The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 67 Dining out

In the evening.

Liu Tao, Wang Tiezhu and several leaders of the Yunnan Provincial Defense Management Office left together and went to a restaurant.

At this time, there are no private restaurants!

Even individual businesses do not exist.

All are either state-owned or collectively owned.

The hotel they visited was also state-owned and was one of the main reception venues for provincial and municipal government meetings.

After showing the letter of introduction, everyone found a private room and sat down.

In a restaurant like this, you can't eat here without a letter of introduction. It's difficult for ordinary people to come here to see the world and broaden their horizons.

Liu Tao ordered seven dishes, a soup, and three bottles of Moutai.

Last year, Moutai's production exceeded 7 tons for the first time, with the price at 1953 yuan a bottle, an increase of more than 75 times compared to the 13 tons produced in .

Since 1953, Moutai has begun to be exported through Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macau. In 1957 alone, Moutai Distillery produced 183 tons of liquor and exported 50 tons.

Wang Tiezhu watched Liu Tao come in with two bottles of Moutai and couldn't help but sigh, "During the Long March, people used Moutai to heal their wounds!"

"Oh? There is such a thing?" Liu Tao asked curiously, "Director, please introduce it to me."

Wang Tiezhu then started telling the story of the Red Army and Maotai Liquor.

Since ancient times, wine has been closely related to war. In order to win the war and encourage soldiers to fight bravely, the soldiers of both sides would drink wine before going to the battle, and drink to celebrate after the victory. This ancient custom of military wine culture has been passed down from ancient times to the present day, and has also been continued in the Red Army.

When the Red Army passed through the Maotai Winery before crossing the Chishui River for the third time, the superiors required all troops to make use of the winery's fine wines. Not only should they improve the troops' food as much as possible so that everyone could have enough to eat, but they should also deliberately bluff and create a big fanfare to confuse the enemy and create the illusion that the troops were all drinking "battle wine" and were determined to cross the river.

Due to the lack of medicine, many injured soldiers used Maotai liquor to clean their wounds to kill viruses and avoid inflammation.

"It was precisely because of this fate that Moutai liquor entered the Huairen Hall of Zhongnanhai on the eve of the founding ceremony. The leaders used it to congratulate each other. From then on, Moutai liquor was known as the national liquor. The country prospers, and fruit wine prospers!" Wang Tiezhu said, full of nostalgia. This is the 'founding wine'!
Another leader, Chen Gang, said: "Later, between 1953 and 1958, the state allocated a total of 150 million yuan to the newly established Maotai Distillery."

There was a lot of money at that time. 150 million yuan was enough to build a large state-owned factory.

"This wine cost 3.3 yuan a bottle back then, but now it costs 7 yuan. I usually can't afford to drink it, but it's good enough if I can drink it once a year!" Xiao Yunfei shook his head and said with emotion: "This time it's Comrade Liu Tao who treated us to a meal, otherwise I might have to wait until the Chinese New Year to buy a bottle."

This time, Liu Tao enthusiastically offered to treat not only Wang Tiezhu, but also three leaders of the Yunnan Provincial National Defense Management Office, a total of five people.

These days, no one wants to eat out.

Nowadays, every household is in a state of poverty. Everyone is as poor as a devil. Even if you are busy for a year, you may not have enough spare money to support consumption.

Therefore, for people at this time, being able to go to a restaurant is something to be proud of.

In this era, people who can afford to eat out are definitely not ordinary people. Those who can eat out frequently must have a certain amount of property.

People like Wang Tiezhu are considered high-income people, but you have to know that they only go out to eat a few times a year because they have five or six children, and each of their children has five or six children, all of whom have to rely on them for support, and they usually live frugally.

For someone like Liu Tao, who came directly to this hotel and ordered a table full of dishes and three bottles of Moutai, he was already considered extremely wealthy.

Three bottles of Moutai cost 21 yuan, which added up to yuan.

Fifty yuan, many people don’t even earn that much in a month.

The working class or cadres only make thirty or forty yuan a month, and ordinary people even make a dozen or twenty yuan a month!

Such a meal is equivalent to an average family's monthly income, or even more!
But Liu Tao thought it was cheap, very cheap.

Although the environment and service quality are not satisfactory, the ingredients are real. There is no need to worry about pre-prepared dishes and the food does not have any additives, so you feel absolutely safe.

Every dish is generous in portion and very fresh, with no frills.

Liu Tao opened the wine cap and filled each person's bottle with a glass.

Others were reluctant to go out to eat, but Liu Tao had no such concerns.

Every time he went to Kun City or returned to Beijing, he would always go out to eat and eat some toothpicks.

Under his leadership, the food in the canteen of Panshan Machinery Factory was very good, but after all, everyone had limited funds, and it was still not as good as eating out at home.

As for Moutai, Liu Tao rarely drank it before.

It was also during this trip to Beijing that he suddenly discovered that Moutai was indeed delicious. In addition, Wang Tiezhu and others were very supportive of his work, so Liu Tao spent a lot of money this time.

If he were alone, ten dollars would be enough for a meal at most!

A few people were chatting while eating, and after a few sips of wine, they almost became brothers, and there was no longer any sense of age difference.

Wang Tiezhu and others would talk about things during the Long March, the battles fought during the Anti-Japanese War, or the wars participated in during the War of Liberation.

All of them have come from that era. Even if they were not on the front line of the battlefield, they were working in military factories or in other logistical fields.

Liu Tao discovered that they stood very straight, with their spines held high, and were full of pride and contempt for their enemies.

That was accumulated through victory after victory.

"If I had gone to the Liaodong Peninsula back then, I would have let the Americans taste my power." Wang Tiezhu drank a few more sips and took off his hat.

His biggest regret was that he had never fought in the Liaodong Peninsula.

Liu Tao secretly admired these old predecessors. Their weapons and equipment were far inferior to those of the United Nations Army, which was armed to the teeth, and their logistical supplies were even worse. However, they dared to draw their swords against the enemy, and the brave prevailed when they met on a narrow road, and they defeated the arrogant United Nations Army.

Think about it again, I don’t know how many people have broken spines and weak knees, and can only kneel down and lick, thinking that the moon in foreign countries is rounder than that in China, and the air in foreign countries is sweeter.

There are even countless beautiful women who married low-level American workers or old men just to get a green card.

This is true for female celebrities and ordinary women as well!
Even at that time, when 84 combined forces brigades had been built, there were three aircraft carriers, -ton destroyers, advanced third- and fourth-generation aircraft, and conventional military strength had already jumped to second place in the world, some people just couldn't straighten their spines or harden their knees.

Compared with these predecessors, there is such a huge gap.

Liu Tao suddenly discovered that spiritual power was so powerful. Material wealth alone was not enough, spiritual power also had to be strong!
Otherwise, if you are rich in material things but weak in spirit, you will always be a mental patient.

(End of this chapter)