Xiaomi Heavy Industry, its first entrepreneurial venture!

Chapter 521 A New Name, Megatron! (Third Update!)

"We must grow bigger and stronger, surpassing the head office!" Zhang Yiming shouted the slogan with great force. Inspired by him, the head of the content department next to him also raised his right hand with excitement and shouted the same slogan:
"Grow bigger and stronger! Create greater glory!"

After he finished shouting the slogan, Zhang Yiming picked up the documents on the table and handed them to him:
"Remember, we're just providing a platform for users. We only need to ensure that users don't violate local laws. The rest is up to them—whatever they want to see, we'll show them!"

"I understand!" The head of the content department raised his right hand, made an OK sign, turned around, and left with the documents.

The content department office is on the first floor. Enter through the main door, and the domestic content department is on the left, while the international content department is on the right.

There weren't enough people, so he had to take on the role of head of two departments at the same time.

As I walked into the overseas content department office with the documents in my arms, the person in charge was standing at the door. Instead of coming in, he raised his hands and clapped loudly.

The applause drew the attention of everyone else in the office.

These people, one by one, had droopy eyelids and listlessly looked up:

"Boss, are you going to start causing trouble again?"

The head of the content department rolled his eyes: "What do you mean, 'we're going to start making trouble again'!"

"That's called finding content!"

“I just went to Mr. Zhang’s office. Mr. Zhang said that we are just a platform, just providing a place for users to speak. We will push whatever users like to watch to them.”

"However, it must comply with local laws!"

"So, we shouldn't push the hottest topic of human smuggling to America's clients these days."

"We mainly target customers in other regions, so we need to change the title. We can't say something like smuggling, that's too blatant."

"Let's talk about recommended travel routes in America, Mexico; America, Cuba; and America, Canada. Do you understand?"

"By the way, let's contact those locals who are active in the community and see if they can step forward, write a few articles, and recommend it."

"Give me money!"

After hearing his sophistry, the people in the content department were completely dumbfounded; in other words, they were told to abide by local laws.

Then what's the point of having laws?

However, none of the people in the group said anything to argue. Instead, they naturally turned back, stared at their computers, and began to adjust the content according to the requirements just given by the head of the content department.

Some were taken down, and the authors of the others were contacted for revisions.

In less than two days, the relevant community changed its style.

[Recommended day trip itinerary from Mexico to America.]

[Recommended Marathon Route Along the California Border]

[Recommended Marathon Routes in Texas]

[San Diego Family Visit Guide]

Recommended fishing routes in California

Recommended fishing routes from Cuba to America

Recommended swimming routes from Cuba to the Strait of America

[Florida to New York Long-Distance Travel Guide]

[America's Crossing Strategy]

After a series of adjustments and targeted recommendations, the number of views on the relevant posts skyrocketed, and Zhang Yiming took the opportunity to stuff a bunch of advertisements into these posts.

Thus, users are satisfied, advertisers are satisfied, and the platform is satisfied.

Win-win!

By mid-December, the number of new users in the first half of December had reached a staggering 863 million, while the advertising revenue from new advertisers in December also reached a staggering $1134 million. At this point, ByteDance in Lin'an had basically achieved self-sufficiency.

Upon obtaining this data, Zhang Yiming immediately sent the good news to Lin Yi. However, after waiting for more than an hour, he still hadn't received a response from Lin Yi.

He was getting anxious, so he simply called Ji Shuangshuang. Ji Shuangshuang only told him one piece of information: Lin Yi had gone to Yanjing.

I haven't been able to get through on the phone for the past few days, but it will be fine in a couple of days.

Yanjing.

In the assembly line's conference room.

Leng Yun sat next to Guo Song, holding a phone in both hands, scrolling through the content on his phone with a strange expression. After scrolling for a while, he gently tapped Guo Song with his right hand: "Take a look at these things."

Guo Song tilted his head and saw what was supposed to be a travel guide from Mexico to America.

The guide contains a lot of text descriptions, as well as a lot of pictures. As long as you can read the text and understand the pictures, you can easily travel from Mexico to America with this travel guide.

Of course, the prerequisite is that you have to pay protection money, since the guide stated at the beginning that you have to pay protection money to the Mexican gangs.

Upon seeing these things, his vision went black for a moment. He then looked up at Lin Yi, who was sitting across the conference table and writing in his notebook.

He glanced at her twice, then turned back to Leng Yun: "You bunch of people are all filthy!"

"Hehehe!" Leng Yun chuckled twice, his eyelids drooping: "Watch your mouth, what do you mean we're all dirty-hearted?"

"What's it to me?"

"It has absolutely nothing to do with me!"

"It has nothing to do with you, so what are you laughing at? Look at your face, it's all wrinkled from laughing!" Guo Song sneered disdainfully, pointing to the window to the side, "If you don't believe me, go and take a look at the window!"

"Oh, I see!" Leng Yun feigned sudden realization, rolled her eyes, and her smile vanished instantly, leaving only a cold expression.
"This is none of my business!"

Unable to argue with Leng Yun, Guo Song turned his gaze back to the documents in front of him, sketching and marking them with his pen.

About 10 minutes later, the conference room was gradually filled with people.

The clock on the wall pointed to two o'clock. Guo Song gently tapped the table with his right hand.
"It's time. Let's officially begin today's meeting."

"The topic of today's meeting is the fourth-generation tank, codenamed 'Buy a Bed', provided by our 80515 Research Institute."

Although they had heard the code name before, this was a formal occasion, and upon hearing it suddenly, the people in the conference room still let out a low chuckle.

It was a good-natured laugh. After laughing, the group quickly covered their mouths and continued to chuckle.

From the head of the table, Guo Song looked at Lin Yi and said, "They clearly have better translations, more accurate and elegant ones. Why do you insist on using transliteration?"

"Buy a bed!"

"Buy a ball!"

"Change my name!"

"Change it to Megatron! At least it sounds more normal!" Across from him, Lin Yi picked up a pen, crossed out "buy a bed," and wrote "Megatron" instead.

After he finished writing and put down his pen, Guo Song's voice rang out again:

"I called you all here today to discuss some implementation ideas for the fourth-generation tank. There are four plans in total, all of which are in front of you. Please take a look first."

As soon as he finished speaking, a soft rustling sound of documents being flipped through arose, accompanied by the sounds of discussion.

About 20 minutes passed, and the documents were mostly flipped through. After reviewing the materials, the group turned their attention to Guo Song, who spoke again:
"Let me first talk about the three previous plans."

"These three plans are the result of years of data accumulation by our senior tank research institute, based on future predictions and taking into account our conditions to the greatest extent possible."

"The technologies required by the above are basically not mastered by the major research institutes."

"Therefore, after the plan is implemented, our first task is to overcome the corresponding technical challenges."

"Then came Xiaomi Heavy Industry's proposal. They were quite unique. After we coordinated the proposals from three research institutes, they put forward a more radical one."

"From the perspective of the specifications on paper, this more radical proposal is more in line with our definition of a fourth-generation tank."

"However, the relevant technologies have not been fully mastered, and it will take time to overcome the technical challenges."

“But!” Guo Song’s words suddenly became more forceful, and his expression turned extremely serious in that instant:

"Xiaomi Heavy Industry submitted a less radical proposal along with this radical one."

"That is, the last document in front of you, which is why there are 5 documents for 4 plans."

"Compared to that radical proposal, this less radical proposal has reduced the level of intelligence, but in other aspects, it far surpasses the main battle tanks we currently use."

"Moreover, Xiaomi Heavy Industry's existing technology is sufficient to produce this tank!"

Upon hearing this, everyone except a few people who knew the inside story looked completely bewildered.

Especially the people at several tank research institutes.

The concept of a fourth-generation tank was proposed internationally a long time ago, but due to technological advancements, the fourth-generation tank concept proposed a couple of years ago has had to be overturned and reworked.

Several research institutes submitted their proposals together, and everyone was full of confidence, believing they could succeed.

But to everyone's surprise, a maverick appeared out of nowhere. This maverick looked at their plan and then proposed a plan that was more radical than theirs, but also more in line with the future development direction and more realistic.

The main reason I'm attending this meeting today is to see what kind of person the other party really is.

Unexpectedly, the other party said they could produce a non-smart version right now!

Either Cheng Yaojin is the problem, or the person in question is deaf.

A group of people turned their gazes to Guo Song, trying to discern from his face whether the matter was false.

But Guo Song's square face was now filled with seriousness.

Everyone present knew Guo Song's reputation; he was the kind of person who wouldn't act until he saw the benefits, and wouldn't give up until he reached the Yellow River. Since he said it, it meant that the matter was true.

After this was confirmed, another round of quiet chatter broke out in the conference room.

Immediately afterwards, a representative from the Army said, "Director Guo, does what you just said mean that once the plan is confirmed, our Army can obtain this not-so-intelligent tank in a very short time?"

"Is it right?"

Guo Song did not answer, but turned his gaze to Lin Yi. The gazes of the army representatives also turned to Lin Yi, following his gaze.

Noticing everyone's gaze, Lin Yi calmly opened his notebook and, following the schedule he had prepared, explained in a very composed manner:

"If the project is confirmed today, I can contact our factory later and have them start producing and processing the molds."

"This process will take about a month."

"One month later, our workshop will be able to produce car bodies."

"At the same time, companies in our industrial chain will also produce those small parts according to the blueprints."

"Because this is the first production run, the entire production process will take about two months."

"However, our workers have no experience in assembling tanks, so the assembly process may take longer, probably two to three months."

"Our first batch of prototypes is expected to be five vehicles. That means if we move quickly, we should be able to see the first batch of prototypes around the end of June or the beginning of July next year."

"The core issue now is who will pay for this batch of prototypes."

After a few words, everyone's attention shifted to Guo Song.

After all, this man is the chief person in charge of equipment research and development at the Army General Armament Department. Whether or not to undertake research funding is up to him to propose, and then others to vote.

If he makes a proposal, everyone present will approve it.

Sitting at the head of the table, Guo Song calmly flipped through the documents without looking up, and spoke in a very composed manner:
"What about the price?"

"On average, the cost of each tank is 1700 million. We need to break even at least. By using existing production lines and existing labor technology, the cost will drop significantly, and the price can be reduced to around 1400 million."

Guo Song, sitting opposite, shook his head:
"It's too expensive! And purchasing five vehicles at the same time without knowing their specific performance is a difficult task, costing nearly 5 million yuan!"

Seeing Guo Song shake his head, Lin Yi cautiously spoke again:
"Then I'll have to find other ways to break even, like... selling the scaled-down version overseas!"

Hearing him say those words, everyone present remained calm.

This is a common practice among military industrial enterprises in almost all countries.

If the cost of a new product is difficult to amortize and hasn't been tested in real-world applications, the solution is simple: find a sucker overseas.

However, this is a fourth-generation tank. Although it is a non-intelligent version, its performance parameters still far surpass other tanks.

This is not something you can easily sell.

Just when everyone thought Guo Song wouldn't agree, he suddenly spoke up, sealing the deal:
"The organization agreed to this, lowering the price to 1000 million, only for two vehicles, and then you can find a sucker to take care of the remaining three."

"Also, the relevant usage parameters should be provided in a timely manner."

Having finalized this matter, he then steered the conversation back to the previous question:
"Next, let's continue discussing the production issue we just discussed."

"Xiaomi Heavy Industry does not have enough installation workers, so we need to coordinate personnel from various departments. Is it possible to coordinate them?"

None of the people from the research institutes responded; they kept their heads down, took out their pens, and frantically wrote in their notebooks, pretending to be very busy.

Borrowing people, especially within research institutes, is practically like throwing good money after bad—it's gone forever.

Lending it is out of the question!

Don't even think about it!
Seeing that no one agreed, Guo Song patted his chest and assured the people from the research institute:
"I promise, I'll return the borrowed workers. You can lend them to me, and I'll give you back skilled workers in return!"

"If he doesn't pay, I'll skin him alive!"

(End of this chapter)