Red Power Soda

  Several West German guests were staying at the Wuzhou Hotel. Lu Zhong and several colleagues from the Foreign Affairs Committee were on their way to the Wuzhou Hotel when Yang Bao Mao, the deputy director of the Foreign Affairs Committee who was leading the team, became restless. Like Zhou Xiao Ming, he was worried that Lu Zhong, this big roughneck, would "disgrace the country". However, as the Deputy Director of the Education Committee, Lu Zhong had personally come out to do translation work, and it was not reasonable for him to have any doubts about it.

  The Foreign Affairs Committee had several good cars to pick up foreign guests due to work needs. Lu Zheng, Yang Bao Mao and others took a Mitsubishi business van, which was extremely fast and very stable, and arrived at the Wuzhou Hotel in less than half an hour.

  The Wuzhou Hotel was newly built last year, with complete facilities and a modern business lounge, equipped with typewriters, photocopiers, tape recorders and other office facilities.

  An oval conference table, with personnel from both China and Germany seated on either side. Among the West Germans was a man named Johann Schr?der Gerhard Schr?der, who appeared to be in his forties, with a hooked nose, deep-set eyes, sharp gaze, and a typically German stern expression - not an easy person to deal with at first glance.

  Yang Baimao's opening speech was a warm welcome, but he had serious doubts about Lu Zhong, so his words were simple and straightforward in Chinese oral language, and even so, he talked for a long time.

  Who knows that Lu Zhong simply jumped out a few German words to Schr?der and others, Yang Bo Mao only felt his head was dizzy again. Fortunately, today's guests are really unimportant, it is said that they came from Beijing, just take a look, and there is no instruction from the Beijing authorities, it seems that they are just small businessmen.

  "Welcome, everyone, to come to Wushan for inspection." This is what Lu Zhong said in German.

  Schroeder looked at Lu Zhen deeply, perhaps feeling that the young man in front of him was quite different from the Chinese people he had met before. In China, what you often hear are lengthy welcoming speeches.

  Yang Bao Mao also introduced his own identity, and said: "You all come to China, are our guests, friendship first, business second, we open the country door, is to seek development with friends from all over the world. In the future, if you have anything, just look for me, look for our Foreign Economic Commission, we will definitely spare no effort to provide assistance to you." Although it's a small businessman, Chinese people have been hospitable since ancient times, attracting investment and commerce requires establishing a good reputation. Yang Bao Mao has been doing foreign trade for over a decade, starting with dealing with red countries and African countries, now gradually beginning to deal with Western developed countries, his experience is still very sufficient.

  Lu Zhong this time, however, spoke a whole bunch of nonsense.

  Although he didn't know what Lu Zhong said, Yang Bao Mao was slightly relieved to see the Western German businessman Schr?der nodding and smiling. The director of the Education Commission, Lu, should not be a fake. Westerners, especially Germans, are very meticulous and would not pretend to be polite. If they didn't understand their own translation, they would have spoken up early on.

  Schroeder then went on to say a lot, and the Chinese translator next to him said: "Mr. Yang, you don't have to be polite, we've done our homework this time. In Wushan, we plan to invest $100 million in a joint venture with your country to establish a microcomputer company that produces all kinds of electronic products. We just want to know what specific policies Wushan has, whether there are any special policies for the technology development zone, and what conditions your government is willing to offer for joint investment, or we can also invest independently."

  "What? What did you say? One billion US dollars?" Yang Baomo was stunned, hardly daring to believe his ears. An investment of one billion US dollars? What concept is that? Last year in Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, the total foreign investment for the whole year was only 5.1 billion Hong Kong dollars, and most of it came from Hong Kong merchants due to its proximity to Hong Kong.

  At the beginning of this year, Guangzhou people and Singaporeans jointly invested in the first Sino-foreign joint venture computer company, Ailian Greenfield Computer Co., Ltd. The Singaporean side only invested a few million US dollars.

  $100 million is equivalent to nearly 300 million yuan at the official exchange rate of 1:2.8 this year, what kind of concept is that in a society where the average monthly salary in first-tier cities is less than 1,000 yuan?

  So Yang Bao Mao thought he must have misheard or didn't truly understand what the other person meant.

  Lu Zhong furrowed his brow and asked, "A computer company? May I ask what your parent company is?" German computer technology isn't that great, why would they come to invest in a computer company? And investing $100 million at that? Are you foreign scammers?

  Schroeder smiled and said, "Mr. Lu, I presume? Our company was established at the beginning of this year, but don't worry, our funding is very substantial. We have just successfully acquired the personal computer development department of IBM in the United States, so you don't need to worry about our technical capabilities either."

  What? Lu Zhong was even more surprised than Yang Bao Mao, the Germans acquired IBM's microcomputer technology and business department, this... where did this come from? This world is completely upside down!

  The IBM PC division was unremarkable at the time, and Apple had just introduced a graphical user interface, but conservative forces within the company did not look favorably on its development.

  But Lu Zhong clearly knew that in the near future, the microcomputer would bring profound changes to this world.

  But who is this German who acquired IBM's PC business? This strategic vision is simply venomous and despicable.

  This world, how did it suddenly become a world that is no longer its own? Is it something I've done that has changed this world?

  Lu Zhong was puzzled and couldn't figure it out. He had only changed the fate of some people, including his own, in Guangning. How could a butterfly's wings flutter all the way to Germany?

  Wait? Germany, Lu Zhong suddenly remembered that he had indeed come into contact with several German children when he went to the United States to see his uncle, but how could it have such a great impact on this world?

  The German in front of me should not be lying, although the news that IBM's personal computer business was acquired is no longer big news today, but if I go back to find some information, I can still tell what's true and what's false. Besides, for ordinary people, this news is really nothing worth boasting about.

  Focused on mainframe business and embroiled in antitrust litigation like the recently dissolved Bell Telephone Company, IBM's sale of certain divisions to alleviate public pressure is hardly surprising.

  Lu Zhong nodded slightly: "Alright, then, Mr. Schroeder, I'd like to know the purpose of your investment."

  "Making money," Schr?der smiled, "is a given." He then patiently explained to Lu Zheng: "This is how it is. Our CEO has great confidence in the development prospects of personal computers and also has absolute confidence in the mainland Chinese market. He believes that in the foreseeable future, mainland China will become the world's largest consumer market, including electronic products."

  "This time our investment, in your Chinese words, is to be the first person to eat crab, and also hope that the government of your country can give us a return for our brave attempt, and use the most favorable policies to reward us."

  "Wushan, with convenient transportation, has the best universities in China nearby, and will not be as crowded as Beijing and Tianjin. It is the best region for developing high-tech industries. We plan to set up a factory here and hope that the municipal government can plan a high-tech development zone. We hope that the policies of this high-tech development zone can attract electronic chip, integrated circuit and other electronic enterprises to join, as well as investments from various venture capitals. In the future, it will form a thriving industrial area."

  "China's Silicon Valley?" Lu Zhong was taken aback.

  Schneider burst out laughing, "So Mr. Lu knew too."

  Lu Zheng nodded silently, Germans are indeed straightforward, no nonsense. They came to make money, investing huge sums of money, and the return they needed was a policy that gave them special treatment.

  If this really happens, the prospects of the industrial zone will also be extremely optimistic. It started early and had a large amount of foreign capital investment. Taking advantage of the current China-Germany honeymoon period, some non-sensitive technologies or even sensitive technologies can be introduced with the help of Germans, which is much brighter than Zhongguancun in terms of development prospects.

  But if this continues, China's largest high-tech industry zone may become dominated by German companies in the future, which may not necessarily be a hidden danger to national security.

  Schneider picked up a thick document and said, "This is our initial investment plan and the assistance we need from your side. We hope you can consider it carefully and we can start formal negotiations as soon as possible."

  It's clear that they came prepared.

  After leaving the reception room and bidding farewell to Schneider and others, Yang Baomo wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief and said: "I'm going to report to Secretary Duan."

  As for what Lu Zhong and Schneider discussed, he had no time to ask about it. With such a huge investment, especially high-tech capital, he was afraid that it would soon attract the attention of the central authorities. He must hurry to report to his superiors.

  Lu Zhong nodded slightly and shook hands with him before bidding farewell.

  ……

  That afternoon after work, Lu Zhong suddenly drove to the municipal bureau, picked up Wei Xiangxiu and took off in a cloud of smoke.

  "What's wrong with you?" In the car, Wei Xiang's pretty face was slightly red, and some colleagues might have seen it. But Lu Zhong's car was waiting not far from the city bureau's gate, if they didn't hurry up and get in, it would attract even more attention.

  "What's wrong? Can't even pick you up, friend? Your mind is too dirty!" Lu Zhong said with a straight face.

  Wei Xiangxiu is indeed a bit too much, okay, friends, what's so special about picking him up? Why be so guilty about it?

  "So what do you say? Having dinner is fine, but watching a movie isn't. I'm on duty tonight," Wei Xiangxiu said with a smile.

  "Watching a movie? Don't worry about it, I won't watch with you again, too much trouble." Lu Zhong said casually.

  Wei Xiangxiu glared at him with a stern expression, but didn't say a word.

  "Come and see something." Lu Zhong said simply.

  Wei Xiangxiu didn't ask any more questions and got off at Lu Zhong's building, following him upstairs.