In 1978, I was admitted to Harbin Institute of Technology

Chapter 434 With Chinese weapons, the world's third-strongest military power finally truly deserves its title.
"Are you sure you're not joking? Putting 80 tons of gold in the open air at a school for people to see? Do you know how many organizations across the country lack projects and funding?"

Li Rui was so angry that he stood up abruptly.

"Nonsense! It's just nonsense!"

"Comrade Li Rui, let's hear their reasons."

Long Yaohua stopped Li Rui, trying to control his expression, and looked at the two of them, "What reason does Xie Wei have now?"

"What does this have to do with Xie Wei? The leaders, I think they're just incredibly arrogant, afraid others won't know they're rich, just showing off!"

Li Rui was unhappy.

In his view, it had nothing to do with Xie Wei.

The leadership has a bias against Xie Wei.

Xie Wei said…

Liu Debao glanced at Li Rui. Whenever Xie Wei was involved, even basic principles were disregarded. He couldn't argue with Li Rui about this.

He's one rank higher!

"Is that so?"

After listening, Long Yaohua's tightly furrowed brows relaxed. "Anyway, the gold is yours. How you handle it and store it is your business. Harbin Institute of Technology may have many military research and development projects, but it is ultimately not a university under the jurisdiction of the military."

"lead……"

Li Rui became anxious.

Long Yaohua's attitude clearly shows that he doesn't care. How can this be allowed?

"Comrade Li Rui, it is inappropriate for our military to interfere in the affairs of educational units under the aerospace system."

Long Yaohua interrupted Li Rui directly.

He then turned his gaze to the two of them: "As for matters at school, except those involving military technology, you should report less to Comrade Li Rui and me in the future."

"what?"

Liu Debao and Zhang Mingqiu were both stunned. Before they could speak, Long Yaohua directly ordered them to leave.

"Sir, what's going on here? We've been planning this for so many years. Although Harbin Institute of Technology isn't officially a military academy, it's no less important than the National University of Defense Technology!"

After Liu Debao and his companion left, Li Rui, looking puzzled, eagerly asked the question that had been bothering him.

He couldn't understand.

The development plan for Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) began when he was president, and even after leaving the university and joining the military, he never gave up on the plan for HIT.

Does Long Yaohua mean that the military will completely stop interfering in school affairs from now on?

The military can't interfere with the school's development; the problem is Xie Wei's personality—he always makes a mess. If it weren't for the military leaders cleaning up his messes, Xie Wei would have been dealt with long ago.

"Comrade Li Rui, don't you think we're interfering too much in Harbin Institute of Technology right now?"

Long Yaohua's expression turned serious. "Xie Wei has always seemed very anxious, and the higher-ups have noticed. But can Harbin Institute of Technology's development trajectory be replicated?"

Li Rui fell silent.

It's not that it can't be copied.

The cost of replication was too high—funding was obtained by selling the country's most advanced weaponry. Using that funding, they could then mobilize top talent from across the country to conduct cutting-edge research…

It looks good.

This has created a situation that top leaders do not want to see – one company dominating the market.

"Xie Wei understands this principle. It's difficult for one company to succeed alone; their development has hit a bottleneck... Isn't this also to improve the supporting infrastructure? Besides, the school has no other choice; Xie Wei can only attract capable organizations that lack projects and funding through this method..."

Long Yaohua glanced at Li Rui.

Li Rui thinks he can say bad things about Xie Wei all he wants, but others can't!

They really don't have any principles at all.

"Do you think Xie Wei didn't consider the consequences of his actions? Billions of yuan are tied up there. Whether it's companies coming to him seeking cooperation or other organizations wanting to learn from Harbin Institute of Technology and sell their advanced equipment to raise funds, how many will be interested? Are we really going to keep cleaning up their messes? Harbin Institute of Technology has obtained project autonomy, and many other organizations are now applying for project autonomy..."

Long Yaohua's words silenced Li Rui.

The development of Harbin Institute of Technology is evident, but if this continues, other institutions will be unhappy.

"Furthermore, Harbin Institute of Technology is not under the Ministry of Education, nor is it under the military; it belongs to the Ministry of Aerospace Industry... Do you think it's appropriate for us to keep interfering?"

Long Yaohua reminded Li Rui that things were very different now than before, "Harbin Institute of Technology already has a significant advantage. What will happen if it continues to develop like this until Xie Wei becomes the president? Currently, many leaders in the military are already dissatisfied with Harbin Institute of Technology's behavior. It's just that these two orders are large enough, and Xie Wei is leading the effort, but he's not directly in charge..."

"Leader, I understand."

At this moment, Li Rui truly understood.

"Do you really understand?"

"I really understand."

"Alright, Liu Debao and Zhang Mingqiu probably don't understand, go and talk to them."

Whether Li Rui truly understood or not, Long Yaohua didn't care; he just needed to make sure the school leaders knew and then relay the message to Xie Wei.

Xie Wei will definitely understand.

"Old Liu, what did you mean by what Leader Long said? The school isn't under the jurisdiction of the military, but there are many military technology projects. They've interfered in the school's affairs quite a bit before, haven't they?"

Zhang Mingqiu was unsure of Liu Debao's attitude.

Long Yaohua's sudden declaration that he didn't care rendered all the arguments they had prepared useless.

"Have you ever considered that schools are not under the jurisdiction of the military... Is it possible that the military has been interfering too much in the past?"

Zhang Mingqiu sighed.

Xie Wei told them to go see their superiors, which was rather strange.

"Isn't it?"

Liu Debao simply couldn't believe it was like this.

Over the years, neither the original Ministry of Machinery Industry, nor the later Ministry of Aerospace Industry, nor the military has ever contested the jurisdiction of Harbin Institute of Technology.

"It can't be that bad? You shouldn't flaunt your wealth! Xie Wei deliberately chose to show it off..."

The problem of inequality is more concerning than scarcity; this issue has remained unresolved throughout human history.

While other institutions were struggling to survive, Harbin Institute of Technology displayed its gold, worth billions of yuan, to let the whole world know...

"You mean, this will cause a series of troubles later?"

Liu Debao's expression immediately changed.

Xie Wei is such a cunning guy!
No wonder they're saying they should postpone his and Zhang Mingqiu's retirement.

"Shouldn't we have thought of this before? Only people who are about to retire aren't afraid of offending people. Anyway, we're done for! As long as we don't violate principles, no one can do anything about it... Besides, what's the situation in our department and in the military logistics? Countless unit leaders are carrying their bedding and blocking their superiors' offices demanding funding..."

"What a dog says!"

Liu Debao immediately started cursing, "We've been so good to that bastard Xie Wei, and he never intended for us to have a good retirement!"

Liu Debao continued cursing until he returned to the guesthouse, still not satisfied.

Zhang Mingqiu didn't stop him, after all, he also wanted to scold Xie Wei, and even wanted to hit Xie Wei.

Before coming here, he hadn't figured it out. Long Yaohua's words made him realize that Xie Wei's reason for delaying their retirement wasn't to give them more credit, but to have them block the units that came to ask for funding!

Ultimately, it's just to make them stay and get scolded.

"Understood?"

When Li Rui saw the two men at the guesthouse, especially Liu Debao, who would start cursing whenever Xie Wei was mentioned, he immediately knew that the two men had also come to their senses.

"You can't blame the higher-ups for this. The country is poor, and the annual budgets for each system are limited. Money is needed in every aspect, and it's simply impossible to satisfy all subordinate units. Xie Wei used this method to expedite the process; it's already quite reasonable that the higher-ups didn't object..."

Li Rui sighed.

"Director Li, is it really true that the higher-ups don't care at all?"

Zhang Mingqiu asked with a serious expression.

"We won't interfere. If other units come to the higher-level authorities, they'll definitely push the responsibility to you, since you hold the autonomy over the projects."

"Damn it! I shouldn't have agreed to him... It would have been better if Iraq had just given us cash, or even oil, but not so much gold! We've been hunting eagles all day, but in the end, the eagle has pecked our eyes out!"

Liu Debao cursed angrily.

Now we're just hoping that Iraq won't give us that much gold.

"Director Li, if the higher-ups don't take any action, the school will only have that previous $23 billion in funding..."

Before Zhang Mingqiu could finish speaking, Li Rui looked at him with amusement and remained silent.

This left Zhang Mingqiu speechless—Xie Wei had Wang Zheng make money in the international futures market!

There's a lot of money over there too.

Otherwise, Xie Wei wouldn't have used gold worth billions of RMB for baiting and fishing.

Baghdad.

A secret residence of Saddam Hussein.

"Tikrit, I trusted you so much, entrusting you with such an important task, and you tell me, why are we buying so many air defense missile systems and long-range rocket launchers? Is our budget too abundant?"

When Saddam Hussein saw the air defense missile systems in the contract, just three medium-range air defense missile systems and nine short-range air defense missile systems, worth more than $23 billion, how could he not be furious?
"Your Majesty, this is the insistence of Abdullah and Yitzhak!"

Tikrit betrayed the two men without hesitation, saying, "Before we set off, you said they knew better what weapons and equipment were suitable for us..."

It wasn't that he wanted to shirk responsibility; that's what the president said before he left.

How do you explain this?

Saddam Hussein barely suppressed the urge to draw his gun and kill the men, and looked at Abdullah and Yitzhak with a dark expression.

"Your Majesty. The Counterattack-2 air defense missile system can intercept medium-range ballistic missile systems... According to our information, the wealthy neighbor has also purchased a batch, and delivery is even about to begin..."

"Can it intercept medium-range ballistic missiles? Are you sure?"

Even big investors bought in?
Shadama's brows furrowed immediately.

If I had such advanced anti-aircraft missiles, it would be a troublesome matter if I wanted to launch a war against a major power and become the leader of the Arab world.

"Confirmed! We also brought back the Chinese interception test video. Xie Wei even offered to pay for the target practice and conduct on-site testing... After discussion, we decided to purchase them and conduct tests... In addition, the three sets of Counterattack-2 medium-range air defense missile systems are to strengthen Baghdad's air defense capabilities..."

Abdullah explained.

Upon hearing this, Shadama's expression improved considerably.

The Persians' Scud missiles can reach Baghdad from the border; the troublemaker Jericho-2 missile has already undergone its first test launch in South Africa, but no one knows when it will enter service.

"What about these long-range artillery pieces? They purchased five battalions for $480 million, so why do they still have so many spare rounds? Didn't they say they had the technology?"

"Your Majesty, this contains the production formula and production line for solid fuel propellants!"

"What? They're actually willing to sell?"

This immediately pleased Saddam Hussein. "In this way, our Abbas and Hussein missiles can carry more powerful warheads?"

"Yes, Your Majesty! This contract looks very expensive... Apart from the equipment needed for a batch of solid fuel production lines that we are purchasing, which will cost more than 100 million US dollars, the rest will all be paid for in gold and oil... a total of 280 tons of gold and 110 million barrels of crude oil."

"so much?"

Shadak was in great pain.

280 tons of gold!

"Your Majesty, at first the Chinese did not accept our payment of the entire amount in gold and crude oil. Their idea was 60% in cash or foreign exchange, and the remainder in gold and crude oil..."

Abdullah explained.

"Oh? Is this their negotiation tactic?"

Saddam Hussein simply didn't believe it, saying, "The Chinese are also very good at doing business!"

Are there any countries that don't want gold?

Throughout the thousands of years of human civilization, since gold emerged as a general equivalent, its status has remained irreplaceable by any other precious metal.

"Your Majesty, the Chinese believe that the price of gold will continue to fall..."

"Impossible! They must be saying that on purpose to drive down the price! The Chinese are poor, with little foreign exchange reserves and even less gold reserves..."

Shadak simply didn't believe it.

“Your Majesty, I bribed Xie Wei with 10 kilograms of gold to get the truth out of him…”

Yitzhak sternly reminded the president and directly quoted Sheve's statement.

Shadak remained silent.

If it were just the price of gold, the president wouldn't be too concerned.

But when it comes to oil, he knows better than anyone how abnormal this is—the Iraqi and Persian forces are attacking each other's oil fields and ports, and even launched a war of attack on ships last year, which has also severely affected Kuwait's crude oil transportation.

Under such circumstances, international crude oil prices not only did not rise significantly, but instead fell sharply.

"Your Majesty, the Soviet Union's foreign exchange earnings have shrunk considerably... They're even unwilling to provide us with weapons and equipment on credit anymore... This also indirectly confirms that the Chinese view is correct... Once the West takes action in the international gold market, the foreign exchange generated by the export of precious metals, which is the second most important source of Soviet foreign exchange, will also drop sharply... As a result, the Soviet economy may suffer a severe blow..."

Tikrit, standing to the side, chimed in.

"Was the gold we paid based on the price at the time of payment, or..."

"All at $1500 million per ton..."

"Then let's pay them with the gold first! We're not afraid of the Chinese defaulting on their debts."

Shadama breathed a sigh of relief.

At $15 million per ton, it's $500,000 less than the international price, and even 280 tons of gold would only be a little over $100 million less.

Compared to the potential for a significant drop in gold prices, this is not a problem.

"The Dragon tank is much better than the T-72 that the Soviets sold us, and there are no additional conditions; the 300mm long-range rocket launcher, with some modifications, can have a range of 480 kilometers... By using the three-missile-in-two-missile technology, the Hussein missile can be made even stronger... Add to that the advanced fighter jets such as the MiG-29 from the Soviet Union, and our status as the world's third-largest military power is well-deserved."

After hearing this, Saddam Hussein smiled and said, "Start preparations immediately to secretly transport the gold to China..."

"In batches or..."

"Send it over in one trip! The Chinese warships are no good; they simply can't provide escort..."

"I can't breathe," said Shadama through gritted teeth.

(End of this chapter)