The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 156 Completely Opposite Judgments

"No, I think it's almost impossible for Iraq to defeat Persia!"

Liu Tao shook his head and disagreed with Liu Zhenbang's statement.

"Why?" Liu Zhenbang looked at Liu Tao curiously. He knew that Liu Tao was very opinionated and his perspective on issues was often unexpected.

When everyone was confused about the decision from above to change from free military aid to paid aid and to become an arms dealer, Liu Tao took the initiative to contact customers, won large orders, opened the door to China's weapons and equipment exports, and then continued to set records and won large orders.

Liu Tao even jointly established the Panshi Security Company with Ho Ying-tung in Hong Kong to provide security services to the wealthy people in Hong Kong.

Liu Tao hesitated for a moment before saying, "Iraq's population is over 1300 million, while Persia's population is over 3800 million, nearly three times that of Iraq. In terms of war potential, Persia has an absolute advantage."

"Persia has huge potential advantages in war. After entering the wartime system, it is easy to mobilize more troops. As long as Persia does not surrender and keeps fighting, it will enter a stalemate stage later." Liu Tao said: "Persia used to be the strongest country in the Middle East, much stronger than Iraq. They have a large number of tanks and more than 500 aircraft, and have air superiority."

"Persia has more than 30 billion US dollars in foreign exchange reserves, which is not much less than Iraq's. They can use their foreign exchange reserves to purchase weapons and equipment from outside and keep fighting and consuming them," said Liu Tao.

From a certain perspective, the Iran-Iraq War can actually be regarded as a proxy war between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Even though both the United States and the Soviet Union are supportive of Iraq now, this is only temporary.

If the war continued and Persia was about to collapse, the United States would definitely secretly support Persia, because the United States did not want Iraq to defeat Persia and gain hegemony over the Persian Gulf. That would be a huge threat to the United States and would be almost unacceptable.

At that time, Persia was a staunch ally of the United States and an important tool for the United States to exert influence in the Middle East. However, no one expected that the Islamic Revolution would break out in Persia and the Pahlavi dynasty would be overthrown.

But for the United States, the strategy is the same.

If Persia was not supported, Iraq would gain Gulf hegemony, or Persia would completely turn to the Soviet Union. It would be a fatal blow to the United States and a huge strategic failure. The United States simply cannot afford such a failure.

"War never depends on who has the strongest offensive at the beginning or who has the advantage, and who will win," said Liu Tao.

Liu Zhenbang was stunned for a moment, then looked thoughtful.

Thinking back to the Anti-Japanese War, the Japanese army was so arrogant and powerful at the beginning. Their offensive was extremely fierce, and they claimed that they would destroy China in three months. However, the Chinese did not give up resistance, and dragged the war into a strategic stalemate. Through battle after battle, they continuously consumed the Japanese army, and finally entered the strategic counterattack stage, thus defeating the Japanese army.

The same was true of the war that broke out on the Liaodong Peninsula. The U.S. military had to end the war before Christmas so that the U.S. military could have a festive Christmas, but in the end it still ended in disgrace.

While the father and son were discussing, Chen Fang cooked the meal and started eating.

The next day, Liu Tao took the initiative to go to No. 13, Sanlitun East Sixth Street, which was the office of Persia in China.

Last year, the Islamic Revolution broke out in Persia, the Pahlavi dynasty collapsed, and Persia established the Islamic Republic. As the foreign affairs department of Persia, it naturally could not still belong to the Pahlavi dynasty and obeyed the new government at the first opportunity.

To be honest, Liu Tao was actually a little scared about the Persians nowadays. He wondered if these fanatical religious elements would do something excessive.

Last November, a group of militants occupied the US Embassy in Persia and detained more than 11 embassy staff. These hostages have not been released until now, which is known as the "embassy hostage crisis", which makes the United States very hostile to Persia. In the past year or so, some incredible things have happened in Persia, which makes people unable to understand no matter how hard they think.

However, under the media propaganda of Europe and the United States, the image of Persia is as bad as that of the devil.

Just to do business and make money, Liu Tao still visits in person.

About ten minutes later, Liu Tao met the person in charge here, Mohammed!

A middle-aged man, wearing a suit with a white shirt underneath and no tie, it was most likely that he had studied abroad in Europe or the United States.

Those who are appointed to be responsible for overall work in a country are often professionals who have studied abroad. Ordinary people are not qualified for this job.

"Young man, what are you doing here to visit me?" Mohammed frowned slightly. "If you want to go to Persia, you only need to follow the procedures to apply for a visa. But I think if you want to apply for a visa, you don't need to ask to see me!"

Liu Tao smiled and said, "Mr. Mohammed, I am an arms dealer. I have all kinds of guns and ammunition, various types of cannons, tanks, armored vehicles and even airplanes."

Muhammad looked surprised.

Then he looked at Liu Tao carefully, still incredulous: "You are an arms dealer? You Chinese have arms dealers? Don't you Chinese provide free military aid? And you are so young, can you be an arms dealer?"

Liu Tao looked helpless.

Before coming, he specifically checked with his comrades in the foreign affairs department and learned that Mohammed had just been appointed and had been in China for less than a month.

Obviously, Muhammad's view of China is still stuck in the past, and he doesn't know that China has made adjustments.

"Mr. Mohammed, actually, China has made a big adjustment since last year. We no longer provide free military aid to other countries. Instead, we provide paid assistance, just like an arms dealer." Liu Tao explained, "And I am the head of a large military factory. You can think of me as an international arms dealer."

"Our weapons and ammunition are cheap, good quality and low price, and we only want money, not any other conditions." Liu Tao said, "I know you are facing the invasion of Iraq now, I sympathize with you, and I believe you need our help."

"Hundreds of thousands or even millions of pistols, rifles, machine guns, even thousands of artillery pieces, millions of artillery shells, and one or two thousand main battle tanks." Liu Tao became more and more confident as he spoke. "As long as you have enough money, you can buy a large amount of weapons and ammunition."

Muhammad's heart skipped a beat.

Hundreds of thousands or even millions of guns, thousands of artillery pieces, millions of artillery shells, and one or two thousand tanks.

Is this really an arms dealer?

And this arms dealer is so young!
Muhammad couldn't help but hesitate, not knowing whether he should trust this extremely young man in front of him.

(End of this chapter)