Siheyuan: Taking over the steel mill

He was also surprised to suddenly hear the familiar accent.

"Can you speak our language?"

“I had a chance to learn a little.”

Suchen seemed very humble, as if he had only done a trivial thing.

With so many people gathered around, it naturally attracted the attention of the exhibition organizers. In addition to the onlookers and the accompanying translators, the organizers also sent representatives to check the situation on the scene.

Everyone was surprised to see Su Chen speaking the country's language fluently.

The audience was stunned when he further elaborated on the relevant knowledge of pipelines.

"Are you kidding me? Is this our country's secret code?"

** It was hard to believe that what was in front of him was just an ordinary pipe, so he asked Su Chen for confirmation again.

“It’s really just the water pipe.”

Su Chen denied **'s conjecture, and this sentence gradually turned everyone's surprise into frustration. Originally, they all thought there would be some amazing discovery.

I didn't expect it was really a water pipe.

The exhibition manager was even more depressed, thinking, "I guess we won't be able to sell anything today."

Although the exhibition was nominally a military physical display, in fact, civilian products were often seen in the exhibits in previous years. Therefore, when Su Chen said that this was a water pipe, no one doubted it, but everyone felt very strange: Why was Su Chen so confident in bringing a civilian product like a water pipe to the exhibition?

"The Black Continent has been facing a severe water shortage problem. Who would buy such a pipe?"

Just when everyone was feeling disappointed and some people had started to leave, Su Chen spoke again.

"Our water pipe is made of seamless steel pipe, with a special design inside - rifling to increase the water flow rate."

After these words came out, those who were about to leave stopped and turned to look at him.

Su Chen emphasized the words "seamless steel" and "rifling" in this sentence.

Su Chen continued to explain in English which everyone could understand. After hearing it, the eyes of those present suddenly lit up.

For manufacturers from the "Black Continent", they know the importance of seamless steel pipes.

Manufacturing steel requires heavy industrial infrastructure, and producing seamless steel pipes is even more difficult.

In the "Black Continent", no country can independently produce such products.

Poverty and corruption have long plagued this continent, not to mention steel pipes that require advanced technology. Even those produced by simple processes are extremely rare.

Due to an imperfect industrial supply chain, the development of the "Black Continent" countries in this field has almost stagnated.

If the country had not been providing assistance to the Black Continent, they would not be able to produce weapons, and even leaving there would be a luxury.

The police immediately understood the special features of this water pipe, and one of the quickest people stepped forward and said, "Comrade, I want to buy these water pipes. Please give me a price."

This man had the same dark complexion as the others, but his muscles were more developed. "What do you want to do with this water pipe?" Su Chen asked.

Of course, he understood the other party's idea, but he still had to follow this process. "It is very difficult for our people to get water, and we bought water pipes to solve this problem." On the black continent with many dry areas, it is obviously unlikely that a large number of water pipes will be needed. However, this is just an excuse, and everyone present knows it. This ** bought the water pipes just to use them as gun barrels.

For those who don't know or are not familiar with firearms, they don't know how difficult it is to make a seamless steel pipe with rifling. Knowing this, Su Chen came up with this idea as soon as he saw the seamless steel pipe.

As Su Chen expected, everyone was very excited after learning the secret of the seamless steel pipe. The other parts of a gun can be solved by assembly or other methods, even if they use inferior parts made in other countries, but the barrel is the only part that cannot be handled carelessly, otherwise it will cause a dangerous explosion accident.

Therefore, these seamless steel pipes that can provide stable range and accuracy are highly sought after. This is why Su Chen brought them here from afar and participated in this ** exhibition. "The price of these ordinary water pipes is 40 US dollars per meter; the price of seamless steel pipes is 50 US dollars per meter; and the price of those with internal rifling is 60 US dollars per meter." Su Chen waved his hand and gave the price.

Although this price is far lower than the ** which costs hundreds of dollars per piece, it is still quite expensive. As soon as he made the offer, there was an uproar at the scene. Even the person in charge of the exhibition couldn't help but take a breath when he heard that the seamless steel pipe with rifling was 60 dollars per meter: Is it so easy to make money? You know, even the prices of other relatively backward types of weapons are not much higher; if he were to choose, he would definitely not buy this batch of so-called tap water pipes. Others also showed surprise at this price. These ** have long realized the real purpose of this batch of tap water pipes, but the high price stopped them from moving forward.

After all, it was just a gun barrel, not a ready-made weapon. People who were willing to buy began to hesitate after learning about Su Chen's price. It was already very expensive just to get a section of such a pipe, and after the subsequent accessories were assembled, the final cost would definitely exceed one hundred US dollars. This was definitely a heavy burden for the poor areas on the Black Continent. Therefore, despite the need, many people were still deterred by the price and hesitated to buy.

"Let's take a look at other weapons. Even though they are a little outdated, they are better than using a stick."

"The barrel costs sixty dollars per meter, plus the cost of other accessories, the total price is probably more than two hundred dollars. Forget it, let's not even think about it."

After discussing in low voices for a while, they finally gave up the bid. Their country obviously couldn't afford such an expensive fee.

However, some people were still hesitant, especially the official from Ethiopia who had negotiated the price directly with Suchen.

He really needed a set of high-performance weapons to stabilize the situation. The seamless steel pipes made by Su Chen had excellent performance. No matter which weapon they were installed on, they could significantly reduce the risk of explosion. It not only improved the safety of soldiers, but also effectively protected the equipment.

Although Su Chen's offer was high, the Ethiopian officials were still tempted. After all, for a small country like theirs with limited financial resources, the cost was really high, but they really needed it.

After thinking for a moment, the official decided to talk to Su Chen: "Sixty dollars per meter is too expensive, can it be cheaper?" The tone was more like bargaining in the market.

Su Chen noticed that his official rank seemed to be very high, but he was not sure about his specific identity, so he was hesitant and didn't know how to answer.

The translator next to him immediately introduced: "He is a high-ranking official in Ethiopia, second only to the generals in their country."

After listening to the translation, Su Chen immediately understood.

Although he didn't know much about Ethiopia's current situation, he knew that the country was not very well-known at present, and even the best geographers could only regard it as an inconspicuous small country in Africa.

Suchen now realizes the future potential of this small country: in the future people will praise it as "the country closest to our own in Africa." After learning his identity, Suchen began to make some plans.

People from some other countries might come to see the fun and be slightly interested in Su Chen's pipe materials, but they know that this high-quality gun barrel with great processing potential is far from comparable to weapons that can be scrapped at any time.

Due to limited financial resources, these countries probably won't offer a higher price, and officials will naturally not buy it. But it's different for this official from Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is now in chaos, and with the continuous assistance and support from other countries, Ethiopia will soon enter a critical period of transformation. As an ally, it is beneficial for all parties if Ethiopia becomes stronger, which can not only attract the attention of some hawks (a metaphor for powerful opponents or enemies), but also be conducive to the development of bilateral relations.

Apart from this, Ethiopia’s policies and guidelines are similar to ours.

If the batch of gun barrels provided by Su Chen can help Ethiopia quickly gain a foothold, future arms trade will be smoother.

So Su Chen thought that the Ethiopian representative must have a strong desire to buy, but that didn't mean he would agree to a price cut.

Since the manufacturing technology and process of seamless steel pipes are relatively complex, their cost is indeed much higher than that of traditional gas tanks. Therefore, the price quoted by Suchen is relatively high.

Although a seamless steel pipe may use much less material than a large gas tank, the overall price difference between the two is not that big.

Faced with such a situation, Ethiopian representatives were very eager to get these seamless steel pipes, but the cost was indeed a heavy burden for their country.

Su Chen thought about it for a moment and still insisted on the original offer.

He explained to the Ethiopian representative: "It's not that I want to sell it cheaper. You know, the manufacturing process of seamless steel pipes is indeed much more complicated."

"Ordinary steel pipes have many joints and are more likely to have problems during use; seamless steel pipes require more advanced machines and processes to ensure quality, and the scrap rate is also very high. In fact, when we make an effective seamless steel pipe, at least six of them are unqualified."

Although the facts were not so serious, in order to sell it at a high price, Su Chen had to make a reasonable explanation.

After hearing this explanation, the Ethiopian representative seemed a little disappointed.

However, faced with Su Chen's firm attitude and the complex manufacturing cost issues, the Ethiopian representatives had no choice but to withdraw from the deal.

But how could Su Chen bear to watch such a big business slip away.

When he saw that the other party seemed to be planning to give up, he quickly said:

"But you have to know that these seamless steel pipes can not only improve Ethiopia's firearms production capacity, but also help build weapons manufacturing plants."

This seemingly casual remark actually points directly to the representative's thoughts: he has always hoped to use this high-quality material to strengthen his military strength.

These words immediately aroused his associations.

If this steel pipe could be introduced into the country, it would significantly improve its military industrial base and produce better quality weapons.

In this way, the overall strength of their military will be greatly enhanced, and those countries and domestic jihadists that have long been against them will no longer pose a threat.

There are still various problems that need to be solved, but if they have such a powerful military force, many problems will be much easier to deal with.