My Lord, you need to stand up!

Chapter 965 Let's forget about firing cannons.

The Jiangzhou Shipyard at the foot of the mountain manufactures torpedo boats, but it's not a very large shipyard.

Even if Wei Dong were deaf, he would know that the Shanghai Shipyard was where future aircraft carriers would be built!

Is it because I have an aircraft carrier?
It's as if some things in the universe just happen to be connected in such a coincidental way.

Wei Dong instantly understood his responsibility: to keep these state-owned shipyards along the Yangtze River, which were currently doing virtually no work, alive, to build civilian ships as much as possible, catch the boom in container shipping, and make a living.

Then, by accumulating technology and capital, we will have the confidence to gradually create those scenes of mass production!

He understood this point even better than container ships. In the early 2000s, netizens couldn't believe that China could surpass the Japanese navy. But in 2013, 2014, and 2015, suddenly, like a spring breeze and peach blossoms blooming overnight, the shipbuilding industry began to boom, and the whole country began to stand tall!

So with the bidding bureau as a big catch-all, Wei Dong only hesitated for a moment before calmly agreeing.

Old Fang was surprised by his reaction: "Hey, didn't you always try to be sneaky and think about defeat before the battle even started? Why are you so decisive this time?"

Wei Dong chuckled: "Thank you for letting the Investment Promotion Bureau take on this role. I don't need to worry about any personal gains or losses. Everything is reflected in the Investment Promotion Bureau's reports. I take a one-yuan annual salary. The larger the scale and achievements driven by the Investment Promotion Bureau, the fewer doubts there will be, right?"

He used to have to keep it hidden, fearing that if private enterprises and private business owners grew bigger and stronger, they would be suspected.

Okay, now that I'm working for the bidding bureau for free, using their special status to get things done, I might as well stop pretending...

State-owned assets can do whatever they want without any problem.

Old Fang laughed heartily with satisfaction: "That's right, now you understand why I don't care about those random opinions. There's no time to argue with them. Just do it. Put all your effort into achieving the most impressive results, and you can suppress all the noise. Once you learn how to operate on this scale of operation, then our grand strategy and the small battles at hand will all be easily solved."

Wei Dong expressed his sincere gratitude: "Thank you for your careful guidance and for your trust and help. I will live up to your expectations."

Finally, Lao Fang revealed the truth: "Actually, the Yangtze River shipping industry was originally the industry of the Bidding and Investment Bureau in the late Qing Dynasty. This is the biggest reason why the Bidding and Investment Bureau was placed under the Ministry of Communications. Now they are calling to ask if we have any ideas on revitalizing this part of the reform. I said you do, but we are not touching the entire Yangtze River shipping industry. Instead, we are only trying to reform the shipbuilding industry first. You should think carefully about how to start the work. I support you."

He also offered some encouragement: "During the war years, many young generals in their twenties and thirties were sent to lead the most dangerous corps. After liberation, many young leaders also rushed to the most difficult places. Yangtze Shipbuilding Heavy Industry is just a subsidiary of Yangtze Shipbuilding Group under the State Shipbuilding Corporation. But you can understand how chaotic its complex structure is just by thinking about it. Is shipping in charge of heavy industry, or does ocean shipping take center stage? The major sectors are intertwined. You have to find a thread in all the threads!"

The result put Wei Dong at ease: "Making money, as long as you can make money, you can solve 99% of the complex problems."

Old Fang laughed and said, "That's right."

It's basically the same old saying: "It doesn't matter if it's a black cat or a white cat, as long as it catches mice, it's a good cat."

This is particularly applicable at this stage.

Especially since Wei Dong vaguely knew the correct outline, he didn't feel immense pressure about this matter.

After all, Wei Dong was no longer the boy he was five years ago, when only Gou Dan and Li Erfeng could help him sell cured meat.

He already has tens of thousands of soldiers under his command.

The old man and the young man discussed for a long time on the phone and decided that the heads of the major factories of Changchuan Heavy Industry should come to Jiangzhou as soon as possible to hold a meeting together before they put down the phone.

Dong Xueqing continued typing on her keyboard at the small round table next to her, occasionally taking a sip of tea and peeling an orange for her husband.

He was only concerned with the final conclusion, completely at ease: "Is the meeting going to be held here? Then I don't have to leave, hehe."

As for whether or not to expand the scale of any industry, she doesn't care.

It's strange, she doesn't have the same huge psychological burden that her sister has.

Wei Dong smiled and didn't want to burden her with heavy responsibilities, only saying that the organization had arranged for the shipyard to be restructured and put into operation.

Dong Xueqing actually thought, "It's good that they didn't assign you any revolutionary comrades to be my comrades-in-arms."

Wei Dong was puzzled by what she was thinking, but he ruled out any possibility: "Let's get the marriage certificate tomorrow. I'm currently a leader in the investment bureau, so we can't leave things like this."

Dong Xueqing always had a unique way of thinking: "Ah, what about Xiaoyueyue?" Wei Dong quickly laughed and scolded, "What does she have to do with it!"

Fortunately, the guard brought out the phone again, allowing Wei Dong to answer it with a sigh of relief.

It turned out to be Lao Cheng: "Hehe, the ministry asked me to be their lobbyist. Xiajiang Factory is quite powerful. Their self-propelled anti-aircraft gun has indeed obtained equipment approval. It's a high-tech product that integrates optoelectronics and cannons. Can you think of a way to push for the restructuring? They have more than 13,000 employees."

Having just taken over Yangtze Shipbuilding Heavy Industry, Wei Dong learned that there were seven large shipyards along the Yangtze River from Jiangzhou to Shanghai, with about ten 10,000-ton slipways and an annual shipbuilding capacity of 400,000 tons!
The Shanghai Shipyard is already very big and powerful. There are six smaller but equally powerful local companies with six younger brothers!

Let's talk about how big this second-tier group is.

Any one of them could easily surpass the Guoji Group in scale, with each factory boasting a history of decades or even centuries.

So listening to this guy who manufactures self-propelled anti-aircraft guns would be like laughing and crying: "You're building cars in Shanghai, let me give you a little sneaky news. I might be taking over the Shanghai Shipyard. I'm very interested in shipbuilding and car manufacturing, but what does building guns have to do with me? Besides, you've already said that you've obtained the equipment license, so you'll have orders. What's the rush?"

Old Cheng, who was building cannons at the Xishan Shipyard, was shocked to discover that the Huhai Shipyard was a huge shipyard right next to Lujiazui!

Are they going to be merged together now?
It took him several seconds to process the situation before he awkwardly conveyed, "Sigh, we experienced this situation back in '82. Our products are still in service, we have more inventory than we can use, or the models are outdated and unusable. What can we do? They... in the end, they only got an order for thirty vehicles, for training and system exploration purposes. You see..."

Wei Dong couldn't help but scoff.

He certainly had no right to speak on matters like anti-aircraft artillery, and he certainly wouldn't dare to offer any opinions casually.

But male netizens twenty or thirty years from now will certainly know easily that in the future... even in the wars of the 80s and 90s, military aircraft will no longer be able to use anti-aircraft guns. Instead, they will be able to press a button from a distance of one or two hundred kilometers to launch missiles to bomb you.

Even self-propelled anti-aircraft guns equipped with radar might be targeted and prioritized for attack because of the radar waves they emit.

This kind of equipment is outdated as soon as it is released. It is similar to the monitoring and command vehicle that Wei Dong complained about to Wu Xi before. It seems that we have made great efforts to improve it. In fact, this kind of arbitrary patchwork and clever tricks are not based on the rigorous scientific attitude of the entire large-scale scientific research system, and it has no commercial applicability.

It's really useless.

"But it didn't do any good for me to tell them. Since it's a tracked vehicle chassis, I suggested they make construction machinery like excavators, or at least make auto parts for you. Thirteen thousand people... Good heavens, Pingqi only has twelve thousand, and in the end, only four thousand can be merged into the joint venture's production line. This is a huge pit."

Old Cheng, who had been the factory director of Pingqi for more than a year, was of course well aware: "Yes, I don't need to worry that you will get stuck in an old enterprise with a huge burden. But since you're already here, Xishan Factory, Pingqi, and now Dodge Factory have all embarked on the road to revitalization. Try your best to drive them. The Ministry's idea is that you make the decision. You can split it into two parts: military products and civilian products. You can package what you can drive into civilian products. It will still be the Xishan Factory model. The enterprise is state-owned, but you will lead the sales to be private."

This is actually a compromise between state-owned and private enterprises, but the private managers who control the sales rights can easily transfer all the wealth to their private names.

It was only the deep friendship between Xishan Factory and the computer strategies of many third-tier electronics factories that prevented Weidong from becoming a ruthless capitalist.

Now all I can do is sigh: "Alright, let's talk about it tomorrow. I can't guarantee I'll take on this mess, because the bigger the scale... Yes, you should start looking for and transferring people over there, branch factory managers, at least people who are familiar with machinery and steel and can take on responsibilities. Send some to me, the shipyard will definitely be able to use them."

Old Cheng agreed, then proposed a new idea: "Why not send people from other places to our factories for exchange? Your current strength is your huge scale, which is actually based on the backbone formed by the construction team, Xishan Factory, Pingqi Factory, and the successive rotation of college graduates. The sales staff rotation method proposed by General Manager Gui from Pengzhen was very good. We can also rotate our middle-level managers, using the advanced to drive the backward, and using modernization to drive manual labor. Isn't that how I changed things?"

He first worked at the Xishan factory, and when things got busy, he would take the lead in going down to the workshop and getting his hands dirty.

When he went to Pingqi to become the factory manager, he naturally began to be partially exposed to the modern automotive industry practices of Cherokee. After a year or two, he was able to adapt to the complete modernization of Dodge's entire industrial chain, which was not even the most advanced.

This made Wei Dong suddenly realize the truth.

This process of adapting to modern industry, from the grassroots level to management, is the most difficult.

The main reason he didn't want to take over this old factory with more than 10,000 employees was this.

To give a classic example that companies love to joke about these days, there's the hotel business that's being implemented by branches all over the country. Ninety percent of the hotel staff no longer knock on the door. Whether they're cleaning the room, checking on guests, or tidying up, they just open the door without saying a word!
Of course, customers didn't complain.

He Yuemei and her colleagues faced immense difficulties in reforming this ideological gap across the country.

But Wei Dong now has just enough furnaces.

(End of this chapter)