Great Power Industry: You're a private company building an aircraft carrier?

The Type 1164 cruiser, a super battleship of the Red Empire!

Although the Russians do not prioritize the development of aircraft carriers, they still need various surface warships to escort nuclear submarines and search for enemy nuclear submarines.

After years of development, the Russians finally produced the Project 1144 nuclear-powered cruiser, with a displacement of over 20,000 tons and hundreds of missiles, making it a behemoth on the sea!

However, nuclear power was too expensive and unreliable, so the Russians needed a lower-end model, which is the Project 1164 Slava-class cruiser with a displacement of over 10,000 tons.

This warship was built at the Ermao 61 Commune Shipyard. Three ships were built when the Soviet Union collapsed, all of which were in the hands of the Soviet Union. The fourth ship, which was more than 90% complete, was in the hands of Ermao.

Er Mao had always wanted to build this warship and make it their flagship, but later realized that even if they only made a few percent of the progress, it would be beyond Er Mao's ability to sustain.

So they decided not to build it and to sell the warship.

Initially, the East was interested, but when they inquired, the Russians made an outrageous demand of $1.5 billion! This was unacceptable to the navy at the time!

Even if we could afford it, we shouldn't be taken advantage of, let alone the fact that we can't afford it!

So the warship remained on the outfitting dock of the 61st Commune shipyard, exposed to the elements, and eventually could only be sold as scrap.

It's only 93 this year, and this cruiser, the Er Mao, is definitely a hot commodity. Can an Easterner actually buy it?

The Russians didn't believe it, but...

“I have already arranged for relevant personnel to go to their hotel. Let’s hear what they’re up to first,” Grishen said. “Anyway, there’s still one day left. We can talk about it tomorrow.”

At this point, Grishin didn't know what the Easterners were planning, which is why he sent someone to eavesdrop.

On the other side, Wang Zhenhua and Jin Lao returned to the hotel. Just as they got out of the car and were about to walk into the hotel, they saw Zhao Zhanliang's men, who had been left there, hurriedly walking up to them.

"The hotel staff cleaned the room this morning, but for some reason, they cleaned it again this afternoon."

The group immediately frowned; it seemed something was amiss!

"How about we change hotels tonight?" Zhao Zhanliang suggested.

“That won’t do. The money is non-refundable, so you have to stay.” Qin Chuan’s voice rang out. “If they’ve tampered with it, that would be even better…”

Crash, creak...

The door opened, and then there were footsteps.

"Old Jin, what do you think of those two warships today?"

"There are many problems. It's worth at most 200 million. Anything more would be a loss."

"Wait, let's turn on the TV first."

Soon, the sound of the television came on, seemingly drowning out the speaker's voice.

A car with a rounded shape was parked outside the hotel. Its four sides bulged outwards, making it look like a loaf of bread just taken out of the oven. The two large round headlights on the front looked like two lively eyes. In Russia, this kind of car can be seen everywhere.

The UAZ452 van is designed for both military and civilian use. You can often see these vehicles at border crossings. Russians drive them in the morning to pick up goods and then drive them back in the afternoon. They are similar to Wuling vans and are good helpers for people to get rich.

However, although the vehicle in front of us has civilian license plates, it is a fully enclosed van with no glass, so you can't see what's inside. You can only see a few antennas sticking out from the roof, making it look like a vehicle modified by a radio enthusiast.

If you go inside, you'll see complex instruments and equipment, two people wearing headphones, and a large circular recording tape slowly rotating beside them.

"Damn it, they're using the sound of the TV to cover it up!" one of them cursed.

"It's okay, we can use technical means to deal with it!"

The other person was clearly more skilled, operating various knobs. Soon, the sound from the television was filtered out, and the voices reappeared.

"There are still many flaws in the modern-class submarines. I saw that the Russian looked rather grim at the time, so I didn't say anything," Jin Lao's voice rang out again.

"What flaw?"

"The design at the back is flawed. What era are we living in? They're still using the main gun at the back! Are they trying to turn it into a fire support ship? Remove the rear gun and use it as a helicopter deck. That would free up a fixed hangar. With a full-load displacement of nearly 8,000 tons, they don't even have a fixed hangar!"

"Yes, the helicopter landing platform is still on the second deck, which is unusable in high sea states. I really don't know what the designer was thinking."

The various criticisms clearly indicate that the Russians are not satisfied with this destroyer.

An 8,000-ton, large warship doesn't even have a fixed hangar. The second deck at the back only has a helicopter landing platform. If maintenance is needed, the curtains on both sides can be pulled open to temporarily serve as a hangar. It's too primitive and outdated!

What were the Russians thinking?

Of course, it's for matching purposes.

In the Russian concept, the Sovremenny-class destroyers do not operate alone, but rather in conjunction with the Dreadnought-class destroyers. The Sovremenny-class is primarily responsible for air defense and anti-ship warfare, while the Dreadnought-class is primarily responsible for anti-submarine warfare. Therefore, the Sovremenny-class only needs to occasionally dock its carrier-based aircraft.

However, apart from the Russians, no other country's navy would tolerate these design flaws!

Later, the East purchased four Sovremenny-class destroyers. The latter two were newly built and modified, with the rear guns removed but the hangar added!

As for now... the Russians definitely can't change it, since the main body is almost finished. So, for the Eastern Navy, it's a somewhat useless product.

Boom!

Just then, a loud thud was heard as the door was pushed open.

"Leader Wang, Elder Jin! Why are you taking so long? What are you hesitating for? We can go to Er Mao's place tomorrow!"

"Engineer Qin, there's no need to rush!"

"Why aren't you in a hurry? Coming here is a waste of time. Can a modern-class destroyer compare to a splendid-class destroyer?" A young voice rang out: "I've already smoothed things over with Er Mao. At most, I can buy that splendid-class destroyer back for four hundred million!"

It's connected? Engineer Qin?

Suddenly, the people in the car realized: "Could it be the one who bought the aircraft carrier scrap metal from the Nikolayev shipyard? It's said that he has connections everywhere in Nikolayev, and even Er Mao sold the St. Petersburg to him as scrap metal!"

"Quickly, tell Greshen this news immediately!"

This would never have happened in the Soviet era. The KGB was everywhere; surely they knew Qin Chuan had arrived with Wang Zhenhua and his group?

Right now, they really don't know!

After all, the military lacked funds and couldn't even pay salaries, and the KGB was no exception.

The once-famous KGB was split into three parts: the Federal Foreign Intelligence Service (FBI), the Federal National Security Service (NSS), and the GRU (GRU) for the military. They also didn't have much funding, even after laying off more than half of their staff.

Antonina and Ivan, who are under Qin Chuan's command, should be the most qualified to speak on this matter.

The remaining people don't work normally either. Since they don't get paid, they have to find ways to earn money on their own!

Back in the 1980s, the KGB used their positions to smuggle various supplies and make a fortune. Now, the remaining intelligence personnel naturally set their sights on how to make money as well.

They only received their assignment this afternoon to investigate the inspection team from the East. They found accommodation, installed listening devices, and started eavesdropping. Due to a shortage of manpower, they didn't even have time to investigate the customs personnel entering the country in the last few days.

So, they only just noticed that another engineer, Qin, had arrived!