Chapter 395: Exhibition Plan

At two in the morning, the light in his office was still on. When Dean He passed by, he pushed the door open and, seeing Li Mingyuan hunched over his desk writing furiously, could not help but sigh.

"Xiao Li, pulling another all-nighter?"

Li Mingyuan looked up and rubbed his sore eyes: "Dean He, you haven't rested yet?"

Dean He pulled over a chair and sat down: "I heard you proposed holding an exhibition, and the entire ministry is buzzing. This is a bold move!"

Li Mingyuan gave a wry smile: "You can say that again. Preparing an international-level exhibition in three months—I've dug a big hole for myself."

Dean He looked at the blueprints and documents covering the table: "Need any help?"

"I certainly do!" Li Mingyuan nodded quickly, "I am just about to form a special task force; I need to summon experts from various fields first thing tomorrow morning to formulate a detailed exhibition plan."

Dean He smiled slightly: "Then I will go help you contact people. You make a list first—which fields of experts do you need?"

"Light weapons, heavy weapons, mechanical equipment, steel and metallurgy, foreign trade marketing..." Li Mingyuan reeled off a long list in one breath.

Dean He listened, dumbfounded: "Are you trying to hold an exhibition, or are you trying to overhaul the entire industrial system?"

Li Mingyuan gave a cunning smile: "Is there a difference?"

The next morning, an "Exhibition Preparatory Group" composed of over twenty top experts held its first meeting in Li Mingyuan's office.

"Everyone, time is tight and the task is heavy," Li Mingyuan said, getting straight to the point, "We need to prepare an exhibition within three months that will shock the world and showcase Long Country's industrial strength and weaponry."

He walked to the blackboard and wrote four large characters: "Practical, Advanced, Mass-produced."

"These are the three major principles for our selection of exhibits," Li Mingyuan explained, "Practical means meeting the actual needs of potential clients; Advanced means showcasing our technical advantages; Mass-produced means we must have the capability for large-scale production and delivery."

The experts nodded one after another, and a Chief Engineer from a military factory asked: "Then, which weapons specifically will we display?"

Li Mingyuan was well-prepared; he took out a thick list: "First is the light weapons section, featuring the 'Type Weapon' series we have just equipped—the Type 56 Rifle, the style Submachine Gun, the Type 56 machine gun, and so on."

"The advantages of this series of weapons lie in their reasonable design, simple structure, and ease of maintenance. Most importantly, they adapt to all kinds of harsh environments; whether in deserts, jungles, or extreme cold, they can be used normally. This is extremely attractive to those revolutionary organizations and emerging countries with difficult conditions."

A veteran military industry expert added: "The biggest selling point of the Type Weapon series is its reliability. Tests have shown that even after being rolled in mud and used without cleaning, they can still fire normally."

Li Mingyuan nodded in agreement: "Exactly. We must highlight this point; we can even conduct extreme tests at the exhibition site so clients can see it with their own eyes."

He flipped to the next page: "For the heavy weapons section, I suggest making the '107 Rocket Launcher' the star."

"Why choose this?" a general asked, "We have more advanced Heavy Artillery."

Li Mingyuan explained: "The 107 Rocket Launcher is portable, efficient, and simple to operate, and the production cost is low. It is very suitable for guerrilla warfare and asymmetric warfare. For those countries and organizations with limited financial resources but an urgent need for self-defense capabilities, this is simply the best choice."

He paused and continued: "Of course, we will also display some conventional Heavy Artillery and armored vehicles, but those are mainly to show our technical strength. What can truly be exported on a large scale is this type of high cost-performance weapon."

Everyone nodded repeatedly, and an engineer from a steel mill raised his hand: "Chief Engineer Li, then how do we display steel products? We can't just put out a few steel plates, can we?"

This question triggered a burst of good-natured laughter, and Li Mingyuan also smiled: "Of course not. What we are going to display is a complete steel solution."

He walked to the map: "Many countries are undergoing industrial construction. What they need is not just steel, but technical support on how to utilize it. We can display the application scenarios for different grades of steel, from bridge construction to factory buildings, from railway tracks to shipbuilding..."

"Most importantly," Li Mingyuan's tone suddenly became solemn, "we are going to announce news that will shock the world—Long Country steel will be exported to friendly countries at 70% of the international market price!"

The conference room was in an uproar.

"Seventy percent? Isn't that losing money?" the steel mill representative exclaimed.

"No," Li Mingyuan said confidently, "Thanks to our new process, even with exports at 70% of the price, we still have a 25% profit margin. And this price is enough for us to gain a firm foothold in the international market, forcing competitors to either lower their prices significantly or exit the market."

A shrewd light flickered in his eyes: "This is not just an exhibition; it is a commercial strategic layout. We will use steel to open the door to the international market, and in the future, we can take advantage of the momentum to introduce more high-value-added products."

The mechanical industry representative interjected: "Speaking of high-value-added products, should we display the newly developed Numerical Control Machine Tool?"

Li Mingyuan's eyes lit up: "We must! This is an important symbol of our technical strength." He turned to everyone, "You may not know, but our Numerical Control Machine Tool technology is currently leading the world; even the Star-Spangled Country and Beijixiong Guo have not yet fully mastered it."

"Really?" someone asked in disbelief.

Li Mingyuan smiled slightly, not answering the question directly, but saying: "At the exhibition, we will arrange for actual operation demonstrations of the Numerical Control Machine Tool, letting everyone witness the industrial miracle of Long Country with their own eyes."

The meeting lasted an entire day, and experts from every field contributed their professional opinions. By evening, a detailed exhibition plan had finally taken shape, and Li Mingyuan looked with satisfaction at the document that condensed their collective wisdom.

"Everyone, rest for the night; we will continue to refine the details tomorrow." Li Mingyuan stood up and expressed his gratitude to everyone, "Three months from now, we will show the world a brand-new Long Country!"

After seeing off the last expert, Li Mingyuan finally sat alone in his office and let out a long sigh of relief. He opened his drawer, took out his private notebook, flipped to the page marked "Long Country Rise Roadmap," and ticked the box next to "International Trade Breakthrough" with satisfaction.

……

The next morning, Li Mingyuan took the complete exhibition plan and headed to Minister Zhang's office.

In the folder were the details he had spent the whole night perfecting: from the exhibition area floor plan to the list of exhibits, from the invitation list to the security plan, every item had been carefully deliberated to strive for perfection.