The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 266: Ideological Gap
Leave the cafeteria.

Liu Tao arrived at the tank manufacturing plant.

The shift change has been completed here, and a new group of workers are now in production.

Liu Tao did not directly participate in production and manufacturing, but instead checked the instruments and equipment.

He is about to return to Beijing, and he has to make sure that these instruments and equipment are in good condition so that he can spend the New Year in Beijing with peace of mind. Here, production can continue during the Spring Festival.

Of course, it doesn’t mean that the factory didn’t have holidays. During the Spring Festival, the factory did have three days off.

However, due to the heavy pressure of delivering orders at the tank manufacturing plant, production continued as usual during the Spring Festival, but the shifts were adjusted from four to two, with shifts taking turns to take holidays.

"Twenty-four hours of production every day will cause great wear and tear on machinery and equipment!" Liu Tao said inwardly.

In theory, it is best for machines and equipment to rest for a few hours a day.

It was just because the delivery pressure of tanks and armored vehicles was so great that in order to complete the delivery in time, the machinery and equipment had to be operated intensively. However, Liu Tao repaired the damage to the machinery and equipment every once in a while.

Similarly, he would go to the mountain city almost every month to repair the damaged machinery and equipment at Factory 256.

Otherwise, if we continue to operate these machines and equipment, even the most advanced machine tools would have been scrapped.

The machines and equipment were repaired one by one.

"Director, I still don't understand this fire control system." A voice came.

But I only saw a man with a broken arm walking towards me with a thoughtful look on his face. He was the chief engineer of Panshan Group.

"If you don't understand, just work on it slowly. You will figure it out one day." Liu Tao smiled.

The advancement of the fire control system has reached the world's leading level.

In the past, China’s performance in this regard was not even worth mentioning.

Otherwise, the Type 69 tank would not be so bad that even the soldiers would not be willing to use it and would rather choose the Type 59 tank.

"Mr. Zhu, I know you want to modify the Type 59 tank, but in my opinion, no matter how much you modify it, it is meaningless." Liu Tao couldn't help but say.

Zhu Yusheng and others are studying the fire control system, armor protection technology, and tank engines, and want to modify the Type 59 tank.

They have deep feelings for the Type 59 tank.

"How can it be useless? The troops are still equipped with more than 4000 Type 59 tanks. As long as a modification plan is proposed, the performance of these Type 59 tanks can be improved, thereby improving the combat effectiveness of the armored forces." Zhu Lao said firmly: "These are all people's property, and they cannot be wasted."

4000 Type 59 tanks, what a huge number.

Liu Tao sighed in his heart. These old people had all come from the most difficult times and were thrifty in their bones. They sewed and patched for three years, and then sewed and patched for another three years.

I can't bear to throw it away until it is really unusable.

Even when the day comes when it can no longer be used, I still can't bear to throw it away, always thinking that maybe it can be repaired someday.

"Mr. Zhu, if you have the time, you might as well produce more new tanks." Liu Tao said, "We can just sell those Type 59 tanks later."

"A great man once said that we must never become arms dealers." Mr. Zhu's voice became lower and lower.

Liu Tao sighed secretly. The great man had indeed said something like that, but times have changed and one cannot just stick to the old ways.

If you don't work as an arms dealer, how can you make so much money and maintain your growth?
In the past two years, the foreign exchange earned by arms exports has far exceeded that of oil exports. In terms of profits, the foreign exchange earned is much more than that earned from exports in the past three or four years.

According to the latest national data, excluding the trade in weapons and equipment, exports to Iran and Iraq, and exports of King Long Computer and Gree Electric Appliances, the total import and export value of goods last year was US$460.3 billion, of which total exports were US$220.1 billion and total imports were US$240.2 billion.

In other words, the goods deficit for the whole of last year reached a staggering -20.1 billion US dollars!
And this is only the trade deficit for the import and export of goods. Taking into account the foreign affairs departments abroad, sending scholars and college students to study abroad and conduct overseas inspections, the deficit in this regard may have reached US$22 billion or even US$23 billion.

However, China's foreign exchange reserves have increased instead of decreased, and these are all from arms export trade and goods exports to Iran and Iraq.

This is not the first time that China has had a trade deficit. On the contrary, from 1978 to the present, China has always had a trade deficit in normal imports and exports of goods.

Zhu Yusheng and others wanted to modify the Type 59 tank and not waste the people's wealth. But Liu Tao wanted to produce more new tanks, let the troops use more advanced tanks, and then export more tanks and armored vehicles to earn more foreign exchange to feed back to the country.

This is the huge ideological gap between them caused by the different times.

This ideological gap is not only reflected in this aspect, but also exists in life.

For example, in the cafeteria, as long as the food is available, you can take it on demand, but Zhu Yusheng and his friends think that the food is too good and it is a huge waste.

There was even one time when Zhu Yusheng brought it up at a party group meeting.

In Liu Tao's opinion, everyone worked hard to produce. When there was no money in the past, they naturally had to save money, eat worse and live worse. But now everyone is not short of money, and the company even has a lot of money, so naturally they have to eat better and live better.

However, Liu Tao also understood Zhu Yusheng and his generation. That generation had all experienced the cruel war years. At that time, China was on the brink of national salvation. If they were not careful, China would be completely destroyed.

Liu Tao lived in a peaceful era, which could be said to be a prosperous and strong era compared to the present era.

"Director, can you give me some advice?" Zhu Yusheng asked.

He knew that Liu Tao was also one of the world's best in fire control systems, far ahead of domestic experts in this field.

Domestic experts in fire control systems are like elementary school students in front of Liu Tao.

Liu Tao said helplessly: "This involves chips, or semiconductor technology. You didn't know much about this before. You wouldn't understand even if I told you!"

"Learn slowly, and one day you will understand it thoroughly." Liu Tao said.

The fire control systems of the new tanks he developed are at the world's leading level, and each tank and armored vehicle is equivalent to having the help of a computer.

Zhu Yusheng only knew about computers but did not understand them.

Zhu Yusheng touched his head. Since the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building transferred him here to serve as chief engineer, Zhu Yusheng gladly accepted the appointment because his previous visit to Panshan Machinery Factory left a very deep impression on him.

Why did Liu Tao know so much about tanks and armored vehicles? How did he make such an advanced tank?
All of these seem to be shrouded in mystery, leaving people full of questions.

This is an incredible thing, but it happened.

You should know that the development of the second-generation main battle tank had already begun before, with component development starting in 1974 and complete vehicle development starting in 1980.

However, they encountered great difficulties. No matter how optimistic the entire development team was, they felt that it would take at least ten or even more than ten years to complete the design of the second-generation main battle tank.

But who could have imagined that Liu Tao suddenly successfully developed the third-generation main battle tank. The 'Type 80' main battle tank was just a test, and its performance in all aspects reached the world's advanced level.

The second generation of main battle tanks naturally also failed.

(End of this chapter)