In 1978, I was admitted to Harbin Institute of Technology

Chapter 437 It was all planned long ago: Live sheep were transported by plane to the Middle East

"What if the higher-ups don't agree? After all, this is a military transport plane. It's transporting weapons for one country by flying over another country..."

"I heard that exporting live sheep from Xinjiang is not easy, while the Middle East has a great demand for sheep..."

"What the hell?"

Li Rui was stunned.

Then, Xie Wei, with a smile on his face, leaned close to Li Rui and whispered an explanation.

The more Li Rui listened, the wider her eyes widened.

"Will this work?"

Li Rui, his lips twitching, looked at Xie Wei with a strange expression.

"The whole world knows we lack foreign exchange... while the Middle East has high consumption and money, so they can use airplanes to transport goods. If the quantity is large enough, the cost of transporting goods using an aircraft like the Y-8 is not high..."

"Damn it..."

Li Rui is gone.

Although Xie Wei had considered everything, he still needed someone to put it into practice.

These are many issues, and they can't be resolved as easily as Xie Wei makes them out to be.

Although the cooperation between Harbin Institute of Technology and Pakistan has not progressed further, there has been considerable cooperation at the national level.

Another one is Persia.

Fortunately, Persia doesn't have many friends internationally at the moment. As long as the Y-8s aren't transporting weapons and equipment to Iraq, which is currently at war with them, there shouldn't be any major problems—provided that the other side doesn't know that each of these outdated transport planes is carrying 15 tons of gold.

"So, he planned this from the very beginning?"

Long Yaohua looked at Li Rui with a calm expression, which made Li Rui feel uneasy.

I don't know what the leader is thinking, or whether they support it or not.

Li Rui shook his head. "I don't know. My feeling is that he planned everything from the beginning... According to his calculations, he directly modified the deck of the Y-8..."

He explained Xie Wei's calculations.

Even if Xie Wei was planning this from the beginning, he couldn't say it.

People are chosen by themselves.

Li Rui bears the primary responsibility for Xie Wei becoming like this.

"That would work. Are we just going to fly over empty-handed like this?"

"No, Xie Wei said it could transport long-range artillery and M7 tactical missiles..."

"This kid has his eye on the M7 missile orders!"

Long Yaohua sighed, "Is he unwilling to leave any business for other units?"

"Not exactly. He just mentioned it briefly, without saying they had to be responsible... The M7 tactical missile was originally ordered by the Persians, and Harbin Institute of Technology undertook the modification task... At the time, Xie Wei demanded a 20/80 profit split... Since the big clients ordered more, he didn't mention it again..."

Li Rui hurriedly explained.

The 8610 tactical missile was modified from the HQ-2. Li Rui did not expect that Harbin Institute of Technology could modify it in such a short time, and its performance was much more advanced than expected.

Before the deal with the Persians was even finalized, Xie Wei sold a large quantity of goods to wealthy merchants.

"This is inappropriate."

Without a second thought, Long Yaohua shook his head and refused, "The Y-8 can perform civilian freight missions, but it is not suitable for military transport..."

"If that's the case, Xie Wei proposed another solution..."

Li Rui immediately whispered Xie Wei's other plan.

"This……"

Even Long Yaohua, who was experienced and knowledgeable and could remain calm even when Mount Tai collapsed before him, suddenly widened his eyes.

Li Rui just smiled and waited for Long Yaohua to process what he had learned.

"Then let's do it his way. Go to Factory 172 and tell them to modify the cargo deck of the Y-8 as soon as possible, to ensure the safety of the aircraft..."

Long Yaohua thought for a moment and then spoke.

Li Rui nodded without asking Long Yaohua whether he needed to discuss or communicate with other leaders.

Xie Wei's plan does not involve any military equipment, nor does it require a large-scale mobilization of the Air Force's already limited Y-8 transport aircraft.

So Li Rui set off again.

"What? Director Li, we're busy as hell all day long, where would we find the time to specifically modify the cargo deck?"

Liao Shutong, deputy director of Factory 172, was immediately displeased when he heard Li Rui's purpose for coming.

Factory 172 is currently operating at full capacity.

It's not that there are too many transport aircraft production tasks, but rather that the production capacity itself is not large.

How many aircraft are currently equipped with a fully airtight structure?

Li Rui glanced at Liao Shutong, then turned to look at Zheng Xinguo.

"Three were produced, and four were modified..."

"Then we'll modify the cargo decks of seven aircraft. We only have ten days."

Li Rui said calmly.

The others, however, sensed an unquestionable authority in his tone.

"Ten days..."

"Mr. Ma and his team have structural modifications in place, which is required by Harbin Institute of Technology. The modification cost is 50 yuan per aircraft..."

"no problem!"

I heard that the modification cost for each aircraft is 50, and that's just for modifying the cargo deck. It's practically free money.

"Are you really going to change it?"

Mr. Ma looked at Li Rui, a helpless expression on his face, "When Xie Wei asked us to work with the Y-8 team on this kind of modification design, the Y-8 team didn't think he was messing around..."

"Is the design complete?"

What Li Rui cares about now is whether the modification of the deck design drawings has been completed.

Otherwise, it would be impossible to complete it within 10 days.

The cargo deck of the Y-10 needs to be specially designed with a mezzanine space that can hold 15 tons of gold, which will have an impact on the entire aircraft.

If Xie Wei hadn't mentioned that he had previously contacted Ma Fengshan's team and Factory 172, Li Rui wouldn't have been able to directly demand the modification of seven Y-8 transport aircraft within ten days.

"The design is being handled by Vice President Cheng."

Soon, Cheng Bushi was summoned.

"finished."

"Alright, you start keeping an eye on them today. They must complete the modifications within ten days, and conduct a test flight immediately after the first aircraft is modified..."

"Sir, one aircraft has been modified and test-flown without any problems."

Cheng said to Li Rui from time to time.

Li Rui asked in surprise, "So fast?"

"Xie Wei called personally back then. Although he didn't say what it was for, his request must have been very important. After we completed the modification, we made a batch of pure tungsten blocks according to his requirements, installed them in the interlayer, and test-flew them many times without any problems..."

Cheng Bushi's words made Li Rui curse Xie Wei in his heart once again.

Damn it!
Everything was planned by Xie Wei from the very beginning.

At this moment, he even wondered how Xie Wei would have persuaded the Iraqis if they hadn't come knocking on his door.

"In that case, let's start the renovation immediately. Factory 172 will cooperate."

"Director Li, this is exactly what we're worried about..."

Cheng looked worried.

710 was placed in Factory 172. The two had a cooperative relationship, but were not the same unit.

In recent years, the school has provided excellent benefits. People who come here not only retain their Shanghai household registration and housing, but are also allocated housing here.

Only some of the employees of Factory 172 were allocated housing.

“Each aircraft costs 50 to modify. If they're not willing to make that money, then there's nothing we can do.” “That much?”

Cheng Bushi looked shocked. "The renovation cost is at most a little over ten thousand yuan..."

Seeing Li Rui staring at him, he immediately realized the problem with his words, "I'll go find Deputy Factory Director Liao Shutong right now."

"Director Li, we are all subordinate units of the Ministry of Aerospace Industry, and given the current situation..."

Seeing that Cheng kept leaving, Mr. Ma looked at Li Rui.

"If you're going to talk about this, you should do it in front of your superiors. I can't interfere... That son of a bitch Xie Wei..."

"This has nothing to do with Director Xie."

When he heard Li Rui scolding Xie Wei, Boss Ma was displeased.

Li Rui glanced at him, giving up on debating with Ma Fengshan about Xie Wei's ideas. "Has that modified Y-8 been delivered to the Air Force?"

"No. It's an aircraft undergoing airtight cabin modifications. It has just completed various test flights and will not be delivered to the Air Force for another two weeks."

So Li Rui went to see the Y-8 after its deck was modified.

After the modification, the Y-8 appears perfectly normal from inside the cabin.

It wasn't until Cheng occasionally pulled open a honeycomb-structured, ultra-hard aluminum alloy plate, revealing the interlayer space underneath, that he discovered the reinforced design beneath the deck.

"Since there are no problems, I will take this plane to Urumqi in western Xinjiang."

No one objected.

So, Director Li boarded the modified Y-8 and flew to the Northwest.

"Director Li, hello. I am Lu Yong, the person in charge of the Harbin Institute of Technology's Industry-University Cooperation Office in Urumqi."

A middle-aged man in his early forties, who looked like an official, accompanied a young man to the airport to greet Li Rui.

"arranged?"

Li Rui followed along and got into the Hafei Hongguang. He discovered that after the Hafei Hongguang minivan was produced by Factory 122, no other vehicles could be seen in any unit related to Harbin Institute of Technology, especially the school-enterprise office.

Even the old 212 Jeeps are gone.

"Director Xie sent a telegram requesting that we prepare 12000 sheep. We have already contacted the surrounding state-owned ranches and agricultural bureaus, and they can be transported over at any time..."

Lu Yong hurriedly explained.

"Are you all ready?"

Li Rui felt that he had made a completely wasted trip.

Xie Wei didn't even have to go out; everything was arranged perfectly. It was fortunate that I made a special trip because I was worried about any oversights.

"Yes. If needed, the ranch can load the trucks today, and they'll arrive tomorrow morning... If it's not urgent, we can prepare a day in advance, otherwise it will require more hay..."

"Let's go and take a look at the production base of your school-enterprise cooperation office here."

Li Rui sighed.

Come here.

Since Xie Wei has arranged everything, all that's needed is to use a Jiefang truck to take the sheep to the airport and load them onto the plane once the plane arrives.

"This entire area, is it all yours?"

When Li Rui arrived at the Harbin Institute of Technology industrial base in Toutunhe, he was stunned. "Wasn't there only one sanitary napkin factory built here at first?"

Lu Yong said with a smile, "Initially, there was indeed only a sanitary napkin factory, but the cotton needed to be processed... so we built supporting facilities... Later, after processing the cotton, it was too wasteful of production capacity to only supply the sanitary napkin factory, so we built a wool textile factory. With the wool textile factory, we found that just providing raw materials had too low a profit and high transportation costs, so we started to build a garment factory... then a leather factory... and a bag factory..."

"You've been here since you graduated?"

Li Rui asked.

"That's right. I was a worker-peasant-soldier college student in 76, and after graduation, I stayed at the university and was assigned to the logistics department..."

Lu Yong said with a smile, "I found it very difficult to adapt when I first arrived... but now that I see this place developing so much, I don't want to go back..."

"Especially now that we've become the largest light industrial base in Urumqi or even the entire Northwest region, the local government offers substantial tax incentives... and many of our products are exported to Central Asia..."

Lu Yong led Li Rui into the industrial zone while explaining the situation.

He pointed to an open space on one side of the industrial zone and explained to Li Rui, "The development of the entire Toutunhe area has avoided this side; this space was reserved for us."

"What?"

Li Rui was puzzled.

"Director Xie said that the economic development of the Northwest region is much worse than that of the eastern coastal areas, and there is a greater need for jobs here... Apart from technical and management personnel, only 50% of the workers are recruited from inland areas, and the rest are recruited locally. To date, our subordinate units have recruited more than 2 people from densely populated inland areas..."

Li Rui was stunned for a moment.

He quickly understood Xie Wei's meaning, but he still suspected that he might be overthinking things.

"The profits here?"

"Director Xie said the school's development isn't hampered by this funding; all profits will be used for production expansion here... In addition, the school provides tens of millions in subsidies here every year... and every year, students majoring in related fields are arranged to intern here..."

really!

This kid's plans are still too far ahead.

Western Xinjiang is sparsely populated and its conditions are not as good as those in the interior. However, this vast land is rich in resources, and because of its economic backwardness, the local government offers far better conditions for attracting investment than anywhere else.

In addition, the development of Soviet light industry was slow, and it was also close to the market.

"Not bad!"

Although most of Xie Wei's actions made Li Rui want to beat him up whenever he thought of Xie Wei's name, he was greatly pleased when he saw this industrial park located in the far northwest of China, especially since it generates more than 3000 million US dollars in foreign exchange exports every year.

"Looks like I had good judgment after all!"

Li Rui praised himself without hesitation.

It's important to understand that the investment required to build a factory here is enormous, especially since various supporting facilities are not yet complete. Only those who have a deep understanding of the situation truly know the extent of the investment.

Fortunately, Harbin Institute of Technology has money, technology, and good relationships with various production units. Equipment that is not needed for entry can be directly transported from the inland areas; for equipment that is frequently needed, factories are built here.

"Because we have invested here, many of our partners have also come here to build supporting factories..."

Lu Yong's face beamed with pride as he spoke of it.

As he said, he was not used to it when he first arrived, and felt that he had been sent to a place with poor conditions.

Well now.

I wouldn't trade him for the position of director of the school-enterprise cooperation office.

After all, the director of the school-enterprise cooperation office has to consult Director Xie before making any decisions. As long as things can develop here and provide more job opportunities, that's all that matters.

"Not bad!"

Li Rui was increasingly delighted as he listened.

He kept praising himself for his good judgment of people.

“Our wool mill and leather factory have always cooperated with state-owned ranches and slaughterhouses in the surrounding area, so it’s easy for us to mobilize tens of thousands of live sheep…”

"Perhaps Xie Wei was planning this from the very beginning, which is why he had the school-enterprise office set up wool mills and leather factories here, just to build good relationships with the surrounding ranches and make it easier to transport live sheep to the Middle East?"

The moment the idea popped into Li Rui's head, it startled him.

If that were really the case, it would be terrifying!
impossible!
Xie Wei couldn't possibly be planning that far ahead.

Lu Yong himself said that the wool mill was built because the demand for cotton for sanitary napkins couldn't keep up with the full-capacity operation of cotton processing plants, and they also processed the wool along the way...

Li Rui dared not think about it in detail.

That's fucking terrifying.

It was probably because Fang Pengju's team came here to test the YH-150 long-range rocket launcher that Xie Wei proposed building a sanitary napkin factory here.

Back then, the school didn't have many technological achievements.

"Alright, in a few days, send 3850 live sheep here first, and then use Jiefang trucks to transport them directly to the airport..."

Lu Yong agreed without any hesitation.

He immediately asked, "Sir, I'm afraid we'll lose money exporting live sheep to the Middle East?"

Live sheep are being transported by plane from western Xinjiang to the Middle East!

This is such a waste...

(End of this chapter)