The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 149 Try boldly, break through boldly

At this time, the atmosphere in the conference room was quite relaxed.

Liu Tao was no longer as nervous and reserved as he was at the beginning.

"Some comrades believe that the advanced weapons produced by your factory should not be exported. What do you think about this?" The old man spoke with a strong Sichuan accent.

It is difficult to change one’s accent, and for many people, as soon as they speak, others can tell where they are from.

The old man left home at a young age and seldom returned to Bashu, but his Bashu accent has never changed.

Liu Tao said helplessly: "If the country's annual military expenditure could be tens or a hundred times higher than it is now, the Type 80 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns and Type 80 tanks would naturally not be exported, but would be equipped to the troops."

"Even if the performance of these export versions is not as good as the self-use versions, they are still very advanced in the world and definitely reach the world's first-class level." Liu Tao said helplessly: "If the army can place an order for thousands of vehicles at Panshan Machinery Factory like West Germany did, we will not be willing to export such high-end weapons and equipment."

The other leaders were all stunned.

The old man laughed and said, "You comrade."

Reform and opening up and focusing on economic development are the general trend.

Therefore, after several rounds of discussions this year, a plan to streamline the troops was finally formed, which will require a reduction of nearly one million troops.

In the next few years, military expenditure will remain similar and will not increase much. The number of troops will be reduced, while the proportion of technical arms will be strengthened and weapons and equipment will be updated, thereby improving the combat effectiveness of the troops.

The old man knows that the Type 80 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun and the Type 80 tank are expensive, but what is even more expensive is the shells.

You can't buy weapons but have no shells, otherwise they will just be useless.

The money spent on shells even exceeds the money spent on equipment.

If the troops purchased thousands of self-propelled anti-aircraft guns and tanks, they would not even be able to afford steamed buns.

"Look at the Type 80 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun and Type 80 tank we developed. So far, the total orders from the army are for 5 Type 80 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns and 10 Type 80 tanks, plus training shells and artillery shells, totaling 4000 million RMB. This money is not even enough to cover the development costs of the Type 80 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, let alone the development costs of the Type 80 tank." Liu Tao couldn't help but complain, "As for the production line, look at our total investment of more than 80 billion RMB to build a plant capable of producing Type 80 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns and Type tanks!"

"This is just the money for factory construction, not including the investment in equipment and training workers!"

"If we don't make money from exports, we won't even have money for research, let alone building production lines!" Liu Tao said the cruel truth. In the end, China is too poor. "We can build modern factories because of the profits created by export trade."

“It doesn’t matter whether the cat is black or white, as long as it can catch mice, it is a good cat!” Liu Tao concluded.

The old man showed his appreciation. "That's a good saying. It doesn't matter if the cat is black or white, as long as it can catch mice it's a good cat! The same is true for economic construction. Whether it's a planned economy or a market economy, it's just a means of allocating resources and has nothing to do with the political system. Capitalism can have plans, and socialism can have markets. As long as it can develop productivity, it can be used in practice."

Liu Tao was stunned.

Could it be that the 'cat theory' already existed at this time?

"Since Panshan Machinery Factory is a pilot unit for reform, you should try boldly and make bold breakthroughs." The old man encouraged, "I think the worries of some comrades are unnecessary. Even if Panshan Machinery Factory fails in its reform pilot, can it be worse than being a third-tier factory two years ago?"

Given the current situation of Panshan Machinery Factory, even if the reform fails, it will still make huge profits. After all, the fixed assets are there, not to mention so many advanced technologies!
Some people are very dissatisfied with Panshan Machinery Factory's investment in building a new factory. They believe that the money should be turned over and allocated by the state. After all, money is needed everywhere now.

But in the end, all these were blocked. As a reform pilot unit, Panshan Machinery Factory has a lot of autonomy.

Investing in building a new factory is only out of consideration for the development of Panshan Machinery Factory itself. The money is paid by Panshan Machinery Factory itself and the state does not need to pay. Building a factory can also boost local economic development and create jobs.

Although Yunnan Province lost a large amount of funds for the Third Front Construction, its economic construction did not slow down but accelerated instead. Isn't it because the investment of Panshan Machinery Factory boosted the local economic development?

Originally, Panshan Machinery Factory was just a small and medium-sized military factory with not many employees. It was only ranked in the middle and lower levels among the third-line military factories. But now, Panshan Machinery Factory has tens of thousands of employees, and with their families, the number exceeds 200,000. It has developed into a super-large military factory.

Moreover, this development is still rapid. In the foreseeable future, Panshan Machinery Factory will continue to develop rapidly.

“Some of our comrades are afraid that young people will make mistakes. Young people are full of energy and vigor. We should let them bravely venture out and try boldly instead of restricting their hands and feet.” The old man said. This was an encouragement to Liu Tao as well as a warning to some people.

Liu Tao left feeling a little dizzy, with a surge of shock in his heart.

Judging from the hidden meaning he heard in the conference room today, he knew that some leaders had opinions about him.

I don’t know since when, I became a chess piece.

After calming himself down, Liu Tao's eyes were filled with determination.

Being reduced to a chess piece means that he has value as a chess piece. If he has no value, he is not even qualified to be a chess piece.

As the journey home approaches, Liu Tao spends time with his family.

This time when they returned to Beijing, in addition to Liu Tao, his second sister and her family also returned to Beijing and lived in the courtyard.

It is September now, and the sun is no longer as scorching as in the summer. More and more people are coming to Shichahai, especially on weekends.

On this day, Liu Tao came to the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building and saw the cadres from the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building who were supporting the Panshan Machinery Factory.

As Panshan Machinery Factory grows and develops, it needs all types of talents, not only technical talents, but also management talents!

Liu Tao saw a young face that looked somewhat familiar, and was very surprised and shocked.

"This is Comrade Zhao Guoping, who used to work as a secretary in the General Office. He studied basic organic synthesis at the Department of Chemical Engineering at Tsinghua University for four years and graduated last year!" Wang Baoguo introduced.

At the same time, he introduced other people. Some of them, like Zhao Guoping, already had jobs and were to be transferred to Panshan Machinery Factory; some were originally employed in research institutes or universities and were to be transferred to the newly established Ordnance Science Academy of Panshan Machinery Factory; and some were already cadres in various ministries and commissions and were to be transferred to Panshan Machinery Factory.
This is the era we live in. State-owned factories, local governments, ministries, universities, etc. can all be transferred around.

All kinds of talents can be centrally deployed by superiors.

Even after the resumption of the college entrance examination, college graduates were assigned to various units through guaranteed assignments, which was a highly planned talent program.

As for private enterprises, there were no formal private enterprises in the country at that time. Even if some people were actually self-employed, they did not have a formal legal status.

Being a self-employed person nowadays is an extremely risky industry and one can end up losing money if one is not careful.

(End of this chapter)