In order to help his father build the factory, Feng Yu called in for a week-long leave, citing the reason that his second cousin's father-in-law had fallen and needed to be taken care of for a few days. Of course, they didn't even have such a relative.
"Feng Yu, how much will it cost to dig the foundation entirely with machinery? Can't we just use manual labor? It's much cheaper, more than half off. Besides, why do we need to dig so deep for a foundation? One meter should be enough, right?" Feng Xingtai was heartbroken; how could his son spend money so recklessly?
"Father, this is a small expense. Moreover, the foundation is the most important part of a building; we absolutely cannot skimp on it."
"But we don't need such a large wall around it, do we? The brick factory is already supplying all the bricks exclusively to us."
Feng Xingtai thought Feng Yu's plan to enclose the entire plot of land with a wall was too extravagant. Even if they needed a yard, they could just use some branches or something to fence it off. Why did it have to be a brick wall, and it had to be two meters high?
"Father, our equipment is so expensive, aren't you worried about someone causing trouble? Even if it's not intentional, think about the children on the farm. They will definitely sneak in to play. If they get hurt by the machines, could you bear to see it? We need to install two layers of barbed wire on top of the wall and keep at least ten large guard dogs in the yard. Local dogs won't do; they won't scare anyone away."
Feng Yu began to outline his plans, speaking non-stop. But when he turned around, he found that Feng Xingtai had already left. He was frustrated; was there already a generation gap in this era?
To ensure the quality of the construction, Feng Yu hired the team leader from the provincial construction company at a high salary. At first, the man was reluctant to come; a small farm, and they needed an engineer to build a simple house? Wasn't that insulting?
But when Feng Yu offered him fifty yuan per day, he eagerly came. As an engineer, his monthly salary was only a little over a hundred yuan. Five hundred yuan in ten days, something he had never even dared to dream about!
All the masons and bricklayers from the farm, county, and district were hired, totaling over a hundred people, along with several construction machines. Feng Yu wanted speed.
In another half a month, it would start to freeze, making it unsuitable for construction. He couldn't buy early strength agents, water reducers, or other construction additives now, so he had to build the factory as quickly as possible.
The most extravagant part was that Feng Yu insisted on making the factory walls fifty centimeters thick. The engineer said thirty-seven centimeters would be enough, but Feng Yu thought it wasn't sturdy enough. What did it matter? There were plenty of bricks, cement, and workers. Build it thick, and make it solid!
If it weren't for the lack of hollow blocks, Feng Yu would have added some rebar as well.
The factory was divided into four areas: the oil pressing room, the sugar processing room, the feed processing room, and the raw materials and finished products storage area. Each area covered more than one hectare, which would be considered a large factory even in the future.
Feng Yu planned to expand the factory in the future. After the first batch of equipment arrived, there would be a lot of empty space inside. But it would gradually fill up, and Feng Yu intended to turn this into a grain processing base!
"Mr. Feng, the cost of building this factory isn't low, is it?"
"It's not too expensive, about a million yuan in total," Feng Yu thought it was cheap. In less than ten years, the provincial road to Bingcheng would pass through the farm, less than a hundred meters from the factory. By then, he could sell the factory for at least several million yuan!
Although the investment far exceeded his expectations, Feng Yu didn't feel it was a loss. Even if the factory didn't make money, it didn't matter. Besides, Feng Yu was confident it would make a lot of money.
The engineer couldn't help but whistle. This kid had a big mouth; it was different when you had money. A million yuan sounded like a hundred yuan to him. In the farm, a million yuan could build two buildings!
Feng Yu had already contacted Kirilenko. When the agricultural machinery production line was shipped, he wanted one each for oil pressing, sugar processing, and granulated feed production, the latest and best models, and at a discount.
Such production lines were available in almost every major city in the Soviet Union, but the latest and best models were naturally not cheap. After some negotiation, they decided on three production lines: oil pressing and sugar processing from 1985, and feed production from 1983.
Even so, these were the best in China. The price was set at a 30% discount, a private deal between Kirilenko and Feng Yu, not through the company account.
With technology at least ten years ahead of China, Feng Yu bought the entire production line for half the domestic price, which was incredibly cheap. Of course, Kirilenko had bought these production lines as "scrap metal" from the factories, which were already suffering from corruption. Some factory managers were selling off these unused production lines to line their own pockets.
These production lines were easy to get, but the agricultural machinery production line was more complicated because Feng Yu wanted not only the production line but also the technology.
Technology wasn't just about documents; it required guidance from experts. The Soviet Union had rapidly developed after World War II by acquiring a large number of industrial talents from Germany, and they were determined to prevent such talents from leaving the country.
They did have some cooperation with Eastern European countries, but since relations with China had soured, Soviet engineers were less willing to come to China, mainly because China was politically stigmatized.
Kirilenko managed to contact the equipment needed for the mechanical factory, but unfortunately, no engineers were willing to come. How could the production line be assembled and tested without professionals? The mechanical factory would find it difficult to absorb and digest the technology without expert guidance.
However, Kirilenko said he would quickly find a solution and ensure that experts would be willing to come. Feng Yu thought about it and said he could offer high-paying jobs to some mechanical experts.
The Soviet economy was clearly in decline, with per capita income barely growing since 1980 and even declining this year.
A senior engineer's monthly salary was between 500 and 800 rubles, and Feng Yu offered 1,000 rubles per month to each engineer who came to work in China.
Engineers also had families to support. In the Soviet Union, many families had only the men working, while the women stayed home to take care of the children and the elderly. Feng Yu didn't believe that such a high salary wouldn't attract anyone.
Since Feng Yu was willing to pay, it was much easier. Kirilenko said that while finding too many might be difficult, three to five was definitely possible!
In less than a week, the factory was topped off. A large string of firecrackers was hung and started to crackle. Everyone was beaming with joy, except for Feng Xingtai, whose smile was somewhat stiff.
Yesterday, Feng Yu had calculated the cost of building the factory with him, and his heart almost jumped out. He had said it wouldn't cost much, so why was it so expensive? This didn't even include the machinery and equipment. The investment would be over two million yuan!
Just to produce some oil and sugar, when would they recoup the costs? This wasteful child, he needed to be disciplined, or he wouldn't learn his lesson!~~ Please vote for me, there are only two updates today. To stay on the homepage's new book list, don't forget to vote. Our position is not stable.