2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 457 Why should I pay back what I borrowed through my own abilities?
"Old Zhang, how about coming with me to Luzhou? Let's see how Xiao Tan fares; what do you say, are you in or not?"

"What do you mean? What kind of joke are you making?"

"Haha, I heard that this kid tricked a few technical talents into going to the Luzhou factory at Dongfeng, and then went to Guoxuan's factory to fix screws. Now Lao Li has sent people to follow him."

"What the hell? It's normal for him to take a few people with him from Dongfeng, but what does it mean to say he went to Guoxuan to fix screws?"

"They said it was to experience the installation process of the lithium battery protection board, learn about the process, and understand the quality control."

Although Dong Jinggui was joking, he actually admired Tan Jincheng's behavior. A big boss with a net worth of over a billion yuan was willing to personally visit the production line of a partner manufacturer to understand the entire process and pay attention to product quality in order to ensure battery quality control.

According to their feedback, Xiao Tan, who had changed into her work clothes, usually worked with the workers at the Luzhou Guoxuan factory, except that she didn't stay in the dormitory at night. She also ate lunch in the canteen and didn't receive any special treatment.

In his own words, he wanted to understand the workers' working conditions to see what aspects of the battery factory production line in Luzhou could be improved in the future.

If it were just a day or two, people would think he was just putting on a show, but since he changed course from Jiangcheng to Luzhou, Tan Jincheng has been at the Guoxuan factory for a week now, and he's really been fixing screws all week.

And judging from his posture, he really intends to learn about the entire production process of Guoxuan's factory, which really stumps Li Zhen.

When Dong Jinggui explained it this way, Zhang Congxun was stunned. To be honest, they would talk about various quality control and quality slogans, but they hadn't done any actual work for many years. It was very difficult to get them to put down their airs and understand the whole process.

If even entrepreneurs who have endured hardship can do this, then Tan Jincheng, who was born in a good era and has experienced hardship during his entrepreneurial journey, though not to the extreme, is truly admirable for actually being able to accomplish these things.

Zhang Congxun and Dong Jinggui had both run motorcycle parts businesses before. In the early stages of their ventures, they had to do everything themselves, and they knew all too well how tedious and arduous it was to tighten screws on a production line.

"It's rare to see someone like this. Although he's not from a wealthy family, he hasn't suffered much hardship growing up. The fact that he's managed to do this is amazing. Even if it's just a show, it's a perfect performance," Zhang Congxun exclaimed.

If we were to name the people Tan Jincheng has interacted with most since founding FlashChe, Dong Jinggui and Zhang Congxun would definitely be among the top names.

In terms of business competition, Tan Jincheng mainly targets these leading companies, and there have been quite a few regional conflicts with them. In addition, Tan Jincheng likes to launch surprise attacks, and he always goes all out, which gives these companies a lot of headaches.

However, they all had a good impression of Tan Jincheng. This kid often ambushed them, but he never used any dirty tricks. He was a dog, but he was definitely not cunning at all.

Therefore, the group had a good impression of Tan Jincheng. In addition, they also knew that without Tan Jincheng, a highly well-known entrepreneur, the electric vehicle industry would not have achieved such high levels of development and attention.

The market has grown due to increased attention, and favorable policies have become more frequent. The entire industry, except for small workshops, is grateful to Tan Jincheng for this.

The cake gets bigger, so everyone gets a bigger slice. As for how much is divided among the different people, that's an internal matter.

Because of their good impression of each other, the group had a good personal relationship and treated Tan Jincheng like a younger brother. They would often get together in their spare time and were quite familiar with Tan Jincheng's family.

It's certainly not accurate to say that Tan Jincheng was pampered from a young age, but two state-owned enterprise workers raised one son, and his grandson was the eldest grandson in the family.

Born into such a family and growing up in such an environment, aside from the limitations imposed by the material conditions of the times, what grievances could he possibly suffer? They simply didn't exist.

This kid is bragging to the media about how hard he suffered as a child. They don't believe a word of it. How could anyone have suffered more than people from their generation?

Based on their understanding of Tan Jincheng, they found it hard to believe that such a "child" who had grown up in a good environment and was not short of money would actually be willing to work in the factory. At the same time, they were also a little curious.

“Come on, let’s go take a look. You invested in it, didn’t you? Don’t you, as an investor, care about the factory’s progress?” Zhang Congxun’s curiosity was piqued.

"Haha, I'm just investing some money. I have no say in the factory's operations. Stop giving me bad advice," Dong Jinggui said, shaking his head.

Xiao Tan places great importance on the issue of control within the company. In his own words, there can be many investors, and everyone can work together to expand the scale and make money together, but there should only be one person with true control over the company.

He will not give face to anyone who tries to challenge him in terms of discourse power.

If you like making decisions so much, why don't you just do it yourself? Why bother with a partner? Old Zhang's idea is really not good. As an investor, he only needs to keep an eye on Jinshidai's finances.

In fact, Jinshidai's development has exceeded Dong Jinggui's expectations. Power batteries are a national strategic area, and Dong thought that while cooperating with Shanchi on two-wheeled vehicle batteries, he could also get some in on the side. Power batteries are a long-term investment, and Dong Jinggui never thought that this thing could make money within a few years, or even that it could make money; he just wanted to break even.

Because of his investment in the power battery project, he has established connections with Luzhou and Anhui Province, which allows him to effectively develop his network of contacts in his hometown. He is currently in talks with his hometown about building a factory.

In terms of land acquisition, it's all done on a scale of over a thousand acres, and there are many policy incentives. By associating with Xiao Tan, a prominent figure in the business world, the expansion of personal connections alone far surpasses the returns on investment.

However, Dong Jinggui did not expect that Tan Jincheng would find a client for Jinxin Times so quickly, a factory engaged in technology research and development. The difference between having a client and not having a client is huge.

Providing batteries to Dongfeng Motor is a much better customer resource than developing them on your own. As for the cooperation with Zhongtai, Dong Jinggui, like Mr. Wang, is not very optimistic about it.

He didn't see any capital operation, but felt that Zhongtai's current strength was insufficient. With only two models, both of which were extremely cheap, how much money could they make?

Without money, there's no way to talk about R&D investment. According to Dong Jinggui's calculations, if we don't count the parent company of Zhongtai, Zhongtai Auto's cash flow might not even be as much as Shanchi's.

Don't be fooled by its impressive appearance as a car manufacturer; its actual strength may not be as great as Flashcar's, at least Flashcar is much healthier.
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"No, Mr. Li, why are you so wary of me? I'm genuinely learning your management skills; I never intended to cause any trouble."

"What did the technicians you brought from Dongfeng say?"

"My dear Uncle Li, I'm cooperating with Dongfeng. Dongfeng buys our batteries. Even if I were a scoundrel, I wouldn't do something so self-destructive. I got their approval, okay?"

In reality, Tan Jincheng was wronged by Dong Jinggui and Zhang Congxun, who were unaware of the truth. They did want to poach people from Dongfeng, but Tan Jincheng would never do it secretly.

This is somewhat different from Tencent. These people are all state-owned enterprise employees. If it weren't for proper coordination, how could they be so easily poached? Tan Jincheng used the excuse of temporary transfer to bring them over. Their positions are still with Dongfeng, and Tan Jincheng pays their salaries.

They used the same approach as the physics institute; as for how long they would borrow it or where it would be borrowed, that's another story.

If you borrowed it with your own ability, why should you pay it back?
Dongfeng has managed to smooth things over with various parties, so they don't have any objections. In any case, it seems that all three parties are benefiting. Dongfeng has saved on some costs, and the only thing they have to pay is to temporarily transfer a few technical personnel, which doesn't have a particularly big impact on them.

The income of those on secondment increased, while their original staffing remained unchanged. Jinxin, on the other hand, benefited even more, as the addition of new technical personnel allowed for faster research and development.

Tan Jincheng looked so sincere that Li Zhen didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Originally, he thought the same as everyone else: that Tan Jincheng was just putting on a show. But he didn't expect that this guy was serious. He has been working in their factory for ten days now, and it seems that he is going to continue working there.

To be honest, he had seen it all over the past ten days. This kid was really serious about his work and learning, and he felt a sense of admiration for him. People who can build a big company really do have their own unique strengths.

“Uncle Li, why are you fussing over this? You can’t seize such a good publicity opportunity. What company can afford to hire a billionaire to tighten screws on the production line? You need to learn how to do marketing.”

"That's really impressive, but I'm doing this for your safety. I can't let anything happen to you in our company, or the government will definitely come after me."

"What could possibly happen? I have someone to guide me to each process step; don't worry, I can do what others can do, but you have to pay me a salary."

"Alright, alright, you'll get your salary back. I really don't understand what you young people are thinking. Why don't you just send a few trustworthy people over to learn?"

"It's different. Battery technology is one aspect, but safety must be ensured. As the boss, I definitely need to be fully aware of this."

Tan Jincheng had seen many horrific car accident photos in the news, showing how car batteries caught fire. If we're talking about personal preference, he actually prefers gasoline-powered cars.

But this doesn't stop Flash from making batteries and electric vehicles. This is a trend, and it won't stop just because you don't make them. What Flash needs to do is to make the batteries as safe as possible.

When it comes to the importance of battery safety, Tan Jincheng, who has more than a decade of experience, is more concerned than most entrepreneurs, which is why he goes deep into the grassroots.

Besides working at Guoxuan for a while, Tan Jincheng also plans to visit Dexian Electronics and other lithium battery-related companies invested in by ByteDance, including Xingyuan Material, when he has time in the future.

Tightening screws? I'm not just posing, I'm serious!

(End of this chapter)