Go back in time and be a chaebol

Chapter 2601 The Opportunity Brought by the Empress (Second Update, Please Subscribe)

"...So the only question now is whose side are you on?"

When Natasha heard these words, a look of confusion appeared on her face. She frowned slightly and looked at Li Yi'an with some doubt.

She blurted out instinctively:

"I will never betray my country."

When Natasha said this, her expression and tone were extremely serious, and there was even a hint of anger in her voice.

The reason he was so sensitive was because of that previous question—whose side are you really on?
Isn't this choice designed to force her to betray?
Natasha's answer made Li Yi'an laugh out loud, and then he said:

"There are many reasons to betray one's country in this world. Some do it for money, some for power; in short, every traitor has their reasons."

"I will never betray my country."

Natasha emphasized again:

"never."

Facing the woman's answer, Li Yi'an looked directly into her eyes and said:
“Nasha, in this world, many people have reasons to betray their country, and some people will create those reasons to force them to betray.”

But a single person would never do this to their own family.

Then Li Yi'an said:
“We are family no matter what. So the topic I want to talk to you about is not betrayal, but your future with Andrei.”

"what!"

Natasha looked at Li Yi'an with some confusion, her expression turning somewhat awkward.

Everything seemed to be going against her expectations.

"Although I am not Russian, I have my own understanding of Russia."

Li Yi'an gestured for Natasha to sit down, and then he continued.

"There's a saying in Russia: a general's son is bound to be a general, because marshals have sons. It might be a joke, but it illustrates something. So... as a mother, what's your choice?"

"I……"

Natasha certainly knew what she was choosing; otherwise, she wouldn't have planned to go to Ukraine, nor would she have made this series of related plans.

Was everything done for her personally?

of course not.

Everything was for Andrei.

As a mother, Natasha wanted to give her child the best of everything. That's why she came up with this series of plans.

“I will give him everything I can within my means. But Andrei is my son. I will plan everything.”

Natasha's answer was essentially telling the other party—I am in charge of my child.

Of course, her answer was more of a warning.

Faced with this answer, Li Yi'an smiled slightly and said:

"Yes, I believe you will plan everything well, but as your elder, I hope to provide some help within my capacity."

Then he emphasized his words:

"It's just to help. Of course, you can choose to refuse, but I hope you can accept my help. After all, it's for Andrei's sake."

After learning Natasha's identity, and especially after realizing that her performance had caught the attention of the Kremlin's top brass, Li Yi'an began to have another idea.

Perhaps it's possible to plan some things in advance.

What should we plan?

It involves making plans for the future, but this future doesn't belong to oneself; it belongs to Russia or someone else.

Although Natasha is a bit too young, who knows?

Sometimes... anything is possible.

With their own help, this possibility would be much greater.

However, this requires her consent. After all, this could be a plan that takes ten or even twenty years.

"You...you mean you can offer me some help?"

Natasha looked at the other person with a puzzled expression, and then said:

"I'm in the Soviet Union."

While emphasizing her location, Natasha did not believe he could offer her any help, after all, it was the Soviet Union.

"So what?"

Li Yi'an said with a smile.

"Just as Pitt could start a company to see you more often, the same thing can be done if it can help you."

In this world, there is no problem that money cannot solve; any problem that can be solved with money is not a problem.

So what if she was in the Soviet Union?

If I wanted to, I could give her enough political achievements. The only question was whether she would accept them, or rather, whether she would be willing to stand on my side.

"You are now in charge of cultural exchange affairs. I think we can increase corresponding exchanges in the technological field. We can conduct relevant technology exchanges through negotiations. This can be considered as an achievement for you. Of course, this is not only to help you, but also to ease relations with Moscow." Li Yi'an did not hide his true thoughts, which were to ease relations with Moscow, after all, both countries are superpowers.

Lebanon is a place where the sea is somewhat advantageous, which means that certain concessions need to be made in Syria in exchange for easing relations with Moscow.

On the other hand, the Rising Dragon conflict continues. Both superpowers are playing their cards, one directly involved, the other providing assistance.

What were the basic principles of the Cold War? The two sides would confront each other, they would wage proxy wars there, and they would break off relations in a certain area.

However, both sides will eventually try to ease tensions through negotiations and concessions in certain areas. After all, they haven't reached the point of open hostility, so the easing of tensions is a natural outcome.

If that's the case, why give this achievement to someone else? It would be much better to give it to your daughter-in-law.

"Is this true?"

Natasha said in surprise.

"Of course, but this is only temporary. I think you will definitely leave the Department of Foreign Affairs in the future. So where will you go next?"

Although Li Yi'an didn't know much about Moscow, based on the information he had, someone with Natasha's background would definitely start from the local level.

Where she goes and what kind of work she does are directly related to her future development.

"Therefore, technical exchanges are only temporary. In order to provide you with more assistance, I need to know where you are now or in the future, and what kind of work you will be doing."

Li Yi'an looked at her and asked:
"Only by understanding these things can I formulate the corresponding plan."

Who could refuse such help?

No one can refuse, and Natasha is no exception.

"...So, you plan to find a breakthrough in the computer industry after you arrive in Ukraine?"

"Yes, at present, this industry has the greatest potential and the least resistance. The biggest problem is in technology, but in terms of electronic computers themselves, there are not too many difficulties. The Soviet Union already had relatively mature computer technology and its own Internet. The only thing it lacked was to popularize it from professional applications to the general public."

Hearing Natasha's answer, Li Yi'an couldn't help but look at his daughter-in-law with new respect. Her vision was far ahead of many people, especially in the Soviet Union, where almost no one had such foresight. Just this alone put her ahead of everyone else.

After thinking for a moment, Li Yi'an said:
"I can offer some assistance in this area, such as in lithography machines and chip manufacturing, but..."

While indicating that he could provide corresponding assistance, Li Yi'an changed the subject and said:

"However, to achieve real development, simply importing technology is not enough. The most crucial thing is to rely on ourselves and follow our own technological path."

Natasha asked, somewhat puzzled:
"Your own technology path?"

"That's right. In fact, at the beginning, the Soviet Union's electronic computers were not much behind the West. Twenty years ago, the Soviet Union had multiple computer technology routes, such as the BESM series, Minsk series, and Ural series. If placed in a market economy, they would compete with each other, and users and the market would naturally choose the best route."

However, ten years ago, the Council of Ministers decided to "completely halt the domestic research and development route and uniformly shift to copying SEA's Deep Blue series." This decision, based on a planned economy mindset, effectively blocked your path to independent computer development. As a result, the Soviet computer industry entered a long-term technological lock-in, losing the possibility of competing with Western computers.

Looking at Natasha, Li Yi'an's tone was full of regret when he said this. You see, he originally hoped that the Soviet Union could find another path in electronic computers, thereby achieving a breakthrough in two paths, and then in the future, through technological integration, achieve further technological breakthroughs, rather than simply copying the technology of another world.

But who could have imagined that the Soviet Union would ultimately choose to copy it?

"You mean...we need to re-examine this?"

Natasha's tone was filled with confusion.

Li Yi'an nodded: "You need to conduct independent research, and the Soviet Union also has the technical capabilities in this area. Even if there are some shortcomings, as long as you conduct the corresponding research, there will always be returns. Of course, the assistance I mentioned before will still be provided to you."

In fact, Li Yi'an had always hoped that the Soviet Union could embark on the path of "self-research," and now, given the opportunity, he would not mind using Natasha to bring the Soviet Union back on track.

As for providing assistance, of course, there is a price to pay.

Upon learning from Natasha that she was going to enter the technical field, Li Yi'an almost subconsciously thought of engaging in deeper technical exchanges with the Soviet Union, with Natasha acting as an intermediary.

The Soviet Union still possessed many unique and advanced technologies, which was its advantage. Its advantage was that it could "concentrate its resources to accomplish great things," but it was good at accomplishing "great things." It could develop single-point cutting-edge technologies and also create cutting-edge weapons that could affect a country's status, such as missiles, atomic bombs, rockets, and satellites.

While it cannot support civilian technologies that require extensive collaboration across various industry chains, its single-point cutting-edge technologies are still quite unique.

Just like the MiG-25, which may seem outdated, its fuselage is made of nickel-based stainless steel, which is very advanced. It is a high-strength, high-temperature resistant special stainless steel, even more advanced than the stainless steel that SEA uses to build space shuttles and rockets.

This is precisely why SpaceX is so eager to acquire this technology. They are simply waiting to obtain it through the appropriate channels, but acquiring it is very difficult because the outside world is completely unaware of its existence.

This is what is known as the Soviet Union's unique "technological mummification".

The Soviet Union's unique advantages enabled them to develop cutting-edge technologies in specific areas.

However, in many cases, it was not applied. For example, the Novosibirsk Metallurgical Research Institute developed carbon fiber with a strength of 2800 MPa, but because civilian application was not within the scope of evaluation, it was shelved. Until the collapse of the Soviet Union, this technology was not used to improve the wings of the Tu-154 passenger plane, even though its application could have reduced the fuselage weight by 12%.

Meanwhile, Boeing in the United States had already used similar technology on the fuselage of the Boeing 777. Why could the United States apply this material to Boeing passenger planes, while it was shelved in the Soviet Union?

Ultimately, it's because civilian application is not within the scope of the assessment. This technology was developed for military use from the beginning. Since it's military technology, it not only needs to be kept secret, but it also cannot be applied to the civilian field.

In the process of "technological mummification," countless technologies were shelved and left unused until the collapse of the Soviet Union, when people realized that the Soviet Union had actually produced quite a few interesting things.

But by then, the empire had already collapsed. Because of this, technologies that had previously been shelved were now being acquired by Western countries. Originally, Li Yi'an could only obtain the relevant technologies at that time.

But that would take more than a decade.

But now, Natasha's appearance has shown him another possibility, or rather, an opportunity. This opportunity is to further expand cooperation between the two sides in the field of technology.

Through such cooperation, more advanced technologies were acquired, namely, the Soviet-style single-point cutting-edge technologies.

And this is precisely the opportunity that Natasha's arrival brings.

Looking at Natasha, Li Yi'an said:
"But most importantly, you must first break down your own barriers."

(End of this chapter)