The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 138 Black heart? Conscience!
God of Wealth!
More and more people regard Liu Tao as the 'God of Wealth'!
Especially in the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building, leaders called him "God of Wealth".

From last year to now, the total orders brought by Liu Tao amount to 62.778 billion US dollars!
You know, China’s exports in the previous two years were only US$97.5 billion!
The orders brought by Liu Tao exceeded more than half of China’s previous exports.

As for profits, this is an arms business, the profits are huge!

The profits brought by these orders alone far exceed the total profits created by civilian exports last year.

"Oh my God of Wealth, selling it at such a high price, will there be no orders in the future?" Wang Baoguo didn't sleep well, and he couldn't help but worry when he saw Liu Tao: "This portable air defense missile costs less than 30,000 RMB, and the price of each missile after mass production should not exceed 20,000 RMB. You asked for 80,000 US dollars, which is almost 120,000 RMB. This is a five-fold profit. Isn't it a bit too shady?"

"Why are the air defense missiles and launch systems sold separately?" Wang Baoguo was frightened by Liu Tao.

Liu Tao rolled his eyes and said, "Boss, this is a truly fair price, absolutely not a dishonest one!"

Is it okay to sell weapons with low profits?

In the international arms market, all weapons from Europe, the United States and the Soviet Union are extremely expensive and come with many additional conditions.

As for the black market, the weapons there will only be higher quality, not lower, and most of them are light weapons!

"How is it possible! With such a high profit, how can it not be considered a fraud? Instead, it is a conscience price?" Wang Baoguo didn't believe it at all.

It would have been fine if he didn't know it before.

But when he inadvertently asked Liu Tao about the price of the portable air defense missile, he was shocked and did not sleep well the whole night.

As soon as he closed his eyes, he would always see the great man asking him whether being a capitalist made him feel guilty and whether his heart was evil!
Wang Baoguo covered his heart, felt his heart was very painful, and hated himself.

Liu Tao analyzed to Wang Baoguo: "Leader, do you know how much the American Stinger missile costs?"

"How much?" Wang Baoguo was a little confused. He didn't know much about this.

"According to my conversation with Al and others, the US Stinger missile costs $120,000 per missile!" Liu Tao said with a faint smile, "The performance of the Stinger is not as good as our Vanguard. If it were the Americans, a Vanguard missile would cost at least $150,000."

"Leader, do you think that we are being very conscientious by selling one coin for 80,000 US dollars?" Liu Tao did not feel ashamed at all.

"Americans sell a Stinger missile for $120,000!?" Wang Baoguo was shocked.

"Yes, the US military purchases each missile for about 40,000 US dollars, and sells it to other countries for 120,000 US dollars!" Liu Tao nodded, "This is how arms are. They must be cheaper when purchased by our own people, and more expensive when exported, so that we can make money to subsidize the domestic market."

"As for tanks, how much do you guess a Leopard 2 tank costs?" Liu Tao asked with a smile.

"150 million US dollars?" Wang Baoguo hesitated.

"The West German Army order is worth about 200 million US dollars per vehicle at the current exchange rate." Liu Tao said, "Mohammed and his team are just asking for advice. West Germany won't even discuss it, and they don't even have the chance to make an offer!"

"Their delegation went to Moscow three times and offered a price of $72 million for each T200 tank, but Moscow refused. The additional conditions they offered must be shocking." Liu Tao shook his head: "We only offer $80 million for our Type 150 tanks, which is an absolutely reasonable price. Even if we offered $200 million per tank, Mohammed would agree."

Wang Baoguo was shocked.

After a long while, he finally said with emotion: "Iraq is really rich, it deserves to be a developed country!"

Liu Tao smiled.

Iraq in this era is definitely an enviable country. For China, it is like a paradise.

The per capita GDP has reached 4000 US dollars, the foreign exchange reserves are close to 400 billion US dollars, the society is prosperous, and the social welfare is very high. It is simply the advanced stage of a socialist country in everyone's mind, and has achieved common prosperity. "Leader, do you know how much money Iraq has spent on purchasing various weapons in recent years?" Liu Tao smiled faintly.

Wang Baoguo was at a loss, he didn't even dare to guess.

The Iraqi delegation accepted China's $35 billion order without even blinking an eye.

"Over the years, the Iraqi army has spent 750 billion US dollars on purchasing various weapons! 750 billion US dollars, how much of that is our order?" Liu Tao said an astronomical figure.

Wang Baoguo was so shocked that his eyes opened wide.

Over several years, $750 billion was spent on purchasing various weapons?
Almost $200 billion a year is spent on purchasing weapons and equipment! ?

Seeing Wang Baoguo was extremely shocked, Liu Tao sighed secretly in his heart.

Iraq is known as the world's fourth largest military power, or even the third largest military power. Does it make all its own weapons and equipment?

No!

All purchased!
The oil crisis caused a sharp rise in oil prices. Iraq can earn 30 to 40 billion US dollars every year by producing and exporting oil.

After earning so much money over the years, in addition to implementing high social welfare, the money is used to purchase various weapons and equipment for the military.

Liu Tao had to admit that poverty really limited people's imagination.

Wang Baoguo was an absolute senior cadre, but his imagination was still limited by poverty.

All I can say is that such wealth is unimaginable to poor people, and they don’t have the imagination to do so.

"So damn rich!" Wang Baoguo couldn't help but exclaim in admiration after a long time.

Then, Wang Baoguo asked, "When do you plan to go back?"

"Don't worry. We have just contacted one company in Iraq, and there is also Saudi Arabia! Saudi Arabia is also a big customer!" Liu Tao said with a faint smile.

Wang Baoguo's eyes widened. "You are not afraid that you will not be able to complete such a large order. You still want to negotiate for more orders? Aren't you afraid of being starved to death?"

"What are you afraid of? We have the order. We just need to agree on the delivery date!" Liu Tao said with a faint smile, "Once the tank factory is built and the production capacity is increased, we will go all out to produce. We won't be afraid of not being able to complete the order."

The real trouble are the orders related to self-propelled anti-aircraft guns and tanks. As for the orders for firearms and ammunition, he is not worried at all.

The production capacity of Panshan Machinery Factory headquarters alone is still in the climbing stage, not to mention that there are two more factories to be put into use. The military factory is in the stage of rapid expansion, and the increase in production capacity is very terrifying.

Nowadays, on normal working days, production is carried out in three shifts.

Even at critical moments, when we enter wartime production, production capacity will be even more terrifying!
"Before, leader, you were worried about the huge investment in a tank manufacturing plant. Now you don't have to worry about it. Not to mention building one tank manufacturing plant, even building two tank manufacturing plants of the same size is enough!" Liu Tao joked.

Wang Baoguo shook his head and smiled bitterly, "Only you dare to think like that. I don't know what's wrong with your brain!"

Before, who would have dared to imagine that Panshan Machinery Factory would dare to invest 1 billion yuan to build a large tank manufacturing plant without relying on state funding.

If you tell others about it, you will only be ridiculed as a fool and a fantasy.

(End of this chapter)