Chapter 156: So, does 18 mean to get rich?

Everyone widened their eyes, their gazes filled with disbelief.

Last time, when mentioning selling the Red Flag-2 missile, Qin Miao had said we needed to emancipate our thinking, the space system needed reform, everyone had thought about it, and then realized…… the Thus: Space Institute wanting to go to market was still difficult, this Red Flag-2 missile was just an exception.

Now, looking worldwide, almost all space agencies need state funding to develop; hardly any are profitable; space and burning money are often equated.

How can the Eastern Space Department make money? Take on satellite launch services on the international market?

That's bold, after all, almost every country's satellites have mature partners—the US has NASA, Europe has the European Space Agency, the Soviet Union…… its space technology is even stronger.

If the East goes out, it won't get a share!

That's exactly the case; from the late 1980s to early 1990s, the foreign satellite launch contracts the Eastern Space Department secured were due to special circumstances: in 1986, the Challenger space shuttle exploded; at the same time, Europe's Ariane rockets suffered multiple launch failures……

During this gap, the East relied on its good relations with the West to secure some launch missions, but after entering the mid‑1990s, the Eastern space sector basically fell back into closing its doors and playing alone.

It's only 1981 now; the Eastern space sector finds it hard to go outward, its launch sites are all green‑uniformed military bases—how can it go out?

If launching is impossible, what about selling equipment?

Even less possible!

Although we haven't joined any Medium-range Missile Treaty, we must still follow international convention: missiles with a range over 300 kilometers cannot be sold!

And our East Wind series missiles, the shortest, East Wind-1, already have a range of 590 kilometers!

As for East Wind-2, its range exceeds a thousand kilometers!

So…… it can't be sold! Only the Red Flag-2 modified into a surface‑to‑surface missile can be sold for profit, but that money has nothing to do with the Thus: Space Institute.

"San Shui, we understand your desire to make money for our space department, and we're grateful for your help…… but…… this East Wind-3 can't be sold!" Huang Lao, who knew Qin Miao best, said earnestly at this moment: "Besides economic matters, we also need to consider politics."

"If the Thus: Space Institute is willing to sell, I can sell each for one hundred million US dollars; if the customer wants 35, that's 3.5 billion dollars."

Hum!

Everyone felt a humming in their ears, their minds went blank; only one sentence floated in their heads.

3.5 billion, dollars!

In 1980, the nation's total foreign reserves were 1.296 billion US dollars! Now, selling a batch of East Wind-3 missiles could earn several billion dollars, several times the nation's foreign reserves!

If this news reached the superiors' ears, one could imagine the result—definitely a wave of the hand and a sell!

One minute later, Huang Lao was the first to react: "San Shui, this isn't something to blurt out; are you sure the customer will buy our East Wind-3 at that price?"

Even if Qin Miao could do business, he's only sold a few billion so far; this time he could actually increase tenfold?

"That's natural; our thing is one‑of‑a‑kind worldwide, they can't find another seller! We say the price, that's the price; we won't sell for a penny less, and besides, our customers are filthy rich, they don't care about this tiny amount……"

To us, this money is astronomical, but to some Saudi person, it's nothing at all!

Hearing Qin Miao's words, everyone present felt moved—having money is really great!

"If it's at that price, I think the superiors would agree to sell." Ren Lao said: "After all, our Giant Wave-1 has already succeeded in underwater test launches; Giant Wave going ashore will also yield land‑mobile solid‑fuel ballistic missiles, whose range completely overlaps that of the East Wind-3; afterwards, the obsolete East Wind-3 will surely be phased out of our active service."

If it's military equipment, no matter how much money it could bring, the superiors would likely forego export out of secrecy concerns, lest profit threaten national security; now that we have Giant Wave-1, it perfectly replaces it!

"That's right; judging by the East Wind-3's range, it poses no threat to us, and moreover, desert peoples lack industrial capacity—they couldn't upgrade the East Wind-3 to a longer‑range weapon; the higher‑ups will certainly agree." Tu Lao nodded.

"My goodness, with this money, our space system can finally usher in a major development period; without relying on state allocations, we can also push forward a large batch of projects—Long March‑3, East Is Red‑2, Wind and Cloud‑1…… many projects could develop rapidly!" Liang Lao beamed with excitement.

Yang Can looked at Qin Miao with a complex expression.

"Classmate Qin Miao, your ability to get things done is too strong—whether handling tech or business, you're top‑notch! This Qin Miao…… is another roadblock in the BeiDou navigation system, and he's just cleared it out!"

"Now, there's just one problem." Huang Lao said: "How do we explain to the international community that, although we haven't signed the Medium-range Missile Treaty, many things still can't be sold at will, and doing so could easily damage our reputation worldwide."

This would destroy the regional balance! The impact would be far‑reaching.

"This is simple; we'll just change the name." Qin Miao said: "In the future we'll be selling many missiles, so why not now devise a new numbering system for export products? For example, our modified Red Flag-2 will have the export code M‑7, and this East Wind‑3 will be M‑18."

Not having a code is really inconvenient; for that batch exported to Yituo, we could only casually call it "surface‑to‑surface"—we should have created a new numbering long ago!

"What does this M stand for?"

"It's the initial of 'sell'!"

Everyone was speechless; the East is subtle, but you're not hiding anything at all—you're putting the smell of copper on your face.

The front is the first letter of "mai", the numbers after are surely made up too; the purpose is to confuse others so they don't know whether there are more models ahead, and as for East Wind‑3 being renamed M‑18？

"Does this 18 mean 'to get rich'?"

"Of course not, but if you understand it that way, it can also be taken as a lucky omen!" Qin Miao swallowed the words on his lips and then nodded.

"Exactly, 18 means 'to get rich', to make a fortune, to strike it rich…… cough cough cough, everyone, why are you looking at me like that?"

Qin Miao looked at the astonished crowd, as if despising his own materialism……