Siheyuan: The prosperous era starting from being a doctor

Chapter 488 Replacing Medicine with a Five-Axis CNC Machine Tool

a few days later.

The Japanese delegation is finally preparing to return home.

This trip to China, while not entirely without progress in business cooperation, yielded very little.

Originally, they came with various motives and a large amount of capital, intending to make early investments in many high-quality industries in China.

Unfortunately, they underestimated the current situation in China.

Aside from acquiring some raw materials and selling a batch of industrial equipment, nothing else was gained.

Several industries that wanted to get involved rejected them.

Even if they wanted to provide technical or financial support, no factory or organization would open up to them.

The six young men of the Mitsui family were equally dejected.

They are in a worse situation.

They were single-mindedly focused on monopolizing China's precious traditional Chinese medicine and proposed a very generous cooperation plan.

They even neglected cooperation in other areas, resulting in many orders and collaborations being snatched away by other Japanese conglomerates.

If we can secure a contract to cooperate with China, everything else is a minor matter.

But in the end, I was surprised to be rejected so cleanly and decisively.

Not only did they fail to complete their mission, but they also discovered that the other side had become more vigilant.

With this precaution in mind, it will be extremely difficult to monopolize China's precious traditional Chinese medicines through commercial means in the future.

The young people were all uneasy, fearing that they would be blamed by the clan chief when they returned.

Chief Mitsui is now a complete madman; he kills even his own brothers without hesitation, let alone distant relatives like them.

I might get killed when I get back.

Therefore, the six people gathered in a room and discussed it in hushed tones.

"If we go back empty-handed, we're definitely not going to get anything good out of it."

Even if the clan chief doesn't punish us, we've lost our status in our own families, and from now on we'll probably just be living a life of idleness and waiting to die.

One of the oldest, Mitsui Shichiro, said with a grim expression.

He belongs to the clan elders and had been working as a junior manager in the family business before coming to China, accumulating experience.

His ambition is to become a core member of the Mitsui family in the future.

I came to China with great hope, but I never expected to suffer a 'Waterloo'.

"Yes, all six of us are in the same boat now. If we go back like this, the consequences will be dire."

Mitsui Chuichi also chimed in.

He was in an even worse situation; his father was barely ranked tenth in the Mitsui family, and he was his father's illegitimate son.

He was taken to the family for training only because he was smart from a young age.

This failed attempt may lead to my marginalization in the future.

The life of an illegitimate child is already difficult enough; if they are neglected, their fate can be even worse than that of a servant.

"We need to think of a way, preferably something that will please the clan chief, so that we can avoid punishment and at the same time maintain our status in our respective homes."

At this moment, Mitsui Takataka, who usually has a lot of ideas, spoke up.

Judging from his expression, he was clearly confident of success.

"Gao Li, what's your idea? Tell me quickly, now is not the time to hide it."

Mitsui Shichiro quickly asked.

In Japan, these young people would definitely compete more than they cooperate.

However, the current situation is special, so we have no choice but to grit our teeth and stick together to get through this difficult time.

Seeing the elites from the other five families looking at him, Mitsui Takashi felt a surge of pride and said smugly:

"You must have all heard of the medicine 'Rejuvenation Pill', right?"

"Nonsense, apart from ordinary people and the so-called middle class, almost everyone in every country with power, influence, and money knows about this drug."

"They can sell for over 20,000 yuan a piece on the market, but even then, there's no market for them. On the black market in Western countries, they've long maintained a price of 30,000 to 40,000 US dollars a piece."

Mitsui Shichiro replied.

As one of the most powerful conglomerates in Japan, their family was certainly aware of the actual effects of the 'Rejuvenation Pill'.

However, due to special reasons, China only sells this medicine to Western countries and does not sell a single pill to Japan.

Two years ago, the family snatched dozens of pills from the black market in Europe and America. After one of the elders took them, the effects were astonishing.

If there were any elixir of immortality in the world, it would surely be the 'Rejuvenation Pill'.

"If we buy some 'Rejuvenation Pills' and take them back, will the clan leader still punish us for our poor performance?"

Mitsui Takashi said slowly.

When interacting with other young members of his family, he would unconsciously exude a confident demeanor.

"what?"

The other five were shocked by his words.

They exclaimed in unison in surprise.

High-ranking officials and dignitaries in Japan have considered purchasing the 'Rejuvenation Pill' before.

But China refused to give up, not even a single grain.

The preciousness of this drug is such that even Western countries don't have enough for themselves, so naturally they wouldn't share any with them.

Therefore, while many people in China have heard of this drug, very few can actually take it.

under these circumstances.

If they can purchase a certain number of 'Rejuvenation Pills' to take back, it will not only be without fault, but also a great achievement.

The clan chief will surely reward them handsomely.

Those in power within their own family will also treat them differently, and they might even be groomed as successors.

Thinking of this, the group of people looked at Mitsui Takashi with great enthusiasm, hoping that he would come up with some good ideas.

"I negotiated with Chinese staff a couple of days ago, wanting to promote some industrial equipment from our Mitsui Group."

But the other party wasn't particularly interested. They did mention at the end that they would be willing to buy a five-axis CNC machine tool if it were available.

"But as you also know, five-axis CNC machine tools are the most advanced industrial machine tools in the United States in recent years, and they are equipment that the Coordinating Committee prohibits from being exported."

Therefore, I decisively refused, and the negotiations naturally ended.

Mitsui Takashi explained:
"Our Mitsui Group has quite a few five-axis CNC machine tools. If we can find a way to bypass the monitoring of the Coordinating Committee, we can transport the equipment to China."

Tell me, are they willing to exchange 'Rejuvenation Pills' for it, and how many pills would they need in exchange?

This idea was actually something he came up with on the spur of the moment.

At first, he trembled with fear at the thought of being punished by the Mitsui clan chief after returning to his country.

After racking my brains, a brilliant idea suddenly came to me.

As for whether the five-axis CNC machine tool can be transported out, he is not worried at all.

If it were just him, he definitely wouldn't be able to do it, but now there are six of them. As long as he goes back and talks to his parents, there's a high chance it will work.

Those who acted as matchmakers returned home with a reputation for merit and no fault.

"Brilliant! That's a great idea."

“I agree. Everyone knows the value of the ‘Rejuvenation Pill,’ and the clan leader will surely agree.”

“That’s right. I suggest we contact the relevant people in China immediately and make arrangements in advance. It would be best if we could take some ‘Rejuvenation Pills’ back with us.”

"There is no better candidate than Wang Mengde. As long as he, the world's most renowned medical expert, makes this commitment, we can be completely at ease."

soon.

Within an hour, Wang Mengde learned of this matter.

He hadn't expected the Mitsui family of Japan to be so audacious.

However, upon closer reflection, in the original history, a few years later, it was also a Japanese conglomerate, Toshiba, that did something similar.

They sold the five-axis CNC machine tool directly to the polar bear.

Four industrial machine tools, along with a large number of spare parts, were sold for less than 20 million US dollars.

The timeframe was the early 1980s, several years later.

finally.

The polar bear has acquired the most advanced industrial machine tool it has ever dreamed of, solving the problems of high noise levels in ships and submarines, as well as other high-precision issues.

This incident directly breached the defenses of the United States and was considered by Western countries as one of the most serious leaks of classified information.

Now, although the time has been moved forward and the country has changed to China.

Wang Mengde also hopes to complete this transaction smoothly.

By acquiring the world's most advanced industrial machine tools, China's industrial level will be greatly improved.

At the same time, military strength will also increase significantly.

Thinking of this, he didn't even bother to maintain his composure and immediately agreed to exchange the medicine for the five-axis CNC machine tool.

After the six young men from the Mitsui family left, Wang Mengde couldn't wait to report the situation to his superiors.

"That's great, Comrade Wang Mengde, you were right to agree so decisively."

Five-axis CNC machine tools are extremely important to our country. We'd be willing to trade even just a few for them, let alone exchange them for "rejuvenating pills" (a rare medicinal substance), we'd even buy them directly in US dollars.

The higher-level leaders were overjoyed.

He knew that as long as he told the leaders of the industrial sector about this, they would definitely drop everything and rush over to invite him for drinks.

Even the higher-ups praised the health and family planning department and him.

Thinking of this, he became even more satisfied with Wang Mengde.

This guy is incredibly lucky; he didn't do anything, yet benefits just came knocking on his door.

As a high-ranking official in the health and family planning department, he knew the cost of "Rejuvenation Pill".

Because many of the precious raw materials for this medicine are supplied from abroad, each pill only costs a few yuan (in RMB).

Trading these medicines, which actually cost only a few dollars, for a five-axis CNC machine tool that is priceless, would make anyone laugh in their dreams.

A month later.

Because both parties were mutually attracted to each other, the secret negotiations progressed very smoothly.

Initially, the Mitsui family wanted to sell only one unit, but they were worried that selling too many would attract attention.

After all, these are strategic-level industrial equipment, and each one is strictly registered and filed.

Later, Wang Mengde told the representative of the Mitsui family, "Whether it's one unit or five or six units, it's still a transaction. As long as we're careful, there won't be any problems."

Furthermore, for every additional unit, we will add two hundred 'Rejuvenation Pills'.”

Upon hearing that they could obtain so much more medicine, Chief Mitsui was extremely excited. He immediately ordered the sale of six state-of-the-art five-axis CNC machine tools, as well as a large quantity of spare parts.

finally.

Both sides reached an agreement on the quantity.

The Japanese Mitsui Group contributed six machine tools and a large number of spare parts.

China paid with 3,600 'Rejuvenation Pills'.

Moreover, these medications are not given in a lump sum; they require regular payments.

After all, medicines have an expiration date, and if too much time passes, the Mitsui clan chief fears that the medicine's efficacy may diminish.

After the cooperation plan was verbally agreed upon, both parties were very satisfied.

Chief Mitsui was satisfied that, despite his advanced age and lack of sons and hope, he still wanted to live a few more years.

He's one of the most powerful people in Japan, and he hasn't even finished enjoying his good life yet.

The other elders of the Mitsui family were also overjoyed.

Of the more than three thousand 'Rejuvenation Pills,' half belong to the clan leader, and the rest will definitely be divided equally among everyone.

They are all getting old, and with this medicine, their lifespan can be extended for a period of time.

Moreover.

China has also softened its stance somewhat.

If the production of 'Rejuvenation Pill' increases in the future and there are any surpluses, we might be able to sell them to them.

Meanwhile, China felt it had gotten a huge advantage.

The total cost of several thousand "rejuvenation pills" might be less than 200,000 yuan, but they could be exchanged for six of the world's most advanced industrial machine tools.

This was something that the United States had only developed in the 1960s.

Apart from staunch allies, no other country has ever even seen it.

Even polar bears coveted it, but unfortunately, they never had the chance to get their hands on it.

Although on the surface, the value of several thousand grains is sixty to seventy million US dollars, while the total value of the six pieces of equipment is less than three thousand US dollars, the price difference is half.

But when you think about the actual value, everyone on the Chinese side can't help but smile.

To paraphrase a phrase Yan Bugui often uses:

They made a fortune!

While I was happy, new worries arose.

That is, how to transport these six five-axis CNC machine tools and a large number of spare parts to China.

These are the most advanced industrial machine tools in the United States. Each one has a unique serial number for easy tracking and location.

If shipped directly from Japan by sea or air, it might be intercepted before it even reaches China.

and so.

Neither side knew what to do.

At this moment, Wang Mengde suddenly remembered that in his previous life, he had seen news reports about Toshiba secretly transporting machine tools to the polar bears through a third party.

That's how the idea came about.

He briefly reported the situation to his superiors.

"Yes, going through a third party increases the risk, but it also lowers America's guard."

Ideally, we should find an ally that the United States can trust, one that is willing to provide cover for us.

The leaders of the higher-level department were overjoyed.

After several days of screening.

A small European country came into China's view.

That was the country where, many years ago, Wang Mengde emptied the vault of a bank.

As a former developed country, the nation was living a very comfortable life thanks to its financial services industry.

Ultimately, because of his involvement in the kidnapping of Wang Mengde, the largest bank in the country suffered a collapse of its vault, causing a chain reaction that resulted in the complete loss of the country's credibility.

It has fallen from the ranks of developed countries.

This country is so poor it's practically begging for money.

Give them a bone, and they'll be more than willing to cover for you.

And coincidentally, this country is also an ally of the United States.

No one would doubt that Japan exported five-axis CNC machine tools to this country.

(End of this chapter)