Back to 1980: Farming the Sea and Expanding the Island

After finishing his work at the team, Lin Chuan rushed to Uncle Li's house, repeating the same words and making the same promise.

Uncle Li hesitated for a longer time, but based on Lin Chuan's trust, he finally nodded in agreement.

However, the problem remained the same: his family couldn't come up with that much money, so Lin Chuan went to his uncle's house again.

Lin Xuewu was very excited when he heard this, and immediately persuaded Lin Wanghai to take out 500 yuan.

Thus, with each of the three families contributing 500 yuan, plus Li Jianguo's 800 yuan, the total amount raised reached 15,300 yuan.

In the afternoon, after Wang Pusheng returned, Lin Chuan sorted out the funds of each family and carefully wrapped them in cloth.

Wang Pusheng was overjoyed to see that Lin Chuan had already secured all the funds.

Brigade headquarters, conference room.

The space here is large, and there are many people who can sit down. In no time, the room is filled with smoke.

Lin's father sat in the main seat to preside over the proceedings, but it was actually Lin Chuan who was pushing things forward.

After all, many of them were Lin Chuan's uncles and aunts, so it was better for Lin's father to be in front.

Lin Chuan, Wang Pusheng, Li Jianshe, Uncle Liang, Uncle Li San, Uncle Lin Chuan, and other investors were all present.

Shui Houzi, Li Jiaye, and Lin Xuewu were also listening nearby.

The team leader's son, Li Jianmin, sat next to Li Jianshe, while Li Jianguo refused to show his face.

On the other side, Li Jianye also wanted to come, but Li Jianshe thought about it and didn't let his eldest son come, which made his eldest son's family very dissatisfied.

Seeing everyone's expectant looks, Lin Chuan cleared his throat and said, "As far as I know, there are three main ways to run cargo ships outside."

Firstly, they are legitimate businesses, possessing their own operating licenses and planned shipments.

Our shipping management station's planning hall has a monthly plan that shows the gaps.

The ship owner can obtain the cargo manifest by bringing their "Vessel Business Transport Certificate" and "Crew Member's Certificate".

Of course, I also inquired about the official freight rates. For Class III cargo, it's one ton per kilometer, and four cents per kilometer by water.

Taking a distance of 60 kilometers as an example, a trip would cost 300 yuan.

I've calculated the cost: 90 liters of diesel, now it's 48 cents per liter, so it'll cost 43 yuan.

There are four to six boatmen, and each one earns two yuan and two jiao. Let's say there are six of us, that's thirteen yuan.

In some places, there's a gate fee, about 80 cents per ton. Luckily, we only travel short distances, so there's no such fee here, saving us that expense.

"The cost of one trip is about fifty-six yuan, and we can make two hundred and thirty-four yuan."

Li Jianmin couldn't help but hiss softly. Although he knew that running cargo ships was profitable, he didn't expect the profits to be this high.

It costs over two hundred yuan per trip. If you make one trip a day, and do it 360 days a year, how much would that be? The more I think about it, the more excited I get.

The others listened to Lin Chuan's words and started discussing them, comparing them with the familiar businesses around them.

"This money is really easy to earn. Not to mention anything else, just working on a boat for a day earns more than me!" Uncle Li said with a wry smile.

Upon hearing this, Li Jianshe quickly smiled and advised, "Tongjiang, you can't say that. Running a boat is, after all, on the water, and you have to work through the night. It's only right that you earn more money if the work is tiring."

Uncle Li opened his mouth: "Are you saying that running a boat is tiring, but not working on land?" But he swallowed the words back down, shook his head, and said nothing more.

After everyone quieted down, Lin Chuan continued, "Secondly, Uncle Pusheng recently spent a day traveling on a black market ship. Let Uncle Pusheng tell you about the general situation."

Wang Pusheng recounted in detail his experiences running illegal ships, from how to make contact, load and unload to settlement, and how he made a net profit of more than 300 yuan per trip.

The moment these specific figures were mentioned, the crowd was filled with excitement, as if the bills of great unity were right before their eyes.

However, the risks mentioned by Wang Pusheng were subconsciously ignored and forgotten.

"This second option earns so much more than the first? Two trips would earn me more than I do in a year! Let's go for the second option!" Li Jianmin exclaimed excitedly, his eyes gleaming.

As soon as Li Jianmin finished speaking, Li Tongjiang and Liang Chengfeng frowned.

Lin Chuan looked at everyone, and only his cousin nodded along, while Shui Houzi and Li Jiaye listened listlessly from the side.

These two didn't actually want to come; they'd rather build a greenhouse.

Among the uncles, Wang Pusheng was the most hesitant, while Li Jianshe and his eldest uncle remained expressionless.

Lin Chuan tapped the table to draw everyone's attention, then smiled and said, "Let me tell you about the third type, which is also the most profitable one, called 'selling goods'."

"Selling goods? What's that?" Lin Xuewu asked in confusion.

Lin Chuan explained with a smile, "Smuggling is the same as transporting goods. When there are large ships docked in international waters, you can take a small boat over."

The ship has everything imaginable, all sorts of foreign gadgets, from cars to watches. If you bring them back and sell them, you could easily become a millionaire in one trip.

After Lin Chuan finished speaking, he fell silent, letting the crowd discuss among themselves.

Everyone was clearly shocked by what Lin Chuan said. Smuggling? That's an illegal business.

Li Jianmin was also startled, then began to tremble uncontrollably, excitedly grabbing Li Jianshe and asking, "Second Uncle, is what Lin Chuan said true?"

Li Jianshe was also hearing about this for the first time and was equally surprised, as it was completely different from what he had expected.

Upon hearing his nephew's question, he immediately frowned and said, "Just listen carefully."

"Xiao Chuan, this...this is not what you said. Smuggling is absolutely unacceptable!" Uncle Li's face changed in fright, and he immediately objected.

Liang Chengfeng also said with a serious expression, "That's right, Xiao Chuan, your Uncle Tongjiang is right. The high seas are too dangerous, and we can't do anything illegal."

Seeing the expressions on everyone's faces, Lin's father immediately said, "Tongjiang is right. Xiaochuan brought all this up today to remind everyone."

Money can never be fully earned; there may be even more lucrative businesses out there that we don't know about.

However, I must say that our transport team only engages in legitimate business. We don't smuggle goods or operate illegal vessels. The money we lose is earned by risking our lives.

We don't need to do that. Even if we're just running a normal ship, we're already much stronger than we are now.

In the future, we will definitely have more than just this one ship; there will definitely be ten or a hundred more.

For the sake of the future, for the sake of our descendants, and for the sake of peace and tranquility, our ship must sail in an orderly manner and must not deviate from its course.

Let me make this clear from the start: if anyone tries to work against our transport team in the future, we'll deal with them accordingly.

Putting everything else aside, the transport team won't let him stay any longer.

Liang Chengfeng and Uncle Li breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this. The others on the other side also stopped worrying about it, silently took a puff of their cigarettes, and nodded in agreement.

Lin Chuan looked at everyone and continued, "Since everyone understands this principle, let's focus on doing legitimate business."

Next, let's discuss the specific operational arrangements after we buy this ship.

This meeting was specially arranged by Lin Chuan. After all, in this era where people were terrified of poverty, the sudden emergence of money-making opportunities made him afraid that people would recklessly rush forward without regard for the consequences.

This goes against his original intention. If someone goes astray and then blames him, it would be really not worth it.

So he and Lin's father put on a show, explaining the matter in advance.