That year the flowers bloomed 1981

Chapter 1495 A Good Thing That Kills Three Birds with One Stone
When Li Ye's plane landed in Beijing, it was already past 10 p.m., but Ma Zhaoxian called him.

"Li Ye, you've gotten off the plane, right? If you have time, come to the group headquarters! I'll be waiting for you here."

Li Ye was slightly taken aback, then smiled and said, "What's wrong, Uncle Ma? Why are you still working overtime at the company so late? Has something serious happened?"

Ma Zhaoxian said, "It's nothing major. Several company executives called me today, saying they'd like to visit our group in the next few days, so they wanted to discuss it with you."

"You're coming to visit our group? Great, I'll be right there."

Li Ye pondered for a moment, and seemed to have guessed something. He then called home and told the driver to head straight to Jingnan Group.

Upon arriving at Jingnan Group, Li Ye's guess was indeed confirmed.

"This morning, representatives from the Shanghai Gear Company officially sent us a letter listing the performance standards and prices of their eight-speed gearboxes."
In the afternoon, Dongshan Jicheng Heavy Truck called me, wanting to schedule a time to visit as soon as possible. I probed their intentions, and it seemed they wanted to provide us with ready-made engines, rear axles, and even chassis components.
What's even funnier is that not long after, people from Weixian Diesel Engine Company contacted me again, saying they could also provide us with engines.
I was thinking that an engine might have two parent companies! So I wanted to discuss this with you. Aren't you from Dongshan? Could you find out more about their background?

Li Ye chuckled and said, "Uncle Ma, we don't need to ask about this kind of thing. We can guess the general idea. The two prototype vehicles that Shang Bin secretly produced are basically just rebadged versions of the Jicheng heavy truck. It's like playing house."

However, Qu Si's visit to the Southwest today may have given some people the wrong signal, making them think that we will also adopt the technology of reskinning, so of course they hope that we will buy engines and chassis parts from them.

As for Weixian Diesel Engine, they also came to our aid. It's simply that the people of Jicheng believe they can control Weixian Diesel Engine, while Weixian Diesel Engine feels it can make the decisions.”

In 1983, in order to address the low level of development of the heavy truck industry in mainland China, the state-owned enterprise State-owned Heavy Truck Group was established based on Jinan Heavy Truck. Weixian Diesel Engine Company was affiliated with the State-owned Heavy Truck Group and obtained a complete set of imported diesel engine technology.

Jicheng naturally considered Weixian Diesel Engine as its own son, and following the conventional thinking of "if the ruler wants the subject to die, the subject has no choice but to die; if the father wants the son to die, the son has no choice but to die," it was bound to do whatever it wanted.

However, a remarkable individual emerged from Weixian Diesel Engine Factory. He had his own ideas and a rebellious streak, preferring to follow orders rather than directives.
But a genius is a genius. Through a series of actions, he sought development and breakthroughs, increasing the total assets of Weixian Diesel Engine to a level far exceeding that of Sinotruk Group.

In 1993, Weixian Diesel Engine was in a critical period of development. When they contacted Ma Zhaoxian, they naturally wanted to bypass Jicheng and supply the Beijing area directly.

The fact that all these manufacturers contacted Ma Zhaoxian within a single day clearly indicates that Shang Bin was behind it.

Southwest Heavy Truck procured parts and assembled two prototype vehicles, but the people in Jinan might not care. After all, Southwest Heavy Truck has been playing the rebadged game more than once or twice in recent years. At most, it's only a few hundred units, which is nothing to a sales manager.

But now that Qu Si has led a tour group there, and Shang Bin is boasting that Jingnan Group will adopt the "assemble-yourself" technology route, then the procurement volume and significance will be completely different.

In recent years, the light truck company has been thriving, dominating the light truck and light bus sectors and forcing many established automakers to retreat.

Therefore, when the light vehicle company introduced Kamaz heavy truck technology, Jicheng was definitely on high alert, after all, Li Ye's bold and decisive style made all competitors in the industry tremble with fear.

But now that Shang Bin has actually come to their door, how could they not be happy?
"You clearly have Kamas's technology, but you insist on relying on Jicheng for development. You're really treating them like dirt!" After Li Ye finished speaking, he saw that Ma Zhaoxian's face was a little gloomy, so he smiled and said, "What's wrong, Uncle Ma? So many people treat us like a hot commodity, and you're not happy? If you don't want to pay attention to them, then we'll just ignore them, won't that be the end of it?"

Things won't be that simple.

Ma Zhaoxian said in a deep voice, "If we accept and follow Shang Bin's path, these people will naturally treat us like a hot commodity. But if we don't, we'll become enemies. Shang Bin is using outsiders to deal with us!"

Li Ye paused for a moment, then chuckled and said, "You mean Shang Bin is going to betray his country?"

Ma Zhaoxian sneered, "Hmph, a person like him never cares about the lives of others when it comes to his own interests. It's not surprising that he would do anything."

Li Ye shook his head and said, "It's not that I think highly of Shang Bin's character, but I feel that he himself doesn't have much say in the Jingnan Group, so why should he think that outsiders can make decisions for us?"

"Because it allows us to achieve results more quickly."

Ma Zhaoxian said earnestly, "Shangbin has chosen the assembly technology route, which not only allows the new car to be launched in a short time, but also benefits other domestic auto parts companies."
Both the Shanghai Gear Factory and Weixian Diesel Engine Factory are currently facing pressure to expand production capacity and need national support. They, like us, are children of the nation.
If we adopt Shangbin's technical approach, it would be a win-win-win situation for many of the people mentioned above.

Li Ye silently looked at Ma Zhaoxian, and after a moment asked, "Uncle Ma, do you agree with Shang Bin's technical approach?"

Shang Bin's "skinning" plan is a win-win situation for many people, but it doesn't align with Li Ye's insistence on self-research and development. So if Ma Zhaoxian can't withstand the pressure and wants to achieve quick results, then Li Ye will be in a real passive position.

"Of course not. I understood the principle that one must be strong to forge iron."

Ma Zhaoxian said with certainty, "When I first came to the Light Vehicle Company, it was just a small factory in the industry, and it wasn't even taken seriously by the big companies at industry conferences."
But now when their top leader calls me, he's incredibly polite. Why is that? Isn't it because we have our own resources?

It's easy to assemble a car using readily available parts, but we're not some small factory without technology or capital. Why should we be at the mercy of others?

Li Ye smiled somewhat sheepishly. He had just thought that Ma Zhaoxian had sensed the impending pressure and was forced to come to Li Ye to discuss a compromise!
But now it seems that after years of cooperation with Li Ye, Ma Zhaoxian has developed his own ambitions.

These days, many small factories handcraft "re-skinned cars" to earn praise and promotions. But such achievements cannot withstand the test of history and will all be lost in the long river of time.

The light vehicle company is no longer a small factory.

However, Ma Zhaoxian suddenly changed the subject and said to Li Ye with an awkward smile, "But Li Ye! It's not good that our research and development progress is too far behind Shangbin's. Could we at least make a few prototype vehicles to share some of the pressure?"

(End of this chapter)