The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 253 Different voices

Beijing.

Everything was fine when I first arrived, but not long after I got home, the first heavy snow in Beijing arrived.

The cold wind is howling, snowflakes are dancing in the wind, and the cold branches are dotted with the fragrance of plum blossoms.

The wind blows and the dancing snow is like flowers scattered by fairies from heaven, bringing with it a deep chill.

Liu Tao kept Li Fuguo in the courtyard and let Li Fuguo stay in a room in the courtyard at night.

Li Fuguo was shocked when he came to Liu Tao's house for the first time.

A courtyard this big is no bigger than the royal palace of the feudal dynasties in the books.

It’s not magnificent, but it’s very quiet.

Looking at what he had for dinner, this form of mutton hotpot was something he had never tasted before.

Eat mutton hotpot and drink Moutai.

This was not the first time that Li Fuguo had met Liu Tao's parents, Liu Zhenbang and Chen Fang, but it was the first time he knew their identities.

Li Fuguo then learned about Liu Tao's family background.

Before, he had never asked about it, and Liu Tao had never said anything about it.

The snow that night was getting heavier and heavier, as if it would never stop.

There is a lot of snow on the ground, on the roofs, and on the grass and trees, and you can make snowmen and have snowball fights.

A few children, wearing cotton-padded jackets, made snowmen and had snowball fights in the yard after eating hot pot, having a lot of fun.

When Liu Tao woke up the next day and just walked out of the room, he saw that it was all white outside. There was snow everywhere, and the sky and the earth were covered with a layer of white.

After breakfast, Liu Tao personally drove the jeep to take Li Fuguo to the Higher Military Academy.

In the afternoon, Liu Tao went to the China North Industries Corporation.

Although the sign has changed, the office location remains unchanged, the various office areas have not changed, and there are still guards standing guard at the door.

From the perspective of restructuring, the China North Industries Corporation is now just a simple change of name, but the substance inside has not changed and it is still the same as before.

This is where the difficulty of reform lies. Everyone is crossing the river by feeling the stones. We are not clear about the road ahead and have to grope our way forward on our own. Our steps are very slow, or we are even standing still.

Liu Tao was the first to arrive at Wang Baoguo's office. At this time, there was already someone in Wang Baoguo's office, so Liu Tao waited for a while.

About ten minutes later, Wang Baoguo's secretary informed Liu Tao that he could go in.

"Comrade Liu Tao is here!" Wang Baoguo said with a smile, "The troops have already received the batch of tanks you delivered. They were fast enough!"

Liu Tao smiled and said, "There is no other way. If we don't deliver them, the military representatives will get angry with me! They always tell me that if the army continues like this, we will lose all the tanks. We should just cancel the armored forces."

"Fortunately, the leaders mobilized a group of technical personnel to support us, otherwise we would not be able to complete the delivery work." Liu Tao said, and then pointed to his eyes, "Look at me now, I only sleep four hours a day, and my eye bags are very heavy."

Wang Baoguo joked, "I think you look very good. You don't have bags under your eyes. Your face is rosy and you look strong. If you are really that busy, you can still take a vacation and come back to Beijing."

Everyone knew that Liu Tao went back to Beijing for vacation every month. Some leaders were quite dissatisfied with him, but there was nothing they could do. Liu Tao would report to the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building every time he went back to Beijing, and he could always get some orders. People said he was coming to Beijing for work, so there was no problem.

After all, they are really doing things, not doing nothing.

Moreover, they all knew the rules and regulations of Panshan Machinery Factory, which were two days off a week, eight working hours a day, and forty hours a week.

However, the production capacity of Panshan Machinery Factory has not fallen behind. On the contrary, it is the strongest in the weapons industry system.

After some greetings, Liu Tao took the initiative to ask about the Iran-Iraq War.

He is in Yun Province, so it is inevitable that he will be delayed in receiving news.

"The battle lines were still similar, with both sides in a stalemate. The Iraqi army had the upper hand, but the battle lines could not be pushed forward," Wang Baoguo said. "In September, Persia launched a massive counterattack, but it failed. At the end of September, Persia concentrated more than 9 troops and launched a large-scale Abadan counterattack."

Wang Baoguo said: "However, Iraq defeated the Persian counterattack. Your good friend Rashid led the armored division and defeated three Persian divisions, killing and wounding 2 Persian soldiers, capturing 1, destroying 360 tanks, shooting down 38 aircraft, and seizing hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles."

Liu Tao looked surprised.

I didn’t expect Rashid to achieve such a great feat.

"The Type 80 main battle tanks were a massacre against the Type 59 tanks. The Type 59 tanks were destroyed by the Type 80 main battle tanks before they were even spotted." Wang Baoguo said with emotion: "Now the Persians have proposed to purchase the same main battle tanks and self-propelled anti-aircraft guns as the Iraqis. The troops are very dissatisfied with this. Their own tanks are destroying their own tanks."

"And the self-propelled anti-aircraft guns provided the Iraqi troops with battlefield air defense capabilities, causing heavy losses to the Persian Air Force." Wang Baoguo shook his head. "There is already a voice saying that the Type 80 main battle tanks and Type 80 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns will no longer be exported."

Liu Tao frowned slightly, feeling a little tricky.

The Persians want to purchase Type 80 main battle tanks and Type 80 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, but the production pressure here is already very great.

It will be difficult to increase the production of Type 80 main battle tanks and Type 80 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns in a short period of time.

There are also voices saying that the Type 80 main battle tank and Type 80 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun will no longer be exported. Such voices naturally make sense. After all, these two are both powerful weapons and important national equipment. It is natural that such advanced weapons and equipment should not be exported if possible.

How can you make money if you don’t export?

"And the anti-tank missiles you gave to both sides have destroyed more than 59 tanks in less than a year, including more than 69 Type 59 and Type tanks." Wang Baoguo said, "Some comrades are worried that if these anti-tank missiles fall into the hands of hostile forces, it will inevitably threaten the safety of the Type tanks."

Anti-tank missiles, even the export version, still have a static armor-piercing capability of 600 mm. The armor protection of the Type 59 tank and other tanks will definitely not be able to stop anti-tank missiles.

"The Third Ministry of Machine Building and the Air Force also have strong opinions. The 'Vanguard' anti-aircraft missiles and the Type 80 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns pose a great threat to our aircraft. We have lost more than aircraft on the battlefield because of them." Wang Baoguo smiled helplessly, "Now some comrades are criticizing our Fifth Ministry of Machine Building for exporting all advanced weapons just to make money. Advanced weapons should be in our own hands."

Liu Tao couldn't help but roll his eyes. The problem was that the army had no money to purchase!

The purchase price of the "Vanguard" air defense missile for the troops is 3.5 yuan per missile, but the troops think it is too expensive, so they have currently purchased 20 launchers and 100 "Vanguard" air defense missiles.

Not to mention the Type 80 main battle tank and Type 80 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, there are not many orders so far.

What really attracted the troops were the Type 81 light tank, Type 81 medium tank, Type 81 amphibious tank and Type 81 infantry fighting vehicle.

"Without our efforts to export and earn money, would the country have so much foreign exchange? How could we have completed the streamlining of the troops so quickly, and this time we have to streamline the troops by another one million?" Liu Tao couldn't help but complain, "Without foreign exchange, can the troops afford to purchase American Black Hawk helicopters, F14 fighters, F15 fighters, and F16 fighters?"

The weapons industry system has been far ahead in exports in the past two years.

Although it is not included in the import and export statistics, the export data is definitely very impressive, not to mention the profits involved.

(End of this chapter)