Before dinner, Tan Renhao packed his luggage. In the past, my wife did all these things, but now she is in Germany. Considering that he won't be going to Harbin for long, and it's still summer, and the north won't be too cold, maybe it's even hotter than Zhoushan, Tan Renhao didn't prepare much change of clothes, and a small duffel bag was enough.

"Ready to go out?"

Tan Renhao turned around, and Liao Hanxiang stood by the door and looked at him. "Yes, I'm going to Harbin."

"What are you doing in Harbin?" Liao Hanxiang took two steps closer, and the carpet on the floor absorbed the footsteps.

"It's not about the money." Tan Renhao sighed, "The gap in the military budget is too big, and the principal asked me to go to Harbin to negotiate with the aircraft factory to reduce the purchase price of fighters. ”

Liao Hanxiang laughed. "Why don't you ask me about this?"

Tan Renhao didn't react at first, and then he remembered that when Liao Hanxiang was transferred to the post of reserve commander, he had been in charge of the procurement of aviation troops, and he had contacts with several aircraft factories, and obviously, he was more familiar with these aircraft factories. In addition, Liao Hanxiang was originally born in the aviation army, so he has a clearer understanding of the price factor of aircraft.

"Shall you go at night?"

"Yes, I will set off with the chief of staff, he will go to Songjiang first, talk to the shipyard about the procurement of ships, and then I will go to Harbin."

"Then let's go to the study and talk, don't pack so many clothes, when you get there, there is a naval office, you can also change into a few sets of military uniforms by the way."

Tan Renhao glanced at the stuffed duffel bag, and then went to the study with Liao Hanxiang. Because the meal was about to start, and Gan Yongxing would come after dinner to call Tan Renhao to leave, so the two did not delay time, and Tan Renhao picked the key point and told Liao Hanxiang about his trip to Harbin this time.

After listening to Tan Renhao's narration. Liao Hanxiang pondered for a while and said, "First of all. You have to understand the cost of building an aircraft, otherwise there is no way to talk to the manufacturer. ”

Tan Renhao nodded. He had done a lot of preparatory work in this regard, and he had been in charge of the Navy's procurement of carrier-based aircraft before, but now he had forgotten most of it.

"I have a couple of basic books on the subject, and while most of them are technical, they should be somewhat helpful. When it's time to eat, you ask Duchenne to bring it, you take it with you on the road to see, and if you have time in Harbin, you can also take a look. ”

"No problem, I'll take the time to flip it through on the way."

"The other thing is how airplanes are made."

"What's wrong with that?" Tan Renhao was a little confused this time.

As for the manufacturing method of the aircraft, Tan Renhao is still relatively clear. Unlike the production of warships, airplanes are produced in batches, almost always in an assembly-line manner. A line of aircraft, so to speak. In fact, it is an assembly line, and all kinds of parts and equipment are assembled to become an airplane.

"Don't think about it so simply, you should have seen the assembly line of the aircraft in Shenfei, right?" Liao Hanxiang got a positive answer from Tan Renhao's eyes, "But the plane is not made of steel." Aluminum, rubber, these things are assembled. These spare parts need to be procured, so this is designed to be sub-suppliers. ”

Tan Renhao frowned slightly, he also knew that large aircraft factories generally have their own important spare parts factories, but an aircraft is composed of thousands, or even tens of thousands of parts, and many of these parts have no technical content and do not need to be produced by the aircraft factories themselves. It can be purchased from other manufacturers, for example, screws on airplanes do not need to be specially built by the aircraft factory to produce them. You can buy it from other manufacturers. Therefore, there is the problem of subordinate, to be precise, secondary suppliers.

"This is to generate secondary profits, perhaps the correct name is not so, the actual meaning is the same, that is, more profits will be generated. And this is one of the key factors in controlling the price of aircraft, and it is also the focus of negotiations. ”

Tan Renhao nodded, and he wrote it down.

"Besides, why didn't you go to Shen Fei this time?"

"In 27 years, the main supplier will be Hafei, not Shen Fei."

"Is it an order for a new fighter and a heavy bomber?"

Tan Renhao nodded, the "Peregrine Falcon" fighter has been included in the 27 annual key procurement list. In addition, the "Peng" bomber, and the next-generation bomber that is more advanced than the "Peng" are also in the 27-year procurement list. At present, Shen Fei mainly provides three types of combat aircraft: "Golden Eagle", "Water Bird", and "Sea Eagle". This will all be eliminated from the front-line combat units in 27 years. If Hafei can come up with a new carrier-based bomber by the end of 27, then Hafei will replace the position of Shen Fei and become the number one supplier of naval aviation.

"Well, there's one more thing you need to pay attention to." Liao Hanxiang pondered for a while, "If the main purchase is the 'Peregrine Falcon', this involves Shen Fei, because the 'Peregrine Falcon' uses the engine provided by Shen Fei. If the development funds of the 'Feng 20' are sponsored by the Navy, then the property rights of the engine belong to the Navy, not to Shen Fei, at least Shen Fei will not occupy the main property rights, and the Navy can come forward and provide Hafei with the manufacturing rights of the engine free of charge, so that the manufacturing cost can be greatly reduced. ”

"Could it be that Shen Fei will still make trouble for property rights now?"

"Surely, whether in times of war or not, as long as there is no explicit decree prohibiting a bill, then the Act will still have the force of law, and the Intellectual Property Protection Act has not been temporarily banned, so intellectual property itself remains binding."

"What if this was developed by Shen Fei himself?"

"Then you'll have to use your brains. To put it bluntly, it is impossible for Shen Fei to feed the hundreds of thousands of workers just by collecting intellectual property fees, and what they need is to let the factory start production, then they have to get orders from the navy, right? ”

Tan Renhao was stunned for a moment, and then understood what Liao Hanxiang meant, which is what he said. It could be coordinated by the Navy to have two aircraft factories work together to produce new fighters. And the Navy will procure from both manufacturing plants at the same time, so that both sides will benefit, rather than tilting on each other.

"It's not going to be easy. When you arrive in Harbin, you call me, I will stay in Zhoushan during this time, if not in Zhoushan, I will also be in Guam. Anyway, Hafei still has to sell me some face. ”

"I know this, when the time comes, if I can't handle it, I will have to move the rescuers."

"There's another issue you'll want to be aware of." Liao Hanxiang pressed his hand and did not make Tan Renhao proud. "How much do you know about industry alliances?"

Tan Renhao was shocked again, this was another thing he was not familiar with. But he knew what an industrial alliance was, and it was a bit like a "union" that had only emerged before the war, only with a much longer history and the same. Or a kind of association of big businessmen in related industries, whose main purpose was to form a monopoly in order to obtain high profits, at least, at that time, as for the role it played later. That was later. Since the establishment of the Anti-Monopoly Law by the imperial government, industrial alliances have disappeared for a period of time, but with the expansion of domestic industrial scale, large companies from all walks of life, group companies, and cross-company companies have emerged, and industrial alliances have reappeared.

In peacetime, industrial alliances are undesirable, although the Anti-Monopoly Law does not explicitly prohibit industrial alliances. However, the Imperial government also limited the influence of industrial alliances through various administrative decrees, mainly to increase competition within the Empire. Provide opportunities for some small and medium-sized enterprises to compete. However, in wartime, the industrial alliance itself is in line with the interests of the empire, especially after the imperial economy entered a wartime state, all walks of life have entered the stage of planned economy, most of the industries need to be regulated by the government, and the government can not completely control all the enterprises of the empire, the industrial alliance acts as an intermediary, under normal circumstances, the government issues annual or quarterly production targets to the industrial alliances of various industries, and then the industrial alliances assign specific production tasks to various enterprises. From this point of view, the industrial alliance has actually performed certain government functions, and its influence has swelled dramatically in the past few years, becoming the most powerful influence in the empire.

"At present, there are two industrial alliances within the empire, mainly in the aircraft industry, and related industries. One of them is the Eastern Alliance, which mainly supplies the navy with the three aircraft factories of Shenfei, Hafei, and Nanfei as the core, and the other is the Western Alliance, which mainly supplies the army, with the three aircraft factories of Xifei, Chengfei, and Guifei as the core. Liao Hanxiang gave a general introduction to the situation, "The imperial government did not recognize the two industrial alliances, mainly aircraft factories, and they were mainly directly related to the military. In addition, the government has been concerned about the use of combat aircraft between the army and navy as much as possible. However, don't ignore the influence of the Eastern Alliance, this negotiation is better to use the internal contradictions of the three aircraft factories to intensify the competition, if the three aircraft factories are united, it will be difficult to get them to lower prices. ”

Tan Renhao nodded slightly, competition is always an effective means of price reduction.

"There's a key to this, and you've probably thought about it."

"You mean the relationship between Ha Fei and Shen Fei?"

Liao Hanxiang laughed. "Yes, you have to take advantage of the relationship between these two aircraft factories."

Tan Renhao also laughed, he had already thought of this when he was talking to Gan Yongxing. Since the establishment of naval aviation, Shen Fei has been the number one supplier to the navy, and has almost monopolized all combat aircraft in the navy. If it weren't for the outbreak of the war, Shen Fei's production capacity could not meet the requirements, Hafei and Nanfei would probably still be private companies, and they would not have been able to enter the list of naval suppliers.

Shen Fei's position as the boss has been given to Harbin and Nanfei to a large extent, especially Harbin Airlines. For example, in the manufacture of "wolf doves", Hafei went to the front. Hafei people are also more creative, after getting a large order from the navy, Hafei is not satisfied with the immediate achievements, but continues to develop, trying to come up with the best aircraft. In the competition of the "Peng" bomber, Hafei surpassed Shen Fei and won the order, which is enough to show Hafei's determination to catch up with and surpass Shen Fei. Now "Ha Fei" has taken out the "Peregrine Falcon", which threatens Shen Fei's status even more.

I'm afraid that when Hafei entered the ranks of naval suppliers, he had already set the goal of surpassing Shen Fei. Judging from the current situation, as long as Hafei makes a breakthrough in the "Peregrine Falcon" and the new bomber with "Feng-20" as the basic power, then Hafei will become the number one supplier of the Navy in 27 years, or 28 years at the latest. Shen Fei is definitely unwilling to be surpassed by Hafei, so there must be extremely fierce competition between these two aircraft manufacturers.

"These questions are very similar to when you go to compete for the commander of the fleet, although the methods and methods are different, but the essence is the same. If you can see the problem, then you can find a way to solve it. Liao Hanxiang held his chin, "But why did you let you go this time?" ”

Tan Renhao frowned slightly. "The principal also arranged for other people, now the chief of staff is responsible for negotiating with the shipyard, I go to negotiate with the aircraft factory, ships and aircraft are the two most important purchases, and the other equipment procurement is a small item, so the other personnel arranged by the principal are responsible, but in terms of ammunition procurement, I'm afraid I have to let me, or the chief of staff, go on a trip."

Liao Hanxiang pondered for a while, and then said: "The negotiation problem will not be very large, but the room for price reduction should be relatively limited. Don't expect too much, besides, I don't think it's that simple. ”

Tan Renhao didn't rush to speak, he also thought about the problems that would be involved in this price negotiation, but he didn't feel that there was any disadvantage, it was just an ordinary task.

"I haven't thought of it now, but you'll get in touch with me, and we'll talk when I think about it." Liao Hanxiang touched his forehead, "It's not early, it's about to start, right?" Let's go down to eat, wait for Gan Yongxing to come and call you? ”

"yes, he's probably already eating by now."

When the two of them came to the dining room, the food was already on the table, because they didn't know that Tan Renhao was going on a business trip, so they didn't add dishes in the evening. Tan Renhao also immediately greeted Du Xing, who was having dinner at his house, and asked him to go to Liao Hanxiang to bring the books immediately after eating, but Du Xing left halfway.

By the time Du Xing rushed back with those books, Gan Yongxing had already come to ask Tan Renhao to set off. After Tan Renhao said goodbye to his family, he got into Gan Yongxing's car, and he was still thinking, why is Liao Hanxiang worried?