I ask you to build tractors, but you build rockets?.

Chapter 740

“In two to three years, we will reduce the cost of the products on these lists to 30% of the current level!”

After the representatives of Lightly Machinery left, Ye Changsi took several finalized domestic manufacturers and continued the meeting on the spot to convey Xinyuan’s purpose.

However, when everyone heard this ambitious goal, they all looked embarrassed.

"Mr. Ye, it is difficult to improve the yield rate of precision parts such as servo motors and planetary reducer joints. Even if the output is increased several times in the future, the raw material cost can be reduced by at most 20%. The cost of the processing link is difficult to reduce."

Others also nodded quickly. Although industrial mass production can indeed significantly reduce costs, it also depends on the type of product. If there is no obvious change in the process or materials, there is really not much cost that can be reduced.

A direct cut of 70%, it can be said that only the material cost and electricity cost are excluded, it is impossible to be so low.

Ye Changsi: "Of course it won't work now, but the bottom line is that the efficiency of these precision processing equipment is far from comparable to that of simple punching machines, right?"

“That’s right. Many parts cannot be produced as simply as consumer products. They require multiple stations to be processed according to the process. The surface accuracy requirements are also different. The cumulative working hours are very high. The number that one device can produce is very limited.”

A representative in charge of the production process immediately explained and was relieved. It seemed that Ye Changsi was not unfamiliar with the technology.

Ye Changsi: “So you need to accept transformation, highly unmanned and automated, at least in some links.

Xinyuan has successfully replaced human involvement with AI-controlled high-precision machine tools. The imported equipment software will be improved by us. As long as full automation is achieved, it will be easy to increase efficiency by more than 50%. "

There was an unquestionable underlying meaning in his tone, but the three partners present had already reached in-depth cooperation and were not very resistant, but they still had doubts.

After receiving Ye Changsi's confident promise, the others quickly calmed down, but one person still couldn't suppress his doubts and asked in a low voice:
"Boss Ye, Amei is so kind that she just sold all these things... so casually? Is it that G2..."

Such speculation is quite appropriate. Not only ordinary people with some experience think so, but the outside world has also revived this idea.

In 2008, Fred Bergsten proposed the concept of "Group 2" during a bilateral economic meeting. The general idea was to let China replace the EU's position, and then the two countries would jointly lead the world economy and decide on any affairs.

According to the conception at that time, Aramco had a developed financial system and the greatest consumption power, while we had the most powerful industrial capabilities, which could achieve perfect complementarity.

To put it simply: Aramco prints money to eat and drink and enjoy cheap industrial products, while China is responsible for manufacturing goods and creating jobs. It is a perfect closed loop.

However, considering the historical context at the time, the fundamental purpose was actually to suppress the RMB, expand the US dollar system, and achieve greater profiteering.

Under modern economics, all national banknotes are credit currencies. The value and circulation of a currency depend on its scope of application.

Why did the value of the dollar soar after World War II? First, the dollar was still pegged to the U.S. dollar at the time and was indeed valuable, but the second and most important reason was that most other industrial countries were crippled and could not produce cheap and complete industrial products, while the United States had the strongest productivity in the world.

As long as you have US dollars, you can buy almost everything. On the contrary, other currencies are difficult to achieve the same purpose in the corresponding countries.

If "G2" is achieved, the money printed by Aramco will be linked to the cheap domestic industrial products. The RMB, which has been gradually strengthened due to its industrial strength, will be suppressed again, and its role will be gradually eroded by the US dollar.

The Federal Reserve doesn't need to do anything but print, print, and buy. Of course, G2 is a great thing for Ame.

Moreover, China at that time held the world's largest foreign exchange reserves and its military was relatively weak, making it a delicious piece of fat meat.

The sudden changes in the international situation now make it easy for people to wonder whether the "G2" is really being planned.

"of course not!"

Ye Changsi couldn't say too much to these people, he just said selectively:

"What we insist on is equality and mutual trust, the key is equality! You can go back and prepare in advance. We will also organize such a team to go to Amei soon. The sooner you do it, the more opportunities you will have!

Just like with Lightning, the delegation reached a deal with a nominal tariff, with the exact same rate on both sides.”

……

"Regarding the purpose of opening up trade next year, we propose the following opinions..."

Still in the villa in the suburbs of Washington, Xu Rang submitted the latest opinions from the country to Sullivan:
“First, the tax rate for ordinary industrial products will be reduced to no more than 7.5%, and the tax rate for categories that were previously included in illegal regulation will be no more than 15%;

Second, for high-value consumer electronic products such as cars and chips, a symbolic tax of 3% will be levied on private transactions, and the tax rate for large transactions must be lower than 25%.

Third, open up the individual exchange limits for USD and RMB, and integrate the bilateral banking systems with each other, but a transition period of no later than one year is required.

Fourth, open up aviation and aerospace...

……

34. Increase strategic mutual trust between the two sides, reduce the confrontation in the Western Pacific, and open up access to the region below the island countries...

……

Fifty-seven, the nationalities of the personnel of both parties..."

The nearly 57 opinions in total are further revisions and supplements to the previous rough resolution, which refine some of the content and expand some of the scope.

The economic aspect is generally within Sullivan's expectations, but matters involving aerospace and the Western Pacific are somewhat troublesome, almost requiring the United States to no longer have any interference power there.

Moreover, Xu Rang particularly emphasized this part, saying that this is the prerequisite for economic mutual trust. If these cannot be achieved, there is no need to discuss the matter at all, because the domestic situation will feel that there is no guarantee.

The country certainly does not want G2. In a sense, Amy is in a low position in this round of cooperation, and it would be a shame not to take advantage of the opportunity to make a profit.

As for Amy's proposal of space integration and establishing space order, although it is tempting, it is still just an illusory pie in the sky. It would be foolish to believe it seriously.

The domestic attitude is quite pragmatic. Strategically, the focus is on the interstellar, but tactically, it is still to live an honest life. Only by developing the present can we look to the future.

"Xu, we have received your opinions and will give you a reply in three days. This will not affect the cooperation matters that have been confirmed."

Sullivan did not rush to object. This was how negotiations between major powers worked. Three months was not a slow time. Adding the transition period that John had requested earlier, the entire negotiation process would actually last more than a year. They might even cooperate while talking until the two sides broke down.

After answering Xu Rang, Sullivan turned to other matters:
"Let us characterize this agreement. This is the first time that mankind has united together for a common danger. We still propose to base everything on the space order and formulate everything within the framework that can maximize the command of mankind's counterattack power."

With just one sentence from Sullivan, the scope was expanded from the two countries to all mankind. Combined with the previous issue of the Space Force, the ambition was already obvious. However, Xu Rang just nodded. Of course, he had no right to make a decision, but he didn't think that there would be much opposition from the country.

……

10 month 1 day.

In a year, it will be the 70th anniversary, and a huge military parade will be held.

There was no military parade on TV today, but there was an "arrow review".

……

"five four three two one!"

At the Wenchang Space Launch Center, a brand new rocket flew into the sky with a tail flame.

Ten minutes later, the outside world reported:

"Chang'e-7 was successfully launched, and the Long March-5's first mission went completely smoothly."

The Long March 7 has a diameter of 7 meters and uses 135 YF2600 liquid oxygen-kerosene rocket engines at the bottom. It has a takeoff thrust of 2000+ tons, a takeoff mass of 60+ tons, and a reusable payload mass of 24 tons. After adding a third stage, it can deliver tons of payload to the moon, perfectly meeting the design indicators.

Its CBC configuration has a low-Earth orbit capacity of up to 180 tons and a lunar capacity of more than 70 tons, perfectly replacing the Long March , which has been completely discontinued and has no stock.

The Jingu Rocket Manufacturing Base manufactured six rockets at one time, three of which were put into service independently, and the other three were put into service as a CBC combination as the "Long March 15". In total, it is equivalent to four rockets in service.

Thanks to the efforts of the Jingu base, the first launch of the Long March 5 happened just in time for the National Day, and the Chang'e 7, which had been prepared long ago, was sent to the moon.

The current Chang'e-7 is completely different from the previous plan. The previous Chang'e-7 was a probe to the back of the moon, but after the establishment of the United Mining Corporation, there is no need to occupy a separate launch mission for this purpose.

Chang'e-7 was shelved for almost a year, and due to the gradual maturity of the United Mining Corporation's lunar landing system, even the Chang'e project was almost abandoned.

The Chang'e Program was an unmanned project to complement the manned lunar landing. After United Mining established a cheap transportation line of aerospace plane - Dawn spacecraft - Wutu space station - Jiuzhang, there was no need to use rockets specifically to perform exploration missions.

Many tasks that were once planned to be performed by unmanned probes can now be done by just flying over and dropping a few robots and some equipment on the Jiuzhang spacecraft, which not only reduces costs but also does a better job.

After many twists and turns, it was finally the MTV (Lunar Transfer Vehicle), which was a round trip from lunar orbit to the lunar surface. This code name was used for small landing spacecraft projects similar to the Genesis.

The plan for the small MTV has been full of twists and turns, and it has become somewhat useless after the mature application of the Jiuzhang, because it has to refuel every time it takes off and lands, unlike the Jiuzhang which can take off and land three or four times.

Finally, the space agency threw it down to various branches, requiring it to be used as an emergency escape tool. Other functions could be used freely to see who was willing to take over this useless project.

After many twists and turns, this project actually fell into the hands of the Sixth Academy. The Sixth Academy took it not to expand its business, but to test its own nuclear engine.

This is the nuclear engine that the 110 Institute has been working on for a year. It has a thrust of 8.5 tons and a specific impulse of 1400 seconds. It is just right for Chang'e 24, whose empty weight cannot exceed tons.

However, due to time urgency, the completely redesigned Chang'e-7 is still an unmanned version and can only be used for delivery. Even its engine is a modified prototype for testing. In fact, the space agency only intends to use it for testing and it will hardly perform any tasks.

The real manned round-trip rockets are the optimized Chang'e 8 and Chang'e 9. The Chang'e series will continue in another type.

……

"One hundred and ninety-seven, one hundred and ninety-eight...two hundred!"

When Fu Xiangjie's voice fell, Li Wei, whose forehead was covered with sweat, finally couldn't hold on any longer. He stood up panting and rested with his hands on his hips.

The other team members followed suit and applauded because Li Wei broke their previous "push-up" record, from 122 to 200.

Because of the low gravity on the moon, the way to do push-ups is of course very different from that on Earth. Using elastic bands to restrain the body to increase strength is actually more difficult than doing it on Earth.

The previous record was held by Liu Ming, which was already a relatively high level. However, Li Wei, who is older than him, broke his record by a long way.

Of course, it’s not that Li Wei trains harder or is gifted, but the effect of “304”.

The 304 injections injected by Li Wei have fully taken effect, demonstrating its extraordinary enhancement ability.

Not only has his strength increased, but his reaction speed and recovery ability have also been significantly improved. In Li Wei's words, "his sleep quality has also improved significantly," and he has almost become ten years younger.

Among the others, Deng Lei has also gone through the entire cycle, Liu Ming still has one last week, Fu Xiangjie is the slowest, and the other four new team members have not yet received the injection.

Li Wei started drinking water after resting for a while. He would need to take a sample of his urine later, one for quick test and one for sending back to the ground so that he could keep track of changes in his physical condition at any time.

"If I can keep this up, I can at least continue working on the front line until I am 60!"

Li Wei moved his arms slightly and looked at his well-defined forearms with satisfaction.

"Instructor, even if you don't get the 304 injection, your physical fitness is at the peak level of a normal person in his thirties."

"Haha... But it's always a good thing to be able to make use of my remaining energy. I still have a lot of work to do next."

Li Wei sighed a few words and looked at the four newcomers.

Accurate news has come from the ground that the final mission in 2018 is to build at least half of the lunar highway, connecting the Yushu base and the mine.

The large-scale supporting equipment for building the road has been manufactured and disassembled, and will be launched over in the middle of the month. People will gradually move in from November. The normal number of people stationed on the moon and in lunar orbit will probably be maintained at more than 11, most of whom will serve to build the road.

The eight existing astronauts must carry out the guidance mission, especially ensuring the safety of the large number of non-professionals who will be there later, and at the same time they must find time to perform a new mission: training newcomers.

They had already known about the Enterprise's entry into service with the Space Force, and they also knew that the Enterprise would land on Mars or other planets in the future, and would come to the moon for rehearsals and training before that.

When Fu Xiangjie thought of Mars, he became eager to try it:

"Landing on an alien planet probably still requires mature astronauts. Maybe they will select them from among us."

(End of this chapter)