That year the flowers bloomed 1981

Chapter 1327: Is it a bluff or a steal?

Zelyushinko lived up to his reputation as someone specially marked by Sofia, and soon started arguing with Lao Shao, Li Ye, and others, his words full of aggression.

"Why don't you trust us? We, Sugo, supported your industrialization efforts decades ago, proving our credibility and capabilities."

But you've only brought us a list, and you expect us to give you real technology? How can you guarantee you're not scamming us?

"Please don't get agitated, Comrade Zelyushinko. We've come here from the East, thousands of miles away, not to commit fraud. We're simply requesting a list of companies you're interested in cooperating with, not to get any physical goods immediately."

"No, you just don't believe us. You're using this pitiful thing to fish for us. Are you going to mock the dignity of tens of thousands of workers like this?"

“Comrade Zelyushinko, we are negotiating with you based on the principle of equality and fairness. If you don’t even give us a list of your intentions, how can we explain this to our leaders and to the country?”

"You don't need to use your country's name to pressure me. Our country is stronger than yours. Give us the goods first, and we will naturally provide you with something of good quality."

"."

Seeing that Lao Shao's lips were dry from talking and he didn't even have a sip of tea, Li Ye quickly took out a thermos from his handbag.

"Old Shao, Old Shao, have some water and rest before we talk."

"Okay, okay, your thermos is pretty good."

"My wife prepared this for me. I have another one in my room; I'll bring it to you later."

"Hmm, what do you think we should do about this? That Liu guy is a bit stubborn, maybe we should report this to Director Liang."

While Lao Shao was drinking water, he discussed countermeasures with Li Ye.

Zelyushinko is clearly just being unreasonable, but Sumonkov isn't taking any stance or stopping him, which is really frustrating.

"No, we can't trust them."

Li Ye immediately rejected Lao Shao's suggestion.

Because such unequal cooperation requirements are almost always a trap.

It's like the "AI anti-drone system" that White Elephant sold to the Middle Eastern tyrants. First, they hype up AI to the skies, then they demand you send them 500 million US dollars, and then they'll show you their amazing product.

As for what's so good about this thing? You'll see when you see it.

What? You want to inspect the goods first?
Are you kidding me? This is a globally unique new technology. If you showed it to me, wouldn't that be leaking military secrets?
Okay, okay, five hundred million dollars isn't much. If it's really about artificial intelligence, the loss won't be that much.

And then...uh...uh...uh?
After the truth comes out, they still have a strong argument. Can you say that this is artificial intelligence?
The problem is that this kind of machine gun mount was not invented by White Elephant. It was designed by Britain during World War II as an anti-aircraft mount specifically for the Type 96 machine gun to provide air defense for infantry. White Elephant has been using the Type 96 machine gun into the new century, so it is a technological inheritance, not an original creation.

It must be said that there are indeed unique reasons why some people are able to get rich; people with ordinary thought processes simply wouldn't do such a thing.

However, this stalemate couldn't continue indefinitely. After thinking for a moment, Li Ye said to Lao Shao, "How about this? We'll take them to see the goods, then have them show us the goods, and then we'll go back and report."

Old Shao asked in a low voice, "Are there any security issues?"

The situation in Moscow is very chaotic right now, and Lao Shao is afraid of attracting thieves.

Li Ye replied, "It should be fine. We've used a separate warehouse for this."

"Okay, that's one way."

After discussing with Li Ye, Lao Shao communicated with the other party, and both parties agreed to take a car together to the warehouse prepared by Jin Peng.

When they arrived at the destination, Lao Shao finally understood what Li Ye meant by "safety should not be a problem".

A group of burly men watched Li Ye and his group warily. Among them were Chinese, Westerners, and local Su'e security personnel in uniform.

Jin Peng has been operating in Su'e for many years, and he is no longer a small business that can be easily robbed or confiscated.

As the heavy warehouse doors opened, the management of the Kamaz automobile plant finally lost their composure.

The thin list of supplies weighs almost nothing, seemingly weightless, but when it's placed in front of you, it's a mountain of supplies weighing one or two hundred tons. Even if you were to transport it by truck, it would take a whole line of trucks.

Think about when a major Middle Eastern customer came to China to buy Dongfeng Express. They hesitated at first, but after just watching a live-fire exercise, they couldn't wait to pay and place the order. This is in line with the principle of "seeing is believing".

Sumonkov looked around and asked Old Shao, "Comrade Shao, are all these prepared for us?"

Old Shao smiled and said, "Yes, as long as the technology and equipment you provide meet our needs, that's fine."

Zelyushinko quickly asked, "Do you have the final say?"

Old Shao raised his chin and said, "Of course, we flower growers never lie, and we never owe debts."

Zelyushinko seemed to realize something and didn't press the matter further. During the Korean War, China sacrificed a generation, and in the end, they even paid off their debts of ammunition and weaponry by sending trainloads of pork and other supplies. That kind of backbone is undeniable and unyielding.

Sumonkov looked at Zelyushinko, then said to Lao Shao, "We can agree to your request and will give you the cooperation list tomorrow."

"Okay, okay, I look forward to our collaboration."

Old Shao was very happy and quickly shook hands with Sumonkov, then prepared to leave hand in hand with him.

But after taking a couple of steps, Lao Shao could clearly sense that Sumonkov's steps were dragging, as if he didn't want to walk.

The shrewd and experienced Shao immediately understood what he meant and whispered a few words to Li Ye.

Li Ye smiled, went to tell Xiao Qi who was watching the warehouse, and then quickly sorted out several "gifts" based on the number of Kamas management personnel present.

There's no way around it; when it comes to gift-giving, it's a skill that's universally applicable.

The expressions of Sumonkov and the others visibly warmed up, and even that annoying Zelyushchenko became much more amiable.

"Haha, Eng, believe me, my friend, our cooperation will go very smoothly."

"Hehehe, of course, of course, our friendship will last forever. You can come visit our factory tomorrow morning."

"."

After Li Ye and the others returned to the hotel and reported to Liang Furu, the latter was also very pleased.

The beginning is always the hardest. Once the other party has something to sell, then the subsequent negotiations have a target.

. . . . . . .

The next day, Liang Furu personally led a team to the Kamaz automobile factory. Upon arrival, Sumonkov readily produced a densely packed technical list.

The engineers on the inspection team immediately began to analyze where they should start.

Although Li Ye was in charge of technology at his workplace, he couldn't get a word in edgewise at this moment.

However, he nudged Sun Xianjin, who then whispered to Liang Furu, "Director Liang, after making inquiries from various sources, I've confirmed that Kamaz's heavy-duty gearbox is advanced West German technology."
Multi-axle drive technology is also world-class, but you must use the model that was just put into production in 1986; the older models are outdated.

Liang Furu nodded, then whispered to the engineers. Soon after, his expression turned grim.

"Comrade Sumonkov, why are heavy-duty transmissions and multi-axle drive technology not on this technology list?"

Sumonkov paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "Liang, we have a lot of advanced technology, and our cooperation has only just begun. We have to take things one step at a time, don't we?"

However, Liang Furu refused to listen to the other party's nonsense. None of the advanced technologies proposed by Sun Xianjin were on the list. So it was conceivable that even if there were valuable technologies mixed in on the list, they would be second-rate.

The other party seemed to be kindly transferring these technologies to me, but in reality, they wanted me to help them clear out their unsold inventory.

"Comrade Sumonkov, since we are cooperating, we should each get what we need, so can this list be revised?"

"Oh, Liang, you're really too impatient and too picky."

"."

Next, the two sides discussed the issue again, and the atmosphere gradually became less harmonious.

Finally, Zelyushinko couldn't help but say, "Gentlemen, please don't think we're being unreasonable. Other clients have pre-ordered those technologies, and we can't disclose them to third parties before we've finalized the agreement."

"Oh? Which company from Europe or America is interested in your technology?"

Liang Furu's face immediately darkened, because Su E's civilian technology was not very attractive to developed Western countries, so he believed that it was not someone who had intercepted the deal, but rather Zelyushinko who was "bluffing".

However, Zelyushinko calmly stated, "It's not a Western country, it's you Easterners, and it's a large country."

Liang Furu asked in shock, "A great Eastern power? Which country are you talking about?"

Zelyushinko smiled enigmatically and said, "White Elephant, is it a great power in the East?"

"."

The entire room fell silent for ten seconds.

Then Li Ye slammed the thermos he was holding heavily on the table, making a dull thud.

Then he muttered, "Damn it, what kind of great Eastern power is he?"

(End of this chapter)