Chapter 202: The surplus diesel engines were successfully sold to the Iron Boss

"Cough cough, Director Lu, don't be anxious." Qin Miao hurriedly said: "These friends……came all the way from the Capital, we……"

"No matter where you're from, it's not allowed—if we don't have it, we don't have it. I don't know who's spreading rumors, saying we have imported diesel engines. Humph, coming to Ha Gong Da to mooch? We're not Tang Sanzang's flesh!"

The iron bosses were speechless again.

Ma Rui Shan saw his subordinate giving him a look, immediately followed the direction of the subordinate's finger, saw the Chinese annotation on the drawing, and instantly had an idea.

"Comrade Qin Miao, your drawing……"

"What drawing, what drawing!" Director Lu said while reaching out—whoosh!

The top drawing was pulled away by him, revealing the bottom drawing.

Matching data calculation for the MTU396 diesel engine and transmission……

Still the MTU396 diesel engine!

Director Lu's face darkened: "Qin Miao, who let you bring them in? This place has Ha Gong Da's secrets! This confidentiality rule was set by you, right? How could you lead the violation? Qin Miao, you……"

"Director Lu, these are all railway department engineers; they came here for work too. We……if we can help, we'll help—railway is the lifeline of the national economy! Our country's development can't do without railways……"

"What lifeline? Humph, Ha Gong Da trying to coordinate material shipments, going to the railway department—that's nothing but obstruction, giving piles of gifts and still maybe not getting it done. I see them as a bunch of people sitting on the toilet and not shitting!"

So the problem lies here!

Ma Rui Shan stood up: "Director Lu, if you ever need to coordinate any material transport routes and run into obstacles, come find me! Although I work in Shandong, I'm familiar with everywhere nationwide!"

"Really?"

"Naturally! Whether it's sleeper tickets or freight cars, whatever you need, we've got it!"

"Good, first coordinate five freight cars from the grasslands to bring our gun barrel blanks over!"

"Hmm, wait a moment!"

Ma Rui Shan walked over to the telephone, picked it up, and dialed a number.

"Hello, I'm Lao Ma of Fangfang Factory, looking for your station chief! Is it Lao Wang? Fangfang Factory needs to coordinate five freight cars from the grasslands to Ha Cheng—why Ha Cheng? Don't worry about that; it's related to our 25-type air-conditioned train project. Leader Guo has issued us a dead order—if we can't pull it off……well, thanks for your hard work, thanks!"

He hung up, Ma Rui Shan smiled: "Director Lu, the matter's settled."

No matter, then we'll have to go to great lengths—the iron bosses' face isn't something just anyone gives, especially now that Ha Gong Da has struck it rich, attracting who knows how many jealousies; behind the scenes, plenty are tripping us up and playing dirty tricks, and even in export business, someone will deliberately sabotage.

Now that we've hooked up with Fangfang Factory, railway transport will be smooth sailing! Remember, Fangfang Factory builds railway locomotives; if its subordinate railway bureaus offend Fangfang Factory, they'll delay vehicle deliveries, hindering their railway capacity upgrades, failing to meet targets and inviting criticism, possibly even losing their posts.

Now it's a bona fide seller's market!

"Hmm, that's about right, San Shui—the diesel engine is what you got; how you handle it is entirely up to you. Go discuss with the comrades from those brother units, and I'll give you another ten minutes."

"Sure, what diesel engine does everyone want?"

"Eight hundred horsepower, to drive a generator."

"Fortunately, we happen to have one that fits the power requirement—though we imported it for our own use and can't spare too many, let's first coordinate two hundred units for you, how about that?"

The extra two hundred units were just sent off like that!

Opposite, Ma Rui Shan excited: "Good, good! We'll take this batch of diesel engines, but……can we purchase them with RMB?"

Going round and round, the biggest problem is foreign exchange! If the railway department could secure foreign exchange, they could just buy them directly!

"This……everyone, it's not that I, Qin Miao, am being stingy—it's the official exchange rate……we'd lose out!"

"Don't worry about that—as long as you're willing to transfer the diesel engines to us, we'll buy them at the internal trade settlement price……no, we'll add ten percent on top of that! Of course we won't take advantage of you."

Previously, the East was a planned economy; this exchange rate was directly set, correct—it didn't consider actual market conditions, it was an artificially fixed number. In the early 1980s, the rate was 1.5 RMB per 1 USD.

hearing that, the RMB still seems quite valuable.

Actually, this rate is only enjoyed by a few departments and personnel; if you want more foreign exchange, you have to go to the black market, where the rate doubles—about 3 RMB for 1 USD—and that rate reflects the true value relationship between the two currencies.

For export firms, selling products for dollars then converting to RMB at home would bleed them half, so in 1981 the relevant departments established the internal trade settlement price, calculated at 1 USD to 2.8 RMB; from then on, a system of dual exchange rates—official and trade—coexisted.

This is the dual exchange rate system; in the 1980s it persisted through the transition from planned to market economy, and many well‑connected people made their first fortune by exploiting the spread.

This situation lasted until 1994, when the state abolished the dual track and implemented a single floating exchange rate mechanism.

Now, although we're buying the diesel engines from abroad, the foreign exchange we spend is also what Ha Gong Da earned from exports and brought back—we certainly can't use the official 1.5 rate, and even using the trade rate of 2.8 wouldn't show the iron bosses' sincerity; we need to add another ten percent, so it must be higher than the black‑market rate!

What is this? This is monetization!

Ha Gong Da sells products for dollars; if given directly to domestic departments, at most they'd get the 2.8 rate—thanks to this year's new policy, because last year they could only get 1.5. Now, taking Ha Gong Da's own foreign exchange earnings, purchasing goods abroad, then selling them to domestic units in need, the rate ends up above 3!

Ha Gong Da has an import‑export company; doing this is completely legal! The relevant departments may be jealous but can't do anything! Moreover, they dare not file petty reports, for angering the iron bosses would mean wearing small shoes in the future!

"Good, then that's it—wait for MTU Company to send us a sample unit, then we'll allocate two to you first, supporting the railway department; it's our duty!"

"Good, good, good! Uh……Comrade Qin Miao, when do you have time? Let's grab a meal together……"

"Where's there free time? These ten minutes are up, I still have to hurry back to work……you……"

You guys should leave now!