The Minister of Industry of the Northern Province of the African country of Uzsan, Harorre, walked with a group of entourage in the large exhibition hall of the Frankfurt International Exhibition Centre, full of ambition and feeling that the time had come for him to make a difference.

A graduate of the École Polytechnique in France, Harrey is a returnee from the country of Ursan. He returned to Ursan from France with dreams of becoming an industrial power, only to find himself useless. At that time, the king only knew luxury, and he turned the foreign exchange he bought from selling ore into famous cars, watches, brand-name clothing, and a large number of weapons and equipment produced in the West, completely ignoring the fact that the country's per capita GDP was less than 100 US dollars, and the average life expectancy was only in the early 30s.

Five years after Ussan's return, the coup finally took place. The old king went into exile with his retinue and large amounts of dollars, and the new leader announced the beginning of the Ming Boiled Reform, the establishment of a new Ussan of federalism. Hallore's friend Nale ran for governor of the Northern Province, and from the beginning of his reign, he launched a vigorous land reform and industrialization plan.

As the most knowledgeable person in the entire Northern Province, Hallore was appointed Minister of Industry and received $40 million in construction funding. This money is one-third of the total revenue of the entire Northern Province for the next five years, and when Nale handed him over to Harorre, he patted him on the shoulder and said, "My old friend, the future of the Northern Province is up to you." I hope to be able to see the Northern Province become the Birmingham of Africa in my lifetime. ”

"Mr. Nael, don't worry, I will definitely work hard." Harorre promised passionately.

Building a Birmingham in Africa is not an easy task. The new Republic of Uzan is so poor in industry that there is not a single factory that can produce industrial machine tools within a few hundred kilometers of the country. However, Hallorey is not worried about this, he knows that there is first-class industrial equipment in Europe, and he has 40 million US dollars in his hands, so he is worried about not being able to buy a modern one?

Of course, the $40 million can't all be used to buy equipment, which Hallory knows in his heart. To develop industry, roads, factories, workers' dormitories, and so on are needed, all of which require money. In addition, not all of the funds given to him by Nale were real dollars, most of them were the local currency of the Usan country, which could not be used to buy products on the international market.

While studying in France, Halloret had heard of the Frankfurt International Equipment Show and knew that it was the world's top equipment fair. This time, when he got the news of the opening of the equipment exhibition, he took a few of his entourage and traveled thousands of miles to Frankfurt. In his pocket, he carried $10 million in foreign exchange, which was all the capital he used to modernize the industry of the Northern Province.

Hallory knew that the money was hard to come by, so during his stay in Frankfurt, he and his entourage stayed in the cheapest hotels and ate the simplest meals. He constantly instilled in his entourage the concept of strengthening the country and enriching the people, so that they were full of enthusiasm like himself.

"Minister Hallore, that's the ALK booth of the Federal Republic of Germany." An attendant named Calaby told Harorre, who was also a college graduate and had studied English for several years, barely able to read the signs in the exhibition hall. The name Alk had been told to him by Hallore, and he had been searching for it since he entered the hall.

"Great, that's what I'm looking for, alk." "Did you know that ALK is one of the top 20 large companies in the global equipment industry, especially its machine tools, which are among the top 5 in the world. When I was in Paris, I had the pleasure of seeing a demonstration of ALK's machine, which was more flexible than our fingers and could carve a Charles de Gaulle head. ”

"Really? That's just amazing. Calabi said with a sense of fascination.

A few people squeezed through the crowd and came to the ALK booth. ALK is worthy of being an international large enterprise, and the exhibition area alone occupies more than 200 square meters of space, which contains seven or eight machine tools of various types, as well as models of large equipment such as steam turbines, water turbines, and rolling mills. More than a dozen staff members were scattered throughout the exhibition area, introducing their products to merchants from all over the world.

"This is a large vertical lathe, and this is called a gantry boring machine." Harory introduced the equipment displayed in the ALK exhibition area to his subordinates, "If we want to develop our own industry, we must have these equipment. ”

"Sir, is there anything I can do for you?" An ALK clerk walked over and asked Hallorey politely. Hallore didn't notice that behind the staff's professional smile, there was a hint of cold arrogance.

"Oh, hello, my name is Haroret and I am the Minister of Industry of the Northern Province of the Republic of Uzsan. What do you call me, sir? Harorrey, who speaks fluent English, said that he studied hard during his study in France and was able to communicate with people in English and French proficiently.

The ALK staff replied: "My name is Khedira, and it is a great honour to serve Minister Hallore. Excuse me, what equipment are you interested in? ”

"I'm interested." "You know, we're an agrarian country, we're industrializing right now, and we need power generation equipment, metal smelting equipment, machinery and equipment. I think ALK will be a good partner for us. ”

"That's what I thought, too." Khedira said coldly, "So, what equipment do you want to know first?" ”

"Power generation equipment, we are very short of electricity in the northern province." Pointing to a model of a steam turbine, Harory asked, "If I'm not mistaken, this is probably a steam turbine for a thermal power plant, right?" ”

"Yes, this is a 600,000 kilowatt mainframe, which is world-leading in technology and contains more than 300 patented technologies from our ALK Group. If it is combined with the control system we provide, it can be unattended. You see, this photo is what its main control room looks like. Khedira introduced.

"It's so advanced!" Calabi exclaimed beside Harorre. Judging from the photos, those power station workers don't look like workers at all, they are wearing snow-white shirts, holding coffee in their hands, and in front of them are rows of green monitoring panels, which is simply a science fiction world.

"This set of equipment should be very expensive, right?" Halloret asked timidly. Although he had studied in Paris and learned a lot about industrial technology, he had never personally purchased equipment, and he had no idea of the price of equipment in his head. Seeing that just one control room was so advanced, he secretly thought that the 10 million in his pocket was estimated to be just enough to buy the equipment of this power plant, right?

Khedira said: "The price of this steam turbine is 530 million US dollars, if you need a matching ......"

$530 million, not including supporting equipment, which would have to be bought by residents of the entire northern province for five or six years without eating or drinking.

"Uh...... I think that's a little too far ahead of its time. "We have a total population of 800,000 in the Northern Province, and I think two 20,000 kilowatt units should be enough." ”

"20,000 kilowatts?" Khedira shrugged his shoulders and said, "Minister Hallore, I'm very sorry, but we at ALK Group have stopped producing such units in the last century. ”

Last century...... Harory covered his face, feeling that his teeth hurt terribly, he knew that Khedira was telling the truth, and that in the last century, the ALK Group did not produce 20,000 kilowatt generator sets, because alternating current had just been invented at that time. If someone else teased him like this, he would probably have to use traditional African martial arts to duel with the other party. However, the other party was an employee of ALK, and he was already overwhelmed by his momentum, and he really couldn't muster up the courage to protest to the other party.

"So, may I ask how many kilowatts is your smallest power unit?" Harorre asked, holding back his breath.

"100,000 kilowatts, however, because it is a phased product, its price is not cheap, it needs 240 million US dollars. The main purpose of keeping this product is to provide it to some merchants who have a hobby of collecting. ”

"Well, okay, let's talk about machine tools." Harory gave up on the idea of buying power generation equipment, and there is a small 5,000-kilowatt power plant in the northern province, which can barely guarantee the electricity of the political axe and a few factories, or make up for it first.

"This CNC gantry milling machine, using Siemens' industrial control system, is priced at $2.8 million." Khedira pointed to the equipment in the exhibition area and said to Harorre with a big grin. As a salesperson, he can't refuse to introduce products to customers, but he already knows that these old blacks in front of him can't become his customers at all. Isn't Africa a place like Africa rich in lions and hippos? What kind of industry is it engaged in?

"Turning and milling integrated machining center, 4 million."

"The welding robot, plus the control system, is 5.7 million in one set."

“……”

Khedira said boredly, and Harori's face became more and more ugly. Before he set out, he had a basic idea of building a small industrial park in the capital of the Northern Province. However, he never imagined that the price of machinery and equipment would be so high that a single milling machine would cost him a quarter of the foreign exchange, and he could build an African Birmingham with only four milling machines?

"I'm sorry, Mr. Khedira, I think we may need to take a look at other manufacturers' products, thank you very much for the introduction." Harrow Rainne said, then took his entourage and fled out of the ALK booth.

"Khedira, I don't understand, why you specifically introduced the most expensive equipment to this black man. Don't we also have machines under $50,000, and I think that's a price point that's more suitable for them. A colleague said to Khedira.

Khedira smiled contemptuously and said, "I don't think black people can make machine tools, and I don't doubt their athletic ability in the slightest, but machine tools are too advanced for them. ”

"You're right, there is such a thing as a machine tool, which can only be mastered by the Germanic peoples who pursue precision." The colleague said with deep sympathy.

(To be continued)