The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 255: Not enough! Far from enough!
No. 13, Sanlitun East th Street.

Liu Tao met his good friend 'Mohammed'.

"Nice to meet you, my friend!" Liu Tao spoke in not very fluent 'Persian'.

In order to communicate more smoothly with his friends, Liu Tao can now speak fluent Arabic, and can also use Persian for daily communication.

Muhammad said: "Nice to meet you, my friend!"

The two chatted for a while.

Muhammad used to be a professor who inherited the Persian culture and attached great importance to etiquette.

On this point, both sides have a common language.

China is also a country of etiquette.

"Liu, my friend, we need your advanced tanks and self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, the same as the Iraqis." Mohammed made a request in front of Liu Tao. "I mentioned this to Mr. Liu Zhenbang, but he said he had to discuss this with you in person."

"My friend, these two weapons are not cheap!" Liu Tao showed an embarrassment, "and our production of these two weapons is very limited, so it will be difficult to deliver them in the short term."

This is the truth, Liu Tao did not lie to Muhammad.

"My friend, you know me well. I will not exaggerate."

Mohammed frowned slightly. "200 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, 500 million US dollars each; 400 tanks, 180 million US dollars each. We have only one condition, that all deliveries be completed in the next three years, with one third delivered each year."

"Impossible! Muhammad, my friend, not to mention the harsh delivery conditions, the price is not enough. We can't make any profit at this price." Liu Tao shook his head.

Mohammed frowned and cursed in his heart, "Damn greedy arms dealer."

"But as far as I know, this is the price you sold it to Saudi Arabia," Mohammed said. "We are friends. Do you want to take this opportunity to raise the price?"

"No, no, no, my friend, you misunderstood." Liu Tao shook his head repeatedly, "As everyone knows, the dollar has depreciated! Just like now when you do business with Americans, 100 US dollars can no longer buy what it used to."

Mohammed didn't say anything, but it is obvious that the dollar is depreciating.

This can be seen from the exchange rate between the ruble and the US dollar.

The US dollar used to be very strong, but since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system, the US dollar has continued to depreciate.

Especially since last year, the rate of depreciation of the US dollar has been quite alarming.

There is nothing wrong with what Liu Tao said.

At this time, Liu Tao was secretly cursing Saudi Arabia, saying that he was like a sieve and had no secrets at all.

Even the Persians knew about it and were able to get Saudi Arabia’s purchase unit price.

Eventually, Mohammed raised his offer.

In addition to 200 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, 400 tanks and the corresponding basic artillery shells, there are also 800 missile launchers and 4000 "Vanguard" air defense missiles. The total contract value is US$52 billion, which includes tank crew training, maintenance training, and the later establishment of a tank repair factory in Tehran to repair damaged tanks.

Although the delivery pressure was so huge that Liu Tao couldn't handle it, he still took the order.

There is no way, the other party gave too much.

The money that can be earned from this order is huge.

Get the deposit first. I really can't pay that much later, so it doesn't matter if there is a little shortfall. Can they turn against me?

7 p.m.

The Fifth Ministry of Machine Building, or now it should be called the Ordnance Industry Corporation. The leaders walked into the conference room one after another.

When everyone arrived and sat down, Leader Zhang said, "Then according to previous practice, let Comrade Liu Tao report on his work first. If you have any questions, please wait until Comrade Liu Tao finishes his report."

"Good evening, leaders. In the past month, all our foreign trade deliveries have been made according to the contract agreement. We have delivered 35 Type 81 light tanks, 25 Type 81 medium tanks, 5 Type 81 amphibious tanks, and 35 infantry fighting vehicles to the troops." Liu Tao reported on the delivery situation.

For the army’s orders, payment is made only after delivery, and the money is directly deposited into the account of Panshan Machinery Factory. Now it should be said that it is China Southwest Ordnance Industry Group Corporation!
Liu Tao then reported on the reform.

Now those who need to be listed have been listed, and in terms of personnel appointments, those who need to be appointed by the China North Industries Group Corporation have all completed the appointments.

All the records that need to be filed have been filed.

The leaders listened very carefully, especially on the aspect of restructuring.

They had actually read the report on the relevant situation, but it was obviously not as clear and intuitive as Liu Tao's personal report.

The biggest move in the current restructuring is not the restructuring of the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building into the China Ordnance Industry Corporation, nor the restructuring of other machinery ministries into corporations, but the restructuring of the Panshan Machinery Factory, which involves as many as 10 ordnance companies and 7 civilian companies.

On a larger scale, it is directly related to the reform and development of military factories in the entire southwestern weapons industry system.

That involves hundreds of military factories!

The scale of the commotion was absolutely unprecedented.

Once the reform is successful, the impact will be huge. Even if it fails, there will be experience that can provide experience for subsequent reforms and avoid the pitfalls of failure.

This is the significance of the reform pilot units.

Throw a stone to test the water and provide experience of success or failure.

It can be said that the restructuring of Panshan Machinery Factory is not only being watched by the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building, but also by other ministries and commissions, and even the leaders above are paying attention.

Liu Tao reported in great detail in this regard and was not shy about mentioning any problems that arose.

The early reform preparatory group has carried out a lot of work.

However, when the formal reform was carried out, a large number of problems still arose. The entire organizational structure was shattered, and even people's concepts were shattered.

Before, everyone had already adapted to the identity of "state-owned factory". State-owned factory is the country's factory. In people's minds, state-owned factory is actually equivalent to the government. They have a stable job and are serving the country.

But now it has suddenly been restructured into a company.

Companies, which makes many people subconsciously believe that companies only exist in capitalist countries.

Not to mention, when the company signed the contract with its employees, many employees burst into tears and refused to sign at all costs, as if once they signed it would be like selling their bodies.

So much so that Liu Tao had to make the decision to postpone the matter.

All we can say is that he took it for granted and it was no big deal. After signing the contract, he just had to work hard and it would be the same as before. However, the impact on the employees was huge, and everyone was not prepared for the marketization at all.

It was also through personal practice that Liu Tao understood why the dual-track economic system was implemented for a period of time, because it was a product of a specific period in history.

In the past we had a planned economy, and now we need a market economy. It is impossible to achieve everything in one go.

Our thinking is not well prepared at all, and there are far from enough talents.

To put it bluntly, they don't even know what a market economy is or how to develop one. Under such circumstances, directly pursuing a market economy would be tantamount to seeking their own death.

(End of this chapter)