Chapter 203: The Fool Has Arrived
Moscow can be visited, Nixon can be negotiated with, De Gaulle’s personal letter can be read, and Che Guevara can also come.
China has always been very clear about the principles it needs to adhere to and the areas where it can be flexible.
No country remembers the truth that falling behind means getting beaten more than China.
China has always been very clear about the role of computers, and it is clearly stated in the “Outline of the 1956-1967 Science and Technology Development Plan” formulated in 1956:
“Production process automation is based on mechanization, developing from mechanization to automation of individual processes, and then to comprehensive automation.”
“Comprehensive automation of the production process requires installing computing equipment in the entire control system to replace human brain calculations. The most advanced and complex computing equipment is various electronic computers, which play the role of the nerve center in automation systems. The creation of electronic computers has opened a new era for computing technology.”
They had even seen that silicon-based technology could develop photovoltaics from a principled level:
“Semiconductors can directly convert light energy and heat energy into electrical energy. The possible applications of semiconductors in other aspects are developing rapidly.”
The above is the original text from the development outline.
From the development outline, it can be seen that China in 1956, despite being a weak great power just awakening with only a skeleton but no flesh, knew its mission, knew the painful price of technological backwardness, and knew the direction to develop.
From a holistic perspective, China has a natural advantage over other similar countries on the same starting line.
Standing at this current time node, with the XM-01 electronic calculator as the achievement, Dean Qian and Hua Luogeng’s guess as the lever, Area 51 has pried open unprecedented political treatment for the entire project.
From the initial signs of Area 51’s establishment, the possibility of Shu Xingbei changing his name and joining, to today truly obtaining such treatment.
China’s cutting-edge technology has opened a brand new chapter.
Lin Ran, far away in America, naturally did not know so much. He knew his butterfly effect would definitely be very strong—not changing would be abnormal—but he absolutely did not expect it to be such a change.
Because in his plan, he had to personally ignite the flames of the whole world.
In this era, Finland is a very special existence in Europe.
They are almost the only company in the entire Europe that can do business with both sides at the same time.
The Soviet Union exports oil to Finland, and then Finland exports the oil to Western European countries.
Finland cannot possibly not hate the Soviet Union, whether it’s the history of World War II or after World War II when the Soviet Union forcibly took 10% of Finland’s land and 300 million US dollars in war reparations from Finland.
But to maintain a neutral attitude, Finns are very clear about their geographical position— if they dare to get involved with America, they will never have peace.
After the war, Finland rejected America’s Marshall Plan, tightened its belt for four years to pay off all reparations, signed a friendship treaty with the Soviet Union, and relied on its identity as an intermediary re-exporter to ensure it did not join the Soviet camp.
The Soviet Union agreed for Finland to join the Council of Europe and the United Nations.
At the same time, because it did not join the WTO—here WTO means Warsaw, not World—America did not stop them from doing business with Western Europe.
After enduring humiliation for decades, after 2022 it seized an unprecedented strategic opportunity period, jumped ship to join NATO, disgusted the Russians badly but they had no way to deal with them.
The absolute textbook example of a small country operating shrewdly: enduring humiliation is fine, as long as it allows me to achieve my goal; when the opportunity arises, I will definitely not let it go.
More accurately, Finland is extremely clever in choosing sides, with methods far superior to a certain half-European country that unilaterally picks a side.
And now, Finland is one of the few that can do business with both sides.
China’s Area 51 looks to Finland precisely because of their special identity.
As for why not choose Hong Kong, because Hong Kong is still under England’s jurisdiction, selling through Hong Kong can only go through unofficial underground channels.
As electronic consumer products with sales targets in the millions, unless ships sprout overnight at sea from Hong Kong to the mainland, and those ships are invisible ones that white skins and lackeys cannot see.
So Hong Kong is unrealistic, Finland is realistic.
And for China, Finland is essentially just a transit station; after negotiations are settled, the goods may not need to be dragged to Finland to cross water—crossing in East Germany is fine, or in England or France is also fine.
Anyway, the final sales will carry the Finnish brand.
Virtanen’s name means stream, a common Finnish name. Ever since he saw the XM-01 at the Chinese booth, he has been restless.
Whether it’s the product itself or the expressions of on-site purchasers, electronics enterprise manufacturers, or representatives from various countries these past few days, it all fully illustrates one thing: this thing has huge commercial value.
Everyone is even more eager than when exhibiting IBM’s Deep Blue.
After all, consumers do not need Deep Blue; neither enterprises nor individuals need a robot that plays chess, but they do need portable small calculators capable of scientific computing.
In the present day, this is simply a epoch-making product, like the iPhone’s debut; the iPhone moment of the semiconductor industry has arrived.
As the purchasing head of Neste’s electronic trade sector, his sensitivity tells him that if they can procure XM-01, they will definitely make a fortune from it.
In the past, part of their department’s profits came from China; China’s Panda brand electronic radios, resold to the free world, Chinese descendants in the free world are very willing to pay, even at a markup. They think this is a way to help their homeland.
Neste is Finland’s largest company engaged in re-export trade; their main profit source is helping Soviet people sell oil, but that doesn’t stop them from expanding other trade sectors.
And XM-01 does not need Chinese descendants; it can sell globally.
But like others, after handing his business card to the Chinese representative, there was no reply; the business card sank into the sea.
Virtanen, like the past few days this morning, planned to first go to the Chinese booth to see if he could chat a couple of sentences with Chinese people.
Maybe some unassuming staff member could decide big matters.
He had read High Luo Pei’s “Di Renjie”; although he didn’t finish it, he knew there was such a thing as incognito tour of inspection.
What if he encountered such good fortune.
But he did encounter good fortune, not incognito tour of inspection, but the hotel front desk asked him to take a call, saying it was from the Chinese representative.
This surprised him.
When Virtanen gave his business card to the Chinese person, he also attached two phone numbers: one was his hotel phone during the Leipzig Trade Fair, and the other was his company’s phone.
To ensure that if Chinese people wanted, they could see him immediately.
“Good, Mr. Li, I am extremely looking forward to meeting you.” After hanging up, Virtanen clenched his fist and waved it in the air.
Chinese people want to talk with him about XM-01 export matters.
Virtanen silently swore in his heart that he must secure this business deal.
In the Chinese delegation’s hotel, Virtanen dressed exceptionally formally; besides the suit, he carefully wore a bow tie and white gloves.
Just to leave a good impression on Chinese people.
Virtanen smiled broadly: “Mr. Li, I am Virtanen from Finland. Receiving your call is the best news I’ve heard this year!”
Li Mingde smiled and said: “Welcome, Mr. Virtanen. I am Li, representing the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Our Panda calculator is a cutting-edge product with scientific computing functions surpassing ANITA, including trigonometric functions, logarithms, and statistical calculations, and it is more portable.”
Li Mingde had never held expectations for cooperating with Finland.
His sense of smell is keen, he speaks multiple languages; he is very clear that selling in large quantities to Finland is essentially indirectly selling to the free world.
This is impossible at all.
Cooperating with Finland’s Neste company is part of his proposal; when formulating the proposal, he never thought this plan had even a slight chance of implementation—Li Mingde helped purely out of deference to Dean Qian.
Including sending a telegraph back home, due to personal connections, and also because he did not want to see XM-01 fail to realize its due value.
Li Mingde is an old foreign trade hand; although there are camp distinctions, that doesn’t mean they haven’t done business with free world countries—grain, tea, and porcelain have all been sold.
Precisely because they have done business, comparison brings hurt; deep down, he dislikes doing business with countries on the Soviet side.
Because these countries rarely settle in currency; they don’t even settle in rubles—they prefer to settle with goods.
Inside the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, it’s this mode of bartering. There’s something called transferable rubles that stays on the books.
The book value of the goods you exchange often doesn’t match the real value; even if it matches, it may not be what you need.
The so-called hard currency that everyone truly needs is often in short supply.
China’s Panda radios are in high demand inside the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance; some small countries cannot buy them at all.
And if doing business with Western countries, you get real US dollars, with much higher flexibility.
Li Mingde never expected that the Chinese side’s reply actually agreed to consider only economic benefits.
That is to say, not a single unit needs to be sold to Eastern European countries.
Can negotiate with both sides at the same time, playing price hikes between them.
This is authority he has never had before.
Li Mingde felt something was off, but right now there was no time to think; fleecing these foreigners as much as possible was the top priority.
Li Mingde thought to himself: He is no different from others; all are very interested in the Panda.
Virtanen nodded: “Mr. Li, you are right. I have already seen your demonstrations countless times at the Leipzig Trade Fair.
I am very clear about its advantages: scientific computing, compact body, portable anywhere—these are all its strengths.
I have only one question: its stability, and how to ensure subsequent after-sales service.”
Li Mingde said: “It is very stable. We are willing to provide a replacement service, meaning that after users purchase the replacement service, if any malfunction occurs, we provide replacement.”
This is the maintenance service Li Mingde thought up after learning about ANITA’s business strategy.
It can obtain long-term stable cash flow and reassure customers.
Virtanen felt greatly reassured inside; he knew enterprise users would definitely like this service: “Mr. Li, perfect. So, the price?”
Li Mingde looked troubled: “I am well aware that England’s ANITA sells for around 1200 US dollars. Our product is much better than ANITA, but we cannot determine its selling price. We need you to give us an idea.”
Virtanen felt a bit annoyed inside; he knew Chinese people were using his quoted price as an anchor, and would subsequently negotiate with other companies, so price was especially important to secure this business.
The room was silent for a good while.
Virtanen then said: “Two thousand US dollars. We are willing to pay two thousand US dollars high price, ten thousand units at once, that is twenty million US dollars.”
Li Mingde was already shocked inside.
Twenty million at once—this is an unprecedented business.
He was very clear that after China’s production capacity ramps up, selling 100,000 units a year is not impossible, and two thousand US dollars is obviously not the ceiling.
If 100,000 units at two thousand US dollars, that would be 200 million US dollars a year.
What this means for a country whose total imports and exports in 1960 were only 3.809 billion US dollars.
“Good, thank you for your quotation. I will consider it seriously.”
Over three days, Li Mingde met more than ten companies.
Absolutely not just Finnish companies.
He had met representatives from England, East and West Germany, and France companies.
As long as they want to do business, there are plenty of ways.
Set up a company in Finland, complete the transaction in Finland, then resell globally.
Li Mingde would not rigidly limit it to negotiating with current Finnish companies.
Negotiating with future Finnish companies is still negotiating, right?
But after a whole day, the highest bid was only 3500 US dollars.
Far from the 5000 US dollars Dean Qian told him before going abroad.
This made Li Mingde somewhat dejected.
There were ten thousand US dollar high prices, but those were at most ten units, and required immediate delivery.
Clearly not well-intentioned, not for real business.
They do re-export trade.
Whenever talking about large-scale exports, orders of ten thousand units or more, at most 3500 US dollars.
A lot?
Of course a lot.
But Li Mingde could feel the on-site adoration for XM-01.
He wanted to try again.
If it really doesn’t work, then go back and talk with France’s 3500 US dollars.
In his hotel room, he got a wooden board and nailed business cards from merchants of various countries, with not only names but also numbers he wrote himself: amount times order quantity.
3500*50000 is the ceiling.
175 million US dollars, already a historical record for China.
On the fifth day, Li Mingde stood in front of the booth with furrowed brows.
Compared to the previous days, the Chinese booth was not as hot.
In such a place, news spreads fast; everyone knows China is deliberating.
Even the highest price of 3500 US dollars they know.
This price is really too high.
No one is willing to bid higher.
When chatting privately, someone joked that if XM-01 carried not the XM-01 brand but Texas Instruments or IBM’s brand, they would dare to bid 5000 US dollars.
A business card was handed to Li Mingde.
“Johnson, 5000”
Li Mingde was somewhat surprised and quickly invited him to the nearby hotel for detailed talk: “Johnson, what does this mean?”
Without pleasantries, Li Mingde asked directly.
“I am from America, General Electric’s purchasing manager, Johnson Jones. For XM-01, we are willing to pay 5000 US dollars; whatever your production capacity, we take it all. What do you think?”
That’s right, General Electric has entered the scene.
As mentioned earlier, General Electric also has computer business; they make small computers and are also trying to make large-scale computers to compete with IBM.
Ever since discovering XM-01 at the Leipzig Trade Fair, General Electric started moving; Johnson Jones rushed overnight from London, and after specific understanding, he reported to General Electric’s high-level officials, who were personally approved by a Morgan family member for this price and procurement quantity.
Because for General Electric, XM-01 at five thousand US dollars is not hard to sell; anyway, brainlessly sell to the American government.
At least during the period when XM-01 has a monopoly, doubling the price to sell to the American government is effortlessly easy.
Especially at this current time point, from Washington to Wall Street, everyone knows the footsteps of the Vietnam War are getting closer.
Just short of the final pre-war mobilization.
The Vietnam front lines need portable calculators, Southeast Asia’s military supply departments need portable calculators, American domestic generals also need portable calculators.
Just these orders alone cannot be fulfilled.
At the same time, the Morgan family member pondered: with Morgan’s relationship with Lin Ran, would Lin Ran not let NASA take Chinese goods under General Electric’s shell?
Don’t NASA’s engineers need portable calculators?
This only considers the American government level, plus the enterprise demand level.
Digesting this bit of orders is effortlessly easy.
With such thinking, General Electric made this decision.
Compared to small electronic computers, even a ten thousand US dollar pricing for portable calculators is not expensive.
Li Mingde was already moved.
Johnson continued: “We have only one requirement: about the precision adjustment, it cannot be shown in the manual; it must be set as a hidden function.”
Li Mingde was puzzled.
This is to distinguish them; otherwise, how to explain selling ten thousand US dollars to Washington but only seven thousand to enterprises.
Isn’t it because Washington’s precision is higher?
As for why the precision sold to enterprises can also reach four decimal places, isn’t it because they cracked it themselves?
Actually, in computation speed, it is far inferior.
Since the other side doesn’t explain, Li Mingde doesn’t care; right now he just wants to telegraph domestic contacts as soon as possible to see if they can do business with General Electric.
In the Huntsville City hotel, John Morgan said he had a big gift for him; Lin Ran came to the room with such doubts.
“Randolph, come see, what is this.” John Morgan said.
Lin Ran picked up the calculator on the table, which already resembled later portable electronic calculators, and looking at the slightly rough General Electric LOGO on it, he said in surprise:
“Your progress is this fast? You’ve already made such a portable electronic calculator?
Much more advanced than what I saw inside NASA!”
He knew that after Deep Blue appeared, it greatly stimulated General Electric’s computer business sector.
But he didn’t expect that they had already made this thing at this time point.
John Morgan said: “A gift for you; you can use it for usual calculations. Of course, I know it definitely isn’t as fast as your brain.
But this isn’t the surprise; the real surprise is, do you know where this is produced?”
Lin Ran was silent for a few seconds before saying: “China?”
John Morgan was shocked: “No, you even know this?” He originally wanted to build suspense.
Regarding the previous two chapters, my understanding is that it won’t lower the protagonist’s prestige; this is just their guess, and since it’s not fact, they can’t confirm it anyway.
Finally reached ten thousand subscriptions, thank you everyone for your support, adding an extra chapter!
Then begging for monthly tickets~
