industrial overlord

Chapter 705 Eight years!
The Elche shoe-burning incident shocked the whole of Europe. After all, Europe is a place known as the civilized world. When such an uncivilized incident happened, everyone's faces were quite dishonored.

Representatives of the Spanish government and officials of the Chinese embassy in Spain arrived in Elche soon, and at the same time they arrived, as well as staff from the European Chinese Chamber of Commerce.Seeing that the local incident attracted so much attention, the police chief of the small town of Elche, Acebes, was too frightened to sweat, and could only urge his subordinates to step up the investigation and arrest the perpetrator as soon as possible.

The rioters burning the Chinese warehouse happened in broad daylight.When they stormed the warehouse, they also had brief conflicts with the security guards of the warehouse. The security guards remembered the faces of these people, so it was not difficult for the police to find the perpetrators.Under the high pressure of the Spanish government, it took only two days for Aceves to lock in more than a dozen perpetrators and bring them to justice.

Trouble has arisen over how to convict the perpetrators.Since this case is related to the business friction between the Chinese businessman and the Spanish businessman, most of the public in Spain side with the Spanish businessman, thinking that the shoe burning incident is just a kind of "unfair competition" against the Chinese. There is nothing wrong with revenge.A large group of so-called public interest lawyers also came from all over the country, threatening to defend the perpetrators.

In the face of surging public opinion, the Spanish government also made difficulties.It is obviously inappropriate to favor the perpetrators. The nature of the incident of burning private property is very bad, and it is impossible for the government to forgive such incidents.Besides, Spain has been in a financial crisis in recent years and urgently needs help from China. It is very unwise to offend the Chinese at this time.

But it is also very difficult to punish the perpetrators in accordance with the law.Newspapers in Spain published lengthy commentary articles by various people, all of which were directed at Chinese businessmen, who believed that Chinese businessmen had robbed Spanish job opportunities and put those who burned shoes Thugs called "patriotic heroes".Under such circumstances, if the Spanish government puts the perpetrators in prison, I am afraid that its seat will be unstable.

In desperation, the government had no choice but to use the word "delay", implying that the court would delay the case.Every time a court session is held, several excuses are found, or there are doubts about the evidence, or the health of the parties is not good, in short, it is to try not to make a final judgment.In this way, the Chinese side has nothing to say, and the Spanish people can't find any reason to condemn the government, so the matter is suspended.

This delay has lasted for five years. In May 2011, the Elche City District Court made a final judgment. 5 Spanish perpetrators were sentenced to 28 to 6 months in prison, and the victimized Chinese shoe dealer also received some symbolic compensation.That's another story.

One more thing that needs to be said here is that after the Elche shoe burning case, many public and intellectuals in China have written articles, pointing the finger at Chinese businessmen overseas, accusing them of being ungrateful, mercenary, Insatiable greed, plundering and plundering... He also said that the shoe burning incident was a slap in the face of the so-called rise of China.What is puzzling is that these scholars all claim to be Chinese, but they don't know why they are so looking forward to someone slapping China... Maybe this can only be explained as the special hobby of the father-in-law.

Lin Zhenhua didn't stay in the local area for too long. He just appeased the merchants who had suffered losses, and said that if they had financial difficulties, Hanhua was willing to help them.These shoe merchants in southern Zhejiang also have some savings. Although the value of the burned goods is several million, it is not difficult for these shoe merchants to recover.

Before Lin Zhenhua left, Aceves made an appointment with him through Zhang Cheng.As soon as they met, Aceves desperately apologized to Lin Zhenhua, and promised that as long as Elche was still under his rule, similar incidents would never happen again.

Lin Zhenhua knew that Aceves was under pressure from above, he suppressed a smile, and said with a straight face: "Mr. Aceves, you said that this case was only committed by a few people, so why haven't these people committed it yet? To be punished?"

"Mr. Lin, you should know that I am only the police chief, and the court is responsible for the conviction," Aceves said.

Lin Zhenhua said: "Since that's the case, then why are you looking for me?"

Aceves said: "Mr. Lin, although the case has not been completed this time, I can assure you that similar incidents will not happen again. Of course, what I mean is that if I were still in Elche The words of the Chief of Police.”

There is a reason for Acevez to say this. Two days ago, when the senior officials sent by the Spanish government to deal with the incident arrived in Elche, the first person they met was Lin Zhenhua.Later, the governor of Alicante Province also came, and he did his best to flatter Lin Zhenhua, which made Aceves see where Lin Zhenhua's power lies.If such a bad thing happened in the local area, he, the police chief, would be the first to bear the brunt if he were to be investigated. He knew that only by coaxing Lin Zhenhua well could he save his career.

Lin Zhenhua had no intention of intervening in such a matter, but seeing Acevez himself delivered to his door, he naturally had to blackmail him.He pretended to be indifferent and said: "Mr. Acevez, you know, I came to Elche this time to visit my shoe dealer friends, but according to them, the local security has always been unsatisfactory. Especially when there are disputes between the locals and my friends, the police have always favored the locals, is this true?"

"Absolutely nothing!" Aceves said decisively: "I have always asked my police officers to act impartially. The arrival of Chinese businessmen has promoted the prosperity of our city of Elche. How can we discriminate against them? Mr. Lin, Don't worry, we will deal with it fairly when it comes to disputes between locals and Chinese shoemakers in the future."

Acevez's promise proved to be very reliable afterwards. After the shoe burning incident, the local police strengthened the protection of Chinese businessmen, and the Chinese have a faint status as first-class citizens in Elche.

The Elche shoe burning incident also produced an unexpected result. Elche, which was unknown in Europe, suddenly became the focus of everyone's attention. They rushed to Elche to buy goods, but instead promoted the prosperity of the Elche shoe market.

A few years later, the Chinese warehouse where the shoe-burning incident took place was demolished and replaced by a large-scale "Chinese shoe city".The Spanish shoemakers who were unemployed due to the impact of Chinese shoes later became employees in the shoe city, and their wages were much higher than when they were making shoes.In this way, the conflict between Chinese shoe dealers and local people has gradually faded, which is of course also a later story.

When Lin Zhenhua's family of three left Elche, a large parade against "Made in China" was being held on the streets of Elche. The marchers held up slogans such as "Boycott Chinese goods" and "Contain China" and called for justice for those responsible for the shoe burning incident. acquitted.Although Lin Zhenhua and others don't understand Spanish, they can more or less guess what the marchers want from the atmosphere at the scene.

"Father, tell me, whose fault is this?" Lin Fei asked Lin Zhenhua while sitting in the car.

Lin Zhenhua smiled and asked back: "The lions and zebras are fighting on the grassland. It's life and death. Whose fault do you think?"

"You mean, this is the law of the jungle, survival of the fittest, right?" Lin Fei said, born in such a family, she knows a lot.

Lin Zhenhua said: "Feifei, you also went to the scene that day and saw those Spaniards burning the shoes of Chinese businessmen. Don't you think that scene looks familiar?"

"Déjà vu?" Lin Fei was puzzled, "How could I have seen such a scene?"

Lin Zhenhua said: "In the movies, those that reflect the end of the Qing Dynasty, haven't you seen such a scene?"

"But..." Lin Fei hesitated, "That's Chinese people burning foreign goods, but..."

Lin Zhenhua laughed loudly and said, "That's right, what I'm talking about is the Chinese burning foreign goods. In those days, cheap European goods poured into China in large quantities, crushing every Chinese national industry. Although those bankrupt Chinese businessmen were full of Angry, but helpless skills are not as good as others, so I can only burn foreign goods to vent my anger. It has been 100 years! Now it is finally the turn of foreign businessmen to go bankrupt and have to burn Chinese goods. The ancients said well, it is not that they do not report, the time has not yet come, Europe People can't imagine that they still have today!"

Lin Fei rolled his big eyes and said with a smile: "Dad, according to what you said, it really means something like that. The way that Aceves nodded and bowed to you is really like the ugly behavior of those incompetent officials in the Qing Dynasty in front of foreigners. Woolen cloth."

"Of course, we hold the money bag of the Spanish government in our hands, can its officials not be humble?" Lin Zhenhua said arrogantly.

Yang Xin who was sitting on the side burst out laughing, and said to Lin Zhenhua: "Zhenhua, why do you interpret this matter in such a way? According to you, it is still a good thing for the Spaniards to burn our shoes?"

"It's certainly a bad thing for those victimized shoemakers." Lin Zhenhua said, "But from the perspective of a country, if it is not protested by others, can it be regarded as rising? Yang Xin, Feifei, you see, in the future, China will be Opportunities for protests will only increase, and the rise of no major country will be silent."

"It's really unreasonable." Yang Xin said with a smile. In her heart, she also felt that Lin Zhenhua's words were quite reasonable.

Lin Zhenhua said: "Yang Xin, take Feifei to continue playing in Europe. I'm going to Lisbon. Huang Gang is waiting for me there. The Portuguese government wants to borrow money from us. Huang Gang asked me to go over and discuss how to negotiate terms with the other party. This guy is so kind-hearted, he has to ask me for advice on things like unequal treaties."

(End of this chapter)