The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 41 Reaching Consensus
If you don’t manage a household, you don’t know how expensive oil, rice, firewood and salt are!

When he was in the Yunnan Provincial Defense Management Office, Wang Baoguo was troubled by the complaints from various military factories under him regarding their applications for funding.

When he arrived at the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building, all the large military factories and military scientific research units directly under him cried louder than each other, hoping to get some funds from him.

If even these large military factories and military scientific research units are in this situation, one can imagine how miserable the situation is for those small and medium-sized military factories and small military scientific research units across the country.

"We don't need any funds from our superiors for the expansion, we can solve it ourselves." Liu Tao said confidently.

Wang Baoguo laughed and said, "I forgot that your Panshan Machinery Factory is now extremely wealthy. I guess no other factory in the country can compare to you."

Wang Baoguo knows Panshan Machinery Factory inside and out.

The instruction given to Panshan Machinery Factory was to release production capacity and focus on the production of "Type 78" pistols, "Type 78" automatic rifles, "Type 78" heavy sniper rifles and "Type 78" squad machine guns. The army would purchase as many as it produced.

Naturally, he had heard about the planning of Panshan Machinery Factory and had even seen the planning drawings.

4000 million yuan, Panshan Machinery Factory can really come up with it.

As for the machinery and equipment that need to be purchased later, Panshan Machinery Factory can also afford it and does not need any money from above.

"Your Panshan Machinery Factory has funds. How you develop it is your business. I don't care." Wang Baoguo shook his head and said, "As long as the task is completed, I don't care about anything else. As long as the conditions are met, it is not impossible to upgrade it to a large military factory."

Liu Tao looked delighted.

With Wang Baoguo's words, the goal has been half achieved.

"As for the export of weapons and equipment from your factory, this has never happened before. It makes me feel overwhelmed when you mention it." Wang Baoguo frowned.

"We are not arms dealers." This sentence has meant that foreign military aid has been free of charge for nearly three decades.

Foreign aid projects are assigned by the state and are implemented by relevant units.

This type of foreign military aid ranges from small items such as pistols, rifles, and grenades to large items such as various aircraft and surface-to-air missiles.

"Leader, didn't the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee last year make the decision to reform the country internally and open up to the outside world? In January this year, didn't the superiors approve the change of foreign military aid from all free aid to three forms of charging, barter and free aid? This shows that the superiors want to promote the export of weapons and equipment to the international market." Liu Tao said.

He has made considerable preparations in this regard.

"But our current weapons and equipment are outdated and cannot be sold at all." Wang Baoguo sighed.

Ever since we changed our strategy, no one is willing to buy when they hear that it costs money.

China lacks foreign exchange, and the targets of previous foreign military aid also lack foreign exchange. They are all poor brothers, equally poor.

If people have money, they would either buy advanced weapons and equipment from Europe and the United States, or from the Soviet Union. Why would they buy China's backward weapons and equipment?

"Leader, backward weapons and equipment are relative. For many countries, weapons and equipment are too advanced for them to operate. The most important thing is to have appropriate weapons and equipment." Liu Tao said, "Besides, the firearms our factory is currently producing are also at the leading level in the world."

Even after more than 40 years, the weapons of World War II can still exert considerable power when used on the battlefield.

The advancement or backwardness of weapons and equipment is always relative.

Liu Tao continued to explain his plans and ideas.

Wang Baoguo could see that Liu Tao was clearly well prepared and had great confidence in his plan, and from a rational analysis, there was a great chance of success.

But this incident made Wang Baoguo hesitate, and he couldn't help but pick up a cigarette and smoke.

He puffed heavily, wandered around the office, thinking. This was something he had never done before, and even an old revolutionary like him had to be cautious.

Once it is done, it is likely to cause a chain reaction.

But if it succeeds, it will bring new changes to China's military industry and solve many difficulties in military factories.

China's military industry is currently in a state of disrepair and faces various problems.

In the final analysis, it’s just because we have no money!
He smoked one cigarette after another.

Finally, when the fourth cigarette began to burn his hands, Wang Baoguo took a deep breath, threw the cigarette butt heavily to the ground and crushed it with his foot, and then said: "Reform and opening up, we are also seeking change, and no longer providing free military aid."

"Just go ahead and do it. Your Panshan Machinery Factory will be used as a pilot!"

"I will put this on the agenda for the ministry meeting and discuss it."

Wang Baoguo has always been paying attention to Liu Tao, a young man with a keen mind, ideas, courage and a quick brain.

Panshan Machinery Factory originally had to allocate funds every year to maintain its operations, but even so, wage arrears still occurred.

However, Liu Tao suddenly emerged and turned the situation around in just a few months, bringing new vitality to Panshan Machinery Factory.

This is a young man who is good at creating miracles.

Now Liu Tao wants to export weapons and equipment. Although there is no precedent for this, as Lu Xun said, there are no roads in the world, but when more people walk, a road will appear.

The road is made by people!
Liu Tao is enterprising and motivated. As a leader, should we discourage his enthusiasm if he doesn’t support him? ?

If this is accomplished, the benefits will be self-evident. The mere fact that valuable foreign exchange can be earned is enough to make people pay attention.

Even if you fail, you won’t earn any foreign exchange, and you won’t spend any money either.

"Leader, please believe me, I won't let you down. Wait for my good news!" Liu Tao breathed a sigh of relief.

With Wang Baoguo's words, we are protected.

When he gets the contract, he can complete the order!

Even if there are other voices, for Wang Baoguo's sake, at least he can complete the existing orders.

"Then I want to see what kind of trouble you, Monkey King, can make." Wang Baoguo said with a smile.

After arriving at the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building, Wang Baoguo's vision has jumped from the Yunnan Province's military industry system to the national military industry system, and he is focusing on the overall national situation.

Even though the situation on the front line is still tense and not all troops have been withdrawn to their bases, Wang Baoguo actually understands that the country must focus on economic development in the future, and under such circumstances there is no money to invest in military research.

Even now, experts are being organized to discuss the conversion of third-line factories from military to civilian use. In the next few years, many military projects will definitely be cancelled.

"Since he is Monkey King, he will naturally make trouble in heaven." Liu Tao said with a smile.

In this wild era, as long as he is brave enough, Liu Tao doesn't believe that he cannot succeed.

If other people can fight and strive to make a name for themselves in this era, he can do it too.

What's more, the current situation is favorable to Liu Tao, which can be said to be the right time for him!

(End of this chapter)