this man is not calm

Chapter 426 Sample
Fundamentally speaking, offline life and logistics channels are sub-businesses under the e-commerce platform. However, more than two years of operation have made Wei Shuangping realize that these three sectors will be separated sooner or later. The B2C, B2B and C2C comprehensive e-commerce platforms will separate part of the O2O offline life logistics channels and let the latter operate independently.

In general, the approach is to partially build and operate independently, share non-core resources, and establish a joint logistics and express company.

With the current domestic logistics and delivery speed, it is really hard to imagine the possibility of same-day delivery, next-day delivery, and forty-eight-hour delivery. It is already very good if the same-city express delivery can be delivered to the customer the next day. Inter-provincial freight basically takes more than seven days. The flow of goods between regions with longer distances is normal for ten days to half a month. In case of rainy and snowy weather, poor road conditions or unexpected circumstances, delays of one month are not uncommon.

At the end of 1997, when logistics efficiency was relatively low, it was extremely convenient to have an unobstructed inland waterway and a self-sufficient freight fleet.

This is not the era when highways are spread all over the country and air transportation is beginning to be used in the field of civilian logistics. Whether or not a company that focuses on trade can open up the circulation between supply chains and cross-regional trade is almost the key to determining whether it can survive.

Many years later, Jinxi Mall will be split into Alibaba, Meituan and a logistics company integrating Cainiao, SF Express, STO Express and comprehensive supply chain. The three are related and will most likely cross-exchange shares and be listed separately.

To put it bluntly, the subsidiaries, grandson companies and many holding and shareholding companies incubated from Jinxi Mall are all technology-intensive and labor-intensive enterprises with strong online and offline interactions based on the Internet. They are model projects of technology feeding back to life.

Their core value may not be as good as that of traditional heavy industry, mining, coal petrochemicals and energy chemicals, but their moats are also very wide. If we add the addition of big data, edge computing and artificial intelligence in the future, and move towards the Internet of Things, high-end substitution, automation and mechanization, it is also quite promising. For example, auxiliary vehicle systems, intelligent distribution, drones, and popularization of electrification are all very good.

Now, Wei Shuangping, standing in the position of the general manager of Jinxi Mall, would naturally think about gaining more benefits for its businesses. It is also normal for him to sing his own song according to his position.

Several people talked about the process of material transportation and the key points that needed attention, and asked about the supply situation of the local port.

"Boss Jin, I think if you have the spare capacity, you can try to do something with the docks in some small and medium-sized counties along the coast. The cost of buying the operating rights of these small ports is not high, and they also come with land for surrounding supporting facilities. You can do something with them, whether it's building a logistics warehouse or doing commercial development, it's worth it..."

"Can we take advantage of the low cost of water transport to open up distribution channels in third- and fourth-tier coastal areas?"

Wei Shuangping's suggestion is actually very good. Firstly, it doesn't cost much to take over these almost half-abandoned docks, but the operating costs need to be controlled. The local customs and practices vary greatly from place to place, so it is necessary to find the right entry point.

It just so happened that Jinxi Culture had the entry point of Xiaolingtong, which was almost everywhere. Taking this as an opportunity, it cooperated with the local snakes to establish connections, transport out the distinctive but low-value goods, and transport in the needed external goods, thus taking into account both internal and external factors, achieving metabolism, and achieving the effect of a virtuous cycle.

Jin Shang tapped the galvanized railing with his fingers, pondered for a moment, and then responded carefully:

"You can give it a try, but don't push it too fast. The company's cash flow will be a bit tight in the coming period, and it won't be able to come up with too much money for large-scale expansion in a short period of time."

As pleasant as it was to take Lao Huang’s asset package last year, it will be as painful to pay back the money next year.

Even though he had to pay so much interest, considering the appreciation of fixed assets, the depreciation of purchasing power caused by monetary inflation, and the benefits brought by capital flows, Jin Shang definitely got the upper hand and made a lot of money.

However, one must also be able to hold on to the benefits. Whether one can bear the difficulty in realizing the value of fixed assets in a short period of time and the burden of principal and interest are important factors in successfully passing the test.

Wei Shuangping also knew a little about Jin Shang's financial situation, so she was not surprised.

"Judging from the recent turmoil in domestic and foreign capital markets, there may be a small wave of adjustments. The loose monetary policy is expected to usher in a short-term tightening adjustment. Will it have an impact on the company's operations?"

"Don't worry, the cash flow is still healthy. For us, it's a good time to take a breath. We have indeed moved too fast and too fast in the past two years. In addition, this is also a good counter-cyclical investment opportunity. When the cash flow is sufficient again, we will start to buy some high-quality assets."

Business competition is actually so plain and simple, big fish eat small fish, live fish eat dead fish. In most cases, it is not about who is better, but who has stronger risk control capabilities and can ensure that nothing goes wrong in the storm, and then wait for the "survivor to take over" and grab the market share of the collapsed competitors.

Why are the "old money" always able to survive the bull and bear markets? It's because most of the industries they gather in are very stable and reliable tracks, with much lower risks than the ups and downs of electronic technology, IT Internet, film and television entertainment, etc. This makes them patient enough to wait for opportunities to come, accumulate wealth over a long enough time, and pick and choose when risks come, eating the fattest but most resistant big fish.

Let’s just say that the short-term fluctuations in the stock market are just that in the long run, but there is still huge room for short-term arbitrage.

By setting up private equity funds, affiliated companies can pool funds by purchasing financial products and buy put options in the bond market and secondary stock market, which can bring considerable short-term returns.

This is also one of the important factors that help Jin Shang to successfully overcome this not-so-small debt crisis.

By lengthening the payment cycle through acceptance bills, the short-term impact of large expenditures can be minimized and will not affect the company's business.

The work at the dock was quite busy. Jin Shang, Wei Shuangping and his team did not get close to disturb the workers, but watched the situation from a distance.

The afternoon sun in late October was still a bit harsh. After looking around and finding nothing wrong, they returned to the yacht and sat in the spacious lounge.

Hong Renquan and Wei Shuangping chatted casually about the company's recent situation. Soon, Chairman Hong, who had just finished his last shift, would step down and come to the company's general manager's office as a consultant, a semi-retirement position. Although it was not a position that required him to take care of things, he could still play a role sometimes, especially in coordinating the exchanges between CSSC Electromechanical and the holding company Jinxi Culture.

On the other side, Jin Shang explained some things to the housekeeper Lao Bian.

The first is the issue of fleet operation and maintenance.

"I don't think this yacht will be used very often. It will only be borrowed by my grandmother and friends and relatives. You can make the arrangements for this. Just don't let any inexplicable people get on it. After all, it is a private property."

Unlike large yachts like warships, the "Water Bird" is obviously used for inland river or near-shore entertainment. It is completely different from a large yacht that is more than 100 meters long and several stories high.

"Don't worry, young master. I'll have someone take care of it."

"The second thing is those transport ships. They need a lot of people to maintain them. I have asked my second uncle to transfer some elderly people to help. You can recruit some reliable young people from your hometown as apprentices and temporary workers. Just recruit them from outside."

"it is good!"

Bian Luming took out a small notebook and wrote down everything Jin Shang had told him to do.

In places like western Guangdong, the gap between the rich and the poor is quite large, and there are still many families that live a hard life. People live off the mountains and the sea, but in places like Lingnan, there are many clans, and in the past, people would fight over water for irrigation, woodcutting, and shipping. Now it is not so brutal and violent, but the atmosphere of confrontation is still strong, and the annual dragon boat races, regional ball games, and sports games are really competitive.

The "Village Super League" that was touted as the hope of the Chinese national football team in the previous life is everywhere these days, and the winner is an important supplement to the regional amateur league.

Another thing that is difficult to tell outsiders is that places like western Guangdong are indeed close to the sea, but many people there may not be engaged in serious "sea-eating" industries.

The danger of traveling by water is not as great as in the past, but it is not very safe either. On the vast ocean, no one can help you by calling to the sky or the earth. If something happens, you can't even run away.

There is a serious inland fleet recruiting people. Although the salary is not as high as that of seafaring, it is stable and it is a serious job. Isn't it better than working as a street vendor in a small town?

"Secondly, the family office has established an ecological agriculture and animal husbandry company, with plant factories and intensive breeding as its main businesses. My second uncle will send some people to build the framework. I need some relatively stable manpower here. Although it is hard work, the salary is still very good. If you learn the technology and are willing to make progress, you will have a good future..."

“Plant factory?”

Bian Luming was stunned for a moment, then asked doubtfully,
"When the master was young, he also visited northwestern Europe to investigate this kind of thing. He also built one around Rongcheng in the south. Later...it was good for supplying vegetables in winter, but the operating cost was too high, so it closed within two years."

"I heard about it."

Choosing his words carefully, Jin Shang explained slowly,
"The cost problem that has plagued plant factories in the past has been solved with the development of technology. In the past, high-pressure sodium lamps consumed 60 degrees of electricity per kilogram of vegetables, which was outrageous. Except for growing some high-value-added medicinal herbs, it was basically a loss. Later, they switched to fluorescent lamps, and the cost dropped to 35 degrees per kilogram. Later, LED lights appeared, and the intensity and color can be flexibly controlled, which is very ideal..."

To be honest, even for the most efficient plants, the visible spectrum range utilized for photosynthesis is less than 5% of the total. Only the utilization rate of red and blue light is decent, while the others are mediocre. When converted to total efficiency, the result is shockingly low.

LED lights have not been widely used for a long time, and the cost has not yet come down. Even so, the power consumption of each kilogram of vegetables in plant factories has dropped to more than 10 kWh, and it is expected to drop to less than 7 kWh in a few years. When the technology matures further, the power consumption of each kilogram of green leafy vegetables will be less than 3 kWh, and the whole cycle from sowing to harvesting will only take a little more than 20 days, all year round. If calculated, the cost is more than 40% lower than that of outdoor sowing and greenhouse planting.

By controlling the process, improving the degree of automation, reducing manpower, and using high-tech sensors and computer control systems to manage the entire process, only a very small number of people can be used to mass-produce green vegetables that are in short supply in the northern region, and even export them to earn foreign exchange.

Although it is currently only a small- to medium-sized demonstration base, once it operates smoothly, it will have no problem supplying the needs of some citizens in Beijing.

After Jin Shang's explanation, Bian Luming also refreshed the old knowledge in his mind, and then tentatively said:

"The kilogram yield of 13 to 16 kWh of electricity is already very good! When seasonal vegetables are on the market in summer, we can only barely break even. In autumn, winter and spring, we are very profitable. Even the cost of transporting vegetables from other places to Beijing is much more expensive than this. If you want cheap ones... except for the experimental operation of transporting vegetables from the south to the north, which the young master regards as a tie-in, who is willing to use the scarce shipping capacity to transport vegetables. Railway transportation is good in the inland area, but it is still a little bit worse in the capital..."

There is one thing that Bian Luming understood but did not say explicitly. Electricity is very precious in Beijing, but it is not scarce in the Northeast, in the saline-alkali land of the Songnen Plain, and near Julunbo. Both wind and photovoltaic resources are abundant. Even if they are not enough, nearby gas-fired power generation is also very convenient.

Not only that, if this model proves to be feasible, it can be applied all over the northern region, including the northwest, northern desert, and even the northern permafrost zone.

It seems a bit of a waste to grow vegetables, but is it possible to grow rice, sorghum, or purple flower livestock intensively in the sparsely populated northern region?

The issues of clothing and food cannot be given too much attention.

"Young Master is very thoughtful. Our population is about to exceed one billion. It will never be wrong to contribute to the food problem."

Energy sources such as photovoltaics, wind power and hydropower are right there. If you don’t use them, they will be wasted. Strategic resources can never be measured purely by market prices.

Correspondingly, the ranches that are equipped with greenhouse farming are mainly cattle, and some sheep, pigs, deer, chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, etc. are raised to try out which one is most suitable for this environment.

"A fully automated forage plant the size of a standard container, if well maintained, can produce eight tons a week, which is very gratifying."

Jin Shang continued to describe his blueprint, trying to be concise.
"Twenty layers of vertical planting density, supporting a ten-story integrated breeding farm, and also equipped with fully automatic/semi-automatic cleaning equipment, sewage treatment, biogas plants, food waste recycling and reuse centers, garbage treatment plants, biofuel post-processing equipment and secondary utilization teams, gas generators for cogeneration, recycled water circulation systems... There are so many things. In order to fit all these things in, we hired a special team to design and plan, which has already cost more than seven million, and we may have to add more in the future..."

For example, the ceilings of plant factories and intensive breeding farms use monocrystalline silicon photovoltaics, while the curtain wall glass uses translucent, controllable light-transmitting polycrystalline silicon thin-film photovoltaics. The former has high cost, high efficiency, and long life, while the latter has slightly poor stability and lower power generation efficiency, but has very little attenuation under dim light conditions, and works better on cloudy days than in direct sunlight. Taking into account its advantages, Jin Shang has even used it on the stadium awnings and facades. Even if the efficiency is lower, it is still a small supplement.

Try the effect and then gradually improve it later.

"This... is too much of an investment!"

"It's okay. New energy companies have a lot of tax rebates and subsidies. Overall, they must have made money. Otherwise, how can we promote capital participation, scientific research progress, and commercial applications? We are the first large private enterprise to take the lead, and we are doing it right under the nose of the capital. What do you call this?"

You have taken the right stance and helped the local area solve problems, so you deserve some extra rewards, right?
"Actually, no one can say whether this thing is useful or not. It performs very well in the laboratory, but that is different from actual large-scale commercial use. In short, the first 'hero' to charge into battle will not suffer any loss."

Not to mention that with the help of the "golden finger", there is a high probability of making some money. Even if you really fail and lose money, it is still a good thing. You may lose something in one place but gain something in another. When you sum up the accounts, you can get back both the capital and interest.

As he spoke, Jin Shang took out the large floor plan of the park that he had prepared.

The entire plot of land is divided into several areas. Near the embankment on the bank of Liangshui River, there are more than 30 wind turbines, gas turbine units, rectifier and converter station rooms, data centers, cooling centers, circulating water systems, etc. Across an artificial waterway is the comprehensive utilization area that Jin Shang just mentioned, with prestressed columns, silicon crystal panels supported by a tracking system, a cleaning aisle and manual work area below, and tolerant forage grass planted in saline-alkali soil, and hired workers to cut the grass regularly.

Then there are two plant factory buildings and a closed farm building. A little further out, there are a garbage sorting and processing center, a biofuel preparation plant, a biogas digester, a gas storage station, etc.

These two blocks, and the surrounding fast-growing windbreak forests, paper mills, wood processing plants and industrial ethanol processing plants, are surrounded by an artificially dug waterway and separated from the outside office buildings, canteens, parking lots, carports, supporting parks, shopping centers, residential properties, etc. Outside are hospitals, schools, and large commercial plazas waiting to be developed.

In order to roughly finalize the regional development blueprint, Jin Shang, relying on his half-baked knowledge of urban planning, consulted many professionals and negotiated with the Urban Development Committee and relevant departments for a long time before he roughly confirmed it.

As one of the core areas of the smart city pilot comprehensive development zone, Jinxi Culture has a heavy burden on its shoulders. It has got such a big piece of cake all of a sudden. It should share the profits where they should, win over those who should be won over, and eat the fattest pieces of meat.

"This... with the city walls and a few heavy artillery pieces, it would be a city that can be used for both offense and defense. If it were put there more than a hundred years ago, if you built a bastion and two hundred well-trained people defended it, tens of thousands of people would take turns to attack it and it would take half a year to take it down."

"You can't say that. Times have changed. There is no such thing as a fortress or not."

"I understand. The industrial pilot park is one of the foundations of the local area!"

Bian Luming said with a smile.

Although he didn't say it, he didn't think so in his heart. Isn't that football park stadium with a history of more than 100 years the core of the base fortress?
Although the outer fortifications and city walls have been demolished, there are still some garrisons nearby, which were later transformed into modern film and television shooting bases, tourist attractions or protected buildings. In this regard, Lao Bian knows more about it than the Jin father and son.

Although it is not in the central city, it is not a remote city either. Being able to obtain the development rights of such a large piece of land in the suburbs is enough to prove that the young master's ability is not inferior to that of the old master, and his luck seems to be much better. He has been smooth sailing without encountering any major setbacks.

"The business is huge and complex, and requires support from professionals in various fields. However, to maintain the stability of the main framework, some people introduced by acquaintances still need to participate. Don't expect them to become the backbone or turn the tide. It's enough to play a role in stabilizing people's hearts in the early stages of the start-up. If they can keep up in the future, they will be promoted. If they can't keep up..."

Jin Shang said calmly,
"If you can't carry out the work assigned to you, don't blame me for being mean. No matter how capable you are, you will get a job. I will still give opportunities to those who are studious and hardworking. If you don't work hard, you can either leave or stay here and be a tool."

"That's enough, young master. The people in our place are not ungrateful and ungrateful. It's rare to be able to not suffer a loss and give you a fair chance to compete and make progress."

In the workplace, it is actually very difficult to give priority to recruitment and promotion under the same conditions.

"By the way, the Xian family is living a neither good nor bad life in their hometown. There are also some young people in the family who have no work to do and are not good at studying. Can they come to the capital and try?"

"I don't care about these. You just look after the arrangements. When people come, just follow the rules. If they are not used to it, you teach them."

Looking at the planning map, Bian Luming thought that he could arrange for at least 20 to 30 apprentices, and at most 50 to 60 apprentices. Even if only half of them could be converted to regular employees and settle down, he would be able to live up to his family's expectations.

The master's family hasn't made much progress in the past few decades. Lao Bian said that in the capital, there aren't many nephews and nieces from the same hometown who can be helped. In the past two years, they have occasionally returned to their hometown, and things have gotten a little better.

"My second uncle and I have great ambitions for this new energy agriculture-photovoltaic integration model project. The northern saline-alkali land, desertification, semi-desertification plains, plateaus, Gobi, and frozen soil zones are very large, and their utilization efficiency has always been low. It is difficult to obtain high-value ready-made farmland. From other angles, it is crucial to find a new way to successfully carry out the comprehensive utilization of agriculture and animal husbandry under harsh natural conditions..."

Don't even think about the black soil in Northeast China. The land in the far east that turns into mud in summer is indeed fertile, but the transportation conditions are very poor, the area is vast and sparsely populated, and development is difficult and time-consuming, which is not enough to meet urgent needs.

But wind and photovoltaic power stations are not difficult to build, but it is not easy to export electricity. If we can have data centers and plant factories, intensive breeding, and find profit points in bioenergy, feed and ecological green manure, we can replicate them as they are or with minor adjustments to the vast Northeast, Mobei and Northwest regions and become a real large grain trader.

Of course, this also requires the support of automation such as sensors, intelligent monitoring, and computer systems, and this aspect happens to be the strength of Jinxi Culture.

"If the master saw the young master's current appearance, he would probably be very pleased."

Jin Shang's grandfather Huang Xiumin grew up in the critical period when the Huang family went from prosperity to decline. He was once a favored child of heaven who was highly expected. Unfortunately, fate played tricks on him and the world changed too fast, abandoning the unlucky guy without even saying hello.

"Finally, the commercial market in western Guangdong is a bit closed. Please help me find out. Except for electronic devices and household appliances such as PHS and MP3, other channels seem to be not so good. Please help me find out whether extracurricular training, vocational education, ecological agriculture, chain stores and the like are easy to do. I have obtained professional research, but without the personal experience of local people, there are always some problems..."

(End of this chapter)