Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

At 10:30 PM, inside a walled compound in Luzhou.

Meng Yuanzhi was just about to rest when he received a reply from his secretary. He thought for a dozen or so seconds and immediately decided to have his side proactively contact Orange Technology.

In 2012, Luzhou was not yet a ”new first-tier city.” Its core industries were concentrated in home appliances, automobiles, liquid crystal panels, and food.

Over a decade later, netizens would jokingly call Luzhou the ”City of Gamblers.”

The first gamble was three years ago when, against all opposition, it invested 80% of its fiscal revenue in Jingdongfang. The second was five years later, when it established Changxing Storage Technology as a joint venture, which promoted the domestic production of memory chips, with Lenovo and Xiaomi as its main customers.

This time, Meng Yuanzhi wanted to gamble again. He set his sights on Orange Technology and Chen Yansen.

If the Orange Phone Factory would agree to set up in Luzhou, it could provide at least ten thousand jobs, drive the development of supporting industries like chips, batteries, cameras, and phone accessories, attract talent, and add tens of billions in industrial output value each year.

If even Xu Zhenhui could understand this, Meng Yuanzhi naturally saw it with even greater clarity.

After so many years rising and falling in his career, how could he fail to see the hidden opportunity?

Meng Yuanzhi’s gaze was profound. He rubbed the teacup in his hand and muttered, ”Zhenhui, oh, Zhenhui, you’re still too stingy. A mere sixteen-million-yuan factory building is nothing more than a year’s rent for the Shencheng Factory to someone like Chen Yansen. How could he possibly agree to your offer?”

Besides, how could the transportation convenience of Xucheng ever compare to Luzhou?

’How dare Xucheng try to snatch what he wants?’

The next morning, Chen Yansen walked into Building 8 and ran right into Ye Qiuping, who was on her way out.

”Morning, Boss!” Ye Qiuping’s face was rosy, and she looked full of vitality. She greeted him with a beaming smile, as if she had completely forgotten what happened last evening.

’Good in bed and not clingy.’ This was why Chen Yansen liked older women.

”Morning,” Chen Yansen nodded slightly, moved past Ye Qiuping, and walked straight into the elevator lobby.

’That bastard. Looks like he’s already planning to just zip up and walk away. What a dog. A real dog!’

Ye Qiuping took a deep breath, cursing him in her heart.

DING!

The elevator doors slowly slid open.

Chen Yansen pushed open his office door, plopped down in his chair, and opened his computer to check the sales data for Pinbei and the Orange Mall as usual.

After the release of the Orange D1 and Orange C2, sales of the Orange C1 had inevitably been affected.

Normally, total daily online sales were between 82,000 and 85,000 units, but yesterday’s sales were only 71,000, a decline of nearly 15%.

Once the new models were officially on sale, the sales rate of the Orange C1 would likely continue to decline.

Chen Yansen then opened a work email from Cao Dahua. The report focused mainly on the production schedule, the new factory zone, and after-sales service.

Starting in mid-December of last year, the Orange C1 had switched from a pre-sale model to being sold from stock. With the Orange D1 and Orange C2 about to be launched, Cao Dahua had adjusted the production plan.

Simply put, after January 14th, the daily production capacity for the Orange C1 would be adjusted from the original 100,000 units to 50,000 units.

Whether further increases or decreases were needed would be adjusted in real-time based on the sales performance of the three models.

As for the fifty-thousand-square-meter factory building Xu Zhenhui mentioned yesterday, they had only just taken it over and had only hired 3,000 employees. However, the HR department guaranteed they would complete the hiring plan for 6,000 people before the Spring Festival holiday.

After all, thanks to Wang Teng’s wave of publicity, the entire manufacturing industry along the Southeast Coast knew the name of the Orange Phone Factory.

An ordinary assembly line worker could earn a monthly salary as high as 7,000 yuan!

In some smaller factories, only those at the level of a team leader or supervisor could possibly earn that much.

Although the base salary wasn’t high and required daily overtime, every bit of overtime pay was strictly calculated and paid in full according to labor laws. It was definitely what you’d call a ”god-tier factory.”

The moment Zhang Jing from HR posted the job notice on the official website, the office phone was ringing off the hook.

They were receiving several thousand resumes a day in their email inbox alone.

Opening them up, she saw applicants with diplomas from technical secondary schools or junior colleges, and even some with bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

This left Zhang Jing completely baffled. She was only hiring experienced assembly, testing, welding, quality inspection, and equipment maintenance engineers. What was she going to do with all these university graduates? They were useless to her!

For one, they had no experience. For another, they were arrogant and difficult to manage.

Therefore, Zhang Jing specifically proposed to Cao Dahua that they let the boss decide.

When Chen Yansen read this part, he mulled it over for a few seconds before deciding to hire 30% of these highly educated workers after all.

These people had just chosen the wrong major and were having trouble finding a job; it wasn’t that they were actually stupid. Whether they were put in the maintenance department or trained as management trainees, they had a certain potential for development.

In the future, the Orange Technology factory’s competitors would be Foxconn, Heshuo, and BYD.

Establishing an employee development system for the Orange Phone Factory ahead of time would also facilitate future expansion. Otherwise, relying solely on social recruitment channels would make it difficult to find management candidates who met Chen Yansen’s standards.

After dealing with his work emails, Chen Yansen took out a copy of ”Advanced Solid State Physics” and started reading. It was an original edition he had asked Zhou Shouzhi to send him from overseas, as it had not yet been introduced in the country.

Just then, the phone on his desk rang.

Chen Yansen looked up and glanced at it. It was an unfamiliar landline number, but from the area code, it wasn’t hard to tell that the call was from Luzhou.

”Hello, who is this?”

After a moment’s hesitation, he pressed the answer button.

”Mr. Chen, hello. My name is Tao Jingwen from the Luzhou Central Control Department.” A steady, middle-aged male voice came through the phone.

Chen Yansen furrowed his brow slightly. While responding politely, he opened the Central Bureau’s official website and found Tao Jingwen’s name.

’Meng Yuanzhi’s personal chief secretary!’

He had previously heard from Tang Qingshan that Meng Yuanzhi wanted Orange Technology and Pinbei to move their headquarters to Luzhou, but Xu Zhenhui had intercepted the attempt.

’He’s contacting me directly this time, so it’s most likely about the same thing. Either that, or his goal is the same as Xu Zhenhui’s—he wants me to build a branch factory in Luzhou.’

”Hello, Secretary Tao. How may I help you?” Chen Yansen asked, feigning ignorance.

”Mr. Chen, if you have the time, would you be able to make a trip to Luzhou? Boss Meng would like to see you.”

Tao Jingwen made it sound like he was asking for Chen Yansen’s opinion, but his tone was that of a statement.

In his view, given Meng Yuanzhi’s status in the province, it would be hard to find an entrepreneur who would dare to be disrespectful.

”I’m sorry, Secretary Tao, but I really don’t have time these next couple of days. I’m tied up with my final exams at school. What is this about specifically? I can visit Mr. Meng in Luzhou after my exams are over.”

Chen Yansen replied with a smile after a moment of deliberation.

’Final exams?’

’What kind of excuse is that?’

Tao Jingwen didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He had already done his homework; this kid, Chen Yansen, had attended a pitifully small number of classes since starting university. If it weren’t for Tang Qingshan looking out for him, he would have failed his courses and been forced to retake them long ago.

He thought for a moment, then got straight to the point. ”The boss wants you, Mr. Chen, to build a branch factory in Luzhou. He has reserved a 100,000-square-meter factory building for you in the Luyang District. As long as the Orange Phone Factory can meet certain targets for investment scale, tax revenue per mu, and output value, the building will belong to Orange Technology for its use, permanently and free of charge.”

’One hundred thousand square meters, free of charge?’

’As expected of the big boss of Luzhou. His offer is certainly more generous than Xu Zhenhui’s.’

Meng Yuanzhi clearly didn’t care about the small profit from selling the land; he was far more interested in the positive value the Orange Phone Factory would bring to Luzhou’s digital industry after it went into production.

Moreover, he definitely knew that Xu Zhenhui had approached him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have had Tao Jingwen deliberately emphasize that it was a 100,000-square-meter existing factory building, not just a barren plot of industrial land.

Chen Yansen sighed. Orange Technology had really become a hot commodity.

No wonder that over a decade later, Lei Yijun’s first choice for the Xiaomi car factory was still the suburbs of Yanjing City; in the end, it never left Yanjing.

The big shots at the top give you money, resources, and favorable policies. What they want in return is for you to create value that helps their careers.

”If you have any concerns, Mr. Chen, please don’t hesitate to voice them. As long as it’s within my power, I can help you resolve it,” Tao Jingwen added.

Chen Yansen smiled and said in an even tone, ”I want a stake in Jingdongfang. Can you arrange that, Secretary Tao?”

Tao Jingwen was stunned for a moment, then he understood. Before making this call, he had heard that people from Senlian Capital had been in contact with Jingdongfang.

But Jingdongfang wasn’t an ordinary company; behind it were all the big players and venture capital firms from Yanjing and Luzhou.

The stakes held by Luzhou Construction Investment and Xin City International combined amounted to less than 20%.

This was a request that Tao Jingwen truly couldn’t make the call on. Even Meng Yuanzhi would have to coordinate with all the various stakeholders for there to be any chance of making it happen.

”Mr. Chen, do you have any other requests?” Tao Jingwen asked calmly.

’Anyway, if it’s something I can’t handle, my superiors will deal with it. I just need to get Chen Yansen to agree to build the factory in Luzhou.’

’The other issues can always be resolved later.’

”No, that’s all,” Chen Yansen replied, direct and to the point.

As for things like preferential land use terms, tax reductions and exemptions, subsidies for high-tech enterprises, and talent support policies, he didn’t even need to mention them. Tao Jingwen would take care of it all.

If he were to spell those things out, it would just make him seem unsophisticated and inexperienced.

”Alright, then we’ll be in touch later.” Tao Jingwen hung up the phone and turned to walk into his boss’s office to report on his progress.

”A stake in Jingdongfang?” Meng Yuanzhi said with a soft chuckle as he stood up. ”This kid’s got some ambition. He’s been in the business for less than a year and he’s already making moves on his supply chain. I heard Senlian Capital also invested in Desai Battery.”

”That’s correct,” Tao Jingwen replied with a nod. ”Senlian Capital used Orange Mobile Phone’s orders and 300 million in cash to purchase a 5% stake from Desai Industry. Additionally, since last November, Senlian Capital has been buying up Jingdongfang’s Class A shares on the open market. Its current shareholding is at 4.9%.”

”Help me set up a meeting with the heads of Construction Investment and Xin City International for this afternoon,” Meng Yuanzhi instructed Tao Jingwen after a moment of thought.

”Yes, Boss. I’ll get on it right away,” Tao Jingwen quickly agreed.

Although he felt that giving up a stake in Jingdongfang for a single Orange Phone Factory was truly not a worthwhile trade, he also understood one simple rule: never question the boss’s decision.

As a secretary, his job was simply to execute.