"Comrade Kolokoltsev, I need your explanation. What is your behavior?"
Leader Jing was furious, his hands shaking with anger, and he pointed at the machine parts scattered on the floor and started cursing:
"We didn't invite you Soviets here. You came on your own accord, and we welcomed you warmly. And this is how you repay our friendship? Your actions are theft and immoral!"
Because he has a higher rank, he naturally feels no psychological pressure in scolding others.
What's more, although the two countries still had a "brotherly alliance" relationship in 1960, everyone on the planet was waiting for the day when the two countries would completely fall out. High-level officials from both China and the Soviet Union knew that this day was coming soon.
Since they were about to become enemies, Leader Jing naturally had no time to be polite and spoke in a very stern tone.
Ambassador Kolokoltsev was also furious. He was angry that the Chinese dared to speak so loudly to him. He represented Big Brother. The other small socialist countries all spoke cautiously, fearing that their voices were too loud, considering the Soviets' expressions.
And now a mere Chinese citizen dares to yell at him? Is this a rebellion?
The Russians lack tenacity and are not easily persuaded. Even if they are in the wrong, they don't think it's a big deal. To put it bluntly, they lack education.
"Jing, we dismantled your machines because we respect you. We think China has new technology. As a brother country, shouldn't you obediently contribute your latest technology to Big Brother? And yet you're hiding something from us. Big Brother is very unhappy with your behavior."
When Leader Jing heard this, he was really angry. His originally exaggerated acting skills turned into a sullen expression:
"Why should we give you the new technology we invented for free?"
Kolokoltsev also responded firmly:
"We have been supporting you for so many years. Without us, the Soviet Union, you would not be able to establish a country, and even if you did, you would not be able to maintain it. We have also assisted you with 156 industrial projects. Therefore, we are your benefactors and your leaders. You, China, should not be ungrateful!"
Leader Jing snorted and said sarcastically:
"Yes, at first we also thought you were helping us, but starting in 1959 we discovered that your support came at a price, including during the Korean War, when you provided us with so many weapons, and you also charged for them.
Look at your so-called Big Brother, who took advantage of our country's severe natural disasters and economic crisis to suddenly turn against us and demand repayment. Our country cannot afford to be treated like this, a Big Brother who kicks us when we're down and makes our situation worse.
Since you want money and only care about money and not people, don't talk about friendship with us now. Let's talk about money. You broke our machine, so please compensate us for our losses.
We spent hundreds of millions of dollars developing these X-ray technologies and building this production line. Every machine in this workshop was developed in-house, and a single production line costs tens of millions of dollars. Now you've broken it, and you're losing money."
Kolokoltsev said disdainfully, "Who said we broke it? Just put it back the same way you took it down. What's the loss to you?"
Leader Jing was waiting for this sentence, so he looked at Lin Sanqi quietly.
Lin Sanqi nodded slightly, indicating that he had dismantled the core parts as planned, and the Russians would never be able to put them back.
"Well, Comrade Kolokoltsev, since you say you can put it back, don't say I didn't give you a chance. Show me how to put it back now. If you can't, you must compensate us for all our losses!"
Kolokoltsev was a smart man and immediately sensed something was up with this. So he looked at the Soviet engineers nearby.
These Russian engineers are more confident than anyone else. It's just a machine. For mechanical experts like them, they can install it with their eyes closed.
“No problem, we can reinstall it!”
The Soviet engineers never imagined that someone was so cunning that they had stolen some core components without anyone noticing. After all, no one at the scene had touched them, and the parts dismantled from the machine were so large that it was impossible to hide them on the person.
So the engineers are very confident.
Leader Jing continued with a sullen expression, "Pull the camera over here and film it. We need evidence for everything. I want to see how you installed it."
The more Kolokoltsev thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. Considering that the Chinese workers had previously stopped working for lunch for no apparent reason, and even the diplomats had left with them, it seemed like they were creating an opportunity for them to dismantle the machines. Didn't this seem like a trap?
But he had no evidence.
They did dismantle the machines themselves, no one forced them to do so. Based on this alone, the Soviets are in the wrong.
At this time, they didn't know that the Americans next door had also been caught in an embarrassing situation and were also working hard to reinstall the recovery machine.
Kolokoltsev was also a little alert, so he spoke up:
"Except for our Soviet comrades, everyone else please step back and don't come near!"
Leader Jing nodded: "Everyone step back!"
The workers and staff on the Chinese side all left, and Kolokoltsev looked at them suspiciously, making sure that there was nothing wrong with anyone.
He was also afraid that someone would cause trouble, but Kolokoltsev was confident that a few missing screws would not affect the installation as long as there were enough parts.
Lin Sanqi took the opportunity to leave the machine and came to Leader Jing, who whispered:
"Where did you hide the parts? Be careful not to reveal yourself."
Lin Sanqi waved the "冂-shaped door" in his hand and laughed: "Don't worry, there will be absolutely no problem. Let's wait and see the show."
Leader Jing chuckled: "You're so mysterious..."
After 10 minutes, the three Russian engineers began to sweat.
Half an hour later, I was sweating profusely as I faced a machine that had been assembled but could not be started at all.
Half an hour later, the Russian engineer was puzzled by the disassembled parts on the ground and had no choice but to continue reassembling them.
Similarly, in the workshop next door, the American engineers no longer pretended to be stubborn. With gloomy faces, they assembled and disassembled a machine over and over again.
But no matter what, the machine just couldn't be restarted.
Although American engineers have fully understood the operating principles of this machine after several assembly attempts, the problem now is that they have broken someone else's most precious toy and are facing a huge diplomatic disaster.
Peter Welch was very nervous. He was only the deputy director of the Chinese office in China, a position he had finally obtained. If he did a good job, he could return home and become an official ambassador to another country. If he did not do a good job, his career would be over.
So Peter Welch kept urging: "Fuck, why isn't it ringing yet?"
"Aren't you the most awesome professors and engineers at Johns Hopkins University and the University of California? You can't even handle this?"
"Oh my God, if you can't install it, the Chinese will kill us and feed our bodies to the dogs!"
Compared to his assistant's madness, Hank Aaron had calmed down. Judging from the abnormal behaviors of the Chinese people, he guessed that he was probably set up by a honey trap.
But Hank Aaron didn't care because he was confident that he was not backed by a small country, but one of the only two superpowers. The Chinese didn't dare to do anything to their diplomats.
However, he also understood that the Chinese would definitely take the opportunity to blackmail him, but he didn't know what the Chinese would want.
I have to say that compared to the arrogant Russians, the Americans are too insidious and more difficult to deal with.
Finally, after three hours of torture, the American engineer gave up resistance and admitted that he had broken the machine.
In the next workshop, the Russian engineer also threw down his tools and retreated to the side with a red face.
There are some things that the big boss is not convenient to do, so the younger brother has to take the lead. With a glance from Leader Jing, Eunuch Lin was the first to jump out:
"Soviet comrades, let us now discuss reparations."
Kolokoltsev obviously did not accept being blackmailed, especially by his younger brother:
"No, no, no, Lin, this is just an accident. If the machine breaks down, we can guarantee that we can fix it. So, we are going to ship this machine back to Moscow and send it back to you after we have repaired it."
Lin Sanqi clapped his hands:
"Comrade Kolokoltsev, I heard all your calculations in Guangzhou. Don't try to deny it. Without $5 million in compensation for this machine, we're not done!" (End of this chapter)
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