In 1978, I was admitted to Harbin Institute of Technology

Chapter 348 Don't Talk to Me About the Y-10 Without a 7-Ton Press (Robbery of Long Yaohua)

"That's not right. If you know all that, why can't you investigate it clearly?"

Upon hearing this, Xie Wei was shocked and tried to connect the formidable man he had heard about with He Qiang, but found that they were completely incompatible.

"He disappeared after that."

Xie Wei wanted to ask something more, but seeing Li Rui secretly shaking his head, he didn't say anything more.

After returning to the Chemical Industry Bureau's guesthouse, Li Rui met with many retired soldiers who were waiting there. They were even more excited after learning his identity.

Carrying out a state secret mission!

This is what everyone is thinking.

Whether they're retired or not, as long as the country needs them, their status doesn't matter; what matters is carrying out the tasks assigned by the country.

"They are all good soldiers!"

Upon returning, Li Rui sighed with emotion.

"This country, though poor, is deeply loved by everyone."

Xie Wei continued, his expression momentarily dazed. Only then did he realize: From its founding to its return to the pinnacle of global technological development, leading the entire planet, the People's Republic of China had taken a mere 100 years! Especially the achievement of catching up with the world's great powers over the previous two centuries—all accomplished in just 60 years…

Isn't it the result of the collective efforts of countless people whose names he didn't even ask?
"Yes, this land is so beloved that people are willing to give everything for it, regardless of honor or personal gain... But..."

Li Rui paused here, looking at Xie Wei in front of him.

"???"

The sudden turn of events pulled Xie Wei back to reality from his emotional state. Seeing Li Rui scrutinizing him, he was completely bewildered and quickly tried to recall what he had done that had caused his superiors to misunderstand him.

I just can't figure it out no matter how hard I try.

"But what? Principal Li, since your promotion, you've been asking people to do reading comprehension exercises more and more often. Wouldn't it be better to be more honest with each other? Just say it directly."

"What do you mean by proposing to set up a security company abroad? Are you paving the way for your own trip abroad?"

Li Rui didn't waste any words.

He had wanted to ask Xie Wei for a long time.

"Nani?"

Xie Wei was dumbfounded.

Staring at Li Rui with an incredulous expression, he said, "Who the hell is spreading rumors? When did I ever say I was going abroad? This is ridiculous!"

Li Rui's words caught Xie Wei off guard.

“I believe you won’t, but the higher-ups have this idea… The decision to establish an international security company can only be made after you meet with Long Yaohua. That’s why I came here… specifically to pick you up.”

"..."

Xie Wei stared at Li Rui in disbelief. Who was this person?
They came all the way to pick me up.

Quitting your job?
"Forget it, there's no use in explaining now. We need to strengthen security around Wang Zheng. After Starry Sky Investment makes money, the underworld in Hong Kong won't let him go, whether it's to make the money more legitimate or for more profits... The security there isn't very good right now."

Xie Wei knew very well that explaining to Li Rui wouldn't be of much use.

If Li Rui didn't trust them, he wouldn't have arranged for Zhou Zhiyong and the others to come over first.

"However, after learning about He Qiang's situation, I have a new idea."

Xie Wei licked his lips, his eyes suddenly sharpening.

This kid's going to swindle people again!

Li Rui, who is familiar with Xie Wei, rarely saw Xie Wei with such an expression. The look that appeared before he sold rocket launchers to Iraqis and tricked Pakistanis into investing in tank projects has not been seen for a long time.

"I wanted to ask about He Qiang's situation in the car just now, but you gestured for me not to... According to Zhou Zhiyong and the others, He Qiang is missing, but he has been discharged from the army... Could he be on a special mission?"

Xie Wei asked Li Rui, puzzled.

"Didn't I give you the documents? Now you're too lazy to even look at them, and you expect me to report to you?"

Li Rui glared at him with displeasure.

"How could that be! I haven't even had a chance to see it yet. If you tell me about it, I'll know much faster."

"..."

Li Rui ultimately did not refuse and explained why He Qiang had "disappeared" after massacring that hideout: even after the troops withdrew, he did not return, which violated orders, so the "disappearance" as understood by the outside world was correct; and this guy had killed all the relatives and superiors of the guerrillas who had decimated his men, using extremely cruel methods, sparing no one except infants under two years old...

"So, this guy is from a northern ethnic minority?"

"???"

Now it was Li Rui's turn to be puzzled. What did this have to do with any ethnic group?
"In the past, when the nomadic tribes of the north conquered enemy tribes during wars, didn't they only leave behind children who were no taller than the cart shaft?"

"Damn it! When you read this history, can you treat it like you're learning basic STEM knowledge? When ethnic minorities fight, unless all the men in the opposing tribe are killed, boys are only killed when they are passed over the cart shaft! Women and children are not included in this."

Li Rui said irritably.

He didn't know if Xie Wei was doing it on purpose or if he genuinely didn't know.

"Sigh, there's just not enough time. How can I possibly learn about things that have nothing to do with technological advancements?"

Xie Wei sighed.

Upon hearing this, Li Rui nearly exploded: "Damn it, you said I was asking you to do reading comprehension, but now you're making me do reading comprehension!"

"Wang Zheng tricked me out of your lighter..."

Xie Wei looked at Li Rui with a resentful expression.

Li Rui was taken aback at first, then burst into laughter: "Hahaha~"

"Serves you right! Wang Zheng did a really good job! Serves you right! Who told you to swindle my lighter and then flaunt it in front of me? That was a trophy I captured on the battlefield with my own hands!"

The thought of this made Li Rui's heart bleed.

Xie Wei shamelessly stole his lighter back then, and he wasn't happy even when he was given a replacement of the same brand.

Thinking of this, a thought flashed through his mind: "Long Yaohua has a gold-cased Zippo lighter, which he captured from a US Army colonel on the battlefield. He treasures it immensely..."

"really?"

Xie Wei's eyes lit up instantly upon hearing this.

What the hell.

That bastard Li Rui is a typical scoundrel trying to shift the blame. Now he doesn't keep the good tea and stuff in that cabinet, so every time I go there I can't get anything good.

Tell yourself that there are good things at Long Yaohua's place!
They harbor malicious intentions!
But do I even care?

"Yes. It's in his desk drawer. He's never used the pipe, but he often takes out that gold-plated Zippo lighter to show off..."

Li Rui was also envious.

Unfortunately, Long Yaohua wasn't his direct superior or former leader.

He dare not.

Xie Wei did not have this concern.

At the same time, if Xie Wei dares to rob Long Yaohua, it will also show his attitude and reveal that he will not leave.

"Leaving tonight? I was just about to go and talk to He Qiang."

What are you planning to have him do?

Xie Wei did not explain to Li Rui, but only told him that it depended on whether it was approved by his superiors, and that he was going to see Long Yaohua anyway.

"Don't come back so often in the future. Hold on for ten or twenty years, and when we take back Hong Kong, you can come back anytime..."

"Can't you speak properly?"

Seeing Xie Wei speak to Wang Zheng like that, Li Rui made Wang Zheng, who was already in a bad mood, even worse. He kicked Xie Wei, but Xie Wei dodged it.

"That's just how it is. Just be a good capitalist, the big spender will be here soon... As for the sugar-coated bullets from other capitalists, you can eat the sugar coating, but return the bullets..."

"..."

Zhou Zhiyong and the others stared speechlessly at Director Xie, whom they had previously found to be very serious.

That's completely unreliable!
If it weren't for Li Rui, they would have immediately changed their minds and not gone to Hong Kong.

Li Rui pulled Xie Wei onto the Y-11 transport aircraft that had been parked at the airport for several days.

Wang Zheng stared at the direction the plane disappeared into the night sky, his gaze lingering long after it had vanished. Zhou Zhiyong and the others stood silently behind Wang Zheng like javelins. They couldn't understand Wang Zheng's feelings; after all, their only responsibility was to protect him and follow orders.

"Let's go!"

After an unknown amount of time, Wang Zheng sighed, "I'm going to Hong Kong to find out what's going on. I need to buy a Y-11 too!"

Didn't Xie Wei say that the company would pay for all of this?

Fuck it!

I want to become a capitalist; I can no longer live a life of poverty while hoarding a fortune like a proletarian!

"Will there be any problems with Wang Zheng?"

On the plane, Li Rui asked Xie Wei.

"What problem? Betraying the country? Wasting money?"

Under the dim cabin lights, Li Rui only glanced at Xie Wei, too lazy to pay him any attention.

"Regarding the matter of the higher authorities halting the school's expansion..."

"It's been several months already, what's the point of saying anything now? The school has already made adjustments, and it's a good thing to start fresh."

"You really have no resentment?"

"What's there to complain about! If it weren't for your mess, the school would be developing much faster! If it weren't for our good fortune in securing a huge order for Professor Fang's team's 150mm rocket launcher, the funding alone would be enough to put the school in a difficult situation..."

Xie Wei said irritably.

Li Rui could only smile awkwardly. He was the one who caused this mess, and Xie Wei had been cleaning up his mess ever since he left.

"I'm very curious, who exactly is spreading rumors that I want to run away? If I really wanted to go out, would I need to do all this thankless work?"

"You never explain what you do to anyone, let alone your purpose."

Li Rui became serious. "Xie Wei, even if everyone knows you're acting in the national interest, the higher-ups will consider things differently if there's any potential risk... The stronger your abilities are, the slimmer your chances of getting out... Didn't you notice the pilot was changed when you flew on the Y-11 this time?"

Xie Wei could understand what Li Rui was saying.

Although his freedom to travel abroad was restricted, Xie Wei had no desire to go abroad at all.

What are some good things about overseas?
in the country, if you're capable, as long as you don't align yourself with any particular faction, making a few mistakes isn't a big deal.

What about abroad?
You work so hard to earn some money, and someone can just find any excuse to freeze your funds and confiscate your assets...

In his past life, Xie Wei was planning to immigrate with his whole family, but because of the treatment some of his wealthy friends received abroad, he decisively gave up and decided to focus on raising his children...

"I found out. How so?"

"Currently, the school's aircraft are under the Air Force's logistics, and the pilots and ground crew are all arranged by the Air Force..."

"..."

Xie Wei was dumbfounded.

This treatment caught everyone off guard.

This is way beyond expectations.

"Of course, we'll still have to cover the flight costs. If you'd like, the school can order a Y-10..."

"Stop it now!"

Upon hearing the Y-10, Xie Wei quickly shook his head, "No matter what, the university cannot get involved in the Y-10 project before a large press with a capacity of over 6.5 tons is available. Besides, we've already reached an agreement with Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU) that, except for advanced fighter jets, the development of other aircraft will belong to NPU. We won't steal their projects..."

I've lost count of how many times Li Rui and other leaders have expressed their desire to take over the Y-10.

The Air Force is now assigning the Y-11 transport aircraft from schools to the logistics system. One reason is concern about the safety performance of the Y-11, as Air Force pilots and ground crew have higher technical skills; another reason is the fear that it might be for the Y-10.

The cancellation of the Y-10 project was inevitable.

Only Harbin Institute of Technology in the whole country has the autonomy and self-financing rights to support the continued development of the Y-10.

"Is that really not possible? What if the military could provide some funding? The Air Force needs large military transport aircraft, and the domestic civil aviation market also needs large passenger aircraft."

"No! This isn't about the money!"

It's really just a matter of money.

If the Air Force could allocate billions of dollars to support the improvement of the Y-10, upgrade its supporting systems, and develop free forging machines with a capacity of over 10,000 tons and die forging machines with a capacity of over 65,000 tons, then none of the Y-10's problems would be problems.

The problem is that the Air Force doesn't have the money.

Except for 168 billion in 1978, which increased to 223 billion in 1979 due to the Sino-Vietnamese War, military spending was reduced again to 185 billion last year, and this year, military spending has been cut to 158 billion!
Cutting military spending by 30 billion yuan not only has to support a force of over 400 million, but also cover equipment procurement, equipment research and development, and more...

Where is that enough?
"Besides, with the Air Force's meager budget, it's not even enough to refuel fighter jets, let alone anything else..."

Li Rui fell silent.

Xie Wei said it was heartbreaking, but it was also true.

With a significant reduction in national military spending, the army took 65% of the budget, leaving only about 55 billion for the air force, where a single fighter jet costs hundreds of millions or tens of millions, or a warship costs tens of millions, and a large black car is worth hundreds of millions...

It's not that Xie Wei is a snob.

The lack of supporting infrastructure is not just a matter of investing in equipment and technology development costs.

We chatted all the way, so it wasn't boring at all.

Li Rui was subtly probing, hoping that Xie Wei would agree to let the school take over the Y-10 project.

"What are you thinking? On one hand, you're stopping school expansion, and on the other hand, you want to cram projects into schools. Don't you see that as contradictory? Is it a case of 'the magistrate is allowed to set fires, but the common people are forbidden even to light lamps'? Go to sleep!"

In the end, Xie Weili didn't want to talk to Li Rui at all.

I simply laid the chair flat, covered myself with a blanket, and went to sleep.

"Ah~"

Li Rui sighed, his face full of helplessness.

The next morning, the Y-11 landed at the capital's airport again.

A jeep with military license plates was already waiting for the two inside the airport.

Long Yaohua postponed all his other work and waited for Xie Wei in the office early in the morning.

“Starry Sky Investment is the first, and it won’t be the last. We will add more investment companies in the future… After just one investment yielded a huge return, Wang Zheng was approached by some gangsters…”

Xie Wei didn't waste his leader's time and immediately began to explain.

He didn't know which bastard had spread rumors in front of the leaders that he wanted to run away.

As he spoke, he looked around, searching for the gold-cased Zippo lighter and briar pipe that Long Yaohua had seized from the colonel, as Li Rui had mentioned.

I didn't see it at all.

"Boss, have a cigarette."

Xie Wei pulled out a Marlboro cigarette that Wang Zheng had brought back for him from Hong Kong from his pocket, and handed one to Long Yaohua with a smile, saying, "Wang Zheng bought this for me specially from Hong Kong..."

He deliberately emphasized that Wang Zheng bought it specifically for him.

Long Yaohua took the cigarette, but Xie Wei didn't make a move.

Li Rui, standing to the side, twitched at the corner of his mouth and was about to take out his lighter when Xie Wei glared at him. He then turned to Long Yaohua and said, "Boss, I was in a rush just now and left my lighter on the plane. Could I borrow a light?"

Long Yaohua, unsuspecting, pulled out the gleaming gold lighter that even Li Rui coveted from his pocket.

It truly is a golden Zippo!

It's so bright and dazzling.

I'll take it; consider it compensation for the emotional distress I've suffered.

Xie Wei snatched it away immediately, saying, "Boss, how could I let you light my cigarette!"

He skillfully opened the lid, lit the cigarette for Long Yaohua, then lit one for Li Rui, and finally lit one for himself, before casually stuffing the lighter into his pocket.

"..."

Upon seeing Xie Wei's actions, Long Yaohua's eyes widened suddenly.

My precious treasure was stolen by this kid?
Xie Wei actually succeeded!
So silky smooth!

Li Rui, who was standing to the side, turned his head away.

Jealousy has completely changed him!
(End of this chapter)