Chapter 28: Tracked Tractor

After a moment, on the square in front of the office building, Wang Ye and the six heads of the machinery factory watched Director Li leave.

"Wang Ye, are we really going to make tractors?"

Once the military-green 212 Jeep disappeared from view, the old factory director Zhao Lao Han turned to Wang Ye and asked. Wang Ye neither confirmed nor denied, but instead asked back, "Senior, do you think making tractors is a good business?"

To this question, the old factory director quickly nodded with a smile and said, "Of course. Nowadays, with land distribution, farmers are very active in farming, and the demand for agricultural machinery will definitely increase in the future. Tractors are the most important agricultural machinery! And making tractors would also live up to the reputation of our machinery factory. In the past, although we were a military factory, we mainly produced small arms, artillery, and mountain guns, but never something as big as a tractor!"

"But..."

At this point, the old factory director hesitated, the smile fading from his face, and he said with some concern, "Director Li is also right. Tractors are big machines. It might not be easy to get them started!"

To the old factory director's concern, Wang Ye waved his hand with a smile and said, "You're right. Farmers are very active in farming now, and with our large population in Huaxia, it's not easy to feed billions of people. So agricultural machinery will inevitably thrive in the future, and tractors will be at the forefront. But in the short term, farmers are still relatively poor. They may not be able to afford expensive tractors and mainly rely on livestock for farming. Only those large state-owned farms have the ability to purchase, making this market not large enough. Without a large market, we will encounter difficulties in sales."

With that, Wang Ye turned to the old factory director and the other five heads of the machinery factory and asked, "However, we must make tractors. But we cannot limit ourselves to the usual understanding of tractors; that won't work. We need to broaden our horizons, even produce tractors specifically for export to continue earning foreign exchange!"

Hearing Wang Ye's words, the heads of the machinery factory, who had already tasted the sweetness of earning foreign exchange, also nodded in agreement. The female director hesitated and asked, "Little Factory Manager! What do export tractors look like? We've never seen them before?"

Under everyone's gaze, Wang Ye gestured and explained, "There isn't a fixed form. We need everyone's input to perfect it, but I can give an example. Firstly, I believe export tractors should use tracks since foreign lands might not be as flat. Wheeled tractors may have difficulty moving, so we would use five or six pairs of load-bearing wheels. The overall weight should also be heavier, around twenty or thirty tons, to show that we use more material. Of course, our products must be sturdy and durable, so we need thicker steel plates on the front, bottom, sides, and rear, with slightly inclined angles. At the top, we can have a circular rotating flange where additional equipment like hooks, cranes, and winches can be installed. The driver would sit inside the vehicle with a front observation window..."

Initially, the heads of the machinery factory listened patiently, although they didn't quite understand. But soon their expressions became strange because, according to Wang Ye's description, what came to mind was not a tractor but another familiar machine!

"Wang Ye! Are you sure you're talking about tractors? Old Han, why does it sound like a tank?" The old factory director, who was familiar with Wang Ye's style, couldn't help but hesitate. Wang Ye shrugged and said, "You're overthinking it. This is indeed a tractor, just a tracked tractor. Foreigners love this kind of thing!"

"Let's go. Let's go back and have a meeting, starting with the issue of money. As for tractors, we have to wait for Director Li's message. It's not certain whether it will work or not!"

As soon as Wang Ye finished speaking, the expressions of the six heads of the machinery factory became excited because Wang Ye's tone of voice was exactly the same as when he mentioned gas cylinders!

For the people in the machinery factory, even though they had accepted the transition from military to civilian production, it was a reality they had to accept under national decisions. However, deep down, they still had the pride of being military industry workers!

Now, Wang Ye's talk about tracked tractors made everyone excited. After all, during the era of military factories, Red Star Machinery Factory had never dealt with such big things!

"Great! Great! We'll talk about tracked tractors later. Let's discuss the money first! Hahaha!"

The old factory director was very happy, and so were the others.

In fact, as the six heads guessed, Wang Ye's plan was indeed to make tanks, but under the current conditions, they could only make "improvised tanks." However, for the current international market, it was enough!

After all, just two years ago, the two countries in the desert had started a war and were still continuing it for six years. But soon, they found that the situation was not right. These two countries couldn't continue fighting!

In such a situation, they began to reduce or even completely stop exporting military supplies to these two countries, and these two countries had to start looking for new arms dealers, and they coincidentally found Huaxia.

A year later, the future mother of Huaxia's most important fifth-generation aircraft, Weilong, Rong Fei, had to produce washing machines to keep the factory alive. Even the Lanzhou 504 factory, which was responsible for producing raw materials for nuclear weapons, started producing popsicles using centrifuges!

If it wasn't for the large amount of military supplies exported by Huaxia during the war in the two countries, mainly tanks and fighter jets, Huaxia's military research and development system might have truly suffered a fatal blow.

More than 13 billion US dollars in eight years saved Huaxia's military industry!

Even in the most intense stage of the war, the representatives of both sides of the two countries were staying in the guesthouse at the gate of Luoshi Second Tank Factory, Huaxia's second largest tank production base, preparing for negotiations the next day!

At that time, there weren't enough tanks to sell! Not nearly enough to sell!

So, Wang Ye planned to make "improvised tanks" because as long as they were armored vehicles, there would be no problem with sales. Besides, even though he couldn't make tank cannons for the time being, he could still make other weapons to give them some combat capability!

On the way back to the meeting room, the old factory director hesitated and said, "Wang Ye! I was thinking. How about we go to the nearby Guomao Mountain Air Force Base to visit the garrison?"