643 What If I Don“t Sell It to You?
While the negotiations with Western Europe were still going on, no one thought that the treasures would be buried on a s.h.i.+p full of corn. When the machines were dug out from the pile of corn, the customs staff were surprised, to say the least. They immediately reported this news to the superiors.
Because this was an important matter, the news was reported all the way to the State Administration for National Defense.
Because the defense agency had to contact two engineers from Shenyang Machine Tool to inspect the machines, the rumors began to spread to the public.
There were several major machine tool manufacturers in China, mainly Shenyang Machine Tool, Qiqihar Heavy CNC Equipment Corporation, and BYJC Machine Tools. They occupied a significant amount of China’s machine tool market, and everyone was aiming to manufacture high-end machine tools.
The problem was that every company wanted to improve its product, and they were all confident that they could reverse engineer this high-end exported machine tool. However, there were only two machine tools, which was not enough for everyone to get a piece.
Therefore, when Shenyang Machine Tool chief engineer Academician Yang Zhongquan heard about the news, he skipped his lunch break and went on a flight with his colleague Secretary Wu.
The two sat on the couch in the lounge of Jinling Inst.i.tute for Advanced Study.
Secretary Wu looked at the door and lowered his voice.
“Mr. Yang, the machines are very important for our factory. We have to try and get one in our hands, preferably both.”
Yang Zhongquan took a sip of the tea. His expression didn’t change at all.
“Of course.”
Suddenly, the door opened, and the two immediately stopped talking.
Lu Zhou greeted the two and sat across them on a sofa. He looked at them and asked, “You two came all the way to see me. I’m curious, what do you guys want?”
Yang Zhongquan was about to speak, but Secretary Wu coughed and took the initiative. Secretary Wu looked at Lu Zhou and said, “We know you’re a busy person, so I’ll get straight to the point. Did you buy the machines?”
Lu Zhou: “Yes.”
Honestly, Lu Zhou was surprised.
The person that arranged a meeting was one of the State Administration for National Defense executives. However, these two corporate businessmen came instead.
Secretary Wu asked, “How much money did you spend?”
The price wasn’t anything worthy of keeping a secret, so Lu Zhou replied casually, “Around €20 million.”
“Only €20 million?” Yang Zhongquan was in disbelief. He looked at Lu Zhou with a curious expression and immediately asked, “Where did you get it?”
According to his experience, if someone in China wanted to buy a high-end machine like that, they would have to transfer it using a third-party country, and the price would often double or more. €20 million was a good deal for this type of machine.
Not to mention, this wasn’t even the main point.
It would be difficult to buy the latest industrial machine tools for three times the normal price, especially the machine tools used for aircraft engine production. First of all, the middleman in the third-party country wanted to make a profit, but they didn’t want to take on too much risk. Secondly, companies in Europe had a strict qualification review process and end-user license agreements. After all, this could impact their market compet.i.tiveness, and everyone knew that Chinese companies often ignored rules and regulations.
It would be much more valuable to know where these two pieces of machinery came from, than to buy them off Lu Zhou’s hands.
Yang Zhongquan and Secretary Wu were thrilled. They couldn’t wait to find out how Lu Zhou was able to get these two pieces of machinery in the country.
However, Lu Zhou, who was sitting across from the two, felt a little uncomfortable.
The tone of the pair made Lu Zhou feel a little unpleasant. Not to mention, this wasn’t something that Lu Zhou should disclose so easily.
Lu Zhou leaned on the sofa and wasn’t as polite as before.
“I met some friends during my study abroad. I just asked for a favor. What? Do I have to report my friends’ favors?”
The atmosphere in the room suddenly became tense.
Secretary Wu looked at Lu Zhou’s expression and realized something was wrong.
Lu Zhou looked very young, so Secretary Wu subconsciously spoke in an authoritative manner. He was about to speak in a more polite manner to salvage the conversation, but Yang Zhongquan spoke first.
Yang Zhongquan looked at Lu Zhou for a while and waved his hand.
“Forget about it, I don’t care where the machines came from. I’ll pay you €20 million, and you’ll give us the machines.”
When Lu Zhou heard the old man’s demands, he frowned.
“I don’t plan on selling.”
Yang Zhongquan stared at him and said, “Do you even know what you bought?”
Lu Zhou said, “Two high precision five-axis linkage machine tools from Siemens?”
These two were the most expensive pieces of machinery in the equipment batch. Due to its high precision, it was even more expensive than six or seven-axis linkage machine tools.
Yang Zhongquan snorted and leaned on the sofa.
“Good, so you know.”
Lu Zhou couldn’t help but smile at Yang Zhongquan’s face.
“What happens if I don’t sell it to you?”
Yang Zhongquan said, “This concerns national security. I hope Professor Lu can think of the bigger picture. Otherwise, there will be consequences.”
Seeing how these two were about to get into an argument, Secretary Wu felt anxious. However, he didn’t have an opportunity to speak. He could only stare at Yang Zhongquan with a desperate look in his eyes.
However, Yang Zhongquan was still furious. He didn’t care about Secretary Wu.
Lu Zhou looked at the old man’s face and smiled. He took out his phone from his pocket and dialed a number.
“Oh, Regiment Commander Dai? Do me a favor.”
Regiment Commander Dai had immediately picked up the call when he saw Lu Zhou’s name on the screen. “Sure, anything you want.”
“There’s a batch of equipment at the Haizhou port. It contains state secrets, so can you please send it to the Jinling Inst.i.tute for Advanced Study.”
“Okay.”
A total of four sentences were exchanged over the phone.
Yang Zhongquan’s eyes widened. His face turned bright red as he pointed his finger at Lu Zhou.
“You! Do you know what the h.e.l.l you’re doing?!”
“I do.” Lu Zhou stuffed his phone back into his pocket and smiled. He said, “But it’s a state secret, so I can’t tell you anything.”
Do you think I’m scared of you?