The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 99 Technical Service Fees
The next day.

It was just dawn when Liu Tao opened his eyes and looked at the time. It was only about half past six.

My mother and sister had already gotten up and were making breakfast. I could see through the window that someone was shoveling snow outside.

The roofs were covered with white snow.

You can also see students making snowmen and having a lot of fun.

Liu Ziyu had been reading a book aside, probably for a while.

Liu Tao showed a look of satisfaction. Liu Ziyu was very self-disciplined in his studies. Although he would play for a while every day, it was always after finishing his homework.

Learning requires talent, hard work and self-discipline!
The college entrance examination at this time is truly a competition where thousands of people are competing for a single spot. This year, the number of college entrance examination candidates reached 469 million, with 28.4 admitted to junior colleges and undergraduate programs, and the admission rate is only 6.1%.

If you want to stand out from the crowd, talent alone is not enough, you also need hard work and self-discipline!
Liu Tao has the ability to arrange Liu Ziyu's life, but he hopes that Liu Ziyu can rely on his own efforts and fight for his own life.

After breakfast, Liu Tao and his parents went to work.

Instead of going to see Wang Baoguo, he went to Liu Zhenbang's office.

The sign of the foreign trade working group has been hung up and the staff are all there.

In fact, although Liu Zhenbang's administrative level has not changed, his weight has increased, because the foreign trade working group is directly under the leadership of the leader, and Liu Zhenbang can also go directly to the leader to report his work.

After learning more about the situation, Liu Tao did not ask much about the working group.

He just emphasized that the orders must be completed with quality and quantity guaranteed. When customers request to send technical personnel to provide services, Liu Tao reminded them that he could agree to it, but a technical service fee would be charged.

At this time, although the transformation had lasted nearly a year, it was still in a transition period and everyone's thinking was still stuck on free aid, and there was no concept of technical service fees at all.

Sending technicians to teach technology, how to drive a tank, how to operate a weapon, all of this was free of charge in the past.

But it’s different now, these also need to be paid.

On this point, Liu Tao believes that we need to learn well from European, American countries and the Soviet Union.

When doing business, it is good enough to have no additional conditions, and the fees that should be charged should be charged.

"But how much will the technical service fee be?" Liu Zhenbang looked thoughtful after hearing what Liu Tao said.

After all, there is no precedent for this, and now as an arms dealer, everyone is still in the exploratory stage.

Unlike firearms, cannons and armored vehicles often require instruction from technicians in order to better master the weapons and equipment.

The same goes for missiles, aircraft, and ships.

"For example, we can charge 1% of the tank and artillery contracts," Liu Tao suggested. "The more advanced the weapons, the higher the technical fees can be. Technicians who go abroad to provide technical services should also be given more subsidies."

"1% technical service fee, isn't that too high? That would be five or six million US dollars!" Liu Zhenbang was shocked. "And there's no precedent for giving more subsidies, it doesn't conform to the rules."

Liu Tao curled his lips and said, "Reform and opening up now is like crossing a river by feeling the stones. Everyone is exploring. If we just follow the rules, what's the point of talking about reform and opening up?"

"We have revised the salary system of Panshan Machinery Factory twice," said Liu Tao.

To be honest, he felt helpless. After three decades of planned economy, reform and opening up, and a change in ideas and concepts could not be accomplished overnight.

Just like now, there is no individual economy yet.

Doing business is still a very risky thing in this era.

Doing business nowadays is seen by ordinary people as speculation. Having money does not mean you are safe!
Liu Tao knows that his father Liu Zhenbang is conservative by nature, but for some reasons, he has to stand out and is a reformist. If Liu Tao were in Liu Zhenbang's position, he would definitely take drastic measures, not only to complete the delivery of orders, but also to take this opportunity to build more relationships with customers and further explore the possibility of new orders.

Liu Tao borrowed the phone from the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building and made a long-distance call to Wang Tiezhu to report on his work. He also contacted Panshan Machinery Factory to learn about the situation of the factory.

Since there was nothing to worry about, Liu Tao could stay in the capital for two more days with peace of mind.

In the evening, Liu Tao and his family came to the Capital Hotel wearing new clothes.

The Capital Hotel was first built in 1900, and it has been nearly 80 years since then. After two expansions in 1954 and 1974, the Capital Hotel is undoubtedly the best hotel in Beijing. At this time, there is a lot of traffic outside the Capital Hotel, and it is very lively.

Liu Tao ordered dishes, drinks and wine first.

The cost of hotel accommodation in Beijing is very high. Usually, the main consumer group is foreigners, and only they can afford it.

Liu Tao chose Jingcheng Hotel as the venue for the first meeting between the two families because he attached great importance to it.

Not long after, Zhu Lin's family was seen.

This time, Liu Tao did not call Zhu Lin's parents Teacher Zhu and Teacher Fang, but politely called them uncle and aunt.

When Liu Ziyu saw this, he hurried in to report, and soon Liu Tao's family came out to the door.

The two families were polite to each other and seemed very harmonious.

Liu Zhenbang and Zhu Xiongxin are almost the same age. After two glasses of Moutai, they have already started to call each other brothers.

Although one was in the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building and the other was a teacher in the college, to be honest, the two were in the same system. After all, the Beijing Institute of Technology was under the jurisdiction of the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building.

Liu Tao's mother kept talking about Liu Tao's past, which made everyone laugh.

Liu Tao's face twitched involuntarily, but there was nothing he could do, since she was his mother, he could only endure it.

"If Linlin comes to our house, we will definitely treat her like our own daughter." The more Chen Fang looked at Zhu Lin, the more satisfied she became.

Even though they were both women, they couldn't help but feel amazed when they saw Zhu Lin for the first time. They felt that this woman was like the Lady of the Nine Heavens who had descended to earth.

The more you look at it, the better it looks.

Moreover, Zhu Lin has an elegant temperament and looks like a lady from a noble family. It is hard to find a daughter-in-law like her.

Zhu Lin's face turned slightly red, showing shyness.

Liu Tao was very happy in his heart, thinking that his mother's assist was good.

Liu Zhenbang also said: "After they get married, the house they live in will be very close to you, and it will be convenient for them to visit each other."

"Doesn't Liu Tao's unit be in Yunnan Province? Does he also have a house in Beijing?" Fang Zhen said in surprise.

Chen Fang smiled and said, "A few days ago, a wealthy family wanted to sell their house to go abroad, so he bought it and spent a full 80,000 US dollars."

Zhu Xiongxin and Fang Zhen were very shocked. They were both stunned by this huge investment.

Their family is considered wealthy, with tens of thousands in bank deposits, but it is far less than 80,000 US dollars.

Even if they have never tried it, they know how difficult it is to exchange US dollars. It is impossible for ordinary people to exchange US dollars at a bank.

Even if an organization wants to exchange U.S. dollars, it must go through strict review at each level, and only after passing the review can it be exchanged.

(End of this chapter)