Siheyuan: Grassroots Counterattack

As it was getting close to evening, President Zhao drove Li Tianyi to the pre-arranged port and waited.

At about 11 o'clock in the evening, a boat slowly approached the shore. President Zhao saw the signal light from the boat, got off the car immediately, and used a flashlight to signal to the people on the boat.

Soon a small boat slowly rowed over. President Zhao didn't say anything, but took Li Tianyi onto the boat, and the boat slowly rowed towards the big ship.

As the boat got closer, Li Tianyi realized that it was a foreign cargo ship. Although it was pitch dark, the stacked containers on the ship could still be vaguely seen.

Climbing up the ladder, President Zhao and Li Tianyi boarded the freighter, and several people came to pick them up, including several foreigners and some people from Xinhua.

President Zhao was whispering to the New China people, looking at Li Tianyi from time to time. After a while, the New China people came up to Li Tianyi and said, "Hello, I am the accompanying person this time, Zhang Zhen."

"Hello, I'm Li Tianyi, a mechanical engineer." Li Tianyi shook hands with Zhang Zhen, and then smiled at the people behind Zhang Zhen.

Seeing that everyone had finished their introductions, the foreigners said a few words to each other. Li Tianyi discovered that they were speaking German, and the content of their words was that they wanted Xinhua to accept the project as soon as possible.

Li Tianyi didn't say anything. He thought there must be a translator among the people accompanying him. Sure enough, a young man with a bookish air walked up to Zhang Zhen and translated what those people said.

Zhang Zhen didn't say anything, but looked at Li Tianyi, who nodded.

Zhang Zhen asked the translator to tell those people that they could go now.

Afterwards, a group of people came to the cabin. Although it was a cabin, it was brightly lit. Zhang Zhen pointed at several machines and said, "Engineer Li, these are the machines that need to be inspected. Please take a look."

"Okay, Captain Zhang."

Li Tianyi came to the machine, first observed the overall appearance of the machine, and then picked up the instruction manual on the machine.

The few foreigners who were accompanying them looked at each other, then smiled softly, with sarcasm in their eyes.

Then a few people walked to the sofa, picked up the red wine on the table and started drinking.

Zhang Zhen and President Zhao stood next to the machine, watching Li Tianyi's series of operations.

Li Tianyi quickly finished reading the instruction manual, and then began to check the parts and performance of the machine. After turning on the power, he observed the operation of the machine.

Three hours later, Li Tianyi stopped what he was doing and nodded to Zhang Zhen, indicating that he had completed the acceptance.

Zhang Zhen asked the translator to tell the foreigners that he and others needed a separate space. The foreigners were awakened by the translator and looked a little unhappy.

But he did not refuse Zhang Zhen's request and took them to an empty room.

Zhang Zhen arranged for people to stand guard outside the room, while he, President Zhao, and Li Tianyi entered the room.

As soon as he entered, President Zhao couldn't wait to ask, "Mr. Li, how is the machine?"

Li Tianyi did not hesitate and told the problems he found, "Mr. Zhao, Captain Zhang, these machines are refurbished old machines, and many parts inside are worn out. Although they are well disguised, used ones are used ones."

"Moreover, these machines will only be scrapped after a few years of use because many useless parts have been added to them, which will further reduce the service life of the machines."

"Damn, these foreigners." Zhang Zhen cursed angrily, then looked at Li Tianyi, "Mr. Li, so you mean that I don't recommend buying it?"

Just when Zhang Zhen and President Zhao thought that Li Tianyi would give a positive answer, Li Tianyi shook his head and said, "No, I suggest buying it, but not at the price of a new machine, but at the price of a scrapped one."

"But we can't use it after we buy it back?" President Zhao didn't understand what Li Tianyi meant. Even if he bought it at the price of scrap parts, it would cost a lot of foreign exchange. Instead of this, it would be better to contact another company that is willing to do business with Xinhua Country.

"Although these machines are going to be scrapped, the technology inside them is what we need. We can buy them back at the price of scrapped products. I am 80% sure that I can research the technology of these machines. Once I draw the blueprints, we can produce this type of machine ourselves."

Zhang Zhen was shocked after hearing this. Although he was a soldier, he had heard before that some foreign machines always had backup plans in case their problems were discovered. So when they broke down, they usually had to ask their experts to repair them, otherwise they would just be scrapped.

But no one expected that this young Mr. Li would dare to say such a thing. This matter is too big and it is not something that they can decide.

So Zhang Zhen said, "How about this, let's go to our own ship first, then ask our superiors for instructions, and then make a decision."

None of them had any objection, so they walked out of the room, asked the translator to talk to the Germans. The foreigners had no objection, but just asked them to make a quick decision and they would stay here for no more than one day.

Li Tianyi and several others took a small boat to their country's ship. This was a ship sent by the country to transport machinery. Of course, the comrades in charge of procurement were also on it. Zhang Zhen explained the situation to those comrades.

Those comrades did not make a decision first. Instead, they found Li Tianyi and talked with him for more than an hour before going to the control room and contacting their superiors by phone.

After listening to their report, the superior leaders fell silent. Is it really worth using foreign exchange to purchase several machines that are about to be scrapped?

But the pie that Li Tianyi painted was really too delicious. If Li Tianyi really studied these machines thoroughly, the country could produce this type of machine based on Li Tianyi's research. Whether it was used domestically or exported abroad, the benefits would outweigh the disadvantages.

Li Tianyi's resume is also being considered by his superiors. The hot-selling washing machine alone is enough to prove Li Tianyi's ability.

Finally, the superiors decided to agree to Comrade Li Tianyi's plan and let the purchasing staff try to lower the price as much as possible, but if the price exceeded 10% of the scrapped product price, the purchase would be abandoned.

The purchasing comrades received orders from their superiors and did not dare to delay. They immediately set off by boat to conduct a new round of negotiations on the freighter.

Zhang Zhen also went with them this time. President Zhao and Li Tianyi had nothing to do here, so they wanted to return to Hong Kong Island.

Why didn't Li Tianyi go back to the mainland with the ship that was transporting the machine? This was because the machine had to be transported to the naval base first, and then sent to Sijiucheng by train. After this series of actions, the machine would not reach Sijiucheng within a month.

Li Tianyi doesn't have so much time to waste, he has been out for long enough.