My Lord, you need to stand up!

Chapter 337 Commodity economy operates according to the laws of commodities.
It's very remote; even advanced equipment like computer factories are located in the mountainous region north of Sichuan.

They were supposedly producing military command aircraft and systems, but now they have to move out and produce civilian products as well.

In addition, several other electronics factories with strong research capabilities are also preparing to relocate.

The initial site selection is either Jiangzhou or Rongdu.

The only thing missing is the relocation cost.

Currently, priority is indeed being given to allocating funds to projects in the automotive industry.

Wei Dong's thinking was still too simplistic.

Computers are certainly important.

He had experienced the world of computers and knew that it was the foundation of the future world.

However, without the support of a complete industrial system, this thing cannot stand alone.

Besides, the difference isn't very obvious at this point.

The automotive industry is a prime example; it is considered the foundation of all industries.

The main purpose of introducing vehicles of different levels, in addition to meeting reception and production needs, is to promote the development of the automotive industry.

Buying one or two cars won't get you technical support from the manufacturer.

The import of double-cab pickup trucks involves tens of thousands of vehicles, with an additional charge of one hundred US dollars per vehicle for technology transfer.

These are strategic developments with different focuses.

The main problem is that the scale is too large. If every line needs to develop rapidly, then we will inevitably run into difficulties.

Of course, what allowed Wei Dong to make a accurate assessment was that the country was currently too poor.

The saying "Making missiles is not as profitable as selling tea eggs, and wielding a scalpel is not as profitable as wielding a razor" is the most heartbreaking saying at this time.

Therefore, his tactical support was immediately and warmly welcomed.

However, Wei Dong also understood the reality of the "iron rice bowl" system in state-owned enterprises. As an outsider, he wouldn't be taken advantage of: "We can build a research and development building in the Economic Development Zone and rent it to research institutions at a relatively cheap price. We can also build residential dormitories that can be rented or sold."

The meeting was momentarily stunned. They wanted to rent or buy something?
It immediately became noisy.

Before Wei Dong could explain, a learned scholar defended him, saying, "This is very good, very good indeed. Many third-tier research institutes that have relocated are currently lacking this construction funding, and they are basically stuck here. With the research and development building, paying some rent will solve a major problem."

"Is this housing built through collective fundraising? I've heard that some cities are implementing this kind of housing reform."

Of course, there was more resistance: "These are all state-owned properties, why should we rent them? And why should researchers who contribute to the country have to buy or rent houses?"

"This is a capitalist roader! Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

They'll immediately criticize: "Impossible? Why would they help with the relocation? Are they just wasting their money?"

And then there are those who argue with conviction: "This money was earned during the reform and opening-up period, so why can't it be used to contribute to the country?"

"Then no one is capable of making a contribution. Isn't the situation over the years enough to illustrate the problem?"

The debate was quite heated.

Wei Dong remained silent and sat to the side.

Until someone noticed his expression: "Xiao Rang, what's your opinion? What's the specific approach?"

Rang Weidong explained unhurriedly: "Since it's called a market economy, we'll operate according to market rules. This R&D building and residential area are also the research centers and residential buildings of our Economic Development Zone or private enterprises. We also want to use the atmosphere of private enterprises to drive research units to do a good job in the research and development of civilian products."

It was like throwing a match into a gasoline can, which sparked a heated debate.

"What about the principle of scientific research confidentiality? How can you mix with outside research units!"

"No, no, scientific research is scientific research, it can't be tainted by the stench of money..."

"Hey, I just don't understand. Why can't we talk about money in scientific research? Doesn't research and development require funding?"

"Given the current situation, are you going to foot the bill for this relocation and construction?"

This silenced Wei Dong once again.

So this time everyone quickly stopped to look at him, and he said matter-of-factly: "I'll still use the Xiangshan Factory and Xishan Factory as examples. If the things we develop are already outdated, or even destined to be eliminated in the future, what's the point? Our research and development should be efficient. Useless things can be put on hold."

No, no!
Someone immediately explained to him: "What you said makes sense, but scientific research is not only about practical applied research, but also about theoretical research on discipline construction. In fact, only when discipline construction is done solidly can there be an explosion of applied science."

There's more to say about cameras: "For example, taking the low-cost route for people's cameras is not wrong from a market perspective, but someone has to make high-precision SLR cameras, or someone has to do research in this direction. Otherwise, even if you get an internationally advanced SLR camera, you won't know how it works when you take it apart, let alone where the high-precision lenses for military and satellite use come from."

Wei Dong was genuinely puzzled: "Well, it's impossible for private enterprises to bear all the burden. The only assistance I can provide is for research that keeps up with the market. Isn't it said that science, industry, and trade are all important? We have factories and trade, so we can assist in this part of research as much as possible. After all, precious resources cannot afford to be wasted, and we don't have the ability to identify the reform of research."

He also used cameras as an example: "In the case of Xiangshan Factory, it has basically stopped producing all kinds of military products. There is no need for it to insist on maintaining its own compound under the rules of secrecy. Moreover, if it is really to be merged, it will definitely have to obey the product development here. It cannot insist on making SLR cameras and waste resources here and there."

His research and development approach does indeed involve some short-sighted and profit-driven thinking, but it aligns with the attitude of his superiors at this stage, who seem to favor either the "black cat" or the "white cat" approach.

More importantly, they simply didn't have the money; otherwise, they wouldn't have been so eager to restructure and relocate the third-line factories on such a large scale.

It is said that the construction of the Third Front factory cost 200 billion yuan over 15 years, while the national output value during those 15 years was only over 200 billion yuan.

They really mobilized the entire nation's resources to move to some remote mountain village, and now they're changing course and want to move out again...

They really can't afford it. But if they don't relocate, the productivity and life of these factories will just wither away there.

Old Geng's team reportedly had a peak strength of 60,000 people, but in the end, only their small task force of three to five thousand remained.

It's simply too heavy to move.

Fortunately, the Xishan factory's track record of restructuring without relocation is there for all to see.

In the end, they tried to smooth things over: "Then let's merge these institutes. Those that don't involve classified information will be transferred out first. Then, the applied research will be developed with the assistance of the Xishan General Factory, and the theoretical research will be supported by funding from the Ministry. Let's run it first and see how it goes."

The parties involved in the debate reluctantly agreed that this at least helped cover a significant portion of the research and development relocation costs for military enterprises.

Otherwise, the relocation and construction costs, which can easily reach millions or even tens of millions, would have no source.

Those military factories, hidden deep in the mountains, couldn't effectively convert from military to civilian production. Not everyone can be reborn like Xishan Factory.

This is equivalent to allocating land in Jiangzhou and Rongdu to Weidong for real estate development!
However, as a separately planned city, Jiangzhou was under the influence of the Fifth Ministry of Machinery Industry, which was able to acquire land in the Economic Development Zone, and in the best location at that. In the provincial capital, such land would only be in a remote corner of the eastern suburban industrial zone.

Having no prior knowledge of Chengdu, Rang Weidong naturally decided to try his luck in Jiangzhou first.

However, no one really had any idea that Wei Dong was planning to build a 22-story office building.

Because the Liujin Building, the Zoo Dormitory Building, and even the planned Urban Construction Dormitory Building and the Shangzhou Housing Reform High-Rise Community Building are all based on this almost identical single-building design template.

Wei Dong, who already has a clear understanding of the costs, materials, and labor hours, gave a brief report, and everyone agreed that he should repair it first.

There has never been any instance of a private enterprise building a large building for military or scientific research purposes.

We can only proceed cautiously, feeling our way across the river.

A typical businessman would probably wonder if the times would keep changing, and how the ownership of the building would be calculated after all the huge sums of money he spent building it.

It's essential to clarify these points in the contract or agreement.

This didn't worry Wei Dong too much.

It should roughly indicate that the land belongs to the state, and the building belongs to the Xishan Factory Sales Company.

He owns that company himself.

Furthermore, he has an engineering corps construction team, which allows him to control quality and costs better than ordinary construction companies.

Others probably value this building at nearly ten million, but Lao Geng and his colleagues, who are used to hard work, calculated it to be around eight million.

Once the overall details were finalized, the sales company of Xishan General Factory had its manager sign a contract with the Fifth Ministry of Machinery Industry.

Xishan Optical Instrument Factory was merged and officially listed.

The new Jiangzhou Xishan Building and its supporting projects were all handed over to Xishan Factory Sales Company for preparation and development;
It is publicly claimed to be a sales and research building for a camera factory, but some other research institutes will be moved in gradually.

Old Cheng and his colleagues were very excited when they heard about the arrangements over the long-distance phone call.

This means that the entire area of ​​the third-line optical instrument factory has been fully integrated. They first coordinated with the Xiangshan factory.

In the past, Xishan Factory had to rely on others. Even when X cameras became popular, they still looked down on cheap products.

Now the positions of superior and inferior are completely reversed.

Thanks to Wei Dong's persistent recommendation, Lao Cheng even got a promotion.

It would be an even greater honor to be able to build a large building in Jiangzhou and, as the host, take care of the research departments of a large group of sister factories.

I'm happy to add the profits I made last year to it.

Wei Dong quickly called a halt over the phone, saying that the camera cost nineteen yuan a piece, and the factory barely made a living from labor costs; the sales company should foot the bill.

With an annual production capacity of 1.2 million units, even if the sales staff and sales branches take half, Wei Dong will still actually earn several million yuan.

Adding a little money to renovate this building would make it your permanent property, and it could even be considered a tax-exempt company investment.

Wu Xi, who had been following along, was also getting dizzy from listening, but he could remind him: "Aren't you going to work on that animal blood extraction research technology? The project is located here."

Wei Dong laughed: "Look at what kind of research institutes these are. The Fifth Ministry of Machinery Industry is a machinery industry, how did it get involved in bioengineering of animal blood extraction?"

Wu Xi's claims were just to fool academic experts: "It's already a research building, so adding bioengineering would be about the same; it would just be a matter of borrowing personnel from various departments and units."

He even gave me a wink.

Wei Dong guessed that it might be related to that mysterious overseas Chinese, so he casually included the SOD Bioengineering Research and Development Center in the agreement report for this research building.

Wu Xi took the copy and, sure enough, returned a couple of days later with a complete set of data on animal blood extraction technology, a small suitcase full of neatly arranged documents.

Wei Dong had already paid a one million yuan project deposit to the Second Division of the Science and Technology Association and brought back a truck full of documents and materials. Now he was urged to pay another one million yuan.

This time, the payment will be made in the name of Jiangzhou City Agricultural Development Fund.

SOD corn bioengineering has been officially confirmed to be 15% owned by Jiangzhou State-owned Assets, in cooperation with Rang Weidong.

Naturally, we should have a celebratory meal at the newly opened restaurant in Jiangzhou, and also give Weidong a send-off.

Even at this point, the figure who would become restless at the mention of delicious food still hadn't appeared.

(End of this chapter)