When will I have a long tassel?

"Xiao Tang, congratulations on picking up a big ocean drop."

In an inconspicuous small building in the capital, Zhou Heng handed a glass of water to Tang Zifeng, who was sitting on the sofa in his office, and said with a smile.

"It's just so-so. PATEO is still relatively well-known, and there are not many really useful technologies anymore. Fortunately, it doesn't cost much, so I just go to Europe to help the poor." Tang Zifeng took the water glass loudly and said the same He replied with a smile.

The threat of strict restrictions on all Chinese-funded companies' acquisitions of European companies forced the EU to lift its ban on Chinese-funded companies' mergers and acquisitions of "sensitive companies" in Europe. Without such a protective umbrella, Botai no longer had any room to move when it came to negotiating with the company.

Liang Zile found out about PATEO's trump card through his own network. He knew that PATEO's major shareholders were currently in financial difficulties and was eager to sell PATEO in exchange for working capital, so he suggested to Zhan Keqin that he should hold on to the purchase price. He let go and fought with Botai to be patient.

After two months of stalemate, PATEO finally couldn't bear it any longer, and finally acquired all of PATEO's assets for less than 1.5 billion euros. After taking over PATEO on the spur of the moment, it moved part of PATEO's production equipment in Europe back to China, using China's relatively cheap labor force to reduce production costs and improve the market competitiveness of PATEO machine tools.

At the same time, a technical team led by Xiaohui went to Germany to work with the European engineers from the preserved PATEO Research Institute and to receive the core technologies accumulated by PATEO in its more than 100 years of history.

Tang Zifeng said that Botai had few truly useful technologies, and it was purely a Versailles complaint. In fact, PATEO has a lot of good stuff. In addition to patents that can be seen, there is also a lot of technical know-how hidden in the minds of PATEO employees. Even the experimental records in the archives are priceless. By analyzing these experimental records, engineers from China can learn about the scientific research routines of their European counterparts. This is also a very rare invisible technology.

The sudden acquisition of PATEO was strongly protested by a group of non-governmental organizations such as Global Peace Watch. But behind PATEO is a group of big capital. When these capitals are silent, they look like harmless Hello Kitty. Once they find out that someone is trying to prevent them from making money, the little cat will immediately transform into a big tiger.

Several big capitals took action at the same time, and the clamor of various non-governmental organizations disappeared without a trace overnight. The European media is full of voices praising China-EU trade, making people feel that the previous noises were completely an illusion.

"You, Xiao Tang, are the only ones who dare to say this about going to Europe to help the poor."

Zhou Heng took a sip of the tea in the thermos cup and said: "If you want to alleviate poverty, it's not Europe's turn to alleviate poverty. The Central Asian and African countries along the Belt and Road are really poverty-stricken. How about that, General Manager Tang, are you interested in spending some funds to help the poor brothers along the Belt and Road?"

Zhou Heng said this very easily, and even called Tang Zifeng's official title teasingly, making people think that he was making a harmless joke. But Tang Zifeng knew that this was the real reason why Zhou Heng called him over.

When Tang Zifeng found the small building according to the location given by Zhou Heng's men, he had already seen an ordinary wooden sign hanging in front of the door with one line written on it:

Belt and Road Machinery Industry Cooperation Office.

Tang Zifeng later found out that Zhou Heng's current position was the director of this office.

"Why, Director Zhou, you have such a big deal, but you still care about a small company like ours?" Tang Zifeng asked with a smile.

Zhou Heng shook his head: "Mr. Tang's words are a slap in the face. Our office is completely empty. Except for this small building, we don't have any assets. We can only look to big bosses like you to help us." It’s fate.”

After the two people finished a round of business exchanges, Tang Zifeng put away his smile and asked: "Lao Zhou, what is the situation in your office? How did you get brought in?"

Zhou Heng retired ten years ago and has been working in several associations since then, doing whatever he can. Tang Zifeng had never heard of this Belt and Road Machinery Industry Cooperation Office. He didn’t know how Zhou Heng came here to become a director. And it seemed that he was not the kind of director who just held a job title, but wanted to be a real director. Working.

Zhou Heng said: "The country is engaged in the Belt and Road Initiative and requires each department to put forward work ideas based on its own characteristics. Some veteran comrades such as Mr. Xu pointed out that there are many developing countries along the Belt and Road with low industrial levels. Some are in the early stages of industrialization, and some have not even begun industrialization. It has not even touched the threshold. It is a purely agricultural country.

"To help countries along the Belt and Road develop, a very important step is to help them cross the threshold of industrialization and free them from the fate of relying on the sky. To help these countries achieve primary industrialization, cooperation in the machinery industry is the most important step. Pivotal.

"No, there is such a machinery industry cooperation office. Mr. Xu said that I was familiar with the machinery industry, so he personally named me to be the director."

"Helping the countries along the Belt and Road to industrialize?" Tang Zifeng frowned and said, "Aren't Old Zhou, Old Xu and the others a bit too holy? If these countries need industrial products, we can just provide them. They have some. Mines, some have oil, and those that don’t have mines or oil, it’s good to engage in agriculture, export some fruits, soybeans, etc. Why not trade with us for color TVs and refrigerators?”

Zhou Heng stared at Tang Zifeng and asked: "What do you mean, let these countries be our raw material suppliers forever, and we use cheap industrial products in exchange for their mineral products and agricultural products?"

"Isn't this what Western countries do? Monk Touche, we..."

Tang Zifeng swallowed the rest of his words halfway through speaking. He spoke casually to Zhou Heng, but these words just now seemed too frivolous and not suitable to be said in front of Zhou Heng. Zhou Heng was already 70 years old after all, and it was inconvenient for Tang Zifeng to be too presumptuous in front of him.

Zhou Heng didn't pay attention to Tang Zifeng's wisecracks. He nodded and said: "Xiao Tang, your thoughts are shared by many comrades. In the past, China was exploited too much by Western countries, but now our national strength has increased. , especially the industrial level, has been able to compete with the West, so many people want China to learn the Western model and exploit other developing countries like Western countries."

"This can't be considered exploitation." Tang Zifeng argued, "It's not that easy to industrialize. These countries probably don't have this idea themselves, so why should we force others to make things difficult? I have talked with some people who are engaged in China-Africa trade, and they It is said that the business between China and African countries is very fair and much better than that of Western countries. As long as we can achieve fair transactions, it cannot be regarded as exploiting these countries, right?"

Zhou Heng smiled and said, "That's not all you want to say, right?"

Tang Zifeng was a little embarrassed and said nonchalantly: "Actually, this is not what I think alone, but what many people think like this. The global market is not big, and the total demand is limited. Now some countries in Southeast Asia have already They are competing with us for the market. If African countries also achieve industrialization, wouldn’t we lose our territory in this market?”

Zhou Heng pointed at Tang Zifeng and said, "Xiao Tang, I have always felt that you are a very well-organized person. Where is your order in this matter?"

Tang Zifeng said with a playful smile: "Director Zhou, don't you know best where my layout has gone? In the past, with you at the helm of Linyiji, I only had to paddle beside you, and I didn't have to think about so many things. Things, of course, have a pattern. Now, there are tens of thousands of people in a group, and I have to worry about eating, drinking, and sleeping. When I open my eyes every day, I have to think about how to make millions that day to pay everyone's wages. How can you think about the pattern?"

Zhou Heng nodded in agreement and said: "It is understandable that Linji's burden is indeed quite heavy. It is indeed not easy for you to lead Linji to achieve such good results. However, Xiao Tang, everyone has great respect for you. The expectation is not just for you to be the general manager of a large company, so you still need to have a more overall view, and your vision cannot be limited to just your company."

"Director Zhou is right to criticize." Tang Zifeng quickly admitted his mistake. He knew that Zhou Heng had other things to say later. At this time, it was inconvenient for him to use forceful words to distort the topic.

Sure enough, after criticizing him, Zhou Heng continued: "The country proposed the Belt and Road Initiative not to turn Belt and Road countries into its own economic colonies like Western countries. Our national policy is to never seek hegemony. This is not only It's just words, but it's really implemented in action.

"We and Western countries have different concepts of global governance. What they pursue is an international order with the West as the core, and this order fundamentally serves the interests of Western countries. What we pursue is the ideal of world harmony."

"This... is just an ideal after all, right?" Tang Zifeng muttered.

Zhou Heng said: "Indeed, true world unity is not so easy to achieve. But at least what we are doing now should be beneficial to world unity, not harmful. For example, Western countries have Economic colonization has brought about the absolute impoverishment of these countries.

"Poverty is the root cause of turmoil. Once these countries fall into poverty, wars will easily break out and bring turmoil to the world. In recent years, unrest has been frequent in the Middle East and North Africa, and large numbers of refugees have flocked to neighboring countries, including Europe. The economic and social order have been greatly affected.

"Although our country has not yet been directly affected by the unrest in the Middle East, this threat exists objectively. Even if it is to create a peaceful and stable development environment for ourselves, we have an obligation to help these countries restore their economies and restore order. dont you agree?"