From the 7th Steel Company to the Synthetic Division

Commander Wang was a close friend of Chief Gao, and Gao Cheng was Chief Gao's biological son. Both of them held a certain weight in Chief Gao's heart.

With their help, Chen Jun felt much more at ease.

Chen Jun also enjoyed this feeling of working together as a team.

After hanging up the phone with Commander Wang, Chen Jun waited for an hour, a time reserved for Commander Wang to call Chief Gao.

During this time, Chen Jun made a phone call to Liao Qiuxue and arranged a time and place to meet that evening.

Then I went out and found a restaurant, and had a quick meal.

I got back at 7:30 pm.

Chen Jun felt that the time was almost up, so he first organized what he wanted to say so that he could communicate with Chief Gao more easily.

Then I took out my phone, found Chief Gao's home number, calmed myself down, and dialed it.

"Hello, is this Chief Gao's house?" Chen Jun asked as soon as the call was connected, just in case he had dialed the wrong number.

This was Chen Jun's first time calling, so he really didn't know if he had remembered the phone number correctly.

"Yes, this is the Gao family home. What can I do for you?"

The person who answered the phone wasn't Chief Gao. The familiar middle-aged woman's voice immediately made Chen Jun realize who it was, and he replied, "Auntie, hello, this is Chen Jun. I visited you with Gao Cheng before."

"Oh, it's Xiaojun. No wonder his voice sounded so familiar."

Mrs. Gao had a very good impression of Chen Jun. When she learned that it was Chen Jun, she immediately smiled and greeted him warmly, saying, "It's been more than a year since you last came to our house. When do you have time to come and visit again?"

Your Uncle Gao has mentioned you several times, saying you are the most outstanding role model among young cadres. He would be very happy if you could come.

Chen Jun has indeed been involved in a lot of things lately, and his influence is also very significant.

As the top leader of the directly subordinate army group, Gao's father would naturally pay extra attention to such outstanding young cadres under his command.

Chen Jun was very happy to receive such praise from Gao's mother.

Afterwards, he chatted with Gao's mother for a few more minutes before revealing the purpose of his call: to ask Gao's mother for a favor so that he could have a private conversation with Gao's father.

"Okay, okay, he's in the study. Don't hang up, I'll transfer the call."

Gao's mother enthusiastically agreed to Chen Jun's request, and then she was heard shouting a few words, followed by the sound of a microphone being picked up.

"Xiaojun, you're calling at this hour, it must be about that matter, right?"

The first thing Chief Gao said when he answered the phone was straight to the point, showing that he, like Gao Cheng, didn't like beating around the bush.

"Yes, sir," Chen Jun immediately admitted.

"I roughly know what this digital command system you mentioned is. It was discussed at a military region meeting. It's an essential part of improving command efficiency and the informatization reform process."

Commander Gao, being in a higher position and having a wider reach, clearly knew more than Commander Wang and Gao Cheng, and his words were more insightful.

After giving a general overview of his understanding, Chief Gao then moved on to Chen Jun's topic.

"Just now, Lao Wang and Gao Cheng both called to introduce the digital command system to me. I've learned most of the system I'm talking about now, but I still have some questions about certain details..."

Chief Gao is clearly the kind of person who is very meticulous in his work and will never allow any negligence.

Even though he had already accepted the command system in his heart, he did not make any promises rashly, but chose to first confirm with the parties involved.

As for Chen Jun, the person involved...

What I fear most is that Chief Gao has no interest at all, or no confidence in the system he is talking about, and therefore does not give him a chance to communicate.

What I want most is for Chief Gao to have an in-depth exchange with him regarding the command system.

Only things that have gained the approval of Chief Gao, and that he considers valuable, will make him spend time to learn more about them.

Therefore, Chen Jun answered all of Chief Gao's questions and inquired about the details of the digital command system without reservation.

Chen Jun would answer any question raised by Chief Gao to the best of his ability.

The two sides engaged in a question-and-answer session, and time slipped by unnoticed.

More than an hour passed in the blink of an eye.

It was nearly nine o'clock in the evening when Chief Gao finally finished his endless questions to Chen Jun, and all the problems were resolved.

It was precisely because Chen Jun answered so fluently and responded immediately to each question that he was able to answer so well.

This forced Chief Gao to wholeheartedly acknowledge that the digital command system Chen Jun wanted to develop was not something he came up with on a whim.

Instead, it was proposed only after the plan had been conceived and detailed while the person was in prison.

Chen Jun's mature approach to handling affairs once again earned him high praise from Chief Gao, who lavishly complimented him over the phone.

After discussing everything and resolving all the issues, Chen Jun then outlined his needs.

There are two options to choose from.

The first proposal is to request funding from the military so that he can outsource the software development to an external company and strive to complete it within a year.

Chen Jun roughly estimated the costs.

The equipment and manpower required to develop the software, plus the infrastructure to be provided for the entire brigade after development, and the salaries of people to be hired for teaching, etc., will add up to a budget of eight million.

With a development cycle of one year, we need 20 junior programmers with an average salary of 3500, 10 intermediate programmers with an average salary of 6000, plus about two architects, with a total salary of at least 1.5.

The annual salary expenditure alone reached an astonishing two million.

This is after the Nasdaq crash, when salaries were reduced by more than 30%, meaning salaries were close to three million.

Including normal material losses within the development zone, as well as daily expenses for food, drink, and other necessities, the total annual cost is at least several million yuan.

Not to mention rent, insurance, equipment, and all sorts of other expenses that require money.

Not to mention after-sales service, which is also a hidden investment.

If the total investment is around four or five million, that's already a very conservative estimate.

If someone is willing to take on an outsourcing project for eight million, it all depends on Chen Jun's business negotiation skills, as well as the current poor market conditions after the Nasdaq crash, with many companies going bankrupt and companies lowering their profit margins to create an advantage.

Otherwise, without an investment of tens of millions, large companies that can afford it won't even give it a second glance.

The first option is to completely outsource the project. As long as a reliable company is found, the advantage is that the process will be faster, and the system development can be completed in the shortest possible time.

The downside is that the cost is relatively much higher.

Furthermore, there will definitely be some shortcomings in terms of confidentiality, and special confidentiality measures will be needed in the future, since the entire operation is carried out in an external company.

The second option is for the military region or theater command to take the lead in setting up a laboratory specifically for developing this system. Chen Jun clearly told Commander Gao that, given the current state of the military, it would be impossible to complete the development by relying solely on the military's internal technical personnel.

It's definitely impossible to complete the development within at least a year.

It's not that the military doesn't have top-tier programmers.

Instead, the digital command system proposed by Chen Jun can only utilize resources within the capital region at most, and it is simply impossible to mobilize the entire nation's resources.

The country is currently undergoing reforms, and there is a great need for technical personnel in all aspects.

It's impossible to transfer them all; we need to develop a command system.

Therefore, Chen Jun suggested to Chief Gao that a military-civilian cooperation model be adopted.

The laboratory was set up by the military, and junior and intermediate programmers only needed to do basic work, which was handled by technical personnel drawn from the military.

The architect leading the project was hired from outside the company.

The number of technical experts, programmers, and software engineers in society is far greater than that of the military; they have a numerical advantage.

The most important thing is that there are architects in society; as long as you find a way, you can get them.

Unlike the military, which is subject to restrictions and cannot be easily mobilized.

Moreover, it is easier to operate by simply finding a top architect in society, and the required salary can be saved a lot of money.

More importantly, by only hiring top architects, confidentiality can be improved to an acceptable level.

There's no need to worry too much about leaks or the system being discovered by external enemies.

And by the time this system is fully developed, the combined arms brigade will certainly have been formed.

After the senior architects hired from outside left, the military technicians who participated in the lab throughout the process learned a lot from the experts during this period, and they will definitely grow a lot, enough to support the lab.

This laboratory won't need to be disbanded; it can naturally become part of the synthetic brigade.

It can be said to kill two birds with one stone!
To become a highly digitized military, a dedicated department responsible for subsequent software upgrades and the development of more applicable software and programs is essential.

In the future, when the number of synthetic brigades across the country increases, it is possible to centralize research and development in one laboratory, and the developed technology can be supplied to all synthetic brigades nationwide.

No need for a synthetic brigade, just a single laboratory.

Currently, combined arms brigades in China are just starting out, and there is no department specifically dedicated to developing systems, software, and programs for combined arms units.

Chen Jun felt it was essential to establish a specialized laboratory within the expanded combined arms brigade of the Seventh Steel Battalion.

Otherwise, if subsequent programs encounter runtime bugs, compatibility issues with other devices, or new operational command requirements arise, etc.

There are no programmers in the expanded compound language, so we have to find someone from outside to fix it every time.

That would probably give you a terrible headache.

The second plan involves the military leading the establishment of a laboratory, with all junior and intermediate programmers being recruited from the military, and the facilities also being provided by the military.

It can not only reduce a lot of staff wages, but also reduce a considerable amount of daily expenses.

The development cycle is still one year. The salaries of military personnel are not as high as those of programmers outside the military, and they are paid by the state and are not included in the development costs.

Daily expenses such as utilities and water are all covered by funds allocated from above.

These can all be saved.

However, instead of outsourcing to outsiders, building a new laboratory requires purchasing all the equipment, as well as various supplies and wear and tear.

This will probably cost two or three million.

Add to that the salaries of two or three architects, and you can see quite a few trees planted in a year.

All these factors combined will save at least 3 million yuan, and the final total cost should be kept below 5 million yuan.

The advantages and disadvantages of the second option are obvious.

The advantage is that it can save a lot of money, and the laboratory can be seamlessly connected later. The disadvantage is that it will be much slower, since it takes time to set up a laboratory.

After listening to Chen Jun's two proposals, Chief Gao fell into deep thought for a long time.

As for Chief Gao personally...

Whether it's five million or eight million, it's not an astronomical sum.

After all, forming a combined arms brigade is a money pit. Not to mention the expensive military helicopters, any one of them would cost more than ten times the price.

Those two armored battalions have dozens of tanks; any one of them alone would be worth more than that.

To know.

The cost of forming a combined arms brigade is measured in "hundred million".

Commander Gao is now certain that the digital command system is a crucial and vital component for the combined arms brigade, possessing immense value.

Let alone spending eight million, even twenty million.

If the developed digital command system can truly achieve the functions Chen Jun mentioned, Chief Gao would feel that the money was well spent.

The problem now is that, so far, everything is based on what Chen Jun said.

They couldn't provide any practical examples or case studies.

It's no easy feat that Chen Jun managed to get Chief Gao to apply for eight million in development funds from the war zone just by saying a few words.

Eight million is a drop in the ocean for an army, but in those days it was a huge sum of money.

Allocating a special fund to one person is a very important matter.

No matter how much Chief Gao trusts Chen Jun, or how much he is interested in the digital system Chen Jun described, it doesn't mean that the higher-ups approve of it.

Therefore, after careful consideration, Chief Gao chose the more prudent option of "military-civilian cooperation in development".

Military-civilian cooperation can be more confidential.

The laboratory left behind after development can be reused and continue to serve the synthetic brigade, making it more valuable than outsourcing.

He also asked Chen Jun to write a detailed and easier-to-understand command system plan as soon as possible.

And this system was sent to the military region and given to Chief Gao.

At that time, Chief Gao will take this plan and personally go to the war zone to apply for it, doing his best to ensure that the plan is approved.

Chen Jun knew that he was already very satisfied with receiving Chief Gao's promise. (End of Chapter)