Back in 1978, I was admitted to Northwestern Polytechnical University.

Chapter 328 Playing Both Sides
CATIC.

"Manager Liu, I solemnly inform you once again that you in the East cannot sell equipment to Syria. This will seriously disrupt the regional balance and help our enemy. If you do not heed our instructions, you will be making an enemy of us, the people of David, and offending us means offending the entire Western world! You in the East can forget about being friends with the West from now on!"

David, representing Ariel, sat there with a serious expression, looking like a high and mighty judge.

Manager Liu still wore a smile, a habit ingrained by his profession. However, this did not mean he was without anger. He had felt disgusted by the arrogant attitude of these guys when they worked together before, and now... they were even more despicable.

“Mr. Ariel, I’m sorry, but our transactions with Syria are entirely in accordance with international standards. We will certainly not sell anything to any country on the UN arms embargo list, but Syria… is a completely normal country. There is nothing wrong with our business dealings with Syria…”

"No, by selling arms to Syria, you are threatening the interests of us Davidians, and you are threatening the interests of the West! I hope you think this through! If you really sell arms to Syria, you are challenging the entire Western world!"

"Really? I've never heard of you Davidians representing the entire Western world! Did America agree to that? Did Britain and France agree to that?"

The voice from the doorway startled Ariel, and when he saw who it was, his expression darkened even more: "President Qin, what do you mean by this?"

"What I mean is, we in the East are one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. We are a country with veto power. We don't need others to tell us what to do! We certainly won't tolerate anyone stepping on our heads! We'll just pull those people down and give them a good beating, and that'll make them behave!"

Qin Liang plopped down in a chair, looked up at the sky, and said, "Back in the Far East, what did the UN forces do? We still drove them back to the 38th parallel. The Soviets amassed a million troops on the border, but were we ever afraid? Mr. Ariel, please look carefully, this is not the Middle East, and we are not an Arab country!"

"President Qin is so domineering!" Manager Liu thought to himself, just as he saw Qin Liang looking at him.

"Manager Liu, we believe in making money through harmony in business, but that only applies to our customers. As for those who come to provoke us, what else is there to say but to kick them out! If you don't take a tough stance, there will always be some Tom, Dick, and Harry who think they can ride roughshod over you."

"Yes, Mr. Qin, you're right!"

Ariel's face darkened: "Are you determined to sell weapons to Syr Darya? Aren't you afraid of retaliation from the people of David?"

"Retaliation?" Qin Liang looked at the other party: "How do you plan to retaliate? Let me tell you, Ariel, if you harm even one of our Eastern citizens abroad, we'll sell a rocket to Syria, possibly with a mushroom bomb on it! What will you do? Conspiracy or assassination? Well, we'll be more honorable then. If you anger us, it's not impossible for your Great David to disappear from the face of the earth!"

"Aren't you afraid of offending the entire Western world?"

“Mr. Ariel, if you’re not stupid, then use your brain. Who would oppose the East for the sake of a nation that is already extinct? If we just openly declare that the Soviet Union is the Great Satan, do you believe that the entire West would welcome us?”

Ariel's face turned pale instantly, and her body even began to tremble slightly.

What the other party said is perfectly reasonable!

If the Kingdom of David were to truly disappear from the earth, they would be forced to continue wandering the world, eventually falling into a situation where everyone wanted to kill them. A few mushroom bombs would suffice! If the Easterners were provoked and did just that, the people of David would have no means of retaliation!

We're in the Cold War now, so the United States is nothing. The main thing is the confrontation between the two major military blocs. The United States is fighting with Syria, which puts it on the opposite side of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union won't speak up for them. As long as the East sides with the West, the West will definitely welcome it.

When the Kingdom of David is gone, no one will speak up for them!
When Ariel came over, he adopted a condescending attitude, actually wanting to put pressure on the East to stop selling Syrian camels, otherwise... the casualties of the Davidians would be even greater. Don't be fooled by their claims of zero casualties; in reality, they were just praying that fewer people would die.

However... they misjudged the situation. No matter how powerful they were in the Middle East, in the eyes of the East, they were just a small country. Only those with nuclear weapons were considered great powers!
The East could stand firm under pressure from the US and the Soviet Union, so why would it fear their threats? They are not worthy at all!
"Come here, see the guests off!"

Two guards came in.

Ariel took a deep breath, stood up, and suddenly... bowed.

"I'm sorry, Manager Liu, President Qin, I apologize for my attitude just now."

These guys are all bullies who prey on the weak! If you're nice to them, they'll just think you're easy to bully and act all high and mighty. But when you get serious with them, they'll quickly change their attitude.
"It's too late, let's go!"

"Gentlemen, I have come with sincerity. As long as you do not provide equipment to Xu Tuo, we are willing to offer compensation, such as resuming our previous cooperation on fighter jets, so that you can earn more profits..."

"You should have said so earlier, and if you had shown this attitude sooner, wouldn't that have been better?" Qin Liang smiled and gestured for the two guards to leave.

"We Easterners have always been very friendly and willing to treat our friends sincerely, of course, the premise is that they are friends," Qin Liang said. "If anyone dares to play hardball with us, we will be even tougher than them. I don't know if you have heard the saying, 'Treat friends with the warmth of spring, and treat enemies with the ruthlessness of winter!'"

"Yes, yes, Mr. Qin, we hope to be friends with the East, regarding your business with Xutuo..."

"Manager Liu, what's the penalty for breach of contract with Xu Tuo again?"

Manager Liu immediately understood: "Five times."

"Well, our cooperation with Syria is worth a total of two billion US dollars, and with five times that amount in compensation, that's ten billion US dollars," Qin Liang said. "Mr. Ariel, if your side wants to prevent us from delivering the fighter jets to Syria, then you'll have to cover this compensation shortfall for us, and then spend another two billion US dollars to buy Syria's equipment..."

Ariel's face turned green.

What a joke!
In 1982, the United States' GDP for the entire year was only $292 billion. At that time, the US dollar was still very valuable!
Asking the Davidians to give $12 billion to the East? That's a huge hole, it's practically a cosmic black hole!

"David is rich, with businesses all over the world. This amount of money is nothing to you, is it?"

Manager Liu, standing nearby, was also deeply moved.

The contract transaction was confidential, and the outside world did not know the specific amount. Therefore, the original contract of 1.15 billion was turned into 2 billion by Qin Liang. Moreover, there was also a five-fold increase in compensation, and the produced equipment also needed to be sold...

If the people of David can't afford it, then they shouldn't interfere with trade with the East. They should understand these basic rules of business, right? If the people of David pay, then we'll really be breaking the contract. Although it will damage our reputation, there's just too much money involved.

Anyway, the Syrians don't really want our equipment; they have ulterior motives.

"President Qin, this...this requires too much funding, we...we don't have that much money available right now."

"This is troublesome. We promised to deliver all the equipment to Syria before the war broke out. We didn't expect the war to start so quickly. We're in a difficult position now. If we send the equipment over now, maybe Syria will accept it. If they refuse the deal now, they'll definitely have to pay five times the compensation..."

Qin Liang feigned helplessness: "Then we'll figure out how to sell these fighter jets ourselves. You just need to send us five times the compensation, how about that?"

"This... 10 billion is more than enough!"

I didn't mean for you to round down; I meant for you to round it up! Two billion dollars is already a lot, but one hundred and twenty billion? Are you kidding me!
"Since that's the case, there's nothing we can do but provide the equipment to Xu Tuo as soon as possible."

"No, absolutely not!"

"How about this, we'll stall for a few more days, you take over the Syrian regime, and install your puppet government. That way, we won't have to fulfill the previous government's deal. What do you think?"

Ariel nearly coughed up blood. What did you say? You overthrew the regime in Syria?

Even in later generations, the Davidians alone could not have accomplished such a great feat. It was the result of the efforts of many parties, especially the United States, which orchestrated color revolutions behind the scenes. Now, their strategic goal is nothing more than to dismantle the PLO. In fact, even after the war ended, they did not completely dismantle the PLO, and Arafat was still fighting.

"Mr. Ariel, this won't work, that won't work, are you even sincere?" Ariel's face turned red: "I'm sorry, President Qin, I need to report this matter back to the country..."

"Okay, then we need your reply as soon as possible, within 24 hours."

"it is good!"

"I send you!"

Qin Liang and Manager Liu warmly saw Ariel off to his car; their attitude was as enthusiastic as could be.

Watching Ariel leave, Manager Liu asked curiously, "President Qin, if they really can come up with such a sum of money, should we really terminate our cooperation with Xu Tuo?"

"Of course not, wouldn't that make us lose face?"

"That……"

"Just because we're not exporting fighter jets doesn't mean that Syria will acquire them through a third party. We still have a cooperative project with Lang Tuo on the twin-engine Q-6. If Syria obtains twin-engine Q-6s transferred by Lang Tuo, then it has nothing to do with us."

Manager Liu felt a chill run down his spine. "President Qin, what a stunt you pulled..."

"When the time comes, we'll say that the Super-7 can't compete with the F-15 and F-16, so we'll give you a more powerful one in return, two for one. The Syrian Tuo will definitely agree..."

As they were talking, a car drove up. The two of them hadn't gone back to their building yet, so they waited. They watched as the car passed the security guard, registered, and then drove in. The car door opened, and several bearded men got out.

"President Qin, Manager Liu, what's going on here...?"

"When I woke up this morning, I saw magpies chirping, so I knew we had important guests," Qin Liang said with a smile. "We've been waiting for these important guests."

Mosharak was deeply moved: "President Qin, you are truly a good friend of ours! Knowing that we are facing a crisis and urgently need fighter jets, the fighter jets we ordered have already been produced, right?"

They wouldn't accept any explanation like "magpie's call." In their eyes, Qin Liang knew about the emergency situation in the Middle East, which was why he came specifically to wait for them.

"Sigh, I'm so sorry, we didn't expect the war to break out so quickly. According to our production schedule, we've only produced thirty aircraft for other customers so far..."

Qin Liang spoke very directly, waiting for the other party's response. If the other party wanted to pursue contractual liability, they would have many reasons, such as the time was too tight, the war was started by the PLO assassination, force majeure, etc. In short, compensation was impossible; it would be good enough if they could deliver the goods to you as soon as possible.

If that doesn't work, then we'll bring out the Davidians. They've already promised compensation. Do you still want the fighter jets?

However, the Syrians didn't say that; they were very sincere.

"Alright, now that thirty have been produced, we'll take them with us. Also, that early warning aircraft, it's in your Air Force's hands, right? Please deliver it to us as soon as possible."

"Okay, we'll arrange for loading."

"No need to load it onto the ship. If possible, we'll fly the plane over as soon as possible."

"it is good."

You agreed, that's all?
Manager Liu stood to the side, his expression complicated. He had just promised the Davids that they would refuse the deal if they received compensation, and now he was promising Xu Tuo that he would deliver the fighter jets that had already been produced to them. How was he going to explain this to the Davids?

Being two-faced is hardly the way of a gentleman. However… since Qin Liang said so, he must have his reasons. Manager Liu never questioned Qin Liang's decisions, after all, Qin Liang was the one who secured AVIC's first deal.

Without Qin Liang, there would be no CATIC today.

"However... the training of pilots and ground crew takes time. Even if you manage to fly the planes over there, you won't be able to catch up with the war."

"It's alright. The Super-7 is an improved version of the MiG-21, which our Syrian pilots are familiar with. They only need simple training on the weapon system. The ground crew will be similar. Moreover, we trust Eastern products; their quality is top-notch. The engines and avionics can be deployed in combat even without maintenance. As for the early warning aircraft... the more advanced the weapon, the simpler it is to operate, isn't it?"

Qin Liang smiled and said, "That's right, you're right. Our weapons are the most advanced, but... it will still be very difficult to win this war, after all, we have too few of them."

"We are not afraid of bloodshed and sacrifice."

"But we're afraid you'll tarnish the reputation of our weapons," Qin Liang said. "If you want to win, you'll need to come up with some tactical solutions... Come on, let's go inside and talk!"

An hour later.

"President Qin, is what we're doing really appropriate?" After seeing Mosharak off, and watching him coordinate the equipment reception, Manager Liu felt somewhat worried.

"Why is it inappropriate?"

"Replacing the remaining twenty Super-7s with five twin-engine Q-6s... isn't that a bit excessive? The performance of the Q-6s on both sides is too overpowered. The Davids have been beaten too badly. Will they take their anger out on us?"

Qin Liang smiled and said, "If we didn't have these five twin-engine Q-6s, we might have. Now that we have them, the Davids' anger should be directed at Lang Tuo. Isn't it perfect to let Lang Tuo take the blame? Anyway, Lang Tuo wasn't afraid in the first place."

Currently, only Dongfang and Langtuo possess the dual-wielding +6 equipment! Dongfang insists he doesn't have any damage-dealing equipment, so this batch of equipment must have been provided by Langtuo.

After the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War, most Arab countries stood firmly on the side of Iran, but Syria was an exception. They firmly sided with the Arabs for many reasons, such as unspeakable factional issues and various grievances.

When the two countries first gained independence, they even considered merging, saying they wanted to become one family, but in reality, they just wanted to devour each other, so they split up. After 1969, they went their separate ways. When Saddam Hussein and Assad came to power, the two strong men naturally disliked each other and engaged in various open and covert struggles.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend!
Therefore, Syria fell out with other Arab countries, but maintained a good relationship with Langkawi.

In later generations, whenever Xu Tuo encountered a crisis, it was almost always Yao Lang Tuo who came to the rescue. Unfortunately, Lang Tuo himself was not very capable, which ultimately led to Xu Tuo's demise.

Qin Liang was not a savior. Regarding Xu Tuo's plight, he merely said, "There is always a reason why someone is pitiful. The people happily overthrew their own regime and ushered in an even darker rule. They should have known this would be their fate when they shouted slogans in the square demanding democracy."

Their fate serves as a wake-up call. To be fooled by Western propaganda and cripple oneself would be the most foolish thing to do.

For the East, the greatest significance of this war is... to test the actual combat effectiveness of our weapons!
In recent years, the development of weaponry and equipment in the East has been too rapid, which sometimes makes Qin Liang sigh. He has been pushing forward military research and development for ten years. Whether these weapons are just for show or really effective can only be tested in actual combat.

The Falklands War was nothing more than a combination of the Super 7 and the C801. Rather than saying that our side was too strong, it's more accurate to say that the British were too weak!
David's Eagle is incredibly powerful and has a very aggressive style. The fact that our equipment can hold its own against David's Eagle means that we have caught up with the world's top level, and now it's time to surpass them!

The battlefield is the touchstone of weapons, and our weapons are as pure as gold, which is not afraid of being tested by fire!
Manager Liu stared wide-eyed and gaped, exclaiming, "Liangzi, you really are... I don't even know how to praise you!"

(End of this chapter)