Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

The next morning, Chen Yansen and Song Yuncheng flew to Shencheng City.

Xiaoli, on the other hand, drove Chen Yansen’s Bentley back to Xucheng by himself.

In the first-class cabin before takeoff, Chen Yansen was scrolling through Weibo. He couldn’t help but laugh out loud when he saw a photo of Liu Qiangdong, dressed in a red robe, riding a delivery tricycle.

”Is he copying you?” Song Yuncheng asked with a smile after a quick glance.

”It’s probably just a coincidence.”

Chen Yansen shrugged, making an excuse for Brother Dong.

After all, he had learned this trick from Liu Qiangdong in the first place. He just never expected Liu Qiangdong to turn around and learn it right back from him.

Song Yuncheng pursed her lips in a faint smile, not believing him at all.

It was so obvious. Who couldn’t see it?

At that moment, Liu Qiangdong was sitting in his office, staring at the trending topics on Weibo, momentarily stunned.

He also hadn’t expected Chen Yansen to attend the Cloud Speed Express annual meeting and then run off to Luzhou to deliver takeout.

One was delivering takeout, the other was delivering packages.

Netizens joked that the two e-commerce tycoons must have planned it together, joining forces for a publicity stunt.

Liu Qiangdong read a few of the top-rated comments, his heart filled with mixed feelings.

The good news was, under the boost from this trending topic, Jingdong’s organic traffic had risen by 6 percent.

The bad news was, most netizens thought he was stealing Chen Yansen’s moves and imitating Kuai Pao’s publicity tactics.

Even though it was the truth, did the truth really need to be said out loud?

Just as Liu Qiangdong was about to close Weibo, he saw a news alert: On January 18th, Ali Baba’s B2C platform, Taobao Mall, was officially renamed ”Tmall Mall.”

”Damn it, they’re coming after me!”

Liu Qiangdong instantly smelled danger. On the surface, it was just a name change, but in reality, it was a brilliant move by Ma Liyun to shape the brand’s image.

This would allow them to escape the C2C swamp rife with counterfeit goods, focus all their efforts on building their B2C platform, and use Taobao Network’s traffic to feed the higher-quality, better-service Tmall Mall.

In fact, Liu Qiangdong’s guess was spot on.

Ever since last October, when Taobao Mall announced an upgrade to its merchant management system, its traffic allocation mechanism had been favoring large sellers.

This, combined with adjusted search rules that limited product exposure for Taobao C Stores, caused a large number of small and medium-sized sellers to see their traffic plummet and orders dwindle.

Now they weren’t even pretending anymore. The official launch of Tmall Mall was undoubtedly a major strategic move by Ali Baba before its IPO.

「Meanwhile.」

Many merchants with Taobao C Stores found their traffic had been cut in half again. When they searched for their own product keywords, items that usually appeared on the first or second page were now buried on the fifth.

Yet, identical Tmall products with even lower sales were all ranked higher.

Even a fool could see that Taobao had changed the search rules again.

In a merchant chat group, someone asked Ali Baba’s customer service, and the reply was: The search weighting now includes the product description itself, the seller’s overall rating, and the seller’s service quality.

And Tmall stores, which paid a 60,000 yuan annual technical service fee, were clearly deemed to have better ”service quality.”

Upon hearing this news, the small sellers were so furious they wanted to grab shovels, go to Hang City, and dig up the Ma Family’s ancestral graves.

Ali Baba was clearly trying to drive them out of business!

”I’m shutting down my store tomorrow! Ma Liyun is treating us like toilet paper—using us and then tossing us aside. It’s too damn much!”

”What can we do? Ali Baba is a monopoly. If we don’t use Taobao, where else can we go?”

”I don’t think so! Pinbei Mall is pretty good. Plus, they have their own delivery company. The unit price for bulk shipping is as low as one-fifty!”

”I’m done with Taobao! Any other bosses want to move to Pinbei together?”

Small and medium-sized sellers from all over the country cursed endlessly in the group chat, with some even suggesting they open shops on Pinbei.

Although Pinbei’s entry requirements were higher than Taobao’s.

But for the past two months, tales of quick riches had been circulating in their circles—stories of sellers getting on the ”Ten Billion Subsidy” channel, buying a BMW in a month, and a villa in two.

This tempted many. Even though Pinbei’s penalties for poor-quality and counterfeit goods were harsh, the allure of earning hundreds of thousands a month drove countless small sellers to flock to the platform.

The Investment Attraction department was swamped. That day alone, over 300 new merchants signed up, and the preliminary review of applications kept them busy past one in the morning.

With this one move, Ali Baba was sending a steady stream of small sellers right to Pinbei’s doorstep.

The reason these merchants didn’t go to Jingdong was that the traffic on Jingdong POP Stores was just as unimpressive as on Taobao C Stores.

「Meanwhile.」

Just as Chen Yansen and Song Yuncheng got off the plane and walked out of the arrivals gate, they saw Cao Dahua and Zuo Hongyu waving at them, accompanied by seven or eight security guards.

”Old Cao, isn’t this a bit over the top?”

Chen Yansen teased with a smile.

”Over the top? Boss, you have no idea how many bosses in Shencheng City want to run you over with their cars!”

Cao Dahua said with a completely straight face.

Orange Phone Factory No. 3 was about to start production, and its workforce had reached twelve thousand people.

Every time the Orange Phone Factory hired new workers, the owners of the surrounding electronics factories would curse up a storm.

Faced with an hourly wage of 20 yuan and up to triple pay for overtime, experienced assembly line workers would quit their old jobs without so much as a goodbye.

As for the wages being withheld by their previous factories, some simply abandoned them.

Compared to a job at the Orange Phone Factory, they considered that two or three thousand yuan as charity for the old boss’s family’s medical bills.

”Are you trying to scare me?”

Chen Yansen rolled his eyes and said irritably.

”Heh heh, I knew I couldn’t scare you. But, someone did threaten to break both my legs.”

Cao Dahua said with a cheerful laugh, not a hint of panic or fear on his face.

”So, you hired five, six, seven, eight... eight bodyguards?”

Chen Yansen looked at him with a half-smile.

”They’re mainly here to protect Old Zuo. Protecting me is just a side benefit. Don’t get the wrong idea, Boss.”

Cao Dahua waved his hands, explaining hurriedly.

Chen Yansen glanced at Zuo Hongyu, who wore a helpless expression. Not bothering to waste more time with Old Cao’s nonsense, he led Song Yuncheng into a Mercedes SUV.

”The doors and windows are reinforced. They’re bulletproof.”

Cao Dahua knocked on the car door, showing off with a smug look.

”Who wants to break my teacher’s legs? Tell me. Who’s so arrogant?”

Chen Yansen’s smile vanished, and he asked with a concerned expression.

”The boss of Crown Star Electronics, Song De. But he can’t cause me any trouble now.”

Cao Dahua said slowly, deliberately keeping Chen Yansen in suspense.

Seeing this, Zuo Hongyu kicked his old friend and added, ”Two weeks ago, Song De had his throat slit by a worker who was demanding back pay. I reckon by now, he’s already finished his Meng Po’s Soup.”

Chen Yansen was slightly taken aback. He looked at Cao Dahua and asked, ”Why didn’t you mention this in our calls or work emails?”

”I didn’t think it was very relevant to work, so I didn’t report it,” Cao Dahua replied.

”Old Cao, you’ve really worked hard. Look at you, your belly has even shrunk a bit.”

Chen Yansen reached out and patted Old Cao’s round belly.

Cao Dahua sighed. In just six months, the Orange Phone Factory had expanded from a plant of over 10,000 square meters to over 100,000, and the staff had grown from two people to more than ten thousand.

One could only imagine how much effort that had taken.

”Last week, three electronics factories in Sai Ge Science and Technology Park had workers go on strike, demanding the bosses raise their hourly wage. To be blunt, you could say we started this. So even with Song De dead, I still have to be careful when I go out.”

Cao Dahua explained slowly.

The implication was that he, Cao Dahua, had become a public enemy in Shencheng City’s manufacturing industry.

The Orange Phone Factory’s standard hourly wage was 20 yuan, while many similar electronics factories didn’t even pay 10 yuan, let alone provide overtime pay in accordance with labor laws.

Ever since the appearance of an anomaly like the Orange Phone Factory, many factory owners had been under immense mental stress.

Raising wages for workers was painful.

Not raising wages was a headache.

”Can’t Secretary Shi from the Central Bureau handle it?” Chen Yansen frowned and asked in a cold voice.

The Orange Phone Factory provided over ten thousand jobs that included social security contributions, with an annual industrial output value of over twenty billion yuan. If he couldn’t rely on Shencheng City, he might as well move the factory to East China or shift production capacity to Luzhou.

”Secretary Shi takes good care of the Orange Phone Factory.”

Cao Dahua’s answer was concise, and he glanced at the driver and bodyguard in the front.

”Did Secretary Shi introduce them?” Chen Yansen asked.

He saw in these two men a demeanor similar to Xiaoli’s and guessed they were most likely retired military personnel.

Cao Dahua smiled and nodded. ”Secretary Shi put in a word. These security personnel can, on one hand, guard the factory’s security, and on the other, prevent some people from taking desperate measures.”

The equipment in the factory was worth billions. If anything got bumped or damaged, the losses would be huge.

Originally, the Zhongsha Village industrial park didn’t have an inspection station, but after the Orange Phone Factory’s production capacity exceeded 3 million units, the Central Bureau added one to the park in the shortest possible time.

Chen Yansen grunted in acknowledgment, feeling reassured.

The convoy sped along Binhai Avenue, passing the Shencheng Convention and Exhibition Center and Tian’an Digital City before finally reaching their destination.

From a distance, a massive Orange Technology logo could be seen on the factory’s facade.

Cao Dahua took Chen Yansen on a tour of Factories 1 through 3. It took them over an hour, riding in a shuttle cart.

Chen Yansen had only visited once before, when he was leasing the factory. This time, he felt that under Cao Dahua’s management, the Orange Phone Factory was truly well-organized and appeared to be thriving.

Workers they passed would occasionally greet Old Cao warmly and eye Chen Yansen with curiosity.

The factory’s pay was high and the benefits were good; these workers practically wanted to worship Cao Dahua as their godfather.

”The annual meeting here at the factory is pretty simple. We just hired some local village chefs. The food is just as good as what you’d get at a five-star hotel.”

Cao Dahua said, pointing to the team of chefs bustling about in the plaza.

”The quarterly bonus systems for Cloud Speed and Kuai Pao have been adjusted. Starting in 2012, the Orange Phone Factory needs to align with headquarters.”

Chen Yansen said.

”I understand. We’ll just issue the year-end bonus this one last time, along with the January salary.”

Cao Dahua nodded in response.

To be honest, the base monthly salary for an ordinary worker was only 2,640 yuan, so most people’s year-end bonuses were only three or four thousand.

Once the quarterly bonuses were announced, guaranteeing an extra ten thousand yuan in income per year, it was likely the employees would start worshipping Cao Dahua as their own father.

The sky gradually darkened. Bright floodlights were switched on in the plaza, illuminating the dining area and stage as if it were daytime.

As the factory manager, Cao Dahua announced at 6:00 PM sharp: The Orange Phone Factory annual meeting has officially begun.

After a few brief New Year’s remarks, he handed the microphone to Chen Yansen.

Chen Yansen walked onto the stage and looked out at the massive crowd of workers seated below.

”So that’s the big boss? He’s so young!”

Li Yunzhu remarked, looking up at Chen Yansen on the stage.

Chen Yansen knew what the people below cared about most: what prizes were in tonight’s raffle and when they could start eating.

So, he didn’t give a long speech. Instead, he directly announced that starting from Q1 2012, the Orange Phone Factory, just like the employees at Orange Technology headquarters, would have four quarterly bonus reviews per year.

Chen Yansen’s words were simple, but the response from the audience was incredibly strong.

In that moment, more than ten thousand people committed Chen Yansen’s name to memory.

An extra 10,000 to 40,000 yuan in bonuses each year—it was hard not to get excited.

Ten minutes later, Chen Yansen came down from the stage and sat at a table near the front, joined by Song Yuncheng, Cao Dahua, Zuo Hongyu, Zhang Jing, and others.

At the end of this year, Chen Yansen’s schedule was packed.

In reality, the annual meetings were secondary for him. The core purpose was to inspect the development status of each project and to see if any of his mid-level or senior managers were making trouble behind his back.

Relying on his superb powers of observation and his Spiritual Power, Chen Yansen spoke with each of the Orange Phone Factory’s executives. In just over ten minutes, he had grasped the general situation of the factory.

「The next morning.」

Chen Yansen met with Secretary Shi from the Central Bureau again, and they talked until noon before he took his leave.

He returned to Xucheng that afternoon.

Xiaoli picked him up from the airport and drove him to the Sky Garden in the city, for a seamless transition into the Orange Technology annual meeting.

At this point, there were only three days left until the New Year.