Chapter 110 Why steal fire? We ourselves are the sun!

Vice Minister Liu's hand trembled, and a long trail of cigarette ash fell onto the tabletop.

Among the factory directors present, which one of them hadn't lived through the era of the blockade?

Which one hadn't suffered the indignity of Soviet experts withdrawing and blueprints being burned?

"Deputy Factory Director Ma, wake up."

"The reason the Japanese dare to be so 'generous'..."

"The reason they dare to relent and offer technology..."

"Is because they know perfectly well in their hearts—"

"That even if they give this stuff to you, you won't be able to learn it!"

"What they want to do is cut off Huaxia's path of retreat."

"They want to extract our industrial backbone, leaving us with no choice but to depend on them later!"

The bullet chats in the livestream flooded the screen like a waterfall:

[Well said! What the Japanese are giving us is the Evil-Slaying Swordplay! To master the divine skill, one must first XX!]

[Too real! This is the typical pig-farming tactic!]

[Relying on a mountain, the mountain falls! We must rely on ourselves!]

[What kind of technology are the Japanese giving? That's arsenic wrapped in a sugar coating!]

Deputy Factory Director Ma's body trembled violently.

Finally, he slumped back into his chair in dejection.

He had originally thought he was enduring humiliation for a greater cause, biding his time.

As it turned out, in their eyes, he was nothing more than a fool waiting to crawl into a cage.

Vice Minister Liu crushed his cigarette butt and said:

"Tell us about your plan."

Lin Xi turned around, his eyes clear and bright:

"My plan is to use manual machine tools combined with the m1 kit."

"To seize the mid-to-low-end foreign markets."

"We can't compete with their high-end machine tools for the time being."

"So we will fully dominate the mid-to-low-end machine tool market!"

"We'll take the money we earn and invest it into R&D."

"Build better machine tools, earn more money, and create a virtuous cycle!"

"What a brilliant 'surrounding the cities from the countryside' strategy!" Cui Yushan slapped his thigh and exclaimed excitedly.

"You've all been curious why the servo motors used in the m1 kit..."

"Are only one-third the size of similar products, yet can reach three times the torque?"

"Because in the motors, we used..."

"The third-generation rare earth permanent magnet material—neodymium iron boron."

"This was independently developed by Red Star Technology."

"It is currently the permanent magnet with the highest magnetic energy product in the world."

He held up two fingers, his tone frighteningly calm:

"In this field, we aren't twenty years behind Japan."

"We are a generation ahead of them!"

*Hiss—*

The meeting room was filled with the sound of collective sharp intakes of breath.

Everyone present was an expert; they naturally knew what a breakthrough in materials science meant.

It meant that although the m1 kit had a simple structure...

Its core heart was the top-tier technology of this planet!

Lin Xi didn't give everyone time to digest this.

He turned and drew a simple world map on the blackboard.

"As for the machine tool market."

The chalk drew three sharp arrows across the blackboard.

Lin Xi's chalk pointed at the African and Latin American continents:

"The first step is to use low-end CNC machine tools with extreme cost-performance ratios."

"To harvest the basic industrial dividends of the Third World in Asia, Africa, and Latin America."

"They urgently need machine tools to establish basic industries now, such as auto repair, agricultural machinery manufacturing, and simple mechanical processing."

Next, the arrow pointed toward Europe and North America.

"The second step is to penetrate the maintenance and rough processing markets of small and medium-sized enterprises in Europe and America."

"Just like that Italian, Luigi."

"These capitalists, for the sake of profit..."

"Would dare to use even a devil's machine tool."

"Let alone our cheap and effective 'divine tool'?"

Finally, the arrow pointed north.

"The third step, when the time is ripe, we will reverse-export to the Soviet-Eastern Bloc."

"Their machine tool technology originates from the Soviet Union."

"It shares the same roots as the C620, making it easy for workers to pick up, but they urgently need CNC upgrades. The M1 hits their needs perfectly."

This set of logic was self-consistent, clear, grand, and highly feasible.

This wasn't just a business plan; it was a battle map for an industrial counter-offensive.

Lin Xi tossed away the chalk and brushed the dust off his hands.

He turned around, faced Vice Minister Liu, and slowly raised a palm.

"Following this strategy, I, Lin Xi, hereby set down a military pledge."

His voice echoed through the meeting room.

"One year!"

"Give me one year."

"The machine tool exports from all the factories present can earn foreign exchange for the country—"

"Fifty million US dollars!"

At that moment, the meeting room was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.

It was absolute shock.

In 1981, how much were the country's foreign exchange reserves?

Only a few billion US dollars.

Fifty million US dollars, for a single branch of the machinery industry, was simply an astronomical figure!

In the livestream, the bullet chats had completely exploded.

[Everyone stand up! This is the aura of a big boss!]

[Fifty million US dollars! This is straight-up giving the country a blood transfusion!]

[He really dares to say it! Boss Lin is awesome! I'm buying into this vision!]

[Boss Lin is awesome! These words are so damn inspiring!]

At this time, a ray of sunlight happened to pierce through the clouds outside the window, landing on Lin Xi's face.

Dust danced in the beam of light; he stood in the light, yet he was more dazzling than the light itself.

He looked at those factory directors with graying hair at their temples and took a deep breath.

"Seniors."

"In the 50s, we had nothing."

"So we had to steal the sparks, to borrow the light."

Lin Xi's voice echoed in the meeting room.

Every word was like a heavy hammer, striking the hearts of these industrial backbones.

"But now it's 1981!"

"We have the best algorithms, we have the most hardworking engineers, and we have a track that hasn't been locked down yet!"

Lin Xi picked up that Z80 chip, his eyes burning bright.

"Since other people's sparks are poisoned, since other people's light doesn't reach us..."

"Then we will create it ourselves!"

Lin Xi's voice pierced through the barriers of time:

"Why steal fire?"

"We ourselves are the sun!"

...

The meeting had reached this point, and the conclusions were basically all there.

Regardless of strategy, technology, or market...

Lin Xi's plan was more reasonable and had a better future.

Vice Minister Liu tapped the table, making the final decision:

"It seems everyone has reached a conclusion."

"In that case... everyone, move out separately."

"First, Lin Xi will fully assist our eighteen machine tool factories in carrying out the M1 CNC system transformation!"

"Second, all factories will cooperate fully to perform CNC upgrades on existing manual machine tool stock!"

"After the meeting, each factory will submit their targets!"

"Third, Deputy Factory Director Ma..."

Vice Minister Liu glanced at Deputy Factory Director Ma.

"On the Japanese side, you keep stalling!"

"Stall for as long as you can to buy time for everyone's development."

"I will have professional comrades coordinate with you to formulate a stalling plan!"

"If no one has any other objections..."

Vice Minister Liu looked around and waved his hand authoritatively:

"Meeting adjourned!"

...

As soon as the meeting dispersed, the aura of "commanding the world" on Lin Xi instantly retracted.

He turned back into that well-behaved and sensible boy next door.

He respectfully took down the contact information of all the factory directors.

His attitude was so polite that not a single fault could be found.

Vice Minister Liu looked at Lin Xi, unable to hide the fondness in his eyes.

"Xiao Lin, you're free for lunch, right?"

"Come! I'll take you to try the stir-fry in our cafeteria!"

"Master Zhang's stir-fried pork is truly a masterpiece!"

This was a private dinner with the Vice Minister!

However, before Lin Xi could even open his mouth...

A dark figure suddenly darted over from the side.

It was actually a staff member from the Seventh Ministry of Machine Building Industry.

Without a word, the person grabbed Lin Xi and started running out.

As they ran, he shouted in a "whisper" that was just loud enough for Vice Minister Liu to hear:

"President Zhang said to withdraw immediately after the meeting."

"I absolutely cannot let you have too much contact with Vice Minister Liu... Big Boss Liu."

"If you end up being kept here, I'll be disciplined when I get back!"

"Run fast!"

Looking at the backs of the two as they fled in a panic...

Vice Minister Liu, standing there, had a face full of black lines, his mouth twitching.

Is that really necessary?!

Am I that kind of person?!