Chapter 27: The Ingenious Use of Foreign Exchange

After Wang Ye finished speaking, there was a moment of silence in the conference room. Then Director Li tapped the table and said:

"Alright, if you don't want to say it now, we'll talk after our meeting."

"Today is the 21st. At the soonest, in two days, at the latest, within a week, I'll definitely give you an answer."

Upon hearing Director Li's words, Wang Ye took a sip of his tea and then jokingly said to Director Li:

"Then I'll wait for your good news."

"You have to use your eloquence like Zhuge Kongming's to win over the scholars! If you succeed, maybe by the end of the year, you'll be featured on the front page of the newspapers directly, and our Yuntai City in the Luqi Province will be the first region in the country to carry out large collective contracting reform!"

"And you will be the driving force behind this great reform."

"Perhaps in another ten years, you'll even appear in the history textbooks of our children!"

With Wang Ye's words, the eyes of the six top figures of the machinery factory next to him widened like donkey eggs. In their view, Wang Ye's words were simply outrageous!

However, Director Li inexplicably felt his heart pounding vigorously!

In China, throughout the ages, officials have always sought to leave their mark in history, haven't they?

Although Wang Ye's words sounded extremely absurd, upon careful consideration, it didn't seem impossible. After all, the small village of Xiaogang in Huizhou Province became a national example of reform and learning this year because of its implementation of the household responsibility system, which was widely reported in the national newspapers.

If they could reform agriculture, why couldn't they reform large collectives themselves?

Once this thought arose, Director Li couldn't erase it from his mind. However, he still wore a cold smile on his face, concealing his inner agitation, and looked at Wang Ye with a sneer:

"You kid, don't overdo it!"

"As long as you don't put me on the pillar of historical shame, I'll be satisfied!"

Then Director Li quickly changed the subject and continued:

"Oh, by the way, there's one more thing I came for."

"It's about the foreign exchange."

"That $400,000, we'll subsidize you according to the market exchange rate, converting it into RMB at a rate of 13 to 1. Is that okay?"

"If there are no issues, just sign on the document, and the money will be in your factory's account soon."

Seeing the change in Director Li's expression, Wang Ye knew that his words had already had an effect. If reasoning was employed earlier, now it was tempting with benefits. Since Director Li was an ambitious and honest reformist, he would certainly not be able to resist such temptation.

As the director of the reform office, Director Li's attitude actually had a significant impact. So as long as he agreed, the success rate was already more than half.

Thinking of this, Wang Ye flicked the cigarette ash, and then his face became stern as he firmly refused:

"Director Li, this won't do!"

"We accepted a foreign exchange earning task of $100,000, but in reality, we earned $400,000 in foreign exchange."

"So logically, the remaining $300,000 in foreign exchange."

"Should be our factory's foreign exchange reserves!"

As soon as these words were spoken, Director Li was instantly dumbfounded. He never expected that Wang Ye would say such a thing!

"I say, you kid! Don't go too far!"

"Why do you need so much foreign exchange? Besides, have you heard of any state-owned factory having its own foreign exchange reserves? Isn't this nonsense?"

"I've already smoothly approved the 500 tons of steel for you just now, and now you want to open your mouth wide again?"

The next moment, Director Li, frustrated, slammed the table. Seeing Director Li's anger again, the six top figures of the machinery factory looked at each other in dismay. The old factory director with one arm was about to say something, but after hesitating for a moment, he gave up.

Indeed, under his gaze, Wang Ye smiled and handed Director Li tea again, and said:

"Let me finish! Just now, it was just my idea."

"But we also have to consider the needs of the country. Indeed, foreign exchange is quite necessary."

"So converting it all into RMB is also possible, but you need to do us a small favor."

Of course, Director Li's anger was not genuine. Faced with Wang Ye's outrageous request, he had to show his attitude. Upon hearing Wang Ye's words, Director Li, who wasn't surprised at all, sneered and said:

"When you raise your butt, I know what fart you're going to let out!"

"Speak! As long as it doesn't violate principles, I'll help if I can. But if I can't, don't think you can blackmail me with that $300,000 in foreign exchange."

Wang Ye quickly waved his hand and said:

"Absolutely not violating."

"In fact, you've also seen the overall equipment situation in our machinery factory, old and outdated, and biased towards military use."

"Businesses like gas tanks may have high profits, but they're not sustainable. Eventually, we have to find a legitimate livelihood."

"After much consideration, I'm thinking of introducing an engine production line."

"Preferably diesel engines, the high-power type used on tractors."

With these words, Director Li frowned slightly and asked in response:

"You want to make tractors? That's a big deal, not easy!"

"Moreover, even if we calculate everything, you only have a total of 5.2 million. Even if your factory doesn't spend a penny and survives on nothing, it's still not enough to introduce a tractor production line!"

Wang Ye was well prepared for this. He explained with a smile:

"That's why I'm not thinking of getting a new one, an old one will do, as long as it's capable of production."

"And now that the country is open, when I was in Yanjing, I heard that many domestic large engine tractor factories are undergoing equipment upgrades. They want to introduce advanced foreign production lines, but due to a lack of foreign exchange, it's been delayed."

"In that case, since we have surplus foreign exchange and they also want to introduce new production lines, can't we use this foreign exchange to exchange for an old production line from them?"

After Wang Ye finished speaking, Director Li's gaze flickered slightly. He had also heard about the matter Wang Ye mentioned. With the progress of opening up and exposure to foreign information, many factories hoped to modernize their equipment. In the absence of domestic technological capabilities, they naturally wanted to import, but due to the shortage of foreign exchange, many factories were queuing up.

In other words, Wang Ye's plan might actually succeed because the factories eligible to introduce foreign production lines were all well-known large factories. If they could privately contact some foreign exchange, their superiors would naturally be willing to promote the introduction of foreign production lines.

The only problem was that $300,000 sounded like a lot, but compared to an engine production line, even if it was a domestically produced second-hand one, it was still far from enough!

"I'll inquire for you!"

"In theory, it's feasible, but your $300,000 is a bit short. It looks precarious!"

With Director Li's words, Wang Ye was already satisfied. He nodded and said:

"Alright, then I'll wait for your good news!"

"If it's not enough, we can issue IOUs or take out loans!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Director Li, who had just picked up his teacup to drink, choked!