Fortunately, there is a thick layer of loess in this area, so it is not difficult to dig. Of course, there are many problems that need to be solved. Xu Dalong decided to first talk about it after conducting on-site inspections.
That night Xu Dalong and others quietly came to the abandoned battlefield. A large pit had been dug on the battlefield, and standing in the pit could block the Japanese army's view of the airport. Since the sand field has been abandoned for a long time, a lot of reeds have grown in the big pit, which can provide a certain shielding effect. It seems to be a good place to dig tunnels.
Of course, there are still many difficulties in digging such a long tunnel.
After returning to the contact station, Wang Yaohui said: "How to deal with digging such a long tunnel and digging out so much soil? How to solve the ventilation problem?"
Wang Yaohui is a special agent expert with rich knowledge and the questions he asks are all very professional.
Xu Dalong said: "I have carefully observed that we can only carry out construction at night. The excavated soil is poured into the river and let the river water wash away the soil. Even if the river water becomes turbid at night, people downstream cannot see it. "
Wang Yaohui nodded and said: "This is a solution. So how to solve the ventilation problem?"
This problem is the most difficult to solve. If the ventilation problem is not solved in the tunnel, the people inside will soon lack oxygen, and it will be impossible to dig such a long tunnel.
This requires that vents must be left on the ground at intervals. The vents are exposed on the ground and are difficult to avoid being discovered by the Japanese army.
Xu Dalong asked Lin Xueying to get a pen and paper and draw a simple device on a piece of paper. Everyone saw that this device was actually an iron pipe with an umbrella-shaped cover on the top. If it extended a short distance from the bottom to the ground, it would be difficult to find it hidden in the grass.
Wang Yaohui said: "How much role can such a small vent play in such a long tunnel?"
Xu Dalong said: "If you rely on this small vent alone, it is indeed impossible to solve the air circulation problem. You can install a blower between two underground vents, with several blowers facing the same direction, and a The crank handle can be driven by human power, which can solve the problem of air circulation."
Wang Yaohui nodded and said, "I think this method will work."
Lin Xueying didn't know much about this aspect. While listening to their conversation, she kept having a question in her mind.
She asked: "With such a long distance, digging underground and being invisible, how can we ensure that we dig exactly where we want to reach?"
Monk Wei actually had such a question. When Lin Xueying asked, he looked at Xu Dalong and Wang Yaohui with some curiosity.
Wang Yaohui said: "This is not a problem. The engineers have special ranging and direction finding instruments. Even if they are underground, they will not dig wrong."
Then, he explained to Lin Xueying and Monk Wei the names and methods of use of the professional direction finding and ranging instruments for engineers.
Wang Yaohui said: "I'm afraid we guys can't do things like digging tunnels. It would be best to transfer some people from the engineering corps and let them do it."
Xu Dalong said: "What Team Leader Wang said makes sense. Then send another telegram to the Zhongtiao Mountain Command and ask them to send a group of engineers and people who transport explosives."
The matter is settled. Xu Dalong and others waited for someone from the Zhongtiao Mountain Command to arrive.
Since it would be some time before the supplies and personnel arrived, Xu Dalong had nothing to do, so he wandered around Taiyuan City accompanied by Lin Xueying.
That afternoon, Xu Dalong and Lin Xueying returned to the trading company, and Zhou Mingde came to Xu Dalong with a sad look on his face.
He said: "Captain, there is a problem with a batch of goods here. I'm afraid it will cause a lot of losses. I'm really sorry. This is my dereliction of duty."
Xu Dalong said: "Don't worry, what happened? Speak slowly."
Zhou Mingde told what happened. It turned out that Zhou Mingde's trading company mainly dealt in grain. As the company's operations got on track, Zhou Mingde was free to deal with other goods.
This year he purchased a batch of tea from the south. There was originally a distributor. Unexpectedly, something happened to that company. The shopkeeper was arrested by the Japanese and soon died in prison. This business was naturally done. It doesn’t work.
Since Zhou Mingde has not been in the tea business for a long time and is not familiar with other dealers, such a large amount of goods is packed here, taking up a lot of funds.
What he bought was green tea, which is seasonal and cannot be sold in time. If it accumulates, it will become old tea, and its value will be greatly reduced.
Zhou Mingde couldn't think of any solution for the moment, so he had to report to Xu Dalong. He said that he was willing to take responsibility for the losses caused.
As the captain of the intelligence squadron, Zheng Xirong is also responsible for what happened to Zhou Mingde. He believed that Zhou Mingde had always done an excellent job and that the accident was not his personal responsibility. He expressed to Xu Dalong that he was willing to bear the responsibility together with Zhou Mingde.
Xu Dalong still appreciated their attitude of taking the initiative to take responsibility.
He said: "Don't be anxious. Bring those tea leaves to me."
The tea came quickly and was packaged in kraft paper. There were three varieties of tea.
Xu Dalong checked each one and said: "They are all good tea leaves!"
Zhou Mingde said with shame: "The tea is good tea, but if you can't find a market, it will become old tea after being stored for a long time."
Xu Dalong asked: "What will happen if we sell it ourselves?"
Zhou Mingde shook his head and said: "I'm afraid this is difficult. There are no dealers. If we go to those retailers one by one, they will keep the price very low. This transaction will lose money anyway."
After Xu Dalong thought for a while, he said: "We don't want dealers, we will sell it ourselves."
Zhou Mingde thought that Xu Dalong didn't know how to do business. He said cautiously: "Captain, I'm afraid this won't work. We are not engaged in retailing. No one knows that we sell tea here. If we sell tea at one pound per pound, the workload will be too much." If it’s too big, I’m afraid it’ll be hard to get. Besides, it’s impossible to sell it at this price.”
Xu Dalong smiled and said: "There must be a road for a car to reach the mountain, and it will be straight for a boat to reach the bridge. As long as you are willing to use your brain, there will be a way. We sell the tea ourselves, and we guarantee that it will be sold out soon. Not only that, the price will be higher than The price of tea on the market is several times higher.”
Zhou Mingde thought Xu Dalong was talking nonsense because it was simply impossible.
Although Zheng Xirong, Wei Monk and Lin Xueying had not consulted, they also felt that Xu Dalong's words might be a bit unreliable this time. However, no one dared to question Xu Dalong, so they stared at each other and no one said a word.
Xu Dalong saw everyone's expressions and knew what they were thinking.
He smiled and said: "Didn't I just say it? There are always more solutions than difficulties. According to the previous sales methods, of course this is not possible. We can do this..."
As Xu Dalong explained, everyone felt their eyes light up and couldn't help but nod their heads frequently.
After Xu Dalong finished speaking, Zhou Mingde said excitedly: "Captain, you are so smart. It's amazing that you can think of such a method. I'm sure this method will work, and with this sales, our The sales of tea will surely become famous in Taiyuan City and even the whole of Shanxi. It will be much more convenient for us to operate tea in the future."
Zhou Mingde is a very neat person, and he immediately followed Xu Dalong's instructions to organize things.
Soon after, several newspapers in Taiyuan published large advertisements.
The advertising slogan is as follows: "Dear users, our company has accepted orders from major customers in Europe and the United States and other countries. Among the tea leaves picked from the three most famous green tea producing areas, we select the best and adopt Japan's advanced tea-making technology. Germany's advanced packaging technology has produced a batch of high-quality tea, exclusively for drinking by successful people in Europe and the United States. In order to give back to our customers, we have specially left a small amount of tea for export to domestic sales to thank our customers for their support of our company."
The advertisement is also accompanied by a picture, which shows an exquisite tea packaging box with German, Japanese and English characters printed on it.
Underneath the picture is written: "Exclusive product for successful Westerners, a status symbol, and a great gift."
The advertisement also said: "In order to grandly launch this product, a new product launch conference will be held at Guangyuan Building at 9 a.m. on Wednesday. New and old customers and media friends are welcome to attend. There will be exquisite gifts given away. Welcome to patronize! "
In this era, businesses have begun to become aware of advertising, but the means of publicity are relatively expensive and limited. The form of product launch is still relatively unfamiliar to people, so it feels fresh. In addition, I heard that gifts would be given out on site, so many people came to the company to ask for invitations.
On this day, a new product launch conference was held as scheduled in Guangyuan Building, and many guests came.
Zhou Mingde's uncle is the deputy director of Taiyuan Power Supply Bureau. Through him, he invited a group of officials and some business people who received the invitation. The major newspapers and magazines in Taiyuan all sent reporters. Zhou Mingde not only placed large-scale advertisements in these newspapers, allowing them to earn enough advertising fees, but also gave these reporters gifts and money. Naturally, they came to support him vigorously.
The people who came the most were citizens. They had already gone to the trading company to ask for invitations. As a result, there were too many people and had to be controlled. Even so, there was still a huge flow of people.
After everyone arrived at the venue, the first thing that caught people's eyes was the reception girls. Two very beautiful and stylish girls wearing red cheongsam, polite and smiling.
This kind of formation is not uncommon in Taiyuan City, but this time it was different. The two greeters turned out to be tall foreign girls. Although they did not speak Chinese fluently, they greatly improved the quality of the new product launch conference.
After the guests were seated, several beautiful foreign girls appeared on the rostrum. They twisted their graceful bodies to the beat of the music, danced, and held the top-grade tea packaging boxes launched by the trading company in their hands.
They showed off on the stage and then stood on either side.
The reporters stepped forward to take pictures one after another. The spotlights were flashing and white smoke was rising.
Then Zhou Mingde came forward. Today he was wearing a well-tailored suit. He looked elegant and handsome. His hair was trimmed neatly and neatly, which made people look very comfortable. Especially the female guests saw that Zhou Mingde was handsome and elegant. They were chatting with each other in appreciation, and the hall was filled with buzzing sounds.
Zhou Mingde stood in front of the standing microphone and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, our company has worked closely with Germany to launch three tea gift bags, using West Lake Longjing, Biluochun and Xinyang Maojian respectively. Select the best from the best. , developed a top-quality tea gift bag using Japanese tea-making technology and German packaging technology. Owning this gift bag is a symbol of status, whether it is for personal use or as a gift, it shows your noble status.
This product is divided into three grades: upper, middle and lower, with prices of twelve oceans, twenty-eight oceans and fifty-eight oceans respectively. "
"Wow, it's so expensive!"
The price announced by Zhou Mingde, even the most common grade, is several times more expensive than the tea on the market.
People are curious, and the high price did not scare people away. Instead, it aroused people's strong interest. Everyone talked about it and looked forward to it.
When setting the price, Zhou Mingde proposed that the price be twice, three times and five times higher than the market price.
Xu Dalong started ten times as soon as he opened his mouth. Zhou Mingde was very worried that it would not be accepted by the market. When he announced the price, he couldn't help but feel very nervous.
Seeing everyone's reaction, Zhou Mingde felt relieved.
He said: "Now I have good news to announce. All the distinguished guests attending the new product launch conference can receive a gift bag worth twelve oceans. Now I ask the etiquette lady to give it to everyone."
Many of the people who came to attend the press conference came because they heard that there were gifts being given away. When they heard that they could get a gift worth twelve oceans, they burst into warm applause.
Some staff followed the hostess with trolleys and presented gifts to the guests.
The recipients of the gifts liked the exquisite packaging boxes very much and were even more curious about mid-range and high-end teas.
After the gifts were given, Zhou Mingde said: "I also want to announce good news to everyone. We will randomly select 50 places at the scene and give away 50 mid-range gifts worth NT$28. Please pay attention to the last digit of the invitation number and read the number. People can receive it.”
The staff brought a table with a transparent glass jar on it. There were many ping pong balls with numbers written on them. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the staff shook the glass jar, and everyone could see the numbered balls inside flying up and down, looking very messy, which eliminated the suspicion of cheating.
Next, Zhou Mingde invited his uncle, the deputy director of the Power Supply Bureau, to be the lottery guest.
He came to the table, turned his head to one side, put his hand into the glass jar, and took out two table tennis balls.
He raised two ping-pong balls for the watching reporters to watch, and then announced: "The numbers on these two ping-pong balls are 5 and 8. All VIPs whose numbers on the invitations end with 5 and 8 are welcome. Received a mid-range gift package worth twenty-eight oceans."
The guests checked the numbers on the invitation cards in their hands, and the winners screamed in surprise.
After giving away the winning tea gift bags, Zhou Mingde announced a new round of lottery amid everyone's expectations.
He announced that four lucky guests will receive a top-notch gift package worth NT$58.
The guest invited for the lottery this time was Vice President Gao of the Taiyuan City Maintenance Association. He drew a number ball and announced that all guests with invitation numbers ending in 55, 66, 88, and 99 would receive a gift worth 58 oceans. top gift package.
You must know that the purchasing power of Dayang is amazing in this era. An ordinary civil servant in Taiyuan City only has a monthly salary of several Dayang. The value of this gift package is equivalent to one to two years of their salary. It is not a gift. not heavy.
Those who were lucky enough to receive big gift packages cheered with excitement.
The new product launch conference was a success. All major newspapers and periodicals in Taiyuan City competed to report on it, which aroused heated discussion among the people in Taiyuan City.
For a while, people were proud to have such a top gift package. Many people buy such gift packages specifically for gift giving.
The value of the gift is recognized, so it is very popular with the recipients, and it has become a standard gift for a while.
Soon the gift packages also flowed to other cities in Shanxi. Businessmen from other places flocked to the store, and the trading company's supply of gift packages exceeded demand.
In the small conference room of the trading company, Zhou Mingde held an iron box containing tea and said with emotion: "Tea is still the original tea. After packaging and publicity, it has become so popular. It is incredible. "
Zhou Mingde’s uncle, Ma Zhixin, is now the accountant of a trading company. He said: “If you divide the cost of packaging, advertising, and new product launches, each gift package is only worth three or four oceans. To be able to sell it at such a high price is a huge profit. I really don’t understand why tea leaves worth an ocean of two kilograms couldn’t be sold before, but now the leaves can be sold at such a high price.”
Xu Dalong smiled and said: "You don't understand this. The tea is still the same tea, and it tastes the same. But what people buy is not actually the tea, but the quality represented by the gift package. What they buy is not the tea, but face. .”
Although Xu Dalong is not good at business, he is a later generation after all. In his time, a woman's bag easily cost tens or hundreds of thousands. The materials were the same and the production process was not special. It was just that there were famous brands on it. What he wants is quality and the status symbol represented by the gift.
Zhou Mingde said: "The captain really sees through people's hearts. As the saying goes, skill lies beyond poetry. It seems that business cannot just focus on the product itself, the pattern must be further expanded."
Ma Zhixin said: "We have made a fortune this time. Now the supply of products exceeds demand, so we should speed up production."
Xu Dalong shook his head and said: "No, not only don't increase production, but we must restrict it. We will have a five-day supply shortage starting tomorrow."
Ma Zhixin obviously hadn't understood what Xu Dalong meant. He said, "How can this be done? There are many people. We have already collected deposits from them. If we don't give it to them, we will have to pay compensation."
But Zhou Mingde understood. He clapped his hands and said, "What a great idea. Just pay them the money. Not only should you pay the merchants, but you should also publicly apologize to the customers in the newspaper."
Monk Wei and Zheng Xirong still don't understand.
Lin Xueying smiled and said: "This is really a good idea! In this way, it adds to the atmosphere that supply exceeds demand, and there is no need to worry about tea being unable to be sold for a long time."
Xu Dalong extended his thumb towards Lin Xueying and said with a smile: "Xueying is smart and has the potential to be a female profiteer."
Lin Xueying snorted and said, "You are the profiteer." After saying this, she laughed charmingly.
Everyone also laughed.
After the joke, Lin Xueying said: "Now that the trading company is famous, it will inevitably be targeted by various forces. We still need to make some precautionary preparations."
Zhou Mingde nodded and said: "People are afraid of being famous and pigs are afraid of being strong. Now that the trading company is making money, some people will be jealous. Captain, I want to use part of the funds to manage the upper-class people in Taiyuan City through my uncle. Do you think it is okay? ?”
Xu Dalong said: "That's how it should be. You must establish a firm foothold in Taiyuan City, follow the upper-class people in the city, and obtain their protection. If there is a chance, you can also obtain valuable information from them. How to do it specifically? You are in control of the operation yourself, there is no need to ask for instructions on everything.”
Soon after, the engineering troops sent by the Zhongtiao Mountain Command arrived. They were led by Li Zhendong, the deputy commander of the 137th Division, an old friend. He not only brought some engineers, but also a team of 20 people. of capable commandos.
Xu Dalong and the others went out of the city to meet with Li Zhendong and others, discussed some details of digging the tunnel, and started the operation that night.
Underneath Taiyuan Airport is a thick loess layer, which is very suitable for digging tunnels, and the progress is very smooth. But the tunnel was too long after all, and it took a whole month to dig underneath the airport.
At this time, the Japanese army's airport had begun to be used, and they launched two bombings on Zhongtiao Mountain, causing considerable casualties to the Guo army.
General Fu sent a telegram asking Xu Dalong, Li Zhendong and others to speed up and destroy the Japanese airport as soon as possible.
Li Zhendong personally went into the tunnel and urged the engineers to speed up the construction. Finally, after five days, the tunnel was dug to the designated location.
The subsequent transportation and installation of explosives went smoothly, and they were soon ready for detonation.
In order to facilitate the safe evacuation of the personnel responsible for the detonation, Xu Dalong and Li Zhendong decided to officially detonate at two o'clock tomorrow morning. The person responsible for the detonation was the commander of the engineer company of the 137th Division of the Guo Army. He stayed in the tunnel with two soldiers to check the detonation for the last time. device and wait until night to evacuate the tunnel.
Unexpectedly, the accident happened.
At two o'clock that afternoon, a group of Japanese soldiers came to the river. They took off their clothes and took a bath in the river.
On the hillside in the distance, the sentry responsible for surveillance reported to Xu Dalong and Li Zhendong. The two of them hurried to the hillside and used binoculars to observe the situation by the river.
