One Hundred and Fifty-Three: Robbing a Bank?

I think we should set up our company in Shenyang. It is not far from either Beijing or Harbin, and the transportation is quite convenient, right? As for the name, how about the United Expressway Construction Company? Zhang Zhandong asked.

I have no objection to locating the company in Shenyang, but I don't think the name United Expressway Construction Company sounds good. It sounds a bit like a Japanese company; the Japanese always talk about things like the Combined Fleet! It's terrible! Li Aihong said.

I don't think it's good either. What do you think of the name Vanguard Expressway Construction Company? Liu Shenkui asked.

No! I don't like it! It was Li Aihong again.

I came up with a name called Fraternity Expressway Construction Company. What do you guys think? Wei Hua asked.

Hmm! I think it's great! Fraternity! It means brothers! The few of us grew up playing together and we are true brothers. Little Hua is also an upright person who clicks well with us and deserves to be our brother, so I think this name is well chosen! Zhao Hongjun said.

I think it's great too! Liu Shenkui said.

I agree with this name! Zhang Zhandong said. Seeing that everyone else had already agreed, Li Aihong puffed out her cheeks and said,

I agree too! After that, she said nothing more. With the company's name decided and no objections to having the office in Shenyang, they moved on to discuss the required capital and construction equipment. Once the discussion about the expressway construction company concluded, they began talking about the sand and gravel yards each of them wanted to establish. This matter had to be done quickly; the news of the approved expressway construction plan had not yet leaked out, and it would be a bit too late if they waited until the news spread. Wei Hua also promised to lend them the funds needed for this part. Seeing them discuss it so seriously, Wei Hua knew they must have been deeply exasperated by other princelings engaging in shady side businesses, making a fuss over such small money. But that couldn't really be blamed on Wei Hua, especially since his money came so easily. In 1984, a business making tens of millions a year was already massive, while the combined net worth of the others barely reached two million, including the four hundred thousand US dollars invested in Britain.

On the third day, Senior Attorney Liu Zhenwei hurried from Hong Kong to Dalian and drafted a detailed cooperation agreement, which they each signed. The shareholders' meeting of the expressway construction company was officially established. Afterward, Zhao Hongjun, Li Aihong, Zhang Zhandong, and Liu Shenkui left Dalian for Shenyang to handle the various procedures for the Fraternity Expressway Construction Company. In less than a week, the company's paperwork was completed, and the four of them began wandering around various prefectures and counties in Jilin, Liaoning, and 黑龙江 (Heilongjiang) provinces. These were the areas through which the expressway would pass, and following the principle of proximity, their sand and gravel yards were also set up in these places. To find good sand and gravel sites, they even used their connections to bring in personnel and data from the Bureau of Geology to help determine the locations.

In mid-October 1984, right after Wei Hua returned to Dalian from Beijing, the second-generation leadership explicitly proposed opposing bourgeois liberalization and strengthening socialist spiritual civilization construction. By late November, the expressway construction plan proposed by Wei Hua was approved by the Ministry of Communications. In accordance with the Ministry's requirements, Wei Hua's expressway investment company was officially established. This company was merely a shell corporation, and all its capital was allocated by Wei Hua's Apex Private Investment Company in the United States. The original Shenyang-Dalian Expressway was now extended to become the Heilongjiang-Dalian Expressway. The Shenyang-to-Dalian section of the expressway was still funded by the state, while the Shenyang-to-Heihe section became Wei Hua's personal investment.

In mid-November, Zhao Hongjun and the other three returned to Dalian from Shenyang. Wei Hua handed the matters of the Fraternity Company over to them, asking them to refine the company's corporate structure, while he himself took Ding Peng and flew back to Hong Kong. Wei Hua's purpose in returning to Hong Kong was to raise the capital needed for the GPS satellite positioning system. Currently, all of Wei Hua's assets were completely out in the open, and he didn't have a single penny hidden away secretly, which posed a dilemma for him. The funds required for a GPS satellite positioning system were no small amount, and transferring such a massive sum of money without attracting the attention of the CIA would be a miracle. Therefore, Wei Hua made up his mind not to use the funds from his current companies and needed to think of an alternative way to raise capital.

To raise a large amount of capital in a short time, there were only two methods: first, drug trafficking and arms dealing; and second, robbing a bank. Wei Hua had even considered going to Indonesia to rob the National Bank of Indonesia. After pondering this tempting idea for a long time, he finally abandoned it because the fallout from robbing the Indonesian National Bank would be too immense, and laundering the stolen money would be too troublesome. Drug trafficking or arms dealing was a better option; at least no one would notice in the short term, and Wei Hua had the treasure that was the space ring, which made smuggling an absolute breeze. Another purpose of Wei Hua's return to Hong Kong was to find management personnel for the expressway construction company, though this problem could be left to Kathleen to handle.

Ono Kura, the head of the Hong Kong branch of the Japanese Yamaguchi-gumi, had been living quite comfortably over the past two years. Ever since meeting Wei Hua in Monaco that year, Ono Kura had followed Wei Hua's advice and started smuggling luxury car parts from Europe, then assembling and selling them in Hong Kong. As a result, the success rate of her operations had increased dramatically, bringing in considerable returns and greatly elevating her status within the Yamaguchi-gumi. Although she faced suppression from her older brother, Yamamoto Asano, she had gained significantly more supporters within the syndicate than before. Furthermore, her cooperation with the Italian Mafia provided her with substantial backing. Now, even her brother Yamamoto Asano was quite wary of her and no longer dared to suppress her blatantly.