HCB Chapter 824 Are we that strong now?
Chapter 824 Are we that strong now?
Haha, hearing this little girl's name, the silly boy instinctively wanted to kneel down again.
What? You're saying that this idiot has weak knees?
No, brother, no. For someone who saved your life, bowing three times and kowtowing nine times wouldn't be excessive.
Don't tell me you've never seen that little gourd-shaped porcelain bottle with the words "Guicheng" printed on it that your elders used to carry in their pockets.
Yes, that's right, it's this living Buddha.
However, the living bodhisattva at this moment has not yet cultivated into the kind and heroic true form she will have in the future. The young girl in her early twenties crying with her nose red is quite novel.
So what's going on?
Actually, it's all the kid's fault!
Who made those above, upon seeing the procurement list sent back by Uncle Jin, fall into inexplicable ecstasy? Apart from fertilizer and grain, which the relevant leaders did not intend to provide, they decided to sell everything else!
The story unfolded as follows...
In Beijing, the windows of a conference room were open, but they couldn't block out the heat filling the room.
A procurement list transferred from Hong Kong was spread out on the conference table. Items circled in red, such as "20 meters of barbed wire," "over 10 hoes," and "5000 tons of fertilizer," were like red-hot branding irons, making everyone present restless.
Compared to the vast quantities of the rest of the items, a mere 1200 tons of dried Isatis root syrup seemed rather insignificant.
The ordinary clerks stared wide-eyed, whispering and calculating the total amount of this foreign trade order, immersed in the potential huge foreign exchange earnings.
"My God... 20 meters of barbed wire? Who wanted that? This... this could probably circle the Earth! What are those people in Hong Kong trying to do?"
"Young comrade, you need to brush up on your math. 20 meters is only 200 kilometers. During World War II, Hans-Miao built barbed wire defenses that were several times longer than that. Don't be surprised!"
"Then...then these 100,000+ hoes, sickles...and what's this called again?"
"A hudou... You've never seen one before? Tsk tsk, young comrade, the quota for going to the countryside this year isn't full yet, why don't you go and gain some experience at the grassroots level!"
"Uh... old comrade, I don't like hearing you say that. Sending intellectuals like us to participate in grassroots labor is a huge waste! I think..."
Seeing the commotion below, the older comrades in the meeting room did not stop them, but instead gathered together on their own.
"A scoop? I remember when we went down to help with drought relief a couple of years ago, we worked on it for quite a while, didn't we? Haha, Old Wu, back then you were the one Old Liu threw into the pond..."
"Hey, that's because you and Lao Liu are both weaklings. You need two people to lift a mere scoop. Back in the day, I used to do it all by myself!"
Well, if you don't know what a hudou is, you can think of it as a type of winnowing basket. It's shaped like a dou (a type of ancient Chinese measuring vessel), made of willow branches, with ropes tied to both sides. When using it, two people stand facing each other by the pond, each holding a rope in one hand, and coordinate their movements to draw water into the field.
Therefore, if one person doesn't coordinate well, it's common for both of them to fall into the pond together.
“Young man, you’ve caught a good time… But why would they use something like this in Hong Kong? Even our current commune uses water pumps made with 200cc gasoline engines. Isn’t it a bit strange that they’re using this?”
"Old Xie, you're so naive. This company in Hong Kong is just a purchasing agent; they didn't say they wanted to use it themselves! But shouldn't we recommend our new farm tools to them?"
"Makes sense!"
"What kind of logic is this! From thousands upon thousands of hoes and shovels to massive amounts of barbed wire and fertilizer, this is hardly a normal commercial purchase! The target of this list is far too obvious!"
"Oh? Old Liu, you mean..."
"Humph!"
An elderly man stood up and pointed heavily at that long, narrow coastal country.
"Here! Have you forgotten that we just delivered a batch of supplies to northern Vietnam? Combined with the reports in our internal correspondence that the bald eagle has begun to 'guide' southern Vietnam, can't you see that yet!"
"This is clearly intended for the people of southern Vietnam!"
"Combined with barbed wire...this...this is practically tailor-made for the large-scale construction of fortifications and the maintenance of operations in occupied territories!" A gray-haired veteran cadre pounded on the table:
"Aside from not directly listing the weapons and ammunition, this is practically a military supply list! If we provided it, what would this be?"
We've shed blood in the north, are we going to aid the enemy in the south? What about our principles?!
"Yes! Look at the quantity! Look at the variety! What normal company would make such a large-scale purchase of emergency supplies and basic industrial products in one go?"
"This is feeding a potential adversary! It's aiding the enemy! We cannot compromise on matters of principle. Not a single item of this shipment can be shipped! We absolutely cannot open this door!"
The veteran's remarks immediately drew echoes of agreement from many others.
"Supporting the enemy? Don't accuse me of that!" A colleague in charge of economic affairs immediately retorted, pointing to a copy of the list. "It's in black and white. The buyer in the contract is a legitimate company registered in Hong Kong. All the paperwork is complete and it's legal and compliant!"
We are doing legitimate business and earning valuable foreign exchange!
As for where the Hong Kong companies resell the goods after they receive them, that's their business. Why should we interfere? Which part of the country doesn't need money for development these days?
Having foreign exchange will revitalize our factories, and that's the most practical thing!
"You're being short-sighted! Are you willing to abandon all principles for a little foreign exchange?"
"Bottom line? Talking about bottom lines on an empty stomach is the biggest irresponsibility! Workers need to eat, factories need to operate, and these farm tools and medicines are produced for our own use, aren't they? It doesn't matter who we sell them to."
"Exactly! Selling one hoe can bring in enough foreign exchange to produce a hundred more domestically! What a lucrative deal! Only a fool wouldn't do it!"
"But this is tantamount to supporting their actions! This is a matter of stance!"
"Position? Aren't the people's stomachs, the factory machines, and the country's development all positions? A few years ago, we only got a little bit of profit, but this time it's real, hard currency!"
The debate in the meeting room was heated, with both sides sticking to their own arguments, creating a tense atmosphere.
Meanwhile, the atmosphere was completely different in the small office next door.
Several elderly people who were truly involved in the core decision-making passed around copies of the list, their faces showing no worry but rather a calm smile of insight into the world.
"What's all the noise about?" An old man picked up his teacup and gently blew away the foam. "There's an old saying, 'Education should never be neglected, no matter how poor we are...' Oh no, it's 'Even a rabbit will bite when cornered.' Aren't we just like that cornered rabbit right now? What wouldn't we dare to do?"
Upon hearing this, everyone exchanged knowing smiles.
That's absolutely true. After all, there's a consensus on Earth in later generations: no matter how poor we are, we can't let the rabbits suffer. Rabbits who have been afraid of poverty will sell anything!
There is also evidence to support this claim. Haven't you seen a camel in the desert, clutching a national treasure, watching the changing winds and clouds around it with amusement?
Just as the core decision-makers reached a basic consensus and were preparing to communicate their message, the argument in the conference room outside suddenly escalated, accompanied by an excited, high-pitched monologue from a young voice.
“Complete 30% of the supply in one month?! Are you kidding me! This is simply an impossible task!” It turned out to be the young clerk who had been advised by the older comrade to “go to the countryside for training”. He pointed to the huge amount of goods on the list, his face turning red.
"Distinguished leaders, please think calmly! Although our steel production has been increasing year by year, the gap remains huge! And then there's our machining capacity, the capacity utilization of each plant..."
How much raw materials and labor would this require? It's completely out of line with our current production capacity! We can't let foreign exchange blind us and set unrealistic goals!
He felt he had grasped the crux of the problem and became very agitated, attempting to refute the side supporting exports by using "objective conditions."
The old comrade who had previously spoken up for him and thought that sending intellectuals to the countryside was a waste was now looking at him with surprise and a slight frown.
Another veteran cadre who supported exports couldn't stand it any longer. He reached out and patted the young man on the shoulder, his tone carrying a hint of admonition:
“Young comrade… what you’ve said shows that you really should put down your documents and go to the factories at the grassroots level to take a good look.”
The veteran comrade surveyed the room, his voice rising a few decibels, brimming with obvious pride: "That's right, our total steel production figures may not show rapid growth. However, to measure production capacity, we can't just look at how many tons of steel ingots we've produced; we also need to look at how many of those ingots we can efficiently transform into qualified products!"
He picked up another internal briefing from the table and waved it: "Do you know that in the past six months or so, through certain channels and technological innovations, a batch of basic machine tools and special tooling with simple structures suitable for small and medium-sized factories have been sown like seeds in many places, especially in several key machinery factories!"
His gaze swept over the young clerk who was still in a daze: "These hoes, sickles, barbed wire, and hoes on the list... do you think we still need an experienced craftsman to hammer them one by one? In the past, that might have been difficult."
But now, putting aside the distant future, just take Hongxing Comprehensive Machinery Plant as an example. At full capacity, I estimate that completing 80% of this total order volume in a month wouldn't even be the limit!
"Ah..." The young man was dumbfounded.
"Are we that strong now?"