Go back in time and be a chaebol

Chapter 1351 What the People Need and What the Country Wants (Second Update, Please Subscribe)
"NBC..."

Near the coast of Dongning, in an open-air cafe, a blond and blue-eyed European sat at a table, looking at the vast Pacific Ocean and said:
"I really don't know what's so magical about this country. Fifteen years ago, it was just a small town near the Pacific Ocean, but now it's already a prosperous metropolis..."

Pointing in another direction, Kochenkov said:

"There is the world's second largest steel company, Dongning Steel, with an annual output of 2500 million tons of steel. The largest steel company is Donghai Steel, with an annual output of 3000 million tons. Both are NBC companies..."

After a brief pause, Kochenkov took a sip of coffee and said:

"Sometimes, when we talk about how prosperous the country is, we always say that we produce millions of tons of steel, as if that is the prosperity of the country. However, here, the steel production of such a steel company exceeds the steel production of some countries."

Putting down the cup in his hand, Kochenkov continued:

"Of course, I know that this is because they applied new technology, new steelmaking technology and Australia's high-quality iron ore. But, my friend, I am still very curious about this place."

Then he looked at Suganov in front of him and said:

"You have been studying here for a year, my friend. What do you think of this country?"

To some extent, Suganov is enviable because he has the opportunity to study abroad at NBC - there are not many opportunities to study abroad at NBC. After all, NBC’s universities charge tuition fees to foreigners, and the tuition fees are very high.

Of course, if you are an international student coming here under a national agreement, you can get a scholarship officially provided by NBC.

However, the vast majority of students who come to NBC to study are PhDs, and even the number of graduate students is not large, and Suganov is a PhD.

Not only is he a PhD, but he’s also a male PhD, which is even more rare because female graduate students are more likely to be admitted to universities.

They are classmates, but Kochenkov has been working for many years while the other is still studying for a doctorate.

From undergraduate to graduate school, to doctorate, and now to NBC.

Suganov did not answer his friend's question, but silently looked at the sea in the distance for a long time before speaking.

"This is just a very ordinary country! It couldn't be more ordinary."

"Oh? How should I say it?"

"They just enforce the laws that are written, and sometimes, it's really that simple."

In fact, Suganov originally had all kinds of imaginations about NBC. After all, people always imagine things that are strange to their own people, including strange countries.

After coming here as a visiting scholar, he saw a completely different NBC.

Here, the eight-hour work system is strictly enforced, and even to a certain extent, overtime work is strictly prohibited.

Here, everyone has good medical care through health insurance.

Here, all children can be well cared for in the nursery after birth.

Here, all students can get a free lunch with milk, eggs and meat.

And it's all free.

Of course, houses are also allocated. As long as you are married, you can apply for one. Even after graduating from college, you can apply for a single apartment...

This is NBC!

An NBC that is completely different from what is in the textbooks and what the professors explain in class.

For Suganov, NBC was unfamiliar and somewhat novel.

For this reason, in the past six months, Suganov has visited various communities in Dongning to volunteer whenever he has time and to experience everything there is to experience firsthand.

So unlike many people, he has a very deep understanding of this country. After telling all this, Suganov said:

"In fact, many countries have corresponding laws for all of this, just like many countries in South America, they also have similar laws, but so what?"

"South America..."

Kochenkov sneered:
"So, South America will welcome us, just like Cuba, and they will eventually be liberated."

Suganov did not refute his classmates' statements. After all, those South American countries were simply dregs of the world.

"In fact, this is the only difference between them. NBC is just an ordinary country. It seems that there is nothing different about it."

In response to his friend's question, Suganov said:

"In Dongning, you can see a huge steel complex. In that port, you can see huge ships transporting iron ore from Australia. Near the steel company, there is a large shipyard where huge ships of hundreds of thousands of tons are built..."

When mentioning the "giant ship", Suganov emphasized his tone and said:
"If those 30-ton supertankers were born in certain shipyards, their photos would be put on the front page of newspapers, appear on important TV news moments, and arrive at the shipyard. Standing in front of the giant ship, they would tell everyone that this is the largest tanker in the world, and they would tell you that other countries do not have this!"

When Suganov mentioned this, he cast his eyes into the distance - there was indeed a huge ship in the distant sea. "Look, there is a huge ship there, at least 10 tons, but it should be a ore carrier of Dongning Steel, transporting ore from Australia."

He seemed to be changing the subject and continued:

"However, the ore-carrying ship is not that amazing, after all, it is only a few hundred thousand tons. Let's talk about the oil tanker, a 30-ton supertanker! Someone will tell you excitedly that we built a 32.6-ton oil tanker, and will tell you that it is 345.3 meters long and is the world's first oil tanker with a deadweight of more than 30 tons.

It set a new record in the history of shipbuilding. With its completion, a new name was born: VLCC, which stands for Very Large Crude Carrier. A tanker with a deadweight of 20 to 32 tons is called a supertanker.

This is the pride of the country, a great victory, and the glory of everyone!

We have created a modern industrial miracle. When it sails on the vast ocean, the whole world will see our greatness! Witness this miracle on earth!"

Perhaps because he was a little excited, Suganov even made a harsh sound when he put down the coffee cup, so that some people looked at them a few times. However, they were speaking Russian and no one could understand them.

Kochenkov shook his head and said:

"No, you said it wrong!"

"what?"

"This kind of thing can't happen in our country. Even if it happens, it won't be called VLCC! Because we don't speak English."

Suganov was stunned at his friend's joke, then he burst into laughter.

"Yes, I was joking too, but what I described was a fact."

After laughing, Suganov said:
"In fact, this ship doesn't have so many meanings. It's just an ordinary oil tanker, an ordinary industrial product. At most, in a corner of the news, there is a simple string of words telling you that they built the world's largest oil tanker, because it has nothing to do with glory! Or..."

After a brief pause, Suganov pointed around and said:

“In fact, sometimes, some things are just like this, not how much steel is produced, how many ships are built, how many cars are manufactured, but what kind of life is provided to people.

They do their best here to ensure that everyone can live a good life, provide people with well-paying jobs, good housing environments, and help people take care of their children. In their view, this is the real glory, that is, to treat people as human beings, and since they are human beings, they deserve all of this!
This is really rare. After all, not everyone can do this. After all, in many cases, people are reduced to a kind of productivity and a production tool..."

Suganov did not continue, but Kochenkov knew the answer. For a moment, both of them fell into silence.

At this point Sujanov changed the subject and asked:

"You came to NBC this time to introduce cars, right?"

"Yes, we have basically negotiated with Volkswagen. They will select a group of engineers to go to the Soviet Union to help us build a car factory - a very large car factory."

Kochenkov said:

"As you said, we are also doing our best to provide people with what they need. In order to introduce equipment for the automobile manufacturing plant, we spent US$6 million, or 15 billion South African dollars. Not only did we provide them with some cutting-edge machinery and equipment, but we also paid hundreds of tons of gold. Can you imagine?"

"It's really hard to imagine."

Looking at his old classmate, Suganov shrugged his shoulders and said:

"More than a decade ago, NBC was just a rain forest. At that time, we could manufacture airplanes, tanks, warships, and cars. But what about now? We can manufacture the best airplanes and tanks, but we can't manufacture cars that people can use. Do you know why?"

Suganov's question made Kochenkov curious:

"why?"

"Because we don't need it. Our entire industrial sector is producing things for the war, and we haven't gotten out of the shadow of the war yet. We are producing things that people are not interested in and don't need, and the things we need are very scarce."

"That's because we face too many threats. We can't make the same mistakes as in the last war. We have to be prepared."

Facing his friend's answer, Suganov was silent for a while, then said:

"That's their advantage, they don't have the baggage of the past."

Suganov pointed at the people around him and said:

"So everything is very simple here. All you need to produce is what people need. If people need housing, then produce housing for them. If people need cars, then produce cars for them. Cars need gasoline, then produce giant tankers to transport oil. If people need to travel between places, then make jet planes, buses, and trains, because there is a need..."

With his hands slightly opened, Suganov said in an emotional tone:

"We created all of this just to meet people's needs and tell everyone - we created all of this because you need it!"

Kochenkov was stunned by his old classmate's words. While he was distracted, Suganov continued:

"Because of the needs of workers, we do our best to meet them. This is how our economy works. It develops because of people's needs. Everything is like this! It has nothing to do with anything else, just because of the needs!"

(End of this chapter)