In 1978, I was admitted to Harbin Institute of Technology

Chapter 222 Transporting advanced weapons on a military special plane? Xie Wei is incredibly audacious!

"What? Why didn't they bring this up when they were watching the test?"

"Using Type 69-II armor-piercing rounds to attack a Type 59 tank? What were they thinking! Is such a test meaningful?"

"Who the hell is trying to ruin our plans?"

The group of people who had just left the meeting were summoned back to the conference room.

Everyone was in an uproar after hearing what Zhu Zhenhui said.

59坦克跟69坦克都是采用铸造炮塔，虽然69-II式的装甲比59式要厚一些，正面装甲的厚度从120毫米增加到了150毫米，可也没有提升太多；同样都是使用100毫米线膛炮……

Comparatively speaking, the Type 69-II tank did not offer much improvement in protection or firepower compared to the Type 59.

"General Pashin only requested a live-fire test of the Type 69-II tank's firepower against the Type 59 tank, but did not request a test of the Type 69-II's protection. Therefore, after research and discussion, the higher-ups felt that the Thai side's request could be met."

Zhu Zhenhui took a deep breath and waved his hand to stop everyone from continuing the discussion.

"Factory manager, is it because the T-55 is the biggest threat to the monkey armored forces?"

A cadre in his early fifties asked with a frown.

"Yes, that's their reasoning."

"What if they suggest using Type 59 tanks to fight Type 69 tanks?"

One person's words instantly cast a shadow over everyone's hearts.

That's exactly what they're worried about.

silence.

Repressed.

The conference room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop; it quickly filled with smoke, and everyone's face was clouded with worry.

"I cannot agree! If the Type 59 tank also used tungsten-tipped armor-piercing rounds, it could completely destroy the Type 69 tank head-on at a distance of 1000 meters. Although, due to its rudimentary fire control system, the Type 59 tank's accuracy beyond 1000 meters would decrease with increasing distance..."

A man in his early fifties, holding a cigarette between two fingers, took a deep drag and stood up, speaking seriously.

He was Tang Kexian, the deputy chief designer of the Type 69-II tank.

If the distance is 2000 meters, no one will worry about this.

59式的性能跟T54/55基本性能没有太大差距，却由于59式是T54A的仿制品，坦克炮生产技术不如苏联，使得59式的100毫米线膛炮在距离远一点就无法击穿T54的正面装甲。

The Thai side's suggestion to have the Type 69-II tank engage the Type 59 was likely to test the firepower intensity, given that the Thai army has very few T-72 tanks, which are mostly deployed on the northern border.

"You can't disagree."

Zhu Zhenhui looked helpless. "The higher-ups have already agreed."

"Aren't the people from the export company just being ridiculous!"

Tang Kexian's face was full of anger.

In his view, the higher-ups would definitely not agree; it must have been the people from the export agency who persuaded the higher-ups for the sake of the order.

"Perhaps our worries are unnecessary..."

When everyone's faces turned grim, Deputy Factory Director Cao Xiaodong spoke up, "The higher-ups are clear about the tank's performance and understand the Thai side's needs. This is an export contract worth over 50 million dollars, no, over 100 million dollars!"

Thailand is not just purchasing a regiment's worth of tanks, but also armored vehicles to support tank operations, as well as heavy artillery and other weapons to enhance combat effectiveness.

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately realized what was happening.

Yes, it's a military sales contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars!

How much foreign exchange reserves does the whole country have?
With this order, the tank research institute will receive more funding, and the production plant will have money to upgrade its production lines.

"But……"

Tang Kexian wanted to emphasize his concerns.

"Thailand chose to purchase Type 69-II tanks from us at a price of only $50 each, while internationally, even T-54/55 and M48 tanks cost over $80 each... They have no channels to purchase Soviet-made tanks; as for NATO standard tanks, Thailand expelled the US troops in 75..."

实际上，T54/55跟M48坦克在T-64、T-72以及M60等坦克大规模列装后，价格并没有这么高。

M60A1的价格也才80多万，M60A3价格150万，只不过，这都是美国提供给北约国家的价格。

Cao Xiaodong calmly explained, "They're not unaware of the armor protection capabilities of our tanks... They're probably just testing their firepower. After all, their purpose in buying tanks is to deal with the Vietnamese invasion..."

Cao Xiaodong analyzed the Thai army's situation for everyone.

It can be said that, apart from China, the Thai military currently has nowhere else to purchase the tanks they want.

The West is good at selling.

But they have to consider the attitude of their American "daddy".

The price is too high, but the Thai military cannot afford it.

"Therefore, we don't need to worry at all about them proposing to test the armor protection capabilities of the Type 69 tank. As mentioned before... Someone must have said something to them... We don't need to worry about the purpose of the person who proposed this plan. If we can convince the higher-ups to agree, there won't be any problems..."

Cao Xiaodong's words instantly dispelled the gloom in everyone's hearts.

······
"Why bother coming back now that you've achieved your goal? Don't ever say you know me again, I can't afford to lose face like that!"

The old leader put down the phone and looked at Li Rui with a dark expression.

With a broad smile, Li Rui quickly apologized, "You're being too serious, too serious... This doesn't violate any principles... It's for national defense security..."

"Come on! This is a one-time offer! Get lost!"

"Would you like me to roll sideways or vertically? I'll roll right now..."

"Bang~"

He slammed his hand heavily on the table.

The old leader looked at Li Rui and said, "Be serious! This is the first export of conventional weapons since the reforms that involves hundreds of millions of foreign exchange!"

"Old leader, please don't worry, there will be absolutely no impact. If we want to get more export orders, we definitely need a lot of real combat results... I've already arranged things with Pakistan; they'll come along to watch the live-fire demonstration..."

Li Rui patted his chest and guaranteed.

The old leader, who had many concerns, was somewhat surprised when he heard Li Rui say that he had persuaded people on the Pakistani side.

"Oh? You convinced them? When did you get in touch with them?"

"If they don't agree in the next few days, I wouldn't dare come to you. The 60 yuan needed for the Type 59 tanks to be used as target practice has to be paid by our school!"

Li Rui felt a pang of heartache.

It was Xie Wei who suggested that the school pay for a tank that the military had been using for almost 20 years and was about to be scrapped.

Xie Wei originally wanted to persuade the Thai side to fund the purchase of the targets, but unfortunately, they did not agree.

Finally, General Pashin will put the $50 target cost on the procurement account, but he won't give it to 617. The cost of the Type 59 tank used as the target will be paid by the Harbin Institute of Technology's Industry-University Cooperation Office.

As for the whereabouts of General Pashin's $50, that remains unknown.

Only Li Rui, General Pashin, and Xie Wei knew about this.

The old leader stared at Li Rui with sharp eyes for a long time, as if trying to see through Li Rui's true thoughts.

Principal Li remained calm and silent.

Seeing his shameless behavior, the old leader also felt powerless.

What kind of people are driven to desperation by being broke!

He waved his hand weakly at the end.

"Alright, you go ahead and take care of it. Don't come to me with these kinds of things again, since I'm no longer in the military system or the Seventh Ministry of Machinery Industry."

"Please rest assured, sir, this will be the only time."

Li Rui patted his chest and assured him, then walked straight up to the tea leaves on the shelf next to him. "Boss, is this this year's special supply of new tea? You don't sleep well, you should drink less tea... I'll take care of it for you..." After getting it, Li Rui ran outside.

"Damn it!"

The leader was furious, but ultimately did not chase after them.

"Sir, isn't this tea you prepared for Principal Li? You can just give it to him directly..."

The secretary came in from outside and asked, puzzled.

As a secretary, you shouldn't ask that question.

But Li Rui is, after all, a cadre of a relatively high rank, and if this gets out...

"If you just give it to him directly, do you think he'll take it? This guy is cunning. It's really tough on him."

I can't accept this.

The secretary silently refilled the leader's teacup with water, then cleaned up the tea leaves that Li Rui hadn't drunk a drop of.

Instead of returning directly to the guesthouse, Li Rui went to the Seventh Ministry of Machinery Industry and used its confidential office to make a long-distance call to the school, instructing Fang Pengju to bring people to deliver the prepared grenade and rocket launcher samples to the 617 test site as quickly as possible.

"Damn it, I might as well take advantage of the fact that I haven't officially taken office yet to do something for the school, otherwise it will be inconvenient later."

After arranging everything, an exhausted Li Rui returned to the guesthouse.

Only he knows how exhausted he has been during this period.

"Hopefully Pakistan will place an order, otherwise, how much can the cash-strapped Thai military buy?"

Principal Li muttered a couple of things, not caring about the time or that he hadn't even had time to eat, and went straight to sleep.

After receiving the call, Zhang Mingqiu went directly to Xie Wei.

"It's done? We need to get to the tank testing ground at 617 within three days? That's quite a rush?"

Xie Wei frowned as he looked at Zhang Mingqiu.

Time is too tight.

“I don’t know either. Principal Li didn’t explain, he just said you know…”

"Row."

The old man was probably worried about unforeseen circumstances, or that things might go wrong if the matter dragged on. Xie Wei was also aware that persuading the Thai purchasing team to follow their ideas would not be easy.

More importantly, we need to persuade the military leaders.

Li Rui demanded that Xie Wei bring his men and equipment to the firing range within three days, which shows how urgent the time was.

"What exactly happened? Why are you in such a hurry?"

Zhang Mingqiu asked Xie Wei.

He felt like a fake principal, because Li Rui had told Xie Wei important things but not him.

"They're seeking export orders for 40mm sniper grenades and disposable rocket launchers; that's why the Thai military procurement team is here..."

Xie Wei didn't hide anything.

The rocket launcher and sniper grenade were funded by the university-enterprise cooperation office, but the office not only has no export rights, but also no business rights for weapons and equipment.

They couldn't even own a military factory; they simply couldn't obtain the necessary permits.

The only option is cooperation.

Zhang Mingqiu was, after all, the acting principal, so Xie Wei didn't know why Li Rui hadn't told him.

"Three days? We'll have to fly there."

After listening, Zhang Mingqiu didn't blame Li Rui for not telling him. Before that, Li Rui wasn't sure if it would be successful, and it wasn't convenient to communicate over the phone.

"Then let Wang Zheng not rush to leave. Market development there can be done at any time."

"That's all."

Xie Wei knew that Zhai Xinguo and his team had already prepared sample bullets for testing. Wang Zheng had previously delivered supplies and spare parts to Fang Pengju's team, who were testing long-range artillery at the Northwest firing range. Xie Wei asked him to develop the sanitary napkin market in the Northwest and to seek to establish a production line there.

Wang Zheng, along with Wang Yuting and Xie Rou, only went to Urumqi, found the supply and marketing cooperative, left the sanitary napkins for the people there to try, and then returned after Fang Pengju's team requested some modified parts from the school's training workshop.

"The people in Urumqi and Turpan are very satisfied with the sanitary napkins and have called us, hoping we can come over as soon as possible to discuss specific cooperation plans. It's on the way to the grasslands, so how about it?"

"No, we still need the plane. There's been no movement from the Jiangbei Machinery Factory. If we sign a contract, are we going to have the metalworking workshop do it by hand?"

Xie Wei rejected Wang Zheng's suggestion, saying, "The market development of sanitary napkins can be delayed."

"Could it be that they're cooperating with Jiangbei Machinery Factory? There are quite a few companies in China that can produce rocket launchers..."

Wang Zheng was very dissatisfied with the behavior of Jiangbei Factory.

The discussions had gone very well, and even Jiangbei Machinery Factory had sent a group of technicians to participate in the research and development. But now, the cooperation has been dropped.

"If it's still them, then we'll have to renegotiate the profit distribution. In any case, Jiangbei Machinery Factory is part of our system; otherwise, there will be problems later."

Xie Wei never considered changing Jiangbei Machinery Factory.

As soon as an order is placed, Jiangbei Machinery Factory, which had been silent until now, will take the initiative to come to us.

The ministry originally planned to give the disposable rocket launcher project to Jiangbei Machinery Factory. However, after learning that the school had this project, and with Li Rui's intervention, the Seventh Ministry of Machinery Industry allocated funds to the school for disposable rocket launchers.

It was just that the shameless Principal Li misappropriated it.

The fact that things have taken a turn for the better is inseparable from the efforts of the ministry.

Changing manufacturers and renegotiating would create an awkward situation with the ministry.

The only solution is to renegotiate the profit-sharing arrangement.

No leader in the department would object to this.

Regardless of how the profits are distributed between Harbin Institute of Technology and Jiangbei Machinery Factory, everything remains with the university.

"Using airplanes specifically to transport these?"

The next morning, Tang Daoxian and Fang Pengju arrived at the No. 122 Factory's airport and were dumbfounded as they watched the staff help move the boxes containing the sample bombs. "Isn't this a bit too wasteful?"

"What a waste!!"

Xie Wei looked at Tang Daoxian's naive and unsophisticated appearance and said, "Time is of the essence. Can these things be put directly on the train? Besides, we need to communicate with the military first and ask them to arrange personnel to escort them. It's incredibly troublesome."

Zhai Xinguo, who was marveling at how the school could afford to buy a private jet, was suddenly shocked: "Xie Wei, are you saying the military doesn't know about this?"

The relevant military departments were unaware that weapons and equipment were being tested!

This is getting messed up...

If something goes wrong, who can handle it?

How did Xie Wei become so audacious?
With a worried expression, Zhai Xinguo stared intently at Xie Wei, hoping that Xie Wei would deny his question.

"If the military doesn't know, they don't know. It's not a big deal, is it?"

Tang Daoxian asked, puzzled.

In his view, schools do not necessarily need to report to the military for approval when developing weapons and equipment and then conducting tests, since Harbin Institute of Technology belongs to the Seventh Ministry of Machinery Industry.

The Seventh Ministry of Machine Building had no subordinate relationship with the military.

"If the military finds out, this plan won't work. How will we sell it then?"

Finished!

Upon hearing Xie Wei's words, Zhai Xinguo's face instantly turned deathly pale.

Cold sweat instantly broke out on my forehead.

(End of this chapter)