Chapter 107 Eighteen Arhats Gather in the Capital, A Struggle for Daoist Lineage!

A few days later, two reports appeared on the desk of the First Ministry of Machine Building Industry, one after the other, almost simultaneously.

After reading them, Vice Minister Liu lit a cigarette and remained silent for a full ten minutes.

Then, he decisively said to his secretary:

"Invite the deputy factory directors of the Eighteen Arhats and higher-level leaders..."

"And Lin Xi from Red Star Technology."

"Come to the Imperial Capital for a meeting."

"To discuss... the future of China's machine tool industry!"

...

A few days later, Imperial Capital, large conference room of the First Ministry of Machine Building Industry.

Both sides of the long conference table were filled with men in identical zhongshan suits.

They looked solemn, staring at the reports in their hands with heavy expressions.

One was Quancheng No. 1 Machine Tool Plant's "Report on the Promotion of M1 CNC Kits and Earning Foreign Exchange Through Exports."

The other was Fengtian No. 1 Machine Tool Plant's "Feasibility Analysis of Introducing Japan's Full Set of CNC Technology and Production Lines."

These people were precisely the "Eighteen Arhats" of China's machine tool industry.

Fengtian No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 Machine Tool Plants, Shanghai Machine Tool Plant, Hanjiang Machine Tool Plant, Quancheng No. 1 and No. 2...

Since the early days of the nation's founding, these eighteen factories had been the backbone of the country's industry.

If they stomped their feet, the entire Chinese industrial world would tremble.

And sitting in the corner at the very end of the conference table was the only young person—

Lin Xi, Deputy General Manager of Red Star Technology from the Seventh Ministry of Machine Building Industry.

Compared to the solemnity of the big shots, Lin Xi's retina was as lively as a New Year's celebration.

[What a lineup! Is this the legendary assembly of the Eighteen Arhats?]

[That balding old man on the left seems to be the future founder of Shanghai Electric!]

[The one smoking the pipe on the right is the big shot who developed the first Gantry Planer back in the day, right?]

[Manager Lin, stay steady. In a high-level game like this, we should develop quietly and not get cocky!]

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The corner of Lin Xi's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.

Develop quietly?

In today's situation, it would be hard to stay quiet even if he wanted to.

"Ahem."

At the head of the table, Vice Minister Liu cleared his throat.

"Everyone is here. Let's start the meeting."

Vice Minister Liu didn't waste words, tapping his fingers twice on the two documents:

"Everyone has read the documents. Two paths, two directions."

"I called you all here today to set the tone."

"Old Cui, you go first."

Cui Yushan stood up with a start.

"Leaders, old brothers."

Cui Yushan's voice was booming, carrying the characteristic straightforwardness of a Shandong man.

"At this Canton Fair, our Quancheng No. 1 Machine Tool Plant didn't lose face for our machine tool industry!"

He held up five fingers and swept his hand forcefully through the air.

"C161-M1, 220 sets signed on-site!"

"Among them, 150 sets were settled in US dollars, earning 3 million USD in foreign exchange!"

"The remaining 70 sets were bartered for 1.75 million USD worth of urgently needed chemical raw materials and other resources."

"Total output value: 4.75 million USD!"

Boom!

Although there had been some rumors beforehand.

When this figure was thrown out.

A collective gasp still rang out in the conference room.

In the past, everyone scraped by to earn foreign exchange in the tens of thousands.

Old Cui was pulling in millions all at once?

Cui Yushan continued:

"And that's not all!"

"According to our estimates, we are confident that within three years, we can upgrade 100,000 existing C616 units!"

"Give them modern CNC machining capabilities."

"If we achieve this, then..."

Old Cui paused, saying each word emphatically:

"We can forcefully pull our country's metal processing capabilities up by several levels!"

In the livestream, the bullet comments were jubilant.

[It's heating up! This is the spark of Industrial Revolution 3.0!]

[Thumbs up for Old Cui! These words are so damn empowering!]

[Pragmatism is the hard truth! Who cares about being fancy? A good cat is one that catches mice!]

Many factory directors from inland plants could no longer contain their excitement, slapping the table to voice their support.

"I think it works!"

"We've studied this m1 kit too. The structure is simple and easy to learn!"

"That's right, our foundation is thin. This kind of 'indigenous method' suits us best!"

"Being able to earn foreign exchange is the hard truth. I see this path as viable!"

"This kit strategy revitalizes existing machine tools. It doesn't waste resources and promotes quickly. I support it!"

The atmosphere instantly became heated.

Vice Minister Liu pressed his hands down, signaling everyone to calm down.

Then he turned his head and said:

"Old Ma, you say something too."

Deputy Factory Director Ma of Fengtian No. 1 Machine Tool Plant stood up slowly.

He first gave a faint glance at the flushed Cui Yushan.

A trace of mockery curled at the corner of his mouth.

"Factory Director Cui's achievements are indeed gratifying."

Deputy Factory Director Ma's tone was flat,

"Reselling some low-end modification parts to earn some hard-earned money and help the country a bit is also a contribution."

With this one sentence, he characterized the m1 kit as "street stall goods."

Cui Yushan's expression changed, and he was about to flare up.

Deputy Factory Director Ma's voice suddenly rose.

"But!"

"Everyone, we build machine tools. These are the mother machines of industry!"

"Is our vision only fixed on these small scraps in front of us?"

Deputy Factory Director Ma pulled a document from his briefcase and slapped it on the table.

"Yamazaki Iron Works of Japan has officially sent a letter of confirmation."

"They are willing to transfer the full set of mid-to-high-end CNC machine tool production technology to us!"

"Anything not restricted by COCOM will be given to us!"

"Even..."

"For certain core components restricted by COCOM, they can help 'find a way'!"

Silence.

Absolute silence.

Even the factory directors who were excited just now were stunned.

Full technology transfer?

When did the Japanese become so generous?

"As long as we sign."

Deputy Factory Director Ma's eyes were burning,

"We can establish a world-class machine tool production line."

"The gap between us and the world's advanced level."

"Will be shortened from 20 years to 5 years!"

"Comrades! This is fifteen years of national fortune!"

"In these fifteen years, how many detours will we avoid?"

"How many lives and how much funding will be saved?"

These words were too inflammatory.

For these people who had been tortured by technology blockades their entire lives,

"shortening the gap by fifteen years" was a fatal temptation.

Even Vice Minister Liu's eyes wavered for a moment.

Deputy Factory Director Ma keenly captured this change.

He took a deep breath and threw out his final trump card.

"Of course, Yamazaki Iron Works also has conditions."

"They have only one small additional condition."

"To ensure the unification of technical standards and facilitate integration with international standards..."

"They require that all CNC machine tools produced by China in the future."

"Must uniformly adopt Japan's code standards and interface protocols."

"Any non-standard or unsafe self-developed systems cannot be connected."

As he spoke, he looked at Lin Xi in the corner with a faint smile.

"After all, if we want to build a regular army,"

"we can't let the crude equipment of guerrillas break the rules."

"This is for the long-term plan of the national industry; it is a necessary 'growing pain'."

The hidden dagger was revealed!

The bullet comments in front of Lin Xi instantly turned blood red.

It was a warning composed of countless exclamation marks.

[Poison pill! This is freaking poison!]

[Damn! So many projects were killed off like this, it makes me tear up!]

[How is this a technology transfer? This is seizing the power to set standards!]

[Once this is signed, future Chinese machine tools will be the puppets of the Japanese! They can squeeze them however they want!]

[This is meant to uproot the newly sprouted roots of Red Star Technology! It absolutely cannot be signed!]