The Grandmother in the Siheyuan

Chapter 423 Grass Team
Ma Shan's expression froze, and he asked curiously, "You don't actually design airplanes, do you?"

"Nope."

"What do you mean you're going to do it yourself?" Ma Shan said disdainfully, "Although you've boasted a lot over the years, you've all come true. Don't make up an excuse that you can't deliver and ruin the good image you have in my mind."

"The reason I can't do it is because I haven't studied it," Liu Hua said arrogantly. "Once I study it, maybe I'll be able to."

"Hehe." Ma Shan chuckled deliberately: "You haven't studied, but I have. I've seriously read books on the subjects of airplane design, but I still don't understand."

Liu Hua nodded: "I understand. There are many reasons why you can't learn it, but I think the most important one is that your name isn't Liu Hua."

"I've seen plenty of braggarts, but I've never seen anyone as confident as you before."

"That's because you didn't see through the Americans' boasting. They not only made the whole world believe it, but even they themselves believed it." Liu Hua said with a smile, "The Americans' strength is far from what we imagine. They've built it up entirely through boasting."

"Impossible, right? Can national defense really be made so powerful just by bragging?"

Liu Hua smiled and said, "Of course, he does have some ability, but he's just been exaggerating. Look at who he's fought against, does it have any real significance?"

Ma Shan frowned and said, "Of course there is. Not long ago, the whole world saw what modern warfare is like. You know, his opponent is the world's third strongest military power."

Liu Hua smiled and said, "The world's third strongest military power, haven't we fought two of them? The reason why the United States was able to achieve such overwhelming dominance is because it didn't fight modern countries, not true military powers."

"Then what is a true military superpower?" Ma Shan asked curiously. "They say that every profession is like a mountain to climb. I can forgive you for not knowing, but you can't pretend to know. You are, after all, an expert and professor. Your arrogance will cause our judgment to be skewed."

"Let me put it this way, the military in this world is divided into two echelons." Liu Hua gestured and said, "The five UN philanthropists are one echelon, and the rest are another echelon."

Ma Shan chuckled: "You really think highly of us, but you might be overestimating us."

"This world is a huge makeshift organization. Apart from the five permanent members, it's basically a bunch of lousy makeshift organizations. Of course, there are some exceptions, such as the Hansin People's Republic of China and Japan, which can be roughly classified into the first tier."

Ma Shan had never heard of the term "makeshift team" before, and asked curiously, "Then Wuchang isn't a makeshift team?"

"Among the five permanent members, apart from us, the rest are just relatively well-organized makeshift teams." Liu Hua said disdainfully, "Although we are not very good now, if you give us twenty years, we will be able to lead the whole world."

"National self-confidence is certainly necessary, but excessive self-confidence like yours is not necessarily a good thing."

Liu Hua did not refute him, but instead brought up other things: "Did you know that the US military actually relies on Japan for many of its military raw materials? I once tested some of the steel raw materials that Japan can import, and the test results were quite different from the data on paper."

Ma Shan was stunned and quickly asked, "There is a gap? You mean their actual data is not as good as the data on paper."

Liu Hua nodded: "That's right. If it's for civilian use, this little bit of error doesn't matter." "For military use, it's a big problem." Ma Shan muttered to himself: "Sometimes even a tiny bit off can cause structural instability."

"Even so, the Americans are still using raw materials from Japan. I don't know if they're unaware of this or if they are just pretending not to know."

"I guess they didn't know, but that doesn't make sense either," Ma Shan said skeptically. "I don't believe they didn't test the raw materials after receiving them from Japan."

Liu Hua smiled and said, "That's a capitalist country. With money, there's nothing you can't get things done."

"You mean, Xiao Dongyang might have spent money to settle these matters and silence the relevant testing personnel?"

"I don't know." Liu Hua smiled mysteriously: "If such a thing really happens, do you think there might be counterfeiting in their own domestic raw materials as well?"

"Only God knows."

"Their military industrial enterprises are all private enterprises, which aim for low cost and high returns. But those military industrial groups have people, money, and guns, and they also control the spokespeople of their Congress. Do you think they might cheat on the raw materials?"

The implication was quite obvious, and Ma Shan nodded with a knowing look on his face.

"I heard that they once boasted to us that the steel they used in their submarines was very advanced, and that our raw materials were vastly different from theirs. Is there something fishy going on here, because the strength of their raw materials is beyond what is reasonable?"

Ma Shan rubbed his hands together: "I know, but I think what you said makes a lot of sense. I'll contact Sun Guangming and ask him to find an opportunity to verify it."

“This is very simple. In capitalist countries, the secrets belong to the state, but the money belongs to the individual.” Liu Hua rubbed his fingers together. “Actually, if you can get this point across, I believe it’s quite easy to handle.”

Ma Shan nodded firmly, then smiled and said, "You describe capitalist enterprises in such a negative light. Don't you feel like you're tripping up your own company?"

Liu Hua said nonchalantly, "Anyway, I've already achieved great success. If it weren't for the fact that the country really couldn't afford to fund my research on the projects I like, I wouldn't care if I gave the company to the country."

Ma Shan went back to the workshop. He was busy all day long and rarely had time to chat with Liu Hua for half an hour.

Before leaving, he patted Liu Hua on the head and shoulder and said, "Didn't you say that you could design airplanes after studying? So I suggest you go home now and start learning all the courses on airplane design. I hope that in my lifetime, the airplanes you design will allow our air force to soar in the blue sky of our motherland."

Liu Hua shook his head: "I'm already very versatile. What kind of person do you want me to become? Like Tesla? A scientific genius?"

“If possible, it wouldn’t be a bad thing,” Ma Shan said happily. “Our country has scientific giants like Qian Xuesen, but that doesn’t stop us from producing a genius like Tesla. It’s said that the Americans confiscated his research notes, which is why their technology is so far ahead.”

(End of this chapter)