Chapter 167 Three Thousand Tons Order

"Whether it's a bluff or business, any method that can bring back US dollars is a good method."

Lin Xi stood up, the smile on his face fading as his expression suddenly became solemn.

He walked to the right side of the blackboard and erased those calculations about making money.

Picking up a new piece of chalk, he forcefully wrote down three words—

carbon fiber.

At that moment, the lighthearted banter in the meeting room vanished without a trace.

"The air business with my left hand is for this sword in my right hand."

Lin Xi's voice lowered, echoing in the empty room,

"That bit of money we earned before."

"Won't even make a splash in front of this gold-swallowing beast."

Klaus put down his tea mug and sat up straight.

The joke was gone from his grey-blue eyes, replaced only by the scrutiny of a top-tier engineer.

"Lin, as a friend, I must warn you."

Klaus said seriously,

"T300-grade carbon fiber is an absolute red zone on the COCOM list."

"It is the skin of rockets, the skeleton of missiles."

"The West's blockade on it is a hundred times tighter than that on machine tools."

"And as far as I know, China's basic industry in this field is almost zero."

"This isn't like making fans; even for machine tools, we had some foundation."

"Doing this is like trying to grow rice in the desert."

"It's more than just zero."

Wu Qingshan, who had been silent, sighed,

"Domestically, we can't even produce qualified acrylonitrile precursor, let alone the subsequent carbonization process."

"We're going to have to start digging from the foundation."

The air seemed to freeze.

Everyone understood the weight behind those three words.

This was a massive gamble, with the stakes being all the assets Red Star Technology had just accumulated.

And the odds of winning were infinitesimal.

Lin Xi didn't argue; he looked at the falling snow outside the window.

His gaze seemed to penetrate the wind and snow, looking much further away.

"I know it's hard; maybe we'll lose everything."

"Maybe we won't hear a peep for three or five years."

Lin Xi turned around, his gaze sweeping across everyone present,

"But precisely because the foundation is zero, precisely because we are being choked until we can't breathe,"

"is why we have to do it."

He didn't shout slogans or bang on the table.

He just lightly tapped the three words on the blackboard.

"If our generation doesn't do it, are we supposed to leave it for the next?"

"They would poke holes in our very bones for that."

He Zhenhua took a deep breath, extinguished his cigarette butt, and stood up:

"Alright, let's not make it so heavy."

"Isn't it just burning money?"

"What we lack least right now is the ability to earn money from foreigners."

"As long as Red Star doesn't fall, this project won't stop."

Zhao Qiang also stood up, adjusting his collar:

"I'll just treat it like being an apprentice again, learning from scratch."

Klaus looked at this group of Chinese people with an inexplicable light shining in their eyes and shook his head helplessly.

But a hint of a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth:

"Crazy. Truly crazy."

"But I like this kind of madness."

Lin Xi looked at these familiar faces, a warm current rising in his heart.

This was his confidence, the most precious wealth of this era.

"Alright, meeting adjourned."

Lin Xi closed his notebook and gave the final instructions,

"Old He, Old Zhao, you guys hold down the fort and keep a close eye on the production lines."

"Jiang Jun, Er Ga, and Engineer Wu, go back and pack your things."

"Where are we going?" Sun Erga asked instinctively.

"We leave the day after tomorrow morning for Jincheng Chemical Industry."

"We're going to solve the raw material problem first."

...

Two days later, Jincheng Chemical Industry meeting room.

The heating was turned up high, but the atmosphere was somewhat stagnant.

This was Jincheng Chemical Industry, the pride of the Republic's petrochemical industry and a key project of the nation's First Five-Year Plan.

In those years, once the chimneys here started smoking, half of China's fertilizer and rubber needs were settled.

But now, the halo had faded, leaving only a mess behind.

The growing pains of transitioning from military to civilian production were excruciating.

Orders were halved, and income had decreased.

Under that heavy book of honors,

were over forty thousand employees with mouths to feed,

and warehouses filled with mountains of unsellable goods.

Outside the window, a massive cooling tower spewed white mist.

Inside, Factory Director Hua Jianye's brow was locked in a deep frown.

The Chief Engineers and workshop directors sitting beside him wore the same worried expressions.

Lin Xi looked at this big factory director through the smoke.

"Factory Director Hua, I won't waste time with pleasantries."

Lin Xi didn't touch the tea in front of him and pushed a document over directly,

"In the national high-precision machine tool industry, there is an expected shortage of two thousand tons of high-performance cutting fluid this year."

"Regarding the core additives and base oil blending for this,"

"we want to commission Jincheng Chemical Industry for production."

The cigarette in Factory Director Hua's hand jerked violently.

He didn't even bother to brush off the large chunk of ash that fell on his pants.

The Chief Engineers beside him snapped their heads up, their eyes instantly flashing with the light of hungry wolves.

Two thousand tons!

This wasn't just a number; it was a whole quarter's worth of wages for the entire factory's staff.

"Manager Lin, is... is this for real?"

Factory Director Hua's voice was tight, and he instinctively reached out to shake Lin Xi's hand.

Realizing his loss of composure, he hurriedly wiped his sweaty palms on the corner of his clothes.

"I've brought the contract, and the deposit can be paid at any time."

Lin Xi smiled and then threw down his second card,

"Also this: we want to build an air purifier and need high iodine value activated carbon."

"I know our factory has a lot of carbon residue from the ethylene cracking by-products."

"In the past, it was all buried as waste."

"Now, we want 1,000 tons first."

"If it sells well, we'll want more in the future."

The live stream comments were scrolling frantically.

[Good grief, isn't this just spending money to buy trash? President Lin is doing poverty alleviation!]

[The person above doesn't understand, don't talk nonsense. This is called industrial chain integration! Although Jincheng Chemical Industry's equipment is old, its foundation is solid. This is a win-win!]

[Looking at the factory director's excited look makes me feel a bit sad. That was a key national project back then, and now they're worrying over a few thousand tons of orders.]

[This is a microcosm of that era. Lin Xi is giving the 'Big Brother' a blood transfusion to keep him alive.]

The temperature in the meeting room seemed to rise several degrees instantly.

Chief Engineer Peng said excitedly in succession:

"Activated carbon is no problem!"

"That by-product just needs an activation process added; the cost is very low!"

Factory Director Hua took a deep breath and crushed his cigarette butt into the ashtray.

Even as a deputy bureau-level cadre,

he couldn't maintain his reserve when faced with this kind of life-saving money delivered to his door.

"Manager Lin, you've come with sincerity."

Factory Director Hua's voice was a bit hoarse, and color finally returned to his face,

"These two matters, I can make the decision right now."

"As soon as the contract is signed, the workshop will work around the clock to get it done for you!"

The atmosphere in the meeting room shifted instantly from midwinter to warm spring.

Someone even started arranging to treat Lin Xi to a good meal that evening.

"Factory Director Hua, let's not rush the meal."

Lin Xi leaned forward slightly, his gaze suddenly becoming sharp,

"These two orders are just a greeting gift."

Lin Xi's gaze swept across every technical expert present, his expression turning solemn,

"What we really want is the third thing."

He took a parameter sheet out of his briefcase and pushed it in front of Chief Engineer Peng.