Among them, the most cost-effective is a variety of agricultural products with a total value of no less than 200 million US dollars, although grain in the United States is cheaper than in China (Note 1), but there is no need for foreign exchange to buy grain in China. Moreover, in the initial stage of industrialization, it was better to tighten one's belt and starve oneself than to concentrate as much money as possible on the construction of industry and infrastructure. But there is no way, the farmer class in the United States has great influence on the US government and Congress, and its status is second only to that of arms dealers, and it is impossible to get rid of them without a little blood.

The only thing that made Hu Weidong happy was that he bought a lot of high-quality seeds by the way, which would be of great help to the development of agriculture in the Central Plains border region and even in the major border areas under the Red Party in 1939. In addition, the sudden availability of so much surplus food also made it inevitable for the Red Party to further expand its army by a large margin in 1939, which objectively accelerated the pace of victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan. And in terms of price alone, American agricultural products are really cheap to death

At this time, the average price of grain in the United States was lower than in China, and it was not a little lower (it was even more exaggerated during the Great Depression, when the price of pork in the United States was less than a quarter of that of China, not to mention the rest, some of which were even less than a tenth, and even though it was expensive to ship to China, the price was still very competitive). Of course, this was due to the fact that China's war had raised food prices and the U.S. economic crisis had caused unsalable goods, but even before the Great Depression in the United States, food prices were still cheaper than China's, and even after being shipped thousands of miles away to China, it could be dumped at very competitive prices. At this time, the wages in the United States were the highest among the major countries in Shijie, but the prices were the lowest, so even if it was not like the aura bonus of superpower later, immigrants from all over the world still flocked to it.

Historically, prices in the United States rose during World War II and the early post-war period, when the economic growth rate on the American paper was frighteningly high, almost every year above 20%. But in fact, the rate of inflation is also very fast, and the price of daily necessities such as food in the United States has risen sharply, and finally surpassed China in the 50s (but many agricultural products are still cheaper than us). For example, wheat and corn, so at that time, the Chinese government often exported rice and imported wheat, but due to the blockade of China by the West, the channels were not smooth. As a result, trading volume has been limited. Therefore, China before the reform and opening up was able to leave the impression of "cheap" on shijie.

Even in the 21st century in Hu Weidong's memory, prices in the United States are still relatively low among developed countries. As a result, its true national power is far stronger than the numbers suggest, and the opposite is true of Japan, especially South Korea, which has not completely broken out of the "middle-income trap" in terms of purchasing power parity

Hu Weidong, who is well aware of the huge gap between China and the United States, has no other choice but to work as hard as possible to narrow the gap little by little, and this good opportunity in front of him must not be wasted. The total amount of Zhongfu International's large-scale purchases in the United States this time is not less than 2 billion US dollars. In terms of comparable prices, it is even more than the sum of the Jishu equipment imported from the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries in the entire 50s after the founding of the People's Republic of China (including but not limited to the 156 key projects), not to mention that the exchange rate of the Soviet ruble at that time was very watery, and the price of Maozi machinery and equipment was not fair, even if it was calculated on the books of more than 4 billion US dollars. After all, the United States has not yet come out of the economic crisis of 1937, and in addition to the military industry is a little more restrictive and the price is not cheap, the price of those civilian machinery and equipment is even much lower than the normal price.

What's more, with the lack of professionals in China in history, many imported machinery and equipment and jishu talents have great problems, such as the Soviet Union at the end of the Anti-Japanese War from the Northeast dismantled machines sold back at a high price, China's side to see that the production date was actually forty or fifty years ago, and for example, an ordinary Soviet skilled worker was used as an expert to supply, but did not provide much help, but let us take a lot of detours, and now there is Hu Weidong, an expert from later generations at the helm, Naturally, this kind of embarrassing situation has decreased a lot. What's more, Hu Weidong, who is well aware of the direction of history, generally does not introduce jishu and corresponding machinery and equipment that will be phased out in the near future, which minimizes waste

The introduction of so many good things at once, the Red Party was all overjoyed, but Hu Weidong was the first to realize a serious problem, and suddenly added so many machines and equipment, how huge should the demand for management, Jishu personnel and qualified workers be? Among them, the management and jishu personnel are relatively easy to solve, after all, the number of people needed is relatively small, the former has been training a large number of border areas, coupled with the retired cadres of the army (Note 1), the temporary problem is not too big, and the latter on the one hand, Zhongfu International has been training a large number of overseas Chinese youth in the United States in the past two years, and Chen Jiageng and other Nanyang overseas Chinese entrepreneurs have also sent technicians and technicians to the United States for commissioned training, and a large part of these personnel have responded to the call of the motherland to return to China to support the war of resistance after completing their studies. It has somewhat alleviated the urgency of a moment.

On the other hand, Zhongfu International also directly introduced a large number of foreign Jishu talents, anyway, now Zhongfu International is richer than ever, in fact, during the introduction of this large introduction, Zhongfu International directly spent more than 300 million US dollars just for the introduction of talents, and if the domestic to provide it with clothing, food, housing and transportation and other daily necessities are also included, the total amount is not less than 500 million US dollars (of course, this money is not a one-time payment, and as long as foreign exchange is not used, China after all, there are many people, and a province between the teeth can still be saved. A total of more than 100,000 scientists, engineers and senior technicians were brought in from the United States and other Western countries, which greatly enhanced scientific research and jishuliliang in the border region. However, these talents, as before, are only for a period of time (not counting the few who eventually stay, an average of about 3 years). Recruited to work in China, their nationality has not changed, and due to the Chinese war and the obstruction of the governments of the great powers, the families of these talents rarely follow to China together, so most of them will always have to go back in the future, so this trick can only save the emergency, and in the end they have to rely on China's own scientific and technological team, and in order to poach so many people, the price paid is really too big, but no matter what, the problem has been solved after all

Note 1: Because of other reasons such as injury or illness, or violation of discipline, as long as it is not a serious problem, Hu Weidong will generally try to cherish talent, and if he cannot stay in the army, he can work in local governments, enterprises, or schools. (To be continued.) )