Chapter 31 Here We Go Again
Early in the morning, Song Yuanchao was awakened by the voice of an auntie calling on the phone downstairs while he was still sleeping. He stuck his head out to answer, quickly put on his clothes, ran downstairs to the public phone, and called back the number. The person who answered the phone was Jiang Dongliang.
On the phone, Jiang Dongliang politely asked Song Yuanchao if it was convenient for him now, saying that he was in Shanghai again and wanted to treat Song Yuanchao to a meal.
Song Yuanchao smiled and said forget about the meal, and asked Jiang Dongliang what was the matter. Jiang Dongliang didn't say anything on the other end of the phone, but just said that he would treat him to a meal at the state-owned restaurant where they had dinner last time.
Song Yuanchao declined, but Jiang Dongliang insisted, so Song Yuanchao agreed. The two agreed on a time, and Song Yuanchao hung up the phone. He went home, washed his face and brushed his teeth, and then cleaned the room, and dawdled until it was almost time before going out.
When they arrived at the place, Jiang Dongliang was already waiting. As soon as Song Yuanchao entered the room, he saw Jiang Dongliang standing up from the table by the window and waving at him with a smile.
"Chief Jiang, you are too polite." Song Yuanchao walked over and said with a smile.
"I just happened to come to Shanghai today for something, and I thought of you, brother. Anyway, I have to eat too, so let's get together. Brother Song, please sit down first."
After giving up his seat, Jiang Dongliang handed Song Yuanchao a cigarette as soon as he sat down. Then Jiang Dongliang struck a match and helped Song Yuanchao light it. Seeing his attentive look, Song Yuanchao immediately had an idea in his mind and understood what Jiang Dongliang was up to.
"This soft-shelled turtle and old hen are quite fresh, and these prawns are not bad either. I don't know if you like them, brother. Come on, pick up your chopsticks and try them?" Jiang Dongliang said, pointing at the dishes that were already on the table. He ordered a table full of delicious dishes today, and the two most delicious dishes were soft-shelled turtle with old hen and prawns. These two things are rare. The former dish has an impressive name in the south, "Farewell My Concubine". Together with the other dishes and a bottle of Bamboo Leaf Green that he had drunk last time, Song Yuanchao estimated that this table of food would cost at least 15 yuan.
15 yuan may be the price of a bowl of ramen in later generations, but it is not a small amount in this era.
You have to know that the average salary of Shanghai residents at that time was less than 40, and the price of these meals was equivalent to half a month's salary.
Jiang Dongliang has really spent a lot of money today. As the saying goes: When you give a gift to someone, you must ask for something in return.
"Chief Jiang, you prepared such a large table of delicious dishes... this..." Song Yuanchao did not pick up his chopsticks. Instead, he looked at Jiang Dongliang in confusion: "No merit, no reward. Are you asking me to make a mistake?"
"This isn't a mistake. It's just a normal social event , nothing more."
"No, no, no, Chief Jiang, you're too polite. This makes me feel very nervous. How about we talk about it first?"
Seeing that Song Yuanchao refused to pick up his chopsticks, Jiang Dongliang laughed helplessly, raised his glass and said to Song Yuanchao: "Brother, have a drink first, then we can talk in detail."
Song Yuanchao hesitated for a moment, picked up the wine glass and clinked it with Jiang Dongliang's, took a sip of wine and waited for Jiang Dongliang to speak.
Jiang Dongliang put down his wine glass, lit a cigarette and said, "Last time, my brother gave me some advice. I was very grateful. After I went back, I reported the matter to the factory. The factory director took it very seriously. Later, I took Xiao Wei to Gusu again..."
Song Yuanchao nodded, and when Jiang Dongliang didn't continue, he asked appropriately: "How was the talk? Was it going well?"
Jiang Dongliang smiled bitterly and said, "I went back to discuss the matter you mentioned, and later asked someone about it. After listening to me, the other party agreed to relax the purchasing requirements and said that if it is used on telephone lines, the quality of the casing will be no problem."
"Isn't this great?" Song Yuanchao immediately smiled and raised his glass to congratulate Jiang Dongliang: "Come on, come on, congratulate Section Chief Jiang for successfully completing the task. This is a good thing."
Song Yuanchao's congratulations froze Jiang Dongliang's smile. Jiang Dongliang took a sip of wine, smoked a cigarette and sighed, "It can be said that this matter went smoothly, but it can also be said that it did not go smoothly..."
"Chief Jiang, where is your tongue twister? Why don't I understand what you are saying?" Song Yuanchao looked confused and frowned slightly.
Jiang Dongliang opened his mouth and looked at Song Yuanchao, unsure whether he understood or was pretending to be confused. But now he was overwhelmed by the casing issue and had no choice but to come to Song Yuanchao. After all, it was Song Yuanchao who showed him a feasible way last time.
"Brother, I won't hide it from you. I specially asked you to help me today."
"Help? Chief Jiang, did I hear you right? Isn't this matter over? Is there anything else you can help me with?" Song Yuanchao still looked puzzled.
Jiang Dongliang rubbed his head and said with a wry smile: "Brother, I really came to you for advice. I've thought about it and I'm afraid you're the only one who can help me with this matter."
Song Yuanchao didn't say anything, just looked at Jiang Dongliang, waiting for him to continue .
Jiang Dongliang immediately explained the current situation in detail. After Jiang Dongliang finished speaking in detail, Song Yuanchao suddenly felt amused. The development of the matter was similar to what he had expected before. It seemed that Jiang Dongliang really had no other solution.
Before, Song Yuanchao gave Jiang Dongliang two ideas, and Jiang Dongliang adopted the latter, which was to change the purpose of this batch of casings and use them as telephone line casings.
Jiang Dongliang did exactly that and put it into practice. But the result disappointed Jiang Dongliang a little, mainly for two reasons.
First, because telephone lines are different from ordinary electrical wires, although the technical requirements are much lower than ordinary electrical wires, precisely because the requirements for telephone lines are not high, the requirements for the use of conduits are also reduced accordingly.
Although the batch of conduits produced by Jiang Dongliang's factory did not reach the usage level of electrical wires, they exceeded the usage level of telephone lines, which resulted in a waste of cost and quality of the conduits.
Due to the special circumstances of the use of telephone lines, the requirements for the casing used in telephone lines are lower and the price is also lower. According to the reply from the third and fourth factories, if Jiang Dongliang and his factory intend to use this batch of casing on telephone lines, it is not impossible, but the price will be different.
According to the previous purchase agreement, the purchase price of this batch of casing is ten yuan per roll, but once it is purchased as casing for telephone lines, the price they can only get is about six yuan at most.
In this way, the purchase price is almost cut in half. You know, according to what Jiang Dongliang said before, their cost is eight yuan. Even if Jiang Dongliang set an ambush, the cost is at least more than seven yuan.
Now, the purchase price has become six yuan, which means that Liangxi Plastic Factory will lose one yuan for every roll sold. If the quantity was small, it would be fine, but Jiang Dongliang's factory produced 15,000 rolls. At this price, the factory will lose at least 15,000 yuan.
Liangxi Plastic Factory simply could not afford such a huge loss. In addition, because telephone lines are different from ordinary electrical wires, Gusu also told Jiang Dongliang and his team that the purchase amount of telephone line casings would not be too large. The two factories combined could only solve one-third of the inventory at best. This result stunned Jiang Dongliang.
"Brother, we really can't accept this price. If we sell it like this, the factory will suffer huge losses." Jiang Dongliang desperately tried to eat his "fried egg" with a worried look on his face.
Song Yuanchao felt amused in his heart. He had actually anticipated this situation a long time ago. That was why Song Yuanchao had openly told him the solution to the problem last time.
Having worked in the telephone bureau for his entire life in his previous life, Song Yuanchao knew the usage statistics of telephone lines better than anyone else. It was only the beginning of 1979, and telephones had not yet been popularized on a large scale in all cities across the country. Even in big cities like Shanghai, the telephone penetration rate was extremely low.
Right now the telephone company is laying lines and installing new telephones, and the amount each month is very small.
The construction units under the telephone bureau usually do maintenance work on weekdays. This was what Song Yuanchao did when he was a temporary worker in his previous life. It was unprecedented to install several new telephones in a single day.
This situation did not change until several years later. In December 1979, at the end of the year, the Rongcheng Post and Telecommunications Administration submitted a report to its superiors, and after half a year of discussion, the report was approved.
In December 1980, Rongcheng signed a contract with Fujitsu to introduce the F-150 program-controlled switching system. In November 1982, China's first 10,000-line program-controlled switching system was opened in Rongcheng, marking the beginning of the popularization of telephones across the country.
In other words, the real popularization of telephones did not begin until 1983 in major cities across the country. Before 1983, the telephone penetration rate in all cities was very low. According to data, in early 1979, the total telephone capacity in the country was only 3.59 million lines, with 2.14 million users, and a penetration rate of only 0.38%.
Such a low number will inevitably affect the use of telephone lines, which account for an almost negligible proportion compared to the demand for ordinary electrical wires.
In this case, it is already very good that the batch of sleeves from Jiang Dongliang's factory can be purchased by the two wire factories in Suzhou with one-third of the inventory.
