Chapter 73: High and New Technology

When was that Project 1024 thing again?

Tang Wen couldn't quite remember either, but it was definitely a scheme that only appeared in the new century.

As the greatest masterpiece of brainwashing rhetoric through the ages, pyramid selling doesn't care about education, gender, age, or anything else — it has an exaggerated power of contagion and persuasiveness.

A bunch of people handing over their property, dragging along relatives and friends to sleep on the floor and eat boiled potatoes, still believing they could get rich — in Tang Wen's view, it was simply absurd.

But undeniably, painting an epic grand cake, combined with mysticism, conspiracy theories, and public intellectual rhetoric, could indeed make people easily believe things that seemed impossible.

—Of course, painting a cake that nobody gets to eat is a scam, but handing it out so people actually eat it means bringing everyone to get rich together.

Tang Wen both helped the village build roads and organized a fishing company, developing a tourism village; the villagers actually had real money in their hands, so naturally they had no doubts at all.

Gaijin creates jobs, and Village Chief Chen Yonggui gives full-throated support — this is the most perfect complementary pair!

Early the next morning, the construction crew and the villagers helping with the road noticed a strange big ship that had suddenly appeared in the bay.

But the village chief and the villagers who had helped out at night all stuck to the same story: it's a cement ship, a tourist prop, it's being renovated, no unauthorized personnel allowed near it!

Although they were quite surprised, everyone believed it without the slightest doubt; at most, because they'd never seen a big ship before, they lingered a while longer, gaining new gossip for after-meal chitchat.

……

"Be careful! If you damage it, one repair job costs several thousand!"

In Echeng, Wu Long directed the logistics company to load the packaged engines onto trucks.

Because the shipyard hadn't yet prepared inland-river transport ships, the first batch of diesel engines delivered to Mountain King Factory, along with several sample high-horsepower diesel engines, were shipped from Gaijin Factory into the city, then handed over to the logistics fleet running between Echeng and Gui Province for transport.

Several thousand in logistics fees per trip wasn't cheap, but for the sake of speed and efficiency, this was currently the best option.

Of course, the fastest and safest method was still rail transport — Echeng had scheduled trains that could reach Guigang, but railcar resources were extremely tight, and when Wu Long went to make inquiries, he simply couldn't get any.

Three types of engines — V6 naturally aspirated, V6 supercharged, and V12 naturally aspirated — although their weight and horsepower far exceeded Mountain King Agricultural Machinery's needs, they all planned to try one of each.

First, they'd never seen a powertrain with that much horsepower; second, the pricing strategy:

The B2 series diesel engine technology was indeed outdated; these diesel engines had no advantage in fuel consumption or power-to-weight ratio — apart from the reliability and excellent power output provided by magical manufacturing, they were all drawbacks.

Tang Wen waved his hand grandly and told Wu Long to find a way to check other power-plant quotes — sell at 70% of the lowest price for the same class.

Too low would look like market-dumping, too high and it wouldn't sell; seventy percent was just right — the saved thirty percent could be considered the extra fuel money the user pays.

But for Mountain King Agricultural Machinery, this was nothing short of earth-shattering good news; the quote sheet Wu Long gave was almost irresistible.

The most basic 265-horsepower V6 engine was only 12,000 yuan — cheaper than Yuchai's 100-horsepower engine.

Buy the cheap old flagship, or buy the much pricier new entry-level model? This barely needed any thought.

High fuel consumption and dead weight weren't problems; being cheap and rugged was enough to cover every shortcoming.

Even shareholders who had interest networks with other engine suppliers had to admit that Gaijin's high-horsepower engines would completely change the status of Mountain King four-not-like agricultural vehicles.

Users who bought four-not-likes in the first place were just looking for something cheaper than trucks; if performance was a bit worse, they'd pinch their noses and accept it.

If four-not-likes were stronger than trucks and also cheaper, wouldn't they unify the whole market?

Fuel consumption? These days even sedans guzzle over ten liters per hundred kilometers; nobody cares about that.

Moreover, bosses in the mountain-transport industry couldn't bear to use the genuine fuel from the two giants, Sinopec and PetroChina.

The slightly more particular ones added private fuel from small refineries; the less particular chose the minivan mobile gas stations — the price was much cheaper than retail.

If it weren't for caution, Mountain King Agricultural Machinery would have wanted to book all these engines right away.

Only after personally watching the engine crates get secured, and collecting a partial deposit from the logistics company boss, did Wu Long finally feel at ease and call Mountain King Factory to say the goods had been shipped.

The reason he didn't escort the shipment himself was that he now had more important business.

Following the address Tang Wen had given, Wu Long quickly found Chen Ming at the guesthouse.

For a transaction worth 120,000 US dollars, both sides first confirmed the price of the diesel engine set, the labor-dispatch fee for Gaijin Shipyard's support in modification, and details like the date, then went to the Agricultural Bank of China in Echeng, where they found Deputy Branch Manager Zhang to witness the transaction.

These days foreign exchange entering the country wasn't a direct account transfer; although the country already had nearly a hundred billion in foreign reserves, spread across the whole nation it was still stretched thin.

If a locality wanted to introduce foreign technology or purchase foreign products, it needed to put up foreign exchange.

Foreign exchange converted from overseas couldn't be deposited directly either; it would be converted into RMB at the official exchange rate before being credited to the account.

But foreign exchange wouldn't just vanish for no reason — the bank handling this foreign-exchange conversion business could also get some foreign-exchange quota.

So when he heard there was a hundred thousand US dollars in foreign-exchange reserves, Deputy Branch Manager Zhang personally stepped in to handle this transaction, converting at the market exchange rate of 8.3 into 996,000 RMB.

However, when transferring the information of both parties, Deputy Branch Manager Zhang glanced at the record a few extra times and asked curiously:

"Wu Jingli, I just noticed you're Gaijin Power, not Gaijin Shipyard?"

Wu Long, proud of having just signed a million-yuan deal, was lighting a cigarette and said in a muffled voice:

"Don't worry, it's also Boss Tang's company — we just do the engine business, from tractors up to big ships, we cover everything!"

"And an agricultural-machinery factory imports engines through you? That's pretty extravagant?"

"Not really — only this Xiangjiang order is an import agency; the rest are all made by our own factory."

"Make engines? Gaijin?"

"You bet — great quality at a great price; it won't be long before we make a name for ourselves!"

Listening to Wu Long's words and looking at the account transfer details, Deputy Branch Manager Zhang hadn't expected the shipyard to have this kind of capability.

Engines were high-end — even ones for tractors were impressive — and each transaction routinely ran into hundreds of thousands.

This was no ordinary thing; it was a proper technology-based pillar enterprise.

Deputy Branch Manager Zhang's eyes darted, and he proactively slipped Wu Long a pack of Double Happiness cigarettes:

"Wu Jingli, the engines for your shipyard — you make those yourselves too?"

"Of course — just building a hull doesn't count as shipbuilding, does it? Don't look at us just being an import agent for engines now; before long we'll be building our own marine diesel engines too."

What Wu Long knew was also what Tang Wen had revealed — Tang Wen planned, as the shipyard expanded, to sell all kinds of engines alongside it; compared to vehicle engines, marine engines were where the real money was.

Now he was also investigating the marine-engine market, looking for business opportunities.

Deputy Branch Manager Zhang was delighted, and then said:

"Our bank still has plenty of policy-loan quota left. Your company can build ships and also build engines — why not go get certified as a High and New Technology Enterprise? The policy just came out this year — you can get certified even outside a high-tech zone.

"Once you're certified, you can get a support loan — the interest is very, very low, and it's fine even if you only pay it back a few years later."

"This… I'll have to discuss it with President Tang."

Wu Long scratched his head a little. Although the shipyard's capabilities were quite strong, he wasn't entirely sure whether it could meet the high-tech standards.

Vice President Zhang: "No problem, let's build some momentum first."