Ruling the New Territories

Time passed slowly amidst development, and in the blink of an eye, more than two months had gone by.

During this period, Wang Yan sought out many masters of traditional martial arts to learn various schools of combat. Many martial artists had come to Hong Kong Island during the war years, all possessing authentic lineages.

Wang Yan paid high prices to invite them to teach him; whether they dared to cheat him or were even capable of it was another question. Wang Yan was a Level 3 fighter, so his discernment was beyond reproach. Baji, Wing Chun, Southern Fist, and Northern Leg—he had learned some genuine skills. These old men still held onto their principles; one couldn't say if they were right or wrong, but they truly had their rules carved into their bones. Since Wang Yan wasn't their son or grandson, he couldn't learn the most guarded, secret techniques.

The rest of the time, Wang Yan spent reading books on traditional Chinese studies to improve his state of mind and resolve his own personal issues.

One day, while Wang Yan was practicing martial arts in a gym he had opened, the person in charge of Dragon Ascending Technology ran in, looking flustered.

The moment he saw him, Wang Yan knew what was up.

Sure enough, the man reported the results with great joy: the VCD had finally been developed.

Wang Yan didn't waste any words; he simply waved his hand and authorized the payouts.

After giving the R&D staff a large sum of money, Wang Yan issued new improvement tasks and proposed the direction for DVD development.

Afterward, he flew directly to Shenzhen with the technical staff to have them calibrate the production lines.

Wang Yan had opened many factories; not just in Shenzhen, but in many other cities as well, he had established plants to produce VCDs, and the monthly output was terrifying. Wang Yan did not intend to give others a chance to enter the market; only monopoly brought real profit.

Wang Yan took some samples and sent them to his "good brothers" around the world, intending to bring them along to get rich. Relying on himself alone, it would take him forever to sell to the entire world.

The factories in the country began working overtime to produce stock, and advertisements were also being filmed and promoted in a flurry of activity.

When the "good brothers" saw the finished product, they were all incredibly excited. None of them were fools; they knew this was an epoch-making product. This thing was much easier to deal with than the goods they had been struggling to sell, and the returns were no less than what they were used to.

After some negotiation, the wholesale price was set at two thousand USD, while the ex-factory cost was less than five hundred RMB. This was the benefit of a monopoly. Anyone wanting to make a pirated version would likely struggle for at least half a year. And in half a year, Wang Yan estimated he would have already sold to the rest of the world.

The big brothers also exerted their influence, advertising worldwide; it was already famous globally before it even hit the shelves.

For the domestic market, Wang Yan established a separate Import and Export Company, settling in USD at one thousand per unit. This was also to help the country earn more foreign exchange; besides, having that many USD didn't do him much good anyway.

Wang Yan sold the products himself domestically. Although there were many rich people in this era, the poor were still the majority. One had to realize that the average income in the country at this time was only two or three hundred, and with Wang Yan pricing it at ten thousand RMB, it was impossible to sell too many.

A month passed, and the first batch of over a million VCDs was swept away by the big brothers. And just as imagined, once these VCDs hit the market, they were sold out in less than a day. Wang Yan made a net profit of billions of USD in one go.

Holding such a large amount of capital, Wang Yan certainly couldn't let the money just sit in the bank.

Wang Yan bought several plots of land in the New Territories and hired domestic construction teams to build residential complexes, along with supporting commercial facilities, schools, and the like. All the materials were shipped from the mainland.

He planned to sell these apartments to his subordinates at 70% of the market price. Most of the Guhuozi came from low-income families, with many people squeezed into tiny rooms. Now that the subordinates' entire families were with Dragon Ascending, it was only right for Wang Yan to take care of them, which would also increase the overall cohesion of Dragon Ascending and make the subordinates willing to die for him.

When the news spread that Dragon Ascending was buying land and building houses to sell to subordinates at a 30% discount, the subordinates were stirred into a frenzy, shouting that they wanted to take on Tung Sing. Wang Yan was happy to see this. He had vast amounts of money with nowhere to spend it, and with money came people; he simply opened up recruitment, constantly expanding bit by bit and encroaching on the surrounding forces.

By playing it steady, every time they occupied a piece of territory, they would implement the rules of Dragon Ascending, just like they did in Tuen Mun. Wang Yan didn't need to worry about these things; Li Yun could arrange them perfectly.

In addition, he had Dragon Ascending Technology set up a mobile phone R&D group, poaching people directly from Motorola and Nokia. Wang Yan truly had more money than he knew what to do with; things he couldn't pull off in the Medicine God world, he was now throwing everything he had at.

Various technology factories were established one after another in the country, and all kinds of cutting-edge machinery were moved into the country with the help of his "good brothers."

Moreover, Wang Yan also established a Charity Company in the country, staffed entirely by his own people. To avoid embezzlement—Wang Yan wasn't afraid of embezzlement, but he was afraid of trouble.

Wang Yan made large-scale investments, continuously introducing key technologies and constantly doing charity work. Although at the national level, Wang Yan's billions of USD didn't count for much, he was, after all, doing real work.

The domestic leaders also saw Wang Yan's determination and were very satisfied with his performance, which was why Wang Yan was given the green light everywhere in the country.

This went on for nearly half a year, and the time had reached April of 1993.

Wang Yan's VCDs were no longer selling well, mainly because the big brothers were too aggressive and had too many channels. Those who could afford it had already bought one, and those who couldn't were waiting to save up or for a price drop.

Furthermore, Wang Yan had heard rumors of imitations, and he estimated that they would be on the market soon.

During this period, the development of Dragon Ascending was insane, with tens of thousands of subordinates. A large organization was difficult to manage, especially since Wang Yan had been commanding remotely from the mainland, making it inevitable that there were areas he couldn't oversee.

It was fine in the beginning, encroaching on surrounding territories bit by bit according to Wang Yan's intentions. Later, as the numbers grew, and with the subordinates all wanting to show off and climb the ranks, they disregarded everything. They went straight to war with Tung Sing and a series of other syndicates. Tung Sing had been beaten down to a second-rate syndicate, and their influence basically ruled the entire New Territories; there were at least one hundred thousand people in Hong Kong Island relying on Wang Yan for a living.

Because of Dragon Ascending's massive expansion, it could be said that they had offended every syndicate in Hong Kong Island. These syndicates had now formed an alliance, guarding strictly against Dragon Ascending, absolutely refusing to let them dominate alone. These people were powerful when united, and even Wang Yan couldn't handle them, which led to Dragon Ascending finding it very difficult to expand now.

To be honest, once Wang Yan knew these people had united, he didn't return to Hong Kong Island. He stayed in the country the whole time, fearing he would be killed if he went back.

Only now, when things had settled down, did Wang Yan set off to return to Hong Kong Island.

After returning to Hong Kong Island and carefully sorting through the situation, Wang Yan had a clear idea in his mind.

The development over the past half-year had been too fast; Dragon Ascending couldn't handle it and couldn't control such a large territory.

The priority was to develop quietly, fully digest the occupied areas, and plant the rules of Dragon Ascending in everyone's hearts before continuing to expand. With larger territories and more people, things were harder to manage; this process would surely take some time.

Wang Yan also needed to settle down for a while because his own abilities could no longer keep up with the development of Dragon Ascending. Controlling so many people and such a large territory, Wang Yan clearly felt a bit overwhelmed.

To develop in peace, he needed the consent of the other syndicates. There was no helping it; their alliance was too fierce, and Wang Yan couldn't afford to provoke them, so he could only stabilize them first and plan slowly. Wang Yan gave up a portion of his interests—namely, the VCD sales rights in his hands—and transferred a few countries to them. This would be enough to keep them busy for a while, and since every syndicate wanted the lion's share, they would surely fight tooth and nail over it.

His "good brothers" were all well-fed and satisfied, and they all knew the situation Wang Yan was facing. Wang Yan had helped them get rich, so they were grateful; they were all people who lived by the code of the streets and couldn't be too unreasonable.

Therefore, when Wang Yan spoke, they agreed immediately, giving up some countries and regions with poorer markets.

Don't look at how Dragon Ascending VCDs weren't selling well now; no matter how hard they were to sell, they were still an exclusive product, and there were ultimately people who would buy them.

No matter how awesome Wang Yan was, he couldn't possibly sell them all himself. Over the past six months of frantically expanding production capacity, he had sold at most a few tens of millions of units.

So there were still many markets left; he didn't worry about selling good products, and what Wang Yan gave them was still a bone with plenty of meat on it.

No matter how the united syndicates distributed it in the end, there would surely be those who got more and those who got less, and as long as the distribution was uneven, it would be the root of future trouble.

Wang Yan successfully diverted their attention by releasing the sales rights, ending their united front and intensifying their internal struggles.

With the external situation stabilized and no more fighting, what else was there to do but develop steadily?

Longteng had not occupied many of its territories for long before continuing to expand into new ones, which resulted in many areas remaining in a state of chaos. To achieve long-term stability, one had to rely on the slow and steady approach. Wang Yan issued orders to sweep through street by street, while simultaneously opening offices on every street.

The New Territories region was visibly improving at a rate that could be seen with the naked eye.

Aside from setting aside time each day to manage the company, Wang Yan spent the rest of his time reading and studying in his newly purchased large villa.

He was currently reading mostly traditional Chinese studies and philosophy books to improve his own cultivation and state of mind. These subjects were very obscure, and Wang Yan's level was not yet sufficient. Therefore, Wang Yan spent a large sum of money to hire professors and scholars from the University of Hong Kong to come and tutor him.

Although this stuff sounded mystical, it was indeed effective, and the progress was gratifying. Wang Yan clearly felt that he was recovering bit by bit, gradually trending toward normalcy.

Wang Yan held back until early 1994 before he could be considered to have temporarily resolved his own issues.

Traditional Chinese studies and philosophy are two schools of thought from the East and West, both profound and difficult to understand. After studying for more than half a year, Wang Yan had only just reached the entry-level LV1 proficiency.

In fact, Wang Yan had thought about using spirit points to solve the problem after returning to the real world. However, as his understanding of traditional studies deepened, he realized that this was not something that could be solved simply by having a high spirit stat. Adding points to spirit increased the quantity of his mental state, while constant study and self-improvement increased the quality; these were two different directions.

Wang Yan did not know if there would ever be a point where a quantitative change in this mystical spirit stat would lead to a qualitative one. If such a possibility existed, who knew how many attribute points it would take or how many lifetimes it would require? All he could do was constantly improve himself and continuously temper his own spirit.

He hadn't just been studying all this time; if he didn't manage such a large company, wouldn't the whole thing go to hell?

As Wang Yan participated in company management, decision-making, and a series of other affairs for a long time, his own abilities improved rapidly, and his management skill reached the professional level of LV3.

His livelihood-earning sales skill also broke through to the professional LV3 level. This confirmed to Wang Yan that this skill was all about sales volume. The experience and insights gained from closing major deals were different from those gained from ordinary transactions.

The development of Longteng was astonishing, and it now firmly controlled the entire New Territories.

As Longteng cleared out the entire New Territories, the Guhuozi, petty thieves, drug dealers, and other terrorists and criminals lost their foothold there and all fled to Kowloon and Hong Kong Island.

With the massive influx of these people, the crime rates in both places soared. Cases of fighting, brawling, inciting public disorder, robbery, theft, and drug dealing occurred frequently. The police force was kept so busy they barely had time to breathe, leaving them utterly exhausted.

Compared to the police in the other two regions, the police working in the New Territories were in a completely different state.

The New Territories managed by Longteng prohibited drugs and even issued rewards for reporting them. Although they didn't care much about things like usury or gambling, you couldn't go overboard. Otherwise, if a victim went to Longteng and it was verified, they would be wiped out without a word, and the ringleader would be sent straight to the bottom of the sea. Of course, Longteng didn't play the fool; everything had a price. For those who had issues themselves, came to make false reports, or were just looking for trouble, Longteng would let them personally experience what a real underworld organization was like.

Rules were important, and Longteng established the bottom line.

As long as things weren't taken too far, Longteng didn't have the spare time to meddle in other people's business.

For any major cases, there was no need for the police to step in; Longteng would simply break the culprit's legs and deliver them to the police station. The police spent their days at work gossiping or poking cats and teasing dogs. As for the Major Crimes Unit, if it weren't for the occasional murder or high-intelligence crime that required them, they would have been disbanded long ago.

Working as a police officer in the New Territories, aside from the low pay and the lack of hope for promotion, could be summarized in two words: comfortable. Comparing that to the hellish daily life in Kowloon and Hong Kong Island, there was no need to even describe the difference in feeling.

With the increase in his subordinates, Wang Yan had to start venturing into labor-intensive industries like services and manufacturing. There was no other way. Previously, the families of his underlings were placed in logistics companies, clothing factories, shoe factories, and other industries. Now, things were different; Longteng Security had twenty or thirty thousand underlings, and if you counted their families, that was at least three or four times as many—eighty or ninety thousand people.

And that didn't even include the upstream and downstream industries; if you counted those, the number was astronomical.

The Hong Kong market was only so big; how many people could logistics, clothing factories, and other companies accommodate? Therefore, Wang Yan had no choice but to constantly expand into various labor-intensive industries to provide for the families of his underlings.

Wang Yan didn't even know how many companies he had opened; he was doing a bit of everything. The difficulty of management was increasing, so Wang Yan established a think tank and hired various elite talents to manage and supervise the various industries under Longteng.

How could such a large organization as Longteng not have talent? Wang Yan had promoted quite a few people during this period. Li Yun was still his nominal right-hand man, but Wang Yan had also promoted several others to keep each other in check. After all, with such a large force, it was foolish to leave everything to one person.

In fact, Wang Yan didn't have to do this. Longteng was built by Wang Yan step by step, and the underlings and their families only remembered Wang Yan; Longteng could be said to be built entirely upon Wang Yan himself. Without Wang Yan, Longteng would instantly fall apart; this was a matter of personal prestige.

The reason he did this was entirely because Wang Yan wanted to practice his skills. He wanted to exercise his methods of governing subordinates and study the art of balance. This was the so-called "emperor's art," a necessary skill for someone in a position of power.

When Longteng first occupied the New Territories, it was suppressed by a group of old bastards, and Jiang Tiansheng of Hung Hing was the loudest among them. Wang Yan was no saint and didn't have such a magnanimous heart. Furthermore, these people were blocking his path, and none of them were good people; you could pull any one of them out and they would deserve to be shot for half an hour.

Wang Yan had held back for so long, and now the New Territories were completely under his control. His internal underlings and various talents were all well-trained, and Wang Yan had never lacked the money needed for war. Now that everything was ready, it was time for revenge.

He immediately issued a notice for all personnel of Longteng Security at level ten and above to attend a meeting at Longteng's newly acquired headquarters building.