outside for the country as soon as possible.

You know, the country is currently firmly following the path of reform and opening up. Whether it is the needs of urban upgrading and transformation or the needs of industrial development and upgrading, it is inseparable from a large amount of industrial materials such as steel, iron, copper and aluminum.

At the same time, due to insufficient production capacity and limited resources in the domestic mining industry, especially in some places where there are no mining areas nearby, the best way is to obtain a large amount of relevant materials and mineral resources from the international market and transport them directly to the companies in need through the port.

Especially the problem of iron ore, the domestic gap is currently the largest.

But the problem is that there are still major obstacles in this regard.

One is that the Republic is short of foreign exchange, and the other is that trade channels are blocked.

You must know that my country had not yet "rejoined the WTO" at that time, and its position in international trade was very embarrassing. It was basically an excluded and transparent country.

To put it bluntly, we have no money and are unwelcome, so naturally we have no presence in the international market.

This not only causes our companies and products to suffer discriminatory or unfair treatment when entering the international market, but also seriously restricts the progress of our economic development through reform and opening up.

So you can imagine how important the task Huo Yanping shoulders is.

But the problem is that given the harsh external environment, this is almost an impossible task.

In the past six months, no matter how hard he tried, he still ran into obstacles everywhere and could not find a breakthrough.

Not only did I end up doing useless work, but I also felt humiliated. How could I be in a good mood?

In addition, some people in the country also followed suit.

Some people seized the loopholes in the dual-track system and, relying on certain inherent advantages, have been fleecing the country and undermining socialism.

This has further aggravated the current shortage of raw materials in the country, and has even made normal production in many domestic factories unsustainable.

Take the Tianjin Toothpaste Factory, for example. It produces 1.2 million tubes of Blue Sky toothpaste annually and uses thousands of tons of aluminum annually. This year, it was unable to order even one ton of aluminum.

The national price for aluminum is 4,400 yuan per ton, but there is no supply and the private transaction price is 10,000 yuan per ton.

From the perspective of the Blue Sky Toothpaste Factory, the factory's total profit in 1987 was million yuan, but now it has to pay an additional million yuan just to purchase raw materials.

what does this mean?
This means that even if the toothpaste factory does not make any money, it will still lose one million on materials to maintain normal production.

The more you do, the more you lose. How can you still do this?

There is also the "Double Happiness" brand pressure cooker in Shenyang, which is also a victim of the shortage of raw materials.

The aluminum ingots needed to produce pressure cookers have gone through layers of markup, and by the time they reach the factory, the national price of 4,000 yuan per ton has risen to more than 8,000 yuan per ton.

If that were the case, the pressure cooker factory would be out of business.

In short, the shortage of raw materials in the country is now very serious.

Judging from the time, Huo Yanping had almost no chance to catch his breath, and one can imagine the pressure he was under at the negotiating table.

So, even though Ning Weimin brought good wine today, when Huo Yanping drank it, he had no intention of savoring the taste. Instead, he seemed to want to drown his sorrows in the wine.

Ning Weimin soon noticed that Huo Yanping ate very little while sitting at the dinner table, as if he had difficulty swallowing.

The half-full glass of XO in his red wine glass was almost finished by him.

"Boss, I have an immature idea that I would like to discuss with you. Since we can't buy this iron ore, can't we think of other ways to find a substitute?"

Ning Weimin didn't dare to let Huo Yanping continue drinking, so he spoke to attract his attention.

"What is... a replacement?
Huo Yanping really put down his wine glass, but he was obviously confused and didn't understand the future words that Ning Weimin accidentally uttered.

"Ah, it's a substitute." Ning Weimin quickly explained, and then said, "Leader, I don't understand international trade, but I know how to make a living. I always feel that maybe we don't have to compete with iron ore. Sometimes, the main road is blocked, so we can just take a detour. Even if we have to take a few more steps, as long as we can reach our destination, it's fine.

"What do you mean?" Huo Yanping's eyes lit up. Ning Weimin's subtext immediately aroused his interest.

"What I mean is, everyone wants this good stuff, and if the quantity is small, it will definitely be hard to buy. For example, the iron ore you mentioned is hard to buy. I always feel that it is a bit like the industrial coupons we issued back then. You need coupons to buy anything, such as three turns and one ring. Later, color TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, and tape recorders required more people. If you don't have connections, you can't buy it. Unless you are willing to pay a high price and let others rip you off, you can get it."

Huo Yanping nodded. "Your statement is quite interesting. It seems to be similar."

Then he sighed again, "That's why I feel so frustrated. Actually, if we really want to buy it, we can buy it if we are willing to spend money, but the price is definitely too uneconomical. Others are 20 US dollars a ton, we have to spend 40 US dollars a ton, and the quality is still poor. Our country has limited foreign exchange, we can't let those foreigners really slaughter us like pigs."

"Don't worry, the rich have their own ways, and the poor have their own ways. To be honest, I made my first pot of gold from industrial vouchers. Others couldn't get those products, but I not only never lacked them, but I also made a fortune using this rule. It was because I found a loophole in the rule and successfully exploited it."

Then Ning Weimin told him everything about how, when he had just returned to the city and had no job, he had joined a small group of vagrants at the East Suburb Garbage Dump and had picked up scraps with them for more than half a year.

Then they told the story of refurbishing the old items from the trust store and selling them to vagrants at high prices for profit.

He even did not hide the fact that he took advantage of the information gap to collect copper from vagrants for huge profits, or that he discovered a bronze artifact and handed it over to the country.

Finally, an inductive summary was made.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

"Leader, we are not afraid of being poor. What is important is to have the knowledge of being poor. We must first learn to be frugal and then look for opportunities to expand ourselves. It's like riding a donkey to find a horse, step by step. Don't expect to get everything in one go. The rich use good things, but we may not. Without new clothes and fine food, can we not live? Old clothes can still keep warm, and steamed bread can fill the stomach. Otherwise, you say, they are both watches, and they are the same brand. Is there any difference between buying a new one in a store and buying an old one from a trust company? Whether in terms of use or in the eyes of others, they are probably the same, right? On the contrary, the buyer spends less money and it is cheaper. This is called high cost performance."

Huo Yanping really didn't expect that Ning Weimin had such a special experience.

It was hard for him to imagine that this young man who could use the warmth of his hands to warm the XO in the cup and enjoy foreign liquor like "Lao Qian" once made a living by picking up garbage and had done such a dirty and tiring job.

However, while he was surprised at how difficult Ning Weimin's growth path was, he was even more surprised at Ning Weimin's approach to problem-solving, his ability to "adapt when poor and succeed when adapted", so that he was able to turn such a hard job that everyone despised into a lucrative job that made him rich overnight.

For this reason, Huo Yanping had to admit that Ning Weimin seemed to be born to be a businessman.

What's more, I could hear the direction to solve the problem from his words.

"Well, you are a very clever person. I didn't expect that you really have the ability to squeeze oil out of stones. High cost performance, that's a good word. Then tell me in detail, in your opinion, what is the cost-effective way to solve the shortage of industrial raw materials?"

Although these words sounded a bit joking, Ning Weimin didn't care at all. "Leader, I will take it as a compliment. Anyway, if you agree with my idea, I am not afraid of showing off in front of you. In my opinion, when it comes to iron ore, we can completely make a second choice and use industrial waste instead. Import more scrap iron and steel. You see, I have collected junk, and I know the waste recycling business best. In fact, nothing can make money like scrap metal. Why? It's because the country has always been short of materials and factories lack raw materials, and these things can be recycled."

"Industrial waste? Where can we import it from? Scrap steel and scrap iron, can we still import these things?"

Huo Yanping was a little stunned. This was indeed a solution he had never considered before.

These days, due to the rigid mindset, no one in the Republic has thought of importing industrial waste from abroad.

"Japan. I have already thought of a way to import these things for you."

Ning Weimin was so excited that he inadvertently proposed the inevitable stopgap measure that would follow the establishment of the Republic at least two years in advance.

"Look, we are so close to Japan. We are just a strip of water, and we can import from Japan. We can go by sea to Fuzhou, Shanghai, Qingdao, Weihai, Tianjin, and all along the coast from south to north."

"But... you may not know that Japan is the world's largest buyer of iron ore. Japan is short of resources, and its industrial raw materials are mainly imported. Wouldn't they reuse these waste materials themselves and export them? You have the advantage of being quick-witted and finding a new way, but you still don't consider the objective reality enough. I think your idea will be difficult to implement."

At this time, Huo Yanping still believed that Ning Weimin's plan had omissions and was ill-considered.

Because of this, the excitement I had just felt dropped again.

But I didn't expect that he was a bit arbitrary. In fact, this sentence is more appropriate for him.

Ning Weimin said, "Leader, I know Japan quite well. I'm afraid their understanding of the value of waste materials is different from ours. Not to mention scrap steel and iron, they will throw away even intact electrical appliances, home appliances, furniture, and musical instruments. And because the government has strict laws on the recycling of garbage and waste, the Japanese have to spend extra money to properly dispose of these things and reduce pollution to the environment."

"Why? Because labor is really expensive in Japan, so for them, the most feared thing is labor-intensive work. If an electrical appliance breaks down, the repair cost is higher than buying a new one, so why bother to repair it? Socks are worn once and then simply thrown away, without even washing them, because such daily consumables are too cheap for their income. The same principle can be applied to industrial waste. Although I don't understand the technology, I think the Japanese would have to pay unimaginable labor costs to reuse scrap steel. So what is precious to us may be a burden to them."

"I admit that Japan is a resource-poor country, and it has a huge demand for industrial capacity. So according to what you said, Japan is currently the world's largest buyer of iron ore. But conversely, through reverse thinking, can we also think that because Japan buys the most iron ore and has developed rapidly in recent years, there must be a lot of scrap metal and scrap steel that needs to be properly handled in Japan, right?"

Ning Weimin's words left Huo Yanping unable to refute.

He carefully weighed the pros and cons and realized that this was indeed the case.

So why not give it a try? Anyway, it's already like this, so why not try it out?

What if it works? Even if it only solves part of the problem, the situation will be much better than it is now, right?
Just as he was thinking about this, Ning Weimin spoke again, "Leader, as the saying goes, if you don't investigate, you have no right to speak. I know it's hard for you to make a decision based on my one-sided statement alone. Coincidentally, I happen to know the owner of a steel plant in Japan. His name is Kitamao, and he is the president of a company called Hanwa Kogyo. How about this, I can find out the relevant situation through him. If you need it."

Others were almost feeding him the food, Huo Yanping had no choice but to be grateful.

He tapped his fingers on the table, thought for a while, and finally said, "Then let's do this. Just as you said, you help collect the relevant information as soon as possible."

"Okay, I'll call you tomorrow!"

Huo Yanping was very satisfied with Ning Weimin's attitude, so he picked up the wine glass again and motioned Ning Weimin to pour him a glass of wine.

At the same time, he said, "I owe you a favor for this matter, but it will also be an opportunity for you if it is done well. Think about what you asked me for today. Got it?"

"clear."

The two of them understood each other tacitly, clinked their glasses together and took a sip.

Huo Yanping finally enjoyed this sip of wine. (End of this chapter)