Since Zhao Xia and Cao Haiyan have not yet had a summer vacation, and Qin Zi has to take care of the children at home, Jing Jian went to Europe this time, and it was very rare to travel alone. It is said that it is a single person, but it is not the most accurate, Andrew and Ilyitsev, as bodyguards, still guard Jing Jian's side.

After arriving in Hamburg, he first visited Baron Jung and Hoffmann and his sons. It is not only a courtesy visit, but also a consideration to strengthen cooperation. With the development of these years, especially the support of companies such as White Lotus and Skull Sea, Ringier Shipping has not only turned a profit, but is also preparing to expand a bulk terminal in the Port of Hamburg.

Jing Jian readily agreed to make additional investment, and still maintained a 5% stake in Ringier Shipping. Basically, it will not affect the Jung family's absolute controlling stake in the terminal, and at the same time, they also expressed their support, so the guests and hosts were happy, and a new cooperation agreement was immediately signed.

After Baron Jung's family dinner, Jing Jian and William returned to their hotel.

"Sir, I have a question, why do we want to cooperate with Jung Shipping in full, and we should bring in some other partners, which will be beneficial to the development of the company and better profitability. In front of Jing Jian, William still looked a little restrained. However, he finally walked out of the "novice village" and already had the confidence to make his own judgment.

"An employee who doesn't have the courage to make a suggestion to his boss has no future. Jing Jian praised with a smile, and then explained, "William, at present, I still need the energy of the Jung family in Europe, at least for a few years, and during this period, I don't want to distract the White Lotus." ”

In fact, William is right, in addition to a major partner, a shipping agency like this needs to divide one or two percent of the share, and introduce one or two shipping agency companies. This is actually the role of the "spare tire" to prevent risks, and there is also the price reduction brought by competition. The role of the spare tire is not only known to men and women who are in love.

Seeing that William didn't seem to understand, Jing Jian smiled and asked, "How much is the monthly sales of White Lotus now?"

"It's already $14 million, and it's still increasing every month, and it should be more than 20 million by the end of the year. Among them, the western one has been basically stable, around 10 million per month. And in the east, the rate of growth is very fast. William was relieved of the data. And in these figures, it does not include those goods that Skull Sea is OEM for European manufacturers.

"What about profits?" Jing Jian continued.

"So far this year, the profit is $270,000. William was a little embarrassed. Compared with the period of windfall profits of "nuclear radiation goods", the profitability of the Hamburg branch is now plummeting. So Wilhelm hurriedly explained, "Sir, according to your orders, all the accounts that cannot be transferred out of Eastern Europe are converted into East German marks and are not included in the company's accounts. In fact, now we have more than 40 million East German marks. ”

"Hmm. Jing Jian smiled and nodded, "Have you read the news? Do you know what happened in Poland? We are businessmen and don't care about political changes." But seizing every turbulent opportunity and working hard to open up the market is what is most urgently needed. So William, my expectation for you is that sales to Eastern Europe will increase more than tenfold in the next few years. ”

"Really?"

"Maybe. Hopefully, like dominoes, the nations of the East will collapse one by one. However, even if we were wrong, we did not lose money, and we made a profit of hundreds of thousands of dollars? As for the East German mark, ...... continue to exchange!"

"What ......?"

"William, it's still early, let's have a cup of coffee and talk in detail. ”

At this time, the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe were actually prominent. In the early 80s, the Polish government, in order to get out of the economic difficulties, sharply raised the price of daily necessities such as meat, which triggered strikes by workers in many cities. Solidarity was founded, headed by Lech Walesa, the first independent trade union in Eastern Europe. Subsequently, the Polish government declared a "state of war" in the country and banned Solidarity. However, although the situation stabilized, the economy did not improve at all, the situation continued to be turbulent, and the prestige of the Polish United Workers' Party was greatly reduced.

At the moment when Jing Jian went to Europe this time, in May 1988, a large-scale labor uprising broke out in Poland again, and this time, it did not end so well. Then, after more than half a year of turmoil, the Polish government finally reached an agreement with Solidarity, and in the ensuing general election, Solidarity won, and the Polish United Workers' Party stepped down and was dissolved. And this was actually the beginning of the drastic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

Of course, at this moment, even the most daring prophets could not have imagined that the scale of the upheaval in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe would be so large.

After entering the café at the bottom of the hotel and ordering coffee, Jing Jian said with a smile: "I need you to do everything you can to break into the eastern market, let go of your hands and feet, you don't have to ask for hard currency or any hard currency, as long as you can get something valuable, we all need it." Even if they take out the currency of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, we will exchange it all for East German marks. ”

William was stunned. In fact, it is not a question of sales now, because of the serious economic difficulties in the Soviet and Eastern markets, the demand for Western goods can be described as a bottomless pit. It's just an old problem -- no money! Without hard currency such as the US dollar, who would want those waste papers issued by Eastern European countries? Therefore, Jing Jian opened the opening of the "East German Mark", and it is conceivable how sales will skyrocket in the future?

"Sir, aren't you afraid that the East German mark will also depreciate significantly?" asked William cautiously.

"Actually, there are two aspects. Jing Jian explained, "The basis of the Soviet-Eastern market is actually the mutual economic association, and the core is the economy of oil and other raw materials in the Soviet Union. First of all, we need high-quality assets in the countries of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, which will be discussed later. Anyway, those high-quality assets that are sold at a low price are rare opportunities. Secondly, we need raw materials, a large number of raw materials, especially non-ferrous metals such as aluminum and copper. Of course, it is better to find a relationship, and it would be best if the price of scrap metal was offset with us. ”

"Ah, will this be the case?" William was surprised, thinking to himself, no one should do such a loss-making business, right?

Jing Jian smiled: "Hope is so, it's just hope, and it doesn't need to be forced." However, he was also thinking in his heart that at that time, the unlimited limit of those officials in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe could be said to be beyond imagination.

"Uh-huh. ”

Jing Jian continued: "It's important to note here: the renminbi in Chinese mainland is not a hard currency, and the currencies of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe are also not hard currency. The raw materials we take from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe are sold to China, and then a large number of cheap daily necessities purchased from China are sold to the countries of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. ”

"Oh, I kind of get it. William thought for himself.