From January, the Hua Xia Defense Exhibition commenced as scheduled. As the most crucial venue for Hua Xia's special foreign trade, it had always received significant official attention. Many legendary transactions, such as the sale of an entire express delivery company and the recent sale of four tour group packages, were still enthusiastically discussed by the public.
The乙方 (parties on the receiving end) for these two classic cases were actually affluent buyers from the Middle East. These wealthy individuals were renowned for their ample funds, seemingly simple-mindedness, and exceptional generosity, making them domestic favorites.
And so, these esteemed patrons had arrived again in a group. Chen Hao, acting as the official representative, greeted them with great enthusiasm.
Chen Hao was the designated contact person for these wealthy buyers and possessed extensive experience. Previous interactions had been exceptionally smooth, earning him a reputation as an ace negotiator.
However, this year, upon the arrival of these Middle Eastern magnates, they presented a request that Chen Hao found utterly unanswerable!
"We want that Pangu Homeland!" a bearded man stated in stiff Mandarin. "We want to buy that. Name your price!"
"..." Chen Hao was initially taken aback, unsure what "Pangu Homeland" referred to. It wasn't until the bearded man mentioned the Bird's Nest that he realized they were referring to the colossal robot housed within.
"Sir, the fact is, that item is not within our product catalog and is not related to defense products. It's simply a mobile robot without any weaponry!" Chen Hao said with a smile.
"No weaponry? How is that possible!" the bearded man's eyes widened. "In movies, robots this size always have incredibly powerful weapons!"
"That's in the movies, not reality!"
"Alright, even if it doesn't have any now, you can install them later. This robot is so massive, it would be simple to mount a dozen missile systems on it!" the bearded man asserted. "With your capabilities, isn't that an easy task?"
"Uh... but we've never tried that before!" Chen Hao replied helplessly.
"Then let's try it!" the bearded man said cheerily.
"No, sir, why are you so fixated on that particular item!" Chen Hao was quite speechless. "Honestly, even if it were equipped with weapons, I can assure you that such a thing would have no practical combat value. On the battlefield, it might not be as useful as a tank. You could even equip a soldier with an anti-tank rocket launcher, and they could take it down. Purchasing such an item is truly meaningless!" xxs壹贰
"But it's cool!" the bearded man's eyes gleamed with excitement. "My friend, you know, what is there that we don't have? But something this enormous, we truly do not!"
"Moreover, its value isn't necessarily in practical combat. Just deploying it along the border would undoubtedly instill fear in every enemy soldier who sees it!"
"Furthermore, our great King has decided to purchase two of these colossal entities to join his honor guard. When receiving foreign heads of state or during any significant ceremonies, these behemoths will stand behind our King. What sacred power that would be! This is the giant divine soldier bestowed upon us by the great Lord, and we must possess such weaponry, no matter how many billions of dollars it costs!" the bearded man declared.
"But this was produced by a civilian enterprise, and we genuinely don't have it here!" Chen Hao said with a sigh.
"My dear Chen, I know that there's nothing you cannot do in this world! Please help us contact the manufacturer. They can set any price; we have plenty of money!" the bearded man stated proudly.
"However, it seems they only have one exhibit at the moment. If you wish to purchase it, you might have to wait a few years!" Chen Hao mentioned.
"Then we'll buy this exhibit first!" the bearded man replied dismissively.
"But as far as I know, the owner of this civilian enterprise is also very fond of this giant robot. I suspect he would be unwilling to sell his sole product to you!" Chen Hao said.
"It's fine, we have plenty of money. As long as we throw enough US dollars at him, he'll willingly sell us that mecha!" the bearded man said with confidence. Chen Hao and the staff members beside him exchanged glances, their expressions peculiar.
"What? Is there something wrong with what I said?" The bearded man was not entirely clueless; on the contrary, achieving dominance in the Middle East without emotional intelligence would be impossible.
Seeing Chen Hao's expression, the bearded man understood that there might be some underlying issues.
Indeed, Chen Hao cautiously inquired, "Minister, may I ask which company produced the Pangu Homeland?"
"I've heard of it; I believe it's called Da Ban Enterprise. Why, is there someone else behind this company?" the bearded man asked with a frown. "But it doesn't matter; even if it's a large corporation, it's not an issue. I know these big companies too well; the larger they are, the more greedy they become, with an insatiable pursuit of money. So, all I need to do is offer them an irresistible price, and they will surely sell me this colossal item!" the bearded man stated confidently.
"Well, this Da Ban is actually a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Jiangnan Group!" Chen Hao said with a wry smile.
"Jiangnan... Group?" the bearded man paused, then glanced at the latest collector's edition Tian Zhou Terminal 7 in his hand, worth $300,000 each.
"The Jiangnan Group of this? The world's richest man's?" The bearded man shook his terminal, and his expression instantly turned grim. His previous statement had clearly been rather embarrassing.
However, he wasn't surprised by the title of "world's richest man." In fact, this bearded man had always believed that Huang He might not be as wealthy as himself.
After all, the so-called world's richest man might very well have world-richest-man-level debts behind him. But these Middle Eastern "hairy brothers" each held pure cash in hand; who was richer than whom was still up for debate.
Therefore, even after learning that the other party was the world's richest man, the bearded man still confidently requested Chen Hao to accompany him to the capital to find Huang He and purchase the Pangu Homeland he possessed!
"Minister, I am very sorry. If you insist on negotiating with them directly, I can recommend my colleagues in the capital to accompany you. But I truly cannot; my post is here, and I cannot leave until the exhibition concludes!" Chen Hao stated.
"That won't do; I only recognize you, Chen. I don't recognize others!" the bearded man shook his head firmly, insisting that Chen Hao accompany him. However, Chen Hao's attitude was equally resolute.
His work came first, and he genuinely couldn't leave.
"How about this!" the bearded man decided to change his approach. "Do you think I could buy that Pangu Homeland from the Jiangnan Group for $4 billion?"
"$4 billion!" Chen Hao gasped. To spend $4 billion on a large toy with no practical combat value, these bearded men were indeed the epitome of the rich, rich to the point of irrationality.
While the total research and development cost for this Pangu Homeland had surely exceeded $4 billion, that was for development. Once the technology was acquired, the cost of manufacturing a Pangu Homeland would not exceed $1 billion.
The Jiangnan Group could easily sell their current unit and then build a more advanced one, making a profit of $3 billion. Was there any more profitable business in the world?
Right, this bearded man seemed to want to buy two units at once, which would mean a profit of $6 billion. That was terrifying!
Even Chen Hao, accustomed to various large-scale transactions, was stunned by this price.
Then, in the next second, he heard the bearded man continue, "Chen, you must help me this time. As long as you help me secure this behemoth, I'm willing to offer 2% of the transaction amount to your unit as a commission!"
A 2% commission might not sound like much, but the issue was that this was 2% of $4 billion.
No, if they bought two units at once, that would be $8 billion in sales. 2% would be $160 million. How many sets of equipment would need to be sold to earn this amount?
Therefore, Chen Hao cast aside any pretense of being unable to leave his post. He immediately called his superior in front of the bearded man. After a brief consultation, he directly took the bearded man onto a plane heading to the capital.
According to Chen Hao's plan, after they arrived in the capital, the bearded man and his entourage would spend a few days sightseeing, while he would use his connections to find Huang He and first discuss the sale, helping the Jiangnan Group secure a high price.
Ideally, the two Pangu Homeland mechs would fetch him 10 billion!
Chen Hao understood these bearded men very well. If they were willing to say $4 billion per unit, they might end up paying $5 billion. They had too much money to spend, and an extra ten or twenty billion dollars wouldn't be a problem.
And if he could facilitate this transaction to exceed 10 billion, he would earn a $200 million intermediary fee. That was a fortune!
However, what Chen Hao did not anticipate was that upon their arrival in the capital, these bearded men were eager to go directly to the Bird's Nest venue and explicitly forbade Chen Hao from notifying Huang He and his team beforehand.
"I just want to see how much immense power the Pangu Homeland possesses under normal circumstances!" the bearded man said excitedly.
Fine, since the customer had a request, Chen Hao had no choice but to agree. However, as Chen Hao prepared to arrange transportation for them, he heard the bearded man wave his hand. "No, we won't go by car; that's too slow and doesn't befit our status!"
"We have friends here who run a flight company, and their company has fully licensed helicopters. I hope to see the appearance of this behemoth from the air. I hope Chen can help me, help me apply for a flight route permit!"
"I guarantee that pilots and other personnel can be handled by your people; we will only be passengers!" the bearded man stated.
"..." Hearing this request, Chen Hao felt like smashing his own head. He knew from the start that this money wouldn't be easy to earn!