Chapter 100

"Damn it!"

This was the unanimous cry in the hearts of the Chinese negotiation team at this moment—

Can business be done like this! What the hell is this! Is it necessary to be so shameless! Oh my God, to be able to argue such nonsense, this is not just an ordinary unscrupulous businessman!

Everyone present might not know what "trolling" was, but they all instinctively mastered this skill. ≤

The Iraqis initially seemed not to understand the translation, but after confirming it twice, they suddenly erupted!

"We cannot accept such a specious argument!"

"This is an insult to our intelligence!"

"We cannot accept such a price, we want to terminate the negotiations!"

"Right, terminate the negotiations!"

"Oh, in China, we have always conducted fair trade, and there is no such thing as forced buying or selling," Hu Wenhai nodded calmly and said, "Since you cannot accept it, let's terminate the negotiations. We are very busy, and we have other negotiations to handle."

Hu Wenhai crossed his arms and looked on coldly, but despite the fierce words from the Iraqis, none of them actually left their seats.

They didn't dare.

Otherwise, if China turned around and did the F-14 re-export trade with Iran, every one of these Iraqis would be taken out and shot by Saddam.

Especially Ahmad, as Saddam's confidant, he knew how important the Prism project was to Saddam. Before coming, he was repeatedly instructed to secure this system at any cost.

With the mission uncompleted, how could Ahmad dare to return?

But $700 million was indeed too expensive. If it were American goods, Iraq might have gritted their teeth and paid it.

But the problem was that this was Chinese goods. Chinese goods were always known for their good quality and low price, right? Spending such a large sum of $700 million on an information system seemed a bit of a loss.

Ahmad's thoughts were similar to those of bosses in the future who paid for design work. I spent thousands of dollars on a design, and in the end, it just became a piece of paper. I can't bear it! Even if the designer's work is great, I still have to make a few changes to feel better.

So, design companies later evolved a role called the client manager, specifically to eliminate clients' unreasonable change requests. Sometimes, to make clients follow the client manager's lead, the client manager had to first demonstrate sufficient professionalism, making clients believe that design was not just a casual matter but a very "rigorous" science, very high-end.

Hu Wenhai's role was similar to that of a client manager.

To eliminate the Iraqis' unreasonable sense of superiority, he had to make them understand that the entire system was beyond their comprehension.

"Do you think the $22 million is not worth spending?" Hu Wenhai's gaze swept over the Iraqis' faces, and the meeting room gradually fell silent: "You can take a look at the American paging system and see what technical specifications Motorola's paging system uses."

"Unidirectional communication, fixed frequency, how are the electronic components and mobility? Do you dare to throw this thing into the battlefield with Iran? Will the Iranians not learn to interfere with it?"

"To make this system suitable for the battlefield, the current pagers must be comprehensively improved, equipped with triggering and frequency modulation technology, and the digital display must be improved to an Arabic system. It must be integrated with ground base stations and aerial communication relay drones, a two-way communication system for military command at the company level and above, an electromagnetic shielding system, a battlefield mobile and power generation system, an anti-destruction and camouflage system, a command data tactical link system, a multi-service integration system, a three-proof system..."

Hu Wenhai's string of technical terms left the Iraqis dazed, and he finally said with satisfaction, "Without these systems and new technologies, can pagers go to the battlefield? Don't forget, this is a civilian product, not designed for the battlefield!"

"Ah, Mr. Hu, what you said makes some sense."

"Yes, we thought the battlefield was too simple."

"Indeed, the Iranians are not that foolish."

Nonsense, if the Iranians were all idiots, what would the Iraqis, who had been pushed back to their homeland after four years of war with Iran, be?

"Originally, I thought the Chinese were not just reselling American goods. I see the Chinese are still as practical as before. After hearing Mr. Hu, I feel that adding $22 million is a bit too little."

"Exactly, Motorola's civilian system costs $8 million, and if it were a military system, it would cost us $50 million."

"$50 million is not enough..."

The Iraqis kept whispering to each other. Although they couldn't hear what they were saying, their expressions showed that they were already somewhat convinced by Hu Wenhai.

Faced with this situation, Team Leader Bai had to admit his admiration. It was proven that in international trade, all that talk about being gentle, courteous, and yielding was nonsense! Business and diplomacy are different. In diplomacy, you can be meticulous, but at most, you lose some face.

But in international trade, if you can't put aside your pride and be "as gentle as a spring breeze" to foreigners, aren't you just making things hard for yourself?

In negotiations, no matter who the other party is, you have to be fierce and sharp. This was the first lesson Hu Wenhai taught him.

Then, the second lesson.

"Alright, since your side cannot accept the price, I have another proposal for you to consider."

Hu Wenhai took the opportunity to take out a stack of documents and asked the translator, who was already dazzled, to distribute them to the Iraqis.

"$700 million is already our cost price, and this line cannot be changed. Considering the traditional friendship between China and Iraq, we can provide some additional package services."

"Package services? What is that?" The Iraqis flipped through the distributed documents and asked curiously.

"By package, I mean a set of products sold together, or you can call it a turnkey project."

Hu Wenhai smiled and asked, "For example, in this information command system, there must be a command center node. In our design, this command center should be deep underground, even capable of withstanding nuclear threats. Can you find such a construction team in Iraq?"

The Iraqis looked at each other speechlessly. At this time, Iraq was like a gladiator, where had they ever done economic construction? Saddam's first act upon taking power was to start a war with Iran, and the previous two military coups had already purged all economic construction talents, forcing him to rely on war to consolidate his position.

In such a state, where could they find a construction team capable of building a nuclear shelter?

Seeing the Iraqis shake their heads, Hu Wenhai continued, "So, the significance of our turnkey project is this. Since your side is not good at construction, we can handle everything from equipment integration, modification, construction, installation, commissioning, training, and even initial operation. In the end, we will hand over the keys to the base to President Saddam, and your side can immediately form combat capabilities. This is the package service."

"Oh, this is a good idea!"

As soon as the translator finished speaking, the Iraqis eagerly shouted. For them, this was indeed the biggest concern. Hu Wenhai had the data on Iraq's illiteracy rate. According to the 1985 Chinese journal "Foreign Education Dynamics," Iraq's illiteracy rate was as high as 75.8%, which was truly heartbreaking.

After the war began, Iraq's talent cultivation system had increasingly focused on the military. With such a low literacy rate and the war's toll on talent, the turnkey project was a direct hit on Iraq's pain point.

What is discovering customer needs? What is customer-centric? What is the customer is God?

This is it.

Just by proposing this plan, the Iraqis were almost ready to surrender immediately. If China could provide such a service, $700 million didn't seem so hard to accept.

"Additionally, our country can provide your side with a ground-to-ground missile guidance package."

"Ground-to-ground missile guidance package?"

"A package consisting of satellite reconnaissance images from the Iran-Iraq battlefield, ground-to-ground missile aircraft positioning pods, and laser and TV guidance heads, which can reduce the Scud's circular error probable to 10 to 100 meters."

Hu Wenhai blinked and smiled, "If the brave Iraqi soldiers can penetrate deep into Tehran, perhaps the laser-guided missiles can hit Khomeini's bed directly!"

"However, this service is not free. Of course, for Sino-Iraqi friendship, we can offer a 20% discount."

Hu Wenhai thought that if Iraq really did this, perhaps they could turn around and sell Khomeini a laser interference package...

Of course, the Iraqis couldn't hear his inner monologue. But this ground-to-ground missile guidance package was the last straw that broke the camel's back. After all, if they could eliminate Khomeini, any amount of money would be worth it!

Perhaps one well-aimed shot could end the entire Iran-Iraq War.

Even if they couldn't eliminate Khomeini, in the upcoming 1985 Iran-Iraq city raids, precision-guided Scuds would bring glory to Iraq.

In any case, it seemed that the $700 million was really a great deal, Ahmad thought.

Team Leader Bai's eyes sparkled. It turned out negotiations could be conducted like this! By breaking down the after-sales service that should have been provided and offering it as a discount, the price could be raised with a straight face. This was really too much!

What could be said? The rabbits of this era were actually too sweet!

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