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

Chapter 57: How Many Steps Does Turning Military Aid into Arms Sales?

Factory 132, Guesthouse, third floor, a certain room.

Boom boom, boom boom!
"Qin Liang, Qin Liang, are you there? Open the door!"

Boom boom, boom boom!
There's still no response inside!
"Kick the door open!"

"This……"

"kick!"

Boom!
The door opened, and Old Lin strode in. It was a large room with a double bed. The curtains were not drawn, and moonlight shone on a person lying on the bed, snoring continuously.

The sound of kicking the door didn't even wake him up?

"Qin Liang, Qin Liang! If this were wartime, you'd be meeting your maker in your sleep with this level of vigilance! Wake up!"

Standing to the side, Old Tu looked somewhat troubled: "Old Lin, Qin Liang did a lot of work and is exhausted today. How about tomorrow?"

"No, it'll be too late tomorrow!" Old Lin said. "There's something I need to discuss with him tonight! Oh, and turn on the lights!"

The light bulb above his head turned on, and Qin Liang groggily opened his eyes, glanced at the light, then pulled the blanket over his head, intending to continue sleeping.

"Qin Liang, Qin Liang!"

Qin Liang struggled to open his eyes and looked at the person speaking. It seemed to be... Elder Lin? Elder Lin!
Qin Liang finally woke up completely and looked at the person sitting on the edge of the bed: "Old Lin, are you playing a midnight horror game? Old Tu, you're here too? And who is this...?"

"This is Mr. Liu, General Manager of CATIC."

CATIC?

Qin Liang's eyes gleamed: "It seems that our aviation industry will have to bypass the foreign trade department and handle import and export independently?"

General Manager Liu looked shocked: "Sure enough, this suggestion was yours! Old Mo pushed for this plan, which ended up offending the foreign trade department! But Old Zhang is very supportive of us..."

"Alright, enough chit-chat, Qin Liang, if you can sell the J-7 fighter jets this time, it will provide a large amount of funding for the development of the Super-7! This matter is of great importance! However, the J-7 is too outdated after all. Will the Egyptians be willing to spend money to buy it?"

Sure enough, Old Lin had a sharp eye and saw the key point at a glance!

"The Egyptians are very interested in our planes today!" Old Tu said, puzzled.

"Yes, their goal is military aid, so of course they're willing to take it. They have no intention of spending any money at all!" Qin Liang said with a look of disdain.

Old Tu's heart sank immediately: "So, we were happy for nothing today?"

The Egyptians spent the whole day there, and in the evening they were treated to a meal at the most upscale restaurant in town. They were then taken to the most luxurious Tianhu Hotel, with all sorts of services provided, treated like royalty. Now…

"That's not it, Elder Tu. I saw it when we went to Egypt for our inspection. Egypt has no other choice but to buy fighter jets from us, but it will be a bit of a hassle."

Qin Liang knew this part of history; there were many twists and turns, but in the end, it was still accomplished!

"Yes, as long as we can sell it in the end, we can overcome any difficulties!"

“That’s right, our Air Force will also give it our full support!” Old Lin said.

"Really?" "Hey kid, just say what you're thinking!"

"Old Lin, regarding Chao Qi..."

It really is Super 7! Old Lin frowned: "You support selling Super 7 to the Egyptians?"

"Of course not. If we sell it this time, how will we make money next time? We need to be sustainable," Qin Liang said. "If the Air Force supports us leaking the Super-7's secrets, I do have a way..."

Everyone's eyes widened as they listened.

Sure enough, when it comes to arms sales and doing business with foreigners, you need someone like Qin Liang!

"You little rascal, you're full of bad intentions... cough cough, the Super-7 is, after all, a key project for our Air Force. If you leak this kind of project to outsiders, you'll have to give the Air Force a few more reasons."

"This arms sale is crucial. We must obtain foreign exchange and then use that foreign exchange to import advanced avionics from the West. In this way, the last shortcoming in our air force equipment will be filled."

Everyone was shocked again.

The higher authorities strongly supported it because the country lacked foreign exchange. Selling the planes would earn the country valuable foreign exchange. But Qin Liang had no intention of handing it over to the country; he just spent it all.

Is this a case of making money abroad and spending it abroad, without bringing a single penny home?

"Perfect timing! With CATIC now in our fold, we can decide on all import and export matters in the aviation industry ourselves, without the foreign trade department interfering, saving us from their meddling..."

Mr. Liu felt his heart pounding wildly! This move... he'd be getting a severe scolding from the relevant departments!
"Old Lin, times have changed. The era of winning by courage is over! The future is high-tech warfare. Our fighter jets cannot fulfill the mission entrusted to us by the motherland and the people without advanced avionics. Our Super-7, although it has an empty nose, still lacks all-weather combat capability without advanced avionics, which is something the Air Force urgently needs! We must walk on two legs: we must not give up on self-development, but we must also strive to import them!"

Old Lin nodded: "That's right, you're absolutely right. We earn our own money and spend it ourselves, and we don't cause those departments any trouble, so they shouldn't come and tell us what to do!"

Old Tu could only stare helplessly; Qin Liang's outrageous maneuver was unprecedented and would never be repeated!

"Alright, in order to develop the Super-7 as soon as possible, our Air Force agrees! However... you should also know what the consequences will be if this project fails!"

"Don't worry, Elder Lin, we won't let the Air Force down!"

The next day, after breakfast, Shafik and his group looked at Director Hou and others who had come to greet them: "We saw your J-7 fighter jets yesterday. Today we need to go to the capital to discuss military aid with the relevant departments!"

"Our superiors originally planned to welcome you all in the capital yesterday, but since you've spent the afternoon here and stayed overnight, they decided to fly over personally to greet you. The plane will arrive in a few hours. Why don't you continue to rest and we'll call you when our superiors arrive?"

Shafik shook his head: "No, let's go take another look around the factory. Yesterday we only saw the final assembly plant, today we'll go see the various workshops and broaden our horizons!"

"Ok."

Factory 132, workshop.

"That's our civilian product project. Our aircraft factory plans to start producing motorcycles. There's nothing much to see there."

"Motorcycles? We're interested in those too! Let's go take a look!"

"Director Hou, is there something you're having trouble saying?"

"Well..." Factory Director Hou looked embarrassed. Just then, the door of a workshop opened!

From where everyone was standing, they could see right inside the workshop. When they saw what was there, the Egyptians' eyes widened instantly. What was that?
(End of this chapter)