Outside the East Third Ring Road of Beijing, next to the entrance to Beijing Main Road in the direction of Jinmen.
A skinny gadfly wearing a suit that looks like a township entrepreneur, covering the tattoos on his arms, is leaning on an old and dilapidated 212 jeep, waiting for business. It is already very hot in Beijing in early June, and he is still wearing thin clothes under the bright sun.
The suit is really uncomfortable.
It's a pity that there is no air conditioning in the car, which makes sitting in the car even more uncomfortable.
In the car, a fat man with his undershirt rolled up and his belly exposed was sleeping there. It was too hot to sleep, so he could only squint.
Suddenly, the skinny gadfly in a monkey suit squinted his eyes and saw an unknown car approaching from a distance. The license plate did not start with "京", and he immediately became energetic.
"Boss, boss, look at that car, is it time to start working on it?"
The fat man woke up in a daze, and found that the other party had already driven far away. He did not know the situation, so he quickly ordered his younger brother to catch up: "Quickly, follow him. Remember to follow the left lane of the other party and stay ten or twenty meters away from the left rear. When the time comes, the other party will try to catch up.
When changing lanes, regardless of whether the lights are on or not, just step on the accelerator!"
The strong dragon does not overwhelm the local snake. When drivers from other places come to Beijing to do business, they are usually very impatient and do not dare to get into trouble. If they encounter something that they are not responsible for according to the traffic regulations, they will often be extorted for extra money.
As for "the car in front was rear-ended while changing lanes", it is very clear that the car in front is solely responsible. In the 1990s, the number of people in flexible employment around Beijing who were eating this kind of rice was quite large.
The cars used to commit crimes are often old ones that have been repaired dozens of times. I wish I could just put some tape on the front bumper and go on the road, and then it would fall off when I rear-ended the car in front of me.
At that time, you don’t need to spend more than two thousand yuan. In fact, you can go back to the car repair shop that you control and re-weld it for two or three hundred yuan.
The thin man in a monkey suit drove the car and stepped on the accelerator. After two or three minutes, he finally caught up with the car in front of him. Fortunately, the East Third Ring Road was quite long and the other car did not turn out at any intersection in the middle.
"Boss, that car seems to be turning towards Chaoyangmen! Go in again, we are not familiar with the traffic police there." Seeing this situation, the man in the thin monkey suit hurriedly reported while continuing to press the gas pedal upwards.
Get stuck in the opponent's right lane.
Unfortunately, just when he was about to make the final move, the eyes of the fat man in a singlet suddenly shrank and he saw a terrifying word.
"Brake!" The fat man roared angrily. Seeing that he was running out of time, he quickly pulled the thin man's steering wheel in the direction of his co-pilot.
"Boom!" The 212 Jeep directly hit the green belt and then damaged the isolation belt.
No one touches him, it's a one-sided accident, it's like driving and killing yourself by hitting a wall without thinking.
The thin man in a suit hit his head on the steering wheel, his head was bruised and bloody, and his mind was full of confusion: "Old... boss, didn't you say you were the one to push me up?"
The fat man ignored Ma Zai's head and blood and slapped him in the face: "You bastard! Is this the 'foreign license plate' you mentioned? Damn, that's 'Shi'! Do you know what 'Shi' is?"
If you say you are uneducated, you are uneducated. How could Lao Hu introduce you to me? If you see a car like that, try to stay away from it! We can’t even hit the wall ourselves! Otherwise, we don’t know how you died.
, because the traffic police will help you? Do you think the other party will be cowardly? "
…
Gu Kun and Ma Feng sat in the top-end executive version of the extended-length Lincoln, closing their eyes and concentrating all the way without knowing anything. They also secretly praised Gao Jianxiong's driving skills and stability.
What he didn't know was that the experienced drivers who usually followed cars within 10 meters of each other in Sijiu City looked at his car model and license plate and set the following distance to at least 30 meters. It was like there was a slowing down halo next to the car.
's boundary.
"Mr. Gu, there was a car behind us just now. It suddenly followed us and then hit the wall." Gao Jianxiong saw an accident in the rearview mirror and told Gu Kun based on the principle of diligent reporting.
Gu Kun opened his eyes: "Oh? Is there such a thing? Driving in a civilized way, you don't have anyone else's home, right?"
Gao Jianxiong felt that he was wronged and explained patiently: "How could I stop the car? I just turned right normally. Someone hit the green belt and isolation belt more than ten meters away from us. I guess his hands were shaking."
"That's good. You're not allowed to get out of the car with a grudge anyway!" Gu Kun ordered and continued to close his eyes and meditate.
Soon, his car arrived at the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Affairs, and with Ma Feng's help, he was received by the department-level leader in charge of maritime foreign trade.
(Note: After 2003, in the era of the Ministry of Commerce, there was no such department anymore. At that time, there was a "Foreign Trade Department", which then took care of your sea, rail, and air transport foreign trade. There were separate divisions under the Foreign Trade Department, and the level was lowered.
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But during the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation from 1993 to 2002, there were independent departments. Just like 12 years ago, there was the Ministry of Railways, but later there was only the Railway Department under the Ministry of Transport, plus the market-oriented Railway Corporation. This is an administrative
The process of delegating power and retreating.)
Of course, the leaders received the foreign friends who came to seek foreign trade cooperation very cordially. They also said many words of pragmatic encouragement and endorsed the legitimacy of Gu Kun and his party.
At the same time, he also personally affirmed Gu Kun's "East China Route Ocean Bulk Carrier Supply Planning Plan" from a technical perspective, and praised Comrade Gu Kun for his suggestions for facilitating China's foreign trade and for discovering the current existing
The deficiencies and areas for improvement in the port planning of international routes involving China (in human terms, Gu Kun pointed out the problems that Lijiapo people’s industry standards are not efficient enough for China).
But in the end, the leader of the Maritime Trade Department only introduced some new friends to Gu Kun and asked them to find specific people to talk to.
Because strictly speaking, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation is not directly in charge of this matter, but after filing a case with the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, and then having them refer you to COSCO, the path will be much easier.
It’s hard to elaborate on the specific negotiation process. Anyway, it was similar to the tone in the news broadcast. “The two sides had a cordial and friendly conversation and fully exchanged views.” In fact, no substantive meeting goals were achieved. (See
People who are over 80 years old should know that this field is my specialty, so it’s not that I can’t write the details, it’s that I... don’t bother to write. It’s really that I don’t bother to write. It’s not that I’m incapable, and it’s not that I’m a coward.)
However, even if no substantive commitment was obtained, at least the process of "cordial and friendly talks" was recorded by Gu Kun in the memorandum of negotiations between the two parties.
Just like in a court debate, all the words spoken by the three parties must be recorded by the clerk and then signed by both parties for confirmation. This kind of international cooperation talks are of course more formal. Gu Kun only needs to get this document with the official seal.
The memo (actually the minutes of the meeting) was enough for him to become arrogant after returning to Lanfang.
At the end of the negotiation, the Maritime Trade Department sent a director and a bunch of more unscrupulous staff from related fields to accompany Gu Kun to a banquet, which was regarded as a banquet for foreign guests. In the end, both parties used diplomatic etiquette.
Souvenirs were exchanged in style.
After lunch, after resting for a while, Gu Kun took the endorsement from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Affairs and went to the headquarters of COSCO Corporation.
There, as usual, he received a cordial reception and more demonstrations of the technical and planning details of the plan.
After several days of rough negotiations, COSCO stated that in principle it “welcomes and expects” Southeast Asian port operators of China-related waterways to make relevant business planning adjustments.
However, as for the parts that require Chinese joint investment and financing support, we need to wait and see and wait for further detailed planning before discussing.
Speaking in human terms, if Gu Kun does not want Chinese investment or loans from Chinese banks such as China Construction Bank, but he can get the money to expand Lanfang Port by himself and design it in a way that is convenient and efficient for China, then after it is completed,
COSCO will let some ships come to support it.
Anyway, this blank check was promised first, and COSCO is a business without capital. When the time comes, even if 5% of the East China Branch's bulk carriers come to support it, it will be a blessing, and if 20% of the bulk carriers come to support it, it will also be a blessing.
However, China cannot decide in a short while whether Lanzhou wants to use Chinese capital to build a Hong Kong or Chinese capital to invest in it.
First of all, after a matter is decided to be taken seriously, port planning and design will take several months. COSCO will at least consider investment and loan assistance after seeing a detailed design proposal.
Finally, people from COSCO Corporation also expressed their position to Gu Kun: For follow-up details, you can go to Hujiang and talk to the leadership of COSCO East China Branch. COSCO Corporation will delegate the decision-making power on external cooperation to East China Branch.
Because as mentioned before, even if Lanfang Port is built in the future, it is impossible for international maritime trade cooperation to interact with the branch in Guangdong that operates the South China route. Gu Kun’s partner can only be an East China company.
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At the same time, COSCO Corporation also recommended to Gu Kun two design institutes with the most authoritative qualifications in China for overall planning, namely the design institute of Hujiang Maritime University and the design institute of Shanghai Jiaotong University.
These two design institutes are both in Hujiang, so Gu Kun is destined to go to the south.
After two days of negotiations and repairs in the capital, Gu Kun felt that there was nothing left to operate in the capital, so he prepared to go south.
Taking into account that there was only one license plate with the Chinese characters, Gu Kun originally planned to ask Gao Jianxiong to drive to Hujiang on the high speed. Anyway, it was only over a thousand kilometers and could be driven in one day.
However, later on, the relevant departments were relatively generous. When Gu Kun paid for it, they got him a military transport plane and chartered it for a ride. His executive extended Lincoln car could be transported to Hongqiao Airport with the transport plane.
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Of course, Gu Kun would not begrudge the tens of thousands of yuan in charter flight money, so he happily agreed.
On the day he left Beijing, his old friend Ma Feng came to see him off again and gave him a message.