Yangcheng Military District. An Air Force Base!
As an Ilyushin transport plane touched down gently on the runway, Li Yi stepped off the aircraft, flanked by his four bodyguards.
That’s right—they’d flown south on a military aircraft, giving Li Yi another taste of that exhilarating, roller-coaster-like sensation of flying.
Consequently, the very first thing Li Yi did upon stepping off the plane was to crouch down and retch.
Originally, Li Yi had planned to fly to Yangcheng on a regular commercial flight, but since there aren’t many flights from Beijing to Yangcheng to begin with, and tickets have been particularly tight lately.
Most importantly, Li Yi was fed up with being squeezed for money, and since he was in a hurry, Zhang Ziqiang had simply contacted Zhou Rui on his behalf.
As luck would have it, the military happened to be sending a shipment of supplies to Guangzhou, so they hitched a ride on that flight.
At that moment, several military jeeps were already waiting by the runway on the outskirts of the airport.
As soon as they saw Li Yi and his group disembark, the convoy immediately drove over.
Soon, the convoy came to a smooth stop in front of Li Yi and his group.
A young officer then stepped out of one of the vehicles, saluted Li Yi, and said, “Good morning, Commander. This is Li Yang, Chief of Staff of the Military District Guard Regiment, reporting for duty. I await your orders!”
Hearing this, Li Yi was somewhat at a loss for words.
He was merely a part-time advisor—what kind of “Commander” was he? Clearly, someone had specifically tipped off the Military District in advance.
“Commander Li, you’re too kind. Could you please take us to the provincial government compound?” Li Yi said.
“Yes, sir. Please get in the car!”
“Alright…”
An hour later, Li Yi finally arrived at his father-in-law’s small villa.
Since it was during work hours, Jiang Shiying wasn’t home.
Fortunately, Li Yi had a key. After unlocking the door, he collapsed into the guest room and fell into a deep sleep.
He had no choice—he was simply too exhausted.
Knowing he was leaving today, that girl Jiang Xue had been particularly wild last night, demanding almost without limit.
And since Li Yi knew he was in the wrong, he went along with it wholeheartedly; the two of them kept at it until four in the morning before finally calling it a night.
They hadn’t rested for very long before boarding the flight south.
On top of that, military transport planes aren’t exactly comfortable. After sitting for several hours straight, Li Yi felt like his whole body was about to fall apart.
Li Yi slept like a log.
When he finally woke up, it was already past six in the evening.
As soon as he opened his eyes, he heard the sound of chatter coming from downstairs.
Without hesitation, Li Yi slipped on his shoes, opened the door, and headed downstairs.
As soon as he reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw his father-in-law chatting with Zhang Ziqiang, Zhou Wen, and others. He couldn’t make out what they were talking about, but the atmosphere seemed quite friendly.
Hearing footsteps at the top of the stairs, Jiang Shiying immediately looked up.
Upon seeing his son-in-law, he smiled and said, “You’re awake. Why so sudden this time? You didn’t even give us a call beforehand!”
“Well… there was an urgent matter in Hong Kong, so I just came over!” Li Yi said, making up a casual excuse.
He had to come up with an excuse—he certainly couldn’t say, “I sensed things were getting dicey, so I decided to get out of here for a while!”
If he did that, his father-in-law would surely look down on him.
“So, you’re heading across the strait soon?” Jiang Shiying asked.
“Yeah, I plan to head to Pengcheng tomorrow, then go to Hong Kong via Zhongying Street or Shekou Port from there!” Li Yi said.
“Alright, then give Long Yin a call before you leave. He mentioned you when he called me a few days ago and said he’d definitely invite you over to Pengcheng to take a look if he gets the chance!” Jiang Shiying said.
“Sure, I’ll let Second Brother know before I leave!”
“Hmm, it’s getting late. Let’s go out for dinner!” Jiang Shiying said.
“Alright…”
………
The rest of the night passed without incident!
Early the next morning, Li Yi got up.
Without his wife’s nagging, his sleep was sound and peaceful.
He woke up feeling refreshed and invigorated—a far cry from his days in the capital, where even after a full night’s rest, he’d always wake up with a sore back and aching muscles, feeling listless and sluggish.
After having a simple breakfast with Zhang Ziqiang and the others, Li Yi called Jiang Longyin to let him know he’d be heading over shortly.
After hanging up, the group hopped into the car Zhang Ziqiang had procured from the State Security Bureau and headed straight for Pengcheng.
Pengcheng Special Economic Zone was still in its early stages of development, and the highway to Yangcheng hadn’t opened yet, so the transportation system was nowhere near as advanced as it would be in later years.
The poor road conditions were one thing, but the real problem was the heavy traffic—mostly military trucks, which moved at a snail’s pace when fully loaded.
What should have been a journey of just over an hour took Li Yi and his group a full three hours, and by the time they arrived in Pengcheng, it was nearly 11:00 p.m.
Upon arriving at City Hall, to avoid drawing attention, Li Yi instructed Zhou Wen to have Yang Zhiwen and Xiao Wu wait in the car while he went inside alone with Zhang Ziqiang to find Jiang Longyin.
However, although the straight-line distance from the government compound to Jiang Longyin’s office was less than a hundred meters, it took Li Yi and his group over ten minutes to get there, as they were stopped and searched several times along the way!
After a great deal of effort, Li Yi and Zhang Ziqiang finally reached the door of Jiang Longyin’s office.
“Knock knock knock!!!”
“Come in!”
Upon pushing the door open, Li Yi saw Jiang Longyin sitting alone at his desk, seemingly going through some documents.
Upon seeing him, Jiang Longyin immediately stood up and said with a smile, “You’re here! I thought you’d be able to make it by ten o’clock!”
Li Yi immediately complained, “I thought I’d be here in an hour or two too, but the traffic on the way here was absolutely terrible. Hasn’t the municipal government done anything about it?”
“Of course we have. I even went to the provincial capital a few days ago to see the leaders about this, but the province doesn’t have the funds either. Instead, they told me to just tough it out for now!” Jiang Longyin said with a wry smile.
“This is no easy problem to solve,” Li Yi said. “Pengcheng is currently in the early stages of construction and development, and we need to transport large quantities of supplies from inland regions. We simply can’t do without a high-quality expressway!”
“That’s right. Our municipal government is well aware of this issue and has held meetings to discuss it more than once. But the investment required to build a highway is simply too massive—neither the provincial nor the municipal government has that kind of money!” Jiang Longyin said with a touch of resignation.
Li Yi paused to think for a moment, then asked, “If the provincial and municipal governments don’t have the funds, have you considered bringing in foreign investment?”
“Foreign investment… but this is road construction. Would anyone be willing to use their own money to help us build roads?” Jiang Longyin asked, looking astonished.
“If we ask someone to spend a fortune building a road for us for free, of course no one would be willing. But if we treat this as a business opportunity, there will definitely be people interested!” Li Yi said firmly.
“Can road construction really be treated as a business?”
“Yes. The standard practice is for a company to provide the funds to the government to build the road, and in return, the government grants the company the right to collect tolls and manage the highway.”
Li Yi then explained in detail to Jiang Longyin the highway investment model he was familiar with.
After listening to Li Yi, Jiang Longyin said with a look of surprise, “So highways really can be treated as a business. But building a highway requires a lot of capital. How many years should we grant them management rights for?”
“Fifteen years to start, then twenty or thirty—the specifics would require negotiation between both parties, but it generally wouldn’t exceed thirty years!” Li Yi replied.
Jiang Longyin frowned and said, “The Transportation Bureau has made a preliminary estimate of the construction costs for the expressway from Pengcheng to Yangcheng—at least 5 billion yuan. Even if we grant them a 30-year management contract, the other party would need to collect at least one or two hundred million yuan in tolls annually just to break even. But can a single road really generate that much revenue?”
Li Yi smiled and said, “Second Brother, you have no idea how profitable road construction and toll collection can be. Let me put it this way: if the municipal government is willing, I can introduce you to a whole host of investors at any time!”
Li Yi was well aware of the profit margins in the toll road business—after all, it was essentially a modern-day version of “highway robbery.”
In ancient times, bandits would typically shout, “This mountain I carved, this tree I planted; if you wish to pass, leave your toll money behind.” But nowadays, there’s only one phrase: “Toll booth 500 meters ahead!”
Jiang Longyin, however, had no idea about any of this. He looked at Li Yi with delight and asked, “Brother-in-law, is that really true?”
“It’s true. If no one else is interested, I’ll pay for it myself!”
At this point, Li Yi changed the subject and added, “But Second Brother, if you want foreign investors to come to Pengcheng, you’ve got to put aside that high-and-mighty attitude your city government has. Otherwise, you won’t be able to keep them here!”
Hearing his brother-in-law’s baffling remarks, Jiang Longyin was completely dumbfounded…
……….