When Sun Zhengguo rushed back to the Ministry of Machinery and found Vice Minister Li again to express his thoughts.
Can you imagine what kind of expression Vice Minister Li had at that time?
"Comrade Zhengguo, your joke is not funny at all. If I were to include this in my report, my superiors would probably think I'm an idiot."
Vice Minister Li did not mean to look down on Sun Zhengguo when he said this. Even if the experts from the Great Mao were standing here, they would not dare to say that they could manufacture precision machine tools or large machine tools, let alone in China, which was poor and backward.
“Vice Minister Li, I’m serious this time. I can produce the blueprints first and let the experts evaluate them. I just don’t believe that we Chinese can’t build advanced machine tools.”
"Ha ha!"
Seeing that Sun Zhengguo spoke with absolute certainty and without a hint of joking, Vice Minister Li chuckled.
"Can you tell me what triggered you while you were out for a while?"
“Vice Minister Li, do you know? I just went to the First Machinery Factory. Their precision machine tools don’t even have a single blueprint. These foreigners are simply going too far. They’re selling us junk, and they don’t even provide blueprints.”
Sun Zhengguo was also very angry when he said this.
Since you won't give us a way to survive, then we'll create our own.
It's important to know that Sun Zhengguo has an immense amount of knowledge about machine tools; any one of them could be used in the 21st century.
“Comrade Zhengguo, I know you have a heart full of patriotism, but this is not a game. The higher-ups will not agree to your bold idea.”
Vice Minister Li continued to persuade Sun Zhengguo not to act impulsively.
“Vice Minister Li, regardless of whether the higher authorities approve it or not, I’m making this clear today: I will definitely produce the blueprints. We’ll let our strength speak for itself then.”
Seeing Sun Zhengguo's enthusiasm, Vice Minister Li began to hesitate.
This reminded him of when he joined the revolution in his youth, and how it was through his passion and enthusiasm that he was finally able to establish a new regime.
If he had told others when he joined the revolution that he could establish a red regime, they would probably be like Sun Zhengguo now—no one would believe they could do it.
Thinking of this, Vice Minister Li stood up abruptly, slammed his hand on the table, and said.
"Damn it, being an official for too long really makes you timid. You taught me a lesson today, young man. Fine, I support you. I will write down everything you said today in the report and wait for the superiors' instructions."
"Thank you for your trust, Vice Minister Li." Sun Zhengguo bowed sincerely.
You should know that if this kind of thing is done well, it will be a great achievement; if it is done poorly, it could very well ruin one's career.
After all, this will require a lot of manpower and resources, and it will definitely cost a lot of money. If it fails, even a fool would know that there will be no good outcome.
After the two reached an agreement, Sun Zhengguo returned to his office and began preparing to draw up the blueprints.
As for the lack of information and external assistance, none of that matters.
Because there are many types of precision machine tools, Sun Zhengguo thought about it for a long time and finally decided to start with coordinate boring machines, since this type of machine tool has the highest usage rate.
Over the next few days, Sun Zhengguo was busy with this matter. Occasionally, he would visit a machinery factory to look at the existing precision machine tools, ostensibly to find inspiration so that the machine tools produced in the future would not seem so out of place.
Vice Minister Li's report has also disappeared without a trace, with no response from higher authorities yet.
In fact, the higher-level departments are already in an uproar over this matter.
The relevant departments have held several rounds of discussions, but no consensus has been reached. The supporting side believes that...
Although Sun Zhengguo is young, he has proven himself through two reform missions and is capable of accepting such challenges.
Even those who did not support him did not deny Sun Zhengguo's achievements.
However, they found this idea somewhat absurd, since age is a significant disadvantage. If a considerable amount of manpower, resources, and money were spent and the project ultimately failed, the entire country would suffer losses, and no one could bear such consequences.
In the end, the matter ended badly, and it was left to Mr. Lai to decide.
Mr. Lai was also in a dilemma. Although he trusted Sun Zhengguo, there wasn't even a single blueprint available. How could he dare to allocate such a large sum of money for research?
It's important to understand that developing and modifying something in-house is very different. It requires setting up a laboratory, a large number of top talents and technical experts to support its operation, and the costs involved are substantial.
What situation is our motherland facing now?
The country is suffering from natural disasters, and people are having trouble even getting enough to eat.
We also need to grit our teeth and persevere in paying off our foreign debts.
Therefore, Mr. Lai was also in a dilemma, wondering if he could come up with a foolproof plan.
So, the troubled Mr. Lai put the matter aside for the time being, until he returned home and ran into his wife, and the two casually mentioned the matter.
Madam Lai was also a virtuous wife. After listening, she simply asked a question.
"General Manager Lai, let me ask you a question: if we were to be able to produce this machine tool ourselves, what role would it play for our country?"
"Haha!" Mr. Lai laughed and said, "The benefits are enormous. Not to mention the military and civilian applications, just the foreign exchange saved for our country every year is an astronomical figure, immeasurable."
Hearing her husband say this, Mrs. Lai smiled.
"Compared to the investment, there's still a profit to be made!"
"But this is just a plan on paper right now, and no one can guarantee that it will succeed." Mr. Lai raised another question.
"What? Young comrade, weren't you always optimistic about this? Why are you worried now?"
"Besides, didn't that young comrade already make a bold statement, saying he'd produce the blueprints first and then talk? This preliminary work just involves preparing some materials, it won't cost much, right?"
Mrs. Lai's words made Mr. Lai's eyes light up, and he slapped his legs and stood up.
"Yes! Once we have the blueprints, we can have them reviewed by experts from the Northwest. It won't cost much at all! I was really blinded by my own limited perspective, hahaha...!"
The problem was solved, and Mr. Lai let out a hearty laugh.
Upon returning to the office, General Manager Lai issued instructions to fully cooperate with Sun Zhengguo's mission.
Try to get overseas Chinese and patriots to help collect books and materials about precision machine tools for their reference.
That afternoon, the approval was sent to the Ministry of Machinery. Vice Minister Li had thought there was little hope, but when he saw the approval, he was overjoyed and summoned Sun Zhengguo.
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