The rise of great powers: starting from military industry

In the afternoon.

Liu Tao answered the phone and drove out with the guard.

"Mr. Hassan, who is this?" Liu Tao was a little surprised to see a strange Arab.

Hassan is the head of the Syrian Embassy in China.

In addition to the first cooperation between the two parties, there was another cooperation later, but the orders from Syria were not large.

Hassan smiled and introduced: "This is Hadi, the head of the Libyan Embassy in China."

"This time, Hadi asked me to make friends with you." Hassan explained the purpose of meeting Liu Tao this time.

Liu Tao looked at this middle-aged man with some surprise. It turned out that he was from Libya.

Unlike Syria, which established diplomatic relations with China in 1956, Libya is a country that established diplomatic relations with China relatively late. The two sides only established diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level in the past two years.

At this time, Libya was rich in oil and benefited from the sharp rise in oil prices. Libya was also extremely rich.

Although Libya's total population is only 3 million, its area is as high as 1.76 million square kilometers. In 1969, the "Free Officers" organization headed by Gaddafi launched the September Revolution, overthrew the Idris dynasty, and established the Libyan Arab Republic. Gaddafi is a strong man from heaven. He is extremely strong and has a very tough attitude. In the second year after overthrowing Idris, he announced that he would take back the old and American military sites near Tripoli, the capital of Libya. Relations between the two sides were sour. Just this year , the United States even closed its embassy in Libya.

Libya has a large land area, but more than 95% of the territory is desert or semi-desert. With a population of 3 million and 1.76 million square kilometers of land, it seems vast and sparsely populated. Libya’s proven oil and natural gas reserves rank first in Africa, respectively. 21.188 billion barrels and 1 trillion cubic meters.

Among them, proven oil reserves of 21.188 billion barrels rank tenth in the world, which is nearly 8 billion barrels more than China's proven oil reserves of 13.329 billion barrels. Proven natural gas reserves of 1 trillion cubic meters also rank tenth in the world, and are also much more than China.

As a major oil-producing country, Libya has made a fortune. After all, Gaddafi is a macho man. After establishing his power, he implemented a single state-owned economy. All the country's oil is owned by the state, and this has made Libya's income rocket into the sky.

Now Libya's GDP is as high as 33 billion U.S. dollars, and its per capita GDP is as high as 11,000 U.S. dollars, which is 56 times that of China. It is no exaggeration to say that Libya is the richest country in Africa and a developed country in the eyes of many people.

Libya and European and American countries were not doing well. In addition to taking back the old US military bases in 1970, when Laos and the United States were deeply mired in the Vietnam War, Gaddafi felt that the opportunity was not to be missed, and decisively announced in 1973 that the US oil company would be The shares were nationalized.

The most shocking thing is that not a penny of compensation was given to the other party, and it was completely confiscated.

Naturally, the old American wanted to take revenge, but she had no choice but to do it at her own wits. Deeply trapped in the Vietnam War, the domestic economy is weak, and it is unable to open a second battlefield in North Africa. These old Americans are also licking their wounds and recovering. In addition, Libya is the younger brother of the Soviet Union. If it attacks Libya rashly, it will cause the Soviet Union to be unpredictable. Reaction.

Liu Tao was surprised that the other party wanted to see him. You must know that Libya is the younger brother of the Soviet Union, and everyone knows about China's current relationship with the Soviet Union.

"Mr. Liu, it's nice to meet you. Hassan is my friend. This time I asked him to help me connect. Please forgive me." Hadi said with a smile, "I hope I can make friends with you and build a relationship between us. friendship.”

Liu Tao smiled and said: "Mr. Hardy, nice to meet you. I like to make friends the most."

Although he said this, Liu Tao became more and more confused.

Libya's current relationship with Laos and the United States is very bad, but its relationship with China is also average. There were even unpleasantness between the two in the past.

In the 1960s, China reached an aid agreement with Tanzania to help them build railways, etc., and Tanzania's domestic conditions gradually became better and better. Last year, in order to graft the domestic crisis, Uganda attacked Tazania, but was quickly repulsed. In desperation, it asked Kadozo for help. Since Kadozo has always wanted to be Africa's big brother, it was natural for Uganda to ask for help. He agreed and intervened in the Wu-Tan war, but lost in the end. Ka Dazuo scolded Rabbit a lot during this period.

After some pleasantries, Hardy also explained the purpose of his visit - to purchase a batch of arms!

Liu Tao was even more surprised.

You must know that Libya has implemented a military service system that combines compulsory soldiers and staff since the September 1st Revolution. The service period is 2 years. Therefore, even though the total population of Libya is only 3 million, it is definitely full of martial virtue and the army is not weak. The total strength of the three armies is 65,000, and the paramilitary force 'People's Armed Forces' is 50,000. The Army has 35,000 people, 2,950 tanks of various types, 2,160 armored vehicles, and 1,690 artillery pieces of various types. It has 1 tank division, 38 tank battalions, 2 mechanized infantry divisions, 50 mechanized infantry battalions, and 1 national guard. brigades, 41 artillery battalions, 12 airdrop assault battalions, and 6 surface-to-air missile brigades.

The navy has 8,000 personnel (including the coast guard), equipped with submarines, frigates, coastal defense vessels, submarine-driving speedboats, patrol boats, mine ships, support ships and helicopters.

The Air Force has approximately 22,000 people (including air defense forces), with 513 combat aircraft, 54 armed helicopters, and 89 training aircraft. It has 1 bomber squadron, 9 fighter squadrons, 7 ground attack fighter squadrons, and 1 counter-insurgency squadron. aircraft squadron, 1 reconnaissance aircraft squadron, 2 transport aircraft squadrons.

The Libyan army in this era is an armed force that cannot be underestimated in Africa, known as the 'Lion of Africa'. The Libyan troops are well-equipped with weapons and equipment and can definitely be regarded as an elite division.

If you only look at paper data, Libya’s armed forces are even higher than those of China.

Because Libyan tanks and armored vehicles are more advanced than China's, and their aircraft are also more advanced than China's.

Some military magazines in the world rank Libya ahead of China in rankings of military strength.

Liu Tao was calculating in his mind and began to analyze.

"It seems that Libya's involvement in the Ukraine-Tanzania war last year and its deployment of troops to intervene in the Chadian civil war this year have caused considerable losses!" Liu Tao thought to himself.

This was the biggest possibility that came to his mind.

"Never mind it, people are here to place orders. As an arms dealer, how can I open the door but not do business!" Liu Tao thought to himself, having already decided to take over the business.

Although the relationship between the two parties is not very harmonious, diplomatic relations are diplomatic relations and business is business. Business can still be done.

"Purchasing arms is no problem, but I wonder what kind you want to purchase? How much do you want to purchase?" Liu Tao said with a bright smile on his face, "Of course I have to remind Hadi, my friend, that I do business without any conditions. But you must pay half of the deposit first, and the balance can be paid upon delivery before shipment. You can use your own merchant ship to load the goods, or you can ask other freight companies to load the goods. It is not impossible to find our shipping company, but the freight is. You have to pay it yourself.”

Liu Tao first explained the rules of his business to prevent Hardy from messing around.