Siheyuan's Silly Pillar has been replaced by someone else

Luo Xiang flew back and held a brief meeting on the train.

Finally, two solutions were agreed upon: one was to proceed with the original plan and negotiate with the Japanese.

The other option was to arrange for a few people to review the plan, as He Yuzhu had suggested.

The people in charge of negotiations were fine, but those responsible for reviewing the proposals started complaining endlessly.

The Japanese provided many solutions, the most common of which were complete sets of blueprints.

That was a complete set of blueprints, totaling over 200,000 sheets according to the report from JS Province.

Luo Xiangfei, along with the auditors, was responsible for negotiations, which also served to buy time. He Yuzhu, on the other hand, led the rest of the team to review the proposal.

Lu Kun from the Technical Department sat down next to He Yuzhu and said, "Director He, the comrades from JS Province have already reviewed the plan, so why do we need to review it again?"

He Yuzhu said, "This is also to understand the project's situation."

"But that's too much. There are only a few of us. Even if we work ourselves to death, we still can't finish it."

We've never seen those things before, what if we don't understand them?

He Yuzhu stared at him, suspecting that he was implying something about him.

After getting off the train, they went to the guesthouse.

Because the Japanese were pressing them for a break, they only rested for two hours before getting back to work.

A meeting was held before the negotiations began.

Luo Xiangfei announced their decision at the meeting, which was immediately met with opposition.

“We have already reviewed the proposal. Why waste manpower to review it again?”

Luo Xiangfei also knew that this would encounter great resistance. Their actions would definitely provoke resentment from Jiangsu.

But he had no other choice. Apart from reviewing the plan and finding loopholes, Luo Xiangfei had no other good way to reduce the budget.

He had spoken with his comrades from JS Province when he got off the train.

The Japanese actions were similar to what He Yuzhu described; they didn't involve money, and there were too many good things to say.

The Japanese even suggested inviting them to visit the factory.

But once it comes to money, the Japanese won't budge.

Before they came down, our comrades here had talked with the Japanese more than ten times, but they still couldn't agree on a price.

"The ministry's reply to you has already explained this issue."

A country's foreign exchange reserves are very valuable, and there are many projects that require foreign exchange.

We are unable to allocate that much foreign exchange to your project.

If we can't agree on a price with you, then we'll have to choose to replace only a portion of the equipment.

Everyone is aware of the foreign exchange issue. Those here have already tried their best to reduce it.

The problem is that we can't reach an agreement.

They proposed building their own factory, but the Japanese disagreed, citing concerns about equipment resonance.

The Japanese said that if the equipment malfunctions due to problems with the factory, the consequences will be borne by the customer.

That equipment was worth hundreds of millions of dollars; no one dared to take responsibility and could only back down.

"But the Japanese gave us a very tight deadline. Their response was that if we didn't sign the contract, they would produce for other countries."

Once the production line is up and running, it will take at least six months to free it up.

We can't wait.

"We have to wait, even if we can't wait. Comrades, we have no choice but to cut costs. Otherwise, this project will not be approved."

There was much discussion at the scene, and no consensus could be reached.

He Yuzhu stepped forward: "We won't get any results from discussing this here."

What I mean is, allocate more manpower to work overtime on the review. Try to find a solution as quickly as possible.

Before the results were in, He Yuzhu couldn't guarantee that the Japanese plan would definitely have problems.

Therefore, he dared not say that there was a problem.

"Director He, technical issues are not trivial. Only those who are knowledgeable in the field have the right to speak on this matter."

He Yuzhu stared at Pang Yong, who was speaking, with a dark expression.

Pang Yong looked at He Yuzhu without fear, not afraid at all.

In terms of rank, they are the same, both at the deputy director-general level. The difference is that one works in a ministry and the other in a local government.

In terms of real power, He Yuzhu was still a bit behind him. Pang Yong was a key cadre here, and it was said that he would soon be promoted to the rank of director-general. "Director Pang, can you guarantee that these plans and drawings are completely without problems?"

"You're just being unreasonable," Pang Yongqi said, standing up abruptly.

Even a fool could tell that the Japanese plan was rigged.

The Japanese even imported materials for building their factories from Japan; it would be strange if there weren't problems with that.

It's just that everyone feels they lack the skills, so they choose to learn a lesson by spending money.

This is what everyone agrees on.

He Yuzhu's words could seriously affect his career, so how could Pang Yong dare to agree?

Luo Xiangfei frowned: "Let's all say less. We're all doing this for the country; there's no need to argue."

To reiterate, the government cannot possibly approve that much foreign exchange.

In any case, we must cut costs.

Besides reviewing the proposal, are there any other solutions?

Luo Xiangfei still leaned slightly towards He Yuzhu, but it wasn't obvious.

Pang Yong, thinking he was biased towards his own people, said angrily, "We have already reviewed the plan. If you don't believe me, you can review it yourselves."

People from JS province, fearing things would escalate, quickly stood up to smooth things over.

Even after the argument, the problem still needs to be solved.

They eventually agreed to review the plan again, but they weren't very enthusiastic.

Luo Xiangfei understood this as well, and handed over the task of reviewing the plan to He Yuzhu.

"Zhu Zi, the personnel are in your hands now. Make sure they are thoroughly vetted."

He Yuzhu nodded, indicating that he understood.

The plan was quickly finalized, and the personnel were all gathered together.

He Yuzhu spoke first: "Everyone understands the mission this time, so I won't say anything."

Thank you all for your hard work these past few days. I'll treat you all to dinner after everything is finished.

On the train, Lu Kun was somewhat dissatisfied, but he knew what was important.

"Director He, don't worry, I will definitely review the drawings carefully."

He Yuzhu saw that he was about to start with a pile of equipment blueprints, so he quickly stopped him.

"Just pick out the equipment drawings; you don't need to look at them."

Everyone in the room stared at He Yuzhu in astonishment.

To be honest, even if they looked at the equipment drawings, they wouldn't be able to understand them.

A piece of equipment requires many parts, and it's impossible for these twenty-odd people to figure it out in a short time.

Although the Japanese claimed they were selling them the most advanced equipment, He Yuzhu didn't believe it at all.

Since it wasn't the most advanced technology, the Japanese had no reason to fake it.

The real problem lies with the auxiliary components.

He Yuzhu explained, "A single straw rope is worthless, but when it's tied to a crab, it becomes the price of a crab."

Everyone present was intelligent; they hadn't heard of this joke before, and they understood what He Yuzhu meant.

They knew that He Yuzhu was referring to other things the Japanese had strapped to the equipment.

With a clear goal, things become much simpler. Everyone can abandon the complex blueprints and focus on examining the less noticeable parts.

He Yuzhu pretended to pick up a portion of the blueprints and started looking at them.

Lu Kun held a blueprint and looked at it repeatedly for more than ten minutes.

He Yuzhu asked, "What's wrong?"

Lu Kun said, "I feel like this blueprint looks familiar, but I can't quite place it right now."

He Yuzhu took a look and immediately understood that it was a toilet.

He slammed the blueprints on the table angrily: "Go to the toilet and you'll see what this thing is."

Lu Kun didn't understand for a moment, and actually went to the toilet to check.

He Yuzhu picked up the price list and found the corresponding drawing number.

Ten thousand US dollars. (End of this chapter)