When you are rich, there is Rheinmetall; when you are poor, there is Rheinsteel!

After comparing the unit prices of several rockets, Greb couldn't help but take a breath of cold air. This is NM.

How dare these people talk about hundreds of millions?

Thinking back to the beginning, in order to make money, he and his father went to Hong Kong alone to negotiate with Lin Yu, and then they made a fortune.

In this way, the cash they got and could use was only a few billion US dollars, and this money was enough for these bastards to fire five rockets.

It's amazing.

This thing is really here to rob money.

But...

I don't have a rocket in my hand, and now I can only watch those bastards rob my money.

When Greb thought that the money he worked hard to get would be robbed by these bastards before he could even warm it up, he felt so heartbroken that he couldn't breathe.

I'm going to die, I'm going to die.

…………

On the other side, in the suburbs of Falls Church, Virginia, at the headquarters of General Dynamics, a middle-aged man from Israel was standing by the French window in front of Placido, the chairman of General Dynamics, looking at Arlington in the east.

There is also the Pentagon further east.

Unfortunately, the house is relatively short and the air quality is not good, which really cannot satisfy his desire to look at the Pentagon from more than ten kilometers away.

After watching for a long time, the middle-aged Israeli man turned around and looked at Placido, saying in an ethereal voice:

"Have you heard about the Space Agency's Leo Project?"

Placido's face relaxed a little when he heard this, and nodded his head: "Not only have I heard about it, we also participated in the competition at that time."

"But unfortunately, we were dissuaded by the Roosevelt family."

"According to some information I have, their satellite research progress seems to be okay, but there is not much news about rockets."

"Your Excellency mentioned this matter, could it be..."

Being able to become the chairman of General Dynamics, Placido is a smart man. Compared with other people, he is very natural in flattering and very useful.

Just like now, he can guess some of the thoughts of the person opposite, but a little blank space can make the other party feel a sense of intellectual superiority.

It can also make the other party feel a kind of heartfelt, superior, and confiding idea of ​​treating a subordinate.

Sure enough, after hearing his blank space, the Israeli on the opposite side raised his hands and began to applaud softly.

After a moment, he said: "Just as you thought, we are interested in this plan."

"In the past, we have participated in various high-tech projects in America, but this time it is the Leo plan."

"They have excluded us out of the norm."

"This is very abnormal."

"They must be planning something behind the scenes. This time they came to you because we just got the inside information."

"The Space Agency requires this Avenal company to launch a low-orbit satellite at the turn of the Chinese New Year."

"According to Mr. Isaac's idea, he asked you to seize the opportunity and get involved in this launch."

"Then, destruction."

When it comes to the word destruction, a cold light flashed in the eyes of the Israeli, and his fists clenched unconsciously, making Placido feel the chill.

After the coldness, Placido lowered his head and asked cautiously: "We will take the initiative to send them a rocket?"

The Israeli middle-aged man shook his head: "No! No, we will just give them a little discount on the price."

"Then make them a large bomb."

"When everyone's attention is on the rocket, they can watch a large firework explode above their heads."

While speaking, the middle-aged man put his hands on his chest, put them together and slowly raised them, and finally made a flower gesture, and his mouth also followed the sound:

"Bang!"

After the vivid performance, he turned around and looked at Placido with a serious face: "I have passed on the message, what to do next is what you need to consider."

"If you don't do it well, you know the consequences."

"I'll go back first."

"Come on."

Without giving Placido a chance to reply, the middle-aged man walked straight to the door, took the hat from the coat rack and put it on, showed a kind smile to Placido, turned around, opened the door and walked out of the room.

Ten minutes later, a black Ford drove out of the underground parking lot of General Dynamics.

The middle-aged man sat in the back, looked back at the General Dynamics headquarters that slowly disappeared from his sight, and took out his mobile phone.

"Mr. Isaac, I have made arrangements for General Dynamics, and I am now preparing to meet with the Clinton family."

"If possible, I think it would be better to make a surprise this year."

"Not ready yet? Okay, then I will just do a normal exchange."

Putting down the phone, the middle-aged man slowly closed his eyes, leaned back in the seat, and fell asleep leisurely.

…………

"Good news, NASA and General Dynamics have reached an agreement to provide us with an Atlas Centaur rocket at a price of $120 million."

"Their rocket has been loaded and shipped to the Cape Canaveral launch site!"

"We also need to quickly pack the satellite and send it to the Cape Canaveral launch site to assemble it with the rocket and launch it on the evening of January 18."

In the satellite manufacturing plant of Avenal, Greb stood on the mobile platform of the manufacturing workshop and loudly announced the news he had just received to the people in front of him.

Under the mobile platform, the engineers who heard the news showed disbelief.

After repeated confirmation, it was confirmed that the news was true and not a lie.

A group of people smiled and the scene became a sea of ​​joy.

$120 million, compared to $280 million, is $160 million less.

$160 million can do a lot of things.

It can add some new equipment to the factory, give more bonuses to the engineers present, and more research funds.

In short, there are only benefits.

Amid their joyful voices, Greb waved his hand and said, "Load the car as soon as possible. This time the rocket launch is successful, and we will all go to Hawaii for vacation."

Under the stimulation of vacation, the engineers and workers of the satellite manufacturing factory were full of energy and began to work overtime.

On the other side, the American Space Agency.

Director Corker was packing his luggage and preparing to go on vacation.

Seeing the document handed over by his subordinate, he just glanced at it roughly and found that it was indeed the announcement document he requested. He signed his name and handed it back:

"Take it and publish it. I'm going to enjoy a rare holiday."

"Director, holiday? What holiday?"

"New Year's holiday!"

New Year's holiday...

A... uniquely pronounced word.

The subordinate lowered his head and racked his brains to think about all the holidays in European and American countries, but he couldn't remember which ethnic group this holiday belonged to.

So, he expanded his thinking scope to Asia.

Finally found the origin of this holiday.

Then, he looked at his director with a strange face and asked, "Is that our holiday?"

"No matter whether it is or not, it's a holiday anyway, just right for eating, drinking and playing. Why bother about whether this holiday is ours?" Cork looked like an experienced person and patted his subordinate.

Carrying a small box with some work documents, he walked past his subordinates and turned back to say when he walked to the door:

"Happy holidays!"

…………

"Look at this news. The American Space Agency announced that the Leo constellation satellite will be launched on January 17, 2004, local time in America. The specific launch time is 8 o'clock in the morning."

"Tsk tsk, if this is not intentional, my name Zhou Changyao is written backwards."

"Hey, Lin Yu, don't you have any ideas?"

When asked about his own opinion, Lin Yu stopped drinking water and shook his head gently:

"I don't have any ideas. I can't fly over in the flesh and give them two slaps."

"And the rocket they use is General Dynamics's Atlas, which is an old rocket with almost zero mistakes."

"I can't stop it."

"It's the New Year's Day. Instead of missing them, you might as well go back early, arrange your work, and prepare for the New Year."

"Take advantage of the New Year to have a good rest for a few days and relax your mood."

As soon as these words "New Year's Day" came out, Zhou Changyao knew that there was no way to talk about this matter today.

Holding the teacup in both hands, he took a sip of warm tea and said softly:

"Then go back slowly and be careful on the road."

"Don't worry about the project evaluation for the National Progress Award. The first result will come out before the first month of the year."

"After everyone reviews it, we will enter the next step. The final result will probably be in March or April next year."

"I know!" Lin Yu nodded vigorously, still smiling, not angry at all.

The two chatted for a while.

It was just time for the canteen to open for lunch. Zhou Changyao patted his butt and got up, taking Lin Yu with him, and walked happily to the canteen.

And the scientific research institute they mentioned has become very lively now. A large group of people surrounded Zheng Xingguo and talked in a flurry.

There were a few words, which made Zheng Xingguo feel overwhelmed.

With his hands raised high to suppress all the noise, Zheng Xingguo looked at the person in front of him, played the accordion, and said in a low voice:

"Professor Wang Can, you are a young scholar after all. You should learn to remain calm even when the sky is falling. It's just a trip to Lanling, isn't it?"

"Just tell me if you have anything to say. You didn't even get a call during the two days you were gone. I don't think this is a serious matter."

"By the way, where is Professor Loulan?"

Zheng Xingguo's casualness made Wang Can on the opposite side slap him in the face.

Covering his face with his hands, Wang Can hesitated for a moment and said in a deep voice: "It's all true!"

"The information submitted by Rheinsteel is true from inside to outside."

"First of all, their R\u0026D factory area, except for the confidential area in the mountain that we are not allowed to enter, the R\u0026D factory area outside the mountain is as large as 12,000 acres."

"Chip manufacturing is hidden in a small warehouse on this 12,000 acres of land."

"I don't know where they got the parts from, and they made the ultraviolet lithography machine. It is very simple. If I hadn't seen the chips coming out of it with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe it."

"The chip rate is very low, but it is enough to verify some technologies."

"For special steel, they have a separate steel plant and a technical team. This steel plant is cooperating to verify their technical conjectures throughout the process."

"That kind of aircraft carrier steel, their daily output reached a terrifying 500 tons. Si Cheng took samples for three consecutive days. Before coming here, his students were already analyzing it."

"The wind tunnel is real!"

"Rocket-related technology is also real."

"Satellite technology, wireless communication technology, radar technology, these are all real."

"All the technologies they reported are real."

"Moreover, most of their technologies have entered the market and are being tested by the market."

"Look at them, then look at us..."

Wang Can looked around, hesitant to speak, raised his right hand several times weakly, and then put it down again.

Seeing him like this, Zheng Xingguo wanted to say a few words, but when the words came to his lips, he chose to swallow them back when he looked at the colleagues who went to investigate.

Not completely swallowed.

These words were like a lump in his throat, stuck in his mouth.

The people around him looked at him, and they were no longer as calm and proud as before, and only sighed weakly one after another.

Seeing all this, Zheng Xingguo felt mixed emotions.

Today is January 12, 2004.

Before January, they were all influential figures in major research institutes, leading research tasks, pointing out the way forward, and writing passionate articles.

Now, although it is still the same.

But reality tells them that there are always better people among the strong.

The difficulties they could not overcome were overcome by others.

After a long time, he sighed and asked, "You haven't told me where Professor Loulan went."

When asked about the big boss of the institute, Si Cheng replied softly:

"Professor Loulan is staying in Lanling. He said that he wanted to check some data when no one was using the wind tunnel during the New Year, so he didn't come back."

"Ah!"

Another long sigh came from Zheng Xingguo's mouth. He waved his hand weakly and said to the people present:

"Everyone has worked hard. Everyone should go back early and arrange the work in your institute."

"Go back early for the New Year!"

After the voice fell, no one moved. Seeing this, he waved his hand again: "Go back."

This time, the other people present turned around and left one after another. Soon, Zheng Xingguo was the only one left.

He sat back at his desk and opened a spreadsheet on the computer.

In the spreadsheet, there were evaluation projects for 2003.

But it was divided into two columns.

On the left, there was a long red line. The first line of this long line had only four words.

Rheinsteel

On the right, there are two words, "Others".

Moving the mouse downward, there are their own projects. These projects correspond to the projects of Rheinsteel in front, and there are also blanks.

Scrolling to the bottom, looking at the manned spaceflight projects submitted by the Aerospace Group, he remembered what Wang Can said just now.

[Most of their technologies have entered the market and are being tested by the market. ]

Look at the newly broken technologies at the back.

The mouse wheel slides, and Zheng Xingguo sighs again. After a long time, he takes out his mobile phone, finds the number marked as the dean on the phone, and dials:

"Dean, I think manned spaceflight should be ranked second."

"I'm not crazy, it's what I said two days ago, but it's hard to explain it in a few words on the phone. You'll know when you come back from the academic exchange."