1214
Time flies, and soon it was 1991.
That year, due to the situation in the Soviet Union and Gorbachev's reforms, society became extremely complex and turbulent.
Every small country has its own plans.
Huo Yingjun was originally a junior employee. After working at the embassy in Moscow for a period of time, he was assigned to Ukraine.
The situation in Ukraine is more complicated than in Moscow.
Domestic military instability, economic turmoil, soaring prices, a gradual decline in people's living standards, and escalating conflicts both domestically and internationally.
Huo Yingjun learned about the turmoil in the Soviet Union from his younger brother and began to make arrangements in the Soviet Union, especially in Ukraine.
In order to acquire more military equipment and technology, Huo Yingjun secretly obtained assistance from within China and received support from the Chinese military. He was willing to pay a huge price for advanced technology.
Faced with foreign technological blockades, the equipment brought in through domestic investment promotion is all civilian technology, and much of it has been censored by developed countries.
The current turmoil in the Soviet Union presents a very good opportunity.
The information received domestically was also secretly transmitted by Huo Yingjun.
Domestically, there are now three factions. One faction supports Huo Yingjun's intelligence, believing that the collapse of the Soviet Union is only a matter of time. Another faction believes that the great and powerful Soviet red regime will never collapse and the huge Soviet Union will not disintegrate. The third faction remains neutral and waits to see what happens.
Huo Yingjie and others jointly reported to the top leaders that if they could obtain some relevant equipment and technology, they would have the ability to build aircraft carriers.
The moment the leaders heard about aircraft carriers, their eyes lit up.
However, most people don't believe that such a powerful thing is simply impossible to build with current technology.
Even if you acquire the technology and equipment, you may not be able to manufacture it.
However, Huo Yingjie insisted that it was possible, saying that even if it wasn't possible now, it didn't mean it wouldn't be possible in the future. Just as the debate was raging, Huo Yingjun's side sent over intelligence that Ukraine was interested in selling an aircraft carrier privately.
Regardless of whether we can build it or not, let's buy it and study it first.
To achieve leapfrog development in science and technology, we must first have basic technologies.
As long as there is an aircraft carrier to refer to, China will always be able to build its own aircraft carrier.
However, another problem remains: no money!
Therefore, the higher authorities have been slow to approve the application.
With the Soviet Union on the verge of collapse, they thought they could take advantage of the chaos to make their move, but due to financial constraints, they were unable to finalize the deal.
Huo Yingjie knew that in the future, the Varyag would be bought back ten years later, and the setbacks encountered during that time could not be explained in a few words. If they could take advantage of the chaos this time, it would be easy to acquire it, but if they missed this opportunity, they would have to go through the same setbacks as in the previous life, wasting money and time.
So Old Master Huo summoned his eldest son, second son, and grandson Huo Yingjie to his home to discuss the matter.
This time, he also invited the Tang family and the Ma family.
They alone could not possibly accomplish this task.
Old Master Huo's study is quite large, but it felt a bit crowded today because there were so many people there.
Here, Huo Yingjie was young, so he took on the role of serving tea and water.
"I called you all here today because of the aircraft carrier purchase we discussed earlier," Old Master Huo said. "My eldest grandson is still in Ukraine. Although this matter is spearheaded by businessmen, I guarantee with the Huo family's reputation that it's genuine. As long as we get permission from above and have enough money, we can buy it!"
General Ma came from the navy and was once the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy.
For a long time, everyone has known the importance of the navy, but developing a navy is very expensive!
However, a navy cannot be built overnight, especially with its advanced equipment.
"Brother Huo, are you really sure Ukraine is willing to sell?" Commander Ma asked. "What if they don't sell? Wouldn't we have worked for nothing?"
"Of course I'll sell it," Old Master Huo said firmly. "Even if it's fake, I'll still give it a try, especially since it's intelligence personally delivered by my eldest grandson. An aircraft carrier is more than just an aircraft carrier; it represents the most advanced productive forces. If we get our hands on it, it will not only greatly enhance our military capabilities but also provide tremendous help in other areas."
"Yes, of course I know the importance of aircraft carriers," Commander Ma said with emotion. "The reason why the United States is so powerful is because it has several advanced aircraft carriers, isn't it? When I visited the United States before, I boarded an American aircraft carrier, and I wanted to keep my eyes glued to it. It was truly magnificent, with all kinds of advanced military equipment. But it's American, and I could only admire it. If you can confirm this, I'll get the military on board. As for money, I can't help you with that."
When Old Master Tang heard his two friends say this, he looked at his eldest son, who was in charge of finance, and then at Huo Zhekun, who was in charge of economic development. He felt that this time, they were going to pull off something big.
"Let Tang Li and Zhe Kun figure out the money issue," said Old Master Tang. One is in charge of the economy, and the other is in charge of the finances. If they can't raise the money, then all their work will have been for nothing.
Huo Zhekun, being a member of the family, knew their own situation. He exchanged a glance with Tang Li and said with a wry smile, "But we can't come up with that much foreign exchange!"
Upon hearing the thought of tens of millions of dollars, everyone fell silent.
Money is scarce when you need it most; even a penny can stifle a hero, let alone tens of millions of dollars.
We simply dare not touch the country's foreign exchange reserves now!
Huo Yingjie poured tea for everyone, and then heard his father ask, "Father, how much money do we need in total?"
"Twenty million US dollars," Tang Ji replied. "The country can't come up with that much money."
"How much money can the country contribute in total?" Huo Yingjie asked. He was working for the country, but he couldn't possibly pay for everything.
Tang Li held up one of his collection fingers, five fingers in total: "These are the numbers I found out."
"Five million?" Huo Yingjie frowned. It was a bit low, less than a quarter of the original amount. With shipping costs, it would probably double.
Tang Li and Huo Zhekun looked even more embarrassed upon hearing this.
Tang Li lowered his head and stopped talking, letting Huo Zhekun speak.
Huo Zhekun was speechless, and had no choice but to bite the bullet and say, "Five hundred thousand US dollars!"
"Cough cough!" Upon hearing this, Huo Yingjie coughed incessantly, choking quite badly!
Five hundred thousand?
It's not even enough to cover the staff's travel expenses!
"Just 500,000? You want to buy an aircraft carrier?" Huo Yingjie's voice rose. His elder brother and the Huo family had gone to great lengths to improve military technology, break the technological blockade imposed on China, and achieve leapfrog development.
However, everything is ready except for the east wind!
But the east wind just won't blow!
Huo Yingjie originally thought five million US dollars was a bit too little, but he didn't expect them to be able to come up with even less, five hundred thousand US dollars!
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