Chapter 6: Numerous Difficulties

Seeing Wang Ye's confident expression, Liang Jinsong nodded.

They say a person's reputation precedes them. Although it was hard for Liang Jinsong to believe that this young man who had just graduated from university, still looked like a child, could successfully lead the Hongxing Machinery Factory through military-civilian conversion, he inexplicably harbored a sense of hope.

Could a graduate from Huqing University really create a miracle?

"Alright, as long as you're determined, let's go!"

"You haven't had breakfast yet, right? The guesthouse over there has already been arranged. Let's go have a meal first, then you can rest well. In the afternoon, I'll brief you on the current situation of the Hongxing Machinery Factory. We'll visit the factory tomorrow!"

After saying those words earlier, Liang Jinsong didn't seem as serious as before. With a slight smile, he said to Wang Ye.

However, Wang Ye shook his head with a bitter smile and said, "I had breakfast on the train."

"After hearing your words, how can I rest at the guesthouse now? If possible, I hope you can sign my transfer order now, and then I can go to the factory to see the situation!"

Hearing Wang Ye's words, Liang Jinsong and the service soldier exchanged a glance. Finally, Liang Jinsong couldn't help but burst into laughter and said, "Well, I really like your attitude!"

"Since you put it that way, how can I refuse?"

"Let's do this, I'll have Xiao Zhao borrow the station phone to notify the factory, and then contact the Industrial Bureau of Yuntai City."

"Since we're going today, let's just hold the military-civilian handover ceremony together."

"Then, Comrade Xiao Wang, you can really show your skills."

"Let's see how you lead the factory out of poverty and into prosperity!"

After that, the service soldier, whose surname was Zhao, rushed back, panting. He said, "Director, I've notified them."

"The Industrial Bureau of Yuntai City will send a deputy director to coordinate with us."

"They said just pack up and we can set off."

After hearing the service soldier's words, Liang Jinsong nodded and said, "Then let's go! Drive!"

Then the service soldier turned into the driver again. The 212 Jeep, which looked at least ten years old, started with a rumble, carrying the three of them away.

Sitting unsteadily in the car, Wang Ye said to Liang Jinsong, "Director Liang, why don't you take this time to give me a brief introduction to our Hongxing Machinery Factory?"

"Although I've seen some information in the Fifth Ministry of Machinery, after years of chaos, those materials are not comprehensive, and many areas are ambiguous. I still want to hear your opinion as the superior authority."

Liang Jinsong nodded at Wang Ye's request and sighed, saying, "The Hongxing Machinery Factory was established in 1954."

"It was a very small part of the Soviet aid program at the time."

"So to some extent, it didn't actually belong to the true third-line factories. However, in 1967, following the opportunity of the third-line construction, there was a small-scale improvement and reconstruction."

"As a result, the Hongxing Machinery Factory used to be quite glorious."

"Once, as the largest light weapons production base in the entire Luqi Province, during the 1960s and 1970s when the country was on full military alert, it produced a large number of various types of bullets and shells, as well as semi-automatic rifles, submachine guns, light and heavy machine guns, grenades, landmines, recoilless guns, mortars, and even small-caliber artillery."

"Unfortunately, when the Soviet aid construction was carried out, they provided us with their used equipment. Plus, the decision-making of the factory leaders and the provincial defense office at the time, in order to save money for the country, followed the principle of using whatever could be used, leading to incomplete equipment updates and reconstruction projects at the factory site, or even can be said to be perfunctory."

"The ultimate result was that after the 1970s, the factory's equipment was outdated."

"So starting from 1975-1976, the factory's weapons production tasks were already very few, only leaving some production tasks for bullets and shells. The ammunition produced, as inventory, was depleted in the previous years of counter-offensive self-defense wars."

"After that war ended, the factory almost had no production tasks, not even counting the production of ammunition, which was scarce."

"By the 1980s, they were basically living off subsidies."

Sighing deeply, Liang Jinsong's tone was unusually lamentable as he continued, "So, as I said earlier, the situation of the Hongxing Machinery Factory is extremely dire."

"And there are twelve other third-line factories like the Hongxing Machinery Factory in Luqi Province, with conditions not much better than those of the Hongxing Machinery Factory."

"Every year, just in subsidies, I have to fork out tens of millions of yuan from my hands. Moreover, this is distributed according to the standard of having meals on and off alternately, which results in workers' wages not being paid in full for most of the year, let alone holiday bonuses. There have been complaints for a long time."

"Nowadays, the country has opened up, and economic construction requires money everywhere. However, these national funds..."

"They are spent like water..."