Chapter 256: Business is Here Again

Li Mingyuan received an urgent telegram from the Communication Soldier, his brows slightly furrowed.

"What situation is so urgent?" Lao Liu leaned over and asked.

"Not sure, it says it's an urgent telegram from the General Command."

Li Mingyuan took one last look at the battlefield, turned around, and walked toward the jeep.

"You stay here and continue collecting data, especially the stabilizer of that enemy Self-Propelled Rocket Launcher; you must dismantle it and bring it back for research."

"Got it!" Lao Liu responded and began calling the engineering soldiers over to help.

The jeep bumped along the mountain road, which was full of shell craters.

Li Mingyuan closed his eyes to rest, but his mind was thinking about the next step of the plan.

The Jian-6E and the Hong-5 had already entered the final debugging stage; if everything went smoothly, these two "great killers" would soon be able to be put into actual combat.

Upon arriving at the base, Li Mingyuan found the atmosphere unusually enthusiastic, with the staff's faces brimming with unconcealable excitement.

"What's going on?" he asked the guard who came up to meet him.

"The Chief is looking for you, saying there's a big matter!" The guard smiled from ear to ear.

"We won a great victory, the Di Guo fellows' tanks have all become scrap metal!"

Li Mingyuan nodded and walked quickly toward the headquarters.

Pushing open the door, he froze—the room not only contained familiar faces like Li Yunlong and Zhao Gang, but also several Advanced generals and civil officials he had never seen before, all in suits and leather shoes, clearly not frontline officers.

"Comrade Li Mingyuan is here!" Li Yunlong was the first to see him, strode over, and grabbed his hand with such force it nearly crushed his bones.

"Well done! You kid has performed a great service this time!"

"Chief Engineer Li, I've long admired your name!"

A middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses stepped forward and extended his hand.

"I am Chen Huansheng from the Ministry of Foreign Trade."

Li Mingyuan was confused, but still politely shook his hand.

"Come, come, come, sit down and talk." Zhao Gang guided him to sit at the conference table and personally poured him a glass of water.

Li Yunlong spoke impatiently:

"Xiao Li, do you know how popular the weapons you invented are now? The Feilong-2 Missile left the Di Guo's aircraft in tatters, and those anti-tank weapons have even beaten the enemy's armored forces into a rout! Now the whole world knows how powerful Long Country is!"

"Indeed," Chen Huansheng took over the conversation, his tone carrying unconcealable excitement.

"We never imagined that a local war would trigger such a huge international response. Especially the Cloud Bomb and Feilong-2 Missile you designed, they have caused a sensation in the international arms market."

"Arms market?" Li Mingyuan frowned.

"That's right," Chen Huansheng pushed up his glasses.

"Ever since Long Country demonstrated the power of these weapons on the Taiyang battlefield, military observers from various countries have gone crazy, one after another sending us purchase requests. Especially those countries that are not so friendly with the Star-Spangled Country, they have even offered staggering prices."

Li Mingyuan suddenly realized; it turned out they were here to discuss arms exports.

"The Chief's intention is... to sell these weapons to other countries?" he asked cautiously.

Li Yunlong waved his hand impatiently:

"I don't understand these diplomatic niceties, just tell me if they can be sold or not?"

Li Mingyuan pondered for a moment, his brain working at high speed.

"Theoretically feasible," he nodded slowly, "but some adjustments are needed."

"What adjustments?" Chen Huansheng immediately asked.

"Castrated versions." Li Mingyuan spoke bluntly.

"We can specifically develop export models, with the appearance and basic parameters the same as those equipped by our military, but with downgrades in key technologies."

"For example?"

"For example, for the Feilong-2 Missile, we can reduce its range by 20%, weaken the performance of the Radar seeker by 30%, and make its resistance to electronic interference weaker. For the Cloud Bomb, we can reduce the filling amount to lower the explosive yield. For the RPG-2, we can simplify its Fuse design and reduce the effective range..."

Li Mingyuan listed in detail various feasible "castration" plans, making the military experts present nod repeatedly.

"This way, we can satisfy customer needs without leaking our Hexin technological advantages. More importantly," Li Mingyuan's tone shifted,

"we can sell them for a good price."

"How much money?" Li Yunlong asked straightforwardly.

Li Mingyuan smiled and quoted a string of numbers.

"Hiss—" everyone present gasped.

"This... isn't this too expensive? That's three times our cost!"

Even Chen Huansheng widened his eyes.

"Will the customers accept it?"

"They will," Li Mingyuan said confidently.

"Because even if they are 'castrated versions,' our weapons are still far superior to similar products on the international market. What's more, this is an exclusive supply; they can't buy them from anyone else."

He added:

"Moreover, we can also adopt a strategy of 'technology for resources,' prioritizing the exchange of weapons for strategic materials that Long Country urgently needs, such as oil, rare metals, industrial equipment, etc."

The conference room was quiet for a few seconds, then Li Yunlong slammed the table:

"Good! Let's do it! Make those countries that want weapons pay a high price!"

Chen Huansheng was clearly also persuaded; he hurriedly recorded Li Mingyuan's suggestions and then asked:

"Chief Engineer Li, can you spare some time to participate in some foreign negotiations? There are some technical details that I'm afraid only you can answer the customers' questions about."

Li Mingyuan shook his head:

"Sorry, I have more important tasks now. The Jian-6E electronic warfare aircraft and the Hong-5 Bomber have already entered the final testing stage, and I need to supervise them personally. However," he turned to Zhao Gang,

"you can let Lao Liu assist you; he is also very familiar with the technical details of these weapons."

Zhao Gang nodded to show he understood.

After the meeting ended, Li Mingyuan was kept behind to speak with several Advanced generals alone.

They asked in detail about the research and development progress of the new weapons, especially having high expectations for the J-6E and H-5.

"When can these two new weapons be put into actual combat?" a general asked directly.

"The J-6E prototype is already finished and is undergoing flight testing; it is expected to be ready for actual combat within three days. The situation with the H-5 is slightly more complex, but the first batch of two test aircraft has also completed assembly and is undergoing ground testing," Li Mingyuan answered truthfully.

"Good!" the general said, slapping the table as he stood up.

"We are preparing to launch a large-scale air raid behind enemy lines; if these two new weapons can participate, our chances of victory will be greatly increased."

Li Mingyuan thought for a moment and nodded, saying, "I can lead a team to the frontline airfield to personally supervise the final debugging work and ensure they can enter combat as soon as possible."

"Then I will leave it to you, Chief Engineer Li," the general said solemnly.

That night, Li Mingyuan organized the necessary blueprints and equipment, preparing to set off for the frontline airfield early the next morning.

Just then, Lao Liu ran over excitedly, holding a telegram in his hand.

"Chief Engineer, look at this! It was just sent by the Foreign Trade Department; five countries have already expressed their willingness to purchase weapons at our price, and two of them are even willing to pay with oil and rare metals!"