I See through Everything

Over the past two days, officials in Gannan had also prepared a small venue for the signing ceremony.

On the third day, a few clerks who had been traveling back and forth by high-speed rail finally returned with the cooperation agreement signed by Jiang Miao.

Kong Keji, on behalf of Hailufeng Company, signed a cooperation agreement with Gannan City for the Gannan oil-tea camellia base project.

Reporters from the local television station, their questions prepared in advance, quickly began asking:

"Manager Kong, how much does your company plan to invest in Gannan in the future?"

"About one billion yuan," Kong Keji replied with an awkward laugh. He was clearly out of his element in these situations. Fortunately, the questions had all been arranged beforehand, so there were no surprise ambushes.

"We’ve heard your company has developed a technique for the artificial cultivation of White Truffles. Are there any plans to introduce this technology to the Gannan Region?"

"Not at the moment. Our Gannan Branch is focused on the oil-tea camellia project."

"In that case, Manager Kong, how many acres of oil-tea camellia does your company plan to invest in?"

"Roughly 16,500 acres."

"Manager Kong, can you tell us when these projects will get underway?"

"If all goes well, we will begin rolling them out gradually before the end of the year."

Soon, after a brief Q&A, the signing ceremony concluded successfully.

However, things weren’t over yet.

For ease of management, an office needed to be established in Gannan to oversee local operations.

Kong Keji rushed back to Luling.

Zhang Xincheng, meanwhile, stayed behind to establish the Gannan office.

He was also keeping an eye on the Gannan government’s efficiency. After all, the so-called cooperation agreement was more like a memorandum of understanding and lacked any real enforcement power.

If the other party didn’t make good on its promises quickly, then Zhang Xincheng’s temporary office would remain just that—temporary—and no real investment or construction would begin.

After all, Zhang Xincheng wouldn’t rush to invest until he saw the official documents published. He had to avoid being put on the back foot.

As he quietly waited for the Gannan government to act...

Luling also received the news. Cursing Gannan under their breath for being so underhanded and poaching their project, they scrambled to find a way to salvage the situation.

And sure enough, someone came knocking the very next day.

Three days later, Luling held a signing ceremony of its own.

Suddenly, Hailufeng Company became a hot commodity in the Gannan Region. People from other parts of Gan Province were either talking about it or already taking action.

Unfortunately for them, they were a step too late.

Kong Keji told representatives from other regions that there was nothing he could do. The company no longer had the funds to expand its investments. Even the offers of substantial low-interest loans from some areas couldn’t change Hailufeng Company’s decision.

Seeing Luling’s move, the Gannan government, as if spurred into a rivalry, quickly began to implement all the promised conditions.

Now that the conditions had been met, Zhang Xincheng naturally didn’t wait any longer and began the investment work.

The first step was to secure the 165 acres of industrial land Gannan had promised, which was located in Shahe Town near Gan County.

He also purchased a sizable office building in Shahe Town. The five employees brought over from the existing Gannan Branch would form the core team. He had to gradually increase the staff, or there would be no one to get things done.

Jiang Miao also dispatched 20 newly trained employees from headquarters to the Gannan Branch to serve as core personnel.

The two of them also spoke on the phone, discussing matters concerning the Gannan Branch.

"Ah Miao, our company has become a real hot commodity. Representatives from every county and town in Gannan have been visiting, hoping we’ll develop oil-tea camellia plantations in their areas. They’re offering some pretty significant incentives."

"Brother-in-law, don’t rush. Take it slow. First, get the employees trained and the departmental teams fully established. Then we can start on acquisitions."

"I know." Zhang Xincheng was familiar with the initial situation at the Gannan Branch. Its early work had been rocky precisely because it was understaffed. It wasn’t until Jiang Haibo personally went there to sort out the personnel issues that Kong Keji’s management became effective.

Having learned from that experience, Zhang Xincheng put aside other ideas and focused wholeheartedly on building the management structure. At the same time, he could discreetly gather information on the different areas in Gannan, making sure to avoid those with a poor reputation for business.

He would be in Gannan for the next three months anyway, so there was no need to rush.

"Brother-in-law, there’s one more thing I need you to keep an eye on."

"What is it?"

"The first batch of tissue-cultured Purple Alfalfa is ready. We’ve cultivated 200,000 seedlings, and I’m allocating 150,000 of them to the Gannan Branch. Have Keji arrange for people to receive the shipment and start planting immediately upon arrival. However, don’t harvest this first batch; we’ll use it for seed propagation."

"Got it. I’ll let Keji know."

Jiang Miao then asked, "One more thing. The factory for processing the alfalfa into hay hasn’t been set up yet, has it?"

"Right. It’s mainly because Keji has been too busy. I’ll have him focus on getting the support infrastructure in place soon. In any case, the 19,800 acres of oil-tea camellia in Luling are enough to keep us busy for a while."

"I’ll leave that to you then, Brother-in-law. Also, go ahead and set up some small hay processing plants in the surrounding areas."

After all, the alfalfa was being planted in the open spaces under the forest canopy of the oil-tea camellia plantations. This was unlike the great plains of the North, where transportation was relatively easy.

Forage has a cost-effective transport radius.

In mountainous and hilly regions, excluding rail and river transport, the maximum cost-effective transport distance for forage is about 100 kilometers. On the great plains, that extends to about 200 kilometers.

In a place like Gannan, considering some of its inland waterways can be utilized, the effective radius should be around 200 kilometers.

All of this assumed they would be transporting dried hay, not fresh, unprocessed grass.

Given this, building small hay processing plants near the plantations was the only logical choice. The transport limit for fresh grass was only 20 to 30 kilometers; beyond that, it was no longer cost-effective.

In truth, the best solution would have been to raise pigs, cattle, and sheep right there.

But neither Jiang Miao nor Hailufeng Company was ready for that, and he didn’t want to make the branch’s operations any more complex.

Therefore, he shelved the plan for the time being.

It was a pity there was no direct canal connecting Gannan and Lingnan; otherwise, the cost of transporting forage could be cut dramatically.

In the future, the forage produced in Gannan and other areas could only be used locally or sold to farms in the Northern Jiangxi Region via transport on the Ganjiang River.

And this was for high-value Purple Alfalfa. Ordinary hay wouldn’t be worth transporting over long distances at all.