On the seventh day of her arrival in New Delhi, the day after Zhao Huang went to visit Major General Rajani, Serena received a call from the procurement office.

D&F's bid qualification has been completed and bids are to be submitted within a week to provide 20 samples within a month.

In other words, D&F gets the opportunity to participate in the primaries.

Of course, it has nothing to do with Zhao Huang's charm, the key is the half-ton gold brick installed in the trunk of that Land Rover off-road vehicle.

In order to get these gold bricks, Wang Dong and the others took a lot of effort, and they were only delayed for a few days.

Fortunately, India is the world's largest consumer of gold, and gold jewellery is a must-have for marriage, and the most common gold shops on the streets of New Delhi are large and small.

Half a tonne of gold has a market price of about $20 million in India.

Throwing out so much money at once, I'm not afraid that Rajani won't be moved.

Choosing gold instead of giving cash directly is a great note, and in addition, it is difficult to send cash, and it is difficult to scrape together so many dollars in such a short period of time.

Rupee?

That's self-inflicted.

After the abolition of large-denomination banknotes by the Indian authorities, currencies such as the US dollar, the euro, the British pound, and the Swiss franc were hard currencies, and even the Japanese yen was more popular than the rupee.

Transfers also don't work, as transferring money from a bank leaves a record.

Of course, gold is also very popular.

By driving the SUV back, Rajani accepted a gift from D&F and naturally had to do something for D&F.

Three days later, Serena went to the Department of Defense Procurement Office to submit her bid.

Next, it is to wait for Zhao Yu to send the sample gun over and participate in the comparative test organized by the Indian Ministry of Defense, but it will be a month later at the earliest.

After getting all this, Wang Dong was in a good mood and asked Zhao Huang to contact an international travel agency to arrange a fifteen-day domestic tour of India.

It must be admitted that India has a long history and many tourist attractions.

Needless to say, the Taj Mahal, which is India's business card, must be visited, in addition to the holy city of Varanasi, the Amber Fort in Jaipur, the Agra Fort adjacent to the Taj Mahal, the Fort of Merangarh, etc., to slowly visit these attractions, half a month is far from enough.

Fortunately, I spent money to ask a travel agency to arrange the trip, which saved a lot of trouble.

Serena stayed in New Delhi, along with Gao Jun, Tiehu and Churkin, who had to keep in touch with the Indian Ministry of Defence.

Half a month is not much, but it passed quickly, and a lot of things happened during this period.

On the fifth day of his departure from New Delhi after Wang Dong's tour of the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort, India and Pakistan reached a temporary ceasefire agreement brokered by Russia and withdrew all heavy artillery deployed within 20 kilometers of both sides of the ceasefire line.

In fact, the day before, the situation on the Sikkim side began to ease when the Indian army voluntarily retreated to its own side of the border.

It was against this backdrop that Pakistan agreed to Russia's proposal for a ceasefire.

Obviously, at the Kargil Pass and the Siachen Glacier, the main forces were not infantry, but artillery.

Neither side will abandon its border posts, so the only way to achieve a real ceasefire is to withdraw the artillery deployed near the ceasefire line.

Nominally, Russia came forward to mediate, but in fact India could not hold on.

The artillery battle lasted for nearly a month, and the Indian army suffered thousands of casualties, and more than 200 artillery pieces were destroyed, mainly FH-77, which was almost all the Indian army's home!

If the fight continues, it may not take more than a month, and the Indian army will have no artillery available.

Although the Pakistan Army also suffered thousands of casualties and hundreds of artillery pieces, it would have no problem fighting for a few more months.

The key, in fact, is the cannonball.

According to the battle report released by the Pakistani military, nearly 100,000 artillery shells were used in the one-month artillery battle, mainly 155-mm grenades.

Consumption is significant, but stocks are plentiful.

In the words of the spokesman of the Pakistan Army Command, the artillery battle with the Siachen Glacier at the Kargil Pass has not reduced the combat readiness of the Pakistani army, and there are still enough shells in the warehouses of the Pakistani army to ensure that the defense in other directions will not be affected.

As for where the Pakistani army got so many shells, the outside world knows it.

What about the Indian army?

According to information released by the Indian military, the Indian army consumed 150,000 artillery shells, of which about 60,000 were 155-mm grenades.

It seems that the consumption is more than that of the Pakistani army.

Just the quantity, of course.

If calculated in terms of tonnage, because many of the shells consumed by the Indian army are small-caliber shells, of which about 40,000 are mortar shells, the actual ammunition consumed by the Indian army is not much, at most the same as the Pakistani army, perhaps a little less, that is, the Pakistani army mainly consumes 155 mm grenades.

As for the ammunition in stock, it is even more incomparable.

A month of artillery battles almost exhausted the ammunition in the northwest of the Indian army, otherwise mortars would not have been used in the later period.

Without shells, what kind of artillery battle is there to fight?

Although the Indian army still has stocks, it cannot be used, after all, the Indian army needs to guard against not only the northwest border, but also Pakistan.

As for the production or procurement of artillery shells, it is not impossible, but the cost is too great.

After the outbreak of the artillery battle, India's domestic arsenals were running at full speed, but production efficiency was always a problem, and product quality was even more problematic.

If you import it directly, you have to come up with real money.

In the artillery of the Indian army, especially those deployed in the Kashmir region, the main force is the FH-77 howitzer, which uses 155-mm shells of NATO standards.

Although the Indian army still has a number of 130mm cannons, they are of little use in Kashmir.

Almost all of the countries that can produce and supply 155mm grenades are NATO countries, and a few non-NATO countries may not be willing to sell shells to India.

In addition, heavy artillery shells are generally produced on demand, and manufacturers do not stock up in advance.

In addition, ammunition is a large-scale consumable material, and it is generally chosen by sea rather than by air.

In other words, even if India places an order immediately, the factory will start working immediately, and it will take several months from production to shipping to Indian ports.

If the fight continues, I am afraid that in less than two months, the Indian army's defensive line at the Kargil Pass and the Siachen Glacier will fall.

It can be seen that the Indian army has reached its limit.

Of course, only a temporary ceasefire.

Although Russia has extended an invitation to provide a venue for negotiations between India and Pakistan, and welcomes representatives of India and Pakistan to Moscow for talks, Pakistan has rejected the invitation, saying that even if it wants to negotiate with India, it can only be in a neighboring country.

Accepting Russia's initiative and promising a temporary ceasefire has already given Russia face.

Moreover, Pakistan's relations with Russia are very ordinary, but India and Russia are very close in all respects.

As for where to talk, India and Pakistan are still holding consultations.

In fact, it is the same wherever it is discussed, because India has compromised, and the basis for another large-scale border conflict between India and Pakistan no longer exists.