Chapter 597

Chapter 597: Moving With the Times

In the Xia calendar year 5,880, the Allied Naval Forces were defeated.

After that, the war mainly took place on land, with both sides fighting in the former Zhong State area for many years. They used new weapons like planes, tanks, and poison gas, causing horrific casualties. The total number of deaths and injuries from both sides exceeded one billion, not counting civilians affected by the war.

By the Xia calendar year 5,885, the Allied Forces could no longer continue fighting. They had almost used up a whole generation of youth and exhausted war resources, so they started peace talks.

The Three Countries Alliance also suffered heavy losses in the war, with many young people dying and getting injured. Their economy was in a mess, and there were waves of anti-war sentiments. That’s why they agreed to peace talks.

After months of negotiations, both sides signed a treaty that was very unfavorable to the Allied Powers. The treaty imposed various restrictions, such as forcing some Allied countries to dissolve their parliaments, limiting their military development, and making them pay war reparations.

With the signing of the treaty, the Allies were happy and thought they had won, believing that there would be no more wars in the world.

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At Bianhai University, Lin Jiang poured tea for several professors and listened to them talk about their current research.

The professors tried their best to persuade Lin Jiang to fund their research. Lin Jiang was one of the few willing investors left.

After years of war, the country was already very poor and had little funds for research. Especially when the professors were working on cutting-edge academic theories, it was extremely difficult to monetize their research.

Lin Jiang smiled as he listened to their research, though he knew they had exaggerated a lot. In his eyes, their proposal was still a failed plan that couldn’t impress a savvy investor.

Of course, Lin Jiang didn’t send them away empty-handed. He agreed to provide them with some funding, but it wouldn’t be as much as they had requested.

They looked very disappointed on the surface, but as soon as they stepped out the door, they all burst into laughter because they were just playing a numbers game, and now they had achieved their goal.

After Lin Jiang waited for them to leave, he visited other professors at Bianhai University, especially those in the science and engineering departments. Lin Jiang was very polite to them.

Bianhai University is the second best university in the Huaxia Federation after Jingdu University. It is a prestigious institution known for its strong teaching staff. Lin Jiang hired professors from Bianhai University with high salaries to solve some technical problems at his food factory. As a result, they all became familiar with each other.

Now that the war has ended, it should be a time for various industries to flourish. However, the economy is still very depressed because the destruction caused by the war was immense. Even the colonies were reduced to ruins, which led to a lack of purchasing power. Until the government introduces new economic policies, people are having a tough time.

Of course, this doesn’t apply to the wealthy individuals. In this era, the wealth gap is widening rapidly. The rich can continue to live luxuriously. Just take a look at Lin Jiang’s increasingly popular film factory. Currently, several camera factories cannot sell all their products each year.

However, it’s tough for some college students. Graduating means facing unemployment. It’s really sad. The teachers at the school couldn’t bear to see this and started helping the students find ways out, even connecting them with their acquaintances who are business owners.

Most of Lin Jiang’s requests from these professors and teachers were granted. Even if their expertise wasn’t immediately useful to him, Lin Jiang accepted them all.

"Mr. Lin, my students specialize in mechanical processing, which doesn’t align with your current business. Why are you willing to offer them high-paying positions?"

"I respect knowledge, I respect talent."

"Mr. Lin, we are very close, please don’t deceive us, we want to hear the truth."

Several professors looked at each other, thinking that Lin Jiang was deceiving them. The council’s big bosses talk about respecting knowledge and talent, but they never increase funding every year, instead they keep causing trouble for them.

"Professors, I’m not just saying this to please you. I truly feel this way. Don’t you understand my principles after helping you several times? Science and technology are the primary productive forces. The council’s bosses should be engineers, not those shameless politicians…"

Lin Jiang immediately started talking confidently. In just a few words, he touched their hearts. Most people in the science and engineering field have a common problem, they believe that technology can save the world and change it.

So their thinking is very straightforward. Lin Jiang’s words resonated with them, even their expressions changed when looking at Lin Jiang. Their eyes lit up with admiration.

In the year 5,886 in the Xia calendar, Lin Jiang established the first commercial laboratory in Huaxia. He hired hundreds of engineers, technical experts, and others from various universities, provided them with research funding, and allowed them to start research projects.

That same year, Lin Jiang’s commercial territory expanded again. He started entering heavy industry, secured mining rights for two iron ore mines, and began building an iron smelting plant.

Naturally, such heavy assets couldn’t be acquired by Lin Jiang alone. The network of contacts that Lin Jiang had built over the past few years played a significant role. Despite having over a dozen shareholders, Lin Jiang still retained control.

Two years later, the iron smelting plant under Lin Jiang’s name became the most advanced in the world. The large group of engineers working under Lin Jiang made outstanding contributions. Just by selling iron smelting equipment, Lin Jiang made a crazy profit.

In the same year, Lin Jiang started a big patent law movement in the Huaxia Federation. He asked the federal courts to fix the many problems in the patent laws. This idea was supported by a lot of people in the business and academic worlds. Eventually, the federal courts agreed, promising to introduce new patent laws within a year.

A year later, the new patent laws were introduced. Less than six months later, Lin Jiang quickly applied for thousands of patents, all from the engineers’ great work. Of course, their team also grew bigger.

Afterwards, Lin Jiang set an example for other companies, showing them what the legal department is for. In the future, they would have specialized lawyers to help them seek compensation in court.

After twelve years, Lin Jiang went from being a nobody to becoming one of the top hundred richest people in Haigang City, worth millions. He became a legend.

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"Lin Yang’s disguise is almost over, now it’s time to start my real business empire."

Lin Jiang looked at a magazine with an interview about him under the pen name Lin Yang, which he used before.

The background story of Lin Yang was a young man from a small town that was attacked by bandits and he was the only survivor. Other than that, his background was ordinary, so his achievements had reached the limit for an average person. Going further might not be so easy and could lead to exposure.

That’s why Lin Jiang decided to stop the growth of Lin Yang and move on to a new business plan. This time, Lin Jiang wasn’t planning to show himself, as he already had many people working for him.

The first group of orphans that were taken in, now the youngest of them are fifteen or sixteen years old. Over the past decade, after careful nurturing, most of them have now grown up.

Lin Jiang had secretly set up many shops before and put these orphans under the names of the shop owners, officially as their descendants.

Now Lin Jiang is arranging for them to inherit the family business, and with the savings from the previous shops over the past decade, it is quite normal for them to use some money to expand the business or venture into other industries. It can be said that even if the most skilled detectives of this era were to investigate, it would be difficult to find out anything.

In the following two years, these merchants who had only one or two shops as capital were doing well in business, as if good luck was on their side. Their wealth quickly grew, gaining some reputation in Haigang City.

"One million clean money, three million dirty money. I’ll give you six months to clean it up, and after that, you invest in a tractor factory…"

In the Year 5894 of the Xia Calendar, Lin Jiang spoke to the young people before him. They were all orphans adopted by Lin Jiang, with one person appointed by Lin Jiang as the CEO of a company, while the others were top executives in his company, which was actually a way for Lin Jiang to maintain balance among them.

As for the four million funds, one million belonged to Lin Yang as a pseudonym, and the remaining three million he obtained from controlling those gangs. Lin Jiang didn’t want to waste it, so he wanted them all to clean up and move to new companies.

They looked at each other and agreed, suggesting a few feasible plans. Lin Jiang was very pleased with this and let them leave.

Shortly after they left, another group of people came in, and Lin Jiang gave them millions of funds. This time, he asked them to invest in a fertilizer factory.

Groups of people came in and out. They didn’t know each other because Lin Jiang had separated them a long time ago. After more than ten years, even if they recognized each other, Lin Jiang wasn’t afraid. He believed that his generation was loyal to him enough. As for their descendants, Lin Jiang had ways to control them.

The factories that Lin Jiang had them invest in could be converted into war resources during wartime. For example, a tractor factory could produce tanks, and a fertilizer factory could become an explosives factory.

Lin Jiang did this because he knew that another world war would erupt. The countries of the Allied Powers had signed such unequal treaties with the Axis Powers, creating internal discontent. When a painter called for action, something might happen.

Even without these factors, wars were inevitable. Colonies would also have nationalist movements, rejecting exploitation forever.

In short, Lin Jiang needed a war to easily get rid of the Lin Yang disguise. This would allow the controlled companies to rapidly develop and enable them to become a hidden financial conglomerate.