That year the flowers bloomed 1981

Chapter 1336 I'll be a puppy if I lie.

January 27th, Monday, the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, the Little New Year.

At six o'clock in the morning, Li Ye and Wen Leyu got up, quickly washed up, and went downstairs for breakfast.

Because both Li Ye and Wen Leyu's inspection teams had inspection projects in the neighboring city of Tula, Deputy Director Liang and Team Leader Zhou discussed it and decided to go to Tula together today.

Although the two delegations have different research projects, they need to be accompanied by relevant departments when they go to Tula. If they go in two separate groups, it will cause trouble for the staff twice. It would be one thing if the staff were annoyed, but it would be another if misunderstandings occurred.

Doing business is all about psychological games. If your Chinese people come here today and tomorrow, one after another, they'll think that the scrap metal they're holding is a treasure! If they don't raise the price now, when will they?

Don't assume that just because people from Suzhou don't understand idioms, they don't know the tricks of waiting for the best price and asking for exorbitant prices. All unscrupulous merchants are the same.

After the two inspection teams finished breakfast and assembled, Moscow sent several people to accompany them to Tula. The person in charge, who occupied the center position, was none other than the 24-year-old Deputy Director Sofia.

Seeing this young woman putting on airs so convincingly, Li Ye felt that this world was truly magical.

If this were in China, no matter how hard you try, you would never let a 24-year-old be in charge of this kind of project.

Li Ye took a moment to ask Sophia, "Comrade Sophia, among the companies we visited in Tula today, were there any instances of Western companies acquiring worker shares?"

Sophia sensed the resentment in Li Ye's words. After all, the appearance of Li Ye and his group had given the workers on Kamas's side hope, so they began to hold back their shares, which could be considered a help to Sophia.
As a result, Kamas turned around and tricked China, pulling in a white elephant to play the "highest bidder wins" game. In the past few days, China has communicated with Kamas's side several times, but the other party has only given lukewarm and perfunctory responses.

Now that Sofia has gotten involved in the project in Tula City again, Li Ye can't help but suspect that she's up to something again.

However, Sophia glanced at Li Ye and said with a faint smile, "I apologize for what happened with Kamas. Today, I will definitely grant your wish, okay?"

Li Ye asked suspiciously, "You're going to let me have my way today? Are you serious?"

Sofia's lips curled into a wicked smile: "Let me borrow a proverb from your Chinese land to prove it. If I'm lying to you, I'm a dog, okay?"

Li Ye: "."

Okay, fine, if you don't keep your word today, I'll have to hear you bark twice. Besides, "I'm a dog if I lie" isn't a proverb, but one of the lies women are best at telling.

However, a few hours later, Li Ye learned that Sophia hadn't lied to him this time.

. . . . . . . .

Tula is located 180 kilometers south of Moscow. According to the Sugo map, it is connected by a super interstate highway, so Li Ye thought it would only take two hours to get there.

As a result, Li Ye and the others walked for four hours.

"No wonder we had to leave so early in the morning! Otherwise we wouldn't have made it in time for lunch."

Can you believe that some sections of this super interstate highway are gravel roads?
There's a limit to bragging, right?
Moreover, Li Ye observed that his convoy could arrive in four hours, while many other vehicles would be lucky to arrive within a day.

There were six or seven checkpoints on the road, and ordinary civilian vehicles would be checked for ages. Even though there didn't seem to be many cars in line, the traffic jams were so bad that you wanted to cry.

But Li Ye thought about the situation in mainland China in the 1990s. Forget it, let's not criticize each other, big brother!
However, after Li Ye and his group arrived in Tula, they received a warm welcome from the local reception department and were treated to a very sumptuous lunch.

This made Li Ye and the others suspicious. After all, the incident at the Kamaz car factory had left a bad impression on everyone. Now, they were being treated with such kindness for no reason. Could it be that they were up to no good?

However, after the tour began in the afternoon, Li Ye understood the predicament of these people.

Moscow is, after all, the capital of Sugo. No matter how difficult the situation is, the higher authorities will still take care of it. So while businesses in Moscow can still afford to eat cornbread, businesses in Tula are almost unable to even afford porridge.

Tula was one of the important industrial cities during the Sugo period, home to many large enterprises, among which the Tula Imperial Armory was the most famous.
The Mosin-Nagant rifle, a masterpiece of the Tula Arms Factory from decades ago, and the later "Dog-Shooter" assault rifle, are also widely known among gamers. However, what is less known is that the Tula Arms Factory also produced anti-tank missiles, portable anti-aircraft missiles, and multi-barrel rapid-fire weapons similar to the Gatling gun, among many others.

Therefore, Wen Leyu's inspection team was quite interested in the inspection project of the Tula Arms Factory. The gap between the mainland and Jiangsu's military industry is not only in those dazzling advanced aircraft, but also in many small details that need to be learned and emulated.

Why is it that a place with such outstanding technology has fallen to the point of eating porridge?
Just look at the large number of "military personnel converted to civilian jobs" in China back then, and you'll understand.

With the end of the Cold War, military enterprises had no orders. Kamaz Automobile Factory, at least, had a competitive advantage in civilian vehicles and could barely survive. However, the Imperial Armory directly shut down and was already in a state of semi-shutdown.

This is why they were so enthusiastic towards Li Ye and the others.

Just like back in 1992, everyone knew that the Russian SU-27 Flanker was a very advanced and rare commodity. The Soviet Union did not want to sell it to foreign countries, but if they really did not sell it, the Komsomolsk-on-Amur aircraft manufacturing plant would not be able to survive.

He wanted to promote the MiG-29 to China, but China didn't care at all. "Why would I marry the ugliest girl when I already have a beautiful one at home?"

So don't say that China made a huge profit by buying the SU-27. They didn't just sell it to China. Irkutsk Airlines exported it to White Elephant, Malaysia, and Algeria, while Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Factory exported it to China, South Vietnam, and Venezuela. It was all a mutually agreeable deal at a very low wholesale price.

Of course, Li Ye's target for inspection was not military industrial enterprises, but the Tula ferrous metal smelter and the Kosayagora metal smelter.

In terms of the level of metal smelting in mainland China in the 1990s, it was probably just as some public intellectuals said, "thirty years behind the world," and a large amount of special steel had to be imported.

At this time, Sugo's smelting technology may not be as advanced as that of Germany, Japan, and the United States, but there are many things that China needs to learn, such as tank gun barrels and aircraft carrier decks, which are all high-end technologies.

Why can't they make a living even though they possess advanced technology?
Because the application range of many special steels is too narrow, just like what later public intellectuals said, "China can't make ballpoint pen steel balls." If you produce them for a month, they will be stockpiled for more than ten years. How much money can you make?

The two metal smelters in Tula are in the same situation.

When Sugo was in power, it could support its continued production by relying on the vast markets of multiple member countries and within its sphere of influence. Now, it is relying on Russia's market of more than 200 million people. It is no joke that they would go hungry nine times in three days.

So after just one afternoon of visits, the two sides finalized a preliminary cooperation agreement, and the Cossayagora Metal Smelter indicated that as long as China pays a deposit, the technical data can be taken away now.

When people are starving, they're willing to buy anything on credit!

Deputy Director Liang was a straightforward person. He immediately handed a list of supplies to the director of the Kosayagora Metal Smelting Plant, Ledevich, and said that if he was satisfied, he could pay the deposit today.

Li Ye blinked, feeling that the list looked familiar. Wasn't that the list of supplies that had been provided to Kamaz Automobile Factory?
After looking at the list of supplies, Director Ledwich kept blinking and repeatedly saying that he needed the supplies right now.

Then, Li Ye's engineers began to examine the technical documents.

I've never seen such straightforward business people.

Liang Furu immediately said to Li Ye, "Li Ye, could you cooperate today to complete the handover of the supplies?"

Li Ye replied, "Of course, but as you've seen, there are many checkpoints on our way from Moscow. It might cause trouble if we deliver it ourselves. Could you discuss with them whether we can hand it over in Moscow?"

Liang Furu immediately had the translator tell Ledevich, who then waved the supply list at his men and rattled off a series of arrangements.

Then the smelter workers were as happy as if it were New Year's Day, and more than a dozen trucks, along with armed escorts responsible for transporting the goods, drove out.

Li Ye and Sun Xianjin were dumbfounded.

Is this guy even bringing an assault rifle just to move some stuff?

(End of this chapter)