Chapter 111: Even If It Does Not Pay, It Must Be Done

Yang Hui naturally agreed at once; opportunities like this did not come often.

“Of course. Aunt Li, once the project here is settled in a few days, my father and I will go visit Grandpa Nie.”

Though it would only be a private visit, Yang Hui was certain that once they met, work would inevitably come up. If even his own forward-looking ideas, which were already ahead of the mainstream of the age, could not draw attention, that would be strange indeed.

Seeing him agree so readily, Aunt Li smiled, nodded, and went on ahead. Right now Marshal Nie needed someone to look after him; after all, age was age, and he had to be well cared for.

Aunt Li’s departure did not mean Yang Hui could sit there and chat with Yang Yue about life and destiny. It only meant they had time to exchange a few words and have a drink.

Less than five minutes later, Yang Hui saw once more the military officer in charge of the delegation sitting nearby. He still had a major question unresolved, so he went straight over.

Seeing Yang Hui return, Yang Yue could only helplessly go back to the middle of the group from the base’s chief designer.

At this time in 1983, the military had not yet restored the rank system. In order to emphasize that all officers and soldiers were equal, there had been no formal ranks from 1965 to 1988, so Yang Hui naturally could not tell what rank this officer held. He could only ask.

“Hello, comrade. I’m sorry, but how should I address you? I was just giving the project presentation, and I have a question I’d like to ask. I wonder if that would be convenient.”

The officer had already noticed Yang Hui coming over, and now that Yang Hui had spoken first, he naturally replied.

“Oh, my surname is Zhang. I’m the deputy minister of the General Logistics Department and the leader of this military review team. I’ll probably be following this project closely in the future. If you have any questions, just ask.”

As the deputy minister of the General Logistics Department, he was one of the men with authority over military equipment. The Logistics Department counted as one such authority. He had to be treated well, for he was in charge of supplies and equipment, a true heavyweight. Yang Hui still did not know what sort of man he was, so it was better to keep the conversation formal.

“Hello, my surname is Yang. I’m from the Second Institute at Base 0011. The base leadership has asked me to take part in the project’s overall planning. I wanted to ask whether the military is really able to offer a purchase price of seven million. That seems rather unreasonable in the present circumstances, doesn’t it?”

It was normal to express an intention to order during the stage of project presentation, but to name a rather specific purchase price was something else entirely. Yang Hui had long felt that this figure was highly suspect.

Hearing that this young man, who had only just finished the project presentation, was already so attentive and had discovered the issue so early, Deputy Minister Zhang was also astonished. His own claim of seven million had been nothing more than bluster, a way to put pressure on the aviation ministry. Yes, it was pressure on the aviation ministry. The military had long been displeased with them, and with a chance to needle them now, of course they were delighted.

The long-standing friction between the military and the aviation ministry largely came down to the logistics side and the aviation side. The conflict was simple enough: one belonged to the military, the other to the government. In the development and procurement of military projects, the military always wanted money, more money, while after the reforms and opening-up, government funding for the armed forces had been cut, and cut again, and cut yet again.

So at this point, the aviation ministry naturally tried to save wherever it could on every development project, which in turn made the performance of new equipment rather unreliable. Saving money on development while also raising prices during procurement—that was the root of the feud. In the end, it was all about money, and that was why the figure of seven million had made the aviation ministry’s eyes go red.

Of course, Deputy Minister Zhang would never tell Yang Hui about the military’s feud with the aviation ministry. There was no point in saying such things. The reason he had named seven million was to support Base 0011, and the explanation was simple enough. So he told Yang Hui why he had dared to put forward that figure.

“That purchase price of seven million is, of course, false. I said seven million so that you could more easily secure the Saudi loan. If we said too little, the Saudis would certainly think you couldn’t make a profit and would not lend you the money. There is another reason too: we are genuinely thinking of you. If we say seven million, then in the future, when you deal with the two foreign investors, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, you will have grounds to raise the price a bit, and that way you can make money.”

Strictly speaking, seven million was not outrageously high. A fully equipped new trainer aircraft would cost at least four or five million to build. With so many new technologies, the procurement cost would certainly be higher than that of the J-7. But from Deputy Minister Zhang’s perspective, the logic was clearly mistaken.

The new aircraft might well make money in the future, but certainly not much for the base itself. Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, as investors, would take a large share of the profits, and they certainly would not agree to be taken for fools in procurement either.

After thinking it over, Yang Hui felt that he still ought to thank Deputy Minister Zhang for his goodwill. Even if his idea could not ultimately be realized, his intentions were good, and that was enough. Deputy Minister Zhang did not understand the intricacies of foreign investment, which was only natural. After all, this was the first time not only the base, but the entire defense industry system, had cooperated with foreign partners on research and development.

Yang Hui explained to him, “Deputy Minister Zhang, this new aircraft is funded mainly by Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, so of course they have the right to know the costs. It is only normal that they will later purchase it at a lower price. Most importantly, even if we do make money in the future, the profits will have to be shared with the Saudi and Pakistani sides. They are investors, not benefactors.”

Only then did Deputy Minister Zhang understand. After a moment’s thought, he went on, “Then this new aircraft probably won’t make much money for you, will it? You can only take twenty-five percent of the profits from the new plane, and you still have to repay the Saudi loan. Why go through all that trouble with foreign projects? It seems as though you gain nothing from it, doesn’t it?”

No benefit? How could there be no benefit?

Although it would be impossible to seize the Saudi and Pakistani funds without giving anything in return, and although the base would not make much money from the project in the end, its greatest gain lay elsewhere: through this opportunity, it would fully understand the technologies behind the new aircraft. Once those technologies were in hand, they could be transplanted into other projects, and only then would the base truly begin to make money for itself.

Yang Hui continued to explain the advantages. “Deputy Minister Zhang, it can’t be said that way. On the one hand, by making use of foreign capital, we can complete the development of the new aircraft and provide the military with a high-performance trainer. On the other hand, we can obtain the technologies involved in the aircraft’s development. With those technologies in the future, it will be much easier for us to undertake other projects.”

Yang Hui knew that taking this money for himself was virtually impossible. Forget the foreign side; even the people at home would shoot him down for it. It would blacken the republic’s name in diplomacy, deal an unprecedented blow to the nation’s credibility, and might even affect other foreign investors’ willingness to put money into the republic. For the great cause of reform and opening-up, that was absolutely unacceptable.

Since that was the case, then they should do the project properly, take what was due to them, and build good relations with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Let them earn money from the trainer aircraft, and when those oil-rich spendthrifts, with money to burn, saw that this could open up a new source of income beyond oil exports, then when other projects lacked funding and they went looking for the Saudi financiers to invest—

So, the Saudi big spenders absolutely could not be offended. This project was Saudi Arabia showing sincerity, and wasn’t it also the base showing sincerity in return? Both sides needed what the other had. Cooperation required sincerity and experience in working together.

Deputy Minister Zhang did not know what Yang Hui was thinking. He only heard the generous words Yang Hui had spoken, and thought to himself: look at this, Base 0011 really is good, really sensible. For the sake of national defense, they can forgo making money themselves, work for foreigners if necessary, and still find ways to provide the military with high-performance aircraft. What kind of spirit is that? Truly a great international spirit...

There was nothing more to say. Base 0011 was simply worlds apart from that black-hearted aviation ministry. He had not known it before, but now that he did, he would certainly have to look after this defense-industrial base in the far southwest.

Indeed, the researchers who threw themselves into frontier construction were better than those institutes that merely lived off their old laurels. Thinking of this, Deputy Minister Zhang was reminded of the matter years ago, when nearly a hundred J-6 fighters had all been returned to the factory as unqualified. That was the gap.

Back then, one plant had produced in a single year what should have taken three years to manufacture. The troops found the aircraft unsatisfactory after using them, so all of them were sent back. The factory then spent another three years overhauling every last plane. After the aircraft were returned, the factory’s own tarmac could not even hold them all, so they had to be parked at a civilian airport instead. When so many fighters suddenly appeared in the northeast, Soviet satellites detected the mass of aircraft and genuinely gave the Soviets a shock. They had even thought war was about to begin.