Go back in time and be a chaebol

Chapter 1248 Romans in the New Era (Third update, please subscribe)
I have nothing to do on the weekend.

After finishing his homework, Li Yixuan ran into his father's study. As soon as he entered the study, he saw his father fiddling with a car model, so he walked over and asked:

"Father, what is this?"

"Maz543 truck!"

Li Yian also emphasized:
"The best special vehicle in the world!"

This is definitely not an exaggeration, but a fact. After all, in another world, whether it is the later Baiyang or Dongfeng 41, the basis of their heavy launch vehicles is the maz543 truck.

The maz543 truck is not only a perfect ballistic missile launcher, but can also be used as a rocket launcher and an anti-aircraft missile launcher.

It can be said that there is no better heavy-duty military off-road vehicle in the world.

Li Yian originally mentioned the Soviet Union only because the Soviet Union did not have a good road system, especially the muddy roads from Eastern Europe to Siberia. They must have developed heavy off-road vehicles, but they never thought that they would directly buy the Maz543 truck.
Li Yian is familiar with this thing, and Dongfeng Express also uses its domestic version. There are not only 8*8, but also 16*16. Many missiles and weapon systems are based on this chassis platform.

In a nutshell, this thing is the Rambowan of missile launchers.

"Maz543? It doesn't seem to be made in China."

“Made in the Soviet Union.”

Li Yixuan was surprised:

"The Soviet Union? Do we need to buy trucks from the Soviet Union?"

Looking at his son's surprised expression, Li Yian said:
"What's the problem? As long as their stuff is good enough, we can buy it. Do you know how much it costs to develop such a heavy off-road vehicle?"

Faced with his father's question, Li Yixuan obviously had no answer, but Li Yian gave him an answer.

"An investment of more than 1500 million yuan and more than three years is a considerable expense in terms of both money and time. By introducing technology, we not only saved a lot of time, but also saved a lot of money."

After thinking about it, Li Yian pointed to the model that he had "modified" - in fact, he just added a missile launch tube to it based on his memory, but this was a groundbreaking idea.

Unlike the design of missiles being directly exposed in this era, the missile launcher made by Li Yian has a specially developed missile storage and transportation box, which can provide basic protection for the missiles and resist the influence of weather. This design does not look new in the 21st century, but it is an extremely advanced design in this era.

Of course, there are also designs such as hydraulic support frames, which are designs that stand on the shoulders of historical giants and are the conclusions drawn through countless trials and errors, and Li Yian directly adopted them. These seemingly simple designs saved at least one year of research and development time.

"Money should be spent where it counts... The missile is the blade, and the car... is just an ordinary means of transport. The demand for special vehicles is not large. If we import them, the cost will be lower. In the competition between countries, cost is very important. If we develop whatever we need, then the cost of all goods will undoubtedly be extremely expensive...."

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union developed almost everything, from pistols to airplanes, from trucks to tanks, from submarines to warships, from satellites to missiles. This is why the Soviet Union's actual military expenditure accounted for about 15%-20% during the peak of the Cold War. The most typical example is military scientific research funding, which is part of the military expenditure in any country, but the Soviet government stuffed it into the scientific research budget, thereby "saving" a lot of expenses. The same is true for military aerospace funding, which the Soviet Union integrated into civilian aerospace funding.

It was this "burden" that gradually dragged down the Soviet economy.

Independent research and development may sound like a beautiful term, but it is actually very expensive, and the cost is much more than you might think.

Therefore, we must learn to focus on the big picture and let go of the small details.

This is especially true for Nanyang. After all, Nanyang now does not need to compete with anyone for hegemony in all aspects. Under the premise of the US-Soviet hegemony, what Nanyang needs is to do more things with limited funds.

"In the national economy, every penny has a source. Every penny we spend is part of the national economy. We can develop a heavy truck ourselves, and there is no technical problem. However, limited demand will push up its R&D costs and cause a waste of resources. From this point of view, it is a waste. Therefore, importing from abroad is the best choice."

In this regard, the Western world undoubtedly has more advantages. The United States and the Western world are based on the routine of multinational cooperation. European countries introduce subsystems from the United States to integrate their own weapons, and the United States introduces subsystems from European countries to integrate into its own weapons and equipment. It is precisely this kind of multinational cooperation that enables NATO countries to spend less and not lose out in the confrontation with the Soviet Union.

There is a fact that many people overlook: the Soviet Union's military expenditure has remained at 70 billion rubles since the 170s, but in fact this military expenditure is purely a false account to cover up the truth. They hid a lot of expenditure in other projects. But in fact, the Soviet Union's military expenditure was equal to that of the US military in 72, and exceeded that of the United States two years later.

This is also the reason why the Soviet Union was unable to engage in an arms race in the end. After all, competition in various fields is too expensive!
It’s not about spending money, it’s about burning money!

For example, the construction of a "Buran" space shuttle cost more than 10 billion rubles, which is almost equivalent to the nominal military expenditure of the Soviet Union.

"I understand this. It's a question of cost-effectiveness. Just like the main guns and anti-submarine missiles of our Yongchang-class destroyers, they were all imported from the United States because this kind of procurement is more cost-effective! If we develop them, it may cost more money and time, but by purchasing, we can save a lot of money."

Li Yixuan's answer made Li Yian laugh:
"That's true, and this is also our biggest advantage in the Western world - we can easily import all kinds of technologies we need from Western countries, such as the United States, Britain, France, and even Italy. At the same time, we are not a core member of the Western world, so we can also import some technologies from the Soviet bloc and then integrate them accordingly. This is also our advantage."

In fact, even the United States imported technology from the Soviet Union during the Cold War. For example, the United States' titanium alloy welding technology was introduced through technology exchange with the Soviet Union. Not only that, during the Cold War, the CIA also secretly purchased titanium alloys from the Soviet Union through third parties and shell companies for the manufacture of Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft.

The United States can do it, France can do it, and of course Southeast Asia can do it, and can do it better.

crisis!

Dangers hide opportunities! This is especially true for Nanyang. The Berlin crisis, with both sides on the brink of war, made Nanyang the final winner. Not only did it successfully enter the Western European market with its F2 fighter jets, but it also took advantage of Kennedy's eagerness to give the Soviet Union some color and put the expansion of military power on the table.

At the same time, taking advantage of the Soviet Union's desire to ease relations, the United States imported a large number of technologies from the Soviet Union, not just trucks, but also titanium alloy welding technology and even giant presses needed in some industries in the future.

"opportunity!"

Putting down the missile launcher model in his hand, Li Yian looked at his son and said:

"We must be good at seizing opportunities. Opportunities... In fact, the reason why Nanyang has achieved today's development has a lot to do with our ability to seize opportunities."

Afterwards, Li Yian mentioned old things, starting from how he seized the opportunity to purchase the North Borneo Company in the UK, and talked all the way to the establishment of the Allied Task Force.

"At that time, the Allied Task Force was established not only to support the war of resistance, but also to obtain personnel - after all, the development of Borneo requires personnel. After arriving in Germany, we captured German talents. Later, we went from Europe to Southeast Asia, from Mindanao to Borneo, and we seized the post-war window period and transported a large number of immigrants - this was very critical!"

After mentioning these "key nodes", Li Yian said with emotion:

"That's more than 2300 million workers! That's more than the young and middle-aged people in Britain and France combined.

With this labor force, together with the scientific and technical personnel and equipment we introduced from Germany, Italy, Japan and other countries, we have the technology, the people, and the machinery and equipment.

Finally, by seizing several consumption trends created by the special international market demands after the war, Nanyang naturally soared to great heights.

In fact, the so-called "Nanyang Miracle" is full of accidents. "

While analyzing the reasons for the rise of Nanyang with Li Yixuan, Li Yian walked towards the map while talking. Standing in front of the world map, he said:

"But we can't take chance as inevitability. We can play the Nanyang miracle card, but we must understand that this miracle cannot be replicated. After all, no country will encounter a pure seller's market that lasts for several years. The market demand brought about by tens of millions of people retiring at almost the same time, getting married and having children is also not replicable... Well, the market, the special market environment, created the Nanyang miracle."

The "Nanyang Miracle" has always been just a propaganda tool. To put it bluntly... it is a misleading and unreplicable product, so it naturally has no reference value.

But the "Nanyang Miracle" has always been the biggest trump card in Nanyang's hand. However, in front of his son, Li Yian told him directly that this was a lie.

Sure enough, Li Yixuan was stunned for a moment. Obviously, he did not expect that this was fake.

"Don't be surprised. This is what politicians do. They always boast that their own ideas are the best in the world. The British were like this in the past, and the Americans and Soviets are like this now. In fact, every family's situation is different. There is no best. There is only the best for you. So, you must insist on walking your own path. If others can succeed in their own way, that is only their success. It will definitely not work for us... For now, we are on the right path."

After a few simple words, Li Yian pointed at the map and said:

"We will continue along this path, but we must plan ahead. For example, their concerns about a 'population explosion' are justified. After all, the resources on earth are limited. It is impossible for every country to live the life of a developed country. Resource constraints are a problem we must face. Therefore, we must plan ahead to ensure that our people can always live the life of a developed country."

In fact, this is exactly what Li Yian has been planning all along. He needs to arrange everything in Nanyang through advance layout.

After looking at the map and thinking for a while, Li Yixuan asked:
"Father, is this why we set up grain companies in Africa and South America?"

Nodding, Li Yian said:

"Grain companies and mining investments, the former are related to the livelihoods of the people of Nanyang, and the latter are related to the money bags of Nanyang. Nanyang's resources are always limited, so we need to ensure these two points through overseas investment. As long as we do this well, even if the population of Nanyang reaches 4 million, these will not be a problem."

This is not an exaggeration. The United States has 45 billion acres of arable land, which not only feeds itself but also exports hundreds of millions of tons of food every year. In comparison, Africa can provide more arable land, but due to limitations in technology and other factors, Africa's agricultural potential has not been fully released.

In fact, the land in Africa is still very fertile. As long as the corresponding technology is invested and modern agriculture is introduced, Africa will definitely become the world's largest granary.

This is the experience of another world - in another world, unlike Europe and the United States plundering Africa, East China University of Technology is constructive in Africa. In countries such as Soufan and Ethiopia, East China University of Technology's agricultural and water conservancy experts helped build a large number of modern agricultural facilities in the local area. It is with these facilities that they have become the world's largest sesame exporter.

It's only been slightly developed, but it has shown such good results. If it is fully developed, won't it take off on the spot?

Therefore, Li Yian has always been very optimistic about agriculture in Africa. Of course, this goal cannot be achieved by Africans alone.

Those people are definitely not capable of working, just like in another world, Africans produced 35 million tons of food on 2 billion acres of land.

“Although Africa has extremely vast land, its backward production methods and primitive reliance on the weather have restricted its agricultural development.

Therefore, what Nanyang needs is to set up a grain company to reclaim the land in Africa, turn the local land into our farms, develop local minerals and turn them into mines in Nanyang, and all of these require people..."

Listening to his father's explanation, Li Yixuan immediately understood, just as his father had said many times before:
"What you need is management? Just like the Romans!"

(End of this chapter)