He was forced to step down because his superiors asked him to do some work.

Fortunately, he is still the boss of the courtyard and can take care of the people in the courtyard when he has nothing to do.

but……

Now, there are fewer people in the courtyard, and Liu Haizhong can manage even fewer people.

Because he couldn't control people anymore, Liu Haizhong felt a huge psychological gap and almost became depressed.

So he came to Li Jiandong today, wanting to ask Li Jiandong to arrange a job for him so that he could manage a few more people.

Li Jiandong has arranged a job of shopping mall manager for Yu Li. Now Yu Li's subordinates are in charge of Li Jiandong's four shopping malls and have great power.

Liu Haizhong felt that since he was so capable and Jiandong was so loyal, there should be no problem in letting him manage two shopping malls.

Li Jiandong could also guess why Liu Haizhong came, so he asked him to sit down with a smile, and then asked.

"Old Liu, you have been doing well recently. You are so old now, and you have finally made it to retirement. You can enjoy a peaceful life in the future."

Liu Haizhong smiled bitterly.

"Director Li, you know me well. I, Old Liu, am born to endure hardships. I have just retired for two months and I am already feeling bored. I heard that you have opened four shopping malls. Can you give me one to manage?"

"It doesn't matter whether I make money or not. I'm just afraid that I'll feel uncomfortable if I have nothing to do."

Li Jiandong laughed out loud.

It is no exaggeration to say that his business is making a fortune every day.

Liu Haizhong wanted to help him manage it, but he was still worried.

Liu Haizhong is a fool. It would be fine if he were appointed as the deputy director of the management committee, but if he were to manage his own shopping mall, it wouldn't take long for it to bring the mall down.

The reason why Li Jiandong chose Yu Li was because Yu Li really had that ability.

So Li Jiandong thought about it and said.

"Lao Liu, forget about the mall stuff. Working in a mall is hard work. You have to run around. Not only do you have to manage the salespeople, but you also have to be responsible for the incoming goods, counting the goods, and putting the goods into the warehouse. There are too many things to do. At your age, I'm afraid you won't have the energy to keep up."

"Director Li, I..."

Liu Haizhong was about to explain when he saw Li Jiandong raise his hand to stop him.

"Old Liu, don't be anxious. Just listen to me first."

Li Jiandong paused for a moment, then continued.

"Although you may not be suitable for the shopping mall, I am planning to start a new business. This business may need more people, and it is similar to a steel mill in that both are involved in production. Lao Liu, if you are really interested, you can help me take care of it."

What Li Jiandong was talking about was of course his weaving factory.

Although weaving and steel rolling are two completely different things, the working procedures are actually similar, both of which involve taking in raw materials and producing finished products.

Then ship it out.

Liu Haizhong doesn't need to worry about the shipping process, Li Jiandong's shopping mall can distribute all the goods.

Liu Haizhong only needs to be responsible for the production of these fabrics.

Although Liu Haizhong is a rather careless person, he is still meticulous in doing things.

It was impossible for Li Jiandong to let him do everything and just let him be the bad guy in the factory.

If you encounter some workers who cut corners and are slacking off, just let Liu Haizhong deal with it.

The work in the factory is different from that in some small workshops. It is difficult to manage relying solely on personal connections. There must be a strict leader to make the workers work honestly.

Li Jiandong is always the good guy. Improving the workers' treatment and raising their wages are his specialties.

But if you have a dark face, someone like Liu Haizhong is the most suitable.

Hearing Li Jiandong's words, Liu Haizhong immediately became excited.

"Director Li, thank you so much. You know what kind of person I am. As long as you are willing to use me, no matter what orders you give, I will resolutely carry them out."

Liu Haizhong was very happy. He was no longer short of money. The money he earned from producing soap every month in the small workshop in Yard 40 alone was much more than what he earned when he was a leader in the steel mill.

There is absolutely no shortage of money to spend.

What Liu Haizhong has never pursued is money, but power.

Liu Haizhong was extremely excited at the thought of returning to a leadership position.

"Okay, Lao Liu, you don't have to thank me. As long as you work hard in your position and help me keep the factory in good order, that will be all."

"Oh, and my place may not be small, at least three to five hundred people or even thousands of people, I'm afraid you can't manage it alone, so I'll give you the power, you go and recruit some subordinates, and then I'll help you manage my factory. But let's make it clear first, no matter how capable this person is, first of all, his character must be good. I don't need some messy people, can you do this?"

There are all kinds of people in society these days.

Otherwise, such a severe crackdown would not have happened.

It was actually not difficult for Li Jiandong to open a factory.

After all, he had managed a steel plant with 3 employees before, and an ordinary fabric factory with less than a thousand employees.

He can take good care of it even if he doesn't take care of it.

However, if you encounter some bad people in there who don't work and just want to cause trouble, then it would be hard to say.

Liu Haizhong nodded repeatedly.

"Don't worry, Director Li. You can trust my character. The person I find will surely put your mind at ease."

"Well, that's good. You go ahead and get busy. I still need some time to prepare here. I'll let you know after the factory is built."

Li Jiandong sent Liu Haizhong away and continued to push forward the matters concerning the fabric factory.

As for the management staff, Li Jiandong knew a lot of people when he opened the shopping mall.

He could have found someone to help him manage it. The reason why he used Liu Haizhong was mainly because Li Jiandong did not take this fabric factory too seriously.

How could a man who had fought with a lion care too much about a cat?

It’s just a small fabric factory, it’s enough to leave it to Liu Haizhong.

At most, Li Jiandong would occasionally go to the factory to take a look in person.

Give the workers some encouragement.

Otherwise, if it takes too much time, how can he do other things?

Li Jiandong’s goal has never been to open a small fabric factory.

He wants to help citizens improve their sense of happiness in all aspects of food, clothing, housing and transportation.

Now he is planning to open his own fabric factory.

Xu Damao is there to take care of food, so Li Jiandong doesn't need to worry about it.

Next is accommodation and transportation.

First of all, Li Jiandong has no intention of interfering in housing matters.

Because the reputation of real estate developers in later generations is not very good. Although Li Jiandong doesn't care about his reputation, he doesn't want to be scolded.

So he turned his attention back to this aspect.

It just so happens that the higher-ups are holding meetings this year to discuss and prepare to come up with a plan to exchange market for technology.

Although Li Jiandong has retired from the steel rolling mill, he still keeps an eye on these things.

Yan Jiecheng would sometimes come to him for advice, so Li Jiandong knew this plan very well.

Li Jiandong is very opposed to exchanging market for technology.

First of all, history has proven that the market was indeed given to others, but the technology was not exchanged in return.

They only used some quite backward technology, but they occupied almost all of our market, so much so that even after the next few decades, many Chinese people were still unable to stand up straight, and always felt that only foreign things were good.

If Li Jiandong didn’t have a system for accepting disciples.

He may not be able to change this future.

However, he has a system for recruiting disciples, and he also has two disciples, Yan Jiecheng and Chang Hanqing, who are related to machinery.

Then, Li Jiandong must get involved in this regard.

Isn't it just studying a car?

Li Jiandong had already developed shock-absorbing hydraulic power steering before, and the next step was to study the three major parts.

For Li Jiandong, who graduated as a mechanic, building a car might not be that difficult for him. The reason why he did not pursue this aspect before.

One reason is that the steel rolling mill was mainly producing heavy engineering machinery at the time, and it would be a waste of steel to build cars. Even though there were iron mines in Jilin and Liaoning at that time, the steel produced was still not enough to make cars.

Until Li Jiandong stepped down from the big square.

Because of the control of some items, it is impossible to make them by itself.

Even now.

Those regulations had not been completely lifted, and Li Jiandong couldn't even open a bicycle factory of his own.

Of course, they are not qualified to build cars.

So his next step was to go and discuss this matter with his leader.

Since the leader is willing to exchange the market for foreign technology, if I have this technology, can I also trade for part of the market?
Even if we cooperate with relevant departments, that's fine.

In short, it doesn’t matter whether you make money or not.

We cannot give up this market easily.

That evening, Li Jiandong prepared some gifts and went to the home of the leader of Bi Da.

Leader Bi hadn't seen Li Jiandong for a long time. When he suddenly saw him coming to visit, he was very happy and hurried forward to greet him.

"Li Jiandong, why are you here? You are a rare guest, please come in quickly."

The big leader is already over 70 years old this year.

I retired from that position the year before last.

But at his point, he still has great energy even if he retires.

Many people who were once promoted by him are now in important positions.

Although Li Jiandong has many connections, only a few people such as senior leaders can get direct access to his information.

Among them, he had the best relationship with the big leader, so this time he went directly to the big leader.

After putting down the gift, Li Jiandong got straight to the point and said...

"Big leader, I heard that our leader has an idea to exchange market for technology and import cars from other countries. Is that true?"

The big leader didn't hide anything and nodded and said.
"You're right. I've heard about this news as well. What do you think of this proposal?"

"Boss, you know me well. I like research and development the most, especially mechanical things. To be honest, when I was in the steel mill, I wanted to develop cars. But because our national strength was not good at that time, and the demand for cars was far less than that for heavy machinery, I never put time into it. But this does not mean that I don't have the ability in this area."

When Li Jiandong said this, the leader's eyes lit up.

Of course he knew how powerful Li Jiandong was. It could be said that half of the country's current heavy machinery was closely related to Li Jiandong.

Many of these things were developed by Li Jiandong himself.

So if he wanted to build a car, the leader would trust him very much.

"Li Jiandong, from what you said, you want to make cars? But you are no longer in the steel mill. Our country's regulations do not allow private individuals to engage in these industries. How great it would have been if you had listened to me and worked in the steel mill for a few more years. Now, can't we do this market ourselves?"

The big boss sighed and said.

When Li Jiandong wanted to quit the Grand Plaza, he strongly opposed it, but because Li Jiandong had made up his mind, the leader had no choice but to accept the fact that he had retired.

If Li Jiandong had not retired, it would definitely not be difficult for the steel rolling mill to produce cars now. It is even possible that the mill has already built its own cars. Why would it still need to exchange the market for technology?

Our technology may already be ahead of the world.

The top leader has absolute faith in Li Jiandong's abilities, even to the point of superstition.

As long as Li Jiandong said he wanted to research something, the top leader would assume that he had already developed it.

After all, he can completely reproduce many things that are quite complicated for others within a few months.

Even reaching the world's leading level.

This kind of thing doesn't happen once or twice.

If anyone still doubts Li Jiandong's ability, the big boss will be the first to get angry with them.

Li Jiandong sighed and said.

"Big leader, didn't we also fail to think of this back then?"

“I have not been idle in the past few years. You must have heard about the shopping mall I built. The goods inside are genuine and well-priced, and are widely welcomed by the general public.

I am also going to build a fabric factory to solve our clothing problem, although these things are not so conspicuous compared to heavy industry.

But it really helped our citizens and improved their sense of well-being, so I think it was a good step for me to step down.”

The big leader sighed and said regretfully, "I know you did the right thing to do. I have always respected you. You are really working hard for this country and for our people. But the problem is that you have already left the steel mill. It will be difficult to go back. But if you don't go back, how can you make this car?"

Li Jiandong said with a serious expression,
"That's why I came to you, the leader. I hope you can talk to the leaders and even issue me a military order, giving me one or two years to provide this technology to everyone."

"When the time comes, it doesn't matter whether the car is made by the government or by me. In short, we can't give this market to others casually, otherwise, the market will be seized by others. We have a deep-rooted idea in our hearts that foreign products are better than ours. It may take decades to change this concept."

Li Jiandong was not exaggerating.

What he said was true.

The big boss may not think this way, but he has always believed in Li Jiandong unconditionally.

Since Li Jiandong said that he could develop this technology in one or two years, then there is a 90% chance that he can do it.

The leader briefly considered it and then asked Li Jiandong solemnly.

"Li Jiandong, let me ask you, are you really sure that you can develop our own car within two years?"

"Boss, don't worry. I can definitely build our own car in two years. Now, all I need is authorization from the higher-ups. Without authorization, even if I have the ability, I won't dare to use it."

The big boss nodded. This was exactly what Li Jiandong wanted to hear.

As long as Li Jiandong dared to give him a guarantee, he would dare to go to the leader.

Now, Li Jiandong has guaranteed that he can build a car within two years, and the senior leaders have complete confidence in him.

So he nodded solemnly and said.

"Okay, since you have this confidence, I will talk to the leaders on your behalf. Of course, whether this thing can be accomplished in the end is not something I can decide, but I will definitely do my best, so you can go back and wait for my news."

After leaving the big boss’s house, Li Jiandong began to prepare to build a car.

Although there has been no reply from the top leader yet, Li Jiandong believes that the top leader should be able to do it.

This is not only because of the big leader's connections, but also because the superiors also knew about what Li Jiandong had done at the steel factory.

The so-called shadow of a person's name and number.

If someone else wants to spend two years developing a car, the leaders above may scoff at it.

However, if this person is Li Jiandong, I believe the leaders above will also seriously consider it.
The reason why Li Jiandong did not go to look for him personally but asked the senior leader to do it was simply because his status was not high enough.

But that doesn’t mean the leaders above don’t know about him.

If you want to build a car, two people are indispensable, and the first one is of course Chang Hanqing.

Although Chang Hanqing is developing electric cars, electric cars and ordinary cars actually have many similarities, except for the different powertrains.
At least the chassis are similar.

Another key person is Yan Jiecheng.

Yan Jiecheng is now the director of a steel rolling mill, but he is also a master in the mechanical profession.

He has a special skill in trucks.

This time, Li Jiandong wants to make a car, not a truck.

But the two cars also have many similarities, such as their transmissions.

There were no dual-clutch or continuously variable transmissions back then.

To some extent, a truck's transmission is even more sophisticated than that of an ordinary car.

There are also steering systems and braking systems. These trucks and cars have similar functions.

So Li Jiandong first found his two apprentices and wanted them to work with him.

Chang Hanqing responded very promptly.

He is now working at the North City Automobile Manufacturing Plant, and has been developing electric cars. However, without Li Jiandong's help, he found that it was extremely difficult to develop an excellent electric car with others. (End of this chapter)